THECOA: 
 
 2FFREEDO
 
 PJann*ofJ Town* of 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 fituated upon? MASSACHUSETBAY 
 
 in yf Northerlie Coaftes of 
 
 NEWE ENGLAND 

 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM
 
 The 
 
 Coast of Freedom 
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE ADVENTUROUS 
 TIMES OF THE FIRST SELF- 
 MADE AMERICAN 
 
 by 
 
 ADELE MARIE SHAW 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 1902
 
 Copyright, 1901, by 
 
 DOUBLBDAY, PACK & Co. 
 
 Published April, 1902
 
 TO ANNE DANA BARROWS SHAW AND 
 JUDSON WADE SHAW TO WHOM ANY- 
 THING GOOD IN THIS BOOK IS DUE
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. IN THE DEAD HOURS . 
 
 II. BOUND FOR STRANGE SEAS 
 
 III. "WHERE BELOW ANOTHER SKY 
 PARROT ISLANDS ANCHORED LIE" 
 
 IV. "FOR HELL AND THE LADY" . 
 
 V. ON THE SHIP OF THE DEAD 
 
 VI. PIECES OF EIGHT . 
 
 VII. THE AWAKENING .... 
 
 VIII. THE LITTLE MAID . . 
 
 IX. MUTINY AND AN OMEN 
 
 X. THE ROYAL GOVERNOR 
 
 XL A CRY IN THE DARK 
 
 XII. IN THE FOREST OF FEARS . 
 
 XIII. PILGRIM AND PURITAN 
 
 XIV. THE GOVERNOR'S DINNER 
 XV. "O SWEET CONTENT" 
 
 XVI. AT THE SIGN OF THE ORANGE TREE 
 
 XVII. MUDDY RIVER WOODS: A MESSEN- 
 GER AND A MEETING 
 
 XVIII. A MIDNIGHT CONFERENCE 
 
 XIX. INDIAN RIDGE . . .. . 
 
 XX. "FOES WITHIN" . 
 
 XXI. THE MADNESS OF BOTOLPH'S TOWN 
 
 XXII. THE "POISONED CHALICE" 
 
 XXIII. THE PEST 
 
 XXIV. A PASTORAL CALL . 
 
 vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 14 
 
 24 
 56 
 71 
 
 88 
 
 96 
 
 103 
 
 IJ 5 
 132 
 
 152 
 168 
 
 183 
 190 
 
 2IO 
 
 228 
 
 236 
 249 
 
 255 
 2 7 I 
 283 
 33 
 315 
 
 3 2 5
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 XXV. CHRISTMAS EVE: THE WAY PAST 
 
 THE INN ..... 340 
 
 XXVI. IN THE NAME OF THE LORD . . 349 
 XXVII. THE FLIGHT: IN THE MIDST OF THE 
 
 FOREST ..... 390 
 
 XXVIII. THREATS FOR THE GOVERNOR . . 403 
 
 XXIX. THE HUT IN THE WILDERNESS . 413 
 
 XXX. AN ENCOUNTER AND AN ACCIDENT 422 
 
 XXXI. KIDNAPPED ..... 429 
 
 XXXII. THE PURSUIT 440 
 
 XXXIII. A DEFENCE AND A CAPTURE . . 447 
 XXXIV. "MANY WATERS" . . -453 
 
 XXXV. THE OLD WAY 458
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 It gives us much pleasure to acknowledge our 
 indebtedness to Mr. Henry Wysham Lanier, to 
 whose suggestion of its central figure the book 
 owes its existence, to our father, whose interest in 
 our Pilgrim and Puritan forbears had made the 
 subject a congenial one, and to those traditions of 
 our mother's girlhood repeated to us with the 
 sense of the real, the present and the human that 
 she alone could give. 
 
 My brother has written this story with me and, 
 although he has not allowed his name to appear 
 upon the title page, it is but fair it should be set 
 down here in full Albert Judson Shaw to take 
 its share of whatever adverse criticism (or worse 
 indifference) may overtake a tale that is from 
 first to last our joint and indissoluble labour. 
 
 A. M. S.
 
 THE 
 
 COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN THE DEAD HOURS 
 
 ROGER drew himself up from the water, 
 climbed hardily through the darkness, and 
 stepped out upon the uncertain footing 
 above. The crazy ladder for which he had groped 
 so long swayed backward from his lifted weight 
 and the stealthy wash of ripples followed its 
 motion. Through openings in the mouldered 
 planking of the wharf crawling currents of air 
 made their way to fasten clammily upon his 
 drenched body. He shivered as he sheltered 
 himself on the lee side of some loosely piled 
 lumber that blocked his path. 
 
 The pyramid of logs and boults thrown out in 
 all haste from the Pelloquin's hold told him where 
 he stood. It was the very wharf whereon the 
 cargo of his own ship had been unloaded. She 
 lay now, the Hopewell, sister to the Pelloquin, far 
 out beyond the docks waiting for the dawn that 
 should give her leave to sail. 
 
 It seemed to Roger that since he had left her 
 the darkness and chill of the night had grown 
 darker and more chill. London slept; but un- 
 easily, dismally, sounds of discordant life marring
 
 2 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 its dull repose. Here by the water side the cold 
 and damp, the blackness of the "dead hours," 
 lay heaviest, the silence falling the more profound 
 for the harshness of each intruding noise. Un- 
 speakable odours rose from the river to mix with the 
 nauseous exhalations of the land. Ships, dis- 
 cernible only as a blur of blacker spots upon the 
 inkiness below, were huddled close along the 
 indentations of the shore, the great crossed web 
 of spars invisible. Here and there a lantern made 
 a vague writing badly blotted upon the night. 
 Nowhere an outline clear, a gleam of light distinct. 
 
 The lad leaned against a projecting beam, whose 
 tapering end showed it to his touch already 
 fashioned for a bowsprit. The distance from the 
 HopewelVs side had been longer than he had 
 thought; his breath came hard after his swim, 
 and for a little he made no attempt to go 
 farther. Now and again voices broke across the 
 water loud in the fog, or the cries of late roisterers 
 in the town dispersed themselves in goblin echoes 
 among the clouds; once a boisterous group flound- 
 ered past in the mud, oars dipped cautiously, 
 oaths drove home orders to sleepy ears, tackle 
 rattled as a boat was swung to place. Then the 
 night was dumb again save where the plunge of a 
 water rat set the sluggish waves awash against 
 the slime-rotted props beneath the pier. 
 
 The smell of the pine was clean, and pleasant 
 to his nostrils, sweetening the unsavoury dark; 
 the jutting timbers shut him from the land, sug- 
 gesting shelter. But the air was sharp. It took 
 a freezing hold. He started, facing the shore,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 3 
 
 and would have passed the obstructing lumber. 
 At the same instant the rough way that ascended 
 tunnel-wise between the houses resounded to other 
 voices. Words exploded in riotous shouts. A 
 very bedlam of echoes woke between the sodden 
 earth and the low-hung sky. Over the stern 
 bulwarks of the Pelloquin close at hand someone 
 launched a volley of answering profanity and spat 
 lustily upon the sullen flood beneath. 
 
 "Get ye to th' Dev'l, Greg'ry Bell'ngh'm!" 
 came from the townward path. 
 ' 'S not far for such as " 
 
 Sharp remonstrance, commands, accompanied 
 the roar, interposing between the listeners and the 
 last word. Roger halted, having no mind to end 
 his adventure at the wharf side. 
 
 'LI not 'hush fool,' ' the voice went on. 
 
 ' Hush fool !' hush dev'l, say I ! Art the very 
 Dev'l himself, Bell'ng'm ! Dost hear, Witherly? 
 'Tizh Old Nick employs thee. On thy kneezh 
 down rascal on thy kneezh to Sathanas !" 
 
 Laughter full of drunken mockery, then a 
 struggle with a roar less jovial, more enraged. 
 The watch on the Puritan Pelloquin stirred again. 
 
 "Shut up, ye madmen," he shouted. "Hell 
 take your blasphemies !" 
 
 The noisy one gave no heed to the exhortation. 
 The clamour of his voice filled the air, without a 
 break, save for the gaps of crapulous indistinct- 
 ness. 
 
 " Easy task th' DevTs job, Witherly ! What's 
 
 besh way besh road to Heaven for a maid " 
 
 The word was cut short, but the shouting emerged
 
 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 from the scuffle louder than before. " Drown her ? 
 Too slow. Good Dev'l Bell'ng'm lend me 
 a broomstick carry her off " 
 
 A fiercer protest, and a struggle more deter- 
 mined. 
 
 The party were opposite the lad, and two of 
 them showed fleetingly in the wavering lantern 
 gleam. The drunkard seemed the smallest of the 
 three. In his dress was an attempt at foppishness 
 that matched as ill as did his slender frame with 
 the robust bellowings of his voice. The com- 
 panion who supported his steps gave him the 
 uncertain guidance of one whose own legs lurched 
 under the effort. Roger could see the insensate 
 frenzy, wild-eyed and quarrelsome, of the master; 
 the wicked look, half maudlin, half cunning, of 
 the man. 
 
 The third, who had been called Bellingham, 
 was closely wrapped and stood so as to avoid the 
 light, but in his attitude the lad could read savage 
 contempt. 
 
 " Leave my name alone Get on to your own 
 
 wharf. " He spoke low and furiously as they 
 paused before the mass of lumber. 
 
 'Tis but three beyond. Best not come 
 further, sir. " The sailor Witherly made a sly 
 gesture of warning behind the drunkard's back. 
 
 "'Further'! I'll see this accursed muddlehead 
 upon his own vessel!" Not the words, nor the 
 oaths before and after, but something in the voice 
 came upon Roger with a violent repulsion akin to 
 nausea, wholly unrelated to fear. The tone was 
 the lowest that could be uttered above a whisper
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 5 
 
 but it had a quality keen and poisonous as the 
 night air. They were hardly an arm's length 
 from where the lad waited; the same angle of the 
 logs that sheltered him, between them and the 
 Pelloquin. 
 
 The drunkard roared again, more softly, but 
 with a more sinister mirth. 
 
 "Wilt do nothing, good Dev'l, 'gainst the 
 will of th' Seaflower's master!" he hiccoughed. 
 "Pretty thought, With'ly gayes' gallant of the 
 Court in th' pocket of the Seaflower's m " 
 
 The words were choked into infuriate splutter- 
 ing. Curses such as the lad had never heard, 
 even from the foul-mouthed skipper of the Hope- 
 well, came raging forth, torrent- wise, from the 
 drunkard's lips. His threats, mumbled and in- 
 coherent one minute, plain and articulate the 
 next, evidently alarmed the others. They were 
 without meaning to Roger save for the certainty 
 of a villainy afloat, the intuitive horror of in- 
 justice in the face of it. 
 
 "Thou'rt mine Seaftower's mine an' thou'rt 
 mine. One whisper at th' Court where'd 
 be then th' King's good Bell'ng " 
 
 The sottish ravings had become all at once 
 clear, rising to a threatening shriek. The sound 
 of a blow and a fall and a moment's silence. 
 Roger did not hear the next words spoken. He 
 was considering his own position should they 
 move so that the lantern ray revealed him; more 
 than all, he was tingling with an ever-growing 
 longing to spring out upon them as they talked. 
 
 It was the sound of the voice he had so instantly
 
 6 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 hated that brought him to new sense of their 
 speech. The voice was still low, but more con- 
 trolled, more menacing, and so the more re- 
 pulsive. 
 
 " I shall know all the witch will tell me. Ye're 
 to make the death swift and the proof sure for 
 others. If ye fail if ye bungle if aught be 
 traced to me the reward is forfeit and your 
 heads will answer. If I get nothing ye get no 
 more. Let thy Captain remember that ! " 
 
 "No fear, Sir. The Lady never fails." 
 
 "My men are on the hill, " Bellingham went on, 
 disregarding the interruption. "I've a mind to 
 whistle them down end ye both, and give the 
 task to better ' ' 
 
 Again the sailor broke in protesting. 
 
 "There be no better. Who's better than the 
 Lady, Sir ! 'Tis but rare to see 'im in's cups. 
 'Tis for that he's the worse when 'tis upon 'im. 
 He'll be straight as topsles, come the morning 
 close-mouthed as London Tower, Sir. The Lady's 
 your man. " 
 
 "Take him up and hold thy peace. Be glad I 
 hang not the two of ye. " Bellingham kicked 
 the prostrate form as Witherly bent to raise it. A 
 groan followed the attempt. Roger could not see 
 whether the Captain departed walking or carried, 
 but mutterings of returning consciousness answered 
 the other's threat. 
 
 ' ' Hang' ! " The word was repeated in the thick 
 chuckle of fuddled dreams. " 'S not the master 
 
 'f Seaflower '11 'hang'. 'S Gregory Bell " 
 
 The syllables were gagged upon the mumbling
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM / 
 
 tongue. The three withdrew farther into the 
 surrounding blackness. 
 
 Roger stepped cautiously forth into the muddy 
 flat that lay between him and the city, seeking 
 the narrow way whence the Seaflower party had 
 descended. 
 
 He had reached its entrance, his foot fairly upon 
 the broken flagging, when steps clattered again 
 at the upper end. This time he kept sturdily on, 
 boyishly unwilling to turn his back upon a prob- 
 able foe. 
 
 "A plague on thee, Cousin!" Each syllable 
 dropped to him distinct and clear. "There's not 
 an if in the whole matter. Out on thy ifs and 
 buts! We're rich already. The prize is there ! " 
 
 "Hush, Ninny!" The interruption dammed 
 the flow of jovial remonstrance as a sluice gate 
 descends against a leaking flood. "Bellow not to 
 wake the fleet ! Thy voice carrieth like a trumpet ! " 
 
 "And thine like a devil's fiddle. 'Tis less 
 mellowed by our good William's feast, " answered 
 the other in an amiable shout. 
 
 "Thou'rt too cautious, Cousin a very Round- 
 head for caution. 'Twas caution killed a cat. 
 'Caution' ! 'Tis boldness he needeth most Bold- 
 ness and speed, good Captain William, and listen 
 not to his Grace's croaking. The prize is there 
 'tis there, I say, and the sooner it be in London " 
 
 The good-humoured tones broke here under the 
 impact of words quieter but more emphatic. 
 Roger was keeping doggedly on, approaching 
 constantly nearer to the spot where the yellow 
 glow of torches advanced to meet his feet.
 
 8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 In this party as in the other, were three men, but 
 the lad recognized with the earliest sound of their 
 voices that here was no villainy hiding its face 
 and barely picking its way by a shrivelled lantern 
 glimmer. As he climbed toward them their 
 words came to him ever more distinctly and his 
 mind fastened with idle wonder upon the allusion 
 to the "prize." What prize? And where were 
 they to seek it? Would that he were bound on 
 some gallant adventure, released forever from 
 the hateful imprisonment of the Hopewell ! 
 
 The party were now plainly visible. The two 
 retainers that lighted them carried each a heavy 
 stick in the right hand and peered into the lanes 
 on either side, alert for danger. The lad saw that 
 they wore a livery, but he was a provincial and 
 did not know the colors of His Grace of Albemarle 
 from the scarlet of the King's outriders. 
 
 The Duke alone was talking, his hand in a warn- 
 ing grip on the arm of his garrulous relative, his 
 gaze alternately on the sloppy way and upon a 
 silent figure whose cloak and hat gave to a re- 
 markable stature the effect of the colossal. 
 
 It was this last member of the group that drew 
 closest attention. His very manner of listening 
 seemed to Roger more vital than the babble or the 
 earnestness of his companions. Something in his 
 appearance gave to the lad the thrill that pricks 
 the young in the presence of power. 
 
 "Discretion were no cowardice," his Grace was 
 saying. "Pirates and Spaniards may wait on a 
 more favorable " 
 
 The foremost torch bearer came suddenly in
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 9 
 
 Roger's path and leaped at him, striking with the 
 viciousness of sudden fright. The glare in their 
 eyes had helped to conceal one approaching from 
 the direction of the shore, and the echoes multi- 
 plying their own footsteps had covered those of 
 another. Roger was unaware how wholly he had 
 been hidden. The assault took him smartly by 
 surprise. His left arm warded the blow but it 
 came shrewdly upon the flesh of his shoulder. 
 On the instant the sting of it shot home the boy's 
 response. The retainer dropped limply upon the 
 stones, his torch plunged extinguished in a miry 
 pool. 
 
 The party closed upon the lad angrily. 
 
 'Tis a spy ! A vile rogue set on to spy about 
 the town, " announced blackly the prater so lately 
 silenced. "A dozen may be hid within his call. 
 Have a caution, your Grace ! Be not rash, Cap- 
 tain " 
 
 "'Rash' indeed, Sir 'Ninny'! Five to one is 
 brave odds!" Roger had wheeled at the warning. 
 The flare showed him well grown, well built, and 
 of a carriage fearless and pleasing. 
 
 Rage dimmed the eyes of his accuser. 
 
 " Hold thy tongue, thou river-spawn ! What 
 dost thou here?" 
 
 "What thou dost not mind my own affairs!" 
 the lad retorted. 
 
 The loud voice drew nearer, sneering. 
 
 " 'Tis only mermen and wharf rats have affairs 
 in the water !" 
 
 "And 'tis more the part of spies and wharf rats 
 to set upon one unarmed, with cudgels!" Roger
 
 io THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 finished hotly. His anger, less boisterous than 
 the suspicions it flung off, was none the less vivid. 
 Something in the challenge of his bearing struck 
 pleasingly upon the other's humour. 
 
 "Lord love us!" he interjected delightedly. 
 " 'Tis a fine fellow. Well met ! Up Cadgson 
 more light " 
 
 The man of the imposing figure had stood so as 
 to cut off retreat by a shoreward plunging alley. 
 
 "More light, but not for sport, Sir John," he 
 interposed. " 'Tis time I were away and his 
 Grace and I lend not our weapons for thy non- 
 sense. " He moved briskly forward and the glare 
 of the remaining torch struck squarely into the 
 face beneath the wide hat. 
 
 "Captain Phips!" Roger turned unguarded, 
 with a quick gesture as if he would have uncovered, 
 gladness and confidence in the motion, hardly 
 tinged by the remembrance of his wet and hatless 
 plight. 
 
 The other torch-bearer had crept up from be- 
 hind, a vengeful glitter in his half -closed eyes. 
 He had somewhat precipitately moved backward 
 in the earliest stage of the discussion and was 
 bent upon re-establishing his credit. In the 
 moment of his . triumph the stick was wrenched 
 from his hands and flung violently over his head, 
 his upraised arm seized, and his thick bulk drawn 
 swiftly forward. 
 
 The Captain searched Roger's face in the clearer 
 light. 
 
 "Young Verring!" he exclaimed, astonishment 
 in the recognition. Without another word he
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM n 
 
 set his face toward the river and whistled, a long, 
 straight signal, individual and peremptory. Some- 
 where beyond the closest tangle of ships a light 
 lifted and dropped in answer, moving apparently 
 like a will-o'-the-wisp, without guidance save for 
 its own fantastic whim. 
 
 " I know the lad; he will go with me. We need 
 wait no longer. " Captain Phips looked at the 
 graver of his two companions. 
 
 The Duke of Albemarle nodded. He had 
 watched the boy with suspicion no less ready than 
 his cousin's. Now he turned away and joined 
 himself to the Captain for a final colloquy as they 
 descended to the wharf. The valiant aggressor 
 in the brief battle had been set upright upon his 
 feet and held his relighted torch but drunkenly 
 as he essayed to follow. 
 
 Sir John had melted again to his jovial mood, 
 and balanced judiciously upon the slippery path 
 as he and Roger fell in before the subdued Cadgson. 
 
 "Not even a wig to keep the night air from thy 
 hot head?" he remonstrated cheerfully. "Art 
 over young to wander at this hour with no better 
 weapon than a saucy tongue ! 'Spy' and 'wharf- 
 rat'!" He laughed. " 'Twas fair exchange! But 
 'Sir Ninny' I like not 'Sir Ninny'. Were't 
 not for our good William who meaneth to carry 
 thee hence " 
 
 "Nay, Sir John," the lad put in frankly, "I 
 withdraw the word. " His mind came back 
 suddenly under the sway of that law whose ob- 
 servance had been to him all his life both good- 
 breeding and religion reverence for those of
 
 12 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 greater age. "I pray you pardon it," he said, 
 and though answering laughter was in his eyes, his 
 voice rang with a deprecation honest as his wrath. 
 
 Sir John clapped a gloved hand powerfully upon 
 the boy's arm and let it rest there, both for friend- 
 liness and the support thus secured, until the fare- 
 wells were said. 
 
 "We shall meet again, lad." They had passed 
 the lumber pile and could see the Captain's boat 
 waiting below the stairs. "An' ever thou wouldst 
 find a friend in London, remember Sir John 
 Winchcombe. " 
 
 " In with you, Roger. " 
 
 The command of Captain Phips gave no oppor- 
 tunity for reluctance had any existed in the lad's 
 mind. 
 
 "Good luck! Good fishing!" called back the 
 voluble cousin of his Grace, as the four landsmen 
 moved off, the resuscitated torch-bearer wading 
 dizzily after his comrade. "Remember 'hope 
 deferred' how goeth the rhyme? 'Tis very 
 deadly, Captain hope grown stale ! " So plain 
 was every sound in the murk, Roger could hear 
 the plash and sucking of the mud beneath the 
 departing tread, and the wide boot tops flapping 
 one upon another. The voice of Sir John grew 
 louder as the distance increased. 
 
 "Come quickly home, good William ! 
 
 ' Stay not to woo the sirens of the isles, 
 Stay not ' " 
 
 But the melody was quenched in its first out- 
 pouring, and the jerked snatches that came river-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 13 
 
 ward as the boat made its way past the beetling 
 hull of the Pelloquin seemed more like growls than 
 song.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 BOUND FOR STRANGE SEAS 
 
 THE cabin of the Araby Rose showed an ex- 
 travagant illumination. Roger had looked 
 up wondering as he crossed the threshold. 
 On each of the four walls hung a lantern, the one 
 above the door disclosing its light not through 
 horn but from a diamond-shaped window of glass. 
 
 The shine of it revealed the polished wood of 
 the fittings and the brass knobs upon locker and 
 cupboard. More than all, it revealed the face of 
 Captain Phips. 
 
 Roger's gaze had dwelt but swiftly on the place ; 
 it had stayed itself upon the Captain, a happy 
 enthusiasm in its clear regard. 
 
 "So 'twas to have your foot on English soil! 
 Was't worth the wetting?" The shrewd eyes of 
 which the lad had been plainly conscious through- 
 out the seeming indirection of their discourse 
 were fixed suddenly upon his face. "When sails 
 the Hopewell?" 
 
 "To-morrow." Roger fell silent. The Captain 
 drew upon his long pipe, apparently absorbed in 
 the gentle bubbling within its bowl. 
 
 "I could not go back to Boston and never 
 once ashore in England!" The lad's utterance 
 lost for a moment the respectful restraint of his 
 earlier words. 
 
 "And why not?" Captain Phips settled him- 
 
 14
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 15 
 
 self more comfortably in his great chair, the only 
 chair on the Araby Rose, and blew into the air a 
 monstrous cloud. The look with which he had 
 begun the conference, a look that corresponded 
 with a certain keenness of thrust in his questions, 
 had gone, dissolved in attention less distrustful, 
 equally discerning. 
 
 " 'Tis the land of my ancestors my grand- 
 father's home. " The lad spoke with a warmth, a 
 sentiment, almost passionate. A flush followed 
 the outburst, and he made swift retreat into the 
 habit of reserve that was his Puritan heritage. 
 "None but a slave would submit so far," he went 
 on resolutely. "I was the only one forbid the 
 shore. " 
 
 " 'Tis your father's own ship, the Hopewell?" 
 The Captain pushed his tankard across the table. 
 "Drink, lad. It were worse folly to add an ague 
 to your disobedience. Drink. I should have 
 thought your captain like to favour his owner's 
 son. " 
 
 "I asked no favour." 
 
 The glow that had warmed Roger's eyes and 
 lighted his face vanished suddenly like the electric 
 play upon a summer sky. He drank as he was 
 bidden, suppressing a shiver as the heat of the 
 spirit grappled with the chill of his body. 
 
 "Was it your father's will you be set to the 
 common tasks?" Captain Phips leaned forward, 
 his pipe suspended in his hand. 
 
 "Not all, not save as the training seemed need- 
 ful for the better understanding of a ship. But I 
 am a man. I can do a man's work. " There was
 
 16 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 a moment's pause. " 'Twas a punishment, my 
 voyage," he went on hurriedly. 
 
 " Punishment for what ? " The Captain knocked 
 his pipe upon the table's edge and refilled it care- 
 fully, but Roger knew the shrewd eyes still studied 
 him. A half-defiant hardness in his tone dis- 
 appeared as he continued, and he spoke with 
 neither bravado nor weak shame. 
 
 "It was a brawl. I angered a sailor at the 
 dock. When he would have kicked me I knocked 
 him down. His fellows set upon me. My father 
 had trouble to keep me from the stocks. " 
 
 The Captain pursed his lips softly. It would 
 have been hard to say whether there was repro- 
 bation or sympathy in the gesture. 
 
 " Brawls are bad things, " he commented gravely. 
 "What was the man's offence?" He looked up, 
 drumming with one strong finger on the resonant 
 wood. 
 
 The loutish youth who had earlier carried off 
 the heavy cloak shuffled sleepily in view. 
 
 " Did you call, Sir ? " he asked sullenly. 
 
 "No. Call? No," answered the Captain 
 shortly. "An 1 thou come with as good will, 
 Jacob Munch, when I do call as when I don't, 
 thou'lt make vast improvement. " 
 
 Behind his back the youth scowled again and 
 slunk a little forth. Roger was conscious that 
 the shuffling footsteps halted before they were 
 withdrawn out of earshot of the cabin. 
 
 The Captain's voice had sharpened at the sight 
 of the sullen apparition and he spoke almost 
 harshly.
 
 "Wast rash and ungentle, boy. What had the 
 man done?" 
 
 "Kicked a lamb but newly born. It staggered 
 on the plank, ('twas on a Hingham pinnace) 
 and when it cried crushed in its ribs and 
 
 mimicked the cry. 1 could not bear it. " The 
 
 lad's eyes were fiercely alight, contradicting the 
 respectful modulation of his speech. He drew 
 himself more erect as he finished. 
 
 " 'Twas a right blow a brute he is would 
 harm a lamb. Many's the one I've carried through 
 Pemaquid storms. " The Captain pulled remi- 
 niscently at his pipe, his look searching the lad's 
 face. But there be good people, " he went on, 
 smiling with tightened lips, "who hold it an im- 
 piety to waste pity on the beasts that perish. Is't 
 thy father's belief?" 
 
 Roger hesitated. 
 
 "My father would not be cruel," he replied 
 evasively. 
 
 "And 'twas by his commands thou wast forbid 
 the shore?" 
 
 "Nay 'twas not so," The lad answered with 
 a mounting anger. ' ' I myself heard him desire 
 of Captain Gillani that he show me somewhat of 
 London. " 
 
 "Gillam!" A curious gleam crossed the Cap- 
 tain's expression. Amazement showed in his 
 exclamation. "Thou wert to see the sights of the 
 town with Raving Rufus !" 
 
 "He beareth himself discreetly in Boston. 
 None would so abhor the man as my father if " 
 
 " ' If ! If Nicolas Verring knew his man he'd
 
 i8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 sooner have sent thee with the Devil alone ! I'll 
 
 warrant the rascal took not kindly to thy com- 
 pany on his ship!" The pipe had been pushed 
 upon one side, the tankard rested unfilled. There 
 was a tenseness about the Captain's mouth, a 
 new concentration in his regard. 
 
 " He hated me, " the lad answered simply. 
 
 " 'Twas a harsh discipline, the HopewelVs? " 
 
 Roger gave back the penetrating gaze with a 
 sudden confidence. 
 
 " 'Twas worse than that," he broke forth, then 
 fell sharply silent as though he had spoken un- 
 warily. 
 
 " How many souls had she aboard ? " 
 
 4 ' Fifty- three when we sailed." 
 
 "And how many lost you on the voyage ? " 
 
 "Eleven." 
 
 "Some of these died in the hold?" 
 
 "Aye, sir." The lad shuddered. 
 
 Over their heads the steps of the watch went 
 to and fro. Within, silence fell upon both. 
 Roger's gaze still held to the imposing figure 
 before him, and his lips essayed to speak, but 
 found the beginning difficult. To him, as to all 
 the youth of Boston, Captain Phips was a hero. 
 To stand well in the eyes of one's hero is a hard 
 thing to forego. But his waiting lasted no more 
 than a full breath. 
 
 "That was not my sole offence," he said ab- 
 ruptly. "I had been often troublesome. My 
 tongue " 
 
 "Is too quick and thy hand not over slow to 
 follow?" The Captain's face broadened with
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 19 
 
 sudden laughter that overran it. "Art not the 
 only one, my boy ! And art young yet. How old 
 may'st thou be?" 
 
 "Sixteen within the month." 
 
 "So old!" The Captain smiled still, with 
 genial irony. 
 
 " 'Tis a man's age, Captain Phips, " the lad pro- 
 tested. "Mr. Mather had his degree from the 
 college and was preaching at seventeen. " 
 
 "And what would a runaway in London even 
 
 though a man grown " The pause was filled 
 
 with the smile, quizzical and friendly. 
 
 "Not a runaway. I am going back." Roger 
 had risen. 
 
 "Thou art!" There was loud incredulity in 
 the repetition. The steps of the watch came to a 
 halt, then resumed their march. "Going back to 
 Raving Rufus ! Why, lad, he'll kill thee ; kill and 
 quarter thee. " 
 
 " He may not discover my absence. If I desert 
 There's no other way, Sir. I must tell my own 
 story in Boston." 
 
 "Art not afraid for thy life?" 
 
 " 'Tis not fear, I think but I have taken 'count 
 of the danger. There 'd be none to hinder were it 
 smallpox or something quicker. If it happen I 
 do not reach home " He looked up impetu- 
 ously "when you come again to New England 
 would you if you could give some assurance to 
 my mother and my father as well that I 
 had not disgraced them that is if you 
 believe me?" 
 
 There was no bathos in the appeal. He spoke
 
 20 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 soberly and with a composure too earnest to admit 
 a doubt of its reality. 
 
 Captain Phips rose suddenly from his chair, 
 barring the way. 
 
 "Damn thee, lad," he said furiously. "Thou 
 shalt tell thy own tale and I'll better it. Nay 
 no protest no words, boy. Thou'rt on the Araby 
 Rose and on the Araby Rose thou'lt stay ! " 
 
 The night was already far spent. As the web 
 of masts and spars grew clear against the first 
 redness of the dawn, three ships floated from their 
 moorings and entered the current of the Thames. 
 The Pelloquin led. In a locker of her master's 
 cabin reposed a sealed packet addressed in the 
 plain unflourished script of Captain Phips: 
 
 NICOLAS VERRING, ESQ., 
 Boston in 
 
 New England. 
 
 To be delivered unto his own person by 
 the hand of Captain Stukely. 
 
 Before they reached the mouth of the river the 
 Araby Rose had passed the merchant vessel, the 
 trumpets hailing joyously across the tide at flood. 
 
 Roger, newly arrayed in the clothing of the 
 loutish Jacob, stood just forward of the upreared 
 poop and waited upon the Captain's word. His 
 mind had dwelt in momentary amaze upon the 
 unfriendliness of his old schoolfellow and he would 
 have refused the forced loan had his captor been 
 less peremptory. 
 
 "Art a prisoner, lad, and fairly taken! "the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 21 
 
 Captain had laughed in the confidence of their 
 final converse. It was then that Roger had 
 questioned him abruptly, spurred by a quick 
 recollection. 
 
 "Know you, Sir, one Gregory Bellingham ? " 
 
 The Captain had frowned. 
 
 "Where hast thou met with Gregory Belling- 
 ham?" he had asked sharply. 
 
 Roger had recounted quickly what he had over- 
 heard, omitting nothing that gave light upon the 
 mission of the Seaflower, but adding no interpreta- 
 tion of his own. 
 
 "Rascals all!" the Captain had commented. 
 " 'Tis a name oft spoken in the Court of James 
 Gregory Bellingham. A dissolute set his fellows, 
 but gentlemen and with long purses. The man is 
 said to be well favoured. Didst see him ? " 
 
 " 'Twas dark; he kept well in the shadow," 
 Roger had replied. 
 
 "A subtle knave! Am told 'tis matter of con- 
 jecture whence come his revenues. There was 
 much gossip of sudden deaths that cut off his sup- 
 plies and brought no legacies. 'Twas looked for 
 he should be bankrupt long ere this. Smallpox 
 and scurvy, lad, there's money behind this coward's 
 plotting, be sure of that!" Captain Phips had 
 fallen to musing, finishing more to himself than 
 to Roger : ' ' Would I could overhaul the Seaflower. ' ' 
 The wish remained suspended, incomplete. 
 
 "And could we not?" The lad had drawn 
 nearer eagerly. 
 
 "Nay, Roger, 'tis an English ship and were 
 we to end the scum, 'tis not like their master would
 
 22 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 give over his attempt, and him no man can touch 
 he hath the King's ear. Hearken and keep thy 
 counsel, lad we go upon errands not our own. 
 But let none be wiser for aught thou'st overheard 
 or what I tell thee now. " 
 
 Roger had waited with arrested breath in the 
 pause that had followed. 
 
 "We seek a Spanish treasure sunken these 
 fifty years. " The Captain's voice had dropped to 
 the level baffling to an eavesdropper. "She lieth 
 somewhere among the reefs of the West Indies. 
 'Tis the same treasure I sought in the King's ship 
 late returned. Now I go for the Duke whom 
 you saw and his friends, on information gained 
 too late for that voyage, of an old man at Port de la 
 Plata. " 
 
 The lad's heart bounded beneath the homespun 
 of Jacob Munch, recalling the words. 
 
 Others let drop by the incautious Sir John came 
 luminously back. 
 
 "Good luck to your fishing!" "The prize is 
 there " "We're rich already!" 
 
 The very wind in the cordage sang of it. A 
 glorious venture ! And Captain Phips ! 
 
 The Captain had appeared and the redness had 
 grown yellow save for a crimson streak before the 
 prow. The commander of the Rose was as fresh, 
 as ruddy of face and vigorous, as one new-risen 
 from slumber. To the familiarity of the night 
 just past Roger could not expect to return, but his 
 eyes clung to the splendid figure with the loyal 
 satisfaction of homage. 
 
 The mate saw the warmth in the lad's look and
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 23 
 
 cast a contemplative eye upon the goodly limbs 
 within the borrowed raiment. 
 
 "Sure the clothes of Jacob Munch will be re- 
 fusin' to return to their owner ! 'Tis the hand- 
 some face and figger of yon lad sets 'em off!" he 
 remarked blithely in the Captain's ear. 
 
 Jacob Munch heard. His furtive gaze narrowed 
 as he slouched aft to the Captain's cabin. 
 
 Upon the vague horizon line the glass showed a 
 lurking speck upon whose track they seemed to 
 follow the Seaflower, set already far upon her 
 way. 
 
 Roger had no glass, and he had not marked the 
 glance of Jacob Munch. The glamour of the 
 morning was upon his sight. 
 
 Here was his wish fulfilled unless the whole 
 were dreaming ! The Hopewell dwindling behind 
 them was well-nigh forgotten, its horrors already 
 old ; the sails of the Pelloquin shone wondrously in 
 the early light, and the Araby Rose, mounting 
 upon the swell, outsped them both, bound joy- 
 fully for strange seas and the sunken galleon of 
 Spain.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 " Where below another sky 
 Parrot islands anchored Jie." 
 
 IN the still dawn of tropical waters the Araby 
 Rose floated black against the softly un- 
 folding light. Black, too, against the east, 
 an island on either hand lifted its tuft of plumy 
 vegetation and framed the waste. Between the 
 ship and that infinitely far horizon whence she had 
 come stretched a limitless ocean. 
 
 While the forecastle still slept Roger had come 
 forth under the stars and mounted into the rigging, 
 where the motion was no more than the swaying 
 of a cradle, so gently the Rose slipped through the 
 scarce-stirred surface of the sea. 
 
 A quiet full of lonely danger brooded upon the 
 place. Not the nightmare that had threatened 
 the men of Columbus, not the fear lest their bark 
 come suddenly to the edge of the world and so 
 plunge off into night and space, but the danger of 
 robbery and murder, of ghastly deaths here in 
 this delusive peace so often made a desolation of 
 slaughter and rapine. 
 
 On what island might not be hid the fastness of 
 a buccaneer; from behind what rich foliage of 
 palm and vine might not dart the hawk-like prow 
 of a L'Ollonois or a Morgan? These were the 
 rendezvous of the pirate kings, the seas of the 
 West Indies. Here they came to count their 
 gains, recruit their ranks, and find the consorts of 
 
 24
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 25 
 
 their hellish deeds. The Pacific had drawn off 
 vast numbers, wild with the greed of savage con- 
 quest, but yet the breed multiplied in the old 
 hunting ground, though merchants had grown 
 wary and travellers that cared little for adventure 
 and set high value on their lives preferred the hard- 
 ships of the longer passage to the perils of the Isles. 
 
 In the sky the faint blue deepened and bright- 
 ened, revealing distance beyond distance, alluring 
 the eye to ever loftier exploration. Roger's gaze 
 lost itself in the ether, came back to rest in the 
 clear waters below, and once more searched the 
 horizon, disappointed when the ocean showed 
 still empty save for a shadow lying low to the 
 southwest. 
 
 Then the rising sun blazed in his face, sending 
 across the dim expanse a blinding good-morrow. 
 As it moved upward from the water's rim leaving 
 its ensanguined trail upon the sea, it appeared 
 not so much the sun known and welcomed in other 
 days as a strange luminary bursting upon a uni- 
 verse new found. 
 
 Upon the Rose the business of the' day was 
 rapidly begun, the noisy activity on her decks 
 opposing itself sharply to the silent monotony on 
 every side. The shadow to the southward dark- 
 ened as they approached; a strong irregular line 
 grew plain against the light. Toward it the 
 ship's company strained an eager watch. 
 
 From the feebly distended sails and the warping 
 deck there glowed upon them a remorseless heat. 
 The skin baked upon their parching bodies, and 
 the salt of perspiration was streaked dry and white
 
 26 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 upon bare backs. But the ship fared steadily 
 forward through the moveless sea, and, at last, 
 between the shimmer above and the dazzle below, 
 appeared the solid green of mountains. 
 
 As they drew near, the Araby Rose wore round 
 and tacked lazily westward along the uneven shore. 
 Far inland a lofty range stretched parallel with their 
 going, uplifting itself, a marvel of blue changes, 
 to the blue-tinged sky indigo on the lower slopes ; 
 purple, violet, azure, on the peaks above. And 
 from this distant range long ridges reached out 
 toward the sea, spread like the legs of some vast 
 centipede crawling heavily across the world. 
 
 From the soft blur of the far heights and pale 
 blue sky to the near green of slopes that rounded 
 to the sea, solitude and mystery possessed the 
 land. Upon the hills, a wonderful, thick growth 
 of trees hid shore and rocks even to the ripples of 
 the tide. One after another appeared deserted 
 valleys, now narrow, deep cleft between the mighty 
 spurs; now broad, widened into savannas, where 
 the dense foliage of the heights gave way to ranks 
 of cocoa palms, standing separate and stork-like, 
 their plumage ruffling in airs unfelt below. 
 
 Birds flashed from the green gloom of the forest 
 and wavered above the Rose. Their calls, quaint 
 and unfamiliar, broke gratefully on the silence. 
 Their numbers increased as the ship ran in closer to 
 a tree-screened bay, their shadows circling upon 
 the deck, while the Captain studied with keen 
 eyes the wild succession of mountain top and glade. 
 The roar of tumbling water came cool upon the 
 beating air, and died, a lost mirage of sound, as
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 27 
 
 the Araby Rose sheered off and set her sails once 
 more to catch the elusive breeze. 
 
 Still they moved idly westward upon the placid 
 sea, the airs that were abroad coming in soft and 
 vanishing puffs. Nor did the wind rise as the rain 
 descended, a straight and furious shower upon the 
 streaming planks. When the flood ceased, with- 
 out warning of slackening drops, they were abreast 
 a wooded height. At the water's edge gleamed 
 a narrow line that might be sand ; from it the cliff 
 rose, abrupt and fortress-like, an isolated headland 
 in the undulating coast. Looking up to find the 
 battlements, the lad wondered how the mantle of 
 heavy trees could cling upon the steep escarpment. 
 A scarlet-coated guard of sentinel flamingoes at 
 its foot gave loud-voiced warning of the approach. 
 A laughing gull answered with a derisive scream, 
 dipping to rest his wings upon the emerald sea. 
 
 The Rose had veered to the left, following the 
 outline of the promontory; the green crag ended 
 suddenly and the ship came, all in an instant's 
 gliding advance, upon a glimpse of land-locked 
 water. The sails moved upon her spars, and her 
 bow, turning slowly about, pointed toward the 
 dark, contracted channel into which the tide 
 rippled softly. Puzzled looks went from the nar- 
 row opening to the Captain's face. Heads wagged 
 in unspoken comment. But between the walls 
 of green towering on either side, the Rose took her 
 course with stately ease, clearing the gateway of 
 an unsuspected bay, and swerving without haste 
 or jar to safe mooring under the beetling cliff. 
 
 The pool where she floated was basined like a
 
 28 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 mountain lake; beyond, the waters shallowed to a 
 wide lagoon. Rough rejoicing woke upon her 
 decks; surprise subdued it to a busy alertness of 
 the sense. 
 
 As the anchor dropped, great crabs scuttled, 
 with a noise like the clatter of hoofs, across the 
 shaly beach, rustling out of sight with startled 
 speed. High above, in the dusk of the leaves, a 
 gaudy parrot swung dizzily. His shrill greeting 
 gave to the silent harbour a strongers pell of calm, 
 his excitement, resentful and amazed, making the 
 more profound its deep security. 
 
 Here a ship might lie hid from without until the 
 trees, grown old and rotted under their firm, en- 
 folding bark, crashed from their citadel into the 
 depths below. For the imposing headland over- 
 topped the tapered height of masts, and from its 
 inner side was scooped a great recess, so cleanly 
 curved it bent like a protecting arm behind its 
 deceptive front of mountainous bulwark impinging 
 on the sea. 
 
 The water was all a-glitter with the sun that 
 glinted gaily to the very entrance of caverns under 
 the impending rocks, caverns from whose darkness 
 a cold breath came like cellar damps upon the 
 quivering heat. Great roots sprawled from the 
 ledges above and twisted across the faces of the 
 caves a latticed screen. Tall shrubs leaned out 
 upon the rugged arches, clinging with ropy and 
 tenacious hold to unseen crevices. 
 
 As the hours grew late, clouds closed in again 
 across the blue. The tops of the distant moun- 
 tains, barely visible from the hidden Rose, disap-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 29 
 
 peared in the watery mist. A chill came out of the 
 forest, pleasant at first after the day's heat, but 
 growing damp and clammy with coming night. 
 Roger, lingering upon the poop, saw the world ex- 
 tinguished suddenly, and put out his hand as if the 
 blackness might be tangible. 
 
 In the forecastle the crew sang uproariously. 
 They were a crew of many nations but of a single 
 expression, savage and credulous. 
 
 Fangs, called also the Tusker and the Mole, 
 harangued them in the intervals of song. The 
 voyage had been long enough to fill the ears of all, 
 not only with what the wise Fangs knew but with 
 more that he imagined, long enough to weary the 
 men and whet their appetites for tales of mad ad- 
 venture. The land was welcome. Its shade 
 called to them after the burning days; its wildness 
 stirred the ferocity of their blood with vague hope 
 of change. Ignorant and dull of fancy, they had 
 had but blind scent of their quarry till Fangs had 
 shown the way. 
 
 " 'Twas 'ereabouts 'e came when King James 
 fitted 'im out, " he vouchsafed arrogantly. " Twas 
 treasure 'e was after then, and 'tis treasure 'e's 
 after now. " He swore unctuously and communed 
 with himself in contemptuous words. "Eighteen 
 guns 'e had an' ninety-five men and e' went back! " 
 The oracle paused, drawing his lips away from two 
 protruding teeth in a sneer not without malice. 
 
 "He had to go back," answered Gedge, who 
 shared with Fangs a half-emptied flagon. He, too, 
 garnished his speech with oaths but its flavor 
 lacked a virulence of blasphemy wherein his mate's
 
 30 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 excelled. "The King ain't sendin' ships to rot in 
 these here bays. He couldn't stay away cruisin' 
 forever, could he?" 
 
 "Wy not?" demanded the other, his little eyes 
 cunningly awatch. 
 
 " 'Cause he ain't no sech pillgarlic," answered the 
 Massachusetts man; but he drank sociably and 
 waited. Fangs was entertaining. 
 
 " 'E's simple, Gedge, that's w'at 'e is. There's 
 more treasure on the sea than in it ! " Fangs had 
 sunk his voice sibilantly. "Gold in plenty and 
 who was to know with the Spaniards a lawful 
 prize but a man might wait till Day o' Doom to 
 get rich under Captain Phips. 'E's simple, I tell 
 ye." 
 
 The yellow glim of forecastle lanterns made a 
 bright space on the forward deck. A warmer glow 
 struck upward through the skylight of the Cap- 
 tain's cabin. Roger looked away from the familiar 
 shadows of the Rose into the velvet dark that 
 pressed upon him with strange hypnotic touch. 
 The ballad of Skipper Joe rolled sleepily from the 
 bows. Had any of the crew once sailed these seas 
 in lawless freedom? The lad remembered the 
 light of recognition that had shown in the eyes not 
 of Fangs alone during these last days of cautious 
 threading of the island straits. Did the sight of 
 this sheltered bay, the caves, the uninhabited 
 jungle, bring back to them fierce longings and 
 brutal recollections? Was it for that Captain 
 Phips had set the men to harder toil, exacting a 
 busy service which made sleep more welcome than 
 much idle talk?
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 31 
 
 While he wondered, his face set toward the in- 
 visible waters and the vanished shore, a breath 
 stirred upon the wide lagoon. Above the silent 
 thrilling of the waves a luminous whiteness broke 
 in shifting gleams. From the bank an answering 
 whiteness, of opening blossoms, shone in a dim 
 splendour against the blackness of the slope. Their 
 fragrance, half guessed within the thousand per- 
 fumes of the night, ambrosial, aromatic, pierced 
 beyond the senses and woke the soul to dreams of 
 mystery and conquest wide and resistless as the 
 inflowing sea. 
 
 A forest wind, damp with unwholesome dews, 
 cold with the chill of caverns, blew upon them as 
 they slept. Before its influence was spent and the 
 morning laid hot hands on bodies sunk in its cool 
 relief, the tender was lowered from the side of the 
 Araby Rose and loaded carefully. Roger's heart, 
 that had been weighted with apprehension lest he 
 be left behind, beat with a cheerful zeal as they 
 shoved off from the ship's side, a ghostly com- 
 pany in the uncertain dusk. 
 
 The sailors swayed dully with the swinging 
 blades, as if sleep held them yet. In the stern the 
 Captain steered in silence. Midway of the lagoon 
 a force invisible balked their listless oars. Strain 
 ing harder against an unseen enemy, they crept, 
 scarce sure of motion, on the flood. The thwarting 
 force increased; but the small craft jerked and 
 heaved unsteadily forward, responding to a stouter 
 stroke. 
 
 As they drew out from the heavy shadow of the 
 precipice the dim wall of trees upon the farther
 
 32 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 shore grew clear. The stars, plain but an instant 
 gone, were lost in day. Orange and crimson light 
 shown upon the sky, a green streak banded across 
 the red and reflected in the dark waters brighter 
 than the inverted image of the wood. 
 
 The colours paled swiftly through hints of rose and 
 amethyst, blending all at once into a white and 
 indistinguishable glow. Near the anchorage of 
 the Rose a tide-washed rim of whitened rock 
 divided the agate waters from the land, but on the 
 side which they approached no land was visible. 
 Rank growths crowded into the waves; great 
 trunks, decayed and broken, leaned from the 
 tangle, slipping to their fall. Dead leaves, and 
 blossoms matted in the slime, sent up a visible 
 reek from caves and weltering pools. Insects 
 glinting with gold and silver swam where the black 
 flood was blackest. Here and there the earth had 
 sunk away from the roots of some high-towering 
 palm and left it solitary, the eddies swirling between 
 it and the forsaken bank. 
 
 Rowing became easier, but the force that bore 
 them back dragged still upon their progress and 
 the sailors peered with suspicious eyes into the" 
 changing colors beneath the boat. Suddenly the 
 shore was gone. They had passed the point of 
 land that concealed the opening, and, where all 
 had been a thick and hopeless jungle, an inlet 
 showed. Into it they swung, pulling between 
 tall, pillared groves till as they went it was clear 
 the inlet was a river. The dragging mystery was 
 explained. They had crossed a battleground 
 where the stream contended with the flooding tide.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 33 
 
 The point of land was but a river bar, a natural 
 breakwater reared against the determined sea. 
 Beyond it the waters broadened. Along the margin 
 mammoth fern fronds waved above lush weeds 
 and reedy grasses, some erect and shaken lightly 
 as the salty waves moved shoreward among the 
 thick grown stalks, some flat where the tide's turn 
 had set the current racing for the bay. 
 
 Mighty lianas clambering upward mounted in 
 loose-twisted coils, hiding smooth-columned trunks 
 and drooping in huge festoons wherever their 
 swinging wreaths found room. High above a 
 labyrinth of vine-fettered stems and strange- 
 leaved branches tipped with yellow flame of flower 
 sprays, the New England lad could see the brave 
 mahogany and the monstrous satinwoods that 
 lifted their heads into the very sheen and dazzle of 
 the sky. 
 
 At the edge of the marsh a solemn bird stood 
 motionless. A young pelican, dull-brown and 
 sombre in the glitter of the day, swooped suddenly 
 to dart its bill beneath the flood, taking swift 
 tribute of a life as strange and various as the 
 flowers upon the banks. Roger looked down 
 among the darting shoals and watched the changes, 
 gay-hued and multiform, beneath the oars. 
 
 The atmosphere was full of heated moisture, a 
 suffocating blanket through which to draw the 
 breath. Horny backs blistered in the increasing 
 glow. Once a sun-dried island blocked their path, 
 a mound of cracking mud raised in mid-stream 
 and held by crawling mangroves that dropped long 
 tentacles to find a wider grasp upon the sediment
 
 34 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 and reached tarantula claws on every side to clamp 
 and keep what was already gained. 
 
 As the flow of the stream overcame the tide's 
 advance the river narrowed and deepened. Strange 
 blossoms and fruits of poisonous lustre spilled 
 everywhere a powerful perfume. Butterflies, scar- 
 let and green and glossy black, spotted with 
 tawny and gold, came into the open space where 
 the sunlight invited, and fluttered their great soft 
 wings, undulating in a dreamy trance beneath the 
 intoxicating shine. 
 
 Then the straight-shafted trees spread the lofty 
 shelter of their tops, a high arcade, across a dusky 
 waterway. The shower of vines dripping from the 
 arch softened the blaze beyond, and from the 
 dappled shade that marked the tunnel's mouth 
 even to the farthest palm that brushed the un- 
 shadowed heavens a tender distance gave an un- 
 real glamour to the. scene. 
 
 The birds that piped and called in the impassable 
 thicket seemed far away. The parrokeets that 
 flew high overhead, the monkeys that splashed 
 the water with hard green balls and fled with gay 
 and chattering laughter out of sight, the stillness 
 that brooded where the place grew darkest, were 
 a phantasy of sound and silence. And when they 
 floated forth into the garish light, their eyes were 
 dazed and smarting, and a million imps bestrode 
 the dancing atoms of the heat. 
 
 The signs of swampiness were gone. The con- 
 fining outline of the stream grew more irregular, 
 jutting here and there in hilly capes and odd 
 peninsulas, where the earth, crumbling about the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 35 
 
 edge, showed red and brown, a cleaner mould than 
 the black soil of the coast. Wild orange trees 
 caught the shine on glossy boughs thrust outward 
 to the light; long, sparkling leaves of ginger root 
 pushed like bent swords through netted shrub and 
 bush. Star- apple and magnolia, wild plum and 
 pepper plant, strove with a myriad growths un- 
 named for air and light, demanding space to live. 
 
 Roger kept the measure of the dipping oars un- 
 heeding what he did. The shore drew him with 
 the power of the unknown. The odour of the forest, 
 full-breathed and lusty fragrance of an ever-bloom- 
 ing land, was filled with untried potencies. Every 
 leaf, spread like a giant fan, thrilled him with ex- 
 travagant content. 
 
 Vague, premonitory whiffs of the ocean breeze 
 had overtaken the plodding tender. As they 
 turned a bend that sent them toward the moun- 
 tain, a cool shower of air passed over them, and 
 the feathery bamboos laid spray to spray bowing 
 inland before the wind. 
 
 Beyond a shaded cove made by its own en- 
 croaching on the stream, a hillock pushed its way 
 into the current. Behind it the bank sloped up- 
 ward, an abrupt ascent. Here Captain Phips 
 steered the boat to land, brushing great lily pads 
 that pressed him back from shore. 
 
 The shade was grateful, but it held a swarm of 
 tiny flies that settled greedily on steaming bodies. 
 The breeze had died again, and a basking crocodile, 
 wriggling with a lumpish splash into the water, 
 drifted leisurely down stream and out of sight. 
 
 Roger watched the vigorous figure of the Captain
 
 36 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 as it hacked a passage through the living barrier 
 and disappeared behind the matted hedge of brake 
 and prickly shrub; then he looked upward, gazing 
 into impending boughs so interlaced they seemed 
 to bear red bloom and lilac, wide cups of dim ver- 
 milion and purple corymbs, on the self -same stem. 
 
 "Ashore with ye! Quick there and bring the 
 tools. " 
 
 It was the Captain's shout. The men answered 
 with a joyous yell, tumbling into the breach in the 
 thorny wall with scrambling haste. The deserted 
 boat tugged at a leaning tree, turning slowly from 
 side to side among the lily pads. 
 
 Roger, swifter than the rest, came first upon 
 their leader, mounted to the highest point of the 
 mound and cutting relentlessly at the side of his 
 green cave, where half the breadth of a mammoth 
 trunk was already exposed. 
 
 " 'Tis this fellow we want. To work, lads ! 
 Clear the place!" The command came with a 
 resonant cadence; satisfaction sounded in the 
 voice. 
 
 Disappointment, an angry chagrin, showed in 
 the scowling faces of the men. Roger glanced 
 from one to another and set himself briskly at the 
 distruction of the tangle. How much did they 
 guess? Had they expected to be led to a pirate 
 hoard here in the woods ? The grumbling was not 
 loud; the Captain's ears were keen. With the 
 word the jungle was falling under a sharp assault. 
 Knives and axes struck ravenously, and opening 
 after opening appeared where the solid barricade 
 was hewn away.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 37 
 
 Tom the carpenter, whose face alone looked 
 cheerful, was set with Gedge to enlarge the space 
 about the Captain's prize. 
 
 Vine strands, fine and tenacious as spun wire, 
 dulled their steel; a milky weed left white and 
 swollen blotches on hands and arms; now and then 
 resounded within the wood a noise like pistol shots, 
 the bursting of the sandbox pods loosed by the 
 vibration of the onslaught. 
 
 Tom the carpenter and the garrulous Gedge 
 had made themselves a chamber wherein an axe 
 could swing in full curve to the stroke. Now their 
 blows echoed in alternate rhythm upon the solid 
 girth whose leafy top was hid above the spread of 
 foliage nearer to the ground. 
 
 "Yellow saunder, eh? Then 'tis a dugout he'll 
 be making. " Bill Sparhawk chuckled, cleaving 
 the jointed bamboo stalks, large as a man's arm, 
 that everywhere pierced their soft insistent way. 
 
 "Saunder!" The boatswain slashed scornfully 
 at the thorn bush. " 'Tis a cottonwood. Hear 
 that? 'Tis the cotton-tree plover." 
 
 Roger lifted his gaze to the wattled roof over 
 their heads, but the bird's protesting notes were 
 lost in invisible heights above. A soft steam rose 
 around them, water ran upon their bodies, dripped 
 into their eyes, trickled in tickling drops about 
 their ears. To the lad, strong in the vigour of de- 
 lighted youth, the exhaustion of the others ap- 
 peared a lazy affectation. 
 
 " 'Tis small matter if you call it saunder or cot- 
 ton tree, or candlewood for that ! 'Tis big enough 
 to make a boat, and a boat 'twill be, " persisted
 
 38 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Sparhawk, his gnarled features twisting with his 
 efforts as he stooped. "The tender's small, and 
 there's work to do where the Rose can't go among 
 the rocks eh, Roger?" he questioned slyly, peer- 
 ing up to the lad's face. 
 
 "Nay, Bill, 'tis my first voyage. I know not 
 these waters nor where a ship might go, " Roger 
 answered good-naturedly, betraying nothing. 
 
 Save for the long rest at midday, the work went 
 on till the sun was lost behind the trees. The hill- 
 side and a wide path through the swale beyond 
 were roughly cleared. From its cathedral height 
 the dark-crowned cottonwood had swung in a great 
 arc downward and stretched its mighty length 
 upon the skaken earth. 
 
 At the signal of the dawn Roger woke and 
 looked longingly at the river; but as he sluiced 
 the water over arms and face, the fishes that nibbled 
 at his submerged hands gave him a curious feeling 
 of numbness and distress. Without reluctance 
 he turned back to the work upon the clearing. 
 
 The camp was again busy at its toil. The 
 twisted branches of the fallen tree were chopped 
 and sawn away till the monstrous log could 
 rest close along the uneven earth. Lesser boughs, 
 cut to the length of torches, were stripped and set 
 to dry in the hot sun. Tom the carpenter and 
 Gedge, half way between the severed base and 
 the first outreaching limbs, struck again with 
 strokes that came like clock beats in regular itera- 
 tion. 
 
 From a spring high up among a tumbled mass 
 of grass-grown rocks, Roger brought water tinged
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 39 
 
 with red ochre and warm as fresh-drawn milk, and 
 dashed it with New England rum. The men drank 
 eagerly the mild dilution, and steaming, went 
 again to work, cursing the sand fleas and the sting- 
 ing flies, and scowling vengefully upon the prostrate 
 trunk. 
 
 Discontent burned hotter than the heat in the 
 little eyes of Fangs. 
 
 "We didn't ship for woodchoppers, " he snarled 
 at Gedge. 
 
 "Ye shipped to obey orders." The Captain's 
 tone fell on the grumbling as a foot would crush a 
 crawling moth. 
 
 " 'Tis this here hellish heat, sir, " volunteered 
 Gedge, brushing the perspiration from his lids. 
 " 'Tain't the work. " 
 
 " The heat ! Are ye a set of sickly infants to cry 
 out at a little heat ! " The Captain drove his sharp 
 adze along the upper side of the log, planing the 
 soft wood with a dextrous motion. "Be thankful, 
 Gedge " he fixed his eyes upon the garrulous sailor 
 "that thou'rt not cutting lumber in the snows ! 
 There's a fine periagua hid within this bark. If 
 
 it's sailing ye want, my men " He swept a 
 
 glance up and down the listening group " 'tis 
 this boat will take us where we're going. The 
 sooner 'tis done, the sooner we're there. " 
 
 The crew shook off the stifling oppression of the 
 air as if someone had loosed them from confining 
 bonds, and bent to their work, digging out the 
 white fibre with better speed. 
 
 "Heat! Poor weaklings! If ye'd ever frozen 
 in the woods of the Kennebec with a gale off the
 
 40 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 sea driving the sleet in your faces, and your hands 
 cracked and bleeding from the frost till they were 
 numb upon the axe, then ye'd not curse the heat. 
 When I was a lad I stored up cold enough to last 
 a lifetime. " 
 
 " Hell's own country, be that north coast of 
 Massachuset colony!" Gedge put in with a swag- 
 gering air of knowledge. "Cold and salvages and 
 no chance for anything but to starve and die. " 
 
 "Thou'rt wrong, Gedge. " The Captain's strokes 
 did not cease upon the wood. " 'Tis a hard life 
 and a perilous, but a man hath a chance. Give 
 me the new world. 'Twas there I learned what 
 brought me where I am. Thou shouldst have 
 lived at Pemaquid with my mother. " His lips 
 closed upon each other firmly, and he nodded an 
 emphatic assent to his own words. "Here, thou 
 villain art gouging like a child. Slant thy knife ; 
 cut not so straight upon the grain and keep 
 within the line. " 
 
 Fangs obeyed with startled alacrity, the fire be- 
 neath his lowering brows unsmothered. 
 
 Tom the carpenter grappled a black box out of 
 his short leather breeches and dusted snuff liberally 
 about his wide nostrils. 
 
 " Tis a clean life with good smells, " he said, 
 shoving the box among the stored treasures of his 
 pocket. "I've heard say there's virtue in the fir 
 trees makes a man longlived. " 
 
 "Aye," answered the Captain heartily, "balsam 
 and bayberry make a savoury odour, and rocks, and 
 the sheep, and winds and sun, be decent company. 
 And when he digs and sows, a lad sees more than
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 41 
 
 maize and hemp and pompion seeds he sees his 
 future marks out a trail to follow. " 
 
 The work was going on apace. The humid air 
 had become vital with a tingling vigor. The Cap- 
 tain marched from end to end of the boat-length 
 he had apportioned, and his hand here, his voice 
 there, sped the task. Something in himself had set 
 the pitch for effort. The thought of snows blown 
 in whistling winter storms and heaped upon the 
 hills of Pemaquid cooled their glowing bodies and 
 loosened the dryness of their throats. 
 
 "A man may be what he will in the new world; 
 'twas thus my mother taught us. " Captain Phips 
 still spoke, his voice galvanizing laggard muscles 
 to renewed exertion. "Not that saying a worm's 
 a silken purse can make it so, " he added with a 
 twinkle in the shrewd blue eyes, "but there's much 
 silk raw and uncombed may yet be carded and 
 spun. " 
 
 Gedge tucked a folded tobacco leaf within his 
 cheek. 
 
 "Be there periaguas, sir, upon the Kennebec?" 
 he asked respectfully. 
 
 "Aye, but they call them gundalows, " the 
 carpenter put in knowingly. " 'Tis an Eyetalian 
 name, though Manuel says it otherwise. " 
 
 " 'Twas not by making dugouts on the Kennebec 
 I served my prenticeship for this periagua ! " The 
 Captain straightened himself to watch the cutting 
 at the far end of the log. " 'Twas a trade learned 
 by a winter fire when I cut trenchers of the maple 
 wood to hold my meat and porridge. " He smiled 
 as his glance came back along the line. "Here,
 
 42 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Fangs, man, drink thyself and give thy mates the 
 pannikin. Wast ever caught by Indians ? Thou 
 hast the look of one the savages have tortured. 
 Ease off there and man the water keg. Thou art 
 no carpenter. Tom will be best without thee. " 
 
 A fury of remembrance convulsed the fellow's 
 evil face. Venom gathered in the little eyes; he 
 seemed to shrivel with an inward heat of dull 
 malignance. 
 
 When the noonday hour released them, axes 
 dropped, tossed in a ringing heap, and the men 
 slept like children, waking only to eat and straight- 
 way fall again into the prone slumber of forgetful- 
 ness. 
 
 Roger, lying still inert after the first weight of 
 sleep was gone, saw dreamily, between lids half 
 unclosed, the Captain busy about the giant log. A 
 lizard darted like a tiny flame around the buttressed 
 stem of a strange tree, repeating in his slender 
 length the gorgeous coloring of lilies seen beside 
 the spring. A snuffling near at hand widened the 
 space between the drowsy lids; an investigating 
 snout, with bright eyes set above, poked from a 
 little copse of weeds whose leaves had closed in 
 quivering haste. The lad half stirred. The little 
 beast took warning, rolled himself into a scaly, 
 armored ball, and Roger strove to wake and see if 
 this quaint transformation were a dream, but the 
 lids fell fast together, pressed down by healthful 
 weariness, and when the big voice of the Captain 
 roused them cheerfully, he looked about him 
 wondering where he was. 
 
 In the afternoon Tom was set to direct the work,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 43 
 
 and Captain Phips, taking Fangs and two others of 
 the weakest, departed in the tender. Before sun- 
 down, Maccartey was with them, coming up from 
 the stream in a drenching downpour, with the 
 water running in small rivers from his curling 
 length of hair. The men had stripped, and 
 lounged on moss and stumps outside the umbrella- 
 like shelter of the trees, while the warm flood 
 poured gratefully upon their burned and thirsty 
 skins. 
 
 As the shower ceased, everywhere could be 
 heard a running of quick rills. Each leaf that 
 stirred emptied its verdant cup in a little flood, 
 and the brook, the river's tributary, that had been 
 shrunk to a mere creeping line between its parching 
 banks, rose till the yellow grasses dipped in its 
 tumbling waves. 
 
 Maccartey gazed with amiable curiosity upon 
 the group and turned an interested face to Roger. 
 
 "Troth, lad, is it white monkeys thou hast here, 
 come down from the branches to cavort with us? 
 Here now, make haste. " He set his look once 
 more upon the men. "Into your clothes there. 
 Tom, I'm ashamed of ye, settin' out here like an 
 old baboon in the face o' the day !" 
 
 The rowers fastening the tender to the bank 
 below laughed loudly. 
 
 Dressing was scarce a task, but Gedge was fain 
 to find it burdensome. As he covered from sight 
 the blue tatooings on his roughened skin, he re- 
 sumed the grumblings of the absent Fangs, ridding 
 himself with an angry jerk of a striped spider en- 
 sconced upon a fold.
 
 44 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 His mutterings grew crosser while he searched 
 for the spider's mate, and "tyranny" and "slaves" 
 sounded often in his scolding monologue. Once 
 he halted, eying Roger with bitter indignation, 
 disdaining the fineness of the sunburned skin upon 
 the bared arms. The lad was straight and 
 supple, wholesome and good to see, firmly built 
 with strength of sinews and elastic youth; but 
 Gedge was in an evil mood. 
 
 "Work! 'Tis simple talk for them to speak of 
 work who take or leave it as they will ! What 
 does Roger know of work who's got a fortune 
 waiting for him when he will and Captain Phips, 
 who's he to talk of work? What's a captain's 
 work ! " 
 
 The sailors restored to half-clad comfort and less 
 fear of poisonous insects, lounged again, rummag- 
 ing their pockets for tobacco and small hoards of 
 snuff. 
 
 Maccartey had poured a quantity of the broken 
 leaf from a cormorant pouch into the palm of his 
 hand. He packed his pipe bowl slowly, disre- 
 garding the grumbler, and labored in vain to strike 
 a spark with flint and tinder from his box. Sud- 
 denly he paused. 
 
 " Hold thy peace, Silas Gedge, or I'll duck thee 
 thrice running and choke the spleen from out thy 
 greedy crop. Work ! 'Tis Captain Phips knows 
 all there is to know of work none other better. 
 
 Which of ye now " He let his eyes wander 
 
 about the circle, gathering up the attention of each 
 man. "Which of ye now," he repeated, "ever 
 fought with half the odds he's had to face !"
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 45 
 
 "There 'tis; the luck's with him." Gedge had 
 dropped on the slope, drained almost dry already 
 where the hot soil shed the moisture. "Luck's 
 with him, " he said the second time, with more 
 philosophy, spinning a Portuguese coin worn thin 
 with use. " 'Tis an easy job being captain and 
 setting others to do the tasks. " 
 
 Bill Sparhawk, twisted like a withered cactus 
 stalk, drank and chewed and placidly arranged a 
 pack of cards to dry upon a stump. He turned as 
 Maccartey answered, the knave of hearts for- 
 lornly damp between his thumb and finger, and 
 looked up to where the mate was seated on the 
 mighty frustum of the cotton wood. 
 
 The spark had come at last and Maccartey drew 
 with solemn content the first puffs of the strong- 
 flavored smoke. 
 
 "Easy work!" He quoted the words of Gedge 
 with scornful deliberation. "Easy work ye think 
 it ! And easy work it may be for an ignorant, 
 barefooted shepherd to make himself commander 
 of a King's ship and the friend and crony of great 
 dukes with private audience of the King himself." 
 
 "How is't ye know that?" asked Sparhawk. 
 "Are ye from the colonies? By y'r name ye 
 should be out of Ireland or " 
 
 ' ' Ireland and Scotland and a grandfather from 
 York that went to Boston when I was a dimpled 
 thing in arms. " Maccartey sucked upon his pipe, 
 his gaze quizzically upon the knave of hearts. 
 Laughter broke again upon the stillness. Roger's 
 eyes twinkled, regarding the tough frame of the 
 first officer of the Rose.
 
 46 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 ' 'Tis from himself I'd some of it, " Maccartey 
 went on, "and more from Jotham Blaize, who 
 came from Pemaquid where was the Captain's 
 home. " 
 
 The men settled to hear, childishly ready for a 
 tale. 
 
 'Twas a handful of men came out of Bristol 
 and landed beyond the furthermost settlements. 
 Many died there that had not died of a pest upon 
 the voyage. The Captain's father, a gunsmith he 
 was in Bristol and a poor man as any, lived not 
 long after. So were left but the goodwife and a 
 monstrous family of children like to starve. Wast 
 ever in Pemaquid, Silas Gedge?" 
 
 "Not I. Was washed ashore one summer time 
 by Wells. 'Twas a place wild enough for me 
 and in great fear of salvages. " 
 
 "Wells hath communication with the towns, but 
 Pemaquid 'twas most like a forgotten isle. The 
 Captain was a little lad amongst the youngest 
 but 'tis said he cheered them and told his mother 
 'I will grow up and build a mansion for ye all,' 
 so that his brothers laughed and were heartened 
 by his pluck. Faith, I can see the little chap, half 
 frozen and half fed, and game for anything. " 
 Maccartey sat erect, the smoke curling from the 
 pipe in his hand to trail in a soft cloud toward the 
 stream. 
 
 The men nodded. 
 
 'Twas a life to make or kill him herding 
 his sheep among the rocks and by the woods 
 in danger ever of wolves and Indians till he 
 was come as old as Roger here, with more wolf
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 47 
 
 skins than learning to show for trophy ! And 
 never change nor any to give him hope of change. 
 When he would say, 'I shall not always stay in 
 Pemaquid,' the settlers laughed. And when, at 
 last, he 'prenticed himself to a ship carpenter, 
 they laughed again to see the lad ambitious only 
 his mother would not say him nay. 'Twas a 
 'mazing large family. A score of brothers he 
 had, and sisters besides and the oldest of all, 
 that were men grown, left behind in England ! 
 'Twas a brave woman I'm thinkin' brought all 
 those children into the world, and with babies in 
 her arms came to the wilderness where there was not 
 so much as a corn blade for food and naught but 
 water to drink, and kept a stout cheer for rough 
 weather and mild. God 'twas a wonder ! She 
 died in Pemaquid. 'Tis a grief to the Captain she 
 never saw the mansion he had promised her. He 
 was but a ship carpenter then but 'twas in him 
 to be more. " 
 
 " Twas luck," Gedge murmured obstinately. 
 
 'Twas luck that made him rise." 
 
 " 'Twas work an' brains at the back of it, ye 
 blitherin' fool ! How many of ye " Maccartey's 
 voice hurled the question at them with rampant 
 energy "would have left the sheep he'd tended 
 till none believed he could do better, and learnt a 
 trade? And which one of ye, a man grown that 
 couldn't spell his name, would ha' gone to Boston 
 where the ignorant be most despised, an' carried 
 himself so none could scoff ! 'Twas there first he 
 learned to read and write, though he was brave of 
 manner and withal so gentle, he was sought of them
 
 48 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 that knew good wine from cheap. And so it came 
 he married a gentlewoman who thinks no other 
 man be good enough to shine his buckles. " 
 
 "An" I could stay at home and stuff my carcass 
 from a silver trencher I'd work no more!" Bill 
 Sparhawk had dried his cards and shuffled them 
 now together with a shake of the head that resigned 
 a hopeless puzzle. 
 
 "While there's work to be done Captain Phips 
 '11 take no ease, " Maccartey answered shortly. 
 
 Roger watched the fire that burned ill and 
 said but little. He was far from the island camp, 
 his thoughts now in Boston, now in Pemaquid. 
 Once a great snake swung from a branch and de- 
 voured some crumbs left from a sailor's meal, then 
 coiled away out of sight. He did not stir nor 
 give it heed. "The snakes have no poison," 
 Captain Phips had said and he believed im- 
 plicitly. Gedge had not believed, but killed the 
 first he saw with frightened haste. To the others, 
 despite of grumbling and distaste for toil, the 
 Captain's words sufficed. What he said partook 
 of the potency of that they called his "luck." 
 Nor did they put great faith in tales of youthful 
 poverty. Every man knew that there were poor 
 and there were rich, just as there were ants and 
 there were dragon-flies. How could you make one 
 of the other? 
 
 Talk went on in a vein less hard for the credulity. 
 Pirate tales, more smartly seasoned for monotony 
 than Maccartey's yarn, were flung out with lush 
 profanity. 
 
 "Aye the 'Lady' they called him. He stuck
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 49 
 
 at nothing. " Gedge raised his voice to match his 
 hideous climax. " He drove them 'neath the lash 
 to bear their treasure and stow it on his ship, and 
 then he cut them up and fed them to his dogs. " 
 
 Roger heard little of what went on about him 
 save for an occasional outburst of shout or song. 
 The Boston-bred lad, worshipping afar, and now 
 brought within the magnetic radius of his hero's 
 presence, had never before realized that hero's 
 humble origin. Was it true that the New World 
 meant freedom for a man to rise above the station 
 where Providence had set his lot? A strange 
 thought, startling to the boy, but appealing with 
 the thrill of inspiration to that sense of justice, 
 already the strongest impulse of a many-sided 
 nature. 
 
 But chiefly his imagination dwelt among the 
 pines and hemlocks of the rocky shore of Pem- 
 aquid, following the boyhood of another lad whose 
 schoolmaster had been hardship and whose patience 
 had been gained among the stupid flocks and in 
 the watchful hours of Indian warfare, and the 
 unmoved endurance of incredulous jeers. How 
 many years, beneath the cold stars and the colder 
 moon, through seed-time and scanty harvest, the 
 rage of winter and the summer's drouth, he must 
 have looked off to the unquiet sea, biding his 
 chance, a clamouring force within him quickening 
 his blood even amidst the gentle breathing of the 
 huddled sheep ! 
 
 The picture did not fade as the weeks came one 
 upon the other, bringing the end of their persistent 
 toil. Captain Phips had an added power in the
 
 5 o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 lad's eyes that saw the strength of his achieve- 
 ment. The periagua grew slowly under the shap- 
 ing hands. It was the Captain himself who 
 worked hardest and longest, although the slow 
 fever born of the nights alternately parched and 
 chilled him, biting at his muscles in vindictive 
 nips of pain. Among the men, he portioned out 
 the bitter Jesuit's bark, watching each dose con- 
 sumed, and letting none suspect how sorely the 
 disease laid hold on his stout frame. 
 
 Roger was often at the ship, a trusty messenger 
 between Maccartey and the camp. Of the loutish 
 Jacob Munch he saw but little, the two lads chang- 
 ing places with the change of leader on the boat. 
 
 Hunting parties scoured the jungle toward the 
 summit of the spurs, and Roger grew inured to 
 strangeness, where all was strange. The tops 
 of even the nearest hills were inaccessible. Great 
 forests of ferns made a soft and hopeless barrier, 
 and left no peak exposed whence could be had a 
 view. In the compact enclosure of the woods, the 
 rankness of the land's fertility oppressed him to a 
 kind of suffocation, the sun that worked this 
 miracle of increase fermenting in its turn a quick 
 decay. Beneath the mossy shade, a subterranean 
 fauna seemed to glide and crawl. The horde of 
 parasitic growths, a newly sprouting plant from 
 every shoot or twig, each tiniest thing another's 
 feeding ground, multiplied in grotesque mysteries ; 
 great ant hills heaped from powdery dust of 
 lichened vines and fleshy orchid leaves, were am- 
 bush of an implacable and murderous foe; hollows 
 in dank obscurity let the steps plunge in tree
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM SI 
 
 trunks dead and fungus-clothed, and stir a uni- 
 verse of harboring life to fierce activity. Great 
 nauseous flowers, like mottled faces of tree-dwell- 
 ing gnomes, swung down across his path and 
 thrust at him their scarlet tongues. Everywhere 
 the large abundance of the ungirdled earth gave 
 vague offence to senses too powerfully assailed. 
 
 But the exhilaration of battle with the wood, 
 the joy of exploration, kept alive the first delight. 
 Dark-shrouded grottoes in a mountain ledge, the 
 cheerful ruin of a Spanish house, the red scar of a 
 fire that burned and died in some dried upper 
 slope of distant mountain heights, these had a 
 charm that rivalled the dangers of the chase. 
 
 The Captain went rarely with the hunters, and 
 even in the midst of the rewarding barbecue his 
 eyes forsook the roasting boar to dwell with serious 
 calculation on their unfinished task. Often at the 
 last, while the sailors lay steeped in dull uncon- 
 sciousness, his thoughts, impatient, wrought upon 
 it ceaselessly, and he slept the vigilant slumber 
 of those whose nights deepen the responsibility 
 of the day. 
 
 It was a goodly craft. The rains had soaked it, 
 the sun dried and baked it, seasoning the whole; 
 the thwarts were smoothed and fitted to their 
 ledge; great- bladed oars were fashioned of a 
 harder wood, and still a new day saw new toil upon 
 the cumbrous boat. Yet in the end all was ac- 
 complished to the Captain's will and the "brave 
 periagua" crushed the lily pads and floated by 
 the tender on the current of the stream. 
 
 That night they feasted on the hill. All day
 
 52 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the tender had plied to and fro bearing water from 
 the spring to fill the casks upon the Rose. Now 
 with the companions of his task Roger rested in 
 the camp. 
 
 The feast was merry; far into the black hours 
 of the night laughter rose among the scattered 
 groups. Against the new obstruction to its flow 
 the river rippled with a pleasing murmur of sur- 
 prise. Torches of candle wood flamed upon the 
 darkness of the river, glowing beyond the vine- 
 laced boughs. Thick smoke went swirling into 
 space, mounting in slow spirals from the flares. 
 Through the current shining creatures rose to the 
 lure. The ripples flickered above sunken logs, 
 and dancing swarms of insects swam in nebulous 
 clusters within the light. 
 
 Roger gazed eager and speculative upon the 
 place where the periagua was moored within the 
 cove. Would the inert log that had been made a 
 thing to fetch and carry, obedient to the oar and 
 sail, yet bear loads of precious cargo to brim the 
 waiting coffers of the Rose? What would it be? 
 Jewels, the gems of Spanish donnas gleaming under 
 the sun for the first time after half a century of dull 
 oblivion? The shining altar vessels of some rav- 
 ished church of far-off Popish lands ? Strange coins 
 and curious fragments filched from other lives of 
 other days ? Or had the lost ship been a rightful 
 caravel, owned by honest merchants, carrying an 
 honest cargo of bullion, of proper golden coin or 
 heavy pieces of eight made fast in leathern bags ? 
 
 One by one the flares went out. In the creeping 
 chill of the lifeless dark the men wound their blankets
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 53 
 
 closer and huddled back to back for warmth. The 
 sentinel rekindled the sputtering embers of the 
 fire and hugged the smoky blaze. A cold steam 
 hovered above the slipping water, poured itself 
 over the opposite shore, and climbed stealthily 
 almost to Roger's feet. Great bats whirred above his 
 head. Out of the shadows, sunk to blacker night 
 after the torches' glare, he heard the raucous cry 
 of birds that hunted in the dark. As the fire sank, 
 unnoticed by the sleepy sentinel, into a dull shine 
 just strong enough itself to be discovered, he heard 
 the angry baying of wild dogs deep within the 
 forest. The trees dripped steadily ; now and then a 
 crash in the stillness set the hanging leaves astir 
 and big drops rained upon his face. 
 
 Still Roger thought of the periagua, and of Cap- 
 tain Phips guiding, controlling, mastering all these 
 savage forces in wood and stream and human 
 passions to serve the ends of high emprise. And 
 when he closed his eyes upon the sentinel and the 
 viewless dark, the heavy breathing of the men was 
 thunder of surf that broke upon low-lying reefs. 
 Through the pellucid depths he looked far down 
 and saw a world of glittering treasure, and in the 
 midst a Spaniard, guardian of the trove, who 
 slept upon his side, the golden fringes of his doublet 
 awash within the waves. Sighing for pleasure 
 of his dream, he woke, filling his lungs with a 
 long conscious breath. 
 
 Two eyes out of the dark yellow, glowing upon 
 his eyes that moved, then vanished, then came 
 again ! Nay, 'twas but the moonlight agleam 
 among the leaves that turned there and by their
 
 54 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 waving hid the shine. The air grew dimly bright- 
 er, then glimmered with the yellow of the palest 
 gold, the tree tops set vaguely, flat as pictures in 
 a book, against the coming light. The gleam 
 touched the gliding dark that was the river, then 
 widening, spread toward the shore whereon the 
 sleepers lay, illumining the boats, spilling along 
 the river's nearer edge, rising in the well of shad- 
 ow, till the moon sailing clear of the encircling 
 wall of trees looked down effulgent upon the 
 camp. 
 
 The sounds died away. Silence, stirred but 
 faintly in the deeper woods, came upon the cry ings 
 of the night. The river moved, a glassy stream, 
 all yellow radiance between its palely shining 
 banks. The breath of those who slept sank in 
 long sighs, exhaling softly. The mist clung in fine 
 spray on branch and drooping vine and the brave 
 periagua wrapped in its shimmering gold strained 
 more and more upon the flood. 
 
 Another dawn and the camp, the bays, the 
 shores of green Hispaniola were left behind. In 
 the abandoned camp the wild dogs battled; within 
 the bay the great crabs crawled in unmolested 
 peace; the shade of the crag with its tree-tops 
 nicked upon the blue fell into a silent pool, and tide 
 and current swirled unseen, contesting forever the 
 noiseless right of way. 
 
 The mountains faded to the dark irregular line, 
 became a dim cloud, and were gone. Far out of 
 sight of land, the Araby Rose was again the only 
 sail upon the waste. No isle rose to mark 
 the path, no rock, no sandy bar, lifted itself upon
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 55 
 
 the surface of the flood. The teeming life and 
 wood sounds of the shore changed for the strain of 
 silence and the weight of desolation ! The sky, 
 the sea, burned with one light, a white and fervid 
 glow. Upon the deck, shadows, sharp-edged as 
 those of an Italian noon, made shifting lines to 
 mark the glare. 
 
 The dark came suddenly, but no dew-laden wind 
 blew cool upon the Rose. Cautiously, circling in 
 the void, she waited for the moon; then blossom- 
 ing like a flower in all the yellow glory of the night, 
 she swam nearer and yet more near to where old 
 enemies of men and ships lay crouched beneath the 
 waves, holding in grim jaws the secret of their 
 quest.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 " FOR HELL AND THE LADY " 
 
 THE periagua lay pitching in a channel be- 
 tween two sunken reefs. On either side, 
 the water boiled noisily, frothing with im- 
 potent disgust at each obstruction and returning 
 with senseless persistence to the assault. 
 
 The men rested on their oars, sullen and without 
 speech. Roger tried to follow the vanished divers 
 hidden by the dull opaque of the waves, and 
 trails of foam splotched upon the surface mocked 
 the attempt. Half a league away, hovering in 
 the safety of the open, was the Araby Rose. The 
 same white glitter burned upon her sails ; the same 
 shining desolation stretched unbroken to the rim 
 of an empty world. Through sickness and re- 
 covery, seasons of toil and suffering idleness; 
 through days among the submerged rocks when 
 drags and iron grapples scorched the hand that 
 touched them, and days upon the Rose when the 
 lukewarm brine hissed upon shrunken planks and 
 steamed in new-washed scuppers, the men of the 
 Company's ship had faced the unwinking glare. 
 
 " 'Tis little the Duke of Albemarle and his 
 Treasure Company can know of what the Captain 
 hath to try him in this search, " Roger thought 
 often, seeing the dauntless and resourceful cheer 
 no hardship could abate. 
 
 The crew were troublesome, a treacherous mix- 
 
 56
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 57 
 
 ture of seditious blood. Those who had worked 
 upon the great periagua had been the indifferent 
 best of an untamed rabble. Only the Captain's 
 fear-naught government averted week by week 
 some grim catastrophe. Of all the horde none had 
 endured so well as those of the New World, sailors 
 from the colonies, and the Indian divers brought 
 from Jamaica for King James to see and rescued 
 from London by Captain Phips. Save in the bay 
 of Hispanolia, the red men had not even sickened; 
 unflinching, stoical, their silence rasped their fel- 
 lows like the changeless pressure of the heat. 
 
 While they dived, Maccartey stood scanning the 
 neighbouring reefs for his next move, and when the 
 Indians, their bodies shining from their hazardous 
 bath, tumbled lithely to place, he opened his mouth 
 to give an order. As the first syllable broke into 
 a violent exclamation, the crew looked up. 
 
 Sulky, angrily defiant, they followed the mate's 
 arrested gaze and their expression lightened. 
 Their bodies woke, electrified ; their hands laid hold 
 upon the oars with a lively grip. Tongues were 
 loosened and a babel rose to die upon the instant 
 into sharp exertion. 
 
 "A Spaniard!" 
 
 "A pirate!" 
 
 The mate shouted. The heavy boat plunged 
 forward. From the Araby Rose, far off across the 
 broken reefs, fluttered the signal of recall. 
 
 All the pent energy, fermented in long months 
 of disappointment, burst in Roger's stroke. Ex- 
 citement rioted in his veins, thrilled outward from 
 the quick and steady beating of his heart, to drive
 
 5 8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 faster, always faster, the blade against the resisting 
 wave. 
 
 With each swing of his body, the stranger, 
 brought into his field of vision, grew larger, more 
 threatening, against the sky. She was moving 
 with amazing speed straight toward a point that 
 divided the periagua from the Rose. Once cut off 
 from their ship, and, the lad knew, it would make 
 small difference Spaniard or pirate. The methods 
 of the privateer and of the rover were vastly similar. 
 
 The men strained harder at the bending wood. 
 The divers had seized the oars thrust into their 
 hands and sweat mingled with the sea water upon 
 their glistening backs. Alone of all the crew they 
 had shown neither surliness nor excitement, and 
 now they held to their work skilful, unflagging, 
 with faces whose fixity neither labor nor insult had 
 moved. 
 
 The sudden wind was capricious. The sail 
 availed them little. Through Roger's mind fan- 
 tastic thoughts made rapid procession, oftenest a 
 regret that so rare a race had no spectator but the 
 birds. He felt a dumb anger at Fangs, who 
 sucked the air hissingly through his protruding 
 teeth, weakening as he rowed. It was like him, 
 the lad felt, to have plenty of breath for grumbling 
 and none for work, failing at the very beginning 
 of the struggle. 
 
 Their ship was under way to meet them, her 
 sails filling. The light that came and went beneath 
 the new shadow of hurrying clouds showed her one 
 minute with wings grey and old, the next bright- 
 ening in a miracle of whiteness. A soft commotion
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 59 
 
 had risen in air and sky, hopeful foreboding of a 
 tropic shower. The stranger loomed momently 
 near, a larger ship than the Araby Rose, with a 
 glory of canvas crowning a mighty hull. To slip 
 past the bow of the enemy and make for the open 
 sea, that was the hope of the Rose. 
 
 "Were't not for us!" 
 
 Roger heard the mate's groan, heard an order 
 sharp and explosive. The periagua shipped the 
 seething crest of a wave. Maccartey pulled hard 
 upon the sheet and yelled as the men drove the 
 quivering wood through the green water. 
 
 His shouts put life into backs broken with des- 
 perate effort, and the Rose came down upon them 
 hardly faster than the periagua drove through the 
 fumbling waves. The stranger was moving with 
 still greater speed as the wind quickened into a 
 sharper gust. 
 
 The mate's voice bit and stung the panting 
 rowers to a new spasm of wrenching force. Fangs 
 toppled forward with blue lips whitening across a 
 gasping breath. Roger, sliding upon the thwart, 
 tore from the loosening hold the upraised oar lest 
 it trail upon the water, and pulled again with blind 
 frenzy as a lash struck across his back. 
 
 The lash was far more a symbol than a fact upon 
 the Araby Rose. It saved them now. Nerves 
 sensitive by long immunity woke to the cutting of 
 the thong. The arm of the mate was powerful; 
 not a blow was wasted. In the moment that 
 might have lost them all, he brought them with a 
 live leaping of the boat beyond the line of the 
 stranger's bow.
 
 60 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 As the men climbed and fell, were hauled, scram- 
 bling and exhausted, upon the deck, Roger saw 
 the black flag broken out at the masthead of the 
 foe. For the smaller vessel a stern chase was the 
 only safety, but to reach the open she must run 
 between the pirate and the Boilers, outmost and 
 worst of all the hidden reefs. 
 
 The spent crew drank thirstily, recovering as by 
 a prodigy, and sprang every man to his place. 
 Beneath the focussed energy of the Captain's look 
 the light of battle kindled; in his voice the joy of 
 action glowed and vibrated. The strength of his 
 colossal confidence entered into the ship. The 
 men forgot that the pirate was larger, better armed, 
 manned doubtless by twice their number. No 
 other Captain than William Phips ever went down 
 to the sea that could make of a motley like this 
 such seamen and such fighters. Roger saw and 
 felt it as the sails moved to the sound of the Cap- 
 tain's orders and the Araby Rose, leaving the drift- 
 ing periagua far behind, converged upon the point 
 of contest. 
 
 Second by second certainty was made more sure. 
 They could not evade the enemy's swiftly coming 
 prow. As well as the oldest sailor of them all, 
 Roger knew that their remaining hope was a man- 
 ful death. But like the others, eldest or youngest, 
 he kept steadfastly at his task, undismayed, con- 
 fident against reason, hearkening to the yoice of 
 the Captain. 
 
 Jacob Munch alone of all the ship's company was 
 unaffected by that voice. He was stationed with 
 Roger, serving the gunners, and he watched fur-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 61 
 
 tively an opportunity to slip away. Roger went 
 swiftly to and fro as the mate commanded, his 
 body tense with expectation, his heart swelling 
 against his breathing, his under consciousness 
 wandering on abstract errands that had to do with 
 peace and pleasant ways. In the intervals* he 
 knew the orders shouted, repeated above his head, 
 felt the jerk and recovery of the vessel in each 
 changed direction, listened to the protesting of the 
 planks straining upon one another, and wondered 
 vaguely why he was set to so mechanical a labour, 
 never suspecting the Captain of softness in the 
 choice of this better shelter of the gun deck. 
 
 As the first noise of the conflict broke horridly 
 on the air he seemed to hear the sounds of the same 
 hour at home, the lowing of cattle in the lane, the 
 twitter of swallows by the eaves. Drawing nearer, 
 he waited alert and ready behind the mate. 
 
 The pirate's aim was good. There came to the 
 ears a cracking of light timbers and the sudden plop 
 into the spouting water beyond the Rose. 
 
 "Missed the mainmast," he heard Maccartey 
 mutter. 
 
 A shout from above. The smell of gunpowder 
 rank in the air. Around him answer and response, 
 continuous, ominous, antiphonal roar of battle, 
 began and mounted till the rage of men's voices 
 could be heard across the narrowing water. Then 
 and till the end Roger heard as if the contest were 
 the dream, the vision of home the reality. The 
 double consciousness sharpened rather than dulled 
 his vigilance. 
 
 The Captain's shout came down to him: " 'Tis
 
 62 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the Walrus ! 'Tis the ship of Anthony Blount the 
 devils have ! " and the howl of the New England 
 men that answered it. 
 
 The mate was giving shot for shot, taking the 
 pirate twice 'twixt wind and water in wounds that 
 were patched up promptly with skilled hands. 
 
 "Get above, Jacob Munch, and bring me word, " 
 yelled the mate. 
 
 The slouching figure, already deserting the guns, 
 hesitated, reluctant. Maccartey saw without turn- 
 ing, and with an oath changed the order. 
 
 "No: come ye here where I can watch ye. Go 
 you, Roger. 'Tis the yard arm and short shrift 
 ye'll get, " he added savagely to the shaking Jacob. 
 "Quick there, ye whelp ! " He worked as he spoke, 
 and as he finished, his weapon belched its contents, 
 straining in its terrific recoil. 
 "Aim for her masts !" 
 
 The loud command, the shuffling of feet, the 
 splutter of the gunner's coals, the whistling breath 
 from the torn throat of a wounded man, gleams of 
 fire and the reverberation of the guns, the crash 
 and jar or groan of racked and splintered timbers, 
 the feel of a helpless body stumbled over in the 
 murk, all wrote themselves at once and for always 
 in the lad's brain, each separate sound or sight or 
 touch distinct as graven lines, yet all one shock of 
 clamorous, Heaven-defying madness. 
 
 The order carried without a trumpet. The 
 Walrus had sheered on her course, standing down 
 at right angles to ram the weaker vessel. A rend- 
 ing of wood and the smell of burning on the Araby 
 Rose ! No man looked behind at his own disaster
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 63 
 
 but set his eyes to sight the heavy sticks of the 
 enemy. Thick smoke spread from the plunging 
 side of the Rose and swept upward to mingle in a 
 single cloud with the dusk and vapour of the pirate's 
 guns. Through a rift in its blackness Roger saw 
 that a mass of her upper rigging had fallen her 
 sentient obedience gone at the very moment when 
 she was ready for the blow. As she swerved 
 obliquely to the impact, then swung broadside on, 
 the Rose lay fatally open to her fire. 
 
 The voice of Captain Phips rose clearer, nerving 
 the brain that heard, the arm that executed. 
 Roger had made his report swiftly and returned as 
 his own ship yielded to her sails and drew square 
 across the pirate's deflected bow. The fire of the 
 Walrus had come too late to be deadly. The Rose, 
 scarred and torn, was yet not crippled. The volley 
 aimed at her vitals had cleared her as she came 
 about. The sea leaped angrily, spitting under the 
 plunging balls. 
 
 Now at the word the side of the smaller ship 
 opened in simultaneous flower, deadly bright and 
 thunder followed the flame. The enemy was sunk 
 in the hollow of the waves, the Rose borne upward 
 on the swell for which she had waited, and this 
 grim reprisal harrowed the deck of the Walrus, 
 shredding it in maimed and broken fragments of 
 men. 
 
 The wind was fitful, the setting sun withdrawn 
 under clouds. Beyond them rain was falling, beat- 
 ing the sea smoother where the shower had struck. 
 The air blackened momently, and the smoke, 
 noisome with the smell of death, hung low, belly-
 
 64 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 ing about the baffled Walrus and for a little 
 covering the Rose with impenetrable shade. 
 
 Had the enemy but been wholly disabled the Ara- 
 by Rose might have kept straight onward leaving 
 the pirate to wallow in her own defeat. Even so the 
 treasure hunt had been in danger from a doubly 
 enraged foe. But the buccaneer was crippled only 
 for the moment ; her fallen hamper but temporarily 
 hindered the helm. Escape from the larger ship 
 was still impossible. 
 
 The Rose, sliding forward, seemed suicidally 
 bent upon opening out the angle between her bow 
 and the pirate's stern. It was no part of the enemy's 
 design to sink an unlooted prize, but to risk further 
 injury from the guns of the Walrus was as far 
 from the mind of Captain Phips. Rather, desert- 
 ing his own vessel, he would hurl his entire force 
 upon the rover's deck. 
 
 Weapons had been given out, the gunners 
 summoned above. Grappling hooks crossed, fell 
 short, or caught upon the rails. The pirates were 
 massed forward ready for the spring. 
 
 Below the broken poop, where he had shouted 
 his farewells to the Pelloquin, Roger was waiting. 
 His forehead and lips were drawn in lines intent 
 and watchful, yet on the verge of the encounter 
 he felt no strong exhilaration but rather, as on the 
 London wharf, a dulness like that of disappointed 
 dreams. 
 
 He had dragged from among the implements 
 of their "fishing" a long iron rake. Resting it 
 upon the rail he looked down across the space 
 dividing the ships. As he looked a hand was
 
 thrust from a porthole in the stern of the Walrus. 
 In the instant of brief wonderment before it was 
 withdrawn he noticed that it was white and slender. 
 
 "Faith 'tis a prisoner!" 
 
 It was Maccartey's voice behind him. 
 
 The Rose, her bow brought abreast of the 
 pirate's lofty poop, had been .fastened by grapples 
 at the nearest point of approach, but where Roger 
 stood, the unarrested impetus of her motion was 
 opening out the distance between the two boats. 
 Raising the rake above his head, with all his force 
 he shot it forward. As he leaned far out to make 
 sure of his aim and the teeth clamped upon the 
 pirate's rail, the roughening seas lifted the Walrus 
 and drew him sharply outward and up. There 
 was no time to loosen his hold. Foam churned 
 over him as he fell, and in the medley of sound and 
 smoke above, the absence of one figure remained 
 unmarked. 
 
 Other grapples had seconded his fruitless effort 
 and checked the drift of the unwilling Rose. The 
 space between the two ships was well-nigh closed, 
 where the pirates, smarting in an agony of haste to 
 begin the slaughter, were crowded to the bulwarks. 
 They seemed fairly belted with pistols. More than 
 one gripped his knife between his teeth, his hands 
 free for the passage from boat to boat. The twi- 
 light of the clouded air gave to their ferocity some- 
 thing grotesque and ghastly. 
 
 There was one gun upon the main deck of the 
 Rose. Slowly, hidden by the crowding sailors, it 
 had been dragged to position, filled with a mighty 
 load of grape, and aimed. When the sides of the
 
 66 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 two vessels battered jarringly at each other in their 
 closing drift, the throng about the gun separated; 
 full in the face of the maniacal crew of the Walrus 
 the charge exploded. 
 
 The pirates had pressed thickly upon one an- 
 other, packed, wedged, welded, in a solid mass of 
 human flesh; some were already upon the rail. As 
 they fell back, the dead upon the living, the man- 
 gled under the dead, screams hoarse, shrill rose 
 where the triumphant yell had been cut short. 
 
 Upon them, leaving no instant for recovery, 
 rushed the men of the Rose and in the onset none 
 were left behind saved the killed, the maimed, and 
 Jacob Munch, hidden within the empty hold and 
 shivering with fear. 
 
 At the very moment of the explosion Roger's 
 head rose above the water. He had come up 
 quickly, close under the black hull of the Walrus. 
 As he emerged into the foam something brushed 
 across his face. He grasped it, still blinded and 
 half dazed, but holding to it mechanically as he 
 found it was a rope. It was too small for a com- 
 fortable grip but it was firm, and he tightened his 
 clutch as the grating of the ships upon each other 
 made its way even through the roaring in his 
 ears. Swinging in their shackles they had 
 closed more and more the space up which he 
 pulled himself. 
 
 The rope stopped short at the porthole above. 
 Just beyond, within reach, hung the rake. He 
 seized it exultantly ; with a foot in the port he drew 
 himself still higher, and as his comrades hurled 
 themselves from the abandoned Rose into the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 67 
 
 rallying mob upon the Walrus's deck, he was among 
 them. 
 
 His sword was gone, his pistol wet and useless, 
 Taut as he sprang forward he snatched a curved 
 knife from a fallen enemy and pressed close into 
 the group that were nearest Captain Phips. 
 
 In the first fury of the attack he was possessed 
 by nothing but the rage of battle. As the fight 
 grew more terrible, his arm more deadly quick in 
 thrust and parry, his double consciousness returned 
 and with it a livelier vision of the contest. He felt 
 the shuddering of the two ships, that hung twisting 
 and pulling as if to each the contact was loathsome. 
 With every wrench and drag at the manacles that 
 chained them they seemed to writhe more closely 
 together and finally to give over the attempt to 
 part, rolling and grinding in impotent recoil. 
 
 The smoke drifted, sinking ever lower, and lay 
 like mist on the waters to leeward. The waves 
 piled roughly over one another, driven like wild 
 things in a panic before the ghosts of winds just 
 dead. Above the hidden reefs the breakers foamed 
 high and fell; their noise could not be heard but 
 their frenzied leaping added to the tumult a sinister 
 glee. The distance between them and the cum- 
 brous wooden craft was lessening. 
 
 The Rose climbed and dropped with the motions 
 of the larger ship, and Roger knew that on her 
 deck, broken and drenched with spray, red pools 
 ran back and forth, mingled in paler streams with 
 the trickle of water. 
 
 Beneath his feet the wet planks of the Walrus 
 slipped and slid. In the hand to hand scrimmage
 
 68 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 new sounds added themselves to the horror. The 
 sound of steel striking steel, of blows given with 
 fists upon yielding substances, of knives withdrawn 
 from flesh, and yet for the lad, as before, each 
 sound distinct as it might be, close in his ear, made 
 but an integral part of the hissing, shrieking melee. 
 
 He was never far from the Captain and as he 
 pressed nearer he was all the time aware of that 
 central figure, terrible in strength, tall, powerful 
 driving before it the pirate crew. 
 
 'Spite of the slaughter of the guns it was plain 
 that the buccaneers still outswarmed their foes. 
 Moreover their forces seemed always augmenting 
 and every addition was redoubtable, savage, a 
 beast of prey brought to a stand in his own lair 
 and fighting to kill. Yells broke from them, 
 gnashing and inarticulate outcry of maddened 
 brutes. One voice was loudest. Drunk with rage, 
 it resounded above the noise of battle: 
 
 " Follow me ! On 'em ! For Hell an' the Lady !" 
 
 Had the lad heard? Did the imagined words 
 only echo what the voice recalled ? He had no time 
 to ask. The shouts sank into growls, to oaths of 
 divers languages snarled between the teeth. The 
 numbers grew more nearly equal. The men of the 
 Rose, old and used to war, or young and new to its 
 reality as schoolmen to the wilderness, held their 
 own close upon their Captain's advance and the 
 victory so far was with them. All at once for the 
 foe appeared unlooked-for reinforcement two 
 black men, their wrists marked by the sores of 
 their chains, their faces blotched with fury, their 
 eyes distended with terror. With a howl horrid
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 69 
 
 and intimidating they leaped at the foremost 
 figure. Running amuck, great knives in either 
 hand, they drove back the invaders by the very 
 devilishness of their aspect, the fear-crazed vio- 
 lence of their onrush. 
 
 In this sudden wavering a trumpet call the 
 voice of Captain Phips above the pandemonium, 
 the voice of a victor mustering to the pursuit : 
 
 " Forward ! Don't give the dogs an inch !" 
 
 Around the three, from both sides the others 
 rallied, the pirates renewed in courage, filled with 
 the lust of carnage, stabbed by the horror of death ; 
 the followers of- Phips grimmer, less noisy, showing 
 the discipline of the King's Captain who had first 
 built ships and then commanded them. On the 
 strong features of the New England men a hardness 
 like rock petrified the grimness. 
 
 With the sharpness of a weapon stroke the mem- 
 ory of the white hand seen at the port-hole below 
 pierced the absorption of Roger's mind. It sent 
 him with fiercer will upon the dire recovery of the 
 enemy. 
 
 So for a space the hewing and hacking went fear- 
 fully on, and neither gave by so much as a sword's 
 breadth. Then a thin arm of light reached out of 
 the west and fell upon the Captain. The men of 
 the Rose broke their silence, cheered with a wild 
 burst of sound that filled the twilight with a glori- 
 fied frenzy, unearthly as the battle cries of gods. 
 The pirates answered with a forward spring upon 
 the very bodies of their foes, bodies unyield- 
 ing, rigid, advancing without pause, warding, 
 driving, killing, as they moved. The eyes of the
 
 70 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Captain burned steadily against the light. The 
 two black men were down. The leader of the 
 pirates stooped and with an upward thrust struck 
 at the Captain's unprotected side under the up- 
 raised arm. 
 
 The lad was quick but his own thrust was not 
 near enough to prevent the blow. His knife 
 clashed upon the pirate's blade that turned light- 
 ning-like to answer him. The deep chest of Cap- 
 tain Phips swelled with a mighty breath and with a 
 roar he charged upon the remnant of the savage 
 pack. 
 
 Roger heard and knew, would have followed, 
 would have shouted, but sound and motion failed 
 him and he fell; and as he fell he saw, beyond the 
 bestial clamour, the slaughter, and the grewsome 
 play of deadly blows, the clouds crack in radiating 
 lines from the horizon and the yellow sunset light 
 glow visibly, blinding and glorious, across the 
 heaving sea.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ON THE SHIP OF THE DEAD 
 
 f '^HE waves lifted and fell in gentler agitation. 
 " The moonless, West Indian night was 
 
 1 
 
 alight with stars and the quick-breathing 
 ocean caught them in the smooth cave of curling 
 waves, drowned, lost them, and brought them 
 forth shining more clearly for the brief eclipse. 
 
 The Rose, withdrawn from the dangerous spout- 
 ing of the Boilers, rocked with the rocking waters. 
 Floating slowly nearer and nearer, minute by 
 minute, the Walrus gained the hidden reefs. 
 
 Roger, stretched upon the deck, his head sunk in 
 the folds of the mate's cloak, opened his eyes upon 
 the stars. For a long time his gaze sought the silent 
 comfort of the sky. The night brushed gentle 
 puffs of air across his hot forehead and burning lips, 
 and at length he drew deeply into his lungs its re- 
 viving coolness, and cried aloud in the choking cry 
 of unexpected pain. Slowly he lifted his hand and 
 felt the bandage rudely knotted on his head. 
 
 "Then 'twas not a dream," he said half aloud, 
 half within himself. 
 
 A groan near at hand answered the muttered 
 words. 
 
 "Who is that?" he asked, still indistinctly. 
 
 'Tis me, lad Bill Sparhawk. Dost mind my 
 grunting ? ' ' The phrases came in spasms mingled 
 
 7 1
 
 72 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 of oaths and loud- whispered sighs. "A little noise 
 is ease to pain. " 
 
 "Was there a fight, Bill?" 
 
 A chuckle that spluttered into a choking cry 
 like Roger's was the response. 
 
 Both lay still and the chuckle renewed itself. 
 
 "Listen, lad 'twas a Prodigy 'twas a fight of 
 
 a thousand lifetimes. 'Twas " The choking 
 
 voice went off into a paroxysm of unconscious 
 blasphemy, searching for adequate expression. 
 "Why, damn thy boots with me, lad, 'twill 
 make the Captain famous forever!" 
 
 The voice, groaning and chuckling by turns, 
 meandered in pleased reminiscence, monotonous, 
 rising and sinking like the waves. Roger heard it 
 as he heard the sea. He was going over the fray 
 for himself. 
 
 Suddenly he cried out again and sat up. An 
 invisible hand thrust him back, scorching his 
 temples with a white-hot flame. 
 
 "The Captain! Where's the Captain?" he 
 
 called despairing. "Where Did they get 
 
 the prisoner?" 
 
 "Lay still, lad, lay still. 'Tis often so with fever. " 
 The groans ceased; Sparhawk's tones bore rough 
 concern in the command. " Lay still, lad. " 
 
 "The Walrus?" Roger was stirring upon the 
 coarse pillow, striving again to rise. 
 
 "The Walrus '11 never hurt nothin' more! 
 Rest easy " 
 
 " The Captain ! I must see the Captain !" The 
 outcry was sharp with the agony it cost. "Cap- 
 tain Phips !"
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 73 
 
 " Who calls the Captain ? " A light moved down 
 from the shattered poop and a lank figure was 
 discernible by its gleam. The mate bent over and 
 held the lantern closer to the white face staring 
 into his own. 
 
 " Is it delirious the boy '11 be ! " He touched the 
 hot forehead below the bandages and wagged his 
 head dolefully as he straightened himself. 
 
 "I'm not delirious, Maccartey. Did you search 
 the Walrus?" 
 
 "Aye, lad, and no. The time was short and 
 she'd 'mazing little aboard worth the saving 
 liquor and food mostly. I'm thinkin' she's a 
 hiding place for treasure somewhere about these 
 islands. She'd be after starting on a fresh cruise 
 maybe or smelling out our gold and jewels that 
 we've never found. " He spoke soothingly, with 
 a hint of bitterness in the humour of the last words. 
 "She's had the luck she deserved no less. We set 
 the match to fire her; she's driftin' on the Boilers. 
 'Twill be a merry sight " 
 
 "The arm Maccartey, the arm from the port- 
 hole! Did you find Did you save " 
 
 The lantern swung wildly between them as Roger's 
 grip tightened. 
 
 "God in Hivin, lad! I forgot altogether." 
 The horror in the mate's voice changed instantly 
 to reassurance as he tried to push the boy back 
 
 upon the deck. "Quiet, now 'Twas but a 
 
 murderin' pirate ! And 'tis too late for fretting. 
 
 The world's well rid of the lot. Rest now and sleep." 
 
 "Sleep ! I tell you, Maccartey, 'twas no pirate! 
 
 I must see Captain Phips. " Roger rose to his
 
 74 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 feet, and despite the urging of the mate's arm, 
 maintained his place. "Take me to him, Mac- 
 cartey now. I must go. " 
 
 There was one weak spot in the discipline of the 
 Araby Rose. From the moment when Roger had 
 emerged upon the deck of the ship clad in the gar- 
 ments of Jacob Munch, Maccartey had loved him 
 as devotedly as he hated the surly Jacob. Anxiety 
 made him pliant. He wound one sturdy arm 
 about the lad and took half his weight, helping 
 him across the newly washed deck to the compan- 
 ion hatchway. 
 
 "The Captain's below," he said briefly, "I'll 
 call him. " 
 
 "Take me to him." Roger's feet were already 
 on the ladder. 
 
 "Pore lad 'tis the fever," repeated Spar- 
 hawk to himself, and again his groans merged into 
 profanity so violent that the watch silenced 
 him. 
 
 "Cap'n's at work. Shet up, can't ye!" he 
 shouted angrily. 
 
 The skylights were open above the Captain's 
 head. The lantern with the glass window was set 
 upon the table and threw its glow across the chart 
 whereon was pricked off daily the tale ef their 
 empty soundings among the reefs. Bottles and 
 spice boxes were marshalled beside it and the 
 pewter tankard waited the end of labour. The 
 frown that usually followed the grievous record 
 of long failure was less deep to-night. One danger 
 the fight had lessened for the time. Men are 
 not quick to mutiny under a victorious Captain.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 75 
 
 " Here's Roger, Captain Phips says he must 
 speak with ye. " 
 
 The Captain sat leaned forward in his great 
 chair, his wounded side eased away from the hard 
 arm, his eyes fixed thoughtfully upon the parch- 
 ment. 
 
 At the mate's voice he looked up, his smooth 
 face wrinkling in surprise that sharpened quickly 
 to alarm. The boy was white to ghastliness, save 
 where a streak of red had been imperfectly sponged 
 from his temple. The effort had turned him 
 blind and his own words seemed to come from far 
 spaces, and sounded faintly in his ears in a forceless 
 tinkle. 
 
 "There is a prisoner a child or woman, alive 
 on the Walrus, Sir. We saw it an arm through 
 the port Maccartey and I " 
 
 "I forgot with so many wounded to patch up. 
 I forgot entirely and altogether," broke in the 
 mate. *' But 'tis too late now. " 
 
 The Captain had risen. His look Maccartey 
 had seen before. 
 
 "The boat! And pray God you're not a mur- 
 derer!" he commanded fiercely. "I give you two 
 minutes !" 
 
 With his left arm he supported the lad to a 
 bench nearest the door and brought brandy swiftly. 
 
 The boy's lips wetted themselves and moved. . 
 
 "You'll not go, Captain. You must not go. 
 
 Maccartey and I " The attempt ended in 
 
 silence and he swallowed again a mouthful of the 
 cordial, trying to pull himself upright. " I thought 
 it was he of the wharf the Lady "
 
 76 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 He had dropped limply and struggled for what 
 seemed an eternity of wretched dreams before he 
 found again both sight and speech. The repul- 
 sive presence of Fangs was beside him and miser- 
 able trickles of water ran into his eyes as he tried 
 to look beyond the ape-like figure and discover 
 where he was. 
 
 "What are you doing?" he demanded curtly, 
 dashing aside the fresh stream of water that blind- 
 ed him. 
 
 "Sopping yer head to bring ye to Cap'n's 
 orders, " answered the man offensively, his grin 
 incarnate of a mean dislike. 
 
 Roger did not listen. Remembrance had seized 
 upon him. Fangs' replies to his question were 
 wild and confused. It was evident the fellow 
 had plied himself freely with the Captain's 
 brandy.- 
 
 "Terr'ble pretty cabin ! Don't have s' fine 
 'n fo'c'stle ! Sure death ! Drink all sure death 
 to Cap'n an' mate of Araby Rose. " 
 
 He had poured himself more from the half- 
 emptied bottle and leered at the prostrate lad as 
 he started to gulp it down. 
 
 The toast was arrested undrunk, the liquor swam 
 among the fragments of the glass. 
 
 "On deck on deck you blasphemous scoun- 
 drel Go ! " 
 
 Roger was on his feet. Rage lent a fictitious 
 strength, and the mutinous sot was cowed. He 
 obeyed muttering. 
 
 "Little more 'zertion kill ye Cap'n said, 
 'Keep 'im quiet.' I say, 'Let 'im go.' One more
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 77 
 
 out of way. Cap'n mate lad. Too much 
 gentleman f 'r our business th' lad ! " 
 
 The mumbled words conveyed nothing to Roger. 
 He was attempting to reach the ladder. As he 
 grasped it the pain grew fiercer and he bit his teeth 
 through his lips as he drew himself from step to 
 step. More than once his hands relaxed their 
 hold and his body rested inert, face downward, 
 upon the steep incline, but the draught from 
 above brought him each time to his senses, to 
 greater effort and sorrier pain. The stars looked 
 down upon him and he pulled himself higher in a 
 well of darkness that seemed deeper as he strove. 
 
 In the boat the men were at first silent. The 
 sailors rowed doggedly. The Captain neither 
 moved nor spoke. 
 
 "If the slow match stayed alight the ship is 
 now afire. " It was the mate's protest, distinct 
 only to the Captain's ear. 'Tis a risk the com- 
 pany '11 not thank ye for runnin'," he added 
 boldly. 
 
 "The Company's not a fool like thee ! Had I 
 not come, thyself had prayed me for the boat. 
 Hold thy peace, man!" The Captain said no 
 more. The mate became again the under officer, 
 sailorwise, respectfully waiting on the motions of 
 his superior. 
 
 The waves tossed and then engulfed them, and 
 as they rose skyward or dropped away into the 
 hollows, their ship grew more and more remote, 
 the twinkle of her lamp oftener quenched than 
 seen.
 
 78 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The growing turbulence of the water showed 
 that they neared the reefs. The oars wavered as 
 the shouting of the breakers broke full upon the 
 hearing. The Captain felt the slackening before 
 the stroke was finished. 
 
 "For your lives pull!" he yelled above the 
 roar. " Pull for the Walrus! We'll make it yet ! 
 All together pull ! " 
 
 The lost instant was regained. The boat thrilled 
 to the fervour of the rowers. With Captain Phips 
 to drive the warm blood through their sluggish 
 veins worse men would have dared worse odds. 
 
 It was not the Walrus they wanted; it was the 
 Araby Rose. But for the time not a soul of them 
 remembered his own will. Each wrought his 
 utmost, wreaked his full strength upon the weight 
 that balked his blade, and before he knew whither 
 his frantic struggle bore him, he looked up at a 
 sombre shape towering colossal in the night 
 the Walrus licked already by flecks of foam 
 thrown from the hungry rocks. 
 
 She was keeled a little toward them and in her 
 shrouds were strange shadows of the dark. The 
 Boilers shrieked, flinging the whiteness of their 
 spray far up to shine against the blackness of the 
 sea beyond. Upon the great ship was silence and 
 the moving shades born of men's eyes that look 
 with fear. Nothing else but a thin curl of smoke, 
 faint and dimly guessed, that crept upward along 
 a crippled mast. 
 
 The mate pointed. 
 
 "It's myself will go," he cried, "ye shall not 
 risk "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 79 
 
 The Captain put him aside. 
 
 "Where was the port?" 
 
 "Below our bows somewhere aft but on 
 which side " 
 
 "This of course, where we grappled. " 
 
 The voices made an indiscriminate roar with 
 the sound of the waves. The boat plunged 
 frightfully, shipping the crests of billows churned 
 up by the wallowing of the wreck. 
 
 The rope still hung from the porthole. 
 
 "Gedge here. Climb and look in." 
 
 "Not into a ship full of corpses!" The man 
 cowered away from the Captain's order. "May- 
 hap a witch flung out the rope. " 
 
 Gedge was of lighter build than the others. 
 Captain Phips left to Maccartey the tautened line, 
 and lifting the fellow beneath his arms, held him. 
 The mate steadied the boat, as best he might, by 
 the hanging cord, and swung upward the lantern 
 to the man whose terrified features glimmered 
 above him. The Walrus was sunk so low that as 
 the boat was carried higher by the swell, Gedge's 
 eyes stared straight at the round black hole 
 whence the rope depended. 
 
 At the moment when he would have raised the 
 lantern to its level, the ship heeled still farther, 
 lying over heavily to the breeze, and the dead- 
 light slammed, closing in his face. The man's 
 teeth chattered. 
 
 The boatswain, who with Maccartey had fastened 
 a staunch grip upon the rope, loosed his hold and 
 the hull of the vessel slid past them as the wild 
 chanting of the breakers woke to new violence
 
 8o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 under the wind. The pirate ship was moving 
 faster on the rocks. 
 
 The second attempt proved futile like the first. 
 The man held the lantern with the blaze full in his 
 own face and the light shook as he held it. 
 
 " 'Tis empty," he panted. 
 
 "Look again." The Captain's grasp clamped 
 him like a vice. 
 
 "There's nothing Captain Phips 'fore God 
 let me down my ribs are breaking, " he 
 shrieked. " Let me down. " 
 
 "Cast up the grapple." The Captain had re- 
 leased the trembling Gedge. The grappling line, 
 coiled under a thwart, was dragged forth and his 
 own hand threw it swiftly, catching the hook upon 
 the bulwarks. 
 
 "Ye'll not go now, Captain! Whoever 'twas 
 is among the dead by this. " The sailors heard 
 the mate's pleading. 
 
 "We'll not wait she's sinking," they yelled 
 responsive. 
 
 The Captain turned, the scorn in his furious 
 command putting some heart into their craven 
 bodies. 
 
 Maccartey had pressed resolutely forward, 
 ready to ascend. He fell back at the Captain's 
 gesture of denial and laid hold upon the rope 
 that steadied them to the ship. His right hand 
 snatched a weapon from his belt. The boatswain 
 was again at his post, his sinewy fingers fast upon 
 the dragging cord. 
 
 As the Captain went over the rail and the men 
 loosened their clasp upon the grappling line to pass
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 81 
 
 upward the lantern upon a cleft stick, Gedge, 
 flung into the brine at the bottom of the boat, 
 moaned aloud with dread. No voice rose above 
 the bulwarks of the Walrus. Grim terror settled 
 below as the Captain disappeared. 
 
 On the deck the blackness and the loud mockery 
 of the Boilers seemed the entrance to the devil's 
 dwelling. Of men living in 1686 there was no 
 Christian of them all to whom ghosts and witches, 
 the Devil and his evil angels, embodied and dis- 
 embodied, were not as real as the thunder and the 
 wind, and infinitely more feared ashore or afloat. 
 
 The sweat stood on the Captain's body and 
 dripped from cheeks that were no longer ruddy. 
 As he hurried on his way among the stark, open- 
 eyed and staring dead, his lantern's gleam fell 
 now on grins infernal, now on scowls, and once 
 upon a face dull, inexpressive, with great orbs 
 glaring fixed and awful upon his going. One head 
 in the moving shadows seemed to turn to follow 
 him as he went. The real danger, the fire, the 
 Boilers, the peril of some half-strangled pirate's 
 having revived, ready to spring upon him from the 
 dark shades at the mouth of the companion way, 
 none of these took such hold of the man who was 
 too brave to think of fear while fear faced him 
 and duty was undone as the gruesome thought 
 of the dead crew coming in the guise of their devil- 
 protected spirits to reanimate the corpses once 
 their habitation; and as he groped below, slipping 
 in a clot of blood or stumbling upon a body still 
 warm from the vital spark, peering through the 
 thickening smoke he looked most fearfully for that
 
 82 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 hag of hell so dreaded of our fathers, the witch, 
 who might torture even the absent, and whose 
 pact with the unspeakable Sathanas gave her 
 power above mortals to slay, to disfigure, to twist 
 and destroy body and soul alike. What place 
 more fit for Hell's own minions than a pirate ship ? 
 But why turn against her master to throw a rope 
 to the enemy? A lure to draw him from his 
 allegiance to the Company and keep him from the 
 treasure ! 
 
 He stopped short. The low beams shut down 
 above his head. The water guggled in the hold. 
 He had half wheeled when he remembered the 
 sharp rents " 'twixt wind and wave" and the 
 hasty patching. The ship was sinking fast. The 
 actual danger but hardened his courage. Raising 
 his lantern high, he spied about, examining in haste 
 every cubby and turn as he moved onward. 
 
 Sure enough, in the place where the porthole 
 should be was a cabin, but the opening was fast 
 closed, the port screwed tight in its rim. 
 
 " 'Twas this or next to this. " His own voice 
 crept back to him, echoing in the dead air. 
 
 No further door gave egress from a cabin. 
 Puzzled, he returned swiftly to the first. The 
 thought of witch work laid cold hands upon him 
 once more, but even in the grasp of the super- 
 natural his shrewd eyes again explored the bare 
 interior, and with a bound he rushed at the bulk- 
 head. The door he had not earlier discovered 
 trembled under his knocking. 
 
 He shouted. 
 
 The shout came back to him in dismal groans;
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 83 
 
 the Walrus listed farther and the steady inrush of 
 water gurgled underneath his feet. His flesh 
 crawled as the groaning answers multiplied about 
 him. No voice but his own among them all ! 
 The door broke before his blow as though its 
 panels had been of glass. 
 
 His motions seemed clogged, the time intermin- 
 able, till through the murk he once more groped 
 and stumbled. The merry crackling of wood 
 greeted him as he strove to regain the ladder. 
 Somewhere a light played fitfully. The close air 
 was hot upon his face, the smoke terrible, hindering 
 his breath. As he struggled higher there came to 
 him a rustling near at hand, the frightened scurry 
 of rats over the dead. 
 
 In the current that drew across the hatchway 
 he would have paused to fill his lungs, gathering 
 strength for the final strain, but a meaning sound 
 that followed drove him on. Blinded, he made a 
 staggering progress among the lifeless obstructions 
 that blocked his path. The smell of scorching 
 leather rose stiflingly about him. Rallying all 
 his force, he would have moved faster, rushing 
 forward on the steep incline. But the way was 
 barred; breaking through the heated planking of 
 the deck had burst the pursuing flame. 
 
 Below in the boat the mate had answered the 
 Captain's shout. Like the men he had fett cer- 
 tain it was but a cry for help and when no other 
 followed, hope had died in his soul. 
 
 Mutiny had grown with every waiting second. 
 Nor was the danger all a superstitious dread. 
 The Walrus sank so rapidly, the rope by which they
 
 84 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 held had momently, it seemed, to be shortened 
 in their grasp. The fire might reach the maga- 
 zine; for that the fuse had been arranged. The 
 breakers thundered ever nearer; at any instant the 
 ship might strike the rocks and, plunging, draw 
 them after too swiftly for escape. 
 
 Maccartey waited, rigid, a pistol in either hand. 
 In the bow a fallen figure nursed a wounded arm, 
 the boatswain, who a second time had dropped 
 the saving cord. Now the very height and frenzy 
 of unreasoning rage was upon the men fear, 
 animal, awful. Even the pistols would not con- 
 trol them long. 
 
 With the smoke came despair. Its cloud 
 settled slowly. Soon, Maccartey knew, his aim 
 would go wide, would fail. He saw the glare with 
 which his captives watched him, heard the ravings 
 with which they bided ruthlessly the shelter of a 
 starless dark. 
 
 He would not go till the last hope was spent. 
 The boat pitched desperately. The Walrus settled 
 with grim haste to cheat the breakers of her death. 
 The cloud dimmed his smarting eyes, but he could 
 feel the movement as one man, worst raver of them 
 all, rose for his leap. When the shot sounded the 
 wretch plumped backward, shrieking. A howl 
 came upon the fall, the howl of madness accom- 
 plished, madness, Maccartey knew, that no voice 
 but one could tame, no weapon intimidate. 
 
 He had faced death before. He faced it now, 
 valiant, invincible, one hand again grasping the 
 rope, the other ready on his remaining pistol. 
 * Once more he called aloud, a shout full and 
 vigorous :
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 85 
 
 "Captain Phips !" 
 
 And once more the jovial breakers broke glee- 
 fully upon the wasted cry. 
 
 Roger came to himself rolled close under the 
 starboard bulwarks. Of his painful progress from 
 the cabin he had no memory; his whole conscious- 
 ness was a devouring fear. 
 
 Dragging himself up by a belaying pin stuck in 
 the rail, he watched. When the lantern ascended 
 the side of the Walrus, he saw the shadowy hint 
 of light waveringly mount upon the distant black- 
 ness that was the pirate ship. Gradually his 
 thoughts cleared; the wetness sopped upon his 
 head, cooled by the breath of the night, eased the. 
 throbbing and tightened the pressure of his anxietyn 
 
 Hour after hour, unseen, he waited. More thah 
 once he thought it was all over and for a fool is 
 tale he had slain his Captain. In reality it was 
 not so many minutes as to him it seemed hours, 
 but as the time lengthened, his misery was to be 
 measured by no reckoning known of man. Hour 
 after hour, and still no light had descended from 
 the sinking ship; hour after hour and no sign of 
 life upon the sea ! 
 
 The smoke grew plain to his straining eyes, 
 smoke and then the flame, a little flame that 
 flickered lightly here and there, growing, rising, 
 catching upon the full spread of the canvas that 
 gave the Walrus cruelly to the play of every 
 breeze, lines and traceries o.f light, spelling out 
 upon the gloom the end of hope. 
 
 Yet hope lived. The time had been so long. 
 The Captain could not fail.
 
 86 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Then the whole ocean bright in an unreal glory 
 and a pyramid of fire flung up suddenly, incredi- 
 bly, into the night lofty, terrible as a portent, 
 louder in its rage than the far-off noise of waves 
 upon the rocks a glare fierce, intolerable ! 
 
 And quick upon its coming, shouts, from the 
 Rose and from the water, wilder than wave or 
 flame, exulting call answering call across the 
 glittering sea ! 
 
 " I'll lift her up the ladder ! " Maccartey spoke. 
 
 "No." The Captain held to what he carried, 
 mounting stiffly, slowly. 
 
 The men hung over, crowded about, and startled 
 murmurs grew to cheers, and then hushed ques- 
 tions, and then to cheers again, as Captain Phips 
 stood at last in the enclosing ring. 
 
 The unconscious burden that he bore in his 
 arms showed the lovelier for the rough faces press- 
 ing near to see. 
 
 "They'd locked her in. Poor little maid!" 
 The Captain looked down gently. "Who called 
 to me?" he a'dded. His eyes searched the group. 
 
 Roger came forward from the shelter of a boat, 
 where he had waited, walking as one whom joy 
 had made alive. 
 
 'Tis you safe! " he cried in a fervour of relief, 
 and the big Captain smiled, first at him and then 
 at the maid who still lay white and piteous in his 
 arms. Her slender throat and black hair, blowing 
 softly in the silent winds, made even more fragile 
 the pale transparency of the face. Italian Manuel 
 crossed himself, thinking of some pure saint he 
 had seen carved on her own tomb, but as the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 87 
 
 Captain smiled she opened on them eyes wide and 
 dark, and in the great blaze the death fires of the 
 Walrus that lighted all the deck, she saw first 
 the lad and then the down-bent kindly meaning 
 of the Captain's gaze, and with a long sigh bubbling 
 softly from lips that curved too grievingly for 
 her fair years she slipped again into the darkness 
 of her dream, and heard not the thrill and clangour 
 of the voices that hailed her wakening and sped 
 the passing of the pirate ship.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 PIECES OF EIGHT 
 
 " f I ^OO sharp too much rocks !" The Indian 
 diver shook his head. The men rowing 
 JL. growled and muttered. The low tide fret- 
 ted upon hidden barriers rising steeply from the 
 bed of the sea. 
 
 Roger felt the weary oppression of their fruitless 
 labour grown insupportable. 
 
 The Little Maid sat listlessly in the bow of the 
 recovered periagua, where she had been placed at 
 starting. Her mournful eyes had hardly left the 
 water. The same unremembering apathy in her 
 pale features, in the absent droop of her body, in the 
 expressionless gentleness of her replies. 
 
 It was Roger who had proposed that she accom- 
 pany them. 
 
 " 'Twill perhaps cheer her, " he had said. And 
 Captain Phips had forthwith given the word. The 
 assent of the Maid was certain. She assented to 
 everything. Her own will seemed lost with the 
 loss of memory and desire. She had settled 
 quietly upon the seat, unresisting, without interest, 
 thanking Roger with pretty courtesy as he arranged 
 a cloak for cushion, and had fallen straightway 
 into silence and remoteness. In all the hours she 
 had scarcely moved. Now, as the Indian spoke 
 she raised her eyes. 
 
 "Too sharp too much rocks !" 
 
 88
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 89 
 
 "Shut up, and down with ye, ye black devil. 
 In ye go !" 
 
 The mate's tone rang with undaunted energy. 
 Roger felt a sudden admiration of the man's in- 
 trepidity. A mutinous Indian and a crew ripe 
 for revolt might yet be controlled by a tone so as- 
 sured. Revolt was certain, not to be wondered at 
 nor prevented. Long day after long day till it was 
 month after month, in hot rain and hotter shine, 
 the periagua had lain among the rocks, the Indians 
 had buried themselves in the nauseous brine, seek- 
 ing, seeking, what they never found. 
 
 "An old man at Port de la Plata forsooth!" 
 The men growled scornfully. "An old man in- 
 deed!" And again, "Who was to prove that the 
 old man was not in good truth an old liar as well ? 
 Who could say after fifty years where the galleon 
 had sunken, or what she had had aboard ? 'Known 
 the spot ' had he cursed old dotard ! Better take 
 the Rose and get good treasure where the Spaniard 
 doubtless got her own with a new captain and 
 no soft-headed fools for masters !" 
 
 So Fangs, going up and down among his fellows, 
 made ready for the right moment. His tongue 
 was an eloquent one; his wiliness set him above 
 the others in a strength surer than their lustier 
 thews. Well-hinted revenges of his evil past kept 
 them in subjection. He, too, looked at the Indian, 
 thinking rapidly. This was not his choice of a 
 day, but the mate and the boy could be ended here 
 as well as elsewhere. It might be, after all, as 
 good a time as another. The Maid he would have 
 to save. The men were superstitiously set upon 
 the Little Maid.
 
 9 o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The Indian faced Maccartey without further 
 speaking. The copper surface of his spare body 
 shone wet and polished in the noonday light. His 
 eyes returned the mate's angry stare unmoved. 
 He had folded his arms. 
 
 It was the moment. Fangs unclosed his fingers 
 from the oar to give the signal. It was then the 
 Little Maid spoke. 
 
 "Will you get me a sea-feather, Nopomuk?" 
 The dark eyes were raised to the diver's. His look 
 turned downward to meet its gaze. The Maid 
 smiled askingly. The first voluntary words, the 
 first smile since they had found her in her prison 
 on the Walrus. The words were no longer ex- 
 pressionless. The smile woke a glow, a tremor, 
 in those that looked. 
 
 Suddenly, as in a revelation, the sense of her 
 beauty smote the lad. He neither breathed nor 
 stirred, nor did his voice join the murmur, half 
 spoken, half a sigh, that rose from the men; but 
 always after that day, Roger Verring, at a word, 
 an odour, the sound of breakers, the sight of curling 
 foam, was back among the tenantless reefs and saw 
 the calm monotony of the midday sky, the white 
 frothing of the angered waves, the far blue beyond, 
 and against it all the radiance of that child vision 
 in the bow of the periagua. Strong upon a heart 
 tenacious and passionate always had come the 
 charm, potent, untranslatable, of the smile of the 
 Little Maid. 
 
 The mate had dropped an upraised lash. The 
 hand of Fangs closed again upon his oar. The 
 Indian's look, mournful like the girl's, lightened to
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 91 
 
 meet the smile. He said something in his own 
 language. 
 
 Then he poised himself on the gunwale and 
 watched his chance as the tide carried them leisurely 
 in the current between two growing banks of foam. 
 The air was still ; the surface of the channel smooth. 
 Beneath them the broken outlines of the reef 
 showed clearly, and the branching plumes waving 
 from their foothold on the rocks. The gay colours 
 glinted through the translucent green. Above the 
 fairest tuft the Indian shot forward, down van- 
 ished. The spreading ripples covered him. 
 
 The mate looked at Fangs and asserted himself 
 gruffly. 
 
 " 'Twas well for him. I'd whaled the red skin 
 of him into ribbons, " he commented. 
 
 "I think he was a prince in his own country." 
 The Little Maid spoke again, but she did not take 
 her eyes from the water. 
 
 "Well, he's a slave now," Maccartey answered, 
 more amiably. "I'm not sorry thou putt'st in thy 
 word. I take no joy in the beating. 'Tis a 
 straight fight pleases me. " 
 
 The men moved the oars lifelessly to steady the 
 boat. They showed neither curiosity nor interest 
 in the quest. But now and then a pair of eyes 
 lifted to the Little Maid. Her gaze still held to 
 the place where Nopomuk had disappeared. He 
 had been gone a full minute, hidden by the foam 
 banks. 
 
 The hope that lay far down beneath the indiffer- 
 ence of the men rose once more to the surface. 
 They peered over the boat's edge craning and
 
 92 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 waiting. Roger alone was left of those who 
 watched the Little Maid, and he did not know that 
 he watched her. In the instant when she had 
 looked out of the prisoned deeps of her forgetful- 
 ness, he had seen the reality of her, seen her as she 
 had been; and tenderness and fury fought within 
 him, for the sense of her dearness and the sense of 
 all she had endured. Of her beauty he was now 
 barely conscious, as of the instrument that makes 
 the music. Of herself he was possessed mightily, 
 the true self, hidden, mysterious lovable, indi- 
 vidual, of the Captain's Little Maid. 
 
 So Roger dwelt upon the Maid, and the men 
 peered and waited, and among them, thus peering 
 and waiting, the diver ascended gasping, laid hold 
 on the boat with one hand, and with the other 
 stretched forth a dripping trophy, a sea plume 
 glistening with drops and fairer-hued than rain- 
 bows. 
 
 The Maid reached out her hand, speaking again. 
 An angry groan drowned her voice, drowned too 
 the voice of the Indian who answered. 
 
 Roger had heard but one word "guns" and 
 that he dared not repeat lest he had not heard 
 truly. Nopomuk had grasped the gunwale, but 
 when they looked for him to clamber to his place, 
 he dropped again out of sight. 
 
 A certain stir in the impassivity of his face had 
 communicated itself to Maccartey's. The men 
 caught the look and bent again to watch, once more 
 craning and leaning so that the boat toppled 
 dangerously. The seconds went by. The sailors 
 stirred one by one and settled again to the oars. 
 They turned no longer to look at the Maid.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 93 
 
 " Tis a fine task for grown men, hunting nosegays 
 in the sea, " sneered Munch under his breath. 
 His stealthy eyes shot an angry glance at Roger. 
 Why should Roger Verring be happier than he, 
 Jacob Munch? 
 
 The Little Maid's gaze had gone back to the 
 water. Roger, who was steering, saw an exclama- 
 tion escape her lips. The dark body of Nopomuk 
 had risen through the soapy foam and was striking 
 out for the boat. As he drew nearer, rigid with 
 endurance, his breath taken quickly in relief, the 
 crew cursed and spat toward the upturned face. 
 Oaths, denunciations, hissed viciously together in 
 a sudden revealing rage. Gedge raised an oar to 
 strike. Fangs, wrinkled to hideousness in the 
 moment of decision, made the signal gesture of 
 slaughter. But the men did not see. 
 
 Gedge's oar had dropped. The cry of the mate 
 trumpeted in the face of the placid sky. 
 
 "What is it?" asked the Maid. In her look 
 interest had waked. She swayed a little forward to 
 hear the answer. 
 
 The Indian lifted higher the heavy block he had 
 brought up in his left hand and tossed it to Mac- 
 cartey. As the yells exploded about his head his 
 eyes gleamed, and when his look fell on the girl it 
 relaxed into something almost responsive. 
 
 "Maid bring Rose luck," he said briefly. 
 
 Roger's cheeks burned. The crew had fallen 
 upon the bar, feeling it, shrieking over it; Manuel, 
 weeping, praying, blaspheming, by turns, had 
 kissed it. 
 
 "Give it here." Maccartey had seized an iron
 
 94 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 hook, and as he regained the prize he struck from 
 one corner the crusted lime and shells in which it 
 was encased. The pure glint of silver came upon 
 the stroke. 
 
 Yells again oaths, ascriptions, howls of joy 
 went up in the frenzy of the shock. Hope strang- 
 ling in defeat, raised all at once to the height of 
 certainty. Rough embraces crushed to the point 
 of breaking Nopomuk's slender ribs; rapturous 
 blows fell not lightly on his shoulders. 
 
 The periagua was headed for the Rose, cleaving 
 the waters with the speed of ten. Behind her a 
 buoy floated over the grave of the Spanish galleon, 
 the sea plumes nodding gaily beneath as the empty 
 cask bobbed and turned. 
 
 "How did you find it, Nopomuk?" The men 
 questioned as they rowed. Nopomuk answered 
 in solemn phrases. 
 
 " One time dive see guns. " He held up three 
 fingers. " Down down deep. Come up. Dive 
 two time no breath. " He made a sign as of a 
 weight upon his chest. 
 
 "Are there more?" The men were listening, 
 silenced to hear. "More like this?" demanded 
 the mate. 
 
 The Indian spread both arms and drew them 
 slowly forward as if striving in vain to gather into 
 their compass an untold mass. 
 
 Cheers interrupted the gesture, jubilant, frantic, 
 loud as the shout of cities when bells ring for vic- 
 tory. Faces blazed, irradiated with excitement. 
 Even Jacob Munch smiled greedily upon the cap- 
 tured bar. Roger's mind had leaped straightway 
 to the Captain.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 95 
 
 "I knew it," he shouted, unconscious of his 
 words. "I knew he couldn't fail!" but the shout 
 was lost in the others, and his face clouded as his 
 gaze came back to the Little Maid. 
 
 She was withdrawn again into the shadow, more 
 remote, more lost to all human approach, than 
 ever. But a strange disturbance followed into 
 her mournful silence, and though Roger could not 
 see, tears waited beneath the downcast lids and 
 choked the breathing in the slender throat.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE AWAKENING 
 
 " The leaves of memory seemed to make 
 A mournful rustling in the dark. " 
 
 CAPTAIN PHIPS had scraped from the bar 
 more of the crust, cut from the shining 
 mass within a shred, and carefully tested 
 it. In his own cabin, where the trophy had been 
 brought, he looked doubly heroic of mould, but 
 through his huge frame now there went a slight 
 trembling as of the deeps when the wind is strongest. 
 
 Through the open ports the sea showed bravely 
 blue, the inshore blue of the Captain's eyes. His 
 wig he had thrown aside, and as he looked he ran 
 his hand through his short, thick-grown locks and 
 sighed unconsciously, the sigh of a weight relaxed. 
 A sharp breath answered the sigh. His gaze left 
 the sea and searched about him quickly. 
 
 "So my Little Maid! And what's oppressed 
 thee, child?" 
 
 The girl had waited at the threshold, her whole 
 body drinking in the Captain's joy, her eyes strain- 
 ing intently upon his face. Though she had been 
 quiet in a mute isolation that shut her from dis- 
 plays of tenderness, her fragility, the wanness not 
 yet gone from her look, the appallingness of her 
 lonely state, and most of all, her strange and utter 
 forgetting of the past, had wrought upon all 
 who saw to draw from each a gentler homage. 
 
 Save for Munch, none had spoken irreverently, 
 
 96
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 97 
 
 or jested, or teased her, and always as he appeared 
 she had shrunk to the side of her nearest friend. 
 This shrinking had roused the coarseness of him 
 to revenge so that his mouth had twice been closed 
 by blows for his half-muttered words. 
 
 She came slowly forward, the tempered shine 
 from the skylight and the stronger glow from the 
 ports full upon her white face and straining eyes. 
 The straight figure, finely set together, spite of a 
 coltish slimness, had a new meaning to the Captain, 
 its every motion informed by a definite person- 
 ality the Maid herself emerging from the vague- 
 ness in which she had been hid. 
 
 She was dressed still as a child, though a few 
 more seasons would work sudden transformation, 
 hurrying childhood at a leap past girlish years 
 into forced young- womanhood, the transformation 
 of netted hair and long skirts, exaggerating the 
 reserve, the trim sedateness, of grown-up models. 
 Now the blight of that age-compelling change 
 had not touched her; even the blight of a long 
 misery that had revolted nature itself, destroying 
 memory and leaving her defenceless of traditions, 
 had made no difference in an unconscious sim- 
 plicity, a childlike directness. She was still a little 
 maid. 
 
 From the hour of her rescue until now no ques- 
 tioning had waked in the mournful eyes. At first 
 she had asked for a woman "to help me dress," 
 and looked puzzled when it appeared there were 
 no women in the world of the Araby Rose, but she 
 had striven patiently alone with what the Captain 
 could provide, and kept herself daintily.
 
 98 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Once as she slept upon the cushioned bench 
 within the Captain's cabin (she slept much in the 
 earliest days) the Captain had laid his hand upon 
 her head, touching it gently and wondering at 
 the exceeding softness of the dark hair that lay 
 never smoothly and ringed itself upon his fingers 
 at the touch. 
 
 The child had stirred, without unclosing her 
 eyes, and spoken in a voice new to his ears. 
 
 "Uncle, " she had called him in a drowsy under- 
 tone full of gay and childish content. "I knew 
 
 thou'd not forget " She had struggled to 
 
 raise herself a little and fallen back, sleep-weighted, 
 upon the hard square of her pillow. "Good 
 night Uncle " 
 
 But she had waked unremembering and he had 
 laid stern orders upon the men that none should 
 trouble her. 
 
 "Hurry her not," he had commanded. "She 
 is worn with the captivity. " 
 
 Now as he saw her startled eyes a certain fear 
 grew in him at the sight. Her hands were pressed 
 one above the other upon her chest as if to crush 
 down a terrifying commotion. At his voice tears 
 shook from her lids and slipped in a thick rain down 
 her cheeks. 
 
 She tried to speak, pressed the small hands closer, 
 stilling the rising tumult of the breath. Her gaze 
 clung to him pleading like that of a lost animal, 
 asking what her lips could not utter. 
 
 "What's amiss, Little Maid? Art on the Araby 
 Rose with stout defenders. Naught can harm 
 thee, " he answered to the look.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 99 
 
 "The pirates?" The words came stifled with 
 the striving for calm. 
 
 " Dead. All dead and gone. Not one can ever 
 come back to hurt thee, child. " The Captain 
 moved toward her. His face, florid by inheritance, 
 browned darkly by the sea, softened to a still 
 greater gentleness. 
 
 The Maid read reassurance in the look, but 
 she stepped backward as if to escape it. 
 
 " Be not kind. If thou'rt kind, I shall weep " 
 she said gaspingly, her eyes holding to him through 
 her tears that fell the faster. 
 
 She had put out her hand for the door frame, 
 gripping its edges with her slight fingers, and as 
 she clasped it her body quivered, fighting a gallant 
 and unequal battle. 
 
 The Captain's cabin was in the poop and opened 
 upon the main deck, where part of the excited 
 crew went chattering and joking about their work, 
 a jovial humour swamping for the time their sullen 
 disaffection. The ballast was being shifted to 
 make room for the first harvest of the treasure. 
 The sails had been set to carry the ship nearer 
 the workers in the periagua. 
 
 Fangs, angered at being left behind in the change 
 of men, did not chatter, and as he passed the cabin 
 he gave to the slender figure just within a glance 
 of dull malevolence. Captain Phips saw the look. 
 His own crossed it and the man's eyes went snakily 
 back to the deck. The Captain pushed the girl 
 softly upon a stool and swung the door to screen 
 her from without. 
 
 Her face buried itself in the shelter of her arms,
 
 ioo THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 and her frailness was wrung and broken by such 
 suffering as cut lines deep into the smooth face 
 of the watcher. 
 
 After a little he came nearer and once more rested 
 his great hand lightly on the dusky hair. 
 
 The child lifted her head, laying hold on the 
 rough fingers with both hands, tightening her grasp 
 at the sound of her own voice, in the forlorn ap- 
 peal of the helpless. 
 
 " 'Tis only that I remember, " she said. Her 
 words were low but they came clearly. "How 
 did you find me? Where was I?" 
 
 " In a cabin on the Walrus, " he answered simply. 
 
 She unloosed the clasp, raising her hands to push 
 the hair from her forehead and gazing up at him 
 in sudden trembling. 
 
 "Where is the Walrus?" 
 
 "Burned." 
 
 She tried to get upon her feet, staring upon him 
 still, with horror fixed in her eyes, in the toneless 
 rigidity of her voice. 
 
 " It was my story that he told me mine. You 
 went into a burning ship at night alone with 
 dead men to get me " 
 
 Reason seemed gone from the fixed eyes, from 
 the voice, unnatural, without inflections. 
 
 "Who told thee that tale?" The Captain's 
 hands closed tightly; a savage light flamed in his 
 face. 
 
 "Jacob Munch." The voice gave a little from 
 its awful monotony, but the eyes stared still. " He 
 looked at me queerly, and watched me. I 
 thought it was to make me angry but 'twas to see 
 if I remembered. "
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 101 
 
 Strong shuddering came upon her and her hands 
 opened and shut upon themselves pitifully. 
 
 The Captain turned swiftly aside to his little 
 cupboard for a bottle and a leathern cup. 
 
 "Steady there. Steady, my Little Maid " 
 he said anxiously, leaning down to hold the cup 
 closer. " 'Tis all over. Art safe now for all thy 
 life. " Under his brows rage still burned darkly, 
 but a soothing gentleness spoke in the comforting 
 certainty of his tone, in the very bend of his great 
 frame. 
 
 She drank obediently, unresisting, and shut fast 
 her lips that trembled sorely upon each other, her 
 forehead pressed against his hand to which she clung 
 again, her sobbing breath catching and strangling 
 in her throat; and the valiant fight for self-com- 
 mand, renewed with all her shaken force, seemed 
 to Captain Phips a thing of wonder and of pity. 
 
 Minute by minute she grew calmer, holding to 
 her protector, listening to his, "Steady steady 
 now," calmest of all when he said nothing; and 
 when he had made her drink again he lifted her 
 and laid her on the cushioned bench, folding over 
 her with quiet deftness a heavy blanket. Then he 
 waited beside her, the slender fingers still clasped 
 upon his own, until he felt the faint pulse in the 
 wrist beat with a fuller stroke; and when he knew 
 she slept, he slipped away and left her, setting 
 Roger to guard the door, lest noise awake her. 
 
 "An* she be not crazed 'twill be no fault of that 
 villain Munch," he added to his order. "Let him 
 not near nor any other. If she wake, speak 
 comfortably as if naught were strange. " But he
 
 loz THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 himself remained ever within call, fearing the 
 waking. 
 
 Then the Araby Rose grew silent, orders no longer 
 shouted but passed below the breath from mouth 
 to mouth. Men moved like figures in a vivid 
 pantomime against the line of the bulwarks and 
 the plane of the unchanging blue. A sorry fear 
 was on them, the Captain's fear, told in Maccartey's 
 words and written in the Captain's face. 
 
 "She hath remembered and the shock may kill 
 her, " they muttered, whispering as they went and 
 came, scowling anxiously upon the creaking sails, 
 angrily at the unconscious ocean as the long un- 
 dulations rattled the cordage above their heads. 
 
 But it was not for the body the Captain most 
 greatly feared. 
 
 The hour wore on in the hush of a waiting that 
 made a tenseness in the air about the cabin where 
 the child still slumbered; another hour began, and 
 the men in the periagua, delving hot and thirsty 
 beneath the unclouded sky, paused in their joyous 
 labour to wonder why the Rose that had kept ever 
 near at hand ran far out beyond the reefs without 
 a tack or change, and never a moving of her un- 
 handled sails.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LITTLE MAID 
 
 " f ^HEY are not my real aunt and uncle, " the 
 1 Maid began quickly, "but 'tis with them 
 -*" I went to the Carolinas. " 
 
 She had resisted the Captain's gentle admoni- 
 tion that she sleep again. " I remember. Let me 
 tell you, " she had pleaded. 
 
 It was mid-afternoon. The sun's rays had 
 slanted more and more upon the Rose when the 
 child had opened bewildered eyes upon the Cap- 
 tain's cabin. There was nothing extraordinary in 
 the trim furnishings of the place, but the silver bar 
 still stood upon the shelf-like table let down by 
 swinging brackets, and at the sight of it the colour 
 had risen to her face and she had sat up with an 
 unevenly taken breath, fixing on Roger the look 
 with which she might have regarded a stranger. 
 Her unconscious scrutiny had been so searching 
 that the lad had smiled gently, unable to bear with- 
 out a change of muscle the energy of her exploring 
 gaze. 
 
 " Where is my Uncle Amory ? " she had asked at 
 length, encouraged by the friendliness of the smile. 
 
 Now, as she talked, Roger saw that the same 
 look dwelt upon the padlocked chest, the gray 
 blankets of the Captain's bunk, the picture of the 
 Mayflower tacked above, and knew it for the look 
 of one who questions unfamiliar things. 
 
 103
 
 io 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 After a little the wandering ceased and her eyes 
 scarce left the Captain's face, seeming to find there 
 no strangeness but a certain courage for her words. 
 
 "What is thy uncle's name?" Captain Phips 
 gave matter-of-fact attention to the clearing of a 
 long-stemmed pipe. 
 
 "Richard Amory. " The child's hands fastened 
 to the edge of the cushioned bench, and her eyes 
 clung tenaciously to the face of the commander of 
 the Rose. 
 
 "And the plantation? Where " The Cap- 
 tain had lighted the coarsely broken tobacco and 
 settled himself upon the chest, motioning Roger 
 to the stool beside the door. 
 
 "At Charleston." The child's breath was still 
 uneven. " By the Ashley river and the Cooper.' ' 
 
 " I've seen the old town, not the new. " Captain 
 Phips looked up from his pipe. " Was't in the new 
 thy uncle settled?" 
 
 "Yes." She clasped her hands tightly in her 
 lap, her gc.ze never moving from her questioner. 
 " It was very beautiful. Aunt Charlotte was afraid, 
 but we liked it, Uncle Amory and I to see the 
 wild things and the water and not to grow up 
 so soon. " The voice broke a little and the hands 
 clasped each other more tightly yet. "Uncle 
 Amory would have it I might forget to sit upon his 
 knee when I grew up and my Aunt Charlotte, she 
 too liked me not to get older though she called 
 me 'mad-cap ' and ' romp ' for being so much without 
 the house. " The dark eyes had filled but they held 
 their tears, refusing to let them fall. 
 
 "When was it they took thee to the Carolinas?"
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 105 
 
 The Captain's tone helped to ease the struggle. 
 She waited but an instant, beginning bravely after 
 the pause. ' 
 
 " 'Twas when my father died. It was sad in 
 England. Uncle Amory and Aunt Charlotte lived 
 with us there. It was my mother's wish that we 
 be less lonely. " 
 
 "Thy father and thy mother be both dead and 
 thy Uncle Amory thy guardian?" 
 
 " He is my guardian for the care of all I have 
 but my Aunt Amory, Aunt Charlotte, hath the 
 charge of me as well. She loved my mother 
 and Uncle Amory and my father they were like 
 dear brothers he could not bear to stay in Eng- 
 land after " Her voice stopped often and she 
 
 trembled, but each time the effort was renewed, 
 a resolute will shining in her eyes. " His steward 
 was set to care for my home. Uncle Amory's own 
 lands are close by Danesleigh Wold. " 
 
 The Captain took his pipe from his mouth and 
 seemed about to speak, but he glanced into the 
 bowl as if to see that it was still alight, and replaced 
 it in silence. 
 
 " It was lovelier there than in the Carolinas. I 
 never forget " 
 
 Captain Phips knocked the pipe, live coals and 
 all, with a comfortable sound on the edge of the 
 chest and went about to fill it with some bluster. 
 
 "Was it from Charleston they kidnapped thee?" 
 he asked, as if he inquired, " Didst thou raise pota- 
 toes?" 
 
 "Yes," she answered swiftly. "I was with 
 Uncle in the fields and a planter came past upon a
 
 io6 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 splendid horse. There were few in Charleston 
 and my Uncle loves dearly a good horse. While 
 they talked I went a little away it was not far to 
 the edge of the oaks. I was jumping for the moss. 
 
 It hung so low I thought " Her hands held 
 
 desperately to each other and a shivering took her 
 as her voice ran hurriedly along. "A man like 
 an Indian (but he was not an Indian) seized me. I 
 tried to cry to Uncle, and he was talking there so 
 
 near I could hear what he was saying " The 
 
 slender fingers were knotting and unknotting upon 
 one another. 
 
 "Did the man blindfold thee, child?" Again 
 the Captain's voice gave her courage. The fingers 
 unlocked their grip and she went on steadily. 
 
 "There were two; one came after the other had 
 thrown something over my head. That was why I 
 could not cry out loud and they carried me 
 away hastily. And I could not hear Uncle's voice 
 any more. By and by we were in a boat. Then 
 they talked. " 
 
 "Couldst hear what they said?" The Captain 
 interrupted with some eagerness. 
 
 "They were talking about me." She leaned 
 forward on the cushioned bench, a feverish colour 
 warming her cheeks, her eyes dilated with remem- 
 brance. Roger insensibly bent nearer, absorbed 
 and waiting. The wrath he had felt on the London 
 wharf, a thousand-fold hotter now, devoured him. 
 
 "One of them would have killed me and taken 
 my scalp there in the swamp. 'They'll lay it to 
 the Indians and 'twill make us safe', he said, but 
 the other would not. I could not understand "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 107 
 
 Her face had grown white again. Her words came 
 in thick-breathed phrases. "For when one pushed 
 me with his foot the man who would have killed me 
 swore at him. ' Remember the witch ! ' he screamed 
 out as if affrighted. ' 'Tis for all, the curse, if the 
 pledge be broken. ' Why did he fear to have me 
 hurt if he would kill me ? I could not understand. " 
 Roger leaned still nearer, a fierce intentness in his 
 attitude. "The one who had kicked me swore 
 terribly ' When ye serve the Devil, why care for 
 a witch ? ' he said, and he sneered, laughing. ' We've 
 got the Sea flower. What's promised over? A 
 rotten hundred ! I'd not seen the wench when I 
 took the pledge. She'll bring more in the Indies 
 and a murder the less on your soul ! And mayhap 
 the hundred into the bargain ! ' ' 
 
 She repeated the speech of the ruffians monoton- 
 ously as words said over to herself many times be- 
 fore. 
 
 "That man, the one who would sell me for a 
 
 slave " She spoke again in her natural voice 
 
 "he was their Captain. They called him the 
 'Lady'." 
 
 "It was he! I was sure of it!" She shrank, 
 startled at Roger's low exclamation. "What did 
 they with the Seaflower? " he demanded impulsively. 
 
 " Twas sunk when they took the Walrus," she 
 answered, watching him fearfully as if wondering 
 at what he said. 
 
 He had drawn back contritely. The Captain 
 replied to the wordless question. 
 
 " The lad saw the rascal in London and knew him 
 for a scoundrel, and the master of the Seaflower.
 
 io8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 He'll tell thee of it later, " he interpolated, soften- 
 ing the frown he had turned on Roger, as he saw 
 the lad's evident distress. 
 
 The child's gaze had gone back to Captain Phips. 
 
 " He was worst of all he was cruel " Roger 
 
 looked indignantly at the Captain. How could 
 he let the girl go on if the telling of her story cost 
 her such suffering ! But William Phips was wise. 
 The sooner the tale were told, the sooner she would 
 forget. 
 
 "And when took they the Walrus? " 
 
 "I cannot tell," she replied, perplexedly. "It 
 seems a long time ago. We sailed among some 
 islands first and more of their men came on board. 
 There were a great many of them. But the Walrus 
 was so big I was sure sure she would take me 
 away " 
 
 The Captain moistened his lips. He spoke 
 quietly, in a lower pitch than he had used before. 
 
 "I knew Anthony Blount. He was master of 
 the Walrus, " he said. 
 
 " They killed him ! They killed them all. The 
 
 Lady was very drunk " The child's voice 
 
 failed utterly. There was a little silence, then she 
 began again at some point to which her memory 
 had progressed. 
 
 "After that I would not go on the deck where I 
 must see them, though the Captain was more kind 
 and noticed me more often. Sometimes he 
 would lay his hand upon my shoulder, " she shud- 
 dered. "I feared him he was so cruel. Then a 
 sailor named Witherly locked me in my cabin and 
 brought me my food himself. Always when he
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 109 
 
 came he said 'Thou'rt safe here,' but he was the 
 man who would have killed me and he looked at me 
 strangely. Yet I dreaded him not so much as the 
 other. I felt truly safer. I could no longer 
 
 hear the dreadful talking their words . And 
 
 I wondered if the witch's curse kept away the 
 Lady. I prayed God to bless the witch. " 
 
 The lad's look, half amazed, half admiring, dwelt 
 upon her earnestly. The Captain shook his head. 
 
 "Never speak well of the minions of Satan, 
 child," he said with sternness. "Never speak well 
 of witches. " 
 
 The girl looked at him soberly. If she pondered 
 his reproof she did not answer, and he rose from his 
 place and cast an eye at the sails, touching her 
 lightly with silent deprecation as she went on. 
 
 "After that after they took the Walrus I could 
 not cry, and then I could not sleep. It was all 
 dreams. I could not think or feel at all even when 
 I prayed. I talked a great deal to myself. I 
 thought there were two of myself. And sometimes 
 one was a slave, and one was dead and in Heaven 
 and the one that was a slave would beg the other 
 to take her away, but she mocked and would not. 
 I thought the witch was there and I pleaded on 
 my knees and the man that sent the pirates 
 sneered. And I saw Uncle and Aunt and they 
 wept a great deal and went calling me everywhere 
 and when I cried to them the pirates laughed 
 and shouted so they could not hear. " Her tones 
 had dropped ; the Captain bent far forward to catch 
 the words. " Sometimes I saw them Uncle Amory 
 and Aunt Charlotte and they laughed and were
 
 no THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 merry and that was worst of all, till I kept falling 
 and the rats came. One I loved. He was a little 
 one and would let me feed him crumbs. I used to 
 store them for him. But I feared them at night 
 and I had no light I dared not sleep then if I 
 could. So it went so long so many nights " 
 
 Roger turned his face away. Something of the 
 softness of youth had gone out of it. Captain 
 Phips again filled the pause. The sound of his 
 voice, homely and friendly, changed her terrified 
 stare to a look less dreadful. 
 
 " 'Tis July now, Little Maid, the nineteenth day. 
 Canst remember when they stole thee ? " 
 
 " 'Twas the planting time. " 
 
 "And how came it to thee to drop the rope to 
 Roger?" 
 
 Her eyes sought the lad's face and rested there 
 with something of his own intentness. 
 
 " 'Twas a little rope tied to a ring in the floor, " 
 she said musingly as if seeking some link forgotten. 
 "There were four rings, but only one rope." A 
 light flashed into her face and she spoke more 
 rapidly. "When another ship came I would 
 have thrown it though I thought it was but an- 
 other dream so they could come and get me but 
 something happened. The other ship kept moving 
 away and after that I knew nothing. It was like 
 a sleep save once I woke, in a great silence and 
 heard water trickling I thought they were going 
 to drown me all alone in the dark The 
 
 Captain drew a breath most like a sob. Roger's 
 hands were clinched deep. His face was haggard 
 like the child's. "I screamed and then I felt
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM in 
 
 Mamma's arms around me and she spoke to me 
 ' My foolish little one, what can frighten thee when 
 I am here,' she said. And when I opened my eyes 
 
 here on this ship I thought to see her " 
 
 The Captain would have spoken but his voice did 
 not come at his bidding. "You never knew her 
 or my father in England?" She looked up 
 eagerly at the Captain, who had risen. He 
 moved restlessly and there was a huskiness in 
 his answering question. 
 
 "What was thy father's name, Little Maid?" 
 
 "Francis and so is mine but with an e. 
 There was no man left to bear it, so they gave it to 
 a girl. Some day when I am grown I shall go 
 back to Danesleigh and see my father's people and 
 
 be their queen as Mamma was " She gazed 
 
 straight before her, neither at Roger nor the Cap- 
 tain, but into some far away future that brought 
 strength and purpose into the delicate face. 
 
 "Is it very large, Danesleigh?" The Captain 
 had stopped, absently turning the silver bar in his 
 hand, his eyes not long from the Maid. 
 
 "Very very large. You can drive many hours 
 and never see the highway, but not so grand as 
 Kilby West where we went for the hunting. Some- 
 times the King came there. But it was too far 
 from London for a home, my father said. " 
 
 "And hast thou no relatives, none to " 
 
 She shook her head, her eyes filling again. 
 
 " Not any one, " she answered in a kind of passion 
 of loneliness. "No one but a cousin and him my 
 father hated. " 
 
 "What is the cousin's name ? " The Captain had 
 laid the bar back upon the shelf.
 
 ii3 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Gregory Bellingham. " A look of repulsion 
 was on her face. " I wish he had not my father's 
 name and mine. " 
 
 Roger had flushed darkly, but this time he held 
 himself in check. 
 
 "Thou hast seen him often?" 
 
 "I have never seen him not since I was too 
 little to remember. He did not come to Danes- 
 leigh. " 
 
 "And the name of my little maid is Frances 
 Frances Bellingham ? " The Captain spoke the 
 words softly. 
 
 She caught her breath; the tone was too kind. 
 Her "yes" came half falteringly. "But Uncle 
 Amory had many names for me, a new one for 
 every day, Aunt Lotta said. Sometimes 't was 
 'Little Worthless." She smiled, tremulously. 
 " Will it will it be long before I see them ? " 
 
 She put up her hands to the Captain and he 
 clasped them in his rough palms, drawing her 
 gently to her feet. 
 
 " 'Twill not seem long," he answered. "And 
 thou wilt trust me to take thee to them ? I have 
 no little maid to call me father and so I have much 
 time and strength to give to this one that I found. " 
 There was nothing of the gallant Phips that jested, 
 stepping aside for some great lady's train, noth- 
 ing of the courtier, about his words. He spoke 
 truly, with the tender chivalry of childless men, 
 for whose childlessness the world is gainer, and the 
 girl believed him. But the face of the lad was 
 sober unto grief. Her sufferings were still upon 
 him, and the load was heavy.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 113 
 
 "Soon we will gladden the heart of thy Uncle 
 Amory and thy good Aunt, " the Captain went on 
 cheerfully. " And that will be very joyful. Mean- 
 time we'll be merry will we not?" 
 
 She nodded, her eyes glowing under their wet 
 lashes, her face transformed with hope. 
 
 "And every day we'll thank God that sent us our 
 Little Maid to make the voyage shorter. Wilt be 
 queen of the Araby Rose till thou com'st to thy 
 own people? I fear me thou'lt be a very great 
 tyrant ! " The Captain shook his head, the mois- 
 ture in his own eyes softening the mischief of the 
 last words. 
 
 She nodded again, almost gaily. 
 
 "Thou'lt see," she said. 
 
 " One thing we must not do, " the Captain added 
 soberly. "We must not tell any other of thy true 
 name. Canst promise that?" He looked from 
 the girl to Roger, who stood near but a little to one 
 side, lest he intrude himself. The lad's expression 
 had broken into warmth and light at the change in 
 hers. 
 
 "And one more thing thou must do." The 
 Captain was still serious, his gaze upon the up- 
 turned face of the girl. "My Little Maid must 
 hear to-morrow why Roger knew of the Seaftower, 
 and she must not let it make her sad. " 
 
 Her look, grown wistful again, was smiling when 
 he finished. 
 
 "So many musts for a queen! 'Tis thou art a 
 tyrant!" and as she spoke, laughter, caught still 
 with tears, the pure upwelling laughter of a child, 
 rippled softly from the cabin.
 
 ii 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Maccartey pacing with nervous strides the con- 
 stricted space of the deck above heard it, and 
 muttered with incoherent rapture; and the men, 
 watching as the Captain came forth, looked upon 
 his face and knew that all was well.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MUTINY AND AN OMEN 
 
 TIS lucky for Captain Phips he hath a crew 
 of silly old women ! " Gedge dropped his 
 end of the knobbed and curious weight 
 swung aboard from the deep-laden periagua and 
 kicked it shufflingly as he spoke. 
 
 The day's dredging was ended. Already the 
 hold of the Araby Rose was piled high with treasure, 
 the souls of the men glutted with its daily contem- 
 plation. 
 
 "A thousand fortunes in the ship and every 
 piece we sweat for goes to him and them that sent 
 him ! Fools we are I say. " The grumbler kicked 
 again at the heavy load fallen under their feet. 
 
 Fangs interrupted the succeeding oaths. 
 
 "Stow yer jaw and do summat w'en the time 
 comes, " he muttered. 
 
 A dozen sailors were pausing attentively within 
 hearing. He sent them back to their toil with a 
 sharp thrust of his poisonous tongue. Maccartey 
 patrolling the poop deck, where oftenest, in these 
 days, he kept a vigilant watch, had turned toward 
 them. 
 
 Suddenly Fangs darted forward and pounced 
 upon a slouching figure creeping nearer to listen. 
 The group re-formed about the prisoner held fast 
 in the clutch of his captor and of the grumbling 
 Gedge. 
 
 "5
 
 n6 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Jacob Munch was frightened. His petty mind, 
 suspicious, envious, ill-natured as it was, had only 
 so much of craftiness as a loutish blunderer could 
 compass. His tongue was unready. 
 
 A look ran from eye to eye about him as a flame 
 leaps from dried leaf to dried leaf when the spark 
 falls. Jacob did not comprehend the look, nor the 
 words he had overheard. Other words penetrated. 
 Against Gedge 's persistent warning, Fangs poured 
 them into the captive's ear, rapidly, in his sibilant 
 phrases that struck through the tough integument 
 of a sluggish brain. 
 
 The youth's leaden cheeks grew still more un- 
 wholesome in colour; his narrow eyes lifted them- 
 selves, all at once startled into a direct glance. He 
 cringed abjectly. 
 
 " Don't murder me, " he begged. 
 
 "I told ye the lummux had no blood in him!" 
 Gedge regarded Fangs with a satisfied leer. " Yer 
 fat's in the fire. A reef in yer tongue wouldn't 
 hurt ye. I ain't speakin' fer none but me but fer 
 me the's better captains than a man thet shouts 
 he's comin' before he gits there 't's too much like 
 a stinkin' pole-cat ! " 
 
 Gedge brought out his meaning with vulgar 
 emphasis. The men listened to his drawl with ap- 
 proval. 
 
 The little eyes of Fangs glittered and he worked 
 his tongue in and out around the protruding teeth 
 in a tentative fashion. His lips took on a nasty 
 twist and he let his snaky gaze wander about the 
 circle. When he spoke it was to Gedge. 
 
 " Mebbe ye think ye're the brains o' this plan !
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 117 
 
 Can ye navigate a ship ? If I choose to wait then 
 it's wait ! If I choose now to strike now's the 
 time!" Here he winked and wagged his head 
 confidentially, sure of his power. 
 
 The men laughed. 
 
 "We ain't ready to-night." Gedge's words 
 seemed to carry conviction to more than one. 
 "The treasure ain't in." 
 
 "Shet yer mouth, yer white-livered sneak." 
 Fangs's profanity rolled in a horrible profusion of 
 defilement from his twisted lips. He glared upon 
 the other, his little eyes glazing. "Ye're afraid 
 afraid an' puttin' it off to warn the Captain ! " 
 He extended his gaze once more to include the 
 circle. " Shall we settle 'im first ? 'e's a traitor ! " 
 
 The violence of the greater villain or a certain 
 truth in the venom of his words had won. Gedge 
 surrendered. He fell to work upon the bags and 
 sang with the loudest as the heap grew larger at 
 the foot of the mast. 
 
 Maccartey had watched the short conference 
 suspiciously. Through the open skylight he could 
 see Captain Phips and Tom. The carpenter was 
 busy strengthening the lockers of the cabin. The 
 Captain had taken a hand himself, explaining as 
 he worked. 
 
 " I've carpentered more years than thou, Tom," 
 Maccartey heard him say. 
 
 Beside the mate Roger stood and waited. 
 
 " You called me, sir, " he reminded him at length. 
 
 "So I did 'tis true. I was shpellbound 
 listenin' to the Captain's voice. I'm bothered in 
 me mind. The men have been conflammin* to-
 
 n8 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 
 
 gether. Hast marked annythin' in the boat, lad?" 
 He looked down at the growing pile the crew were 
 transferring from the periagua. 
 
 Munch had been spirited away and left, securely 
 trussed, where he could do no harm. 
 
 " 'E join?" Manuel had asked, an ugly grin an- 
 ticipating the answer. Manuel was not a bad ex- 
 ample of his fellows, superstitious to all depths of 
 credulous besottedness, gloating upon the sight of 
 suffering with relish that had a keener edge if he 
 could himself inflict the pang. 
 
 ' 'E join us?" he had repeated when Fangs 
 chose not to hear. 
 
 " 'E would ter save his skin!" the leader had 
 answered contemptuously. "But 'e aint arsked to 
 join nothin'. We're short o' hands or I'd sent'im 
 to rot w'ere 'e belongs. We'll get a better outern 
 the first ship we over'auls. I couldn't stomach 
 'im long. A shark couldn't keep 'im down !" 
 
 He illuminated his words by gesture and invec- 
 tive grotesque and abhorrent, delighting his audi- 
 ence whenever he outdid them in coarseness. "If 
 'e'd yelled out, they'd 'ad us four of 'em with an 
 arsenal be'ind 'em ! " he finished, nodding viciously 
 in the direction of the cabin where the carpenter's 
 hammer still sounded. 
 
 Fangs scowled as he fell again to work. The 
 mutiny was not wholly ripe. The victory over the 
 Walrus had added strength to the hold Captain 
 Phips had already upon his crew ; a third were luke- 
 warm, a few even unwilling, the cook openly pro- 
 testing. Tom the carpenter was as staunch as 
 Maccartey. No word had been said to Tom. He
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 119 
 
 was safe, at the moment, where he could not give 
 the alarm, and to delay now was impossible in 
 any case. No pledge of Jacob Munch could be 
 trusted. 
 
 Sullen, lustful, determined, the men who had no 
 arms seized surreptitiously upon other weapons, 
 the iron hooks and drags, awkward implements of 
 their treasure fishing. As their hands closed upon 
 these rude bludgeons their eyes swam greedily on 
 the unopened bags, their day's spoil, still dripping 
 upon the windy, sun-scoured deck. 
 
 Their movements were rapid and not without 
 skill. As they secured their clubs, acting under 
 the direction of Fangs, they appeared merely to 
 move the pile of iron to make room for the last of 
 the periagua's load. 
 
 There was little preparation needed, at most 
 three men and a boy to face. The Captain was still 
 absorbed in his carpentry, the mate's gaze an in- 
 stant turned to the horizon. But the eyes of the 
 remaining watcher were not shut. 
 
 " Mutiny ! Capt " 
 
 Roger's voice burst in a clarion shout through 
 the open skylight, a shout cut midway by a blow. 
 Four of the rebels, slipping forward, had leaped 
 swiftly up the poop ladder. The rest were rushing 
 in a ravening horde upon the cabin. 
 
 The sea danced cheerfully, tossing whorls of 
 foam from every wave, and the wind ran unwearied 
 in its laughing game after the shining whiteness 
 that came and went upon the upreared crests. The 
 Rose, dancing with the sea, tugged merrily at her 
 anchor.
 
 120 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The crew confident, rioting in brutal fancy, cer- 
 tain of their prey, had already the callous grimness, 
 the zestful fury of their quest. There was assur- 
 ance in the very boisterousness of their advance. 
 
 Into this assurance, this daring of a horde 
 against a handful, upon the very bludgeons of the 
 already triumphing mass, a single figure hurled 
 itself. In the very utterance of Roger's cry the 
 Captain was upon them his huge frame instinct 
 with a vital rage, his whole unconquerable person- 
 ality thrusting the mob before him. 
 
 "Cowards! Dogs!" he panted. "Ye dare!" 
 The butts of his pistols swept them out of his 
 path, and they stumbled over fallen bodies, striv- 
 ing to reach him with their blows. Fangs and 
 Gedge were trampled beneath the foremost. The 
 mass was breaking. 
 
 The carpenter leaned through the window, his 
 pistols cocked, raging at the Captain's " Don't 
 shoot, Tom !" ready to disobey if the tide of con- 
 quest turned. 
 
 On the poop the man whose blow had cut off 
 Roger's shout was down. Another had taken his 
 place. With him the lad strove fiercely. The mate, 
 braced against the bulwarks, battling with two 
 assailants, still defended himself. 
 
 Suddenly one of the two slunk quickly away and 
 sprang down the clear retreat of the ladder. Be- 
 fore any could cry out in warning, the man's 
 weapon was over the Captain's head and Tom, 
 unnoticed by the assassin, was leaning joyously 
 nearer as his ball sped home. 
 
 Roger heard the shot but it was some seconds
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 121 
 
 before he heard more. When he opened his eyes 
 Maccartey was still doggedly holding off two assail- 
 ants, but his strength was going. The lad clutched 
 swiftly at the man beneath whose fist he had gone 
 down, jerked the legs sharply from under him, 
 and struggling rolled with him to the main deck. 
 
 This time, for a goodly space, he neither heard 
 nor saw. A ringing of hard metal fallen upon the 
 planks whereon his head was resting roused his 
 senses to some returning life. A voice came to 
 him vaguely, a powerful voice, interrupted by 
 assenting murmurs. 
 
 The voice became clearer, the murmurs more 
 emphatic. He thought himself sleeeping and 
 strove to wake. 
 
 "Art alive, lad?" 
 
 He opened his eyes drowsily upon the scarred 
 visage of Sparhawk. 
 
 "Bill!" he whispered reproachfully. 
 
 "Hist there, lad. I knocked ye down easy lest 
 another kill ye. " 
 
 Roger did not understand. He tried to lift him- 
 self but did no more than raise his face from the 
 planks and ease his head against the ship's side. 
 His eyes were still drowsy but he saw the Captain 
 and knew whose voice it was that had mingled with 
 his blurred half consciousness. 
 
 The picture came before his mind as one of the 
 shifting scenes of sleep and he waited dully for it to 
 change. 
 
 The Captain, mounted upon the treasure, was 
 still speaking. Below him the men stood stupidly, 
 like cattle. The wind came freshly off the sea and
 
 122 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 blew strongly in the lad's face. He pulled himself 
 higher and saw the irons dropped upon the deck, 
 It was their clang that first had roused him. 
 
 His eyes travelled past the listening crew to the 
 cabin window and Tom the carpenter who waited 
 yet, his pistols ready ; then from the window to the 
 poop above. He could not see the mate, and for a 
 minute he watched the bulwarks swim up and down 
 upon the sky. As they sank, the descending sun 
 burned above the black rim and made him blind. 
 
 Now single words began to separate themselves, 
 from the unmeaning many, and he heard intently, 
 straining his mind to follow. The terrific energy 
 of the voice whose explosions had beaten at first 
 upon the air like cannonading close at hand, had 
 sunk somewhat. But its strokes came unerringly 
 as the ring of a hammer upon steel, and it went 
 forward with forcible distinctness. 
 
 "My promise against yours. My bond signed 
 and sealed against your own. " 
 
 Roger sat up. Remembrance had returned. 
 The crew were cheering, a hoarse roar of admira- 
 tion and consent. The weapons lay where they 
 had fallen. The faces turned to the Captain wore 
 expressions newly varied, the grudging surrender 
 of the beaten, the shamed loyalty of traitors self- 
 convicted, the enthusiasm of prodigals returned. 
 
 Roger took a swift count of the defeated and 
 saw that the conquest was complete. There would 
 be no more mutiny for long time to come upon the 
 Araby Rose. In his search his eyes came upon Mac- 
 cartey, bruised and smeared with his own blood, 
 standing in grim guard over two prisoners. Fangs 
 was one.
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 123 
 
 "The Little Maid knows naught of this. 'Tis my 
 own fears that make me ask the pledge. She was 
 sent to us '.' 
 
 "Aye, sir, She brought us the treasure. " The 
 voice of the reanimated Gedge broke in upon the 
 Captain's, ardent in approval. 
 
 Again Roger was at a loss for the meaning of 
 what he heard, "the Little Maid" and "the pledge." 
 
 "The pledges then are these." The lad heark- 
 ened eagerly. " I promise that which was ever my 
 intention, a fair fortune for every man, and if the 
 Company make not the promise good I redeem it 
 from my single share. Is it a fair pledge ? " 
 
 "None could make a fairer." Again the voice 
 of Gedge. 
 
 "And now what is't ye pledge in return?" 
 
 The Captain stood over them like a schoolmaster 
 lessoning an unruly class. 
 
 " 'Tis this. " An older man took the words from 
 the very teeth of the forth-putting Gedge. " 'Tis 
 this, Captain Phips. " He plucked at his forelock 
 as he spoke. "We gives our oaths as we 'opes for 
 mercy to serve faithful on the Rose, obeyin' orders 
 till she's safe in port, and never to pipe a word to 
 livin' soul, of the Little Maid. And for the man 
 that whispers it, even in 'is cups, to any the curse 
 of Mad Timothy be on 'im. " 
 
 The words sounded simple enough, but a shudder 
 went through the men. 
 
 " 'Tis too awful a curse, " muttered Gedge. 
 ' 'Twould sour a man's stomach for his pewter. " 
 
 The Captain's eyes blazed on him for an instant, 
 turned suggestively to Maccartey, then swept the 
 group.
 
 i2 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "And I " his words smote roundly on their 
 ears "am willing to be bound by that which leaves 
 me poor, and cursed by the same curse if I break it ! 
 'Tis my pledge against yours ! How shall it be ? " 
 
 Roger had listened staring, his breath waiting on 
 the answer. But Gedge's had been the solitary 
 protest. The ravening pack was tamed. The 
 lad slipped lower and drowiness crept once more 
 upon him. His lids closed. But the pain in his 
 head was very great. It would not let him sleep. 
 
 Sparhawk was no longer near him but after a 
 space there came a touch upon his forehead. The 
 touch was soft yet the vicious throbbing responded 
 to it with livelier throes. He moved involuntar- 
 ily and winced as the motion stabbed him. For a 
 space again he was alone. 
 
 " Here, lad, sit up and take thy medicine like a 
 Christian. 'Tis no time for sleeping. Come ! " 
 
 A lusty arm was thrust beneath his shoulders. 
 He knew the voice for Maccartey's. It brought 
 warmth with it. 
 
 "The Little Maid?" The lad's eyes questioned 
 more than the words. 
 
 "The Little Maid, is it, then! Lift thy head 
 and see her ! 'Tis she will give us no peace till thou 
 art through thy shamming as if the cap'n and 
 mate of the Rose had no better to do than nurse 
 a stripling with a broken head ! Here, take the 
 cordial. " 
 
 Roger drank in docile haste but his lips screwed 
 themselves awry at the dose he swallowed. 
 
 "Arrah! The ungrateful rogue !" Maccartey's 
 tongue ran often in moments of emotion to a soft
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 125 
 
 brogue repudiated by his Boston training. ' 'Tis 
 no poison we're giving thee, but good herbs, and 
 costly into the bargain. A fine brew ! " 
 
 A sleepy laugh woke in the lad's face. 
 
 "An" it be as potent as 'tis vile I'm well already, " 
 he said slowly. "Why I am well!" 
 
 He released himself from the mate's grasp, and 
 felt the clumsy beating of his heart subside. As 
 he essayed to get upon his feet, he saw the Maid. 
 She stood near, watching with a little anxious 
 frown the effort he was making. Something in 
 his look sent an answering delight into her own. 
 She clapped her hands. 
 
 " He will live ! He speaks like himself ! He 
 will live ! " she cried, and Manuel, hearing the sound 
 and the exclamation, crossed himself devoutly, 
 feasting his passing glance on the ugly plaster that 
 striped Maccartey's cheek, and the uglier bruise 
 above the boy's temple. 
 
 "Thou'rt not hurt?" Roger's gaze kept to the 
 Maid, seeking some sign of mischief upon her. 
 
 "The cook locked me below in the cabin. I 
 could not get out. " She came nearer, appealing to 
 Roger and the mate. " Tell me was it a mutiny ? 
 Will they be hanged?" New violence coming 
 upon the old had pressed hard upon her. In her 
 agitation trembled a nervous dread, made greater 
 by the horror of remembrance. 
 
 Roger spoke quickly. 
 
 "The men are forgiven. There'll be no more 
 mutiny. " 
 
 "But the prisoners ? " 
 
 "They're too sick to be hanged, " Maccartey put
 
 126 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 in cheerily. "They'll go easier'n they deserve. 
 Hast nothing to fear. 'Tis all over now. " 
 
 The Maid drew yet nearer, comforted by the 
 tone. 
 
 " Nothing can harm thee while the Captain " 
 
 Maccartey would have gone on. 
 
 "He is a hero!" she interrupted radiantly. "I 
 love him well. " 
 
 The lad's eyes flashed, and the mate's beamed 
 satisfaction with her words. 
 
 ' 'Tis so, " he said. " We love him well. " 
 
 "Where is he?" Roger was standing at last. 
 The medicine worked nobly but there was a ringing 
 in his head as of a blacksmith's anvil. Maccartey 
 watched him cautiously as he answered. 
 
 "Writing," he replied briefly. "A pledge for 
 the signing of the crew. " 
 
 " With the oath of Mad Timothy ? " 
 
 Maccartey looked anxiously around. The Maid 
 had left them. 
 
 "Aye," he answered "that same." 
 
 " 'Tis short. He must be finished by this," the 
 lad said wearily. "What made my head play me 
 this coward's trick?" 
 
 "Trick is it! Boots and body o' me, boy! 
 Faith, and 'tis thy thick skull thou mayest be 
 praising thou'rt not cracked entirely ! An eight- 
 foot tumble with Bill atop and after the pirate's 
 blow 
 
 ' 'Tis not the thickness of the skull but the sound 
 brains within ' ' 
 
 Maccartey had not finished. He disregarded 
 the interruption.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 127 
 
 " An' it's mebbe cracked thou art ! Thou talkest 
 as if writing were but an easy task ! See here, lad, 
 canst write, thyself?" He moved confidingly 
 closer for the answer. 
 
 "Try me." Roger laughed again. "I believe 
 I can walk. The dizziness is gone. " 
 
 " Then walk thou to the Captain and lend a hand 
 at the pledge. That's a fine figure of pluck for ye, " 
 he added, as the lad moved unsteadily toward the 
 cabin door. "But I'll not be sending him aloft 
 the night !" 
 
 The pledge, inscribed upon a dingy leaf torn from 
 the ship's log, was ready. 
 
 One by one the men had slouched or shuffled 
 forward. Gedge had read the promises aloud, ad- 
 ministered the formidable oath, and witnessed the 
 signing that closed the compact. More than one 
 hand shook as it laboriously traced its mark upon 
 the paper. The manuscript completed looked to 
 Roger not unlike the picture writing of the North- 
 ern Indians, the signatures scattered upon the page 
 like signs of the zodiac in a confusion of worlds. 
 
 As fast as their symbols were affixed the men re- 
 turned to their tasks. Gedge had recited the oath 
 of Mad Timothy with special unction to Jacob 
 Munch, and the youth's terror showed in the 
 nerveless bungling of his letters. 
 
 The Little Maid remained fast by the side of 
 Captain Phips; as the day drew on toward night 
 she felt never safe elsewhere. To her request to 
 read the pledge he had shaken his head. 
 
 " 'Tis not good reading, " he had answered with
 
 128 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 sturdy good humour. " Bother not thy head with 
 script. 'Tis unnatural for maids and thou'rt too 
 young. 'Tis bad enough for Roger!" 
 
 " I can write; my uncle taught me, " she had re- 
 plied shaking her head in turn. "Thou wilt let 
 me help sometimes like Roger?" she had begged. 
 
 " Shalt have thy way if writing must be done. I 
 crave no more of it," and seeing her wistful still, 
 he laughed and the laugh rolled out wholesome 
 and confident across the sparkling waves. " 'Tis 
 not every Captain hath two such scriveners in one 
 ship ! Why, lass, 'tis a brave academy, the Araby 
 Rose!" 
 
 The Little Maid had not laughed, but in her 
 soberness was a deep content. Her eyes clung to 
 him as the eyes of hapless things cling to a pro- 
 tector, and she was with him still as he issued from 
 the cabin and took his stand opposite Maccartey, 
 who directed the work upon the treasure. 
 
 The bars had all been stowed. The jewels 
 rested in the Captain's lockers. The heap of bags 
 waited. Piled together like shapeless trunks, 
 petrified in the fifty years of their immersion, they 
 lay at the foot of the mast. 
 
 Two men with axes were ready beside the first. 
 The hard substance that encrusted the canvas 
 itself embedded strange sea spoils shells, petrified 
 sprays of plume and weed, and broken branches 
 of the coral, blanched ghostly in the lime. 
 
 Gedge struck lustily and the encasing hardness 
 cracked under the blow. Tom waited grimly, 
 spat first on one hand, then the other, and swung 
 the clumsy haft above his head. The thick crust
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 129 
 
 split from end to end. A stream of glittering 
 silver flowed across the deck, running even to the 
 feet of the Little Maid. 
 
 She went quickly forward and bent to touch a 
 sea anemone frozen in the solid rime. The pro- 
 jecting edge broke short and she stood up gazing 
 ruefully upon it. The slight wrench had stirred the 
 mass and set flowing upon the deck fresh streams 
 of shining coin. In the very centre there lay exposed 
 a leather pouch. The case was rotted. Even as 
 it was given into the Captain's hands it fell away 
 from a delicate vase, the cup a pure crystal hol- 
 lowed within and twined without by clasping 
 tendrils of gold, the whole so tiny a man could 
 grasp it only with a thumb and finger lest he crush 
 it. The Maid cried out softly as it came to light. 
 
 Maccartey first broke the silence that followed its 
 appearance. 
 
 "Sure 'tis the sea fairies sent it to thee, little 
 one!" he exclaimed. 
 
 The men had gathered closer, superstition and 
 greed glowing in their look. 
 
 " I fear me, no better fairies than could man a 
 ship !" The Captain turned the glass as he spoke 
 so the light of the sun streamed through it into 
 their faces. "The Maid shall drink to us safe 
 home and the keeping of the pledge ! " he cried. 
 
 The sun, sinking steadily to the near horizon 
 burned across the waters in a blaze dazzling and 
 resplendent. Between, the translucent sea shone 
 like the glory of another world. The stained rig- 
 ging caught the fervid light upon furled sail and 
 battered spar, transfigured to a brilliance not its 
 own.
 
 130 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The group below the mast showed clearly, their 
 features, reddened or bronzed, raw-hued or dull, 
 luminously plain, the Indians alone smooth and 
 unblemished of skin. On swarthy arms wielding 
 the axes great muscles came and went, writhing 
 like serpents beneath their hairy covering. 
 
 The rings in Manuel's ears gleamed against his 
 curls, and his red cap made a brighter spot in the 
 brightness, its tassel swinging as he shifted his bare 
 feet upon the planks. Homespun or fringed cloth, 
 flaunting sashes or leathern belts, backs clothed 
 or naked, the glamour found them out and clothed 
 them all. 
 
 Save for the strokes upon the crusted bags and 
 the rattle of coins into an empty chest, the group 
 were silent till the cup was filled. The Maid had 
 returned to the Captain and stood beside him 
 waiting. Maccartey's eyes strayed from the 
 Spanish silver spilled upon the boards and rested 
 on her face. 
 
 The sea had mounted upon the round disc of the 
 sun. The light had changed. A crimson splendour 
 splashed the waves and poured its flood upon the 
 ship. The glinting silver gave it back in fiery 
 coruscations, and the cup, aflame in all its trans- 
 parent crystal, seemed the colour's soul and source. 
 
 The axes had fallen, idle; the streams of silver 
 spread, unregarded, upon the rolling deck. The 
 sailor kneeling by the chest forgot his task, staring 
 upward at the child. Roger had drawn nearer to 
 Captain Phips. 
 
 The Little Maid took the crystal from the Cap- 
 tain's hand. The hush grew deeper, the watching
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 131 
 
 more strained. Her look, bent upon the men 
 about the mast, upon Roger, and last upon the 
 Captain, was grave and searching. 
 
 Steadily she raised the cup, and drank. And as 
 she turned again to her protector, there came upon 
 her lifted face a smile wondrous as the sea, sud- 
 den and magical as the radiant afterglow.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE ROYAL GOVERNOR 
 
 THE crowd pouring from Meeting House 
 square into King street from either side 
 the Town House blocked the way to 
 suffocation. 
 
 Farther up Cornhill Mr. Clark, the pewterer, 
 was bowing forth a dame who had bargained long 
 and bought nothing. Dragging at her hand, a 
 small boy, in flowing trousers that just showed the 
 butternut-colored hosiery between them and his 
 shoes, looked anxiously in the direction of the 
 throng. 
 
 "And the shallow bowl " began the dame 
 
 again. 
 
 "Will be no less and no more this twelvemonth, " 
 interrupted the merchant, hastily beginning to 
 fasten on the wooden shutters of his shop. "I 
 shall be pleased to have you see them at leisure in 
 a better light, Mistress Munch, " he added as the 
 woman moved away abruptly. 
 
 She vouchsafed no reply, being angry at his 
 haste, and turned her back without farewell. The 
 anxious look upon the small boy's face lightened as 
 they mixed in the thickening concourse, and he 
 pulled with increasing energy at his mother's arm. 
 
 Mistress Munch was stout and dangerously 
 laced, nor was more speed attainable save at the 
 expense of dignity already wounded by the pew- 
 
 132
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 133 
 
 terer's independence. She cuffed the small boy 
 smartly, exasperation tingling in the blow. 
 
 "For shame, Shubael, " she scolded. "Acting 
 and pulling like one possessed! Come here, sir!" 
 
 Shubael whimpered softly to himself and fell 
 back unprotesting, the eagerness gone from his 
 chubby face. The woman still scolded as they 
 went, interrupting herself often to greet a neigh- 
 bour with the shade of cordiality or distance that 
 should indicate his rank. 
 
 They had followed without difficulty through the 
 square and along the south wall of the Town H"ouse, 
 but at the head of King Street the obstructing cur- 
 rents flowing from Pudding Lane on the right and 
 from Crooked Lane and Shrimpton's on the left 
 checked their advance, and they were caught in a 
 backward wash of the tide and stranded in a spot 
 where motion ceased. 
 
 Mistress Munch dropped the child's hand to 
 guard the amplitude of her skirts, and the boy 
 whimpered again, frightened by the numbers press- 
 ing upon them. 
 
 Talk hummed in the quiet air, bits of exclama- 
 tion, homely chat and comment, zigzagging 
 among friends. 
 
 "There be eight companies to meet him. " 
 
 "Is it sure they pass this way ? " 
 
 " Of couse, Zany ? Why else went th.e militia " 
 
 "I feared 'twas Scarlett's Sir Humphrey Wild- 
 glass landed at Scarlett's. " 
 
 "And the people thick as porridge here in King 
 Street; where be thy eyes?" 
 
 "Calm thyself, Charity," put in a louder voice.
 
 134 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Shubael edged away from the speaker, who towered 
 appallingly above him. ' 'Tis no good prepara- 
 tion for the morrow. 'Twere better had the ships 
 arrived before, not set thy tongue wagging on 
 worldly discourse upon the Sabbath eve. " 
 
 "Sir William should better control the winds! 
 'Twas blameworthy and somewhat rank in taste 
 to be in such haste for Boston ! 'Tis to be won- 
 dered if your governor be counted of the elect. " 
 
 The Puritan wheeled to see who had addressed 
 him, strong curiosity in his expression as he per- 
 ceived the stranger. 
 
 " I fear your words have too much truth in them, 
 Sir," he replied gravely. "But it is not in the 
 power of William Phips to control the wind that 
 'bloweth where it listeth'. I but meant to urge 
 he might have waited without until the " 
 
 The sentence was lost in a forward movement 
 of the mass that hemmed them in. A roll of drums 
 from the distance had quickened the steps of the 
 foremost. The way opened again, the main 
 stream carrying with it the lesser tributaries. 
 
 The stranger had taken out his snuff box, a per- 
 fume shaking from the lace of his sleeves as he 
 tapped the inlaid lid suggestively. "An indul- 
 gence I may not offer on the Sabbath eve?" he 
 asked with suave insolence as they separated. 
 
 " 'Tis Sir Humphrey Wildglass, Charity," whis- 
 pered the friend. " He came on the same ship with 
 Mr. Apthorpe. " 
 
 " His apparel suits not the good sense of his 
 words. " The Puritan's tone, that he made no 
 effort to modulate, was again loud with disfavour.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 135 
 
 Mistress Munch had but waited to catch the 
 stranger's name. 
 
 "I see Madam Verring, Mam." 
 
 Shubael spoke for the first time, a shy purpose 
 in his words. 
 
 "Where?" His mother drew him hastily after 
 as she crossed to the entrance of Pudding lane. 
 "Make your manners to Madam," she admonished 
 him as they went. 
 
 The air was charged with invisible excitement, 
 but the crowd was grave rather than cheerful, and 
 gave serious attention to its steps, conversing 
 staidly as it progressed and giving vent to no shout- 
 ings nor vain noises. 
 
 To hasten in such a concourse was to be un- 
 pleasantly conspicuous, and it cost Mistress Munch 
 some moments of careful manoeuvring to over- 
 take the two upon whom her eyes were set, the 
 more because wherever the couple moved the 
 multitude opened to let them pass, returning their 
 salutations with deep respect and closing in 
 promptly behind them. 
 
 Nothing in the fashion of their dress distin- 
 guished them from their neighbors. The woman's 
 bonnet and mantle were far plainer than those of 
 Mistress Munch, though their texture, like that of 
 the sad-colored silk, was of greater richness. She 
 drew closer to her husband as the crowd jostled her. 
 
 "Would it be better we returned," he asked, 
 
 pausing. "The numbers are oppressive and 
 
 this welcoming of a royal governor is little to my 
 mind. " 
 
 "Nay, Nicolas," his wife replied quickly. "I
 
 136 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 would stay and see. He was ever kind to Roger. " 
 She added the last sentence in a lower tone, know- 
 ing, as her husband knew, that it was the sight of 
 Roger at the head of his company she most craved. 
 
 " He is not unlike thee, in his uniform, " she con- 
 tinued after a little silence, pursuing their unuttered 
 thought. 
 
 Nicolas Verring's look had gathered sternness 
 in the waiting. He harked back to her words about 
 the Governor. 
 
 "It remaineth to be proved whether or no we 
 repent that kindness. Thou judgest weakly, 
 Alison. " 
 
 The woman flushed a little at the heat of his tone. 
 
 "It is natural a mother should be mindful of 
 those that deal graciously by her children, " she 
 rejoined quietly. She had not forgotten the Hope- 
 well, though she forbore to recall it aloud. Even 
 after six years her heart warmed to the man who 
 had protected her boy, but her husband's re- 
 proaches left a trouble in the memory, and she 
 harrowed her secret thoughts for a lurking wicked- 
 ness that might prefer her son's welfare to his soul's 
 salvation. 
 
 " Would he resembled me in the spirit rather than 
 in the perishable flesh, " the father persisted strenu- 
 ously. "There would be no more paltering. I 
 would have Roger owe nothing to the faction of 
 Sir William Phips 'tis a leading of the blind. 
 Serving God with levity of carriage ! ' And the boy 
 
 hath vain desires There's little of the light 
 
 in him. God forbid that little should be made a 
 darkness!" A worried look drew together his
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 137 
 
 brows and he stopped abruptly. "Captain Fitch 
 is beckoning us, " he added as he raised his eyes. 
 "Shall we go over ? " 
 
 " Let us wait here, " his wife urged quickly. " I 
 refused Madam Butler's invitation to share her 
 porch. I thought 'twould seem too much like 
 merrymaking for the eve of the Sabbath day. " 
 
 "Now who'd have thought to meet a friend in 
 such a rabble ! " The surprise of Mistress Munch 
 was somewhat overdone. "Have you seen aught 
 of Christopher ? He was to wait me on the corner 
 by Madam Phillips's, but 'tis no wonder to miss 
 each other in a press like this ! Saw you ever the 
 
 like ! And who may be the 'Tis my Jacob 
 
 and his sister! See, in the window yonder!" 
 She gave her whole attention for a breathing space 
 to the opposite side of the way. 
 
 Mr. Verring had inclined his head at her ap- 
 proach but paid her no further heed; and Madam 
 Verring had smiled, but the smile had been chiefly 
 for Shubael, who crept to her side, in his mother's 
 brief preoccupation, and gazed up at her as a dog 
 gazes when its feels importunately the need of 
 speech. 
 
 "What is it, Shubael?" she asked, compre- 
 hending. 
 
 " Will there be volleys for the Governor? " The 
 question came in an explosive whisper. 
 
 "It is the Sabbath eve," Nicolas Verring an- 
 swered severely. "There will be no firing. " 
 
 The boy shrank abashed, and dropped his eyes. 
 Alison Verring bent to settle the cap on the close- 
 cropped head.
 
 138 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "The volleys will be on Monday, " she said gently. 
 
 A gleam illuminated the round face but the child 
 ventured on no further speaking. 
 
 "Christopher will have it Jacob's new doublet 
 is far too fine for the provinces, but it sets him off 
 mightily!" Mistress Munch had drawn a dozen 
 short breaths and was in full voice again. " His 
 figure is much improved, I tell him. 'Tis more 
 elegantly proper. There's not a better turned leg 
 in Boston. I can't abide the spindling youths that 
 dangle after Beulah. " 
 
 Nicolas Verring was about to carry off his wife 
 to the neglected hospitality of Captain Fitch, a 
 righteous distaste for the vulgarity of the woman 
 operating with a stronger disapproval of the matter 
 of her discourse, but his intention was frustrated 
 by Christopher Munch himself. 
 
 Alison Verring moved a little apart as the man 
 appeared. Mistress Munch grew silent; the infla- 
 tion of her mood collapsed sharply. In her manner 
 was unpleasantly manifest the cowardice of a 
 small nature browbeaten and bullied. Something 
 afraid and furtive in her look sent Madam Verring's 
 glance to the window where Jacob Munch was 
 fretfully haranguing his sister. An interruption, 
 apparently an arrival, restored his heavily satisfied 
 expression and he rose with unwonted briskness 
 of motion. 
 
 " A wonderful man truly ! Heaven send us " 
 
 The owner of the voice had passed on but his 
 enthusiasm lingered in murmurs that echoed his 
 words. An angry light enlivened the dull features 
 of Christopher Munch.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 139 
 
 "A mblancholy thing,' ' he said sourly, "that the 
 sons of Belial be set on high and time-servers wor- 
 shipping before them ! " 
 
 "I cannot call Sir William Phips a 'son of Be- 
 lial,'" Verring answered calmly. "And it would 
 seem, his faction serve more from misguided zeal 
 than for any ends of self-seeking. " 
 
 The cold moderation and careful justice of the 
 defence increased the other's truculence. 
 
 "Would they might be wiped from the colony 
 and the land purged of their offence !" he rejoined 
 harshly. "Then might we see again the days of 
 godliness ! Now when any rapscallion may call 
 himself citizen, member of the meeting or no, even 
 a perverted scoffer may cast a vote. There's no 
 safety in Zion ! " 
 
 The carnal spite in Hunch's tone contrasted as 
 oddly with his words as the coarseness of his over- 
 fed person with the would-be sancity of his air. 
 The same confusion appeared in his clothing, that 
 was an unhappy blending of New England sobriety 
 and newly imported worldliness. An aggressive 
 prosperity and an aggressive piousness expressed 
 him equally. 
 
 "The godliness of Christopher Munch is like 
 salve on water; it gets never deeper than the sur- 
 face, " Roger had once opined, in the face of some 
 condemnation flagrantly unfair that his father had 
 quoted to him for edification ; and Nicolas Verring 
 had reprimanded his son bitterly, seeing in the 
 hasty speech but wilful impiety. 
 
 Yet if the face of Nicolas Verring was forbidding, 
 it was with the sternness of the ascetic and its
 
 140 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 strength attracted even while its austerity re- 
 pelled. Nor was the effect marred by physical 
 weakness. His body was of great vigour, the spare 
 frame erect with the militant force of anchorites 
 who survive the rigours of their discipline. His 
 very dress, its sombreness relieved only by the 
 broad collar of fine linen, had a distinction in the 
 wearing. Beside him Christopher Munch showed 
 crassly underbred. 
 
 '"Sir William' 'Sir William'! There's noth- 
 ing else thought on but 'Sir William' ! I am sure 
 one wearies of the name !" put in Mistress Munch, 
 faithfully echoing her master. 
 
 "And 'tis but a sorry name repeated so!" 
 The suavely insolent voice again of Sir Humphrey 
 Wildglass. " How much better would sound Sir 
 Christopher or Sir Jacob ! " He had taken his 
 station so that none of the woman's words had 
 missed him. She regarded the interruption with 
 a doubtful flutter, silenced by the derisive amuse- 
 ment in the stranger's look. 
 
 Christopher had not heard the low-voiced com- 
 ment. 
 
 " 'Tis no great thing to be 'Sir' anybody!" he 
 declared contemptuously, disregarding his wife's 
 effort to call his attention to the newcomer. "It 
 means naught. Titles are but vanities and a snare 
 to the scornful. " 
 
 Nicolas Verring had been a moment engagad 
 with a passer by, but he caught the last sentence 
 and instantly approved it. 
 
 "A man may not deny his blood, but he should 
 depend upon himself and boast not of the grace 
 given unto his ancestors," he said promptly.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 141 
 
 "It is of Sir William we are speaking, and he 
 hath depended on himself and on none other, Nico- 
 las, and what honours he hath be fairly earned." 
 Madam Verring flushed again as she spoke, but her 
 words held their eloquence conviction to the end. 
 Though dutifully of her husband's public creed 
 and gravely distrustful of the discretion of the 
 Governor, she must yet see rendered to the absent 
 his due. 
 
 "Surely, madam, you hold not that adventures 
 on the high seas, and wars, and such-like wildness 
 and rovings, are fit training for a governor of this 
 great colony ! What does William Phips know of 
 statecraft?" contended Mistress Munch. 
 
 " I know not enough of statecraft myself to 
 judge, " answered Alison quietly, " but he hath gov- 
 erned crews and armies well. " The instinct to de- 
 fend the attacked seemed to grow as she talked. 
 " He proved himself not unskilful at the court, and 
 may show greater wisdom than we deem likely. 
 'Twas for high qualities he was knighted, courage 
 and honesty " 
 
 "And what was he at the start? A mere ignor- 
 ant sheep herd of Pemaquid. When first he came 
 hither they say he could neither read nor write. 
 Lady Phips, I make no doubt, is preening her 
 feathers for all this new honour. She was not so 
 lacking as some would have it when she married the 
 ship carpenter. It taketh a widow " 
 
 Madam Verring was uncomfortably conscious 
 of Shubael's eyes, grown round with wonder. 
 
 "Lady Phips hath her husband in great tender- 
 ness. The day must indeed bring her joy, " she
 
 i 4 2 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 broke in with gentle decisiveness, ignoring the 
 other's rancour. 
 
 Mistress Munch herself could not write, and her 
 own birth was several shades below the traditions of 
 the " Massachuset colony"; to have been the wife 
 of the Governor and a knight's lady, her glory 
 seen and her importance felt in the very neighbour- 
 hood where she had borne the stings of patronage, 
 would have been ultimate happiness to the wife of 
 Christopher Munch. 
 
 "I crave pardon, goodwife canst tell me the 
 name of the maiden, the goddess, who sits so 
 modestly ensconced behind yonder lattice?" 
 
 It was once more Sir Humphrey, bowing with 
 supercilious lightness before her whose accent had 
 earlier attracted him. 
 
 " 'Tis my daughter, Sir Mistress Beulah 
 Munch, "she answered, following his glance. 
 
 "Nay, nay, good woman not the flaxen shep- 
 herdess, nor the Corydon in small clothes, but the 
 goddess she of the dark hair ! " 
 
 There was agitation in the demand. He bit his 
 lip as he waited, his eyes not leaving the group 
 across the way. 
 
 The house at which he stared was close to the 
 street and the ground floor showed no signs of life 
 save the head of an old lady that was often lifted 
 and bowed behind the small panes as if its owner 
 were talking with much animation. Now and 
 again a younger woman had appeared on the 
 threshold, asked a question of those who stood or 
 sat upon the broad step, and retired into the dim 
 interior. The window in the story above, on which
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 143 
 
 the stranger's eyes were fixed, was wide open, was 
 in fact a door more than a window, whose leaves 
 swung outward upon a narrow cornice above the 
 entrance, exposing a latticed guard set to warn 
 children and the unwary. 
 
 Upon this guard two girls leaned and chatted, 
 or rather Beulah Munch chatted while the other 
 listened. The face of the listener was not fully 
 visible, but that she was a stranger like himself 
 and no Puritan must have been clear to a duller 
 sense than Sir Humphrey's. 
 
 Mistress Munch had shrugged her shoulders in a 
 sudden pique. 
 
 ' 'Tis like you're making sport of the girl, but 
 Madam Fitch would have my Beulah to meet her. 
 She is but late from England " 
 
 " Her name. " The demand came now more 
 peremptorily as if the man felt sharply some 
 pressure the answer might relieve. In his eyes a 
 hard gleam lightened. 
 
 "Mistress Armitage and she hath a given 
 name, terrible odd and outlandish. 'Tis for that I 
 recall it. Temple Armitage is she called. See 
 how she pretends to turn away and not to heed 
 Jacob's speeches ! Sly and bold I make no doubt, 
 like many who come hither to flout their bet- 
 ters ' ' 
 
 The acrimonious utterance stopped in mid air 
 for lack of audience. Madam Verring had im- 
 mediately moved aside at Sir Humphrey's intru- 
 sion, and he was no longer heeding. 
 
 The girl had changed her position to escape 
 Jacob Munch and was looking forth. Annoyance
 
 144 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 had given vividness to her colour and the glow of 
 her beauty warmed tho sober street. 
 
 It had instant and extraordinary effect upon Sir 
 Humphrey. He stepped hastily backward, paling 
 so that the artificial colour upon his lifeless cheeks 
 was frankly visible. 
 
 "Frances !" His lips formed the words, though 
 he had uttered no sound. 
 
 " What was that you said, sir ? " asked the woman 
 curiously. 
 
 "'A goddess', Madam, a very goddess!" He 
 smiled a little stiffly as if the muscles were not 
 wholly relaxed from their amazement, but his tone 
 was as ductile as before. "The sight overcame 
 me. Such is the danger of an abode remote from 
 loveliness !" He answered rapidly, so that his un- 
 flattering sentiment was somewhat wasted; and 
 bowing with the same ironical grace with which 
 he had presented himself, he drew back into the 
 throng. 
 
 "The nincompoop is smitten with the girl! He 
 needn 't think to deceive me ! " she sniffed disgust- 
 edly as he departed. "Goodwife" forsooth! 
 And 'good woman' ! Had I noticed it earlier he'd 
 got no names from Arabella Munch. " 
 
 From Pierce 's alley the last company of militia 
 debouched upon King street and marched rapidly 
 down the hill, the crowd scattering to let them 
 pass a goodly array, strong-bodied, straight- 
 limbed, with an obstinate independence in their 
 motions, a thoughtful energy in their cleanly pro- 
 nounced features. 
 
 In Captain Fitch's pasture there was a sudden
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 145 
 
 commotion as the constable dislodged the boys 
 who had climbed indecorously into the trees that 
 fringed the highway; the officer stalked back, 
 solemnly triumphant, his crestfallen prey at his 
 heels, the whole party daintily bespattered with 
 pink petals and white. 
 
 The mass of people grew denser, more impatient 
 in the subdued by-play of talk and rare gesture, 
 more often stopping to frown expectantly toward 
 the shore. 
 
 Nicolas Verring sent no interested glance in the 
 direction of the wharf. He gave his attention 
 wholly to the conversation his companion had not 
 allowed the gossip of the women to interrupt. 
 
 "They have destroyed us," Munch was saying 
 
 with violence. "Jacob could tell you 'Tis 
 
 certain that Sir William hath been greatly over- 
 rated. A man most unsound and lax. It was an 
 irreligious and godless ship he had in the Araby 
 Rose, and shocking to a Godfearing lad like Jacob. I 
 would your Roger had so well escaped the lawless 
 contamination. What blessing can rest on wealth 
 so ill obtained ! And the man hath destroyed us, " 
 he repeated, "he and Mr. Mather. Traitors to the 
 colony !" 
 
 "I would not say traitors, wilful traitors, but 
 destroyers natheless unwittingly it may be. " 
 The lines deepened in Verring's face. 
 
 "I'd not thought to hear an injustice from the 
 lips of Nicolas Verring. " The man who had 
 joined himself to them was of Nicolas Verring's own 
 type. His voice had the same evenness of pitch; 
 his sentences came with the same weight and au-
 
 146 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 thority. "Who hath worked for this colony year 
 in and year out, putting its welfare above 'all earthly 
 considerations? At peril of his life in a hundred 
 encounters ever the first to volunteer, ever the 
 first to urge an expedition ! At the court of James 
 who refused the preferment the Admiralty would 
 have bestowed, choosing to serve New England 
 rather than himself?" 
 
 ' 'Tis his character, not his good will," began 
 Munch. 
 
 "And who assails his character? Some sneaking 
 thief of reputations whom his honesty hath offend- 
 ed ! How many men, think you, friend Munch, 
 would lose the whole profit of a toilsome venture to 
 load his ship with a village of frightened settlers flee- 
 ing an attack ? And how many men would see a for- 
 tune of millions spread before them and not be one 
 whit tempted? But what did Sir William? Ac- 
 count for every farthing, and deal so honourably by 
 those above and those below him that 'twas a year's 
 wonder in the greatest capital of Europe ! He 
 hath character and to spare " 
 
 "You mistake, Joshua," put in Mr. Verring. 
 " 'Tis the strength and wisdom needed to defend 
 our liberties wherein the Governor is lacking. " 
 
 "Rather 'tis you who mistake!" The judicial 
 pleading was quickened to a livelier indignation. 
 " Our liberties were never in stauncher hands. He 
 and Increase Mather to destroy our liberties ! 'Tis 
 to them we owe what we have ! " 
 
 Verring closed his lips in hard dissent. 
 
 "The Charter " began Munch once more. 
 
 " 'Twas destroyed long before William Phips was
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 147 
 
 knighted. And what asked he when King James 
 would have him name a boon for his great and 
 perilous adventure of the treasure for what did he 
 plead? For the restoration of the charter. And 
 when it was refused, still he importuned, risking his 
 own preferment and wearying the King. And 
 when he had ta'en Port Royal, and braved Quebec 
 and came back defeated for lack of those allies that 
 failed by land, what did he then ? Sit down by his 
 comfortable hearth and eat and drink and take his 
 ease?" The speaker's eyes rested on Mr. Munch. 
 "Not Sir William! He went again to importune 
 for the conquest of Canada, to urge once more the 
 cause of the Charter. 'Twas dead and mouldered 
 in its grave, but he would have it and when the 
 new King would not heed, who besought the Queen 
 until she urged his petition upon her absent spouse ? 
 Mather and Phips destroyers of the Charter ! They 
 risked their heads for its resurrection. " 
 
 "Then they should have refused the new." 
 Nicolas Verring's face set in yet harder lines. 
 
 "Refused and been enslaved ! What gain were 
 there in that ! 'Twas that or nothing and 'tis 
 to them, I say, we owe the freedom that it gives. 
 What other colony nameth her own lawmakers? 
 And since we must have a Governor of the royal 
 choosing, is't nothing that he be of our own people 
 and not an Andros? " 
 
 "Aye. But other governors will follow " 
 
 Christopher Munch interrupted in his turn. 
 "And just at this present, bethink you, Joshua 
 Travies, when New England is set upon and buf- 
 feted by Satan with witches and devils "
 
 148 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 His words grew louder but became indistinguish- 
 able in the brief tumult that rose in the street. 
 The watch were clearing the road for the Governor's 
 escort, pushing the multitude back from the rough 
 flagging that marked the middle of the way to the 
 unpaved walks on either side. 
 
 The crowd buzzed and swarmed. In the con- 
 fusion a barefooted lad mounted upon Madam 
 Shrimpton's gate post and none reproved him. 
 The gaze of Shubael discovered him with envy. 
 The youngest Munch had listened eagerly to the 
 praises of Sir William, his round face peering in- 
 tently from the folds of his mother's gown. 
 
 The sound of drums grew nearer. Alison Ver- 
 ring looked at her husband. 
 
 "Roger's company " she began. 
 
 "It will follow the Governor," he answered, his 
 tone calmly indifferent; but his eyes sought and 
 found the young captain while hers still searched. 
 
 " None of the officers is so handsome as the com- 
 mander- of the third company. Twill follow the 
 Governor, " whispered Beulah Munch excitedly, 
 but the other girl did not hear. Since the first her 
 gaze had turned persistently toward the dock, 
 where the Nonesuch frigate etched her delicate 
 spars in the soft sky. Even the distasteful atten- 
 tions of Jacob Munch had been unable to keep from 
 her face a brightness as of happy anticipation. 
 
 Beyond the second company was a space, and 
 a continuous murmur ran wave-like before the im- 
 posing figure that was left thus conspicuous. It 
 was plain that the party of the opposition was in 
 the minority. The welcome filled the air with
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 149 
 
 warmth, and the enforced quiet gave to the sudden 
 bursts of sound the intensity of feeling difficultly 
 repressed. 
 
 In the open space there rode also the Agent of 
 the Colony, Mr. Mather, and the Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor, colder and harder for the presence of his 
 chief. The eyes of the girl with Beulah Munch 
 gave no heed to either, no heed to any save the 
 Governor himself. Never was maid or man more 
 unconscious of all things near. Captain Phips, 
 or Sir William, or the Governor, it was one to her. 
 The same kindly face, the same powerful body, the 
 same honest and dauntless soul, were there. When 
 the splendid horse and his splendid rider were com- 
 ing, coming fairly beneath the window, she leaned 
 yet farther, smiling, a strange smile full of a wonder 
 all its own. 
 
 Jacob Munch saw the smile and was puzzled, 
 straining his memory to some task; and, anxious 
 to force himself upon her, spoke somewhat loudly 
 at her side. His voice had a peculiar quality of 
 unsound mellowness, an overripeness that to her 
 was nauseous. 
 
 The Governor looked up, and looking, gazed 
 suddenly full into the face of the girl. Swift change 
 came in his expression. And as she saw his gaze 
 had found her, she tore the flower from her gown 
 and tossed it, smiling still, as a child might for de- 
 light; and the big Governor, bending forward.with 
 his arm outstretched, grasped it skilfully, and taking 
 it in his bridle hand, raised his plumed hat, that he 
 held an instant in graceful homage before he set it 
 back upon his head. Then the maid, watching him.
 
 i 5 o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 absorbed, was all at once aware of curious eyes 
 that focussed on herself, the eyes of the whole 
 multitude it seemed, and blushing she drew back 
 quickly out of sight. 
 
 Madam Verring alone, of all the throng, had not 
 seen the girl. Her eyes had found her son. In any 
 crowd, in any place, they two most understood 
 each other, and for his look of recognition as he 
 marched past, the mother's heart had waited; yet 
 when he was there before her, his face had lighted 
 not for her but for some other, lighted strangely, 
 exultantly, and thrilled with some new excitement, 
 had passed and never turned her way. 
 
 Grim disapproval sat upon her husband's fea- 
 tures. 
 
 " What was it ? " she asked. 
 
 "Poor trifling for a governor," he answered. 
 "Sir William hath begun ill. He will find state- 
 craft is more than catching nosegays. " 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton was plainly of 
 the same mind. Pursing his prim mouth to an 
 expression of hard and ladylike disgust, he rode 
 even more sullenly than before. 
 
 One other besides Madam Verring had been 
 waiting for Roger, inviting his look. An angry 
 pain had seized her as she saw the gaze he gave to 
 her companion, and Beulah, too, went home but 
 sadly. 
 
 In the growing twilight the column took on the 
 majesty of a moving army. Before the entrance 
 to the Town House the marching ranks drew up in 
 solid lines facing the horsemen as they passed 
 through. Behind came the other companies, their
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 151 
 
 blue and buff no longer distinguishable save as 
 dark and light, and after them, lumbering and 
 straining upon the hill, the mounted guns. 
 
 Down below the wharves the sea beat triumph- 
 antly upon the land, whelming the marshes with its 
 irrefutable claim. Candles were being lighted in 
 the houses ; the chirp of crickets mixed shrilly with 
 the deeper sound of orders given and repeated. 
 Night was flowing in upon the wide peninsula, and 
 beneath its surface calm, as beneath the smooth 
 flood upon the marsh, life stirred and struggled, 
 contending in the gloom with viewless cruelties of 
 pain and fear, or rising in the dim security to un- 
 named ecstasies of freedom and desire. 
 
 Roger hearing, heard nothing, and seeing, was 
 as the blind ; he gave his commands monotonously, 
 a force acting apart from his real consciousness 
 someway conducting the business of the hour, nor 
 did he know that the day had gone.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A CRY IN THE DARK 
 
 THE stay at the Town House was brief, the 
 march to the Governor's residence not long, 
 but the need for escape grew in Roger fast- 
 er than the movement of events. 
 
 Before the escort was re-formed to accompany 
 Mr. Mather, he had slipped away into the dusk, 
 paying small heed to the direction of his going and 
 only anxious to avoid the crowd still pressing upon 
 the heels of the militia. His way homeward was 
 blocked by the throng; Green lane and every alley 
 teemed with the interested multitude, quiet as be- 
 came the beginning of the Sabbath, yet alert for 
 meetings and bits of timely gossip. Leaving the 
 road he plunged into the darkness beneath the trees 
 and crossed the orchard hastily toward the point of 
 silence. 
 
 As he came forth once more into the street, a 
 party of young people, hastening to meet again 
 the dusk-hid ranks, were almost upon him in the 
 dim obscurity. Their voices, carefully lowered, 
 were livelier for the excitement of an unwonted 
 freedom. Roger avoided them instinctively, mov- 
 ing straight forward across the highway and, so, 
 on into the narrow confines of Salutation alley. 
 Laughter came to his ears from behind the closed 
 shutters of the tavern. The sign of the Salutation
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 153 
 
 creaked in the sea breeze, its painted travellers 
 extending stiff arms of greeting above his head. 
 
 He paused as he drew near the water, and set 
 himself upon the right path once more, but the 
 spring night had fast hold of him, the spirit pre- 
 vailed above the flesh, and by the time he emerged 
 from White-bread alley he was no longer conscious 
 whither his swift steps bore him. 
 
 Darkness covered the familiar scene and his soul 
 forgot it. The thought that had been forced back, 
 covered from sight, denied, in the long minutes of 
 the march, now wreaked its will. It drove him 
 striding mightily as toward an unknown goal, 
 whithersoever the way promised solitude; it rose 
 as an underground sea might rise in some amazing 
 convulsion of the deeps and drowned his world in 
 the glorious agitation of its outpoured waters. 
 
 Once he stopped, lifting his face to the sky, his 
 head bared to the wind, and sighed a breath deep, 
 sharply taken, given forth like the whispered echo 
 of a sob, the voice alike of pain or blessed trans- 
 port. Solitude he craved, he must have. Fleeing 
 men, rapt away from the sight or thought of them, 
 he had turned again toward the deserted water 
 side. 
 
 The shadows lay dark in Moon street. Hardly 
 a candle flicker in its whole length and silence, 
 filled with cricket calls. Here he slackened his 
 racing steps, lingered in the sheltering dark and 
 dreamed, seeing little even in the dream for the 
 strength of exalted feeling that held him. 
 
 A shriek, agonized, commanding, woke him 
 harshly. A woman's scream and vile laughter
 
 i 5 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 that followed. Feeling passed all at once into 
 speed, into the strength of avenging youth. 
 
 The shriek was close at hand. Instantly he 
 knew where he stood. A dwindling triangle of 
 grass and weeds separated him from Fish street 
 and the wharves. Across it he leaped while the 
 echo of the cry died among the warehouses. 
 
 His coming was furious, irresistible. The men 
 had no sooner heard footsteps on the cobbles 
 than they felt the hammering of his blows. Grown 
 used to the night, he could distinguish the three 
 figures of the dissolving group. One slunk rapidly 
 away into the entrance of Sun court, hiding in the 
 blackness, but the bully who had laughed, roused 
 into a drunken fury, was a heavy brute, and struck 
 out savagely for answer. The woman had drawn 
 back and made no sound as the brief combat pro- 
 gressed. 
 
 Roger had not spoken. The other swore and his 
 oaths were unclean, but his weight and the power 
 of his rage counted for little against the righteous 
 frenzy of his assailant, whom the assurance of a 
 finer passion still uplifted beyond the human, so 
 that he vanquished his foe swiftly, closing the foul 
 mouth and dropping the unwieldy bulk with a pre- 
 cision whose impulse was born of life intensified. 
 
 But the first figure had crept from its hiding, 
 returned by some second thought to the fray it 
 had avoided. Roger threw out his left arm quickly, 
 warding a stroke before it was fairly aimed, and 
 wrenched a sword from the man's hand. The 
 weapon rattled on the stones and the man sprang at 
 him in a rage more sure, less drunken, than the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 155 
 
 fuddled anger of his companion. The grasp was 
 murderous; it had a staying power desperate and 
 vindictive. Even as he fought, Roger wondered 
 at its tenacity that seemed more than retaliation 
 for an interrupted frolic. Strong loathing rose in 
 him at the contact and with the force of a terrific 
 revulsion he freed himself and hurled from him his 
 antagonist. The man had clapped his hand 
 quickly to his side and his pistol discharged itself 
 as he fell. 
 
 Down the road the windows of the Ship Tavern 
 glimmered upon the opaque dark; from the other 
 side sounded the clatter of feet beating steadily 
 toward them in the wake of a fleering lantern. 
 
 "The watch!" The exclamation broke from 
 him quickly. "We must make haste. This way. 
 Come!" 
 
 It was thick shade even here in the open. The 
 clouds were blown across the early stars. Yet 
 something made him sure that the woman was 
 young and a stranger. The lithe movements, the 
 uncertainty about the way, the hesitation as if she 
 expected to mount upon a footpath by the margin 
 of the street when very Boston maid knew that 
 footpaths there were none, all these were confirma- 
 tion. And with the word stranger another con- 
 viction, unwarranted, unreasonable, clutched him. 
 It was the Little Maid. 
 
 That miracles should be abroad in this hour 
 miracles for him seemed to Roger both sane and 
 congruous. Toward this the night had drawn him 
 from the Governor's door. From London to the 
 islands of the sea to find and rescue the Little Maid
 
 156 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 that surely had been even more a miracle ! His 
 thoughts were full of a light, a brightness, the 
 shadows could not quench. 
 
 They had turned into Wood lane and the watch 
 tramped soberly past, unaware of their flitting, 
 to stop aghast over the reviving form of the pros- 
 trate bully. The man of the sword was no longer 
 to be seen, nor did his weapon remain to tell of his 
 presence. There was blood upon the stones, but, 
 save for his bruises, no sign of injury about the 
 burly sailor who sprawled beside the stains. 
 
 Roger was silent. In the world to which he had 
 again been caught up speech jarred upon the actual- 
 ity of things. As soon as the way permitted the 
 girl addressed him. Her voice was constrained 
 and her fright still showed in the attempt to sup- 
 press all hint of tears. 
 
 "I thank you, Sir," she said. The tone was 
 more eloquent than the formal distance of the 
 words. "I had lost my way. I am but newly 
 come to Boston. " 
 
 The voice told him nothing. He had been already 
 sure. But it gave him remembrance keen and 
 electric. His dreams had been in the present. 
 Now he was again on the Araby Rose and the Little 
 Maid was telling her story. In the greater depth 
 and beauty of her tones there lived still the same 
 quality, and the fear, the struggle for control, had 
 made them once more like the child's. 
 
 "Are you hurt did they " He spoke with 
 
 effort. 
 
 "Nay," she interrupted. "I cried out the mo- 
 ment they appeared. They but grasped my arms. "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 157 
 
 She shrank, shivering as if sickened by the thought 
 of the touch. "One would have thrown his cloak 
 over my head. " 
 
 Roger suited their hurrying pace to a slower 
 climbing of the rough hill and drew her arm farther 
 within his own. A gentle homage was in the in- 
 voluntary act. 
 
 " 'Tis unsafe even on the Sabbath. Rascals lie 
 often hid among the docks. " He spoke at random, 
 almost unwitting what he said. In this new en- 
 chantment of a universe re-created he paid no heed 
 to his own voice but listened greedily for hers. In 
 his preoccupation his tones lost the buoyancy of 
 their natural inflections. They were grave, half- 
 monotonous, as are the voices of those who speak 
 entranced. In their reserve the girl seemed to feel 
 a tacit reproach. 
 
 "I left my friends before the procession was at 
 the Town House. The crowd was dense. I tried 
 to make my way around it. But the night came on 
 faster than I had thought, and then there seemed 
 none to ask. " Her utterance was as grave as his 
 own, and far colder. 
 
 "So long all this time you have wandered!" 
 The sympathy, almost the grief, of the change 
 brought back her gratitude in a warm current. 
 
 "None had frightened me till till I called. I 
 
 do not know well how I may thank you " Her 
 
 voice halted rather than ceased. The silence that 
 fell upon their speech was as the silence of the 
 spring night finely astir about them. 
 
 The May was at its loveliest, the night its su- 
 premest hour, with no discords to hinder the ful-
 
 158 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 ness of its harmony, no unregarding eye to affront 
 with blindness its diviner charm. Odours subtle, 
 poignant with a sweetness that came upon the 
 senses delicately and lost itself and returned, magi- 
 cal, to meet the longing it had created; pale glim- 
 merings from the close-crowding depths of new- 
 grown orchards and the thrill of breezes shaken 
 through the marvel of late apple blooms and pale 
 syringa buds; above, the dark cloud mysteries 
 brooding nearer than the skies, and blotting out 
 the far shine of trembling stars ; and everywhere 
 sweeter, more poignant, more magical still dream- 
 ful, evanescent, the fragrance of the blossoming 
 grapes. The dark shut them in. Within its void 
 they were lost, undiscoverable, alone. 
 
 To Roger it was all but the outward expression 
 of her, wonderful, mysterious, even in shadow, to 
 one who was content to wait the dawn. For this 
 the barren years had saved him. For this his days 
 had kept aloof from the crude dalliance of his fel- 
 lows, the early mating, practical and uninspired, 
 of the wilderness. For this he had not heeded 
 that they called him cold, believed him strangely 
 lacking, and mocked him with good-natured rail- 
 lery, that even the church had accused him, and 
 his father commanded and rebuked, holding his 
 example sinful and pernicious. This then, was the 
 reason, as if unknowing, he yet had known, beneath 
 the lad's indifference, what quest was waiting for 
 the man. 
 
 "How beautiful it is the night!" the girl said 
 softly, her low tones attuned to the whispering 
 quiet of the winds. " It is long since I have seen it
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 159 
 
 so. At home " She stopped abruptly, un- 
 easily. "How know you whither I would be go- 
 ing?" she asked. 
 
 "So far we cannot be greatly wrong," he an- 
 swered, suddenly conscious of the remissness of his 
 thoughts, for already they were within the shadow 
 of the Baptist church, and it had not come to him 
 to ask her way until the instant before she spoke. 
 "Is the street known to you?" he added. 
 
 The girl had paused. 
 
 "I am not sure. But from Judge Sewall's or 
 from Captain Alden's I can find it. " 
 
 " It had been somewhat shorter had we taken the 
 way below, but it is not far. " Roger waited, long- 
 ing for the courage to turn resolutely back, anxious 
 lest she should propose it. "It is not far, " he re- 
 peated, "but you are already tired " 
 
 "Not tired, save from fright. Quickly," she 
 urged. "I must not be later." She pressed on- 
 ward rapidly, hastening his steps. The influence 
 of the night was gone. The daylight world was in 
 her tone, and the trouble of her position, alone 
 and with one unknown in the dark of the streets. 
 " I grieve, Sir, that I should keep you so long from 
 your own affairs, " she apologized with chill per- 
 functoriness. 
 
 Roger answered with quick deprecation, feeling 
 the enchantment dulled. From behind the shut- 
 tered windows of the nearest house came the sound 
 of psalms mournfully intoned. It was the time of 
 evening prayers, and Nicolas Verring would be 
 waiting in rigid repression, angered and suspicious, 
 for his son. And his son had begun the sacred day
 
 160 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 with a street brawl and forgetfulness of all 
 things' 
 
 Stern, ascetical, seers of heavenly visions and be- 
 lievers in evil spirits, the men and women in the 
 circle of his Puritan home counted all joy of flesh or 
 spirit that was not an ecstasy of religious contem- 
 plation a personal appeal of the Devil's subtlety. 
 The night that had been to Roger the very incar- 
 nation of delight was poisoned, its aspiration 
 broken by the habitual sense of guilt. 
 
 Of this the girl knew nothing. The canons of 
 her world were conventional, not religious. The 
 gentleness, the distance, of a stranger who had none 
 of the shallow tricks of speech that marked the 
 cavaliers whom she had known, moved her to a 
 growing confidence. As they went on she spoke 
 now and again, naturally, frankly, of her stupidity 
 in missing the way, of the pitfalls in the uncouth 
 cobbles, and of the crooked lanes of Boston, 
 already "a little London in the West, " and that 
 he must not blame her friends, for that she had 
 run away and perhaps her fright was meted pun- 
 ishment. Upon which the heaviness departed 
 from him and was no more remembered until he 
 left her. 
 
 " Why did you run away ? " he asked boldly. He 
 could feel her hesitation, but her words did not be- 
 tray it. 
 
 " There was one in the party I would avoid,' ' she 
 answered. 
 
 "Ah, then you like him not !" He sighed with 
 sharp relief, scarce realizing what he said, but re- 
 calling his pang at the sight of Jacob Munch bend- 
 ing familiarly near her in the open window.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 161 
 
 The girl's amazement brought her to a stand. 
 She withdrew her hand from his arm as if the better 
 to defend her silken skirts from the ill-kept paving, 
 and she did not replace it as they moved on. 
 
 " I saw him with you in the window, " he said 
 quietly. 
 
 The girl made no reply, either too resentful or 
 too much puzzled for answer, and he spoke again 
 after a pause. He was conscious that he had 
 doubly erred, and had associated himself in her 
 mind with the staring crowd from which she had 
 been so eager to escape. 
 
 "You must not judge too harshly of us in' these 
 wilds, " he said, his voice sunk to a contrite under- 
 tone that might not reach the dwellers near the 
 street. "We are blunt and rudely outspoken, 
 but we be not all cowards and ruffians ! " 
 
 She was still silent, but as the road grew rougher 
 and they crossed behind the church into the Old 
 Way by the Mill Pond, she slipped her hand once 
 more upon his sleeve and might have felt the leap- 
 ing welcome, the thankful yielding to the touch, as 
 he bent his arm to give her better resting place. 
 
 They went slowly in the uneven path. Roger 
 could hear the soft rustle of her gown even when 
 the warm south wind was freest among the tree- 
 tops. Sense and inward sight were all con- 
 founded. The kindly dark that kept them 
 side by side did not blot her face from his seeing. 
 Sometimes it was in the periagua glowing against 
 the blue; sometimes gazing downward, radiant and 
 unconscious, upon the Governor; oftenest, as at 
 that moment, with none near but himself to guess
 
 162 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the loveliness hidden in the shadows of the blos- 
 somed May. 
 
 Yet that which possessed him wholly, inescapa- 
 bly, was herself; and it was the spirit of her, brave, 
 mirthful, full of laughter for the world ; tender, in- 
 effable, within that inner citadel wherein she was 
 entrenched, that held and mastered him. How he 
 knew her, how the treasure so deeply hidden, so 
 inaccessibly far to seek, was plain to him while still 
 he waited before the outer defences of her life, he 
 might not have said. But he knew. 
 
 Beneath the grave distance, the apparent calm, 
 that gave her friendly reassurance, his whole 
 nature rose to the height of that for which he longed, 
 and through their scattered talk showed itself in 
 sudden comprehensions, in swift expression of the 
 thought she had not uttered. How much or how 
 little of this was guessed by her she did not betray 
 and he was content that she went beside him in the 
 shade without fear and without coldness, meting to 
 him, as it seemed, what she might have given to 
 any one who had set her on her way. 
 
 " Have a care here. 'Tis a broken path and ill 
 to keep, " he cautioned as they got deeper into the 
 lane. 
 
 ' 'Tis the unthinking who go safest, " she an- 
 swered quickly. " To think invites disaster. " She 
 stopped suddenly with a little ejaculation in which 
 pain and a vexed sense of helplessness caught per- 
 plexedly. ' ' I fear I must rest -I turned my foot 
 upon the stones " 
 
 Grief for the pain, anger at his own selfishness in 
 bringing her by the longer way fought against his 
 grasping joy in the added minutes.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 163 
 
 Swiftly he found her a seat on the trunk of a 
 willow bent camel- wise to the ground. Every tree 
 and rock of the place was known to him. The 
 way they travelled led past his own door. 
 
 " 'Tis easier now. The riband of my shoe had 
 pressed somewhat too harshly. " The girl's tone 
 was relieved. Roger leaning upon the trunk left 
 erect beside its twisted mate turned toward her, 
 not daring to repeat his offer of aid. 
 
 " If it be a sprain, 'twere best bound firmly, " he 
 said marvelling at the commonplace of his words. 
 How long must she have kept her pace beside him 
 stabbed at every step by the keenness of the pang, 
 hoping to find her destination before endurance 
 failed. 
 
 " 'Tis nothing so unkind as a sprain but ' 'twill 
 serve' ! " Her voice, low and clear with the suffer- 
 ing hopefully suppressed, heartened him. 
 
 "Mercutio was worse wounded than he said. 
 How may I know 'tis not the same with you ! " 
 
 "By the proof," she answered promptly, essay- 
 ing to rise but forced back again upon her seat. 
 " Wait but a little till I loose the other band. It is 
 no more than a bruise. The stone was sharp. 'Tis 
 a sin to so detain you, sir. You are most patient. " 
 Her voice had lost the child's dependence and gave 
 but frank and formal acknowledgment. 
 
 Roger's mind worked rapidly, his plan ready if it 
 appeared she could not walk. At any hazard 
 she should be saved from the petty gossip of the 
 town. But his words, solicitous, disclaiming 
 thanks, took instantly the note of her own, match- 
 ing her formality with more careful distance.
 
 164 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Even in her helplessness there was a strength in 
 her presence, positive and regnant. Roger recog- 
 nized it, unassertive as it was for any weaker com- 
 prehension. It increased his tenderness. Here 
 was one who would ask no ease from others, beg 
 with no soft pleadings for sympathy and support, 
 one who would hide her griefs, her needs, where 
 only love stronger than her reticence might come 
 to share them. To serve the weak is knightly, 
 but to serve the strong is more surely blessed. 
 He seemed to look upward to immeasurable 
 heights to find her, and all the while to know the 
 joy her yielded trust would be. 
 
 "Then the good Mercutio hath friends in Boston 
 even though there be no playhouses, " she was say- 
 ing as she made a more successful venture to stand 
 upright. 
 
 "Not so many as he deserves," Roger replied, 
 coming anxiously to her assistance. "Be careful 
 I pray you ! We are close on the water's edge. " 
 
 She had brought keenly to him an unforgotten 
 martyrdom, the burning of his mother's Shakes- 
 peare his stolen kingdom, wrested from him and 
 dismembered with unloving hands. 
 
 The Maid took her first steps firmly, making 
 light of his anxiety. The air had grown warmer, 
 beating on them in soft waves of heat, a touch of 
 the summer's maturer fervour in the sweetness of the 
 New England spring. The earth was cradled in 
 the warmth, a warmth to be recalled with hope 
 even when it should be repented in sleety rain and 
 winds out of the biting east. It made a refuge of 
 thedark, and eased the strain upon men's thoughts,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 165 
 
 giving repose to nerves too winter-worn and 
 tense. 
 
 To Roger it brought not so much repose as free- 
 dom. The fear of self-betrayal, the trammelling 
 doubt of his own wish or word, had gone, and left 
 him unconstrained, franker even than the maid ; for 
 though the fair directness of her speech was marred 
 by no pretended coyness, it opened to him no ap- 
 proach. Neither in the short rest beside the water 
 nor after in the deserted thoroughfares did its 
 barriers weaken. If she deemed he might have 
 rated her too freely for her greeting of the Governor, 
 with this escapade to add to its strangeness, she 
 showed at least how far she was from easy friend- 
 liness. 
 
 And yet happiness was strong in the man, and 
 only a sense of her suffering prevailed to give it 
 pause. As he talked, following the play of his own 
 fancy for the first time allowed to have its way, he 
 grew never flippant; beneath the shoreward ripple 
 of their broken and desultory speaking sounded 
 ever the oncoming tide. 
 
 If some sure consciousness within herself was 
 fused by the fine alchemy of the night to oneness 
 with his mood it sunk itself in silence; and for his 
 unfathomed consciousness of her there was no 
 token save in a remoter homage. Still it had been 
 a spirit dull of apprehension that had not felt the 
 appeal, electrical and potent, of what their speech 
 denied. 
 
 At her gate she dismissed him somewhat coldly. 
 
 " I see there is a stranger within, or Madam and 
 her brother should add their thanks to mine, " she 
 said with neutral courtesy.
 
 166 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 A strain of music had broken in upon the words, 
 the first notes of a violin skilfully played. Roger 
 could see the vines that trailed upon the walls blown 
 in loose tendrils across the lighted panes. The 
 lilt of the melody was new to him. His feeling 
 answered it as sound follows the bow. It woke 
 upon the echo of her coldness like the return of the 
 night's enchantment, controlling, assonant. 
 
 He moved, to answer her, his voice chiming with 
 the melody, the same thrill in its low modulations ; 
 and as he moved, the yellow light streamed in a 
 golden mist across his face. He had lifted his hat 
 from his head for his farewell, and the comeliness 
 that his inmost soul regarded with aversion, that 
 had been made his reproach and scorn through- 
 out his life, came all at once upon the girl's await- 
 ing sight. 
 
 Strong-featured, cleanly framed in the early New 
 England mould where the survivals had need to be 
 the best, there was nothing shambling or uncouth 
 in the figure the light but half disclosed. The 
 charm of it, the difference, lay in something that 
 had ever puzzled his father and sent a contentment 
 ill-shepherded by fears to his mother's heart. 
 
 It may be that the look he turned to her, the 
 look the night had wrought, made nobler revela- 
 tion than his words. A change came in her voice 
 her face still in the shadow and there was in the 
 iteration of her own words a sudden faith. 
 
 " I cannot say how much I thank you, Sir. " 
 
 Involuntarily she held out her hand to meet his, 
 outstretched for it, and the grasp gave into her 
 keeping something of the real Roger Verring that 
 his father would never know.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 167 
 
 And if the look, the clasp, the clasp of force made 
 gentle without loss, went with her as she entered, 
 it was they that armoured her with a profound and 
 gracious dignity as she met Sir Humphrey Wild- 
 glass, so that he cast upon her a sudden glance that 
 questioned her composure. 
 
 Roger, turning backward as he went, saw but 
 the deep obeisance of this stranger of the violin 
 and the smiling gallantry that gave admiring wel- 
 come to the maid. 
 
 Sharp anger and foreboding torture struck rend- 
 ing claws through all the substance of his dream. 
 The night grew heavy and its deeps but better 
 hiding for the things of dread. The wind brought 
 dampness and the chill of unknown sorrows in its 
 breath. 
 
 Yet his pulses, fervent still to heed the vibrant 
 touch of her hand within his own, sank to no slower 
 measure, and as he retraced his way, the warmth 
 of memory battled with the gloom, and the soft 
 ministry of the night came back in mingled pain 
 and hope.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 IN THE FOREST OF FEARS 
 
 " This world is a forest of fears, 
 Where each sinner must strive for his soul. " 
 
 THE tide was low in Mill Creek and the water 
 from the Pond, creeping over the dam and 
 around the sluice gates, fell with a sharp 
 trickle into the canal. In the depressing quiet of 
 the evening the salty waters leaking toward the 
 sea from their imprisonment upon the land had 
 to Roger a sound of drear futility. 
 
 To the jealous wretchedness that kept before 
 him the picture of Sir Humphrey, new pain was 
 added as he traversed the familiar streets. Con- 
 science, the Puritan self-consciousness forever 
 irritated with unnatural remorse, arraigned him 
 brutally. Against the turmoil of his thoughts it 
 matched the Sabbath calm ; against the bare sever- 
 ity of Boston ways it held up the gay complexity of 
 a world he had not known. All that was best and 
 finest, all that was strenuous and ideal, in the sim- 
 pler world gave garish unreality to the warmth and 
 colour by which he had been drawn. Perfume and 
 brightness, the "delight of the eye and the pride 
 of life" how the mere joy of bodily existence had 
 thrilled him ! And on the day hallowed for the 
 service of Heaven how his soul had yielded itself to 
 the fiddler's skill so that it yet craved mightily for 
 more of that subtle excitation ! 
 
 168
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 169 
 
 And the Maid ! Shut away from him by bar- 
 riers that made her an alien, built around with 
 conceptions, prejudices, hatreds, for all that he held 
 sacred counting men like Nicolas Verring as cant- 
 ing hypocrites and the homely labors of pioneers 
 as degradation how should she be reached by 
 him? Even if, abandoning every loyalty that 
 claimed his faith, he gave his all, body and soul, in 
 feverish warfare with these bristling distances be- 
 tween, what chance had he? How should the 
 sombre provincial hope to win against a gallant 
 like him who had bowed before her in the lighted 
 room, whose graces were brought from her home 
 across the sea, whose language was her own and 
 grated with no unpleasant harshness of the un- 
 familiar ? 
 
 Early as it was, few windows were still alight, even 
 the Orange Tree Inn showing no glimpse or gleam 
 of a yellow ray. At the head of Cross street, its 
 wide acreage of land leading back through the 
 blossoming trees to the Old Way by the Pond, the 
 house of Nicolas Verring dominated its fellows. 
 It was of stone, uncompromising in outline, mas- 
 sive as prisons are, and far more stoutly built than 
 the prison of its own town, whose sunken sills let 
 in the winter cold and little drifts of snow upon the 
 victims it immured. No flowers broke the grassy 
 circuit of the yard, save where a clump of lilacs 
 had waved their purple fronds beneath Roger's 
 window every springtime since, a tiny lad, he had 
 first waked in the unsullied dawn to know their 
 fragrance in his room. Every year Nicolas Ver- 
 ring threatened to cut them down. Every year 
 Madam Verring interceded and they remained.
 
 1 70 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "The snare of the senses," the man had re- 
 peated with each renewal of the contest. "Some- 
 times it feareth me to think, Alison, that Roger 
 hath from thee so strong a yearning for the things 
 of earth. Surely never yet did I give inordinate 
 affection to that which had no soul. " 
 
 The words came back to Roger's mind as he 
 climbed the hill. He had listened in his earliest 
 years with a fast-beating heart, feeling in some 
 occult child fashion the symbolism of the purple 
 blooms. His mother had taken meekly the re- 
 proach; a flush of guilty assent had risen ever in 
 her cheeks, and she had looked warningly first at 
 her husband, then at the too attentive child. 
 
 "I also fear it, Nicolas," she had answered 
 calmly. "It hath seemed to me the voice of God 
 spoke to me in the flowers, but I have striven to 
 overcome the thought, " quenching the light in the 
 child's eyes swiftly lest what her words had kindled 
 prove of the Devil. ' 'Tis ever too easy to mis- 
 take our pleasure for a Higher Will. " 
 
 Her very meekness had disarmed the rebuke. 
 Afterward she had been quieter, a sadness settled 
 in her eyes and about her mouth, at other times 
 prone to smiles instead of sighs. Once she had 
 wept. The child's impression rose suddenly from 
 that strange sub-consciousness that overflows the 
 past, full of the impotence of pained revolt. A 
 great weight rested on his heart. He paused a 
 moment at the gate and looked soberly at the 
 forbidding shadow of his home. The memory 
 took form in the shadow clearer than the shapes 
 of the night but mingled with them. The inner
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 171 
 
 life in which the boy had grown became daily more 
 vivid with the man, the outer more and more a 
 husk attached nowhere to his real self save as a 
 shelter to its nakedness. 
 
 "Thou lovest the lad more than is consistent 
 with his welfare. " His father's warning utterance 
 returned to him, distinct and cheerless. " 'Tis thy 
 way to love too greatly. 'Tis rather a stumbling 
 block than a fitting guidance. " 
 
 "Have I been a 'stumbling block' to thee, 
 Nicolas ? " his mother had asked in a voice so low 
 it had seemed but the voice of the spirit. 
 
 Nicolas Verring had waited before he answered. 
 When he had spoken his own voice had been less 
 didactic. 
 
 " 'Tis meet a woman should give homage to her 
 husband," he had replied. "He is her natural 
 head, as is Christ to the Church. 'Tis not in reason 
 that his greater strength should thereby suffer 
 harm. " His voice had grown hard again with the 
 cold severity of the lawgiver and the judge. Lines 
 of famine had cut themselves about the mother's 
 sensitive lips. A heat of miserable rage had burned 
 smotheringly in the lad's heart. Then Nicolas 
 Verring had rested his hand upon his wife's head 
 in a swift gesture of retraction. 
 
 " Nay, Alison, " he said, "the fault be mine if my 
 need of thee be too quick for a higher need. How 
 should I lead thee upward, my own eyes being 
 cast upon the ground?" 
 
 The hardness in his father's voice had been 
 changed to a shriller note, a note of strain, of anx- 
 ious striving, heard often in the long climax of his
 
 172 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 prayers and carrying to the child's soul a sense of 
 awe, of woe impending, scarce to be averted. His 
 mother had risen at the words, gladness breaking 
 through her look of grief. 
 
 " I would sooner die than be to thee a hindrance, 
 a makeweight, Nicolas, " she had said, still low but 
 with a kind of passion new to the boy. " I would 
 ever be to thee a better wife, worthier to walk with 
 tfeee in the higher fellowship. " 
 
 It was then, for the first time, the little lad had 
 seen how beautiful his mother was. He remem- 
 bered, as he laid his hand upon the gate and waited 
 before the silent house. He had heard, since, that 
 of all the maids of Plymouth, Alison Cole had been 
 esteemed most wonderfully fair. Comprehension 
 of the father's look, the look of struggle, came to 
 Roger in the illumination that sometimes shows 
 the unexplored within our own domain. And that 
 remembered talk had been many years before, 
 when his father had been but little older than the 
 present Roger. Was it this same madness that 
 Nicolas Verring had fought down, this same un- 
 namable tenderness and joy ? 
 
 Oppressed with the sense of treason to his home, 
 he grew wretched unspeakably, wrought upon by 
 the certainty of his own evil will, tortured in all 
 his frank outspoken nature with a consciousness 
 that would be held a mortal sin. For he knew, 
 even in the gloom of stern abasement, that the fire 
 the night had kindled would burn with a stronger 
 glow for every adverse wind of doubt and that he 
 should not pray to be delivered from either its 
 compelling warmth or its unrelenting pain. Was
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 173 
 
 he indeed unfit to be the son of Nicolas Verring 
 and Alison, his wife ? 
 
 He swung back the gate and walked steadily up 
 the path, hearing still his mother's voice. So in a 
 kind of humbleness of frame he opened the massive 
 door and entered. His mother's eyes, anxious, 
 questioning, were upon him as he lifted the latch. 
 Something he had always found before seemed 
 lacking from their confidence. 
 
 The candles in their silver candlesticks shone 
 vaguely on her smooth hair; on her dress, speckless, 
 plain, and costly as became her station; on the 
 straight collar of lace whereon even yet her hus- 
 band was wont to comment doubtfully; and upon 
 the face still fair, still sensitive, but grown less facile 
 to the touch of feeling held so ruthlessly in sub- 
 jection. 
 
 The room was dim save in the circle of the two 
 candles, the fire long since banked for the night. 
 Faint gleams shot from the polished brass of the 
 andirons and from the china ranged upon the wall. 
 The carved settle and the rush-bottomed chairs, 
 the tall cupboard and the walnut desk, peopled 
 the dimness with black shapes. The silence was 
 grave, full of a grim suspense. 
 
 Nicolas Verring sat in the leather-cushioned seat 
 his father had brought from Devon, and the mon- 
 sters upon its upright posts peered at Roger from 
 either side the set and accusing features. He was 
 rigidly upright, neither lounging nor leaning, his 
 Bible open on his knee. The mother's gaze turned 
 from Roger's face and sought her husband's. He 
 read on till the chapter was ended, placed the mark 
 at the point upon which his eye had last rested, 
 and closed the book.
 
 174 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Roger had moved toward his mother impulsively 
 as if to speak, but at his father's look he waited. 
 
 "Where hast thou kept the Sabbath eve?" 
 
 The words, natural in themselves, conveyed the 
 accusation of the look. They might have been the 
 words of a public prosecutor, so positive they 
 seemed in a prejudgment of evil doing. The hu- 
 mility went out of the son as he heard. He had 
 been condemned and by a method unjust, inexor- 
 able. His mother's expression had lost already its 
 first aloofness. Her eyes dwelt on him, confident of 
 his truth. 
 
 Roger saw nothing of the confidence. He had 
 fixed his gaze upon his father's face and his look 
 was as direct, as unbending, as the one he met. In 
 the first heat of his resentment he kept silence. 
 His father waited but briefly. An arbitrariness 
 inevitable to him who believes himself Heaven- 
 appointed interpreter and administrator of the 
 divine decrees added a peremptory coldness to 
 his command. 
 
 "Speak, Sir." 
 
 " I tarried to guide a stranger lost in the streets. " 
 
 The sense of un worthiness, of failure, was gone; 
 the painful presentiment of this very battle the 
 contest renewed of nature and fanaticism, the 
 oppression of his thoughts, lifted. A kind of 
 strength born of the contempt for injustice was 
 growing within him. 
 
 In every line of his figure he was himself a Verring. 
 The erectness of a carriage none too pliant in the 
 elders was softened in him to something less stiff, a 
 certain unlovely obstinancy of gait mobilized to
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 175 
 
 gentler freedom in the younger man. But the 
 power of resistance, the vigour of insistent, un- 
 thwartable personality, was as virile, as deter- 
 mined, the steel of the Verring will as unbreakable, 
 as if it had been more harshly sheathed. In his 
 voice was less impatience, more self-mastery, than 
 in his father's. 
 
 To Nicolas Verring, this very erectness, this fear- 
 lessness, was doubly evidence of a hardened heart. 
 
 "Another drunkard shielded in his crime?" he 
 demanded inflexibly. "Another maid protected 
 in her wantonness ? What affinity hath my son 
 with wine-bibbers and harlots ? " 
 
 "Thou art wrong, sir. " Roger did not raise his 
 voice, but a white fire of indignation seemed to 
 purify the air of his father's spoken thought. "And 
 as for poor Rumney, 'twas the King's agent led 
 him astray and he was but a lad. 'Twould have 
 killed Dame Rumney had the boy been set in the 
 pillory for the town to mock at. And for the maid 
 who walked with him, she was as innocent as any, 
 save for the imprudence, Whom should a man 
 protect, I'd ask to know? Are there none weak 
 but cripples ? And had she been bad as the worst, 
 'twas Christ Himself protected Mary of Magda- 
 lene!" 
 
 Had he blasphemed, no greater horror could have 
 repudiated his utterance. 
 
 "With thy countenance thou but sendest them 
 farther on the road to Hell. 'Tis work the Devil 
 prospers, and doing it thy foot is entered already 
 on the way that leadeth to destruction. " 
 
 The anxious intentness of the mother approved 
 the words.
 
 176 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " They that touch pitch shall be defiled, " Nicolas 
 Verring ended with solemn emphasis. 
 
 "Then 'twere well we went not to meeting," 
 answered the son recklessly. "There's pitch there 
 in high places would make poor Rumney look spot- 
 less enough ! " 
 
 "Silence, Sir!" The imperious will of the elder 
 raged in the new command. "Who taught thee to 
 slander the righteous and to uphold the wicked? 
 What is my offence before God that my son, my 
 only son, should be a byword and a hissing to the 
 chosen people?" He rose vehemently, strong 
 misery in his convulsed face. "Judge Sewall 
 leaneth upon his Samuel, even Christopher Munch 
 may dwell with pride upon his Jacob " 
 
 "Aye a 'Jacob' indeed!" interjected Roger 
 unheard. 
 
 "While I, I must be shamed in the sight of 
 men " 
 
 "Nay, Nicolas." The mother's protest came 
 with a sharp recoil upon the word. "Roger hath 
 never shamed thee " 
 
 " 'Tis ever thus thou wouldst shield him, woman ! 
 I say again 'tis to send him the faster to damnation. 
 'Tis for this I am guilty that I put not an end to 
 it long since. Beware that in the wicked indul- 
 gence of thy weakness thou hast not his soul to thy 
 account ! " 
 
 The accusation so fiercely turned upon herself 
 beat down the wife's interference with a mortal 
 dread. Had she destroyed her son ? 
 
 "If I am saved 'twill be the faith of my mother 
 saves me." Roger's words were low, carrying
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 177 
 
 their own conviction. "She hath belief in my 
 honour. Even Rufus Gillam believed my word, 
 but a criminal hath more chance with Nicolas Ver- 
 ring than his son. " 
 
 "Roger!" 
 
 The mother gazed fearfully at the two, so alike in 
 their antagonism, so necessary to each other, so 
 brutally tearing at the quick of each other's life. 
 If Roger had been given a mother more like his 
 father this need not have been. 
 
 " He that denies his Maker and reviles the right- 
 eous will hardly spare his father. " The allusion to 
 Captain Gillam had touched Nicolas Verring where 
 he was most vulnerable, in his pride of infallibility, 
 and in his distrust of the influences to which he had 
 exposed the boy. 
 
 He had seated himself again. Roger walked up 
 and down the room, a clairvoyant sense of his fath- 
 er's grief fastened on him in wretched compunc- 
 tion. 
 
 " No more of thy idle evasions ! Where hast thou 
 spent the evening of the Sabbath?" The com- 
 punction died. His father's tone made an atmos- 
 phere in which it could not live. "Another brawl ! " 
 The man pointed in bitter triumph to the blood 
 upon Roger's hand. It had trickled through the 
 fingers from the cut made by the sword. 
 
 "The rapier of a drunken vagabond one of two 
 whom I beat off with some trouble, " the son began. 
 Madam Verring half rose from her chair. Her 
 face, white already, could have gone no whiter. 
 " 'Tis nothing, mother. 'Twill barely show when 
 'tis bathed, " he reassured her quickly.
 
 178 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The father's features had but sharpened to great- 
 er sternness. 
 
 "Where found'st thou brawlers betwixt here 
 and Mr. Mather's?" 
 
 A slight consciousness appeared for the first time 
 in Roger's manner, but he did not hesitate. 
 
 "They were on Fish street, by the entrance to 
 Sun court " 
 
 " What brought thee there?" 
 
 "I heard a cry. The bullies were frightening a 
 woman. I " 
 
 "A woman! What manner of woman goes 
 abroad at such an hour and in that neighbourhood ? 
 Another 'innocent' belike!" 
 
 The younger man stood for an instant rigid. 
 His whole being swirled in the vortex of a consum- 
 ing anger. The words came like defilement upon 
 the purity of his exaltation and they drove him in 
 involuntary disgust and loathing to a more hopeless 
 distance. When he spoke his voice was violent in 
 suppression. 
 
 " 'Tis not Christian so to wrong the guiltless. 
 The maid was a stranger, lost and terrified, and 
 gave me no more than civil thanks, not even her 
 name. " 
 
 "'Maid'!" The cold edge of the father's con- 
 tempt drew across a bare nerve. The rasp of it 
 went through the son in a rage insensate as mania. 
 
 "Wert thou another man I could kill thee for 
 that sneer, " he cried below his breath. 
 
 His mother stepped suddenly before him; lofty 
 reproof blazed in her eyes. 
 
 "Thou canst speak so to the father whose great-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 179 
 
 est wish is thy welfare ! And all because he hath 
 wonder at a maid who goeth wandering alone and 
 at the wharfside in the night ! What spell is on 
 thee ? What of this woman ? " 
 
 Roger had shrunk more at the echo of his own 
 words than at her reproaches. He looked dazed, 
 worn with the pain of stabs given and received. 
 
 " 'Tis as I said," he repeated. "She is a stran- 
 ger and had lost her way trying to get past the 
 crowd around the Town House. While she wan- 
 dered the dusk came on. " His gaze was straightly 
 on his mother's. 
 
 " And how came it thou wast near ? " she asked 
 
 "I left my company at the Governor's " 
 
 " What ! " put in his father sharply. 
 
 "The press was thick about Green lane and I 
 crossed by Sir William's orchard " 
 
 "Thou, an officer, left thy company, without 
 reason !" 
 
 " 'Twas an impulse to escape the throng. " 
 
 "Thou'rt the first Verring to desert a soldier's 
 post for such an 'impulse'. Art thou a weakling? 
 And was't 'impulse ' guided thee to Fish street ? " 
 
 "I was absent, Sir. I hardly know which way I 
 went. " The taunt was answered quietly. Mem- 
 ory of his moment's frenzy, the horror of his own 
 words whose meaning no Puritan born could lightly 
 forget still subdued his wrath. But though his tone 
 was quiet, a flush rose in his cheeks so that his 
 mother saw, and Nicolas Verring, peering upon his 
 son with a host of evil imaginings poisoning the 
 look, saw too, but his interpretation was other than 
 the mother's.
 
 i8o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "The truth, Sir. Do not lie, " he shouted. The 
 white heat of his anger hissed in the words. They 
 sounded loud as thunderclaps in the ears of those 
 who heard, and none replied. All were standing. 
 Nicolas Verring in his frowning wrath grew more 
 terrible. Formidable, waiting, his eyes held a 
 steelly grasp upon his son. 
 
 The son returned the gaze steadfastly. The hor- 
 ror with which he had recognized his own ' ' I could 
 kill thee" was no deeper than his horror at this 
 more deadly thrust. Something seemed lost, gone 
 for all time, in the tie which bound him to his 
 father. 
 
 "Roger, wilt thou answer thy mother?" She 
 had drawn nearer, her hand upon his arm. " I be- 
 lieve thy word thy father's son will not falsify his 
 word but my heart is sore. Who is this maid? 
 Was't she in Madam Fitch's window? How came 
 the girl hither ? With whom does she abide ? " 
 
 " Nay, mother, " Roger looked down at her grave- 
 ly. "She said naught of herself, but she bides with 
 the strangers lately come to the house that was the 
 Widow Pullen's. " 
 
 " Hadst thou seen her before ? " 
 
 " I saw her at the window. " His eyes darkened. 
 He seemed older. The man Roger, no longer the 
 boy. 
 
 " Thou hadst never seen her before that ? Never 
 in London when thou wast there ? " 
 
 "No." The denial came impatiently from his 
 lips. It was clear his mother doubted him at last. 
 Her hand dropped from his sleeve. With that 
 withdrawal a sense of desertion, of betrayal, broke 
 desolately upon him.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 181 
 
 " Have I permission to go, Sir? " he asked coldly. 
 To Nicolas Verring the request was but added de- 
 fiance. 
 
 "Aye go, " he answered in tones grimmer than 
 cursing. 
 
 Nothing could have seemed further from his atti- 
 tude than weeping, but as Roger passed him and 
 laid his hand upon the polished stair rail to ascend, 
 the man bowed his head upon the table and cried 
 out aloud in the Scripture lament of them that are 
 forsaken, a cry that brought his son to his side with 
 swift steps contrite, his heart broken with the 
 grief he had wrought. 
 
 "Father!" 
 
 "Away with thee, and see 'that the night bring 
 repentance. Other men have sons. I have but 
 
 " Nicolas ! " Alison Verring had come near with 
 her boy. "Nicolas, hear him," she pleaded. 
 " He is sad to grieve thee so. " 
 
 " I hear him not till he be brought to a true re- 
 pentance. " Nicolas Verring lifted upon his wife 
 a look of grey displeasure. "And go thou not near 
 him, but pray for his sins for that he hath this evil 
 inheritance from thee. " His eyes glittered in the 
 smarting tears that gave abnormal brilliancy to 
 their fanatic anger; misery looked out beneath the 
 outraged majesty of the dismissal. " Pray, " he re- 
 peated harshly, "as I shall pray, for light and the 
 revelation to make visible the Hand of the Lord in 
 what is now accursed. " 
 
 Roger, like one struck in the face when his arms 
 are tied, stood up to his full height, then turned and 
 went, without a backward glance.
 
 i82 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The wife lingered. 
 
 "Nicolas them wilt not drive me from thee 
 my husband. What grief should we not share ? " 
 
 He was silent. 
 
 He watched her as she opened the door into their 
 chamber and watched it close. Still he did not 
 move. Through the open shutters the odour of the 
 lilacs crept on the soft wind. 
 
 It roused him to new anger and he stumbled to 
 the window and shut it violently against the per- 
 fume of the offending flower. 
 
 To him the soothing fragrance was but another at- 
 tack of that insidious Will with which he had vainly 
 fought in this evil night. The thought spurred 
 him to stronger wrestlings. It should not prevail. 
 Beset on every side, believing the Tempter's clutch 
 to be coiling like octopus arms upon his son and 
 fastening even to his wife, alone, he threw himself 
 upon his knees and strove, single-handed, against 
 the Power of Hell.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PILGRIM AND PURITAN 
 
 THE same perfume came in the upper win- 
 dows and mingled with the hopelessness of 
 Roger's thoughts, so that the fragrance of 
 lilac blooms seemed ever after to bring with it the 
 sense of woe, of dull disaster and regret. 
 
 The hour went wretchedly on. Better to face 
 reproof, remonstrance, than this aloofness. His 
 nature, ardent like his mother's, starved hungrily 
 in silence, and groped in the cheerless dark for the 
 threads of the broken harmony. In his most act- 
 ual self he could never be content with discord. 
 The love of battle for its own sake was not in him. 
 The impulse that drove him to contests which 
 brought upon him his father's condemnation was 
 but revolt from cruelty, injustice, the offence of the 
 strong against the weak; these alone were what 
 made agreement hateful. 
 
 Nicolas Verring could not see the difference in the 
 motive. To him a blow was a blow, and the temper 
 that struck, quarrelsome and malicious. The pride 
 of family, the sense of caste and station, as tyran- 
 nous with the Puritan as his terror of evil spirits, 
 made the fear of gossip, the chance of publicity 
 doubly revolting. 
 
 Alison Verring was of those who had heard from 
 the lips of grandmothers the tale of the Leyden so- 
 journ, and of the cheerful ways of the Dutch cities. 
 
 183
 
 184 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 A mellowness and a sweetness from those days had 
 ripened in the lives of the Pilgrims. Not given to 
 autocratic interference with others, imbued with a 
 more wholesome faith, that had less fear of happi- 
 ness and simpler and more vital hold on God, the 
 men of Plymouth preserved for their children a 
 higher type of practice, a less rigid channel of belief. 
 
 In this third generation the truer essence of their 
 faith was tinctured with the intolerance of their 
 Puritan neighbours, but in Alison its truth was un- 
 defiled and she gave her boy her best inheritance, 
 heightened and deepened by the pure intensity of 
 her own nature. 
 
 All the sacramental joy of her marriage, all the 
 aspirations of her patriotism, of her love for New 
 England, all the ecstasies of her faith, she had 
 wrought into his being in the days when kneeling in 
 thankful prayer or singing her magnificat in the 
 ardours of her work she had waited for his coming. 
 
 A happy light was ever round her as she moved. 
 In its radiance, a radiance shining through dark 
 mists of the Puritan creed, Roger had sunned him- 
 self. Bereft of her he would have been forlorn un- 
 speakably. With her, an ever-present, encompass- 
 ing comprehension, he had grown up un warped, 
 and with the native spring and buoyancy of his 
 clean youth not wholly overborne. 
 
 A sense of humour she had as well, and often re- 
 proached herself as the scalpel of the boy's tongue 
 slit the cover from some hypocritic deed and laugh- 
 ter rose within her at the aptness of his comment. 
 If she smiled, then for weeks she scourged herself 
 lest she had been his tempter to further trespassing,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 185 
 
 and sat through the hour of his punishment with the 
 lash that bit his tender flesh buried in the quivering 
 of her heart. Sometimes it lasted long, till the 
 child had well-nigh fainted under it, uttering no 
 sound but reeling as he stood. 
 
 Afterward, bathing the cruel marks, she had laid 
 soft linen upon them and oftenest had said no word 
 for fear of self-betrayal, but once, rising to the su- 
 preme of anguished effort, she had spoken coldly 
 that the admonition might have effect. 
 
 "Thou wilt remember, Roger. Thou wilt not 
 grieve us so again. " 
 
 There had been no answer but an angry sound, 
 and she had spoken no more, knowing well the fire 
 of rage burning in the boy's soul. That he could 
 let her come near at all showed how wonderful was 
 the bond that held them. 
 
 As the lad grew older she had sometimes made 
 bold to plead against the father's misconception. 
 
 " 'Tis not always sinful to do battle, " once she 
 had said. "Thy own father was no mean fighter. " 
 
 "Against a tyrant," he had answered. 
 
 "There be other tyrants than kings, " she had re- 
 plied swiftly, then fallen silent at her spinning, her 
 cheeks hot with her defence. 
 
 But her husband had persisted, setting forth his 
 words, slow and separate, that she might not miss 
 his meaning. Hers he had not fathomed, and 
 passed over as fanciful and ill-considered. 
 
 " 'Tis one thing to fight and gain a nation's free- 
 dom, and another to brawl in the common street 
 and gain but an evil reputation, " he had said pon-
 
 i86 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 derously. "Why should one meddle with what 
 concerns him not ? " 
 
 This had been before Roger was sent away 
 with Master Gillam upon the Hopewell. From that 
 time she had not failed to persevere in the struggle 
 to make father and son understand each other. 
 When the two were apart or when no disputed deed 
 rose between them all went well, and a mutual con- 
 fidence and pride asserted itself in both, but too 
 often the strife was renewed over the old ground 
 and she could only suffer, waiting for better 
 counsel. 
 
 As Roger looked into the cloudy night its sweet- 
 ness taunted him. Why was the Devil in all the 
 earth and air beguiling man with wiles and strata- 
 gems life but a ceaseless vigil in the midst of the 
 unseen, the perilous, that which seemed most 
 heavenly a lure of hell ? 
 
 After the worst smart of the final rebuff, the 
 knowledge of his father's struggle disquieted him. 
 He remembered the half-heard words of prohibition 
 and knew that his mother would not come, and 
 her grief, solitary like his own, deepened the op- 
 pression. 
 
 And she, too, distrusted him. She was conscious 
 that somewhere he had been false ! He had said 
 that he had -not seen the Maid before. " In Lon- 
 don?" she had asked. It was that he had an- 
 swered but he put the thought away. He had 
 meant they should believe he had seen her for the 
 first time, that day. If he had refused to answer, 
 if he had assented, how could they fail sooner or 
 later to connect this recognition of a stranger barely
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 187 
 
 arrived in Boston with the sea voyage of his boy- 
 hood? And that would be treachery, even to the 
 forgetting of his oath on the Araby Rose. 
 
 For a space he could have hated the thought of 
 the Little Maid. Who was she to break his father's 
 heart and put lies in the mouth of a man ? He had 
 never, so far as he was aware, given his direct word 
 to a lie before. It hurt with the sordid ache of a 
 besmirching misery. 
 
 Yet what was that to danger, to certain danger 
 for the life of the Maid ! 
 
 He felt he must escape to action. It was intol- 
 erable to sit here in the darkened house, in the 
 chill of the stone walls, and give himself over to 
 fiends that pinched and tore, to the thought of his 
 father in the room below pouring out a vexed and 
 stricken soul in fierce supplication, to the thought of 
 the slow dropping of his mother's tears as she knelt 
 in remorseful agony, confessing her sin of too much 
 love ! His mother a scorching ran across his eyes 
 the wisest, dearest, purest ! No woman should 
 again cost her this martyrdom. 
 
 He threw himself down by the window, his head 
 buried in his arms, and prayed silently. The air 
 blowing cold from across the Pond brought the 
 marshy smell of the banks. Through the quiet he 
 could hear the water yet trickling above the dam. 
 Far beyond, toward the Common, the chorus of 
 frogs droned distantly, and everywhere there went 
 a stir through the Sabbath calm, the stir of spring 
 and hope. 
 
 The sense of the irreparable, the inexorable, 
 lightened. He moved as if to rise and seek his
 
 i88 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 father. He would not sleep unforgiven. But as 
 he rose he heard the door close into his mother's 
 room. He dared not follow lest he offend again. 
 The grief of griefs, that he should have said those 
 words " I could kill thee " was again upon him, and 
 with them came memory of the provocation. 
 
 Recollection travelled in swift leaps. And she 
 did not like Jacob Munch ! A comforting warmth 
 broke faintly over him at the thought. Poor Little 
 Maid ! Again he saw her in the pictures of the past, 
 in the reality of the present as she had lain in the 
 Captain's arms, unconscious from long suffering; 
 afterward, as she had told her tale, again as she 
 had drunk the "safe home" and the pledge of the 
 Rose. And now she was here here in Boston, the 
 dark eyes no longer mournful, the beautiful frank 
 way, the vivid charm, but franker, more potent. 
 
 In his restlessness he fought again the battle by 
 the wharfside with the sailors. But were they 
 sailors? The man who had first fled and then re- 
 turned he was no sailor. Sailors went not cloaked 
 and armed with swords. Nor had he been so 
 drunken as his fellow. Then why the attack? 
 And in concert with so low a ruffian? The Maid 
 had worn no jewels. Could her cousin, could Greg- 
 ory Bellingham but that were preposterous to 
 imagine ! 
 
 Why had he not told her he was Roger Verring ? 
 And the fiddle on the Sabbath eve ! All that 
 was beautiful, ungodly, that was her world ! Vague 
 trouble of the knowledge fell upon him almost sleep- 
 ing. 
 
 The trouble lingered in his slumbers and carried
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 189 
 
 him through doleful strivings to desolate ends, 
 through long pursuits, where the Maid ever evaded 
 his coming, till he found his father perishing beyond 
 his reach, or his mother lying dead beside his path, 
 the look of reproachful grief set forever on her 
 moveless lips. 
 
 Then the long misery changed. His mother 
 went with him in the quest and gave him comfort 
 without words. With her presence peace fell upon 
 his sleep, and only the robins loud in their delight 
 brought him from its easeful deeps. 
 
 The Sabbath morning was cheerily aflame. Yet 
 Roger's eyes in their first awakening rested not on 
 the fair colouring without, nor on the spotlessness 
 within, but on the dull hues of the Indian shawl 
 with which his mother's hands had covered him 
 while he slept.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE GOVERNOR'S DINNER 
 "A health to the native born." 
 
 ROGER bowed deeply, the more profoundly 
 for the suddenness of the surprise. The 
 blood that had risen to his face receded, 
 leaving him the handsomer for the pallor. 
 
 The invitation to the Governor's dinner, bearing 
 at the top the knightly seal in careful graving, had 
 failed to ease the tightening struggle of the ten days 
 since the arrival of Sir William, a struggle that had 
 contracted to one desire, the longing to see the Little 
 Maid. 
 
 The invitation had said nothing of his fellow- 
 guests, and the factions that ranged themselves 
 for and against the Charter were too marked to 
 make social fusion probable. The Little Maid, 
 he had argued, would be invited only with the other 
 following. He should spend the evening with the 
 Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton and the disaffected 
 and anxious who dwelt unhopefully on the meaning 
 of a royal governorship. 
 
 The reasoning was good; but hope yields not to 
 reason, and as the great door of Sir William's man- 
 sion had shut him from the cool raindrops and the 
 dripping trees and the long reaches of garden and 
 orchard lying drenched under the heavy skies, it 
 had beat strong within him. When he had entered 
 the square parlours he had looked from one room to 
 
 190
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 191 
 
 the other in rapid search before he had bent to Lady 
 Phips with the ease, distinguished and unconscious, 
 already marked and condemned by those to whom 
 it savoured of the "levity " of courts. 
 
 At the same instant he had seen her, near them 
 both but turned a little aside to hear a question, 
 vivid even in the silent waiting of her arrested look, 
 the very soul of the complex life that filled the 
 scene. 
 
 In Lady Phips a certain air of affectionate pos- 
 session, a certain pride, showed delicately as she 
 greeted him. Here was a provincial born and bred 
 who would shame no hostess with an awkward 
 speech, a graceless forgetfulness. It was at her for- 
 mal words which made Captain Verring known to 
 Mistress Armitage that the blood had flown back 
 suddenly upon Roger's heart and left him pale. 
 The moment seemed but the answer of a demand 
 grown too peremptory for denial, a response in- 
 evitable, yet amazing as the expected miracle of 
 summer. 
 
 The surrounding groups, conversing in stately 
 phrases, stiff and seemly/ or chattering in tones 
 keyed to the note of the festivity, moved away. 
 The three were left, for a little, quite alone with the 
 Governor, who had returned to his wife after a 
 genial excursion among his friends. Splendid in 
 gold embroidery and Mechlin, he was as sturdy and 
 commanding as in the plainer days of the Rose. 
 
 "How now Mary ! He knows my Little Maid 
 already. Bother not with presentations. " 
 
 Lady Phips looked from Roger to the girl and 
 then at her husband, amiably chiding.
 
 192 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Sir William forgets that Mistress Armitage is 
 newly come from a world of greater ceremony than 
 ours ! " 
 
 "Nay, Lady Phips, but I find it quite the other 
 way!" Mistress Armitage replied. " Tis Boston 
 is the land of ceremony. I fear to transgress its 
 decorum each time I go abroad. " 
 
 "Thou but mockest us, child. " My lady shook 
 her head reproachfully, the look of pleasure in her 
 face deepening to a smile at the girl's expression of 
 humorous protest. 
 
 " 'Tis the untutored truth. I shall not sleep o ' 
 nights till I be better instructed. " She turned to 
 the elder woman with whimsical pleading. "I 
 pray you take some leisure hour to give me lessons, " 
 she begged ; then her manner dropped all at once to 
 the plane of sober restraint. "Captain Verring 
 will tell you that I need them greatly, " she added 
 with graver emphasis. "It was he rescued me 
 from my worst indiscretion. " 
 
 Her eyes rested on his, a bravely mastered trou- 
 ble in their look. If her colour had unaccountably 
 heightened as Roger bowed, none but Lady Phips 
 had seen it, and the brief embarrassment had passed 
 into relief as the Governor's welcome pressed down, 
 to running over, the measure of his wife's. Who- 
 ever her champion might be, it was sure Sir William 
 trusted him. 
 
 Roger's eyes had lighted to disclaim the gravity 
 in her own. 
 
 " It is scarce to be counted an indiscretion to lose 
 one's way in Shawmut lanes, " he answered quickly. 
 ' 'Tis a tribute demanded of every stranger. "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 193 
 
 The trouble went out of her look as he spoke. 
 
 "Oh, if 'tis then part of the code " The 
 
 seriousness was dispersed in laughter. 
 
 Sir William had gazed with delighted interest 
 from one to the other. 
 
 " 'Twas thou, my lad! I might have known 
 'twas thou. 'Tis his good fate to attend thee in 
 misfortune, eh Frances?" He had come closer to 
 the Little Maid, an unwonted gentleness softening 
 his bluff tones. 
 
 "Sh Not Frances." Lady Phips touched his 
 sleeve warningly. A passing wonder had crossed 
 the girl's face at his use of the name, and she glanced 
 involuntarily at Roger. 
 
 "Tut-tut ! None heard, and our Captain is dis- 
 creet. Moreover he may not use it if he would 
 poor lad!" The Governor laughed again, slyly, 
 clapping the young man upon the shoulder. "We 
 are more to be depended on than my Little Maid 
 herself, for she told her own tale to thee, Mary ! I 
 had not dreamed so great a rashness !" 
 
 Clearly Sir William did not know that the Maid 
 had failed to recognize in Captain Verring the boy 
 of the Araby Rose. Roger saw that she was mysti- 
 fied by the Governor's allusion, and saw, too, at the 
 same time, that among those who watched her 
 without seeming to interrupt their own discourse 
 was one he had not before perceived. The dis- 
 covery brought him the pang of instant anger. His 
 hostess had followed his look. 
 
 "Thou knowest Sir Humphrey Wildglass?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "I have seen him often in the last week,"
 
 i 9 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Roger answered, his eyes coming back to the Gov- 
 ernor's wife and dwelling briefly on the girl's face 
 as they came. " I do not know him. What is his 
 mission in Boston?" 
 
 "None can tell, but there is great conjecture," 
 began Lady Phips. The Governor had gone apart 
 with a long-visaged one who was plying him with 
 a catechism of censorious import. His wife lowered 
 her voice without changing her expression of cheer- 
 ful hospitality. "It is like he comes to watch the 
 conduct of affairs and give secret advices to the 
 King, " she finished. 
 
 "But that would be spying!" The girl spoke 
 quickly, with a look Roger misunderstood. He 
 thought she would defend the man. The thought 
 added to an antagonism already recalled by the 
 sight of the cavalier. Sir Humphrey had fixed his 
 eyes upon them more openly, regarding in turn each 
 speaker. The approach of a new bevy of guests 
 changed their positions and Roger moved, as if in- 
 advertently, to intercept the stranger's view of 
 the Maid. Sir Humphrey moved at the same time 
 and with the same seeming inadvertence. 
 
 "Have you known him long?" 
 
 The girl answered Roger's question with the di- 
 rectness he remembered. "No," she said. "I 
 saw him for the first time on that evening when I 
 was lost. It was he who played the violin," and 
 either at the intentness of Roger's look or at some 
 recollection he did not share, her colour deepened. 
 
 "Thou wilt not repeat the idle suspicion " 
 
 Their hostess had disposed of the newcomers and 
 turned back to them.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 195 
 
 "Nay, Lady Phips, I can be discreet as another ! 
 And did I not beg instructions ? You will find me 
 as obedient as Captain Verring finds his men ! " 
 
 "I fear Mistress Armitage is more used to com- 
 mand than to obey. " The yellow warmth of the 
 candles added youth to Sir Humphrey's graces. 
 He took quiet possession of the Maid. There was 
 about him the powerful attraction of a strong will 
 clothed upon with soft indifference. "Madam 
 Chanterell is waiting, " he said with light assurance. 
 
 "I like not Madam Chanterell overmuch," 
 whispered Lady Phips. "She troubleth too little 
 to cover her dislikes, and her brother neither came 
 nor sent excuse, though both were bidden for the 
 sake of the Maid. 'Twould seem the girl's affection 
 for Sir William doth much mislike them. " 
 
 Roger felt the thrill, half breathless, that followed 
 the girl as she passed among the watching groups. 
 A splendour went with her. But behind the glow of 
 her beauty shone a brightness more compelling yet, 
 the brightness of a high and fearless spirit, a spirit 
 that exacted no tribute save truth, and gave itself 
 no thought for the tempting of a petty homage. 
 
 Often during dinner Mistress Armitage lifted her 
 eyes to search Roger's face in a puzzled fashion. 
 The two were not side by side but his answering 
 look met her own with an ever-recurring wonder. 
 In spite of the Governor's allusion she did not know 
 him ! 
 
 Madam Chanterell saw the glances, fleeting as 
 they were, and was disturbed. Who would have 
 thought to find so personable a young man among 
 these raw colonials? The very soberness of his
 
 196 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 attire seemed a heightener of his attraction. It 
 added a gravity to his youth, that was full of dan- 
 gerous allurement to a maid surfeited with the 
 flippancies, the facile hypocrisies, of a different 
 world. And Madam Chanterell, now that she had 
 come protesting into this Puritan province, meant 
 to keep her charge as secluded as possible from its 
 contamination. Even Sir William, governor 
 though he might be and rightfully the recipient of 
 the girl's gratitude, was but doubtfully acceptable. 
 There was no indefiniteness, no indirection, in her 
 intentions for the daughter of Francis Bellingham. 
 She knew well the kind of man, she even thought 
 she knew the man, who would be most suitable, 
 most satisfactory. Anger and uneasiness grew 
 within her as the dinner went on, for her own eyes 
 persisted in dwelling with unreasoning pleasure 
 upon the face she would gladly have banished from 
 the Governor's board. 
 
 Roger was aware of her scrutiny, openly disap- 
 proving, and with an insight at once unconscious 
 and assured, he realized what her hostility meant. 
 
 The pleasant sounds of dining floated out to 
 mingle with the good-night twittering of the birds. 
 The steady murmur of contented voices had gained 
 in volume. The tones of the men were less heavy, 
 the utterance of the women less primly subdued, as 
 the progress of the feast wore off the awkward ne- 
 cessity of adjustment. Everyone had begun to 
 feel at home in his own place and at ease with his 
 neighbor. 
 
 The mouth of Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton 
 had lost somewhat of its primness and the meagre
 
 197 
 
 hardness of his expression had warmed to some- 
 thing like a faint reflection of the cheer about him. 
 While inwardly he noticed with reprobation every 
 detail of the event from the laces of my Lady to the 
 buttons of the serving man, he maintained an equa- 
 ble aloofness and ate with an appearance of severe 
 discrimination. Now and then he flung an obsti- 
 nate negation upon an opinion of Mr. Saltonstall 
 who left the disputed subject smoothly and swung 
 the conversation into more peaceful channels with 
 an adroitness Sir William envied. 
 
 Roger, a young relative of Lady Phips on either 
 hand, talked and jested, smiled and played the gal- 
 lant, as was expected of him. When his spirit 
 flagged in the task, he pricked himself to more earn- 
 est endeavor. But always as he raised his eyes, he 
 let them wander for a little about the long table. 
 They rested but an instant on any face and kept 
 but one image after their brief journey. Yet that 
 glimpse laid each time a hand upon his pulse so that 
 ,,it halted for the sweetness of the touch, then leaped 
 to meet it in a hurrying stream. 
 
 Once he answered a question in a tone dropped 
 a little from its natural key and a little blurred. 
 His companion had looked up, caught the trans- 
 figuring light in his gaze and fluttered under it, 
 aware of forces in the air she had not consciously 
 evoked. 
 
 If only he could have heard what the Maid was 
 saying ! He could see the attention, absorbed and 
 smiling, that waited on her words, the changing ex- 
 pression of faces responding with unwonted anima- 
 tion to her mirth or earnest. Sir Humphrey's face
 
 198 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 was among those nearest her. Something about 
 the man harassed and importuned him with vague 
 remembrance. Something it was that recalled 
 not the lighted room and the violin, but things long 
 past, distinct from the jealousy of the present. 
 Was it the voice? He thought so once. Mr. In- 
 crease Mather had made a stricture on the amuse- 
 ments of the Londoner and Sir Humphrey's tone 
 raised in sharp repartee had held an irritated tang. 
 But the impression was latent and elusive. 
 
 Sir Humphrey himself seemed engrossed, to 
 every sense of others' observation, in worship of 
 Mistress Armitage. Into his admiration he threw 
 a force, a concentration, that struck upon Roger's 
 mood like a blow sharp-edged and painful. 
 
 "Is not Mistress Armitage beautiful?" He had 
 caught her name on every hand ; now it came from 
 Faith Apthorpe, his companion's sister, who de- 
 serted her roast oysters and the assiduous youth 
 beyond to put the question to Roger. " I cannot 
 keep my eyes from her, " she went on confidingly. 
 "Yet 'tis not her beauty neither. 'Tis as if 
 'tis a charm. I feel I must know her, though I've 
 never spoken to her in my life. Every time she 
 looks at one of those people up there I say, 'O, look 
 at me, look at me instead !' " 
 
 Roger glanced down upon the pretty features to 
 see if they betrayed a curious skill in irony, but it 
 was earnest, and the eyes were fastened, not on him 
 but upon the object of their manifest devotion. 
 Temple Armitage saw the gaze, and as the girl 
 smiled and nodded, she answered the smile with one 
 as friendly, full of a glamour and warmth of interest 
 no other admiration had drawn from her.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 199 
 
 "There!" announced Faith triumphantly. 
 " Beulah Munch said she was too proud and stiff to 
 make friends but la la I knew 'twas not so. 
 Didst see her, Mercy ? She smiled at me as we had 
 been friends this twelvemonth. " 
 
 Mercy, whose own gaze had been fixed upon the 
 stranger's, turned back to her sister and to Roger. 
 She was moved still by the flash of Roger's look, 
 and her sister's words annoyed her. 
 
 "Thou chatterest like a magpie, Faith! Why 
 shouldst thou care if Mistress Armitage be proud or 
 meek?" 
 
 But Roger laughed in the eyes of the enthusiast 
 and answered for her lightly. 
 
 "Nay, Mistress Apthorpe, it speaks a lovely 
 nature that your sister should dwell so ardently 
 upon another's charms and forget her own !" 
 
 His voice was level and without the catch that 
 again came upon his breathing at the name. The 
 warder that waits grim and Cerberus-like before the 
 gate of betrayal in every New Englander had closed 
 it fast and barred it staunchly against all possible 
 invasion of discovery. 
 
 Mercy laughed with him indulgently and they fell 
 to discourse somewhat gravely as the buoyant Faith 
 exchanged a little war of sentimental banter with a 
 fatherly member of the Council, who made jocose 
 inquiries about an absent swain. 
 
 Roger had the reputation of being devoid of the 
 humour that seasoned the more lifeless intercourse 
 of Puritan circles. Its horse play, its bald allu- 
 sions, its eternal repetitions, had but a stale flavour 
 for him. His own irony was keener, his humour
 
 200 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 subtler and more dramatic. More than once he 
 had paid the price of a dry characterization, an 
 iconoclasm of portrayal too successful to be allowed 
 to pass unnoticed. 
 
 If the Little Maid observed the. two whose talk 
 seemed so gravely intimate she showed it by no 
 glance in their direction and the puzzled look did 
 not rest again, even fleetingly, on Roger's face. 
 
 Madam Chanterell relaxed her vigilance. Madam 
 Verring grew more content, Surely there were 
 plenty of young people of his own kind for her son to 
 seek. Why should she fear he would waste him- 
 self on this ward of a disagreeable stranger Roger, 
 with his sensitive pride ! Who was this Madam 
 with her rudely obvious hatred of her new home? 
 True, the girl bore little resemblance to her guar- 
 dian; and her manner no doubt it was modest 
 enough now, but without a timidity befitting a 
 maid who might listen to such discourse as the 
 Lieutenant-Governor's. Sir William had friends 
 of too many sorts and there was too much pro- 
 fusion in the gold broideries of his doublet ! 
 
 Earlier she had conceived a distaste for the in- 
 genuous outspokenness of Faith and Mercy Ap- 
 thorpe, detecting in it the blither freedom of their 
 New York upbringing, but now she held to the 
 thought of them with comfort. 
 
 " I am glad to see, Roger Verring, that thou hast 
 not yet fallen into the evil ways of thy elders and 
 set a pyramid of false hair upon thy head. " The 
 voice was rotund and sonorous, and the table 
 looked up. 
 
 Roger felt himself grow hot as the eyes of Sir
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 201 
 
 Humphrey impaled him with sudden amusement. 
 He saw the cavalier cast a look full of mirth at Mad- 
 am Chanterell though his own gaze rested directly 
 on the plump figure of Judge Sewall, whose full 
 face laughed above his double chin as he wagged his 
 great head reproachfully at the Governor. 
 
 "I fear 'tis rather the desire to please my father 
 than any inner conviction that deprives me of a 
 wig, " Roger answered, smiling in a swift glance up 
 and down the board where the wigless were almost 
 as numerous as the bewigged. 
 
 "Thou hast a sensible father. It doth greatly 
 irk me that I cannot persuade more men to be of the 
 same mind and cease the decking out of their per- 
 sons with dead men's hair. " The Judge returned 
 to his pasty and ate with relish despite the inef- 
 fectualness of his ministrations in the matter of 
 wigs. 
 
 " 'Tis all very well for Roger! An' I had his 
 hair I'd not cover it, but 'tis my belief our Jus- 
 tice would better adorn the bench in dead men's 
 hair than in no hair at all ! " and the member of the 
 Council shook his powdered periwig with sober con- 
 viction. 
 
 Judge Sewall again deserted his trencher, knife 
 and fork suspended, to join in the merriment, put- 
 ting up a deprecatory hand to the scanty fringe 
 about his smooth face. 
 
 The talk fell close again, the group of elders around 
 the Governor sinking their tones to a mysterious- 
 ness almost painful, a mysteriousness that spread 
 to include the discourse of the younger people 
 near Mistress Armitage.
 
 202 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "And may it not be, Sir, that the accusers be 
 sometimes themselves false or mistaken?" The 
 voice for which Roger was listening reached him 
 with gentle distinctness. 
 
 The words were addressed to Mr. Saltonstall but 
 the answer came with prompt severity from Mr. 
 Cotton Mather. 
 
 " 'Tis a matter, Mistress, where maids and women 
 would best have no opinion. " 
 
 "Nay, Sir, but are there not maids among the 
 accusers? How should we not think of it when 
 women are hanged for it ? " The girl spoke dcpre- 
 catingly, with modest questioning, but there was 
 earnest in the quiet of her tones. 
 
 "You touch on that concerneth those whose age 
 and sex enableth them to judge," was the stern 
 reply. 
 
 "Yea, Mistress," echoed Sir Humphrey, "listen 
 to us graybeards an* you would be enlightened. 
 'Tis a grave matter for the young. " 
 
 Mr. Increase Mather fixed a suspicious gaze upon 
 the stranger. His son Cotton's twenty-nine years 
 gave to him a look scarcely older than the simulated 
 youth of Sir Humphrey. The girl regarded the 
 Puritan ministers seriously. Her eyes had again 
 the mournful intentness Roger so well remembered. 
 Mr. Cotton Mather was going on, his face warming 
 with excitement. 
 
 "To doubt the afflicted, to speak tenderly of the 
 malignants 'tis a dangerous course. " His words 
 vibrated with angry warning. 
 
 "Aye, Mistress," put in Sir Humphrey Wild- 
 glass again, " 'tis ever dangerous to question. "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 203 
 
 Increase Mather frowned a little, but the look 
 with which Sir Humphrey encountered his cold 
 scrutiny allayed his suspicion. 
 
 "Even as this comfit is crushed in the teeth," 
 the son continued, "and is torn and vanisheth, even 
 so shall the malignants perish by the hand of the 
 Lord. " 
 
 "The teeth would seem to find rare enjoyment 
 in the crushing, " Sir Humphrey remarked below 
 his breath. 
 
 "They shall be devoured, and in their place new 
 
 strength shall be in Zion. Beware, Mistress " 
 
 He fixed his eyes balefully on Temple, leaning a 
 little forward in his place " Beware lest bewailing 
 the emissaries of the Devil you yourself fall into the 
 snare ! " 
 
 " Even so, Mistress, " struck in the cavalier once 
 more with unmoved solemnity. "Beware to 
 have wits is to give black inducement to the Devil. " 
 
 The interruption was again ignored and the voice 
 went on in shriller denunciation. 
 
 ' ' He that withholdeth from the conflict cursed 
 shall he be. " 
 
 The silence that followed was full of shrinking 
 terror, fear of the supernatural weighting the air. 
 Then talk broke out again more feverishly, each 
 speaker recounting some new tale of the manifes- 
 tations in hag-ridden Salem, till faces grew clouded 
 and distrustful like the faces of those who strain 
 their sight within a fog. 
 
 The girl's look was still fixed upon the hectic 
 cheeks, the prominent eyes, the full and tremulous 
 lips of Mr. Cotton Mather.
 
 2o 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "You mistake Mistress Armitage, Sir," put in 
 Nathaniel Saltonstall. "She bewaileth not the 
 minions of Satan; she but asked for guidance in 
 knowing them. 'Tis sure were the Arch Fiend 
 to appear in the guise of an accuser he could do 
 monstrous evil among the good. " 
 
 Lady Phips had risen. Mr. Mather's answer 
 was somewhat lost in a setting back of chairs and 
 a silken rustle of departure. But his expression 
 was amply eloquent. He was not wont to be an- 
 swered or even appealed to save as Oracle. That 
 an unfrocked layman, that a woman, worst of all, 
 that a maid, should question him as an equal with 
 no more deference than is paid to age and station, 
 shocked alike the importance of the man and the 
 convictions of the priest. 
 
 "No more of witches!" commanded the Gov- 
 ernor. "Here Johonnot, fill the glasses. 'Tis 
 Burgundy, my good sirs, as old as Mother Carey. 
 Think on more cheerful themes. " 
 
 Conversation brightened with the stir, grew 
 business like and fell upon the currency, then, at 
 some comment of Sir Humphrey's, upon the In- 
 dians. 
 
 "New England's not safe till Canada be ours." 
 The Governor brought down his hand heavily so 
 that the tankards jumped, and one spilled its red- 
 ness along the damask. 
 
 "Put salt on it, William," advised Judge Sewall 
 placidly. "Thou hast been so long from home 
 thou art not well trained in domestic deeds. " 
 
 The Governor spilled the great salt cellar bodily 
 upon the offending blot.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 205 
 
 " So long as the red men have the French behind 
 them we're like to have our fill of horrors, " he went 
 on. " Had we but money " 
 
 "Aye, Sir William, 'tis money makes great 
 
 deeds " The voice of Sir Humphrey again 
 
 " 'Tis perhaps at Quebec we might find the gold. 
 What saith the valiant Captain?" 
 
 "That we'll capture Quebec, with Sir Humphrey 
 Wildglass to show us the gold when 'tis done ! 
 'T would not be the first time I'd seen Sir William 
 capture a treasure from the enemy!" Roger 
 answered promptly, his look turning from the 
 cavalier to the Governor as he spoke. There was 
 nothing in the glance to reveal any hidden meaning, 
 but the silent flash of the Governor's blue eyes as 
 they met his own had a swift significance. Sir 
 Humphrey, whose wandering gaze had returned 
 sharply to the speaker at the retort concerning the 
 Frenchman's gold, did not miss the look. 
 
 His voice, quiet, conversational, affable, had 
 worked in Roger the quick repulsion it had effected 
 at every pause of the evening when its cadences had 
 reached him. Yet it was the voice of a gentleman, 
 well-bred, interested to the point of flattery, in- 
 different to the point where its words could have 
 no hint of personal feeling. 
 
 His elbow was leaned upon the table, his silver 
 cup held suspended between thumb and forefinger 
 as he listened. Now he sipped at the wine with 
 pleasant absorption in its flavor while a soft sound 
 of unspoken applause rose upon Roger's words. 
 
 "Such redoubtable hunters of treasure would 
 be their own best guides in Quebec, " he answered )
 
 206 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 setting down the glass. "Truly, Sir William, 'tis 
 a brave supporter you have ! 'Tis pity you'd not 
 more such in '88 ! Who knows " 
 
 " It is not in the power of man to foresee tempests 
 and to prophesy the failure of allies, " broke in the 
 member of the Council. 
 
 "Still, disaster is disaster," maintained Sir 
 Humphrey. " To reach Quebec we need more than 
 wampum or paper pledges, and 'tis not easy be- 
 guiling money a second time from the pockets of 
 kings. " 
 
 "Nay, and that's a truth, Sir Wildglass ! No 
 spendthrift had ever tighter fist upon his purse 
 when good deeds are in question than your King ! " 
 The long-visaged one who had earlier set upon the 
 Governor with harsh questioning thrust himself 
 aggressively into the conversation. "The folly 
 of kings is beyond all understanding of them that 
 are wise. And the folly of a King's advisers is even 
 
 less to be unriddled. I " He paused, as if 
 
 brought to a stop by a sudden intruding thought, 
 and relapsed into taciturnity. 
 
 A flicker of pleasure crossed the polished surface 
 of Sir Humphrey's attention. Roger, acutely 
 aware of the man as of a crouching shadow in the 
 forest, was relieved at his neighbour's abrupt re- 
 tirement from the dangerous ground of kings' 
 follies. 
 
 "It is not in reason, " submitted Mr. Increase 
 Mather, "that the King should furnish gold save 
 as he is assured under Providence of the suc- 
 cess of the expedition. " 
 
 "The guarantee would be in the good wisdom of
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 207 
 
 its conduct, " put in the Lieutenant-Governor 
 drily. 
 
 "Or in greater peace at home perchance?" sug- 
 gested Sir Humphrey. To Roger there ran be- 
 neath the indifference of the tone a note more arid, 
 more intent. Again the voice woke a vibration 
 deep in the submerged past. 
 
 Sir William had reddened at Mr. Stoughton's 
 unmannerly taunt. 
 
 "It is my belief," said Nicolas Verring slowly, 
 "that these expeditions against scattered handfuls 
 are well-nigh waste till we can show we are su- 
 perior to the French in Canada. " 
 
 Gratification beamed from the Governor's 
 angered countenance. 
 
 "Hear!" he cried. ' 'Tis as Mr. Verring says. 
 Canada first and all the Northern tribes will sub- 
 mit. " 
 
 "But can we leave the settlers deeper in the wil- 
 derness to suffer while we wage war with France?" 
 The question gave chance for discussion, and Sir 
 Humphrey waited the Governor's answer, his face 
 showing a sympathy and perplexity hard to dis- 
 trust. 
 
 The Governor evaded him lightly, seeking to 
 change by a jest a topic that led straight into the 
 dissensions this very occasion had been meant to 
 soften. He at least had marked the blundering 
 or ingenuity by which a stranger, otherwise so 
 tactful, had introduced themes most likely to set 
 men by the ears. 
 
 " 'Tis not always possible a man should conform 
 practice to theory. " Mr. Stoughton, consistent in
 
 2o8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 his obstinate hostility, refused the opening, and his 
 precise utterance reached the ears of Sir Humphrey 
 Wildglass with definite instruction in the matter 
 whereon the questioner had wished to be informed. 
 "The Governor projects an expedition to fortify 
 some point of Pemaquid. " 
 
 "The affair would seem of sufficient importance 
 to England that she send one of her own generals 
 to effect the reduction of Canada, " Sir Humphrey 
 went on as if scarce remarking the Lieutenant- 
 Governor's reply. " 'Twould let the French per- 
 ceive they had to deal with more than the anger of 
 a province. " 
 
 If there was one expression more than another 
 to fall like scalding lead upon the lately disap- 
 pointed colonists it was the word province. 
 
 "The colony wants no better commander and no 
 braver than Sir William Phips, " answered stoutly 
 the member of the Council. 
 
 "A toast for the Governor, our Commander 
 the bravest and the best!" Roger had risen im- 
 pulsively, a compelling resonance in his words, his 
 head high, leadership already strong in the virile 
 magnetism of his look. 
 
 "Hear! Hear! Fill to the Governor!" 
 
 The contagion of a real enthusiasm, a common 
 resentment at the idea they must needs have one 
 from England to command them, brought every 
 citizen to his feet, even Mr. Stoughton, most in- 
 censed of all. 
 
 In the flush of a fellow-feeling again flowing in a 
 single current their patriotism brimmed the bar- 
 riers the stranger had exposed, and each, gazing
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 209 
 
 upon his comrades, thrilled with the sure sense of 
 their fundamental union. 
 
 " Captain Verring Gentlemen " Strong 
 
 emotion showed in the Governor's face and gripped 
 upon his words so that they began with struggle, 
 and ended with a solemnity more potent than 
 gratitude. "May God preserve me worthy of 
 your trust. " 
 
 It welded the group to a closer fervour. Was he 
 not their own? New England from his boyhood 
 and no vainglorious alien from over seas ! 
 
 Roger's face, alight with the purest champion- 
 ship, with an exultation for his hero dearer than 
 praise for himself, caught the look of Sir Hum- 
 phrey Wildglass and knew it for the look of a hypo- 
 crite, and as they lowered the empty wine-cups 
 the man's glance crossed his own smiling faintly 
 with a subtle menace.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 "o SWEET CONTENT" 
 
 IF distrust were uppermost, another thought 
 was dominant as Roger entered again the 
 square parlours. It blended with the scene 
 just past to give his bearing that force of individual 
 distinction whose outer calm strengthens, to con- 
 ceal unwonted fire. 
 
 Mercy Apthorpe was with his mother, and he 
 joined them, meeting the subject of their talk with 
 whimsical repudiation. 
 
 " Mercy will have it, Roger, thou hast a look like 
 me, when the whole world knows thou'rt featured 
 like thy father. " Madam Verring spoke with a 
 natural animation showing through the sedateness 
 of long training. 
 
 "Roger? Why he is the image of his father!" 
 Lady Phips had added herself to them, drawing 
 with her the young people by whom she was sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 Mercy stubbornly shook her head. 
 
 "I leave it to the others," she insisted. "Mis- 
 tress Armitage, doth not Captain Verring resemble 
 his mother?" 
 
 Roger, with one of the impulses that were an 
 embarrassment of foolishness to his father, out of 
 keeping with the unadorned rigidity of a godly life, 
 drew his mother suddenly nearer and bent his head 
 closer to her own. 
 
 210
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 211 
 
 "Now," he interrupted with jesting triumph, 
 "who dares so slander my mother answers to me ! " 
 
 " 'Tis true. Speak, Mistress Armitage ! Is 't not 
 true?" cried Mercy eagerly. "He doth look like 
 his mother. " 
 
 "Nay" the response came in a voice curiously 
 disturbed but rich and wonderful with meaning 
 " He is his mother they're but one creature. " 
 
 A flush of pleasure rose in Alison Verring's cheeks. 
 She turned to the girl, a smile ready behind the 
 stately quiet of her wonted manner, but Roger had 
 raised his head at the same time and she saw the 
 glance the two interchanged, Roger's eyes full of 
 comprehension and something more, the girl still 
 amazed but with a confidence, almost an intimacy 
 of gaze newly come, and behind the look the stir of 
 the waters an angel troubles. 
 
 Madam Verring's lips came soberly together. 
 She did not know that the look was remembrance, 
 and the hidden agitation the shock of the meeting 
 of past and present. 
 
 "Who speaks of likenesses?" Sir Humphrey 
 approached from the opposite side, being always 
 careful not to place himself too near a younger 
 man. 
 
 His presence, like Roger's, was not to be num- 
 bered among those that pass unnoticed. The 
 charm of one believed to know the life of the King's 
 court, not as an outsider but as part of its intricate 
 and doubtful complications, the charm of the 
 world's man to the untravelled, the man of fabled 
 experience to those of simple lives, imposed itself 
 upon the throng.
 
 212 
 
 "Mistress Apthorpe should plead guilty. 'Twas 
 she began the theme. " Temple Armitage met the 
 cavalier with ease of cordial understanding, no 
 ripple of discomposure left to show where the waters 
 had been stirred. 
 
 The sensitive Mercy coloured under Sir Hum- 
 phrey's look even more darkly than under Roger's. 
 She had intuitively discovered that Roger's was not 
 for her, but the accomplished gaze of Sir Humphrey 
 had more personal appeal. As he addressed her 
 she had looked from Temple to him and now she 
 fixed her look again upon the girl. 
 
 "I think, Sir Humphrey Wildglass, " she an- 
 swered with a shy boldness, "that your features, 
 save the mouth perchance, be much like those of 
 Mistress Armitage. " 
 
 Roger raised his eyes sharply. The laughter 
 that followed hid, he thought, something startled 
 and fugitive that crossed Sir Humphrey's face. 
 Mercy was right. The features were like. 
 
 "My gratitude humble and devoted Mistress 
 Apthorpe, and our united plea for mercy to her 
 
 whom the Now how have I offended?" as 
 
 the laughter grew. 
 
 "You use Mistress Apthorpe's name somewhat 
 freely when you plead for .Mercy, " Roger ex- 
 plained in the meaningless tone of unsubstantial 
 talk. 
 
 " How now, Mary ! All the windows closed ? Tis 
 warm here. " The Governor's discomfort brought 
 another smile to his wife's lips. 
 
 "Sir William would have every house a ship! 
 'Tis his ambition to live in a draught like a gale ! "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 213 
 
 
 she interpreted. " I have much ado to keep the 
 
 ornaments from blowing out the doors ! Dost not 
 know," she demanded of him impressively, "that 
 moths and beetles and mosquitoes wait with- 
 out ? " 
 
 " Who careth ? A man must breathe. " He put 
 his hand with a gesture of suffocation to his tight 
 and many-folded stock. "An 1 you would not be a 
 widow let us have air. " 
 
 "Roger," Lady Phips yielded with smiling in- 
 dulgence, pretending a sigh. "Open the big hall 
 window, wilt thou. One must pleasure the man 
 else he'll be leaving me for another voyage. " 
 
 Roger turned promptly to Mistress Armitage. 
 
 "Will you come with me and help preserve the 
 Governor to his office? Lady Phips will put a 
 greater faith in my performance, so. " 
 
 Sir Humphrey was hardly conscious of the in- 
 tention of the words before the two were gone. 
 The impassivity of his handsome face showed an 
 amused ripple. 
 
 "Outflanked," he murmured to himself with a 
 smile that might have been a benediction. 
 
 The window swung easily on un jarring hinges. 
 
 For a little neither spoke. The damp air draw- 
 ing gently through the lace-framed opening coaxed 
 her hair from its confinement and ringed it in soft 
 curling ends upon her forhead. 
 
 . " You had forgotten me, " he said at last. There 
 was no reproach in the words and in her answer no 
 denial of the bond made by the common memory. 
 
 "You were not 'Captain Verring' on the Araby 
 Rose. ".
 
 2i 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 He looked up apprehensively as she uttered the 
 name of the ship but none were near enough to 
 hear. 
 
 "Nor were you Mistress Armitage, " he answered. 
 
 " Yet you knew me ! " 
 
 "There could not be two of the Captain's Little 
 Maid. Where have you been since ? " 
 
 Others had opened the door close beside them 
 and were standing at the threshold disputing as to 
 whether the rain had ceased. Roger's voice had 
 sunk to the note that holds its distinctness, yet 
 exists for none but the listener. " Perhaps I should 
 not recal that time ? 'Tis too painful " 
 
 Her look lifted itself to his, undissembling. 
 
 " I dwell on it often, " she said. " I have for- 
 gotten nothing. I had not forgotten you. But 
 there is none to whom I can speak of it. My guar- 
 dian is far away, and to Madam Chanterell I 
 cannot mention it. " Her eyes sought the night 
 and the shine of candles in the wet drip from tender 
 leaves. 
 
 "I think," she went on, "Madam can hardly 
 forgive Captain Phips for saving me since he had no 
 woman upon the Rose to bear me company ! As if 
 any care for a frightened child could have been bet- 
 ter than his own ! " A little warmth of remembered 
 displeasure had crept into her tone. There was 
 about her a solitariness incongruous with her beauty 
 and the devotion that seemed ready to spring up 
 and cling to her on every hand. 
 
 " How came How long have you been with 
 
 Madam Chanterell?" he asked. 
 
 "Hath Captain Phips not told you? But then
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 215 
 
 he hath not seen me, and my letters they have all 
 strangely miscarried. " 
 
 He bent a little toward her from the broad win- 
 dow seat and spoke still lower as the more curious 
 passed and repassed. 
 
 " Only once have I had any word of you. 'Twas 
 in a battle. A ball ploughed up the water beneath 
 our bow as Captain Phips Sir William came 
 toward me. And I grew bold and questioned 
 him. " 
 
 "Of me?" Her eyes were gravely on his face. 
 
 "I asked, 'Is it well with the Little Maid?' and 
 he said so I could hear above the noise, 'Yea, 'tis 
 well. God be thanked I believe 'tis well ! ' In 
 all the years I have had no other word, " he re- 
 peated. 
 
 ' ' Was it the battle that recalled Were you 
 
 remembering the Walrus?" She still watched 
 him, intent upon his answer. 
 
 "That and the night when the Captain came 
 over the side with you in his arms. " 
 
 She grew paler, exalting the dark shining of her 
 eyes. 
 
 "Tell me about it," she begged. "Save for 
 
 some hateful words of Save for a few vague 
 
 hints I never knew. But it was a tale of a hero 
 of that I am sure. " 
 
 " It will not sadden you ? " 
 
 A half mirthful gleam appeared in the earnest of 
 her look. "I am not of those whose sensibilities 
 cannot bear the truth, " she said with a little shrug. 
 " 'Tis a sad confession of indelicacy !" 
 
 Roger's smile of understanding gave instant re-
 
 2i6 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 sponse. Something he would have said hovered a 
 moment unspoken and he grew silent. 
 
 " Tell me, " she demanded again. " Nay, Madam, 
 there is no draught I thank you I love the air. " 
 
 But Madam Chanterell came fussily close and 
 would have withdrawn her from the window. 
 
 "Come, Temple. Lady Phips is waiting to hear 
 thee sing with Sir Humphrey the madrigal thou 
 gavest my brother yesternight. The dampness 
 will hoarsen thee." 
 
 " I fear it not, " the girl answered steadily. " Is 
 she truly waiting or will a few minutes " 
 
 "She waits now," Madam insisted. " 'Twere 
 rude to delay, and Sir Humphrey " 
 
 "Pray, Mistress Sir Humphrey can wait pa- 
 tiently if the boon be worth the waiting, " began 
 the cavalier, but the Maid had risen. 
 
 " I shall claim Mistress Armitage when the song 
 
 is ended If you would still hear the tale?" 
 
 There was nothing unpleasantly assertive in Rog- 
 er's look but it overbore the obstacle of Madam 
 Chanterell's displeasure, making to her the an- 
 nouncement, leaving the decision to the girl, ignor- 
 ing Sir Humphrey. 
 
 " Unless it take you from duties to other friends, " 
 She had given her hand to the cavalier. 
 
 '"Other friends' !" Roger heard Madam Chan- 
 terell exclaim. " Thou art in haste ! " 
 
 To the watcher there was more pain in the har- 
 mony the two figures made than in the confidence 
 of the man who had supplanted him. Sir Hum- 
 phrey made him feel a crudeness in his youth, un- 
 sophisticated, almost boorish. With dismal facil-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 217 
 
 ity he exaggerated the contrast, possessed only of 
 its unkindness, callous to his own advantage. 
 
 The cavalier was dressed with the taste he 
 might have bestowed for a royal ball, and there was 
 in his manner a perfection that gi eater men had lost 
 time in striving to attain. More glances followed 
 Mistress Armitage enviously than she saw, as Sir 
 Humphrey seated her at the spinet and bent above 
 her as if to consult upon the song. 
 
 There was evidently a laughing quarrel. Roger 
 marked it as he sought Faith Apthorpe, and stood 
 beside her chair, feeling certain her attention would 
 be bestowed like his own. 
 
 " She is going to sing ! " the girl whispered. 
 
 Roger's face kindled and Faith's eyes held him 
 for an instant with zealous sympathy. As she 
 looked down, a flush, the glow of her own enthusi- 
 asm, transformed her all at once into a loveliness 
 she had not had before. 
 
 Mistress Armitage had seen the revelatory flash 
 in Roger's look and the girl's flush. A smile 
 twitched at the corners of Sir Humphrey's lips. 
 
 "Let it be 'Sweet Content' as you say, Mis- 
 tress, " he assented amiably, ' 'but I should have 
 preferred the madrigal of love. " His voice, 
 flexible to his will, held just the measure of sug- 
 gestion which he dared give it. 
 
 Roger could not see that there was no conscious- 
 ness in her thanks for the concession ; the man's 
 attitude was so full of a pleased possession, no on- 
 looker could guess the ardour to be meant for the 
 spectator rather than for the maid. 
 
 " 'Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers? 
 O sweet content!' "
 
 218 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 With her voice fell silence, eager, startled, the 
 silence of indrawn breaths. No voice like hers had 
 ever sounded in the New England wilderness. 
 
 " 'Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed? 
 O, punishment!' " 
 
 The man's tones, blending rarely, wove a fine en- 
 tanglement. 
 
 " 'Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vexed 
 To add to golden numbers golden numbers ? 
 
 O sweet content! O sweet, O sweet content!'" 
 
 Judge Sewall kept time softly with his foot; 
 his look had a fine benignity. None stirred from 
 his place. Roger was safe to look his fill. 
 
 The girl's dress flowed about her in a magic of 
 folds where the light of the candelabra lingered. 
 From the fine oval of the strong and delicate face 
 to the hem of the brocade, softer of finish than the 
 stiff robe of the Governor's lady, she was herself 
 a melody with the song. 
 
 As if for the first time, Roger felt the spell, the 
 mystery ! Hate and love confronted each other 
 in his soul and their contest was an agony. Hate 
 of this man who dared to come so near, to look 
 as he did look, upon her fairness. Love, love itself, 
 for even as his senses trembled he needed nothing 
 to show him that were another to be suddenly 
 dowered with all the wonder of her beauty, and she 
 to be left within that other's outer self, it would be 
 still for her he sought, for her, the Little Maid. 
 
 As the song finished, there was for a moment a 
 pause, then a sound faint, murmurous, in the be- 
 ginning, but rising to a very clamour of delight and 
 pleading.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 219 
 
 "Another. 'Twould be cruel to refuse. " Lady 
 Phips had laid both hands tenderly upon the girl's 
 bare shoulders. "Sir William asks for it," she 
 entreated. 
 
 "You know well the plea to choose, my Lady," 
 laughed Sir Humphrey. If the tone sneered, the 
 manner flattered, "Shall it be the madrigal?" he 
 asked the girl. 
 
 "Nay" she ran her fingers in a soft prelude 
 upon the keys "we'll make separate choice and 
 let them listen at their liking. " 
 
 The silence fell again, perfect, unbroken. This 
 singing was not what they knew as singing, the 
 decorous intoning of psalms. It was a ballad of 
 old Devon she had chosen, a parting, a weary wait- 
 ing, and after despairing grief the return. The air 
 was simple, but from the keys she woke a speaking 
 harmony that filled the tale with its whole intent. 
 
 Nicolas Verring gave a quick heed to the words. 
 By them, monotonously chanted, he had been 
 swung to sleep in a hooded cradle when the colony 
 was young. But the softening in his face was no 
 sooner come than sternness and reprobation suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
 As the Maid rose, Sir Humphrey slipped into her 
 seat, his eyes on her face as he began. 
 
 " 'Bid me to live and I will live 
 Thy Protestant to be.'" 
 
 A shiver of shocked delight ran through the circle 
 of Puritan maids. 
 
 If the girl had sung with an interpretation loftier 
 than the poet's, Sir Humphrey's music was the very 
 abandonment of the sensuous.
 
 220 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The room sank to a more deadly hush, the young 
 people stealing glances of bewildered pleasure at 
 one another, the elders set straightly in a stare. 
 
 " 'O bid me die and I will dare 
 E'en death to die for thee.'" 
 
 For Roger the strength of that he had tried to 
 hold in a struggling subjection had already over- 
 come. He was no longer his own, but Love's. To 
 a man like Roger Verring the knowledge was a 
 sacrament ; it deepened in his face the lines of power 
 and heightened the beauty of his unstained man- 
 hood. He was not aware of the tenseness of his 
 gaze ; all the might and fervour of a strong nature 
 concentrated in the look and her own rose to meet 
 it as if drawn by an unconscious prompting from 
 within. 
 
 " 'Thou art my life, my love, my heart, 
 
 The very eyes of me, 
 And hast command of every part, 
 To live and die for thee.' " 
 
 The girl had stepped backward out of the singer's 
 ken, but as he sang the last word Sir Humphrey 
 moved a little in his seat and raised his glance to 
 find her. Its graceful homage, its ripe adoration, 
 were startled into something less devout under his 
 suddenly lowered lids ; but he would have been hard 
 pressed to find a lack in her replies, or to discover 
 a consciousness in voice or manner as Roger ap- 
 proached. 
 
 "Temple, my dear " It was Madam Chan- 
 
 terell again masterfully claiming her charge. "I 
 want thee to see the amazing cup sent by his Grace
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 221 
 
 of Albemarle and the others to Lady Phips. Sir 
 Humphrey, have you seen " 
 
 " 'Tis extraordinary pretty." The young man 
 who spoke had edged nearer to Mistress Armitage 
 while the others talked. "If you will, Mis- 
 tress " 
 
 "Nay, Thomas, not so fast." Roger had come 
 directly to her and stood waiting with perfect deter- 
 mination. " Mistress Armitage is pledged to me. " 
 
 "Are pledges then always redeemed in this new 
 part of the world ? " jested Sir Humphrey. 
 
 "My pledges are redeemed in any part of the 
 world, " laughed the girl. 
 
 "Then are you more than mortal. One was al- 
 ready sure of that ! For the rest of us Fate some- 
 times clips performance ere't be done," he an- 
 swered with a laugh that challenged hers. 
 
 "My brother will soon expect us" Madam 
 Chanterell interposed as the girl would have gone. 
 "I fear, Master Master " 
 
 "Captain Verring, Madam," The Governor 
 genially supplied the pause. " 'Tis a name also 
 good for pledges. You'll not be long ignorant of 
 it in Boston. 'Deed and more than once it hath 
 been spoken at court when Mr. Mather and I had 
 the King's ear. " 
 
 Madam Chanterell looked coldly both upon the 
 Governor and upon Roger. Sir Humphrey an- 
 swered for her. 
 
 "Madam Chanterell will be the first to regret an 
 ignorance so much her loss, " lie said with a look 
 at Roger of such apparent amiability that Judge 
 Sewall commented as the group drifted apart, " 'Tis
 
 222 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 a terrible civil fellow, though I like not his wig !" 
 
 Roger returned the look with one as imperturb- 
 ably gracious. 
 
 "You place the word badly, Sir Humphrey," 
 he corrected. " 'Tis for me, not Madam Chanterell, 
 to 'regret'. " 
 
 Madam Chanterell smiled against her will, feeling 
 again the unwelcome sense of his attraction. 
 
 Alison Verring, who had regarded the little war of 
 wills from near at hand, felt a thrill of pleasure as 
 Roger and the Maid moved down the room, but the 
 pride was small balm to the stronger disapproval 
 and the sharper pain of loss with which she followed 
 her son. 
 
 The songs had offended her morbid reticence. 
 That a maid should sing of love, and with expres- 
 sion, argued that she had thought of it, and to own 
 to thoughts which in her girlhood she had counted 
 enemies and striven with prayer to conquer seemed 
 to her unmaidenly and bold. The power to in- 
 terpret was a thing apart from her Puritan ideals, 
 a sin of mummery and unpleasing in the sight of 
 God. 
 
 Nicolas Verring felt no pride. The whole race 
 and kind which this girl and her friends represented 
 were to him anathema, cursed of Heaven and cast 
 out from the strenuous companionship of them who 
 sought salvation, their every charm lent by the 
 Devil for unhallowed ends. He observed his son 
 grimly as the two paused before the cabinet. 
 Without the mother's prescience he yet suf- 
 fered. 
 
 The cup, massive and delicately graved, glowed 
 richly within the ebony walls.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 223 
 
 ' 'Tis like himself pure gold, " the girl ex- 
 claimed. "Was Lady Phips not well pleased? 
 But 'tis certain she was. A husband so honest, so 
 honoured " 
 
 "Lady Phips was chiefly surprised to find hon- 
 esty held a virtue worthy of knighthood, and such 
 gifts!" Roger answered. "Shall I take it out for 
 you ? ' ' 
 
 " We must not tarry for the cup. I may have no 
 other opportunity for the hearing of the tale. " 
 Her manner grew somewhat constrained. 
 
 Roger became silent, feeling the shade upon her 
 mood. But the girl came forth from her brief ab- 
 straction smiling. 
 
 "The New England maids are very lovely," she 
 said as they passed Faith Apthorpe. "I should 
 like much to know Mistress Apthorpe and her sis- 
 ter." 
 
 " And Mistress Faith is so much of the same mind 
 she hath no other topic to her discourse. She 
 talked of naught but you, both at dinner and as 
 you sang. " 
 
 "As I sang?" The girl interrupted as if recall- 
 ing something. 
 
 "Aye. She hath you in a very ecstasy of ad- 
 miration. " 
 
 "Because she doth not know me; 'tis a young 
 maid's way, " she made answer with an indulgence 
 so matronly wise she seemed but doubly girlish for 
 its kindly humour. 
 
 Roger had found for them the only possible iso- 
 lation, a corner left vacant behind the Lieutenant- 
 Governor and a small party of his own sort, who
 
 224 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 exhibited a tendency to separate from the throng 
 mixed but not combined by the warmth of the 
 Governor's hospitality. They turned curious eyes 
 upon the absorption of the two. 
 
 "The Captain, Sir William says I owe nothing 
 to him, but all to you. He hath told me how you 
 remembered even wounded " 
 
 Roger broke in with swift denial. 
 ' 'Twas he alone saved you. But Maccartey 
 should be here. You remember Maccartey?" 
 
 "The mate?" She was speaking more eagerly, 
 more like the Little Maid who had told her story in 
 the Captain's cabin. 
 
 Roger had a theme he loved and in the tale 
 he was at once and wholly himself, Men of a 
 more artificial mould were wont to show their 
 better truth to Temple Armitage, what there was of 
 the genuine left in them rousing and reanimating 
 itself to meet the clear honesty of her. Rarely even 
 in his earliest memories had Roger been free to be 
 himself, but now he spoke out, undisguised, un- 
 ashamed, conscious of no quarrel with expression 
 save that it lacked the measure of its attempt. 
 
 The movement about them, shifting in the 
 changes of an event whose like for stateliness and 
 true simplicity no other city of the world could have 
 shown, was quite forgotten. 
 
 The Walrus plunging upon the rocks, the strain- 
 ing of the rescuers toward the drifting ship, the 
 terror of the men who waited in the boat, the whole 
 scene, wrapped in gloom and loud with the sound 
 of winds and breakers, was more actual than the 
 men and women who went and came in the pano- 
 rama of the set and ordered room.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 225 
 
 The lowered voice, the frequent interruption in 
 the gayer tones of others, the lapsing again into the 
 intimacy of a shared and secret remembrance, gave 
 to the story a double effect. If Temple Armitage 
 had felt any surprise at the self-possession with 
 which he had taken her from the very teeth of her 
 warders, she might have felt an even deeper amaze- 
 ment as his Puritan reserve melted into the elo- 
 quence of his words. 
 
 "So he brought you in his arms and as he 
 lifted you above the bulwarks, the light of the 
 Walrus burning high in the dark fell across the 
 Araby Rose and you opened your eyes " 
 
 He stopped there, his look completing what the 
 silence lacked. He could have looked no otherwise 
 upon the rescued child. She trembled and in her 
 eyes, mournful and sweet as then, there rose a mist 
 of tears. 
 
 He moved a little, involuntarily, to shelter her 
 from those who walked without upon the porch. 
 
 "My aunt my guardian never knew." The 
 girl waited a minute, her hands together, the fingers 
 intertwining in the clinging fashion of helpless pain 
 he remembered. Old tenderness renewed wrought 
 at his heart grown to naught but a measure for her 
 grief. 
 
 "It killed her," the Maid went on. "The plan- 
 tation is sold and Mr. Amory he has travelled 
 much since then. He would not have me with him 
 for my sake. But what cared I for danger to 
 
 being alone to " She paused abruptly. That 
 
 is why even my name is changed for safety. He 
 wished it. The names were of her family Aunt
 
 226 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Lotta's Armitage and Temple. For myself I 
 would bear my true title before all the world and 
 be Frances Bellingham as I should ! " 
 
 "It is needful. Who knows " Roger be- 
 gan, but she interrupted. 
 
 "In less than a year I shall be of age. Then I 
 shall be myself and then my uncle hath promised 
 he will come for me. " 
 
 "And your cousin? Know you " 
 
 "In London a few months since. I have not 
 seen him. He hath not even tried to prove my 
 death. My Uncle Amory approved my coming 
 here. He harpeth ever on my safety, and Boston 
 is far from London. " 
 
 Roger raised his eyes to discover a gaze fixed so 
 intently upon the Maid it appeared to read her lips. 
 It was withdrawn even as he looked but cold dis- 
 trust settled upon his heart as Sir Humphrey passed 
 on. 
 
 "Poor Madam Chanterell, " the girl was saying 
 softly. " She will not leave her brother though she 
 hates the provinces with a hatred like no other. 
 'Tis well-nigh amusing, yet piteous, too, since 'tis 
 affection brings her here. And 'twill be worse out 
 of the town. " 
 
 " Out of the town ! You " 
 
 "Go to Andover, a village northward. Sir 
 John Winchcombe, who is ever keen upon some 
 new scheme, hath purchased there a goodly farm; 
 an' the Indians devour us not, we linger till the 
 autumn. " 
 
 ' 'Tis not safe, believe me, " Roger protested. 
 " 'Tis no place for women. Urge Madam Chan-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 227 
 
 terell she should abide here. The Nipmucks be 
 showing their teeth in all these northerly borders. 
 Surely Sir John Winchcombe cannot have knowl- 
 edge " 
 
 " He is of those who fear nothing their eyes have 
 not beheld ! 'All that the provinces need, ' saith 
 Sir Humphrey Wildglass, 'is men.' 'Tis Sir Hum- 
 phrey has clinched the whole matter. He laughs 
 the danger to open scorn. " 
 
 "What can Sir Humphrey know ? I thought him 
 but late from London!" Roger's face was dark 
 with more than mere anxiety. "There is no 
 worthy courage in tempting the savages to war 
 with women. None who had seen a woman in their 
 hands would laugh at mention of them. I would I 
 might be near, " he ended impetuously. 
 
 "To see the evil prophecy fulfilled ! " Her face, 
 grown somewhat cold at his first words, smiled at 
 the wish. 
 
 She spoke further in a confidence that bore a cer- 
 tain truth behind the smiling. 
 
 "Shall I tell you that which I fear more than 
 wolves, or bears, or red men ? 'Tis the solitude. " 
 
 Unceasing in the long hours of long days and 
 nights to follow, the words resaid themselves in 
 Roger's thoughts, and the smile, behind whose sur- 
 face jest he saw the loneliness, dwelt with him, a 
 sadder presence than his fears.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 AT THE SIGN OF THE ORANGE TREE 
 
 THE Orange Tree Inn was darkened and 
 sealed against the files. All save one cor- 
 ner, where the windows of its "best cham- 
 ber" were wide open, to the scandal of the landlord 
 and the distress of such housewives as passed that 
 way. 
 
 Within, Sir Humphrey Wildglass had wrought 
 busily all the morning. In a strangled heap upon 
 the floor was flung a patch-worked cover; on the 
 pine surface exposed above the walnut table legs the 
 leaves of a considerable manuscript accumulated 
 fast. Nothing in the room was in order save this 
 manuscript and the figure, freed from waistcoat and 
 doublet, that bent above the table. White lawn 
 was rolled back above the elbows and the folds, 
 sheer and fine, from the looms of Dutch weavers, 
 bloused themselves in wrinkles upon the straight 
 back. 
 
 Below the fluttered canopy of the bed lay wig and 
 sword; over chair and stool straggled a miscellany 
 of masculine fripperies, long silken hose stretching 
 like tentacles from central convolutions of brocade 
 and lustrous cloth, blue satin and silver lace. 
 
 The door was locked and only the August sun 
 peered at the gray patches mixed in the blackness 
 of the man's hair and at the hard, perfidious 
 strength lined openly in his handsome face. 
 
 228
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 229 
 
 '"Dearlie Beloved,'" began the first letter, 
 "'Whereas the Scripture moveth us in sundrie 
 places to aknoledg and confess ' the 'manifold sins' 
 of others and whereas it seemeth cure own may 
 bee somewhat more manifolded than att ve fyrste 
 wee thought I mak my honest confecion devout- 
 lie smilyinge, since ye Pilgrimage fareth wel. 
 And soe hearken ! 
 
 "In y e begin ng I was but dewbius, seeing 'twas no 
 grate summe y e forrainers will paye. However 
 that affaire mendeth. 
 
 "And now dearlie beloved cometh y e better 
 parte. The Lamb wch thou mayst rememb r was 
 loste to the House of Bellingham hath been found 
 and the Shepherd wil, Diabolo volente, brynge it 
 home in hys armes (or at y e beste its Fleece in hys 
 pouch) ! 
 
 "It was y e nyghte of y e arrival of Phips wel-fed 
 and noblie harness d y* first I spied out this Loste 
 One ! Culdst see the Lamb wuldst ne'er give thy 
 consente to the sinnynge 'Tis the fairest of al 
 flocks in severall continents and the worser Home 
 of this Dilemma (even to mee) looketh not soe ill ! 
 Namelie to tak the Lamb untoe my Bosom and 
 Cherishe it Fleece and al as mine Own. To this 
 ende I mak a leisurlie progresse, fearynge nought 
 amongst these villainous clods save an it bee need- 
 ful to dispose of one lustie yonge Captain of militia 
 who casteth greedie lookes upon my Eweling. 
 
 "The present warder of the Fleece regardeth me 
 with an unctuous, approving eye (and the Puri- 
 tane youthe with a sillie disdaine). For the Lamb 
 'twil bleat but coylie for the practiced Shepherd.
 
 230 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Soe seest thou there bee more than one turning 
 in thys Lane of Povertie wherein wee stumble. 
 Either wil suit Moste excellentlie the waye of 
 success with Fredom. For that I mad attempt the 
 verie nighte of my disco verie, fortune favr ng and 
 the Lamb straye ng in solitarie places. But there 
 was base interruption (An I fynde whose, there 
 maye be neede of more confessynge !) 
 
 "But Fortune failed mee not wholly. I had mad 
 diligent inquiries and was prepared to kill or woo, 
 as myghte bee!" [This last sentence was care- 
 fully blotted out and could be barely guessed.] 
 "At some expense of breth I hasted to my 
 lodgings and fillynge in one of y e blankes in yo r 
 goode letters presented it with my humble per- 
 
 sonne to Sir John W , hym y 1 was concerned in 
 
 y e compagnie of hys cousin (y e Duke of A ) in 
 
 the matter of the tresor. 'Tis hee and hys sistre 
 doe garde y e lamb. 
 
 "Ere the Strayed One returned I was wooing the 
 Sirens with the Viol of Sir John. ('Tis a wonder 
 doubtless the worke of some Italian the upper 
 notes being as pew r as bee the lowest.) 
 
 "Att y e present my planne goeth thus. The nobel 
 salvages of thes uncuth Wildes mak (for a price) 
 y e moste trustie wolfs for the devourynge of any 
 wander 8 Lamb whose Fleece be coveted more than 
 its Bleatynge. 'Tis alredie sett in mocion by means 
 of the forrainers who are bounden to pleasure mee. 
 
 "None knoweth me here. Thy cunynge letters 
 have been swallow d intoe the gaping mawes of al 
 Bostoun, and I goe in and out much honored as one 
 high in confidence att y e Courte ! (Imbeciles !
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 231 
 
 Cochons ! Fools ! Were that but a veritie as 
 once it was ere my starr waned think they y* I 
 wld spende an houre among such-like purblind 
 yokels. Faugh ! Canting Swine that walloe in a 
 pius treason whereof I shal have certaine proofs to 
 laye before the august Paire at Whitehall and 
 mak my peace therewith. Be diligent. Mind thou 
 singst my praises wel in quarters wee wot of. 
 
 "With the moneys of the forrainers added to thine 
 own I mak a faire appearance though I wuld I hadd 
 again my faytheful knave to uncrease me my gar- 
 ments ! As 'tis, I sett the Mode for everie wuld- 
 bee Buck of this Pharisaik Town. For the moste 
 they bee a lugubrius sett. (Thir Foodes bee excel- 
 lente and of good drynkynge no lacke.) 
 
 "Trulie this business of Monsieur doth sour upon 
 my stomak However, better a soure stomak than 
 an emptie. 
 
 "Heigho dearlie beloved the Lamb is faire. 
 Nexte to myselfe I culd love it. Of a truth one 
 waye is beste. Mark thou, 'twill bee no bungler 
 this tyme. 
 
 "Most Timorous ! Trust to thy Gregory who 
 waits not on fortune but is hys own Fortune, and 
 soe farewell. 
 
 "Postscriptum. This goeth by the hande of B. 
 Hee dare not faile us even shuld hee rede the whole, 
 w ch hee cannot doe or I misreckon hys lernynge. 
 Yett for precaucion marke if the thred drawne 
 through the inn r fold tear upon the pap r as thou 
 openest. (And y e thred I putt where only thou 
 culd misse it) and maye the man y* plaies us false 
 bee boiled in hel eternallie. "
 
 233 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The second letter was in French. 
 "Monsieur: 
 
 "As to the affair of the merchandise. It were bet- 
 ter destroyed with all convenient speed. It lieth 
 at this present in the house of Sir John Winch- 
 combe in the township of Andover, between the 
 Shawsheen river and a mound or ridge that stretch- 
 eth parallel. 
 
 "The place is but feebly defended. Send those 
 who may overcome a dozen. It will suffice. There 
 is but one thing essential to make an end of the 
 merchandise we have mentioned, but if it be needful 
 to that end to captivate all of the indwellers, see to 
 it that none evade, remembering that prisoners are 
 but weariness and expense to the captivators, which 
 weariness your allies will best know how briefly to 
 avoid. 
 
 "Let Assoango conduct the party I pray. I 
 purpose to add myself to the garrison and shall 
 therefore be at hand to indicate the convenient 
 moment, the which I will explain to him when I 
 give him this letter. 
 
 "Make no mention of others in the matter lest by 
 so doing you put a period to their power to serve 
 you. 
 
 "Forward, if you please, the cipher enclosed, with 
 all speed, to Montreal. It is news of a projected 
 expedition. There is within the Council some hos- 
 tile movement stirring. I send further advices 
 
 concerning it, by N to the region above Pema- 
 
 quid. He hath hope of finding Pe"re Sebastien at 
 the place you designate. (It seemeth likely but a 
 false alarm, the whole country here being given
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 233 
 
 over to great panic, and every man busied upon a 
 devil-hunt among his neighbours, so that there's 
 more talk of witches than of war.) 
 
 "In the matter of my remittances I would have 
 somewhat more of faithfulness in time, and a more 
 careful secrecy observed. These be not regions 
 where messengers may not be robbed, and by those 
 in power. 
 
 "Fail me not in the matter of the merchandise. " 
 
 He addressed this letter first: 
 
 "Monsieur le Capitaine le V- 
 
 Par la main d'Assoango. " 
 
 Then he set himself to the task of inserting the 
 thread in the larger packet, folding it with great 
 care and printing the address : 
 
 "Master John, 
 
 Abiding with Caleb Golworthy, 
 The Sword and Mitre, 
 
 Malbone Rd, Hartingwell. " 
 
 The smell of burning wax floated from the open 
 windows, and the clerkly toil well over, the writer 
 stretched comfortably in his chair, whereupon he 
 twisted his boots in the table "carpet" and swore. 
 
 His face ready to as many changes of expression 
 as may be compassed by a good actor, relaxed after 
 the brief irritation, to a sneering triumph. The 
 sun had crept far enough to beat hardily upon him, 
 and he rose, whistling loudly as he cleared the room 
 of all traces of his late employment. 
 
 When the landlord's knock sounded he had ad-
 
 234 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 justed his wig and was trolling with a vast good 
 humour in the sound : 
 
 " 'Pack clouds away, and welcome day, 
 With night we banish sorrow '" 
 
 The landlord knocked again. 
 
 " 'Bird prune thy wing, nightingale sing, 
 To give my love good-morrow!' " 
 
 carolled Sir Humphrey, yawning prodigiously be- 
 tween phrases as he unbarred the door. 
 
 "Hey Goodman Bolt, 'tis a sad dog of an idler 
 thou entertainest. Here have I slept away the 
 livelong morning upon that bed ! Hot water, and 
 cold, and briskly, worthy sir, to get the drowsiness 
 from my eyes. " 
 
 The goodman cast a doubtful glance upon the 
 rumpled couch and the litter of fine clothes. 
 
 "The flies be thick, " he remarked glumly. 
 
 "Aye, and thy skull thicker! Spare thy com- 
 menting. Make haste. " 
 
 The landlord stood erect in the doorway. An 
 angry redness spread upon his sallow skin. 
 
 "Them that turn night into day and day into 
 night," he intoned, "may well forget gentle man- 
 ners in the perverting of nature. Thou wert not in 
 thy bed before midnight and so thy day is gone to 
 waste, whereof each moment shall be required of 
 thee. The slave will fetch thy hot water and thy 
 cold. And if it pleasure thee to remain longer be- 
 neath the roof of Simon Bolt, see to't thou put 
 more check upon a godless tongue. The Inn of the 
 Orange Tree was ever of a decent repute. " 
 
 "A halt a halt, good Prater!" cried Sir Hum- 
 phrey and he smiled amiably upon his host. " 'Tis
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 235 
 
 my solemn resolve to take pattern by thee and go 
 to slumber with the fowls albeit 'tis they that 
 'slepen al the nighte with open eye. ' Bring me or 
 send me a well-brewed posset and the goodwife's 
 cakes. I'll drink to my intention ! By the Rood, " 
 he continued as the door closed on the retreating 
 landlord, "an' I'd not a use for thee and thy roof 
 of 'good repute', I'd soon silence thee, Simon Bolt ! 
 
 Wait till Gregory Bellingham be free See if 
 
 he give not each knavish driveller amongst ye some- 
 thing to twist his ugly visage !" 
 
 But the old slave woman who brought the water 
 met a look of gentle condescension, and shuffled 
 away rejoicing, her hand clasped tight, like the hot 
 palm of a child, upon the coin he gave.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MUDDY RIVER WOODS: A MESSENGER AND A 
 MEETING 
 
 AT the sign of the Orange Tree the windows 
 of the "best chamber" were closed and no 
 lodger was within. 
 
 Where earlier in the day Sir Humphrey's letters 
 had been written in the midst of unseemly con- 
 fusion the softened light found now a decorous 
 room. Goodwife Bolt had begged the key and set 
 the place in order, folding the taffety and brocade 
 with careful fingers, and driving out the flies with 
 strips of paper nailed upon long sticks. 
 
 Then she had shut the windows and sped apace 
 for sympathy to Mistress Munch across the way. 
 
 Roger, pausing upon his mother's errand to the 
 Dame, delivered it where both were seated in the 
 close air of the shuttered house. Beulah came 
 forth with him as he went. Her eyes were restless 
 and underneath the primness of her speech a hurry- 
 ing eagerness was plain, as if she cast about her for 
 some expedient. 
 
 She reached the gate first and rested her bare 
 round arms upon the topmost rail, talking as if un- 
 conscious that she blocked the way. Roger's look 
 went beyond her and she knew where it stopped 
 upon the house of the Widow Pullen in which for a 
 brief space the Maid had dwelt. The colour in Beu- 
 lah's cheeks, faint as the flush of a pale sweet pea, 
 grew more pink. 
 
 236
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 237 
 
 Shubael had stolen after and Roger lifted him 
 and set him in the circle of his arm, upon the fence. 
 The child looked shyly upward, half fearful of a 
 sudden tumble, some rough joke to which he was 
 inured, but Roger held him fast. And the boy, 
 viewing the world from unaccustomed altitudes, 
 fell solemn in surprised content. 
 
 " 'Tis said the Nipmucks be out northward, " 
 volunteered the girl, drawing Roger's attention 
 more surely to herself. 
 
 The sentence had greater effect than she had 
 meant. He involuntarily tightened the arm that 
 held Shubael and the little fellow leaned upon the 
 man's shoulder with round eyes fixed peacefully 
 on the sky. 
 
 "To northward, did you say?" 
 
 "Yes; upon the Merrimac, I think. At least 
 there is a rumour " 
 
 " Whence came it to you ? " 
 
 "Nausnummin, the Indian preacher, told it." 
 
 The statement had no foundation save in a chance 
 word of Christopher Munch, who saw ever upon the 
 darker side, but Beulah made good speed to sup- 
 port it, pleased with the interest it roused. 
 
 While they still spoke of Indians, Shubael put 
 out his hand, feeling for the arm that held him, and 
 begged. 
 
 " Stay here: stay here a little while, " he pleaded. 
 
 "Yes, Roger, come in and sit, " Beulah glanced 
 up in coquettish appeal. 
 
 ' ' I cannot not this evening, I am in some 
 haste thank you, " Roger answered, setting the 
 child upon the ground.
 
 23 8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 She released the gate, moving suddenly from the 
 path. 
 
 They shook hands in the fashion of the town and 
 the young man raised his hat as the gate swung after 
 him. 
 
 "Good-night, Beulah, " he said pleasantly and 
 was gone. 
 
 The girl's colour darkened to scarlet. Her eyes 
 showed too roundly prominent, and the thin lips 
 that could curve and tremble with weak ease in a 
 play of sentiment, drew to a tight line. 
 
 The unconscious gentleness of the arm about the 
 boy (privileged to cling where her imaginings had 
 often dreamed herself) had gotten a cruel hold of 
 her. In a trice, too, she had unriddled his interest 
 in the Indians. 
 
 "Whither, Shubael, went Sir John Winchcombe 
 and his family?" she asked. 
 
 "To Andover, Mam said," answered the lad, 
 " Mistress Armitage hath promised me a letter. " 
 
 "I shall tear it if it come," his sister snapped, 
 the small teeth barely showing behind the tightened 
 lips. 
 
 Roger heard the child's crying, as he took his way 
 across the Common. He had seized the excuse of 
 the errand to escape from confining walls. Despite 
 his best efforts, a coldness daily more cold remained 
 between him and his home. His father stern, his 
 mother wistful, with the look of watchers who fear 
 disaster, a look more dreadful than reproach. 
 
 The pain of it, the pressure of suspicion, was in- 
 tolerable. Yet his grief at the estrangement was 
 pricked with thorns of sharp compunction as he
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 239 
 
 realized that from it he had a refuge, a warmth no 
 coldness chilled, itself a pain more blessed than all 
 peace. 
 
 Out of the atmosphere of strain where the very 
 tension of his own mood made silence under his 
 father's reproofs increasingly in danger of furious 
 break, he escaped whenever it was possible. More 
 than one night had found him wandering through 
 all its hours to come back with the dawn, the old 
 sense of guilt dogging at his heels. 
 
 The twilight lingered late. The August moon 
 was low in the east before the afterglow was faded. 
 Few people were in Tra-mountain street, and those 
 that were abroad hastened about their business as 
 if conscious of the hour. 
 
 Frog lane was empty. The chorus from the 
 pond upon the Common croaked in inspiriting 
 fugue, the patriarchs booming beneath the shriller 
 rejoicings of the young. Soft breathings in the 
 bushes told where a strayed cow still browsed and 
 wandered. Roger moved onward without pause, 
 far out beyond the settled borders of his home, into 
 woods through which the road wound roughly to- 
 ward the village of Muddy River. 
 
 Shadows lay thickly in the way. When at last 
 he halted and took count of his position he was deep 
 within the forest. After he turned, his step grew 
 slower and the homeward path was travelled with 
 less speed. 
 
 At the end of the first mile retraversed he came 
 to a pause, thinking he heard voices. He stood in 
 the darkness made by a great maple that roofed 
 the rude way with a compact mass of straight-
 
 240 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 grown boughs. His light tread had made no sound 
 upon the bed of needles underneath. 
 
 At the instant of his pause two figures silhouetted 
 themselves upon a strip of sky far down the path. 
 They also were at a stand and one was beckoning 
 the other after it into heavier shade. Roger's 
 sight, keen and used now to the dusk, saw that the 
 one who had bethought him of the shadow was an 
 Indian. 
 
 He seemed to be speaking and at his words the 
 other turned abruptly to look in Roger's direction 
 then faced quickly about, taking the way town- 
 ward. If they desired to be secret, the red man 
 might have warned him of Roger's passing and of a 
 probable return. In the movement of departure 
 the Indian had held out something which the other 
 had seized in going, thrusting it apparently into 
 his doublet. 
 
 Roger would have moved on but the savage 
 came directly toward him, and he stepped instead 
 upon the other side of the great maple that inter- 
 posed its trunk between them as the Indian passed. 
 A gleam of light dropping through a broken space 
 in the boughs touched the face ; it was not a face 
 from one of the friendly tribes, but wore the look 
 of the French Indians of the North. 
 
 Roused from himself to quick conjecture, he 
 followed, still slowly, the homeward path till in 
 a narrow dwindling of the way his eye was caught 
 by a glint of white at his feet. It might have been 
 bark from the white birch but he stooped to it and 
 saw that it was a letter. 
 
 "Le Sieur de Wildglass. " The address was
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 241 
 
 plain even in the moonstone pallor of the day's last 
 look. 
 
 A French letter and for Sir Humphrey Wildglass. 
 His first conjecture as to the identity of that second 
 figure was then correct ! 
 
 Sir Humphrey stopped with startled promptness 
 as Roger called. At sight of the letter his hand 
 went involuntarily toward the pocket of his doublet. 
 The gesture was checked midway and converted at 
 once into a movement to pluck from his coat a bit 
 of brambly leaf. 
 
 "Ah 'tis the valiant Captain !" His look ban- 
 tering, derisory, settled upon Roger as he flicked 
 the leaf daintily from his fingers. "Art starting 
 for Quebec or art already returning?" 
 
 " I but follow you, Sir Humphrey ! And I bring 
 you word of the North and I mistake not. " He 
 held out the letter, suddenly smiling, " 'Twere a 
 happy chance had it some news of that French gold 
 we spoke of!" 
 
 "Aye, most happy!" The cavalier thrust the 
 letter securely within his pocket, but first examined 
 it with insulting care, making certain that the seal 
 was unbroken. 
 
 "I think none can have seen it but myself," 
 Roger reassured him drily. 
 
 "Where found you the billet ? " 
 
 "A little back upon the path. " 
 
 "A woman's secret, Captain and so to be 
 guarded, " explained Sir Humphrey lightly. "Not 
 over interesting or 'twould have met my eyes ere 
 this. I have a weak aversion for the reading of 
 reproachful epithet !"
 
 242 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Roger heard the apocryphal tale unabashed, 
 watching the elusive play of expression, as the 
 man resumed his way, neither inviting nor dis- 
 couraging companionship. 
 
 There was no branching of the path and it was 
 already too dark to seek the isolation of the thicket. 
 Roger swung again into the step with which he had 
 overtaken the other and would have passed him 
 but Sir Humphrey slightly quickened his pace. 
 
 " If thou'rt a Puritan, my good Captain Verring, 
 then King Charles never lost his head, " he sighed 
 irrelevantly. "Thou'rt a lusus naturae, being a 
 Puritan and yet no Puritan. " 
 
 "And you're no riddle easy for the solving," 
 Roger retorted, "being Sir Humphrey Wildglass 
 and yet fond of the simple dalliance of the woods ; 
 'tis not expected of a courtier. " 
 
 "Truth, thou hast it, young Sir the strolling at 
 twilight with solitude or country folk for sole com- 
 panions would suit ill the rout of fashion ! 'Twould 
 shock them dolefully in London to know 'twas 
 tamely safe to wander here at even in the woods. 
 Bears and wolves are the least foes they conjure 
 up!" 
 
 "They are the least we encounter. " Roger had 
 fallen into the other's step, slackening his own. 
 
 Sir Humphrey gave him a swift side glance. 
 
 "Better wolves, I venture, than Indians? Yet 
 surely the salvages come not so near Boston as to 
 give uneasiness to our Captain!" The apparent 
 astonishment of the jeer moved Roger to admir- 
 ation. 
 
 ." Not often, not them that are hostile, " he an-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 243 
 
 swered indifferently, fancying he detected relief in 
 his companion's voice as Sir Humphrey went on. 
 
 "And how about the road to this village of And- 
 over? I am setting out thither on the morrow 
 with no better convoy than two slaves for the fields 
 and one Bozoun Plimly, a tim'rous provincial who 
 recommendeth me ammunition in plenty. " 
 
 " I think you will be safe. " Roger spoke with an 
 air of encouragement as ingenuous as the cavalier's. 
 "I but hope you will be able to defend poor Plimly 
 as well. " 
 
 Again the side glance sought his face cunningly. 
 Bozoun Plimly was known as of the doughty 
 fighters. 
 
 "Hast a pretty wit, my Captain. Art dolefully 
 wasted on this pious Boston. Wouldst send a 
 message to Mistress Armitage? I bear a sheaf 
 from another youth called Munch. " 
 
 "I would not so burden you. His must be 
 heavy," Roger returned calmly. "Keep your eye 
 upon the branches above the path. Now and then 
 they bear a wildcat. " 
 
 Sir Humphrey paused, casting a look upward 
 into the dusk of the boughs, then moved again 
 nonchalantly forward. 
 
 " I were safer trusting to eyes wilderness- trained. 
 Darkness is to me as daylight to the owl. An' there 
 were no catamounts what a place for a stroll with 
 the damosel chosen of the heart ! " 
 
 He hummed a stanza from a French chanson in a 
 happy abandonment to the hour. His voice, sub- 
 dued, dipped and soared mellifluously, and his next 
 words held a double sting.
 
 244 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " I wonder if there be catamounts in Andover !" 
 
 " 'Tis a poor place for twilight strolling and not 
 safe even in the day. The eyes of the Pequots are 
 not owl-like. " Roger's tones were matter-of-fact 
 and full of warning. The stab of the man's words 
 was deep, but it should bleed inwardly. Yet the 
 slash of knives must hurt and the leap of flames 
 sear and burn. Sir Humphrey was content. He 
 was playing but lightly the prelude of his plot. If 
 its later complications had place for the suppres- 
 sion of this ubiquitous Captain of militia so much 
 the better. 
 
 Meantime the two paced leisurely on in the 
 cloistral gloom of oak and maple, beech and pine; 
 and the soft cheeping of birds, settled drowsily to 
 rest, broke peacefully upon the early night. The 
 almost vanished light sent dim lines of moony radi- 
 ance across the path and the wind, rising, moved 
 slow and stately among the leaves that drew rus- 
 tling aside before its coming. 
 
 Its breath warmed and stirred the blood more 
 mightily than the sting of cold. The odours of all 
 full-growing wild things were in it, the pungent 
 herbs, the sassafras and sweet brier, perfumes vital 
 of New England that tells its heart out in the sum- 
 mer woods alive and thrilling to their last wee leaf ; 
 never lying dully to stretch and yawn within the 
 heat ; strong with vigour unrelaxed interpretation 
 of joy and pain and aspiration compassing the 
 lives that move within its dim enchantment. 
 
 Wherever a clearing broke in upon the way, pale 
 armies of the wild rose trooped to meet them, a 
 wilderness of bud and blossom exhaling to the night
 
 245 
 
 the very keenness of that pang that worked, thorn- 
 like, deeper and deeper into Roger's heart as he 
 thought of Andover and this knight of the Court, 
 full-armed of graces, modulating his soft inflections 
 for another ear. 
 
 " Tis extravagantly lovely! A wonderful cli- 
 mate, this New England, with more passion than 
 the tropics for all its devilish changes. " Sir 
 Humphrey filled his lungs with a long soft inhala- 
 tion. " But the oracles be dumb you never see it, 
 never feel it, you clod-hopping Puritans ! 
 
 ' How sweet the oil ta-rum-ta-ra, 
 
 On Aaron's beard did go, 
 And on his raiment down did run 
 
 His garment's hem unto.' 
 
 'Tis all there is of loveliness for you, a scurvily 
 done doggerel to drone through the nose ! 'Tis a 
 climate to make poets " 
 
 "Or heroes," put in Roger. 
 
 "And you make no more of it," the cavalier 
 went on, "than the dullest oafs ever toiled at a 
 dung heap " 
 
 "Finds one then in London true love of woods 
 and fields?" 
 
 " London ! One finds men men and women 
 
 in London! Ah " Sir Humphrey broke out 
 
 impatiently "when shall I be done with this 
 commerce with louts and fools ! But patience 
 men who seek a treasure must have patience eh, 
 Captain?" 
 
 "An assurance of success is a great strengthener 
 of patience," Roger answered quietly. "An un-
 
 24 6 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 rewarded patience after such uncongenial straits 
 were added soreness to the spirit ! " 
 
 "'Assurance'!" A laugh malicious, full of 
 amusement, bubbled up from Sir Humphrey's 
 throat. " Faith then 'tis not for assurance I'm 
 lacking ! Our ways part here. Adieu, my valiant 
 Captain. I go to dream of Andover. " His three- 
 cornered hat was swung gracefully into the air and 
 clapped over his heart as he bowed mockingly low, 
 and the laugh still sounded between his lips as he 
 turned aside into the dark. 
 
 Roger did not hasten. Unconscious dread of the 
 home-coming, absorption in his jealous fears, 
 dragged upon his going. 
 
 Beneath the current of emotion his mind was 
 working in deep-sea ways to solve the mystery of 
 Sir Humphrey's presence in Boston. Had he come 
 in the first instance intent to capture the Little 
 Maid ? But she herself had said the man had been 
 earlier unknown to them. A spy ! It was the last 
 depth for a gentleman, even an adventurer ! And 
 yet who else held clandestine meetings with hos- 
 tile Indians for traffic in the letters of the French ? 
 
 Thought contended with feeling till the two 
 merged in a single purpose. Was not here a means 
 to unmask the fellow? The energy of his patriot- 
 ism reinforced the jealous torment. 
 
 Would the suffering have been worse had the man 
 been worthy ? He stopped, grappled by the fierce- 
 ness of the thought. Action, combat with evil, 
 would have its blessing in relief, but the fear, fear 
 for her he loved, must now be greater. 
 
 He had paused at his own door, and he looked
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 247 
 
 about him with the watchful eyes of hunters or of 
 pioneers, and while he looked a form took shape 
 among the shadows, moving cautiously on the op- 
 posite side of Cross street. 
 
 Did the man heed him enough to follow? Or 
 was his contempt unfeigned? Masked for all the 
 world beside, why did he show his true face, evil, 
 malicious, alone to the one who was most his enemy ? 
 There was a spur in the memory of that smiling 
 indifference that mocked at defeat, annoyance 
 even, from a source so insignificant. 
 
 He threw open the door and mounted to his 
 room. Lighting a candle, he set it, flaring, upon a 
 table, and standing between it and the windows 
 took off his coat, unwound his cravat, then half 
 drew the shutters and after a pause, extinguished 
 the light. 
 
 In the darkness he dressed again and sat down 
 behind one of the half-closed shutters, his eyes fixed 
 upon the Old Way and the portion of Cross street 
 the window commanded. Twice a figure seemed 
 to stir in the lane. After an hour it came no 
 more. 
 
 At midnight Roger descended to the room below. 
 He stepped with care but not stealthily, despising 
 too great caution, and as his hand was on the latch, 
 his mother's door opened noiselessly on its hinges 
 and, wound in soft gray, she slipped across the 
 suddenly moonlit space to his side. 
 
 " Roger. " There was all the appeal of a grieving 
 child in the broken weariness of the voice. She 
 looked frail in the wan light and pinched with wake- 
 ful miseries.
 
 248 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Roger clasped her with a quick tenderness of re- 
 morse, laying his hand upon her temple that beat 
 feverishly against his palm. 
 
 ' 'Tis nothing wrong, Mother. I go secretly to 
 the Governor to warn him of a spy. " 
 
 " 'Twas not that drove thee forth from thy 
 home. My son I cannot let her take thee from 
 me! Canst thou not give her up?" 
 
 She felt the start and throb the touch wakened. 
 There was a moment's waiting. 
 
 "None would separate thee and me none 
 could," he answered painfully. 
 
 "Thou canst not give her up? O Roger, she 
 comes of evil people " 
 
 He released her sharply then clasped her closer. 
 
 "No no, " he said, and bending leaned his head 
 for an instant upon hers. 
 
 She slipped gently away, knowing the moment 
 passed when either could bear without embarrass- 
 ment the rare caress.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A MIDNIGHT CONFERENCE 
 
 ROGER issued by a side door seldom used. 
 The rising moon had lighted the streets, 
 but this side of the house was still in 
 shadow and under the orchard .trees it was dark. 
 The wet grass tangled itself about his feet and the 
 low branches brushed roughly against him. He 
 went at first watchfully, with care to remain hid- 
 den ; then more boldly, making his way from orch- 
 ard to orchard. 
 
 He crossed beyond the church when the moon 
 was under a cloud, and so by street and garden to 
 the end of Green lane and to the Governor's man- 
 sion. 
 
 On the other side of the way there seemed to 
 hide and wait a host of lurking shades. For bet- 
 ter precaution, he returned on his steps, not once 
 venturing into the light, and hesitated a moment 
 on the porch at the back of the house. He had 
 been certain of a figure ensconced opposite the en- 
 trance in the shelter of the elms. 
 
 How to proceed further, he was in doubt. The 
 thought of giving up his design crossed his mind. 
 But to see the Governor without delay and without 
 betraying to the spy that the interview had taken 
 place was imperative. Danger might be more 
 imminent than anyone could have suspected. 
 The French might be arming for an attack, might 
 
 249
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 be penetrating the wilderness toward the very en- 
 trance of Boston Neck. The Indians might be 
 engaged upon some devilish plot for whose pre- 
 vention not an hour must be wasted. 
 
 To wake the house with loud outcries was mani- 
 festly to warn the neighbourhood of his business. 
 The windows of Sir William's room faced the open 
 moonlit spaces and the prowling watcher seen or 
 imagined by the pasture wall. 
 
 Spencer Phips, the Governor's nephew, was from 
 home. The servants slept above in the garret 
 story, save the slave Debby, who was ever near her 
 mistress. Lady Phips had a quiet, forceful way of 
 acting for herself which appealed to a kindred 
 quality in Roger's own nature, and all that she did 
 impressed him with a sense of fitness and of value. 
 As he recalled the visits he had made in the "faire 
 brick house of Green lane" there returned to him 
 memory of a time when she had entered from the far 
 end of the porch on which he stood and called 
 " Debby Debby ! Art thou in thy room ? " And 
 the black woman had emerged from a door above 
 their heads and descended the "back-stair," a 
 kindly, sad-eyed old creature who had tried to kill 
 herself when first she appeared in Boston, and had 
 been saved from a public whipping for the offence 
 by the girl who was to be Sir William's wife. 
 
 The flash of the recollection showed him his way. 
 He was standing by the window where he had told 
 the Little Maid the story of her rescue. Now he 
 laid his palm with a close and gentle touch upon 
 the sill, and moved away, shocked from reminis- 
 cence to anxious forethought by anxiety for her,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 251 
 
 the fear that had assailed him at sight of the Indian 
 in the woods. 
 
 He picked up a handful of gravel from the path 
 and would have thrown it, but paused in time, 
 dropped it upon the grass, and approached a trellis 
 beneath the window he sought. He smiled a little 
 grimly to himself as he climbed. The Governor 
 was quick with hand or pistol ! Should his bur- 
 glarious plans miscarry 
 
 He had small time for speculation. The trellis 
 was strong and he ascended sailor-like and swift 
 among the late roses. The thorns pierced smartly, 
 lusty defenders of the flowers that crushed satiny 
 and sweet across his lips. 
 
 The window above was open. Regular breath- 
 ing came from the farther side of the room. 
 
 " Debby ! " he called softly, his head quite within 
 the curtains. " Debby ! " 
 
 Someone stirred but the breathing was as before. 
 He put out his hand and tapped sharply on a stool 
 it encountered. 
 
 "Debby!" 
 
 "Yeh-es, Miss Mary." The voice was confused 
 and dull. 
 
 "Debby!" 
 
 " Be yo' sick, Miss Mary ? " The negress was lift- 
 ing herself on the bed ; it creaked as she turned. 
 
 "Debby Debby Wake up! Don't be afraid. 
 'Tis I Roger Verring. I must see the Governor. 
 Do you hear, Debby ? Don't let anyone know that 
 I'm come, but call the Governor. Tell him not to 
 light his candle. 'Tis possible someone may be 
 watching. " Roger had leaned far into the window
 
 252 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 and spoke in his natural voice, lowered but distinct. 
 " I have something to tell the Governor. Wilt thou 
 rouse him, Debby, and say to Lady Phips 'tis noth- 
 ing to give her alarm. " 
 
 Roger had feared a shriek when his voice should 
 cease but Debby was not a common woman. Her 
 tone when she answered was full of dignity and 
 sense. 
 
 " Yo' stay quiet right where yo' be till I get into 
 my clo'es, Cap'n Verrin'. Then yo' can come in 
 the winder an' there'll be no creakin' doors down- 
 stair. " 
 
 She was fumbling in a press at the head of the 
 bed. There had been a nervous apprehension in 
 her manner that made Roger wonder after she dis- 
 appeared, whether or no she had really recognized 
 him. He heard a muffled sound like a surprised 
 snort from the far end of the hall and, after a pause, 
 a tread not so noiseless as Debby 's. 
 
 "A pest upon thee, lad, dragging a man from his 
 bed at an hour like this!" The voice was humor- 
 ously pitched though still clogged with sleep. " Art 
 thou bewitched to " 
 
 "Sh-sh!" whispered Debby warningly. "Yo' 
 speakin' too loud, Mister William. " 
 
 "Go thou and stay with thy mistress, Debby; 
 she heareth the Pequods come for her scalp and 
 thinketh the house afire ! Sit thee down, lad and 
 out with it. " 
 
 They were in the great upper hall. The moon- 
 light streamed toward them from the front and 
 gave a dim brightness even to the broad window 
 seat where they were.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 253 
 
 Roger spoke quickly. 
 
 " M-m-m had suspicion of it, lad. " The night- 
 capped head nodded with emphasis. "I like not 
 the man. Has't ever come to thee the name is not 
 his own? Wildglass? I never heard it in the 
 court of James nor is it familiar in that of King 
 William. Yet this fellow 'tis plain hath been 
 much about King James. He gave me that by an 
 allusion whose key I had from the Duke of Albe- 
 marle. 'Twas a dissolute set of rascals were in that 
 story. 'Twas in my mind to write his Grace and 
 ask which of the company had this fellow's pres- 
 ence. But I was ever a procrastinator with the 
 pen. 'Tis a handsome rogue and I like less than 
 all his way with the Little Maid. When sails the 
 next packet? " 
 
 "The Serving Martha goeth out on the morning 
 tide. " 
 
 The Governor waited a moment, thinking. 
 
 "Who commandeth the ship?" 
 
 "Maccartey. " 
 
 The Governor struck his hand joyously upon his 
 knee. 
 
 " Providence is for us, lad ! Comes Maccartey to 
 the counting-house in the morning?" 
 
 " I go to him to give my father's instructions. " 
 
 "Take thou mine and this ring. 'Twill serve 
 with his Grace better than letters. We'll know 
 who is this Wildglass ! Let him into the whole 
 matter. " 
 
 A half-hour more and Roger had descended and 
 was returning by the orchards as he had come, in 
 his thoughts the cheer of the Governor's warm
 
 254 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 grasp mingling with the poignancy of his fears for 
 the Governor's Little Maid. 
 
 As he entered his own home the tall clock covered 
 the sound of his coming with its full- toned chime. 
 
 Did the Maid slumber or did she wake, like 
 him? She had feared the "solitude." And Sir 
 Humphrey with his wit, his power to amuse, how 
 welcome would be his breaking of that solitude ! 
 What charm would he not gain from contrast with 
 Sir John Winchcombe and the wilds ! 
 
 Before he slept, he heard the clank of the mill 
 wheel turning in the opened sluiceway. The miller 
 had begun his day.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 INDIAN RIDGE 
 
 ROGER left the ferry and set swiftly forward 
 upon the road, a road where ugly stumps 
 showed aggressively above the receding 
 earth and the ground pine and shoots of oak and 
 maple struggled with persistent witch grass in the 
 half-cleared trail. 
 
 He passed lightly over obstructions and as he 
 went seemed to himself a creature of the forest. 
 The memory of the ferry-way was with him and 
 the still water, heavy, inert dead when he had 
 seen it first, thrilling again into a sentient glory, 
 fiery in the rippling shallows, streaked far with 
 shifting marvels of glow and motion in the deeper 
 tides where life renewed itself with day. 
 
 As the shore gave him welcome, little by little the 
 memory released its hold as echoes of an overture 
 die into succeeding scenes and the green wilderness 
 took him to itself. Wild things scattered shyly 
 before him, or peered amazed and disconcerted 
 from the covert, but he did not lift his gun from his 
 shoulder nor heed them save in the vague appre- 
 hending that showed them part of the fleeting pic- 
 ture of the forest. 
 
 And yet the gun was his excuse for idling this day 
 away from counting house and wharves, the launch- 
 ing of new ventures and the reckoning up of old, the 
 smell of the sluggish docks and the stale reports of 
 argosies and pine tree shillings. 
 
 255
 
 256 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " I shall see you, perhaps, when we return in the 
 autumn, " she had said, and the living wretchedness 
 of the summer had laid hold on him as she spoke. 
 
 Since the hour when he had known she was gone, 
 when he had found the house dark, shuttered, deso- 
 late under the June sun, Boston had become a place 
 of death where decay was in the air and men moved 
 as ghosts about unending tasks of idle import. The 
 cavalier had been gone but a day, yet as the second 
 night had waned into its later hours and Roger had 
 gone quickly forth to meet vague glintings of the 
 coming light, it had seemed no shorter than an 
 eternity of discontent. Beneath his eyes had lain 
 shadows heavier than the star-sprinkled dusk of 
 morning. 
 
 Not once had he said to himself, even in the mo- 
 ment most filled with the purpose of his desire, " I 
 will go to Andover, " but now he kept straight upon 
 the way without wavering or parley. 
 
 The woods sent up a broad, quavering haze. 
 Squirrels scampered among the branches. When 
 at noon he threw himself beneath a pine to rest, one 
 came leaping downward almost to his head, shrill 
 voiced and chattering to warn the trespasser. 
 
 Roger lay prone upon the heat-breathing earth 
 and the waves of its summer madness flowed 
 through him. Here in the far heart of the woods 
 he was free. Free to dream, free to love his 
 dreaming ! 
 
 But rising through it all, chilling and embittering 
 the whole, was the fear of his own joyance, so that 
 he went on no longer full of the day's blessedness, 
 but unseeing, abstracted, cut deep into his soul
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 257 
 
 with the harrowing torment of inquisitorial pain. 
 
 As the shadows wheeled on their retreat, he 
 paused to look up at the sun, and hastily at the 
 compass he carried in his pocket. Then he struck 
 from the trail into the untracked wilderness and 
 went onward with hardly less speed, crushing aside 
 or trampling the obstacles that defied him. 
 
 The journey grew increasingly difficult and in the 
 lowlands gnats swarmed from stagnant pools and 
 hung cloud-wise in the simmering air. The snap- 
 dragon, enmeshed in great masses of gaudily twink- 
 ling bloom, and the deep brakes, gave signal of the 
 ooze from which they sprung. 
 
 The Ridge lay snakelike along the valley, unread 
 history in its accumulations of glacial stone. From 
 the crest, wooded cleanly with pines too thick for 
 undergrowth, Roger looked down along the " limpid 
 Shawsheen" and in the fertile intervale his eyes 
 discovered that for which they sought. 
 
 Upon a mound that was faintly suggestive of a 
 promontory, being set in a bend of the river, was 
 the house. It was roughly built of squared logs 
 and bore an insignificant proportion to the barns 
 within the same enclosure. The stockade was dia- 
 mond shaped, an angle to the turn of the stream, 
 with two gates set wide open and facing, one upon 
 the river, the other toward the Ridge. Indian 
 Ridge the settlers had named the place, a sinister 
 suggestion in the name. 
 
 Fields of maize, set palely in the darker rim of 
 evergreens and maples, were on the farther side. 
 In a clearing of fallen grain a figure, that might have 
 been Bozoun Plimly, wielded a sickle.
 
 258 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Hidden in the thick undergrowth at the foot of 
 the Ridge ran a path. Roger had mounted beyond 
 the spring to which it led, and his eyes did not find 
 the figure till the glancing shimmer of a woman's 
 dress showed among the bushes. 
 
 The spring trickled from the rude channel of 
 wood into a hollowed log where a horse might drink, 
 and was spilled in all directions upon moss and 
 stones, leaving an iron-rusted trail wherever its 
 spreading rills found way. 
 
 "Let me fill it for you. " Roger came upon her 
 as she stooped, speaking before he was fairly beside 
 her lest he startle her. It was better than he had 
 dared to dream to find her so, unaccompanied by 
 a hateful presence. 
 
 " You meet me always when I run away ! " She 
 had said no word of welcome but laughter rippled in 
 her look. " I but came to have the woodland to my- 
 self with this for excuse. " She held up her pitcher 
 and waited as he took and filled it. 
 
 "And I for the same reason, with this for my 
 excuse. " He let his eyes rest an instant on the gun 
 he had set upright against a yellow birch that over- 
 leaned the place. 
 
 They talked merrily as they climbed. She 
 breathed faster as they reached the top. The hill 
 was steep. 
 
 Below them the river wimpled in and out among 
 the rushes, and waterlilies drifted in the lapping 
 eddies, pulling softly at their green cables as they 
 felt the motion of the stream. Above, the sky was 
 bluer than the blue of Italy, with no yellow ochre 
 behind its clarity of tint, a clean, clear blue, not
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 259 
 
 cold like blues of autumn, but warm, fervid, the 
 very dream and apotheosis of blue. 
 
 Into its smoothly hurrying current the river ab- 
 sorbed the glow, the intensity, and the green of wil- 
 lows and alders, the green of birches, and the dark 
 shadow of the pines interpreted 'twixt blue and 
 blue. No sound but the wood sounds, no stir but 
 the thrill of the warm earth and happy trees. 
 
 She had given him to drink of her blue crock and 
 it rested now against the fallen tree on which she 
 sat. From beside it she had pulled the leaf of a 
 hepatica and touched it delicately as she talked, 
 her eyes lingering on it in a gentle ruth of their own 
 ravishing. 
 
 Roger lay upon the slope, head upon hand, and 
 his gaze questioned her mutely. Had she been 
 glad to see him ? The vivid light of a surprise that 
 was not all sorrowful had surely showed itself at 
 sight of him. 
 
 " You love the forest ? " Her words were more a 
 statement than a query, and came without relev- 
 ance into the progress of their talk. "And yet 
 they say the Puritans have no love for nature ! 
 You are, 'tis plain, not all Puritan !" 
 
 She looked down at him with the look that is 
 neither smile nor earnest but holds every possibil- 
 ity of friendly chat. 
 
 "I fear I am too little Puritan !" He shook 
 his head, the same suggested depth and shallows in 
 eyes that widened as they met her own. 
 
 "To me, the birds, all animals and flowers and 
 trees why 'tis my religion to love them. " She 
 rippled again with unvoiced laughter. "Think you 
 I am the worse for loving these?"
 
 2 6o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 She plucked another leaf gently and laid the two 
 side by side, the stems in her caressing fingers. 
 
 Roger flushed a madness seizing him. The 
 touch upon the leaf had touched at the same in- 
 stant the centre of his life, and the whole throbbing 
 machinery of being halted with sudden jar. 
 
 She did not understand. His look that might 
 have told too much was on the leaves, and when he 
 spoke she had read in the flush reproof, as she found 
 in the words evasion. 
 
 "Surely not the worse, " he had said. " Only 
 if the flowers could but know their own happiness 
 'twere fitter. " His voice was not steady. 
 
 She withdrew coldly into herself. 
 
 " 'Tis a poor, merchant's view of things demands 
 response for love, " she said loftily. 
 
 She had dropped the leaves in a vexed fashion 
 and he laid his hand upon them. Something in the 
 gesture at once impulsive and deliberate, gentle and 
 determined, disarmed her. One could but like the 
 hand. It was a proper, man's hand, but with a 
 fineness added. 
 
 Roger lifted his eyes, his clasp still on the leaves 
 in mute possession. 
 
 "I am but clumsy. 'Tis the Puritan whose 
 tongue so stumbles upon uncouth words. But we 
 be not all bargainers and miserly by nature. My 
 meaning was other than my speech Sir Hum- 
 phrey Wildglass would not so have offended!" 
 The last had uttered itself against his will. 
 
 Her colour rose as she heard, but her answer was 
 full of the laughter that gleamed ever across the sur- 
 face of this summer mood, laughter, could Roger
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 261 
 
 but have known, she had well-nigh forgotten in the 
 uncompanioned wilderness. 
 
 "Neither 'offended' nor pleased! One could 
 not be sure if 'twas said for compliment that it 
 were more than the vain practice of a courtier who 
 fears to forget his graces ! Oft have I told him so ! " 
 
 The acid of that "oft" bit deep. Roger had 
 gathered the leaves up absently into his palm and a 
 ray of sunlight sifting through the trees brought 
 out the wines and browns streaked in their heart- 
 shaped greenness from point to stem. 
 
 "They are beautiful, " she said simply. 
 
 She bent nearer, her eyes on the sun-painted 
 leaves, yet not unmindful of the power and depth 
 of expression in the other face near her own. " Tell 
 me, " she asked, "why doth any one think it wrong 
 to love them?" 
 
 He lifted his gaze from the leaves to her. 
 
 "Were I to say it would repel you, and you 
 would hold the thought for mine " 
 
 "Try me. It seemeth all so petty, this turning 
 from the dumb things and from the flowers. One 
 would suppose 'twas the Devil created us and all 
 the earth !" 
 
 Roger looked at her, absorbing her presence. 
 There was room in his mood for her alone. And 
 for the future wherein he should he must win 
 her. 
 
 But she waited the answer. 
 
 " These things that are of my father's faith I have 
 never held so straitly as others," he began. "Yet 
 because my father is the best man I ever knew 
 and my mother " He paused.
 
 262 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Your mother All the world must love 
 
 your mother " The girl spoke with a sharp 
 
 access of feeling. "I saw her at Sir William's. 
 She is like she made me think of my own " 
 
 She lifted her fingers to the chain about her neck 
 and drew forth a small oval case. Two miniatures 
 faced each other within. One was a woman, young, 
 white-shouldered, fair-haired. No common artist 
 could have caught the look, half humorous, half 
 scornful, about the mouth, the frankness untrans- 
 latable of the eyes, eyes that even painted might 
 have made deceit so gazed upon to waver. 
 
 The man was darker, of an un-English darkness, 
 with colourless features, abundant in expression, 
 unusual in intellect, high-bred and strong. 
 
 The two sprang to life vividly in the woods. 
 Roger bent over them reverently. He had come 
 nearer very near. 
 
 "You remember them?" His tone told more 
 than he could have given in words more fluent. 
 
 The girl answered him eagerly. With an im- 
 pulse contrary to a nature wise, honest, beautiful in 
 strength, but locked in a prison of reserve on which 
 her own seeming outspokenness turned the key, she 
 told him of her home. Not as he would have told 
 it with a mastery of language as native to him as it 
 was unpractised, but in simplest sentences, broken 
 often, and coming not as quarried from the rock 
 but as cut from live flesh. 
 
 He said little now but let his look follow hers 
 when he dared keep it no longer on her lips, and 
 once as his gaze returned from the wooded knolls 
 beyond the river he saw a figure come out of the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 263 
 
 water gate and make its way along a path in the op- 
 posite direction. 
 
 With the prescience of those who watch for dan- 
 ger, he knew it for Sir Humphrey. He wondered 
 whether the Maid had come this way to avoid the 
 cavalier, and his heart rose at the hope. 
 
 She too had withdrawn her gaze from beyond 
 the river. 
 
 "Your own childhood 'twas less merry it may 
 be but you had always your mother " 
 
 " Not merry scarcely merry but not sad " 
 
 he commenced. 
 
 "Why doth the Puritan so hate the light and 
 pleasant ways?" she repeated. "I cannot com- 
 prehend 'tis ever a repulsive thing to me !" She 
 spoke warmly but turned to him with instant de- 
 precation. ' 'Tis not that I would wrong them 
 who see not the world as I but the little children 
 'tis a cruelty to set the little ones thinking on the 
 Devil and hating innocent flowers " 
 
 "It is not hate they would teach the children so 
 much as forgetfulness, " answered Roger. " I would 
 you might take my word not as mine but only as 
 the faith of them I respect ! " 
 
 "Speak. Trust me, " she begged. "Of the Pu- 
 ritan faith I know nothing save from its enemies. " 
 
 She had raised her head, turning her face, flower- 
 wise, to the sun. The green boughs swayed almost 
 imperceptibly toward her. 
 
 All trace of the ascetic was gone from Roger's 
 mood. No stern denial of his upsurging joy laid 
 hands upon his peace. 
 
 " We may not love the flowers, " he said, his voice
 
 264 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 troubled with happiness, "because loving the vis- 
 ible, the carnal, we take but earthly pleasure, for- 
 getting the Creator of all. " 
 
 " False and sophistical ! " she cried out. " I love 
 ever the Creator better for it all. What needs He 
 of our love? He would have us happy. " 
 
 " 'Tis not for our happiness but for His He hath 
 created us that we might honour Him. " 
 
 "Nay and of all vainglorious thoughts! Mat- 
 ters then our opinion so much to God ! " She spoke 
 scornfully. The youthful flush answered in Roger's 
 cheeks. 
 
 "You like not my words and you forget I was 
 to speak for others. " 
 
 "Nay, I will remember; I will not again inter- 
 rupt." She smiled. "Tell me what is't your 
 father believeth. He hath the air of a great states- 
 man. " 
 
 "And is but a simple ship builder and merchant 
 of Boston ! " Roger laughed, reassured in the smile. 
 "He loveth Boston." 
 
 She waited again expectantly as he halted. 
 
 "That which he believeth is not to be easily given 
 justice by one lukewarm who knoweth not what 
 part of that belief may be his own by any strength 
 of his own apprehension. Tis something like this. " 
 Roger hesitated once more. The soft loveliness of 
 the summer afternoon contradicted what he was 
 about to utter. His words seemed out of tune with 
 the day, seemed to push him farther and farther out- 
 side the pale of that paradise of companionship 
 into which he had so barely entered. He drew his 
 hand across his eyes and looked up at her as if
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 265 
 
 pleading. A warmth generous and gracious came 
 into her face in answer. 
 
 "Fear not I shall be womanish and angry. I 
 would know, " she insisted. 
 
 "The very substance and heart of it all is that 
 each of us hath a relation communion with Him 
 who hath made us, that none may interpose between 
 the soul of each and his Creator. The whole of life 
 is in the effort to get nearer to Himself and by ap- 
 prehending a divine Will perform it more straitly. 
 Night and day 'tis of this he thinks the Puritan. 
 Long nights my father kneels praying, appealing, 
 striving, for some assurance of that nearness, which 
 if he receive, he comes among us transcendant in 
 the beauty of his conquest. If he receive it not, 
 the suffering of his face 'tis death to see. 'Tis a life 
 terrible in emotion fierce in combat " 
 
 "Combat?" 
 
 "Yes: with the Devil, who works ever more in- 
 sidiously to make a breach in the closeness of that 
 bond and that is why even the flowers are feared, 
 feared as tempting the senses to pleasure and so the 
 soul to a relaxing of vigilance, to a dulness. 'Tis 
 held that every soul longeth from birth for evil and 
 is lost forever save for an election of God Himself. 
 None may be wholly certain of that election, so my 
 father believes; still, an' he but strive without ceas- 
 ing, lifting up his thoughts to the Highest, resist- 
 ing all that draweth from such contemplation, 
 there may come to him moments of wondrous 
 hope. Mr. Cotton Mather seeth visions. Often 
 he lies all night upon the floor confessing his sins 
 and wrestling with the spirit. Knowest thou 
 Judge Se wall ?"
 
 266 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The girl seemed unconscious of his slip upon the 
 thou. 
 
 " Of a truth, " she answered earnestly. " A good 
 man by his look, plump and portly. He hateth 
 periwigs!" Their eyes met in a mutual twinkle 
 that broke gratefully the soberness of their speech. 
 The Maid's look dwelt a little abstractedly on the 
 soft bronzed masses of Roger's hair. "What of 
 him ? " she asked. 
 
 ' 'Tis his custom whenever he be troubled or 
 weighted with some anxiety to close the blinds of 
 his upper room and there to fast and pray a day 
 two days till his soul be at rest. He liveth not so 
 strenuously as my father, being of a more comfort- 
 able build in all ways, but to him, too, there are no 
 realities so great as the realities of the spirit. " 
 
 "And thy mother?" The gentle possessive 
 came unaware from the girl's lips as it had from 
 Roger's. An instant brought knowledge and she 
 retreated, taking fright at her own kindness. 
 
 Roger dared not look at her, so glowing, so deep, 
 so self-revealing, was the delight within him. The 
 effort of repression hardened his voice. 
 
 "My mother hath come to hold with my father, 
 and as her flesh is weaker she suffers more and oft 
 belie veth herself to be of the lost. " His tone grew 
 tenderly indignant. "An' she be lost there is no 
 justice in Heaven," he said abruptly, and at this, 
 gazed at the girl as if to find sympathy where sym- 
 pathy was changed to coldness. 
 
 " 'Tis a hard faith," she answered, "fit only for 
 hard men. " 
 
 " Yet it hath made great men. " Roger's disap-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 267 
 
 pointment showed in a yet firmer tension of his 
 voice. " Think only of Cromwell " 
 
 The girl grew scarlet. 
 
 "A butcher a murderous miscreant ! And you 
 you can honour a Cromwell ! " She bit her lips. 
 With the word he had touched on the sorest spot in 
 her convictions. Horror of the regicide was a pas- 
 sion bred in her very blood. " What faith had he 
 but faith in himself, but love of slaughter ! " 
 
 To Roger the sudden change became at once the 
 sign of his own punishment. He had erred, ex- 
 posing his half-hearted loyalty to the faith of his 
 home ! And he had said but truth in knowing she 
 would be repelled by its actual presentment. The 
 cavalier he was of her world ! Let her go to him ! 
 And with that thought a pang crueler than all pun- 
 ishment ! 
 
 She would have risen and left him save that she 
 would not resent too openly his imagined rebuke. 
 She remembered bitterly the reputed modesty of the 
 Puritan maids. They would not have forgotten 
 and met a man's advance half way; yet she felt 
 angrily that in her very unconsciousness was some- 
 thing nobler than in their shyness, and she resented 
 with the intensity of one used to command a care- 
 ful and distant homage what she believed to have 
 been Roger's thought of her. 
 
 He was sitting more erect, a little removed. 
 
 "This is very beautiful but 'tis always here. I 
 shall be missed " 
 
 She was going. She put out her hand in a stately 
 fashion, and he would have helped her to rise, but 
 as he would have sprung first to his own feet he 
 looked beyond her and drew suddenly near.
 
 268 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Indecision, warrings of conscience, jealousy, 
 were no more. There was no transition; it was 
 another man, one she had not seen before, who 
 spoke. 
 
 "Slip lower on the slope and run, " he said quietly 
 so that those who watched should not suspect the 
 
 warning. "Indians There's no shelter here 
 
 He rose smiling, giving her his hand. 
 "Pretend to pick the berries on the slope below." 
 
 The Ridge, open as cathedral aisles above, was 
 skirted at its base with crowding saplings of the 
 dogwood and wild cherry. 
 
 She rose beside him, smiling, like himself. 
 
 " Berries ! Let us get some, " she answered gaily, 
 her voice untroubled as the smile, but as she 
 stooped to gather the first, and he bent beside her 
 (between her and the feathers he had seen peer- 
 ing from behind a tree) she whispered rapidly, 
 " You will come ?" and he replied, "Yes. Ready 
 now. " 
 
 Light fleet straight as the sunshafts, she fled 
 with him upon the path. Roger's look, the look of 
 a man who will dare all things for the woman he 
 knows he loves, had flamed on her without conceal- 
 ment in the second of their interchanged whisper. 
 Something in its undaunted coolness, its sure energy 
 had given her confidence. They ran swiftly and 
 none rose to intercept them. Roger's eyes had 
 seen the scout in the very glance that discovered 
 their position to the savage. 
 
 Upon their track the Indian drew nearer horribly 
 silent, assured. What maid could outrun an In- 
 dian ? He was not alone. Roger's ears, sensitive
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 269 
 
 as any Nipmuck's of them all, heard the sounds he 
 feared. He had lifted the maid and quickened his 
 running supernaturally. They were in sight of the 
 stockade when he heard the first click of the trig- 
 ger. 
 
 He set her quickly in the path. 
 
 "Run!" he cried. "Faster!" wheeling as he 
 shouted. 
 
 The Indian's shot, meant for the girl, missed her 
 for she too had wheeled finding Roger had not fol- 
 lowed. As she turned the Indian fell. 
 
 Roger's shoulder felt the pang of the musket ball 
 that answered. Two other savages had leaped the 
 body of their companion and were upon him. There 
 was no time to reload and one unemptied barrel 
 remained to the foe. Roger sprang for the fore- 
 most who would have slipped past in pursuit of the 
 girl. On the Indian's head he brought down his 
 gun with a crash. He could not stop to see where the 
 man tumbled, nor to seize his weapon. The last of 
 the three had raised his own musket. Roger tore 
 it from him with a wrench that dropped the in- 
 jured arm helpless and swinging. 
 
 The satisfied fury of a snake trodden on by a 
 bare foot gleamed in the Nipmuck's eyes. With a 
 leap he grappled his crippled enemy, drawing a 
 knife as they wrestled. The uninjured arm was 
 busy warding off the grasp. The knife caught the 
 sunlight bewilderingly on its short blade. Blood 
 was dripping from Roger's sleeve. 
 
 Then the Nipmuck's wrist was clutched from be- 
 hind, the girl's fingers sunk into the bare flesh of the 
 savage with a force desperate enough to give sur-
 
 270 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 prise. The mere instant wherein the Indian 
 wavered sufficed. Before he had recovered that 
 second's pause he was down, his knife wet to the 
 hilt in his own blood. 
 
 As they gained the stockade an arrow sped from 
 a bush pierced the Maid's sleeve.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 "FOES WITHIN" 
 
 ROGER dragged forward the gate and thrust 
 it close, dropping the bars before he spoke. 
 Plimly, his muscles swollen with run- 
 ning, at the same moment shut and barred the river 
 gate through which he entered. The household, 
 dazed or voluble with questions, hurrying to meet 
 them, hung about the Maid. 
 
 Sir Humphrey's face was whiter than its wont. 
 It showed a slight tremor of agitation beneath the 
 delicately managed rouge. It was fitting, the anx- 
 iety, but Roger, keyed to preternatural compre- 
 hension, had seen the start, the angry disappoint- 
 ment with which his own presence had been recog- 
 nized. He recalled the figure disappearing into 
 the forest an hour before and, as lightning reveals 
 a cloud-wrapped landscape there came to him the 
 face of the Indian seen at twilight in the Muddy 
 River woods. It was he who had been the second 
 of their foes to fall. 
 
 Sir Humphrey had plucked the arrow from the 
 girl's sleeve, and when she would have grasped it, 
 held it solicitously out of her reach. 
 
 " Do not touch it, " he warned her. " It may be 
 poisoned. " 
 
 The girl had recovered her breath and was telling 
 in few words that which had befallen. Madam 
 Chanterell's reproaches at her straying rose above 
 the chorus of frightened exclamation. 
 271
 
 2? 2 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Thou dost not find strolling so successful here- 
 away, my Captain !" The malicious voice was in 
 Roger's ears as the cavalier drew near under pre- 
 tence of helping to sink the last bar in its socket. 
 "Couldst thou not remember thy own wisdom 
 anent the woods of Andover?" 
 
 Roger paid no heed to the taunting murmur. 
 Bozoun Plimly had joined him and they conferred 
 swiftly, Bozoun sending the terrified dependants 
 about the tasks most needful, quelling their out- 
 cries with ready new England energy. The one 
 maid servant Madam Chanterell had beguiled from 
 her English home wept frantically, clinging to 
 Temple's gown. It was for Temple, not her mis- 
 tress, she had dared the sea and braved the savages. 
 Madam Chanterell, still chiding the Maid, had not 
 interrupted herself to speak to Roger. It was evi- 
 dent she felt his coming someway responsible for 
 the disaster. 
 
 Sir John had been last to hear the commotion. 
 Sleep still stupefied his expression as he came forth. 
 His first glance was for the Maid and anxiety dis- 
 persed the heaviness as he saw her pallor and the 
 weeping servant still clinging to her gown. His 
 dull face showed a strong consternation even when 
 he found the danger for the time was over. 
 
 "They'll not return before the night," Plimly 
 announced impatiently. "Meantime we may pre- 
 pare. " 
 
 "You should have told us, Sir Humphrey. 'Twas 
 you declared " began Sir John. 
 
 The words became a whirring and were lost to 
 Roger. He had stoutly resisted the hotly urged 
 advice of Plimly.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 273 
 
 "Wait till the others be withdrawn," he had 
 protested. " 'Tis time then. " 
 
 "Time! Thou'rt bleeding to death already!" 
 Bozoun was angry and the look he cast upon the 
 group surrounding the girl, full of contempt. 
 " 'Twill not matter to them, " he had added. " Be 
 not so squeamish. " 
 
 Even as he spoke, the Maid started forward with 
 a cry. 
 
 " Captain Verring is wounded ! Look Sir John 
 he is falling ! " 
 
 Roger did not hear. His struggle to conceal his 
 growing weakness had ended in the stout arms of 
 Plimly who caught him as he fell. Before Bozoun 
 could stretch the unconscious figure upon the 
 ground the girl was at his side, striving vainly to 
 stop the flow of blood. 
 
 If she heard the loud protest of Madam Chanter- 
 ell she did not reply, kneeling quickly to give the 
 aid of her slender fingers. The man slit the heavy 
 sleeve and she helped him deftly as he cut away the 
 linen beneath, soaked miserably with the red stream 
 that poured from the lacerated arm. The bullet 
 had torn through the muscles close to the shoulder, 
 ploughing deep on its way. 
 
 The Indian squaw who wrought with another 
 slave in the smoky kitchen had come at Temple's 
 demand and, as they dressed the tortured flesh, 
 brought a pulp of moistened tobacco and bound it 
 firmly upon the wound to stanuch the persistent 
 welling of the blood. 
 
 As they fastened the bandages, pressing them 
 smoothly above the squaw's poultice, Roger, half
 
 274 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 conscious, half in the borderland of dreaming, 
 thought he was again upon the Araby Rose. 
 
 "The Little Maid" he began indistinctly. 
 "Maccartey where is the Little Maid?" 
 
 But the shame of weakness cleared his clouded 
 mind and the sense of work undone would have 
 brought him upright had not a light and per- 
 emptory touch pressed him back in quick denial. 
 
 She was putting the final stitches in the linen and 
 he felt each careful motion, his eyes darkening in 
 his white face as he watched Plimly, who had left 
 them to resume command and now toiled rapidly 
 at the loading of an arsenal of muskets piled about 
 his feet. 
 
 Colour crept faintly into Roger's cheeks as the girl 
 laid a dry compress above the bandage and pinned 
 the cloth across it, her lips close, her eyes intent 
 and troubled. 
 
 Roger turned a little toward her, unmindful of the 
 pain, the whole soul of him drinking unhindered 
 her nearness. For a breath she seemed to answer 
 with a grace of tender giving, her self crying out to 
 him from its lonely fastness. But dread of an un- 
 known, a new-suspected danger woke him to full 
 knowledge, a dread that had been striving to be 
 recognized since first his eyes reopened. 
 
 "Your cousin Gregory Bellingham are you 
 sure he is in London ? " 
 
 The Indian woman had gone. The girl was still 
 busied upon the blood-stained coat. Her long 
 sleeve brushed his face as she lifted her arm to look 
 at him, surprised. 
 
 "When last we knew he was in London. But
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 275 
 
 that was many months since. His fortunes have 
 fallen with the coming of the new King, they say. " 
 
 " May I see again the picture of your father ? " 
 
 She drew the miniatures from her bodice, still 
 greater surprise written on her face. 
 
 " Look quickly, " she said as she opened the case. 
 "I would not " 
 
 A groan had risen to Roger's lips. 
 
 " Dost see no resemblance ? " he asked feverishly. 
 
 " Resemblance ? " 
 
 "Sir Humphrey 'tis perhaps I may be mad. 
 But the Indians were so few. One the second 
 I saw in earnest converse with Sir Humphrey 
 Wildglass not later than two days ago at Muddy 
 River " 
 
 He spoke in snatches. She listened fixedly. With 
 coldness, with distrust, he thought. Did she be- 
 lieve he lied? Traducing a rival? Torn between 
 his fear for her and his pride, he fell sharply silent. 
 
 "Sir Humphrey is our friend," the girl said at 
 last slowly. Whether the deliberation was reflec- 
 tion or reproach, it but confirmed Roger's belief 
 that she doubted him. 
 
 "I can stand now," he said. "My suspicions 
 have an ill look in your eyes, Mistress Armitage. 
 But I beg you to be cautious, and not to repeat that 
 which I have confided, not even to your 'friend' 
 to Sir Humphrey. " 
 
 He knew this request looked doubly the coward's 
 attack, but to let the cavalier know he had seen the 
 -Indian at Boston was to betray New England no 
 less than the girl. 
 
 The night came quickly upon the late twilight.
 
 276 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Sir John, recklessly careless till now, panic-stricken 
 at the sudden realization of that to which he had 
 exposed his sister and his charge, looked helplessly 
 to Roger for direction. 
 
 "By my faith," he ejaculated once. "I could 
 swear, Captain, we'd met before but where ? " 
 
 The answer had been without words. Sir John's 
 tolerant liking was too much a patronage for any 
 recalling of the scene upon the London wharf. 
 This new-created baronet should find no purring 
 beneath a stroking hand in the son of Nicolas and 
 Alison Verring. Roger's glance darkened coldly as 
 he thought how soon the "insolent provincial" 
 would be damned in Sir John's explosive vocabu- 
 lary if that nobleman knew his meaning about the 
 Little Maid. 
 
 The anger, even the jealousy, were somewhat 
 eased in the swift need for deeds. 
 
 The small windows were firmly shuttered, the 
 guns and ammunition were distributed or carefully 
 placed ready to the hand, water stood in buckets 
 wherever it might be wanted to put out a fallen 
 brand. In all this and in the bestowal of the stock 
 for greater safety, no less than in the planning of 
 the night's campaign, Roger's was the directing 
 voice. As the work drew on to accomplishment 
 the fever of jealousy returned upon him, throbbing 
 more cruelly than his wound. 
 
 He was conscious of each movement of the girl. 
 It was to her the women held for comfort and sup- 
 port as the men to him. He would have approached 
 to beg her to rest,but whenever he made the attempt 
 Madam Chanterell was before him. Sir Humphrey
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 277 
 
 hovered about her, a growing insistency in his de- 
 votion. Even in the gloom of their preparations 
 Roger saw that her flash of wit ever answered the 
 cavalier and her laughter followed his sally. 
 
 It was what he should himself have wished, lest 
 the man be set on his guard. But Roger felt only 
 that she meant to put upon a cowardly accusation 
 the contempt it deserved. 
 
 The hospitality of the enemy was irksome to him ; 
 contact with it had dulled the edge of the day's 
 joy. The thanks, perfunctory and grudging, of 
 Madam Chanterell, the goodfellowship of Sir John, 
 offered as to an inferior, even the dependence on his 
 strength that classed him with Bozoun Plimly, were 
 bitter to his taste. 
 
 He was conscious of the roughness of his outer 
 man after the woods, of the nice perfection of his 
 rival. 
 
 The sentinels were placed before the dusk grew 
 wholly into the dark. If the Nipmucks were not 
 far from their own tribe there might be quick re- 
 prisals and Sir Humphrey, who knew little of the 
 fire he played with, be victim to his own unscrupu- 
 lous greed, But the danger was not for the earlier 
 hours. Terror made the watchers trustworthy 
 and Roger was driven by the weakness of his drained 
 body and the raging of Bozoun Plimly to rest lest he 
 fail in the hour of greatest stress. 
 
 It was nearly midnight when he wakened from a 
 nightmare of visions to ever-increasing pain. He 
 pulled himself erect by the back of the settle on 
 which he had fallen asleep and got quickly to the 
 enclosure outside.
 
 278 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The moon had not yet risen and he made the 
 round of the sentries in the dark. One of the slaves 
 and Sir John he sent within. The other negro with 
 the Indian woman and himself would reinforce 
 Plimly who had refused all sleep and, at Roger's 
 word, kept a lynx eye upon the motions of Sir 
 Humphrey Wildglass. It had been easy to reject 
 the services of the cavalier. He was too new to the 
 wilderness. 
 
 The night rustled in solemn warning on every 
 hand. The lonesome call of a loon, the short bark 
 or howl of wild things disturbed in their nightly 
 ramble, the depressing hoot of the owls, sounded 
 from near at hand. Strange creatures snuffed at 
 the stockade and slipped stealthily away. 
 
 The fever of his hurt was burning in corroding 
 heat through Roger's whole body, and the hot night 
 stifled him. He kept strict watch on his sentinels 
 within as well as on the forest without, and essayed 
 often the use of his wounded arm, forced to desist 
 lest renewed bleeding render him helpless. 
 
 As the moon sailed clear of the spiring tops of 
 pines and firs, the door opened and the Maid came 
 hurriedly toward him. She bore something in her 
 hand. 
 
 " Drink, please, " she begged as she held it out. 
 "You should not be here you risk too much for 
 
 us " Her voice faltered. "Please drink it. 
 
 The Indian woman is skilful ; she taught me the way 
 'twas made. " She glanced hurriedly around as if 
 fearing interruption. "Captain Verring " 
 
 He had taken the cup, and moved closer to her, 
 listening.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 279 
 
 "Ah, Mistress, 'tis here you are! Poor Madam 
 bemoaneth fearfully within the house, not doubt- 
 ing you be devoured ^already by brutal salvages. 
 She called to me to fetch you. " Sir Humphrey 
 had come with no delay upon her track. "Is the 
 shoulder not vastly painful, Captain ? 'Tis a weight 
 of obligation you've laid upon us strangers ; 'tis sad 
 the reward for so much hardship should be but 
 treasures in Heaven ! " 
 
 "Your solicitude is greater than my need, Sir 
 Humphrey, " Roger answered with ironic calm. He 
 had turned back quickly, hoping the Maid would 
 linger. She hesitated an instant, but when she had 
 seen the cup emptied she took it from him and 
 went away with the cavalier. 
 
 He was not left long alone The voice of Sir 
 Humphrey sounded again beside him. 
 
 "Rash and forgetful fellow, thou hast yet much 
 to learn ! " The moonlight showed the unpleasant 
 smile upon the well-marked features that in the 
 night required no touch of art to make them young. 
 
 Roger leaned on his musket, gazing through the 
 loophole into the space outside. 
 
 "Wert thou still for Montreal to pleasure the 
 worthy Phips with news," the voice went smoothiy 
 on, "or nay was't a sweet care for us that 
 brought thee strolling? 'Twas thoughtful but " 
 
 "Needless," Roger interrupted calmly. His 
 eyes returned from their exploration of the clearing 
 and rested in close scrutiny on the man's face. 
 "Sir Humphrey seems not to desire protection. 
 His friends here be too numerous. 'Tis pity, " he 
 continued more slowly, "he stretches not his in- 
 visible aegis, to save others. "
 
 a8o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 '"Out of the mouth of babes'! 'Tis a brave 
 rhetoric they give thee, the schoolmasters of Bos- 
 ton!" Sir Humphrey smiled again, " Wouldst 
 have me Lord Protector of all thy wilderness?" 
 
 "God forbid. Commonwealths and dictators be 
 not in fashion with us. " Roger answered the smile 
 with one as cool. "Rather would my wilderness 
 crave another boon of Sir Humphrey Wildglass. " 
 
 "Crave on, my gay Puritan." Roger turned 
 with deliberate waiting, gazed again toward the 
 forest, and fixed once more upon the face of the 
 cavalier the look that studied him line by line. 
 
 "That he pursue the crusade for gold in Cana- 
 da, " he said unmoved. 
 
 " Modest, forsooth ! 'Twould give me life, young 
 
 sir. I die, here, of gloom and doleful dumps 
 
 But each treasure in turn ! And hark ye, my 
 short-haired knight, some treasures be not for thy 
 protection. 'Twere better for thee to stroll else- 
 where. Sir Humphrey Wildglass can protect his 
 friends. " 
 
 "Then Mistress Armitage is not his 'friend'?" 
 
 Roger's lips did not relax their curve, but his 
 eyes kept rigorous guard upon more than the 
 forest as Sir Humphrey moved away. 
 
 The dawn looked upon them still undisturbed. 
 If the Maid made further attempt to speak with her 
 defender she was prevented. Roger could not see 
 that she did attempt it, and he cursed his sanguine 
 spirit that had hoped too much for the little begin- 
 ning whose tone his folly must have then misread. 
 At the corners of his eyes branching lines were 
 marked in the youthful skin.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 281 
 
 Bozoun Plimly came to him and they talked long, 
 in the centre of the stockaded space where none 
 could approach unseen. 
 
 " Remember I have rashly betrayed I suspect his 
 spying. For the other he is not warned. But let 
 the Maid never from thy sight set the slaves to do 
 that which is too far afield and watch. " 
 
 "Aye aye." Bozoun nodded. " 'Twill not be 
 tried again the Indians. He's too cute for that. 
 But I'll watch fear not. Go yet thou must not, 
 Roger risking the woods and a worse " 
 
 " I must, Bozoun. Keep guard over the Maid 
 day and night. " He moved swiftly away, and then 
 came back, added another word, and was gone. 
 
 Plimly looked after him with a scowl of anxious 
 indignation. 
 
 There was open distress at the departure. 
 Madam feared the withdrawal of his wise vigilance ; 
 Sir John blustered, peremptory and suspicious, 
 at his decision. Roger, giving brief reassurance, 
 felt certain the danger from the Indians was 
 passed; but of that he could say nothing. 
 
 "It is not safe in the woods You are 
 
 wounded, Captain Verring. " The girl had risen, 
 between him and Sir Humphrey Wildglass, and 
 as she spoke, she looked at him strangely, sud- 
 denly whiter than himself. But she said no more, 
 nor did Madam and Sir Humphrey allow chance 
 for any word alone; and as he set out he saw 
 the cavalier take the place by the Maid's side 
 and heard the smooth voice in mockery of fare- 
 well: 
 
 "Be cautious in thy going, my good Captain.
 
 282 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 And fear naught for us. The treasure shall be 
 protected. " 
 
 So he went away sore wounded, and for the 
 scourging of his thoughts scarce heeded if enemies 
 lurked beside the trail so painfully retraced. But 
 the Verring will showed more than ever strongly in 
 his strong features as he went, and there was de- 
 termination mightier than pain in the unswerving 
 purpose of his look.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE MADNESS OF BOTOLPH*S TOWN 
 
 "By the pricking of my thumbs 
 Something wicked this way comes." 
 
 THE slow stream of people issuing from the 
 Thursday Lecture flowed back to a respect- 
 ful distance from the door of the North 
 Church as, through a lane where solemn boys and 
 girls bobbed and curtseyed, Mr. Cotton Mather 
 progressed methodically toward the street. 
 
 Below the wide steps he stopped, halting his or- 
 derly progress at the stocks. There, in full view of 
 the departing congregation sat a youth, his face 
 blue with cold, his breast covered by a huge D that 
 hung bald and accusing from his neck. 
 
 Behind the minister's back tongues held long in 
 leash had taken quick vantage of recovered free- 
 dom. 
 
 " A learned discourse and a timely ! " The man 
 who spoke fluttered the notes in his hand. 
 
 A young woman in a scarlet cloak supplied the 
 extra tribute. 
 
 "Eben, couldst thou do like Mr. Godfroy, write 
 and listen at the same moment?" She looked up 
 coquettishly at her husband, who stared at the com- 
 placent Mr. GoSfroy without envy. 
 
 " Nay, Lois, I could not, " he replied contentedly. 
 
 "A great discourse !" the taker of notes was re- 
 
 283
 
 284 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 peating. "Verily, Satan's witches must have 
 trembled had they been there. " 
 
 " They were searching words ! And who knows ? 
 None is safe. " The woman that answered looked 
 fearfully about as she half whispered her response, 
 her pallid face twitching with excitement. "Mis- 
 tress Waite saith her Zillah.was seized of a sudden 
 with a sharp pricking like a needle, and found it 
 sticking in the flesh of her foot which she drew out 
 and showed it to her mother a fearsome great 
 needle ! And there was no mark of it neither on 
 the foot, for I, too, looked. She can but suspect 'tis 
 Goody Burrill. Only sennight she refused the old 
 woman a noggin o' milk and the beldame swore at 
 her. " The speaker lifted a pinch of snuff to her 
 nose and sneezed violently. 
 
 In the pause, her nearest neighbour spoke up 
 hastily. 
 
 " I ask my Reuben every day if he feeleth any 
 strange pain, " she announced with snapping eyes. 
 "There's enemies made by an honest tongue would 
 like no better than to afflict a helpless child. " 
 
 Reuben, waiting, a drab and joyless image, be- 
 side his mother, looked up at her with a terrified 
 attention. 
 
 " 'Tis fearful ! And there can be none so fitted 
 to deal with the matter as is Mr. Mather. 'Tis well 
 
 he is here " Mr. Godfrey was rolling his notes 
 
 into a cylinder in his hand, preparing to stow them 
 away. He broke off both speech and motion, 
 gazing horrified at the whisperer. 
 
 The mother of Reuben cried out. The frightened 
 child seized upon her gown with a nervous clutch.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 285 
 
 "Woman, thou art bewitched thyself!" Mr. 
 Godfrey had recovered his voice, but he remained 
 motionless, dwelling with alarmed fascination upon 
 the pallid features that grimaced at him helplessly. 
 The woman essayed to speak but her tongue was 
 become unruly. 
 
 Many had turned to stare with Mr. Godfrey and 
 the mother of Reuben, in a horror that had its ele- 
 ment of satisfaction. Here was visible proof of Mr. 
 Mather's words, a fitting climax to his denunciation. 
 The twitching grew more ungoverned as the victim 
 met the fixed and gloating gaze of the throng 
 that rapidly increased. With a sound of angry 
 terror she pushed the nearest out of her way and 
 escaped. 
 
 "She had the strength of ten !" 
 
 "Who hath afflicted her?" 
 
 " 'Tis an old affection of Mary Epps any one 
 will tell ye, " put in a calmer voice. " 'Twas ever a 
 pastime of her schoolfellows to make her angry 
 that her face might twitch. " 'Twas worse then 
 though 'tis late returned upon her. " 
 
 " Some witch hath her then this long time in sub- 
 jection. " Mr. Godfrey spoke with stern reproba- 
 tion of the speaker's tone. "Who was it could 
 thus tdrment her?" 
 
 "Any one could do it," began the voice, but it 
 was interrupted. 
 
 " 'Twas Silas Ty field who would be always 
 thorning her. " 
 
 "Aye he was a dreadful thorn." The crowd 
 looked at one another with questioning significance, 
 dispersing in smaller groups toward their houses.
 
 286 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The young woman of the scarlet cloak threw 
 back its folds and let the marvels of her "appear- 
 ing-out" dress flash casually upon those damsels 
 who were not yet brides. 
 
 Mr. Godfrey took the same way with the married 
 pair, recounting the sufferings of the witch-ridden 
 of other towns. 
 
 " 'Tis their own son that they accuse, " he finished 
 mysteriously, rounding out a tale of great distress. 
 " Truly doth Mr. Mather say the Devil hath marked 
 the godliness of New England and would fain con- 
 quer it for his own. Why should Satan linger in 
 London, a place he hath already ! And mark you 
 this, 'tis only since the coming of so many London- 
 ers and London ways that witchcraft rageth. " 
 
 "They say," volunteered the bridegroom, "that 
 the beautiful Mistress Armitage be a witch but 
 for my part I believe it not. " 
 
 "And why not she ? " demanded his wife. " She 
 hath the most curious power. Even the animals 
 follow her. " 
 
 "And no wonder, " began the husband, " an' they 
 have eyes. " 
 
 " Hush, there she cometh. " The young woman 
 pressed her husband's arm in warning. "I'll war- 
 rant me she's been not near the meeting. " 
 
 The cold that had pinched and sharpened the 
 features of those who had sat long at their devotions 
 had but added to the glow in the cheeks of Mistress 
 Armitage. She was returning from the house of 
 Lady Phips, who was anxious and lonely in Sir 
 William's absence, and the pleasure of a service 
 effectively performed gave a special buoyancy to
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 287 
 
 her motion. Though in all her modish costume 
 there was not a note of colour half so bright as the 
 scarlet cloak of the bride, she seemed the more 
 vivid of the two. 
 
 "Who is't saith she is a witch?" demanded Mr. 
 Godfrey curiously. 
 
 ' 'Tis in everybody's mouth, " answered the 
 young woman again, lifting her eyebrows in sur- 
 prise. " Beulah Munch hath felt her spell. Often 
 she hath gone to her, minded to say a certain thing, 
 and against her will hath been made to say just the 
 opposite. Even Sir Humphrey Wildglass seems to 
 think 'tis true. And he hath a better knowledge, 
 being the friend of Madam Chanterell. " 
 
 "But what hath she done, Lois ?" persisted the 
 husband. " Beulah Munch was never one to know 
 well her own mind after 'twas made up. If 
 'twere witchcraft whenever a woman thought a 
 certain thing and said the opposite " 
 
 "Jesting is ill-timed, Eben, " reproved the girl. 
 " What if she came at night in the form of a cat and 
 
 tempted Beulah to sign the Devil's book " 
 
 She hesitated, shuddering. 
 
 Both men exclaimed in shocked credulity, look- 
 ing with redoubled interest after the trim grace of 
 the figure that had passed them on the other side of 
 the way. 
 
 " 'Twas not Beulah told me about the Devil's 
 book but Goodwife Bolt who must have it from 
 her, " the bride added honestly. 
 
 "Sir Humphrey Wildglass a pleasant-spoken 
 man though I fear his life hath been of a reckless 
 sort ! He hath commanded a suit of kerseymere
 
 288 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 from Mr. Viall's son Luther, and is most particular 
 it be plain and of a sober hue. Mayhap he seeth 
 that the ornament of a godly spirit is more to be 
 desired than fine raiment. Lodgeth he yet at the 
 Sign of the Orange Tree?" Mr. Godfrey's pause 
 was full of a weighty eagerness. 
 
 "He is lately returned there. He was away from 
 the town when Governor Phips set forth for Pema- 
 quid. " The young woman shivered a little in the 
 keen wind as she spoke. " 'Twas the very day 
 after Sir John Winchcombe came back to Boston 
 with his family. I remember, for that Good wife 
 Bolt had not made an end of her preserving and 
 was in some straits to stop and prepare his room, 
 and Goody Quail was not to be had, being em- 
 ployed at the Widow Pullen's house by Madam 
 Chanterell. " 
 
 Others besides themselves had looked with a sin- 
 ister interest after the girl who passed them uncon- 
 scious of their scrutiny, absorbed in the memory of 
 the hour just gone. It had been a pleasant hour; 
 Lady Phips had talked much of Boston and its 
 people, of the governor, and of his friends. 
 
 Mr. Willard, impressive in the full canonicals of 
 Sunday black and dazzling bands of sheer and 
 speckless linen, turned his eyes upon her gravely, a 
 kindly pity in the glance. His flock, taking their 
 way in many directions from the South Meeting, 
 mingled with the congregation of the rival church, 
 talking with an air of cold reserve. Few, like Mr. 
 Godfroy, were alone. Whole families, oftenest 
 three generations, went side by side, or drove in 
 lumbering coach or chariot toward a ferry. From
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 289 
 
 Hannover street, through twisting paths and alleys, 
 the throng was moving with more haste toward 
 Queen street and the prison. 
 
 Here the crowd was somewhat more worldly in 
 its make-up. Outlandish garb of sailors strayed 
 ashore, bright caps worn by the lads and set upon 
 locks trimmed evenly at the collar like a mop, gay 
 feathers and bright flounces in costumes that defied 
 the law, relieved the earthly dulness of frieze and 
 lockram, rough dowlas and brown duffels spun and 
 dyed upon the hearth. 
 
 Here too, about the pillory set up before the jail, 
 was some excitement. The pelting was at its 
 height. Eggs aimed at the victims of the law fell 
 lower down and spoiled the complacence of some 
 who dodged too late, affording the impartial looker- 
 on a grim delight. Stale odours of rotted vegetables 
 and varied garbage meant for missiles made an un- 
 pleasant stench. None save the more delicate and 
 the self-conscious who feared their dignity refused 
 the sport. 
 
 Two of the targets were beyond a saving sense of 
 righteous retribution. Their faces, bruised and 
 smeared past recollection gave no sign of life. But 
 the third, marred and fouled like the others, gazed 
 down upon the men who did the pelting, still con- 
 scious of each blow. His ears, nailed to the plank- 
 ing, through which his head and hands protruded, 
 stood out grotesquely on either side the discoloured 
 features. 
 
 " 'Tis James Hewson ! " volunteered Mr. God- 
 froy with deep interest, as he came near enough to 
 distinguish the man's countenance.
 
 290 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " He that would have it Eunice Fayerweather but 
 dreamed she saw a witch-dog in the night? " asked 
 the bridegroom. 
 
 "Yea, 'tis he, " answered Mr. Godfrey with fresh 
 pleasure in the recognition. " He stirreth up much 
 strife, speaking scurrilously of the Commission and 
 saying that the witches have no true trial. If he be 
 not one of the malignants, I know not what to say. " 
 
 The young wife touched her husband peremp- 
 torily, averting her look as a flinty pebble set the 
 blood flowing on Hewson's face. 
 
 " Come, Eben, there be all the chores to do, " she 
 admonished. "And thou saidst there were lumps 
 in the brindle cow's bag this morning. " 
 
 " Dost think it may be the brindle is bewitched ? " 
 asked Mr. Godfrey, transferring his interest. 
 
 " I saw old Simeon Farley at the barn but yest'r- 
 e'en, Eben. Come quickly, " urged the wife. " If 
 we lose the cow I fear me my father will say thou 
 
 didst feed her wrong . Good-even, Captain 
 
 Verring. " 
 
 Roger had fallen upon the party suddenly as he 
 made his way up from the wharves, whither, after 
 the service, he had gone to meet an overdue argosy 
 just come to anchor. He greeted the three some- 
 what coldly, having small liking for the pious gos- 
 sip of Mr. Godfrey. 
 
 He had chosen the way leading past the house 
 where Sir John Winchcombe had again ensconced 
 his family, and was walking rapidly. But in the 
 enforced pause for fitting reply to the bride's saluta- 
 tion, he came opposite the high platform of the 
 pillory, and lifted his eyes.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 291 
 
 " Hewson ! An outrage What hath he 
 
 done?" he exclaimed. 
 
 The constable standing quietly by, beruffed and 
 periwigged, upheld his staff and watched with long- 
 drawn face the merciless humour of the crowd, 
 loath to set a period to the reward of crime. Jacob 
 Munch, a grin half born upon his smug features, 
 was making ready to aim a mud-splashed apple he 
 had picked up from the pavement. 
 
 " 'Tis more than an hour since the Lecture ! Did 
 the law decree these men be killed ? Why are they 
 not released?" Roger spoke with a force that 
 brought an angry murmur from those who liked not 
 their sport condemned. Jacob Munch dropped his 
 apple. 
 
 "Captain Verring hath a great compassion on 
 thieves and malefactors, " he said to the starched 
 citizen who stood beside him. 
 
 The constable, dangling his iron keys, moved 
 slowly in the direction of the platform. The east 
 wind came strongly from the water, and the cold 
 November dusk was settling fast. 
 
 While the others had sought the pillory-gazing 
 throng, the Maid had turned into an alley and es- 
 caped the multitude in the wider streets. Faces 
 peeped curiously from small-paned windows as she 
 approached, and from one house set back among the 
 apple trees a sash was swung out upon its hinges 
 while a head thrust itself forth to see who passed 
 and whither. 
 
 "La she be going by the Old Way! Who is 
 she, Ma'am ? " a voice said wonderingly. 
 
 The Mill Pond was dark and the willow leaves
 
 2 9 2 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 blown thickly in her path. At the one bent down 
 camel- wise to the bank she paused, and laying her 
 silk-mitted hand lightly upon its upright fellow, 
 looked about her with delight. 
 
 When she moved away, she drew a deep breath 
 of the clean air and gazed backward as if loath to go, 
 breaking off a bunch of red berries from a bush be- 
 side the path. 
 
 The Old Way was hid by its wild hedge from the 
 view of the curious, and as she went she lifted the 
 wide, flowing skirts daintily and slipped her high- 
 arched shoes with a pleasant rustling through the 
 fallen leaves, smiling at a grey squirrel that ran 
 down a tree trunk, gave her a twinkling glance, 
 and fled like thistle-down. 
 
 Again in the street she moved with a decorous 
 step, but swiftly lest the day be gone before she 
 should come to her own door. The wind brought 
 to her the salt of the sea and the burned smell of 
 autumn. Her eyes still smiled and her step was 
 light upon the broken flagging. 
 
 All at once an excited group blocked her way, 
 boys in a close and excited knot, wrangling, ges- 
 ticulating over some object on the ground. She 
 would have made a detour and so avoided them, 
 had another sound not arrested her, a sound dis- 
 stinct from the suppressed cries and quarrelling of 
 the lads. 
 
 At her approach the largest boy straightened 
 himself and she saw what was the occupation that 
 so engaged them. In a miniature pillory hung a 
 struggling black kitten, its head and forepaws 
 dragged through rude holes in an oaken board that
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 293 
 
 was nailed across two supports driven firmly into 
 the earth beside the path. 
 
 The largest boy bent forward again, trying to 
 force a mammoth pin through the kitten's ear into 
 the hard wood behind. The flesh had torn, but the 
 oak would not yield. Now, a stone in his right 
 hand, he battered at the pin and it held fast. The 
 kitten was choking. 
 
 With a cry of anger the girl sprang to the tor- 
 tured animal and lifted it, pillory and all, in her 
 arms. 
 
 "Ye little brutes!" The eyes that had smiled 
 were scornful and flashing as she confronted them. 
 
 The stakes had not yielded without force, but so 
 strong was her wrath a single effort had wrenched 
 them free. The boys, fleeing at her sudden on- 
 slaught, slunk hurriedly to a distance and stood 
 eying her sullenly, expecting more than words. 
 
 Shubael Munch was the first to venture near. 
 
 " 'Tis a witch-cat 'tis black, " he cried out in 
 warning. " Put it down, Mistress Armitage ! " 
 
 " She's a witch herself, " shrieked the largest boy 
 wrathfully. " My mother says she's a witch. " 
 
 "A witch ! A witch !" yelled the pack, rallying 
 to their leader's cry. 
 
 "She's not a witch," screamed Shubael. "I 
 know her She's not a witch. " 
 
 " She is, I say. A witch ! A witch ! Pelt her ! 
 'Tis her cat 'Tis the witch's cat!" the big boy 
 yelled. He had struck at Shubael with the stone 
 still in his hand, and then hurled the weapon furi- 
 ously at the girl. 
 
 The momentary dismay was over. The weight
 
 294 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 of scorn and blazing indignation unfollowed by the 
 retributive potency of blows could not impress them 
 long. Shubael fought them with all the might of 
 his little fists. A woman looked from an open 
 door, but hearing the cry, "A witch!" shut and 
 barred herself within. 
 
 The Maid covered the kitten with her cape and 
 turned her back to the youthful mob that had been 
 greatly reinforced in the confusion. 
 
 "Come, Shubael," she called, but Shubael was 
 stretched on the ground and did not answer. 
 
 Sticks, pebbles, stones all the projectiles the 
 neighbourhood afforded fell upon her pitilessly, 
 but she wheeled to look for the lad, rousing him 
 by her call. 
 
 "Come, Shubael, " she cried again. 
 
 "A witch ! Beat the witch ! " 
 
 The pack were in full cry and they no longer con- 
 tented themselves with missiles, but pursued, armed 
 with heavier cudgels. 
 
 Shubael had gotten upon his feet. With him she 
 turned again and fled. She was swift, but the wind 
 twisting her gown, held her back relentlessly. At 
 the corner of Wing lane the foremost had his clutch 
 upon its silken folds, his cudgel raised high to strike, 
 when he was lifted in a vigorous grasp and flung 
 back yelping among his comrades. His sudden 
 arrest and the shock of his descent shook the breath 
 from the would-be zealot, and the chase drew off. 
 
 The frenzied shouts of the urchins had carried in 
 spite of the wind, but against the increasing violence 
 of the blast they had sounded to Roger like cries 
 for help.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 295 
 
 The Maid was silent, trembling, and bewildered 
 at the fanatic fury of the assault. Mr. Godfrey 
 observed the group from the other side of the street. 
 
 He saw the girl hold up some object like a yoke, 
 fastened to a writhing kitten, and saw Roger take it 
 and set to work to get the animal free. The lad, 
 crying with rage, was battling with his unruly 
 breath. His clothes were torn and one eye sur- 
 mounted by a dismal patch. 
 
 " Shubael fought them for me. " Temple smiled 
 down at the boy with a glance that dried his tears 
 and flushed his cheeks with happy pride. 
 
 "Shubael is the bravest lad in Boston," began 
 Roger. " I wish " 
 
 The child became radiant, though the Maid had 
 interrupted. 
 
 " You will have to cut it out. They have hurt its 
 head pushing it through the hole, " she said. 
 
 "Can you are you enough recovered to hold it 
 quiet while I cut away the wood ? " Roger looked at 
 her anxiously and his look brought back her colour. 
 
 She wrapped her cape about the kitten's paws 
 and took it with a reassuring touch. It turned its 
 yellow eyes up at her with an earnest gaze of ques- 
 tioning patience, and the scurrying speed of its 
 frightened heart grew less. 
 
 With the point of his hunting knife Roger care- 
 fully chipped out the hole. Shubael helped, his 
 eyes shining with satisfaction, as he clamped his 
 bruised hands tightly upon the board. 
 
 "Do you suppose 'tis a witch cat?" he asked, 
 staring at the little creature timidly. The kitten 
 was watching him with the topaz eyes, full enough
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 of gratitude and appeal to startle a child who had 
 never before seen a cat save as an object of sport. 
 The look seemed to Shubael too human for an ani- 
 mal. 
 
 " No, Shubael, he's my kitten now, and I'm not a 
 witch, " answered the girl. "Though they did call 
 me one. Poor pussy what I'm to do with you I 
 don't know. Madam won't have a kitten near her 
 dwelling. She hath a great dislike and fear of cats, 
 above all of them that be black. " She rubbed the 
 little creature's head softly as she talked. 
 
 "I can care for him, if you'll trust him to me," 
 Roger replied. He had put up his knife and taken 
 the board from Shubael. " Now, pussy pull, " he 
 said. 
 
 Shubael left them, hastening to forestall the 
 double punishment of truancy and the tearing of 
 Sunday clothes. As he started, he put out his hand 
 tentatively and rubbed the kitten's head as Temple 
 had done. The released captive was boiling and 
 bubbling songfully within his black throat. 
 
 "He's glad, isn't he!" the boy said, unaccus- 
 tomed laughter breaking over his round face. 
 
 As the sturdy, anxious legs disappeared, running 
 with fear to spur their energy, the Maid set straight 
 her hat and moved onward beside Roger. In the 
 weeks that had divided the night in the stockade 
 from her return to Boston she had not seen him. 
 But twice Roger had seen her, and more than twice 
 he had been to Andover. On each visit he had con- 
 ferred with Bozoun Plimly. 
 
 Through Bozoun 's aid a new element of safety 
 had been introduced into the dwelling, Nopomuk,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 297 
 
 who had remained with Captain Phips, to water the 
 roses in my Lady's garden in summer and all the 
 year to drive the chestnut pair that drew her car- 
 riage to and from the great house in Green lane. 
 
 Roger and Lady Phips had first conceived the 
 plan, and the Governor had summoned the one- 
 time diver and put before him the peril of the Little 
 Maid and the need of secrecy. The eyes of the 
 Southern Indian had softened like an eager child's. 
 
 So it was that Bozoun had demanded help for the 
 harvesting and sent a messenger to Boston when 
 Sir John, after a heated contest as to the wages of 
 the labourer, had given his consent. 
 
 "Mistress Armitage seemed much moved at the 
 red man's appearing, " Bozoun had stated at his 
 next report. " I doubt not the damsel hath seen 
 him driving my Lady's chariot. But none may 
 guess what passes in a woman's mind, leastways 
 not with her if Sir John or Madam or Sir Humphrey 
 be about. I do opine, however, she hath remarked I 
 keep a watch upon her, and seemeth not ill pleased. 
 Sir John careth for little but his food and the gold 
 
 he hopeth to gather from this season's crop So 
 
 now the Amalekite hath all things his own way, for 
 Madam dotes upon him. He is ever about the 
 Maid and if she take him not I fear he will hang 
 himself. You need fear naught from him save a 
 kidnapping, for 'tis sure he favoureth the maiden. 
 And if thou'lt wait here I'll get a bunch of herbs I 
 promised Goodwife Bolt. Canst carry them?" 
 
 Even Bozoun, astute in wood lore and shrewd 
 enough for most men, was hoodwinked then by the 
 contradictions of Sir Humphrey's nature. Roger
 
 298 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 had set two sentinels to guard the Maid's life. The 
 greater danger he could not avert, that she might 
 trust, might even love, Sir Humphrey. It was ever 
 a wonder to him how the weeks went by at all and 
 left him sane, for even in retrospect they stretched 
 endlessly in aeons of wretchedness. 
 
 He would not question Bozoun, and he had heard 
 the little that the man-of-all-work vouchsafed with 
 a sense of distress, born partly of an unreasonable 
 dread of spying, and partly of a distaste to hear an- 
 other speak of her. 
 
 Now Nopomuk was back again driving the horses 
 of the Governor, and the Maid had learned that very 
 day at whose instance the Indian had been sent to 
 guard her in the woods. Lady Phips had hinted at 
 no danger but the fear of Nipmucks, being rarely 
 discreet. One thing the Maid knew that Lady 
 Phips did not, Bozoun being also wise in the times 
 to betray a secret to the one concerned, and making 
 some chance of converse when she had said farewell. 
 
 As they walked, although her body still trembled 
 from the sudden attack, her mind had already for- 
 gotten it to dwell on other things. Roger's anger 
 had grown hotter, and shame filled him that in his 
 city she should suffer such brutality. 
 
 " 'Tis what comes of taking children to the hang- 
 ings and setting them to stone the poor creatures 
 in the pillory ! They are no better than wild 
 beasts !" He spoke with a vehement suppression. 
 
 "They should be What welcome to Boston 
 
 for you after so long an absence ! " 
 
 "They are not Boston," the girl answered. 
 " There be rough and savage lads even in London!
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 299 
 
 Boston is for me the Governor and Lady Phips 
 my friends. " 
 
 " 'Tis many months since you were here. I had 
 hoped Sir John would bring you back earlier. " He 
 attempted to settle the kitten that was climbing 
 from its refuge. 
 
 "And yet you came but once to see us, though 
 you were hunting not far away more than once, " 
 the girl replied. " Here, wind this scarf about the 
 kitten's paws. Then he will stay. " 
 
 Roger obeyed her, answering her first words. 
 
 " I saw you one day at the river gate and again 
 with Sir Humphrey Wildglass at the spring. " 
 
 " I went there but once. Sir Humphrey taunted 
 me with womanish fondness for the scene of an ad- 
 venture, and I went no more. How long before 
 Governor Phips will return ? " she asked. " Is it so 
 important Pemaquid be fortified ? " 
 
 " 'Tis most important, " Roger answered prompt- 
 ly. "It commands a region that hath endured 
 much from hostile tribes of the North. 'Twill be 
 the saving of many lives. I should be with the 
 expedition, but Sir William refused me. " 
 
 "Lady Phips told me. He needed tried men at 
 home to watch the interests of the colony, and to 
 defend us if there be outbreak here. " The Maid 
 looked up, a light of admiration in her glance, that 
 the dusk hid. "You are young, Captain Verring, 
 to have so much entrusted to you. They say you 
 were offered a place on the Commission to try the 
 witches. I am glad you would not take it. " 
 
 "I could not. Mr. Saltonstall hath resigned, 
 being unwilling to go on with trials that convict all
 
 300 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 who will not confess. Even a dog hath been con- 
 demned. " He smiled faintly, falling grave again 
 at once. 
 
 "Could you have helped such men as you and 
 Mr. Saltonstall ? " 
 
 "Nay he had no effect, and I should have been 
 scouted for my youth and five can outvote two. " 
 He drew a long breath as if the subject weighed 
 much upon his thoughts. 
 
 "There is such fear in the very air!" The girl 
 moved unconsciously nearer as she spoke. 
 
 "Men are beside themselves. Them that be 
 silent are feared for their silence and them that talk 
 for their 'much speaking', " Roger answered. In 
 their tones was the confidence of those who utter 
 themselves with an unwonted freedom. "I would 
 it were over. The whole world seemeth possessed, " 
 he went on. ' 'Tis a melancholy greeting for you 
 to hear but tales of sorrow and affright. " 
 
 He harked back to her, the troubled disquiet 
 still in his tone. His look graver yet, with the 
 yearning of one powerless to defend the loved 
 from evil, gazed on her for a moment steadfastly. 
 In the shadows of the growing dark he could not see 
 the brave glow that answered the look and the sud- 
 den shining of the dark eyes turned to his own. 
 
 "There was dread in the loneliness of Andover 
 though that was only fear of men and of wild beasts. 
 But the fear of friends" she dropped her voice, 
 "and so many poor creatures in great suffering and 
 torment ! Oh no wonder there is panic ! But I am 
 glad to be in Boston," she said quickly, and her 
 voice that had almost a note of gay content laughed
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 301 
 
 above the strong quiet of a wordless peace, a 
 peace that held them both in the security of un- 
 affrighted happiness. 
 
 "Hath Lady Phips told you of the scandal the 
 Governor created ere he went away?" Roger's 
 tone had lightened cheerfully. " 'Twas a fort- 
 night's wonder ! There be some who suffer from 
 it yet!" 
 
 "Nay, tell me! What did he do?" asked the 
 Maid contentedly. 
 
 " He gave a mighty dinner to all the ship carpen- 
 ters of Boston and made no less display for them 
 than for the Council ! Oh, 'twas a most grievous 
 scandal!" Roger laughed, and felt that she 
 laughed too. 
 
 " I like it of him, " she said. 
 
 Their talk dwelt on nothing more remarkable, 
 but when he left her, it was to walk still in the 
 blessed air where her invisible presence did not for- 
 sake him. 
 
 Once voices harsh enough to force their way into 
 this excluding sense of joy brought to him a 
 painful realization of something without this better 
 consciousness. 
 
 ' ' She is a witch ! and hath Shubael as well as 
 Jacob in her wicked spell ! " It was the high voice 
 of Mistress Munch raised in a scolding fury. 
 
 "Nay, I'll speak as I please, " the voice rose still 
 higher in wrath at some interruption. "Look at 
 the child look at him, fighting and brawling like a 
 mud-scallion and his clothes that I made myself 
 
 all ruined by this Nay, I say, I care not. They 
 
 can hear who will ! An' Christopher doth not flog
 
 302 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 him well each time he speak to her, I'll do't myself. 
 And I'd flog Jacob, too, were I a man moping 
 after a witch, a " 
 
 " Mistress Armitage isn't a witch, Mam ! 
 
 Canst flog me all thou wilt " Shubael's voice, 
 
 broken with pain of many lashes, was dauntless as 
 timid voices are when roused to battle. 
 
 Across the way, at the Sign of the Orange Tree, 
 Sir Humphrey heard ; and gazing from his window, 
 saw Roger return as he had seen him go. He stood 
 a long time thoughtful before he turned away, and 
 the look upon his face was not all malignance, but 
 mixed with a certain anger more human and more 
 anxious.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE "POISONED CHALICE" 
 
 BEULAH MUNCH sat sewing by the window 
 of the living room. Her eyes were fixed on 
 the band she was felling and did not lift to 
 gaze after those who came and went from Tra- 
 mount street to Hannover. The settle was 
 drawn between her and the fire. By the window it 
 was cold, but she did not stir, even when the blaze 
 dropped to scattered coals and the draught blew the 
 ashes of the wood upon their fading glow. 
 
 Suddenly her impassivity changed. She raised 
 her head, looked after one who passed without 
 turning, and a sound escaped her lips. With a 
 swift motion she laid her work aside. In the 
 shortest time it could take to find and don her 
 bonnet and mantle she had opened the door and was 
 out in the fresh November breeze. 
 
 The sun was bright and the streets seemed warmer 
 than the room which she had left. Even at the 
 shortest, bonnet and mantle had taken many 
 minutes, but she followed quickly the direction 
 of the figure that had vanished, pausing only to 
 walk more sedately as she came nearer the yard 
 of the Widow Pullen's house. 
 
 Temple Armitage was without, among the flower 
 beds. In her hand was a mass of the late asters, 
 white, and purple, and streaked with pink tints on 
 
 303
 
 3 o 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 a snowy ground. The warmth that seldom left her 
 cheeks had deepened while she talked. Roger, 
 leaning upon the unpainted dial, was listening and 
 as she finished the tale she told, both laughed, 
 the silent laughter of those who understand each 
 other well, and their eyes met an instant in a volun- 
 tary interchange of pleasant comprehension. Then 
 she bent suddenly to the unplucked asters at 
 her feet and Beulah, pausing at the gate, saw the 
 look that watched the Maid, fallen upon the spot 
 where the soft blackness of the hair made fairer 
 the fairness of the neck. 
 
 "Come in, Mistress Munch.." If Temple were 
 not best pleased none could guess it from the wel- 
 come. 
 
 Beulah tightened her lips, spoiling the redness 
 of her childish mouth. 
 
 "I'm afraid I interrupt," she answered. "Two 
 
 they say 
 
 ' 'Tis indeed pity to expose a solitary maiden to 
 the influence of two such Puritans!" Temple 
 shook her head. " I fear the Widow Pullen was of 
 a frivolous mind like me ! See how brazenly her 
 flowers come forth ! " 
 
 When Roger left them a half-hour was nigh spent. 
 
 " If you go now I shall be sure you are angered at 
 having your pretty speeches interrupted, " Beulah 
 had pleaded. 
 
 "If Captain Verring were angered by interrup- 
 tion he hath already undergone good discipline," 
 the Maid had responded. "I am a most ill-condi- 
 tioned hearer ever marred a man's best period !" 
 
 When at length Roger had forced himself away,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 305 
 
 the task had grown no easier. He would have pre- 
 ferred Beulah had not come, but the presence of 
 that inferior world that was not Temple Armitage 
 was of too little moment ever to destroy his en- 
 joyment. 
 
 Beulah had shown to better advantage after her 
 greeting. It was hard to harbour self-consciousness 
 or meanness with Temple near. But the for- 
 lornness of her mood increased as its bitterness, 
 lessened. 
 
 The charm of Roger Verring's manner, so far re- 
 moved from the pious bluntness of her father, that 
 covered a selfish disregard of others' rights, so dif- 
 ferent from the sleek oiliness of Jacob, appealed to 
 her with new force. Once more her thoughts con- 
 trasted Jacob's unkindness with Roger's remem- 
 bered devotion to his mother. The clairvoyance of 
 her own feeling made it plain to her how strong was 
 the power that was drawing together this stranger 
 and the man she had loved ever since she had been 
 old enough to see that he was handsomer and finer 
 than the lads she knew. 
 
 Roger had never singled her out for even a pass- 
 ing interest, but till now no other had appeared 
 whom she thought more likely to secure what she 
 had determined should be her own. If the position 
 of the Verrings and the sense of something lacking 
 in that accorded the Munches had added ambition 
 to her love, it would be hard to separate the more 
 worldly fibres from the glittering fabric woven by a 
 stronger wish. 
 
 Beulah 's was not a religious nature, and she had 
 found no comfort in the simulated ecstasies of her
 
 3 o6 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 faith. What in Jacob became a coarse hypocrisy 
 was in her a simple acquiescence. The shallow 
 jealousies and the vulgar complacency of her pa- 
 rents, the mother's pettiness and the father's hec- 
 toring, arbitrary will, had hardened in her into a 
 silent tenacity more subtle and more deadly. In 
 the confining duties of a world where marriage was 
 the beginning and the end, and where the pickling 
 of fruits and the brewing of cordials was the highest 
 form of incense to be offered to the gods, it was 
 scarce probable that a soul like this one would create 
 for itself resources, or that the single feeling that 
 gave life to an otherwise heavy character would do 
 more than afford a channel for the outpouring of a 
 supreme self-absorption. 
 
 For Beulah the world contained herself and Roger 
 and, more remotely, those who would envy her 
 when she had made him hers. Her clinging and 
 dependence were a manner acquired with the ease 
 whereby we fit ourselves to an ideal society holds 
 before our eyes, and never a part of her true self. 
 She needed no one, felt no claim, no devotions, save 
 for Roger. To secure him, not for his happiness 
 but hers, she would have sacrificed all others with- 
 out a qualm and, to her mind armed with the unwit- 
 ting egotism of the truly selfish, no surrender of her 
 determination would even have presented itself 
 as possible. 
 
 The return of Temple to Boston had brought with 
 it a renewal of jealous uneasiness, or she would not 
 have followed Roger to the door of the Widow Pul- 
 len with an impulsive haste foreign to her usual 
 more quiet calculation. For the first time she had
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 307 
 
 realized how far beyond her reach events had 
 carried the fulfilment of her plans. 
 
 After Roger's farewell, she answered abstractedly 
 and went after the Maid with downcast eyes as the 
 two girls mounted the stairs to the square room 
 where the crisp breeze rustled the valences about 
 the curtained bed. 
 
 It was Temple's chamber and it brought another 
 pang to the unhappy Beulah. She did not hold 
 Mistress Armitage as her superior, save in the mat- 
 ter of owning a great number of jewels that she 
 seldom had the sense to wear, but she recognized 
 here, as in the simpler ease of Temple's manner, a 
 something she felt sure would seem to Roger su- 
 perior. Her eyes travelled from the quaint en- 
 gravings on the wall to the books, which lay upon the 
 table instead of sitting bolt upright in undisturbed 
 fixity of pose, and she turned from both with a 
 prim distaste to let her gaze seek the wide mirror. 
 
 " 'Tis grown cold, " she said with a little shiver, 
 her plump hands busying themselves with untying 
 her bonnet and curling closer over a wet forefinger 
 the stray locks the wind had blown awry. 
 
 Temple, going straight to the deep fireplace, had 
 set some pine sticks ablaze beneath the logs. 
 
 "I will shut the windows till the room be warmer," 
 she said. "Was it the things come by the Pello- 
 quin you meant ? " 
 
 " Goodwife Bolt said you got a full chest from the 
 ship," Beulah answered with more interest. "I 
 thought to send myself by the next packet. " 
 
 The Little Maid had closed the windows, not 
 without a longing breath of the clear coldness of
 
 308 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the air, and the big fire sent a too ardent heat upon 
 them. 
 
 " What have you been doing in these days ? " she 
 asked with pleasant heartiness as she knelt before 
 the carven monsters of a chest. 
 
 Her visitor watched in silence as the deep lower 
 drawer slid forward and the cambric cover was 
 lifted from the contents. On the very top lay a 
 silk, pale green and changeable, with a mere shift- 
 ing light of pink, and here and there a tumbling 
 rosebud in the folds. 
 
 The purring that was ever Mistress Munch's 
 first word at the sight of uncut silks did not come, 
 and Temple glanced upward, surprised. 
 
 The soft pinkness of Beulah's skin was darkly 
 suffused and her eyes were full. As Mistress Ar- 
 mitage looked up, the tears fell and rained thickly 
 down the reddened cheeks. 
 
 Temple sprang to her feet swiftly, a wonderful 
 compassion softening the warm brilliance of her 
 beauty. 
 
 She put an arm gently around the weeping girl 
 and drew her down beside her on the cushioned 
 window seat. 
 
 " What is it, Beulah ? Tell me " her voice had 
 the comforting life that trouble longs to hear 
 "what has grieved thee, child?" 
 
 The words Captain Phips had said to her so long 
 ago ! She grew gentler still, with the recollection. 
 
 Beulah slid out of the encircling arm, upon the 
 floor, and buried her face in the cushions. Temple 
 laid a fine hand softly on the elaborately mounted 
 hair and waited.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 309 
 
 "I'm I'm afraid to tell you what it is. " Beu- 
 lah moved still farther away. But the gentle hand 
 slipped to her shoulder and she turned back sud- 
 denly, her arms about Temple's waist, her wet, 
 blue eyes gazing up anxiously. 
 
 "Oh, I can't!" she gasped, but this time she 
 dropped her head in Temple's lap and cried there 
 more quietly. 
 
 "How can you fear to tell me, Beulah?" The 
 Maid had dropped her rarely used thou of affection 
 and her voice was graver, though none the less com- 
 passionate. " Perhaps it is something wherein I 
 could help, my child. " A certainty that it was 
 something painful for herself, a sense of the essen- 
 tial weakness of the crying girl, was in the gravity 
 and the gentleness. 
 
 " If thou wouldst only take thy spell from Jacob ! 
 'Tis making him ill he hardly eats at all and 
 yesternoon he would not touch his pudding and he 
 left the meers cakes my mother brought for him at 
 
 bed time If he should die Oh, if thou 
 
 didst not want him why put the spell upon him ? " 
 
 Temple sat erect suddenly, her breath held with 
 the shock of sharp displeasure. Beulah's words 
 offended much that, in her nature, was sacredly 
 guarded from discussion. But after a minute's 
 waiting she spoke again, still gently. 
 
 "Beulah," her voice was very low and rich, 
 " your brother will not die. If he hath a liking for 
 me that is more than mere kindness I am more 
 grieved than thou. I never wished it. I have ever 
 shown I have been, so you yourself have said, 
 even careless of courtesy to him. "
 
 3 io THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " But Mother says that is the way of all coquettes 
 he but admires the more. 'Twas ever the way 
 to make Jacob want a thing to show him it dis- 
 pleased you he should try for it, " put in Beulah 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Your mother may be right concerning the ways 
 of coquettes but I have never been aught but 
 truthful with your brother. " Temple rose, leaving 
 her accuser whimpering softly among the cushions. 
 A righteous anger took the softness from her eyes 
 and she paced up and down twice before she trusted 
 herself to say more. 
 
 ' I think," she added presently, "your brother 
 hath been much used to having his own will, and 
 doth not easily understand his wishes might be un- 
 pleasing to another. " 
 
 Beulah rose also, her cheeks reddening again, 
 defiantly. 
 
 "And why shouldn't he expect what he wants !" 
 she demanded angrily. "There is no young man 
 more sought after. There be plenty to take him. 
 'Tis not that he is unpleasing that he suffers, but 
 thou hast put a spell on him. How can he let thee 
 be till thou art through tormenting him? Even 
 Shubael thou hast bewitched so every day the 
 poor child must be beaten because he " 
 
 "Beulah!" Beulah stopped short and cowered 
 into the window, although Temple's voice was not 
 raised and she had not stirred from where she 
 stood. 
 
 "Why is Shubael beaten because he loves his 
 friends, and what have I to do with your brother 
 that you talk of my releasing him ? 'Tis I would be
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 311 
 
 released from his ill-thought-of importunities. 
 'Tis his vanity suffers not himself. He will soon 
 forget me. What could I do more than I have 
 done?" 
 
 " Thou speak'st as if thou hadst known him long. 
 Where was't he saw thee first?" demanded the 
 sister. " He says he knew thee well long since and 
 thou wast greatly taken up with him. I've told 
 him thou wilt none of him. Temple Armitage 
 holdeth herself for higher game though for that, 
 the family of Nicolas Verring is no richer and no 
 honester than his " 
 
 Beulah's voice had ri^en to the scolding note of 
 her mother's, 
 
 The flash in Temple's eyes darkened and from her 
 full height she looked down upon the hysterical 
 girl who was venting the stored-up poison of her 
 brooding malice. 
 
 "You forget that the door is open, Beulah. I 
 would not have Madam Chanterell judge you by 
 such words. For your brother, I will avoid your 
 house and make it plainer, if that be possible, that I 
 do not desire his company. Nor do I see why your 
 brother's folly should give you the right to insult 
 or rail at me. " 
 
 There was a strength in her directness, in the 
 dignity of her carefully curbed anger, in her evident 
 repulsion tor a scene, that had its effect. Beulah's 
 tight lips sneered, the hectic colour burned more 
 brightly on her cheeks, but she spoke in lower tones. 
 
 " Then you will not release him ? " she persisted. 
 "Nor Shubael?" 
 
 "What do you mean?" Temple looked at her
 
 3 i2 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 with frank amazement, her anger yielding to the 
 fear that the girl was crazed. "What more can I 
 do ? 'Tis not in my power to control your brother's 
 mind. " 
 
 " It is you know it is you are a witch ! All 
 men say you are a witch, even Sir Humphrey Wild- 
 glass. 'Tis Satan gives you power. You have 
 taken Jacob and Shubael and made my home a hell 
 of strife and quarrelling, and now you have taken 
 
 Roger Only the Devil himself could have taken 
 
 him from me. He has belonged to me all his life 
 and I cannot live without him I loved him long 
 
 before you ever saw him He is mine " 
 
 The spotted cheeks, the furious passion in eyes that 
 were no more alive at most times than blue yarn, 
 was painful to see, like the death agony of some 
 gay- winged insect, writhing and gleaming brighter 
 for the sun on its misery. " He will be mine if thou'lt 
 
 release him Let him go ! When thou'rt 
 
 hanged on Gallows Hill then thou'lt have to let him 
 go. O, let him go and I'll plead with them not to 
 hang thee " 
 
 She put out her hands but Temple drew herself 
 taller, her face grown white, her straight gaze fixed 
 upon the working features, as if she tried in vain to 
 see the plump and helpless creature whose depend- 
 ence had roused her tenderness. 
 
 Beulah retreated from the gaze and flung herself 
 into a chair, sobbing pitiably upon the arm. 
 
 Temple moved to the window and her eyes wan- 
 dered to the asters bending with stiff reluctance in 
 the wind. Twice she turned as if to ask a question 
 and each time closed her lips more firmly. The
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 313 
 
 fire crackled, and scudding clouds blew across the 
 sun. The leaves whirled up and fell disconsolate. 
 
 "O, Temple, pity me. I am so wretched I 
 shall die I don't know what to do I shall die. " 
 
 The scolding voice was broken into hopeless, 
 childish weeping. Beulah had crossed the space 
 between them and sat upon the window cushions, 
 clinging about the straight figure that now watched 
 the sky. 
 
 The fine hand was again laid gently upon the 
 bowed head, but with a difference. 
 
 "Bathe your eyes, Beulah, and weep no more. 
 Come, " the Maid said quietly. But the colour had 
 not returned to her cheeks. 
 
 After Beulah had gone, she went back to her 
 room and threw wide every window. The wind 
 whirled through in a mighty draught and sent her 
 treasures rattling upon the floor. Then she looked 
 down upon the flowers vaguely, drawing the clean 
 air deep, as if she could never be cleansed of the 
 past hour. 
 
 A figure upright, moving with the happy strength 
 of those who are afraid of nothing because hope 
 has bucklered them, passed on the other side of the 
 way and glanced up quickly to the open windows. 
 
 The Maid's eyes dilated suddenly and she clasped 
 her hand close upon her throat. 
 
 She uttered no sound, but after a little, closed 
 the windows once more and set about restoring the 
 fallen knick-knacks. When Sir Humphrey came 
 she was smiling and gracious, but once, when he 
 was speaking in a strain bolder than ever before, he 
 found she was not listening, and setting himself to
 
 woo her strayed attention with a song, he watched 
 covertly, and saw the look that settled on her face, 
 a look lonely, full of a desolate amaze. 
 
 But the look was gone when the song was ended, 
 and watch her as he might he found no place where 
 her finely tempered distance was vulnerable to 
 praise or sympathy. 
 
 "Thy pride will be less stiff when the gallows 
 waits thee, Mistress, " he said softly to himself. 
 " Tis question which were sweeter, conquest or 
 revenge let the event decide. "
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE PEST 
 
 THE Governor's horses pranced and curvetted 
 in a manner to make proud the heart of 
 Nopomuk, clad in new livery, and driving 
 Lady Phips and Mistress Armitage to Daniel 
 Henchman's book shop by the Town House. 
 
 Lady Phips was puzzled by the girl, who kept the 
 talk resolutely away from everyone but the Gov- 
 ernor and refused the carriage further than the door 
 of the low building where Mr. Mather's pamphlets 
 and a small store of more secular treasures tempted 
 the purse of the bookish. 
 
 There was a light snow in the streets and the 
 ground was frozen. As they alighted a figure 
 clothed with a painstaking regard for fashion 
 emerged from the Blue Anchor and made haste to 
 intercept them. Lady Phips extended her hand 
 distantly and Jacob Munch bowed over it with too 
 elaborate an air. 
 
 "Come to see me soon again, Mistress Armitage. 
 It comforts me, my dear, to talk of my anxiety. " 
 
 The Governor's wife spoke affectionately, dis- 
 missing the young man by a careful ignoring of 
 his presence. 
 
 Temple answered the words with a look that 
 lingered many days in Lady Phips's memory. 
 
 " I will come gladly, " she said, bowed gravely
 
 316 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 and finally to Jacob, smiled again at the elder 
 woman, and turned away to walk swiftly toward 
 her home. 
 
 Jacob Munch was quickly beside her. 
 
 "You are not good at remembering old friends, 
 Mistress, " he began as he overtook her. 
 
 " I have few friends in Boston save her I have 
 just left, " answered the girl. The coldness of her 
 tone was edged with a decision that roused his ire. 
 
 "Why do you flout me?" He attacked her 
 angrily. " Is't not enough you must belittle me to 
 my sister that you also put affront upon me in the 
 streets !" 
 
 "It seemeth not, Sir. Your vanity presumes. " 
 She would have passed him, but he was obstinate. 
 
 " You'd not hold me so cheap belike, " he retorted 
 with an ugly threat in his oafish face, "were I to 
 make the town a wasp nest for your friend the Gov- 
 ernor!" Then, as she looked at him more coldly 
 still, "Sir William be none too well liked now. 
 'Twould make a fine tale, that of the Araby Rose 
 the witch's oath and the compact with the Devil ! 
 You thought I didn't know you for the Little Maid 
 but I found you out. " He paused for breath, 
 barricading her way with his heavy bulk. "Come 
 now, Mistress, make a bargain with me, " he went 
 on. "Wouldst have me spare the Governor?" 
 He approached nearer, his eyes gloating upon her 
 eagerly. 
 
 "I bargain not with such as thou. Governor 
 Phips needs no coward's 'sparing' !" They had 
 stopped before the pewterer's door, and the girl 
 moved toward it as she spoke.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 317 
 
 "Thou art the coward eh, Mistress? 'Tis the 
 contagion thou'rt fearing, " he called after her. 
 " But I'm not with Beulah. I go not near the girl 
 the zany to get the pest and set us all in danger ! " 
 
 "What is that?" Temple turned to him per- 
 emptorily. "Is your sister ill? Who careth for 
 her?" 
 
 "Aye thou'rt curious now all women alike 
 are " 
 
 The Maid interrupted. "Tell me what is the 
 matter, " she insisted sharply. 
 
 "Beulah hath gotten the smallpox," he an- 
 swered, " and lieth sick at home. Twill cost her 
 her pink cheeks most like. For care she getteth 
 precious little ! Nurse Quail refuseth to come and 
 Mam hath small time to spare from praying and 
 weeping. Some of the congregation be met within 
 her chamber now to pray for her. " 
 
 "Beulah's? They pray in the sick girl's cham- 
 ber?" Temple's voice showed her indignant 
 wonder. 
 
 "Aye have they no praying for the sick among 
 
 thy " Jacob waited, seeing she had not heeded 
 
 him. She was inclining her head with courtesy 
 remote and quiet. He had not marked who was 
 passing behind him, and Roger Verring, after a 
 half-perceptible pause, had replaced the tri-cor- 
 nered beaver and gone his way. The Maid's eyes 
 had rested briefly upon him as he went. His very 
 manner of wearing a cloak was pleasing and made 
 the King's officers look tawdry as they met him. 
 
 One of the red-coated swaggerers spent on her a 
 killing glance, sauntering too near as he came by,
 
 3 i8 THE COASTS OF FREEDOM 
 
 but hastened on indifferent, as he felt her unregard- 
 ing glance that plainly saw him not. 
 
 " Come now art a 'mazing beauty, if thou be'st 
 a witch ! Think better on't, Mistress. " Jacob's 
 elaborate courtesy had dwindled to a miserable 
 naturalness. He was grossly vulnerable to the at- 
 titude that unconsciously ignored him. It loosed a 
 vile and wordy tongue, made more fluent by the 
 sight of Roger, whom he had at last perceived. 
 " 'Tis well for thee ! Prefer the hangman an' thou 
 wilt ! Thou'lt not be so ready to spit on men of 
 substance with thy pretty neck in his halter. I 
 would have saved thee " 
 
 One who came toward them swerved from the 
 path, gazing with bulging eyes upon the Maid as he 
 went by. Jacob talked rapidly, attempting to get 
 closer. 
 
 " I can save thee yet What say'st thou " 
 
 A flash of swift repulsion and command drove 
 him back a pace, the involuntary flight of the bully. 
 She turned slowly, neither speaking nor looking to 
 see if he followed, and opened the pewterer's door. 
 
 When she came out Jacob was standing again at 
 the threshold of the Blue Anchor Tavern. 
 
 "Come, get thee home, Jacob Munch. 'Tis grief 
 for thy sister would make thee careless. Hast had 
 enough, " Mr. Monck was saying paternally. 
 
 "Thou'rt right, Neighbour Monck." A cunning 
 intelligence came to the rescue of the dull rage in 
 Jacob's face. " I have been much " He hesi- 
 tated for a word and went on glibly, omitting it 
 " by Beulah's sickness. " He raised his hat with an 
 unpuritan flourish and set it back less exactly than
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 319 
 
 was his wont, moving off aimlessly toward the 
 Town House. 
 
 "A fine young man ! No wonder if he be upset. " 
 'Tis shame the pest should seize a maid so comely. 
 A man bears better with a pitted face, " and the 
 host of the Blue Anchor went back to his tasks, 
 compressing his lips with amiable regret. 
 
 The snow was falling once more in fine and 
 clustered flakes that clung damply upon the gar- 
 ments of the wayfarers. 
 
 Temple moved forward among the flurries with- 
 out haste. Her face was set thoughtfully in a look 
 whose wider meaning Roger might perhaps have 
 guessed, but even love could not have unriddled 
 the cause of its underlying pain. Into a life lonely 
 and deep-entrenched in long reserve she had ad- 
 mitted the resistless presence of a comradeship 
 that seemed to come of right. Barring it out had 
 left her doubly solitary. But what sign of pain or 
 inward wretchedness her look betrayed, it was gone 
 when she came to the gate before the house of 
 Christopher Munch. 
 
 Here she stopped, gazed upward at the shaded 
 windows, and stood an instant with her hand upon 
 the post. Then she walked quietly up the path 
 and raised the knocker, beating it softly upon the 
 iron knob that took the blow. 
 
 The long ribbons that tied her bonnet blew about 
 her shoulders, but the wide brim lined with yellow 
 silk quilled like flower petals within the flare 
 was trimly set upon the dark hair, and the fringed 
 mantle lay straightly on her shoulders. None came 
 in answer to her knocking. She waited till she had
 
 320 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 summoned the household thrice, then lifted the 
 latch and went in with hard-taken resolution. 
 The smell of burning rags and vinegar filled the 
 lower rooms, that showed a dusty confusion through 
 the open doors. 
 
 Temple paused at the foot of the stair, and com- 
 ing back to the pegs in the low hall, took off her hat 
 and mantle and hung them up. There was a loud 
 sound above that soared and sank continuous and 
 melancholy. As she climbed, words of prayer and 
 exhortation came to her with a noise of hysterical 
 crying, and then a querulous voice that incessantly 
 complained. 
 
 " Go away please go away. Oh, make them go 
 away. " The voice grew more shrill, and broke 
 
 into a moan. "Some water! I would drink 
 
 Mam, make them go away I want water Shubael 
 Shubael get me some water. Shubael will get 
 some. Don't ask Jacob. Henever'll do aught I ask." 
 The praying voice rose louder, drowning the sick 
 girl's cries. The weeping grew more hysterical. 
 
 "And if it be Thy dread will, O Thou Awful and 
 Almighty God, Omnipotent and Omnipresent 
 Judge, Arbiter of this our mortal Destiny, that this 
 maid, thy creature, soon be brought before Thy 
 Judgment Seat " 
 
 "Make them go away Mother " The 
 
 scream pierced like the scream of a child fallen in 
 deep water. Temple was in the open doorway from 
 which the odours of the sick room welled repellant, 
 and her yoice answered the cry in words clear and 
 soothing. 
 
 The sick girl sitting up, unrecognizable and loath-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 321 
 
 some, in the hollow of the mammoth featherbed 
 that billowed about her neath a twisted mass of 
 quilts, held out her burning hands with another cry. 
 
 "Temple Temple Armitage make them go 
 away " 
 
 " Silence, girl. Lie thou still while we supplicate 
 the Throne of Grace. " The two men who stood 
 with folded palms at the bed's foot, moved nearer. 
 The girl shrieked and fell back upon her hot pillows, 
 moaning again. Tears trickled under her puffed 
 lids and ran upon the disfigured cheeks. 
 
 " Temple they are come to take me to the Devil. 
 Make them ah " 
 
 The man of the loud voice was drawing nearer 
 still. Beulah crawled farther from him, writhing 
 in delirious fear. 
 
 Temple leaned above the pitiful figure, her arms 
 about the burning shoulders. 
 
 "Go! "she said sternly to the men. "You are 
 making her worse. And you, Mistress Munch, 
 bring me water from the well. " 
 
 Mistress Munch ceased, from sheer surprise, her 
 loud weeping, The men looked upon Temple with 
 the ire of an offended rage, and waited dumb- 
 founded at her temerity. 
 
 " Go ! " the Maid repeated. "You've done harm 
 enough already. " There was authority in her tone 
 that carried inexplicable weight. They retreated 
 from the bed, and regarded the two girls solemnly. 
 
 "Beware, Mistress!" He of the loud voice 
 raised his hand as if to pronounce a curse. "You 
 send forth the servants of the Lord. Beware lest 
 He also withdraw his countenance.
 
 3 22 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "You can pray elsewhere," answered the girl 
 firmly. " Nor did I ever hear that faith and works 
 might not both be pleasing to God. " 
 
 "False Mistress 'tis " 
 
 "Can you not see you make her worse. Go- 
 
 Please, Sirs, go now," she commanded unshaken, 
 and they went, driven, as both bore witness, re- 
 counting their discomfiture, by something none 
 could describe in her eyes, and in her voice which 
 though low would make a man to quake for 
 fear. 
 
 Beulah was moaning and mumbling, her parched 
 lips open, her unsightly arms still clinging. 
 
 Mistress Munch had shown her visitors cere- 
 moniously from the house before she brought the 
 water. 
 
 "I fear 'twill kill her. Were it not better she 
 have the Burgundy ? " wailed the woman helplessly. 
 " Oh, that I should be so afflicted and Beulah such 
 a beauty and now none knoweth but she may be 
 
 hideous, if she live at all " Temple took the 
 
 water, silencing the shrill tongue. Beulah had 
 shuddered, seeming to understand. 
 
 ' ' We are going to keep ward so carefully that she 
 shall have no scars. Now she must rest. " Temple 
 spoke distinctly and Beulah looked through her 
 swollen lids, listening. 
 
 " When had she water last ? " asked the Maid as 
 the sick girl drank thirstily. 
 
 "I gave her a wineglass yestere'en, though 'twas 
 against wisdom, " Mistress Munch answered, wail- 
 ing again.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 323 
 
 "You are greatly wearied," Temple said sooth- 
 ingly. ' ' Go now and sleep . You can trust me with 
 Beulah. " 
 
 "Are you wonted to sickness?" The woman 
 paused fussily, wiping her eyes, 
 
 "You can trust me. Pray go. You have need 
 of rest, " Temple persisted. 
 
 "That I do sorely. Two nights alone, with 
 Christopher afraid, and Shubael sent for safety to 
 his aunt and even the neighbours shy of us. " The 
 woman wept afresh. 
 
 After she had gone Temple straightened the bed 
 with a firm smoothing of its chaos, drew the linen 
 above the quilts so only its smooth surface should 
 touch the sick girl's flesh, and opened two windows, 
 one on either side, letting the breeze sweep through 
 and cleanse the air. 
 
 Then with a ewer of mottled porcelain half filled 
 with water, upon a chair beside her, she drew a 
 cambric handkerchief from the silk bag that swung 
 by ribbons at her side, and softly bathed the fevered 
 face and arms. 
 
 She could hear Mistress Munch below going 
 noisily about her household duties, heartened by 
 the finding of another's shoulders to take her 
 burden. 
 
 At last the sick girl slept, mingling her heavy 
 breath with the chill air and in her sleep putting up 
 restless arms to touch her face. Temple watched, 
 putting them back before they could do harm, and 
 finally laying one hand on the crossed wrists to 
 keep them still. The light darkened ; even beyond
 
 3 2 4 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the window whose shade she had raised a gloomy 
 sky made a dun background. 
 
 It was all lifeless, all dark, and full of ugly 
 shadows. The girl's eyes grew large and mournful, 
 and then the lips that could smile as could no others 
 set themselves in the close curve of hard endur- 
 ance.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 A PASTORAL CALL 
 
 THE sun rioted upon the clean surface of the 
 snow, and the still air brought the cheerful 
 sound of creaking sledges. 
 
 Mr. Cotton Mather paused at the door of his 
 house and drew on his minkskin gloves. From the 
 peak of his sombre hat to his high boots of well- 
 dyed leather there was no note but black. Even 
 his linen bands were hid by the black cloak. 
 
 " Father Sir !" 
 
 Behind him in the open doorway stood a round- 
 cheeked little girl, with tears still flowing over 
 flushed cheeks and lips convulsed with sobs. She 
 was bare-armed and bare-necked save for a tiny, 
 short-sleeved open jacket of thin cashmere that 
 partly hid the naked shoulders. 
 
 The clergyman turned at the cry. 
 
 "What is it, daughter?" he asked not unkindly, 
 but with a sober heaviness that seemed to intimi- 
 date the wee creature. She shook her head, her 
 frightened eyes on his face. 
 
 The young man, already old in authority and in 
 family cares, and weighted with a store of learning 
 that had taken all his laborious childhood and 
 ardent youth, finished fastening his glove and bent 
 down to the shaking little figure on the sill. 
 
 "What is it, Katy?" he asked again. "Thou 
 wilt tell father what oppresseth thy conscience. " 
 
 325
 
 326 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Will will the Devil take me, if I be never 
 naughty again, and never move about when thou 
 prayest?" 
 
 The terrified voice was low. The eyes drowned 
 in a fresh overflow. 
 
 "Nay, an' thou be a good Katy and pray often 
 for forgiveness for thy sinning and be obedient, 
 then canst thou ask God to keep thee from the 
 Devil. But he watcheth very close. How old art 
 thou, Katharine?" 
 
 " Free years old, and free monfs more, " answered 
 Katy, one chubby hand holding to the paternal 
 finger. 
 
 "A big girl already, seest thou? And i thou be 
 good 'twill be easier for thy little sister to praise 
 God in her obedience and her piety. Even now, 
 my child, though she cannot talk, she keepeth an 
 eye on all thou dost. Is't not so. " 
 
 "Yes; when I hurt my finger and cwied out she 
 
 cwied too Thou wilt not let the Devil get 
 
 me?" The anxious eyes had not let go their 
 hold. 
 
 "Thy father prayeth daily that Katy may be 
 among God's elect, and thou must pray, and serve 
 the Lord with diligence. Hasten now and make thy 
 petitions again in father's study, and run quickly 
 for it is too cold for thee here. " 
 
 He would have gone, but the child still clung to 
 the minkskin glove, her small frame quivering. 
 
 " I will therve the Lord, " she said, and the 
 spiritual autocrat of the North Church hid a mois- 
 ture in his own easily wet eyes on the close-cropped 
 head and kissed her with rare indulgence, smiling
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 327 
 
 as the little feet clattered through the cold hall be- 
 hind him. 
 
 But as he journeyed in the snow-trodden street, 
 returning the salutations of the elders and acknowl- 
 edging with lordly nods the " manners " of the awed 
 and tongue-tied children, his features set themselves 
 in their hardest mould of judicial and divinely 
 licensed anger. 
 
 More than one interested gaze was fixed upon 
 him as he entered the gate of the Widow Pullen's 
 house and moved with a step of conscious solemnity 
 toward the door. 
 
 The knocker resounded thunderously. While 
 he waited, Mr. Mather looked doubtfully upon a 
 mass of green boughs heaped upon the snow at the 
 side of the well-cleared path. 
 
 " Thy master hath procured these for the banking 
 of the house against the cold?" he demanded of 
 the maid who responded to his knock. 
 
 "Nay, Sir," she answered, curtseying. "They 
 
 be Christmas greens, Sir but a poor Christmas 
 
 'twill be in this heathenish new world with shops 
 to be all open and no waits to sing a carol ! " She 
 curtseyed again, expecting praise from the digni- 
 tary whose garb was plainly clerical. 
 
 "Curb thy ignorant tongue, woman, and cease 
 lamenting the vain tricks of Popish days. Thou 
 art, I fear me, but dangerously placed ! " 
 
 The maid looked at him, bewildered, missing his 
 point spite of the weighty delivery of his words. 
 
 "Thank'ee, Sir, " she answered, curtseying again. 
 " But we keep the day here, as faithfully and merry 
 as in Devon, Sir. None of they non-'formists shall
 
 328 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 be suffered to make no difference here. Who shall 
 I say you would see, Sir ? " 
 
 Waftures of spicy cookery pervaded the apart- 
 ment which Mr. Mather surveyed, pleasant hints of 
 the rows of toothsome dishes, hot from the brick 
 oven, that were set to cool upon the white-scoured 
 table of the kitchen. The entrance to the Widow 
 Pullen's house, like that of Nicolas Verring, gave 
 upon a great room from which the stairs ascended. 
 
 The clergyman regarded the costly furnishings, a 
 natural curiosity mixed with stern reprehension. 
 The furniture of the place had been so added to and 
 overpowered by the richer garnishings come with 
 Sir John from England that it bore no resemblance 
 to its earlier state. The tables inlaid with ivory 
 and mother of pearl, the rich stuffs that cushioned 
 the window-seats, and the chairs brought from 
 light-minded France and ministering with seduc- 
 tion to the eye, strange ornaments upon the mantel 
 resembling the pagan gods, even the pictured 
 tapestries, revolted him. 
 
 "Tell Mistress Armitage, " he commanded, as an 
 oriental potentate might summon a subject to his 
 footstool, "that I would speak with her. " 
 
 "I will see if Mistress Armitage be receiving. 
 
 Pray, Sir, come this way. Who shall I say " 
 
 began the woman again, looping a brocaded curtain 
 from the arch Sir John had constructed between 
 this living room and the long parlor beyond. 
 
 "I am here, Betty, and I will see Mr. Mather." 
 Mistress Armitage rose from the window niche 
 where she had been fashioning wreaths and crosses 
 from fir twigs and ground pine, and the minister, 
 wheeling at her voice with somewhat less of despotic
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 329 
 
 stiffness, bowed low before he was aware, rendering 
 involuntarily the homage he would have exacted. 
 
 Behind her on the diamond-paned window was 
 darkly outlined a wreath upon a cross, the warmth 
 of evergreen livening and comforting the cold De- 
 cember day. Temple had been happier in her work 
 than in anything that had occupied her in the 
 weeks just past, and the look of Christmas cheer 
 was not wholly lacking from her face, grown paler 
 in the days of nursing. 
 
 Her arms and neck were covered with sleeves 
 and tucker of firm-patterned lace, and shoulder 
 knots, warm with the colour of red roses, clung soft 
 and homelike upon the foreign web. Her full skirt, 
 slashed from hem to pointed bodice, flowed back- 
 ward upon the smooth sheen of the petticoat in 
 whose ivory folds a carmine flush came and went 
 as she moved, and the tasselled girdle of silk cord 
 swung upon the cream and rose-red of her draperies. 
 Every line gave grace and height to the stateliness 
 already hers. 
 
 "Madam Chanterell is indisposed and Sir John 
 Winchcombe is from home, " she added as she led 
 him beneath the curtains into the more imposing 
 room on their farther side. 
 
 For once in many years of ready sovreignty the 
 man followed and was still. 
 
 Betty stirred the coals and replenished the fire 
 with a forestick that flamed and snapped genial de- 
 fiance to the sour displeasure of the visitor's look. 
 
 He stood in the middle of the floor as the woman 
 departed, somewhat less imposing divested of his 
 cloak that Betty had carried with her, but suffi-
 
 330 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 ciently alarming to have awed the maidens of his 
 congregation into trembling anxiousness. 
 
 Still he was silent, and it would have seemed to 
 the astute that the denunciation of his manner 
 found a less easy utterance in speech. 
 
 " I pray you, be seated, Mr. Mather. " 
 
 The girl stood graciously waiting while her guest 
 rapped sharply with his knuckles upon a prayer 
 book that lay upon a 'polished shelf. 
 
 "Whose is this ? " he inquired harshly. 
 
 " It was my mother's, " Temple answered. She 
 had winced at the blows and there was a glow 
 in the dark eyes, less than ever meek as she watched 
 his movements. 
 
 " 'Tis unmeet such books of vain and fond repeti- 
 tions be brought to this new colony where we be 
 striving to obey the Scripture pure and undefiled. 
 It soweth error among those who would fain be 
 left in freedom to worship God. " 
 
 "And cannot the men of the new world be free 
 while there be any who worship not after their 
 manner?" asked the girl. 
 
 Mr. Mather had seated himself reluctantly, feeling 
 a greater ease in his task while he stood, and he drew 
 off slowly the mink gloves furred within, reveal- 
 ing his tapered fingers adorned with funeral rings. 
 
 "I fear, Mistress, thy contumacy listens not to 
 the wisdom of thy elders, " he replied with cold 
 formality, laying the gloves upon a table. "None 
 may worship in true peace when error aboundeth 
 in the midst. What doest thou with papistical 
 signs and gauds hung within thy windows ? " 
 
 The girl sat down, with a soft rustle of her silken 
 folds, upon a straight chair opposite, and returned
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 331 
 
 his dictatorial question with a look of great sur- 
 prise. 
 
 "Is not the cross everywhere a Christian sym- 
 bol ? " she asked. " Surely it is set plainly in every 
 door in Boston mansions, and I had supposed it 
 was for a sign of the Christian household within. " 
 
 Mr. Mather turned involuntarily to the only door 
 visible within the room, one that led to a closet be- 
 side the lofty mantel, and there, as the Maid had 
 said, was the raised cross with sunken panels be- 
 tween. 
 
 " 'Twas never intended for a sign, Mistress. At 
 least, were such the folly of builders of older days 
 'tis unconsciously perpetuated in this colony. It 
 should be looked to. " He glanced uneasily a 
 second time at the door. "So with sly and cun- 
 ning disguise doth Satan come among us, mingling 
 like an evil odour that pervadeth the good air, in our 
 most common deeds. Vigilance there is no hope 
 for us but in a more strenuous and fervent watch. 
 And that, Mistress" he leaned forward, his eyes 
 starting with a fixed and glassy concentration ' ' is 
 wherefore I am come, to warn, to command thee 
 to desist. " 
 
 For the girl whose blood flowed wholesomely and 
 steadied her nerves for joy or for endurance, so that 
 the spirit mastered the flesh in a sound and noble 
 restraint, this man whose solemnity was shaken by 
 the force of so great excitement seemed beside him- 
 self, his words the irresponsible ramblings of dis- 
 ease. For an instant that thought showed in the 
 astonished compassion with which she contem- 
 plated him. But as he sat before her in the black
 
 332 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 raiment of his office, the aggressive embodiment of 
 that jurisdiction beneath which her life had fallen, 
 his power was too solid, too real, for compassion. 
 
 She said nothing, waiting for some explanation 
 of the attack. He, too, waited, expecting a differ- 
 ent effect to follow his dolorously weighted phrases. 
 
 "What hast thou to say?" He kept his eyes 
 upon her as if believing the gaze would overwhelm 
 her calmness. 
 
 "In what have we offended? If these greens 
 transgress the law, pray lay the matter before Sir 
 John Winchcombe. " 
 
 "Thy Master gives thee a tongue quick in skilled 
 evasion, Mistress, " he answered angrily, "but 'twill 
 not avail. Know'st thou not that the God of Israel 
 is greater than Him thou servest and will utterly 
 confound Him in the Great Day ? Repent, repent, 
 and confess, ere His anger blast thee utterly. " 
 
 " Who gives to you authority to invade the house 
 of an English gentleman and assail those beneath 
 his care with vague and unmanly taunts? "the girl 
 asked with sudden resentment. " If there be that 
 in our worship or our conduct that likes you not, 
 Sir, pray lay the matter before Sir John Winch- 
 combe that he may know how tyrannous is the spy- 
 ing policy of these new colonies. Madam Chanter- 
 ell would thank you And if this Christmas 
 
 greenery disturb you 'tis to Sir John you should 
 appeal. " 
 
 " I speak not of Sir John, nor will thy lying 
 tongue avail, " he broke in with mounting wrath. 
 "My business is with thee, to cast out the Devil 
 from thy body and bring thee to confession. " He
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 333 
 
 lifted the stick he had retained and struck it upon 
 the floor in an authoritative blow. 
 
 The girl looked at him undaunted, wondering at 
 the outbreak. Her innate distaste for emotion 
 publicly displayed showing in a quieter reserve in 
 her replies. 
 
 "Your violence is without warrant, Sir," she 
 said coldly. " Even were I your parishioner I could 
 not listen further. " 
 
 "Girl thou triest my patience beyond the 
 bounds. Were it not that I remember 'tis but the 
 Devil speaking with thy false lips I could chastise 
 thy ready insolence. " 
 
 The Maid rose with unhurried dignity and spoke 
 with intense deliberation, looking down upon him 
 steadily. Her colour was warmer and she took her 
 breath somewhat more deeply, but her voice was 
 low, and not less rich and full. 
 
 "Patience, Sir, seems most demanded of them 
 you would affright. Such freedom as yours is a 
 false coin, with slavery for its reverse. " 
 
 "Beware, Mistress, I tell thee ! I am come in 
 the place of the God thy crimes offend!" Mr 
 Mather rolled forth his words loudly. 
 
 'Then do I know you are come taking a Holy 
 Name in vain; for His servants bring peace and 
 good-will on Christmas Eve, not anger and dis- 
 sension. " The girl seemed to grow taller, holding 
 herself regally at her full height, and her words 
 grave, and beautiful in their utterance, held him 
 silent till she had finished. 
 
 He also rose. 
 
 "Thou hast a devil," he repeated, his voice
 
 334 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 quivering with the fury of his seeming impotence. 
 "Thou art possessed!" 
 
 She passed onward toward the curtains with the 
 slight motion of chill dismissal. 
 
 " I will bid Betty attend you, Sir, " she had said, 
 when he sprang in unclerical haste to intercept her, 
 putting out his hand to seize her arm. 
 
 "Go at thy peril," he panted. "Thou art ac- 
 dursed, but I would save thee by thy confession if 
 thou be not damned already. I give thee this one 
 chance further, to own thy crimes and seek re- 
 pentance. " 
 
 The girl had not hastened her going for his sud- 
 den movement, but he withdrew his hand quickly at 
 her look, before it touched her. The outer door 
 opened and closed vehemently. 
 
 "A pest on the cold ugh!" groaned a voice be- 
 yond the archway. " Betty Betty, I say ! Curse 
 the woman ! Betty ! " 
 
 "Will you go now or shall I ask Sir John's per- 
 mission to leave you ? " asked the Maid, still quietly. 
 
 "Sir John will not succour a witch, " he retorted 
 confidently. "Not even thy Master can save thee 
 for there is One Greater " 
 
 "A witch you believe in good faith that I am 
 a witch ? " She interrupted him, transfixed. " You 
 must be mad, " she added in a tone hardly audible. 
 
 Mr. Mather's features shone with a fierce exulta- 
 tion. The girl had grown white at his word. 
 
 " If you believe this dreadful charge, you should 
 have proof, " she said after a pause. " Why should 
 you fix on me to be a witch ? " 
 
 The horror and sincerity of her recoil, in some
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 335 
 
 degree modified the fierceness of her accuser. He 
 watched, puzzled and alert, replying with solemn 
 volubility. 
 
 "There be many proofs. You turned from the 
 sick bed of a daughter of the faith them who prayed 
 for her recovery, making mock of their prayers, 
 and when you had driven them forth you used some 
 evil power to restore the maid, who lay already at 
 the portal of death appointed of her Maker. What; 
 say you to that ? " 
 
 "That it is false," the girl cried, "as only tales 
 are false that bear a little truth. Will you listen to 
 me, and hear me candidly as you would wish justice 
 for yourself ? You bring against me a grave charge 
 of the most horrid crime. You accuse me that I 
 am of those who have sold themselves to Satan and 
 must work his cruel will. And if that charge be 
 believed it will cost me my life. Is this not so ? " 
 
 " 'Tis for that I came. If thou confess " 
 
 he leaned toward her greedily. 
 
 "To confess what is not true were itself a crime, " 
 she answered. "Shall I tell you that which is the 
 truth ? " 
 
 "Speak. If thou liest, Mistress, thou but sink' st 
 thyself deeper in the abyss. " He sent forth his 
 periods as from the pulpit's altitude. 
 
 She lifted her hand as if his words troubled her 
 like a persistent insect, but he had ceased, prepared 
 to listen, his manner hostile, steeled against the 
 subtlety of the Fiend. 
 
 "I asked those who prayed by Beulah Munch to 
 go and pray for her elsewhere because she was de- 
 lirious and was made worse by the confusion in the
 
 336 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 chamber. She cried out continually, begging them 
 to go. " Temple rested her eyes on him, waiting 
 to see if he would believe. Even at peril of her life 
 it went hard with her to plead for herself to this 
 man, whose language had so offended. 
 
 "But how couldst thou cure her?" he began, 
 gloomily determined. 
 
 "By God's help," she interrupted clearly. "I 
 prayed ever as I worked that I might save the 
 child who had suffered much and He heard me. " 
 . " And the scars she shows no scars. " 
 
 " I watched her even when she slept, and while I 
 was not by, Mistress Munch kept guard. Save for 
 her arms, where she did herself harm when Mistress 
 Munch, being tired, fell once asleep, she hath no 
 sign of the disease. " There was a certain content- 
 ment in the tone in which she spoke. Beulah's joy 
 at her recovered prettiness had been the sole re- 
 ward of painful days. 
 
 "Could I pray for aid in that which was accursed," 
 the Maid went on, "or call on God to help me, 
 speaking His Name to you if I were what you say ? " 
 
 "Sometimes the Fiend is cunning, and seemeth 
 pious, " he answered. "What of Shubael, Mistress, 
 whom they say thou hast afflicted so that he weeps 
 to see thee and even when he is beaten doth not 
 desist?" 
 
 " 'Tis cruel. " The girl clasped her hands rest- 
 lessly. "I can do nothing and 'tis not my fault, 
 save that I liked the little lad and was kind to 
 him. He hath a warm heart and few have time to 
 talk and play with him. I know not why Mistress 
 Munch mayhap she thinks I am a witch ! " She
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 337 
 
 looked at Mr. Mather quickly. " Of course 'tis 
 that and Jacob he " 
 
 " What of Jacob ? Him, too, thou hast afflicted. " 
 
 "Nay hear me, Mr. Mather. Why should I 
 wish them harm. Master Munch hath no affliction 
 save that I preferred his sister to himself and so 
 angered him. He makes much of little. But for 
 Shubael, the child grieves and I dare not go to see 
 him and be friendly with the lad because then 
 he is punished. You have known children 'tis 
 said your own do love you greatly you know how 
 a small thing may grieve their tenderness. " 
 
 Mr. Mather shook his head soberly. She had 
 shown an agitation that brought her more within 
 his ken. His judicial rages came from the warmth 
 of his imagination and not like the Lieutenant- 
 Governor's from an icy determination unmoved by 
 feeling. The force of her perfect honesty had 
 struck in a measure conviction to his feelings. 
 
 "Why should you interfere in the care of one 
 stricken with the pest?" he asked still sternly. 
 "What was thy motive?" 
 
 "The motive Our Lord Christ gave us," she an- 
 swered. "Surely I need not give motives to a 
 priest of God, for caring for the sick. What evil 
 wish could I have had in such a task?" 
 
 "To gain her soul for Hell." Mr. Mather grew 
 hectic once more, regarding her with renewed dis- 
 trust. "And only a witch could trust her beauty 
 where it might perish of the same destruction, " 
 he added. 
 
 " And is not God as powerful as the Devil to pro- 
 tect His own?" The girl did not waver. The
 
 338 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 reticent faith that had grown, unconscious and 
 without observation in her solitary life, expressed 
 itself for the first time in her words. 
 
 "These be not the only charges brought against 
 thee, Mistress. And 'twas an error graviminous 
 and weighty to drive from their supplications be- 
 fore the Heavenly Throne those who were bent on 
 an errand of mercy. The land is groaning and 
 travailing in a horrid agony. I have seen many 
 times the marks of the burning and of the pincers 
 and claws that tear the flesh of the sufferers in this 
 hellish visitation. Mistress Epps lieth speechless 
 and her face is pulled in awful twitchings that cause 
 her to writhe helplessly upon her bed. She was 
 much easier after that I prayed with her, as I as- 
 sured her that she would be. I have hope under 
 God's grace to drive forth the evil spirit altogether." 
 He made a complacent pause. " It is an evil hour 
 when they who serve in Zion must gird upon them 
 the armour of their faith and do battle with an Aw- 
 ful Foe. We would not willingly make wrongful ac- 
 cusation. Canst thou truly clear thyself from this 
 most Terrible Charge ? Canst thou prove that thou 
 hast ne'er had dealings with Sathanas, nor tortured 
 any, nor betrayed thy soul to be a servant of the 
 Devil?" 
 
 " Have I not proved it? " The girl's earnestness 
 grew more profound. 
 
 " Thou hast not the manner of those condemned. 
 But there are many wiles; the Devil bringeth his 
 most secret and powerful subtleties to war with the 
 elect. " Mr. Mather walked up and down, pacing 
 the distance from door to window, and returning to 
 the Maid in a tense abstraction.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 339 
 
 "But if he so hate the elect how should he not 
 show it in his servants at the presence of them 
 vowed to his destruction ? Do you feel any horror, 
 any sense of the Devil's presence in me ? " the Maid 
 asked with firm assurance. 
 
 Mr. Mather paused, regarding her once more 
 and with a less hostile determination. 
 
 " It hath oft been proved the Devil cannot abide 
 my presence but will set on the afflicted to strike or 
 injure me, although none may harm me; they are 
 arrested in the very attempt. " He considered 
 doubtfully. 
 
 The Maid looked at him with a faint smile more 
 sad than her sober watching. 
 
 " Will you take my hand, Mr. Mather, that I may 
 show you how little I fear the presence of God's 
 people?" 
 
 He waited briefly, gazing upon her face with eyes 
 grown more sane and more discerning, and then 
 with evident wondering at his own faith, he took 
 the outstretched hand into his cold and nervous 
 grasp. 
 
 When his early supper was over and Mr. Mather 
 was locked behind the massive door of his study, he 
 busied himself for a long time above a basin that 
 held some strong and aromatic liquid, plunging his 
 hands within and rubbing them with energy upon a 
 linen napkin fetched from the table. Often he held 
 up his right hand to the light and looked at it with 
 horror. And finally he knelt, and rocking to and 
 fro, prayed aloud, pouring out his petition in flood- 
 ing words that might have drowned the very gates 
 of Heaven.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE: THE WAY PAST THE INN 
 
 OPPOSITE the Widow Pullen's house Roger 
 paced up and down, scattering the snow 
 with his high boots and holding his cloak 
 against the wind that tore in a shrieking frenzy 
 across the exposed peninsula. 
 
 A light burned in Temple's room and an extrava- 
 gant glow streamed from the windows of the lower 
 floor. Twice in the four days since her return from 
 the home of Christopher Munch the Maid had re- 
 fused to see him and, smarting beneath her sudden 
 coldness, he waited, striving to compass a way to 
 solve the mystery of the change. That she had 
 turned from him was due, it might be, to Sir Hum- 
 phrey. 
 
 His pride was powerfully at war with an unde- 
 fined anxiety, that added to the jealous anger and 
 brought his thoughts back to something new, not 
 wholly understood, in the girl's face. Had she 
 heard the senseless rumours of witchcraft that wan- 
 dered here and there, meaningless and stupid as the 
 vulgar minds that had conceived the thought ? 
 
 He drew his hat low over his eyes and let the 
 wind have its way. Upon the white-curtained 
 windows of the Maid's room no shadow was re- 
 vealed, but below he saw Betty busied about the 
 table and the portly figure of Sir John rising stiffly 
 
 340
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 341 
 
 to reach a pipe above the mantle; then he moved 
 away suddenly and set himself against the wind, 
 walking faster toward the Common. When he re- 
 turned, another figure, breasting the storm with a 
 hopeful stride, was approaching from the opposite 
 direction. It stopped before the gate and slipped 
 the latch, pushing the bars against the drifted snow 
 and hastening forward to the door. It was Sir 
 Humphrey. 
 
 Betty admitted him with a smiling face and 
 shortly ascended the stairs, returning alone to close 
 and lock the shutters. The light still burned in the 
 Maid's room. Had she descended? A foolish 
 question ! She would be coming radiant to greet 
 the cavalier and hear the music of his violin. Upon 
 the wailing of the wind it came already, heard now 
 and then in speaking cadences that sent Roger's 
 blood back upon its course in the fierce pressure of 
 a world-old misery. 
 
 Within, Sir John, huddled over the fire, was 
 listening with a frown. Betty, bearer of the Maid's 
 excuses, had tripped forth after they had been de- 
 livered, with a final admiring glance at Sir Hum- 
 phrey's back. Madam stitched with fluttering fingers 
 at her embroidery frame, pausing often to ask, "Art 
 better, Brother, " and be growled at with vigorous 
 denial. 
 
 "Thou playest like a master. I know a good 
 player, but, damme, Sir Humphrey, if aught can 
 pleasure a man when the fiends be after him 
 like this. A black pest on their chilly Boston ! 
 'Tis naught but an ^Eolus cave for winds and 
 damp ! "
 
 342 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The cavalier laid the viol upon a stool and crossed 
 to the hearth, a certain unwonted agitation in his 
 movements. He looked at the sufferer, appeared 
 about to speak, and, turning away, studied the 
 flames in silence. 
 
 "What is it ? What are ye all keeping from me ? 
 Seest thou death in my face?" Sir John asked 
 querulously. "Try not to deceive me. My sister 
 too hath something on her mind. Speak, Amanda 
 and cease looking at Sir Humphrey as if ye had a 
 secret between ye. " 
 
 The woman dropped her embroidery frame upon 
 her lap. 
 
 "Thou art not thyself." She answered in a 
 troubled voice. " He is suffering great pain, Sir 
 Humphrey. " 
 
 " 'Tis of that pain I am thinking. " Sir Hum- 
 phrey turned squarely around facing the room, 
 his brows drawn even more anxiously than the 
 woman's. " 'Tis plain he suffers. Hast ever had 
 aught like it before, Sir John. " 
 
 "Nay naught so miserable." Sir John looked 
 up, startled, and huddled again with a groan above 
 the flame. His features shone repulsively from his 
 excessive potations and the heat he courted. " 'Tis 
 as if a fiend were on my chest that ran red-hot 
 needles beneath the flesh. " 
 
 Madam Chanterell looked at him nervously. Sir 
 Humphrey shook his head and paced up and down, 
 his silence gathering meaning as it was prolonged. 
 
 ' ' What is it What is it, Sir Humphrey Wild- 
 glass? 'Tis a devilish trick to torture me with 
 hintings. Speak. Think'st thou I am bewitched?"
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 343 
 
 Sir John's voice put the query huskily. Fear made 
 his heavy face alive. 
 
 Madam Chanterell dropped her frame and it 
 rolled upon the floor dragging its weight of whit- 
 ened linen and silk skeins to lie unregarded beneath 
 the table. 
 
 " Tis too delicate for a stranger." Sir Hum- 
 phrey's tones broke slightly. "What use to inter- 
 fere but seeing such suffering " He bit his 
 
 lip and stopped abruptly, as if eager to avoid further 
 talk. "I will go now, Sir John. Command me 
 if " He stopped again. 
 
 " 'Go now' Tell me whom dost thou suspect ? 
 
 Who would so torture me ? Speak ! 'Tis no time for 
 silence. " Sir John groaned again as he twisted in his 
 chair. " I cannot long endure it," he gasped, pur- 
 pling with the increasing violence of each twinge. 
 
 " Do not go, Sir Humphrey. Pray counsel us. " 
 The sister rose, her solid figure trembling. 
 
 Sir Humphrey paused and swept a pitying glance 
 from her to the figure in the chair. 
 
 "I cannot counsel you. My feelings Ask 
 
 some other, " he ended suddenly. " I am not fit. " 
 
 " I knew 'twas that ! You pity her. " Sir John 
 Winchcombe tried to rise and fell back lumber- 
 ingly. " I heard it in the streets. 'Twas common 
 talk at Monck's. 'Tis Frances. " Sir Humphrey's 
 eyes that were averted as if in grief flashed at the 
 word. "Why didst thou bring her, Manda?" 
 Sir John's voice grew more shrill. "She was never 
 of us she was always strange. Why didst thou " 
 
 ' 'Twas thou insisted, thou and Richard Amory. 
 She liked it not, " put in his sister quickly.
 
 344 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "And now I am tormented for revenge." The 
 man moaned and rumbled in a sound of miserable 
 terror. 
 
 " I do not believe it. Thou wilt be better in the 
 morning. " Madam Chanterell spoke out with 
 some fierceness. 
 
 Sir Humphrey glanced at her pityingly still, and 
 again looked away. 
 
 " Better ! " Sir John cried out hoarser and more 
 angrily affrighted. "Better! The Devil take 
 thee ! Nay I mean not that, " he added hastily. 
 " But I'm like to die before I'm better. She teareth 
 my very vitals from me who else could it be ? " 
 
 "She hath been ever kind and thoughtful for 
 thee. 'Twas for that I liked her. Think, Brother. 
 Wilt believe these canting Puritans ? " 
 
 "Aye let me die ! Wait till thou art tormented. 
 Who is it, an it be not her ! Sir Humphrey be- 
 lieves Speak, Sir Humphrey I would not 
 
 credit it till I had seen 'twas his conviction. I chas- 
 tised the lout at the Blue Anchor that dared accuse 
 her and pommelled him till the sweat ran on 
 my body, and even as I came into the air these 
 
 pincers began pulling at my flesh Speak, Sir 
 
 Humphrey " 
 
 "What can I say, Sir John? 'Tis not for me to 
 
 say aught concerning a household where " 
 
 The cavalier paused in embarrassment. 
 
 "Aye there's the disgrace! A witch beneath 
 my roof ! I'll turn her out this night ! Betty 
 
 Betty, I say " he roared, angry fear conquering 
 
 the hoarseness. 
 
 Temple, above, thought it was but the repetition
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 345 
 
 of his drunken humour when the liquor fastened on 
 his brain. She had been seated long before her 
 dressing case but not once had she raised her gaze 
 to the mirror. It was upon the miniatures she had 
 shown to Roger in the woods. As she looked, her 
 eyes filled with tears ; and her hands, that closed the 
 spring, and tucked the pictures beneath her pillow 
 before she slept, trembled. 
 
 Sir Humphrey glanced up at her window as Betty 
 let him out. His step was rapid and he made haste, 
 when he had reached the Sign of the Orange Tree, 
 to shut himself within his chamber. 
 
 The panes were frosted and the fire but poorly 
 kept a shiver from the air. The wind battered 
 upon the walls and shook them so that the canopy 
 of the great bed swayed above its funereal hangings, 
 and the draught sucked up the chimney the warmth 
 of the new-fed flames. Sir Humphrey neither 
 smiled nor swore, but having built up his fire care- 
 fully and moved the table before it, wrote swiftly 
 while the gusts sent frequent eddies of smoke across 
 his eyes and set the candle bowing and flaring 
 dimly above the page. 
 
 Midway of the sheet he lifted his quill and sat 
 absorbed. Then went on again the faster. 
 
 "I cannot tell thee, thou pious Fainte-Hearte, 
 how cruellie thys maid hath roused the man in mee," 
 he began again. " 'Tis a Madnesse and 'twill, 
 doubtless, passe. By the tyme the Gold bee oures 
 shee wil bee secure enow from mee or any oth r ! 
 But lett mee not thynke too much on her. O 
 Sheepheart Timorous, what divinenesse, what
 
 346 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Softnesse and what Strengthe in that wondrous 
 
 Frame 'Tis more dangerous than thy wine ! 
 
 But feare naught 
 
 "Look sharpe now and fynde yf by the Lawe 
 a witch's relacons maie yett inherit or yf as here 
 the whol bee confiscate. It maie bee I have helped 
 defeate mine own Entente for I have greatlie stirred 
 uppe the kettle wherever Suspicon simmered, & 
 sett it boilynge merrilie ! Let the next Packet 
 
 brynge mee Worde Altho the die bee caste 
 
 alreadie, and 'twill bee Temple Ar milage is hang d 
 and who is shee ! The other wuld have been of age 
 come March so att ; e Newe Yeare we tak pos- 
 secon safelie of our Owne ! 
 
 "Stil, for the great 1 " Suretie forget not to consult 
 the Lawes. 
 
 "Monsieur grew somewhat insolente & I omit d 
 the Dispatch wch bro't hym soone to Termes. 
 Oure Daye dawneth ! 
 
 " But lett mee not thynke on the Lamb ! 
 
 " Enow the Leopard's spotts bee yet un- 
 changed so have no Feares. One Thynge I love 
 more th n frend or Beautie guess thou what 'tis 
 thy, 
 
 GREGORY." 
 
 Sir Humphrey dropped his pen and watched the 
 flames. Roger, passing the Orange Tree with the 
 even stride of the abstracted, saw the light the 
 shutter's crack revealed and came smartly to a 
 realization of the place and hour. The night was 
 dark, but the wind brought to him a sound that he 
 did not understand. He half paused to listen and
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 347. 
 
 as the sound was repeated he saw the door of the 
 hostelry open and the irate face of Simon Bolt in the 
 aperture. The lantern the innkeeper carried threw a 
 single ray upon the features of a small man, heavily 
 cloaked, that stood swaggering upon the step. 
 
 ' 'Tis late. He'll be abed, " the host shouted 
 with chattering teeth. He had set ajar but the 
 upper half of the massive door. The would-be 
 visitor leaned over and by a quick manoeuvre slid 
 the bolt, pushing the heavy frame sharply inward, 
 his shoulder to the upper portion that the alarmed 
 landlord thrust against him. As the stranger 
 turned, his hat pushed awry, his cloak blown back- 
 ward in the blast, Roger saw the face distinctly 
 and astonishment brought a soundless ejaculation 
 to his lips. 
 
 As he went on again he forgot the cold in wonder, 
 piecing together new combinations in the puzzle 
 he had set himself to solve. The Lady escaped 
 and here in Boston ! Then the pirates had not all 
 been slain. What more natural ! In the haste to 
 abandon the wreck fallen enemies had been but 
 hastily regarded, and some, reviving, must have 
 lowered the tender of the Wa?rus and rowed away 
 under the cover of the dark ! Did it mean a new 
 danger to the Maid? Or came the miscreant un- 
 asked to levy tribute from one known of old? 
 Proof, that were plain, his presence was of this 
 former knowledge. Another link to add to the 
 Governor's chain. 
 
 At his own door a small and furry creature 
 bounded through the drift and Roger stooped and 
 rubbed its ears.
 
 348 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Art cold, Felix? 'Tis a bitter night," he re- 
 marked gently. " Shalt come with me, " and tuck- 
 ing the kitten beneath his cloak, he carried him to 
 his room. 
 
 The cat walked timidly about the floor, and 
 growing bolder explored bravely, mounting finally 
 to a chair. The room was hardly warmer than the 
 air without, save for the wind's absence. 
 
 The young man drew his cloak about him closely 
 and sat upon his bed to think. With a leap the 
 black kitten scaled to the lofty surface of the coun- 
 terpane and came rubbing and purring against her 
 protector's side. The topaz eyes now and again 
 turned confidingly to the grave face that for some 
 moments seemed not aware of them. 
 
 Then Roger, looking down, at the contented and 
 insistent effort to draw his dull attention, thumped 
 and patted the plump creature comfortably as one 
 might a dog. 
 
 "Art growing a great beauty, Felix," he said 
 absently. " Art much improved in looks. I think 
 the Little Maid would like thee. ".
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 IN THE NAME OF THE LORD 
 
 THE Boston streets were no otherwise on the 
 twenty-fifth of December than on the twen- 
 ty-fifth of any other month. Men and 
 women went with accustomed zeal about their 
 tasks and neither sign nor greeting hinted at the 
 unusual. 
 
 Temple, lying with closed lids, pretending drow- 
 siness, did not notice the maid's hurried response to 
 her good-morning, nor till the woman had gone did 
 she wonder that it was Candace and not Betty who 
 made her fire. As the wood began to crackle on 
 the hearth she pulled aside the curtain and looked 
 out. The snow lay almost untrodden in the road. 
 Sir Humphrey's tracks were sifted full to the very 
 door, while across the way a smooth mound lay 
 drifted above the signs of Roger's wanderings. 
 The outlook was depressing; even the smoke that 
 crawled sluggishly into the grey air seemed heavy 
 and without the courage to ascend. 
 
 She dressed shivering, choosing a warm gown for 
 the intense cold that had clamped itself upon every 
 object and seized piercingly upon her even before 
 the sturdy blaze. Then she went forth into the 
 empty hall and opened the door that led below. 
 Her step did not linger on the threshold and she 
 moved downward without touching the balustrade, 
 
 349
 
 350 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 her foot light upon the stairway, her resolution 
 ready with a smile of Christmas greeting. 
 
 " Where are the wreaths ? " She asked the ques- 
 tion with a startled glance at the empty windows, 
 and Betty, setting a platter hastily upon the table, 
 fled without looking up, her apron to her eyes. 
 
 The flying servant left the way clear into the 
 kitchen and Candace stooping to stamp the sanded 
 floor with its herring-bone pattern, swung back the 
 oaken panels with a frantic push. Betty's sobs 
 broke out loudly before the latch had clicked. 
 
 The Maid looked at the platter set for her break- 
 fast, and turning would have followed, but 
 Madam slipping the bar of Sir John's bedchamber, 
 that faced the living room, came cautiously out. 
 When she saw the girl she started as if to retreat 
 and then stood still, her hand upon the post. 
 
 "A Merry Christmas, Madam," Temple moved 
 toward her brightly. "And many a happier yet to 
 follow this. " 
 
 Madam said nothing. Her face had gone a 
 chalky white and her eyes did not lift. 
 
 " What is it ? Is Sir John worse ? " the girl asked 
 soberly. " You are anxious. " 
 
 The older woman shook her head in a palsied 
 sort of negation, and stepped back into the room, 
 locking the door behind her. 
 
 Sir John lay helpless within the puffed-out feath- 
 ers. Before the fire was set a stew of herbs and 
 treacle, simmering. The man's voice was choked 
 and his eyes held in frightened supplication to his 
 sister. Now and then he whispered and she an- 
 swered him.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 351 
 
 " I am worse. She is come down ! " he breathed, 
 gazing terrified at the bar. 
 
 Madam nodded, heating a compress of thick flan- 
 nel with shaking hands. The house was of un- 
 wonted luxury and many chimneys. Sir John's 
 chamber shared the kitchen flue. The room was 
 the one warm spot within the mansion. 
 
 ' 'Twill do no good She brings it back each 
 
 time I get a little ease," the hoarse whisper went 
 on. "And 'tis no use at best without the flax- 
 seed. " 
 
 " I will get it. " His sister rose. 
 
 "And leave me here, the lock undone!" His 
 eyes stood out with terror. " Nay, try the flannen 
 first. Manda, 'tis awful agony. Think'st thou - 
 she'll surely kill me ? " Tears of pain and fear wet 
 the red eyelids and spread upon the broad em- 
 purpled cheeks. 
 
 Madam drew closer the thick woollen bedcur- 
 tains lined with striped silk, and fastened them to- 
 gether on the side farthest from the fire. Her 
 voice was tremulous. 
 
 " I will plead with her, John. " 
 
 He moved suddenly and cried out in fresh alarm. 
 " Nay, leave me not. Woman, leave me not. She 
 
 is biting me. She hath her nails in my flesh " 
 
 He tore at the coverings tucked about his neck and 
 his sister picked up the hot compress from the 
 hearth and clapped it upon the bared chest, re- 
 covering him with a firm hand. 
 
 He cried out again, but the heat took effect and he 
 lay quiescent till the flannel cooled. 
 
 Without, Temple moved to and fro for warmth.
 
 352 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Into the deserted living room came no spicy smell 
 of cookery, no sound of labour. The kitchen was 
 empty, both maids vanished, when, pausing in her 
 walk, she opened its door to console the weeping 
 Betty. The great fire here was brighter. She 
 drew a stool beside it and sat with folded hands 
 thinking. As she thought, broken words came to 
 her from the sick room, and she stood up and looked 
 about her as if a whip had lashed her sharply. 
 
 Anger, all her strength and pride, showed soldier- 
 ly in her attitude. 
 
 " But where to go ! " she said to herself aloud, her 
 eyes upon the drifts outside the windows. 
 
 Steps, creeping down the kitchen stairs, had 
 halted suddenly. 
 
 " Betty ! " the Maid exclaimed as if here might be 
 one to advise or comfort her dilemma. But 
 Betty, sobbing again, ran from her with the haste 
 of children fleeing from the dark. 
 
 The Maid stood a long time still. When she 
 stirred, the tears that were in her eyes fell upon her 
 wrist. 
 
 "Even Betty!" she said. She laid her hand 
 upon her throat, clasping it with her quick gesture 
 that pressed back the threatened grief. Then, 
 impatiently, she wiped the wet splashes from her 
 arm, and returning to her untasted breakfast, set 
 herself to swallow what she could. It was cold and 
 she succeeded not over well, but something she ate 
 and going to her room began to lay together her 
 books, her trinkets, and a portion of her clothing, 
 packing the whole within a basswood box. 
 
 While she was yet busied at the task, the en-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 353 
 
 trance below resounded to a knocking loud and pro- 
 longed. 
 
 Wearied by the hammering and shouts that as- 
 cended harshly, Temple crossed the chamber and 
 threw wide the sash. The noisy one had retreated 
 carefully, hearing the sound, to the snow-hidden 
 bed of asters by the gate. She recognized the 
 staff, chief symbol of the constable's importance. 
 
 " In the name of the law "began the man, 
 
 gazing upward from beneath his high peaked 
 hat. 
 
 " Whom do you want ? " the girl asked calmly. 
 
 "In the name of the law, I demand the person 
 of Mistress Temple Armitage " 
 
 "I am she," the Maid answered, looking down 
 upon him without quailing. "For what am I 
 wanted?" 
 
 "That, woman, will be set forth to thee in good 
 time. Make haste. " 
 
 Temple closed the window, laid the last things 
 within her box, and shut and locked it. When she 
 was ready for the street the shouts of the town offi- 
 cer were again besieging the walls. 
 
 The outer door was not yet unbolted. As the 
 girl pushed up the wooden blocks and stepped out 
 into the cold the angry constable would have 
 seized her by the arm but she moved quickly 
 beyond him and waited in the path. 
 
 "I will go with you, Sir. You need not touch 
 me. " And whether he feared her power, or was 
 awed by her beauty or something more, he offered 
 no further indignity. A little train gathered, fol- 
 lowing with grim outcry, as the tipstaff, plainly
 
 354 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 enamoured of his office, dallied in needless delib- 
 eration on their way to the Town House square. 
 
 Here knots of men, leaving the Council Chamber, 
 lingered talking, their faces reddened with the sharp 
 air. But neither their grave and baleful stare nor 
 the hoots and yells of the mob could gain for 
 those who would have pursued farther an en- 
 trance to the hall. The officer shut them out, 
 rapping the most aggressive soundly with his staff, 
 and barring the massive door before he led his 
 prisoner up the echoing stairs. A youthful cus- 
 todian waited below to admit those who came of 
 right. 
 
 In the long chamber above, groups of two or 
 three still paused, discussing with stern faces, or 
 arguing in hot debate. At the upper end of the 
 barren room Mr. Cotton Mather, with the Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor and that member of the Council 
 whom the girl remembered at the Governor's din- 
 ner, were seated upon a platform, loftily raised 
 above the surface of the floor. Mr. Mather was 
 talking, and the others listened, swaying forward in 
 grim assent. 
 
 "Stay thou here." 
 
 The tipstaff left her and went forward to the 
 dais. The groups looked curiously at her and 
 watched her as they talked. None offered her a 
 seat on bench or stool, and none removed his hat 
 whether it sat upon a wig or warmed a less pro- 
 tected head. 
 
 The Maid stood without awkwardness, without 
 outward trembling. The colour lent by the frost 
 had faded and her own had not come back to her
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 355 
 
 face, but her loveliness seemed the more striking, 
 and the silver-grey of hood and cloak, crimson- 
 lined and bearing the stamp of a less provincial 
 world, gave colour enough fitly to frame he.r beauty. 
 
 The hall was cold and the men were well wrapped ; 
 those that had not their hands in gloves rubbed 
 them together, and the place echoed with the noise 
 of those who stamped upon the floor or walked up 
 and down for warmth. 
 
 After long moments of the hostile looks, the un- 
 broken waiting, the door opened again and a small 
 horde of people whom she did not know came in on 
 tiptoes, somewhat awed, their faces mottled 
 with the chill. They drew away, looking askance 
 at her, and watched her from the farther side. 
 
 The constable struck his staff heavily upon the 
 boards. 
 
 "Mistress Temple Armitage, stand forth." He 
 rolled the words in a loud sonorousness, and 
 knocked again. 
 
 The girl came forward with an unhurried step 
 and stood below the dais where he pointed her. 
 The member of the Council started in some surprise 
 and looked hastily at the other two. 
 
 "She is young," he whispered. "Is this the 
 maid accused?" 
 
 The girl heard him, and her eyes rested on him an 
 instant, studying a face that seemed too open for 
 injustice, but Mr. Mather answered him aloud. 
 
 " Beware lest she bewitch thee. Even I have felt 
 her evil power upon the will. I think we may pro- 
 ceed?" The others nodded. He rose with much 
 solemnity and took his seat within a great arm
 
 356 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 chair upon the centre of the platform. Ponder- 
 ously wigged, full-faced, and substantial of body, 
 he loomed large in the eyes of the watchers who had 
 entered after the Maid, and the wave of his hand 
 that beckoned them, brought them hastily beneath 
 the platform, 
 
 "Be seated upon the benches," he commanded 
 them, and waited till his order was obeyed. 
 
 Then he filled his lungs with a deep inspiration, 
 and sweeping a magisterial glance about the hall 
 where the other groups had grown silent to listen, 
 he fixed his prominent eyes upon the girl and spoke 
 in a voice that gave to the air a full vibration the 
 constable had not attained. 
 
 "Mistress Armitage, " he began, "thou art sum- 
 moned hither by three of his Majesty's subjects 
 who would inquire as to certain practices of thine 
 held of deadly import to the health and safety of 
 this Colony. If thou be'st found unable to an- 
 swer to our satisfaction the questions where- 
 with we shall pursue the ends of justice, and 
 if thou be not able to disprove the offered evi- 
 dence of these witnesses, thou wilt stand accused 
 of witchcraft and be committed to the common 
 jail to await thy trial by the Commission thereto 
 appointed by the Governor. Nor will friends 
 in high places avail aught against the evidence 
 nor any trust in other help than the truth have 
 power to save thee from the just rewarding of thy 
 crimes. Thou wilt be given the lawful trial ac- 
 corded to others of the accused, and if thou be 
 found guilty, delivered unto the hangman, who 
 shall set thee for an example and a sign to all who
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 35,7 
 
 would darken this fair province with the commerce 
 of black Hell. Thou art brought here for this open 
 questioning by two members of the King's Com- 
 mission and an anointed Servant of the Lord, that 
 none may claim thou wast lightly or maliciously 
 committed. Speak now the " 
 
 The door opened noisily and another group made 
 its appearance. Temple did not move nor look 
 around, but as they took their seats with the first 
 comers, the panting figure of Mistress Munch was 
 projected within her range of vision and she turned 
 surprised, and smiled quickly at Beulah, who looked 
 somewhat thinner for her illness and did not return 
 the greeting. 
 
 Shubael's chubby face lighted at sight of the 
 Maid and she let the smile rest sadly for an instant 
 upon him. But his brother admonished him 
 harshly, setting him, with a cruel grasp upon the 
 childish arms, farther upon the bench. The boy 
 tried to draw away, but catching Mr. Mather's 
 frown, sat tearfully quiet, a small and frightened 
 figure beside the burly proportions of Jacob Munch. 
 
 "What hast thou to say, Mistress Armitage, 
 against this charge?" Mr. Mather's voice had 
 poured forth again more roundly than before. 
 
 "That it is false, " the girl's voice rang as clearly 
 as his own, strong in its indignation. 
 
 "Listen, Mistress, and take heed to thy words, 
 that there be fewer sins imputed to thy charge. 
 The eye of the Lord searcheth every secret thing, 
 and there be nothing hid that shall not be revealed. 
 Nor are His servants idle. In time of great stress 
 and trouble " Mr. Mather's tones took on an awed
 
 358 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 and awesome depth "I vowed unto Him a great 
 and special service as the way should open, and 
 forthwith upon the vow came the troubling of these 
 colonies with the plague of witchcraft, whereby the 
 innocent and the godly be made to suffer grievous 
 agonies. So is the Devil striving to reconquer for 
 himself that which was his before the coming of 
 the white men, and in these wrestlings we contend 
 not alone for the safety of these mortal tenements 
 but for the salvation that the malignance of this 
 attack hath put in fearful peril. " The clergyman 
 paused impressively. A hush held the room in an 
 unnatural quiet. 
 
 "To accuse the innocent can gain naught for a 
 righteous cause. " Temple looked up at him quietly, 
 speaking with a low distinctness that carried the 
 words to all that were present. The member of the 
 Council regarded her with grave scrutiny that 
 weighed her earnestness. Lieutenant-Governor 
 Stoughton frowned and turned his head away im- 
 patiently. 
 
 "Peace, woman, and hearken to that I have yet 
 to utter," answered Mr. Mather sternly. "Put a 
 better bridle upon a tongue set on fire of Hell. Thou 
 art more dangerous than others by as much as thou 
 hast the habit of much speaking that little adorneth 
 a modest maiden's carriage. " He turned to his fel- 
 low judges, addressing them and the people listen- 
 ing below. " Called of the Lord to see for myself if 
 the charge upon this woman were a true one, I 
 went yesterday to the house where she abides, and 
 gave her opportunity of setting out the matter 
 freely, explaining or confessing all. And first she
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 359 
 
 was angered and would have driven me forth " 
 
 "As she did Elder Tripp and Mr. Larcas, " put 
 in Mistress Munch in an aside. 
 
 Mr. Mather fixed his eyes on her who had the 
 temerity to interrupt him, and waited, cold and 
 condemning, until she grew scarlet with shame. 
 
 " Look upon me and give heed, nor fall into the 
 error of those who idly desire to hear their own 
 voices," he ordered frigidly, before he resumed his 
 narrative. "And when," he continued, "I fled 
 not from her anger but charged her with these in- 
 iquities she gave herself less boldness but set 
 herself to win me by sophistical phrases and 
 a wily tongue, so that my very judgment 
 was beset by the subtleties of the Fiend; 
 and when, coercing my will by her Satanic 
 craft so that I, for a test, permitted her to touch 
 my hand, there ran upon my arm like lightning a 
 stupefying force that changed my sight and I there- 
 upon beheld her as a queenly maid, noble and 
 seemly, and sealed with the seal of the elect. 
 Wherefore, when I was withdrawn from her pres- 
 ence, there came upon me a painful pricking and 
 discomfort of that hand which she had touched, so 
 that when I would set myself to write a sermon 
 my fingers were cramped upon the quill, and al- 
 though in the day I had sat writing with ease and 
 no distress for eight hours without more pause than 
 needful for a small repast, yet in the evening I was 
 thus afflicted. Upon which portent I prostrated 
 myself before the Lord, praying for succour, and He 
 showed me the true similitude of this damsel as of a 
 direful monster, scaly like unto a fish and with eyes
 
 360 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 fiery and shooting sparks of flame, while upon her 
 brow was a reddened mark the finger of God's 
 wrath. " 
 
 A stir went about the hall. Those nearest Tem- 
 ple fell back quickly. 
 
 Mr. Mather observed the effect of his eloquence 
 and reseated himself in the great chair by whose 
 arms he had pulled himself upright in the fervour of 
 his speech. 
 
 The door was opened loudly and the constable 
 again appeared. Shivering and weeping beside 
 him was Betty. Behind followed one of the men 
 who had prayed by Beulah. 
 
 As the hall settled to quiet once more Temple 
 would have spoken, but her first word was inter- 
 rupted harshly by Mr. Stoughton. 
 
 "Hold thy peace, woman," he commanded. "An' 
 thou interruptest thus it will be needful to set a gag 
 upon thy tongue. " 
 
 The member of the Council moved uneasily. 
 
 "We will proceed' ' Mr. Mather looked about the 
 room picking out his witness "to question those 
 who have observed what is strange or noteworthy 
 in the conduct of Mistress Armitage. Bring for- 
 ward Eliphalet Bardon. " 
 
 The tipstaff came promptly forth with a lad in 
 whose face importance and fright had together set 
 an unnatural grimace. He stood as far as he could 
 place himself from the Maid, and looked up blink- 
 ing at the three upon the platform, as if their great- 
 ness blurred his sight. 
 
 "Eliphalet, tell me truthfully whether thou hast 
 seen Mistress Armitage."
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 361 
 
 "Yea. I have seen her," quavered the boy 
 shrilly. 
 
 " When and where hast thou seen her ? " 
 
 " Many times when she hath passed by our house ; 
 and she took the witch cat, " he added eagerly. 
 
 Mr. Mather leaned forward. 
 
 "Tell about the cat." 
 
 "The witch cat was set in a pillory and its eyes 
 were fire eyes. It cried and then the witch she" 
 he pointed with his stubbed forefinger "swooped 
 like a hawk out of the sky and carried off the cat. " 
 
 " What didst thou, Eliphalet ? "asked Mr. Stough- 
 ton. 
 
 "All of us ran after and pelted her, save Shubael 
 Munch, who struck me because I said she was a 
 witch" he paused to scowl at Shubael "and 
 when I but touched her dress a great blow struck 
 me like lightning and threw me high in the air and I 
 fell and was hurt. " 
 
 "Where went the witch?" Mr. Stoughton also 
 leaned forward. 
 
 " I do not know. Captain Verring came to her 
 and they took the cat away. " 
 
 " She did not vanish ? Think boy. " Mr. Stough- 
 ton still spoke. 
 
 "I did not yea, she vanished for a little in a 
 cloud, and then came back. " 
 
 "Hast thou been since afflicted?" Mr. Mather 
 took again the reins. The boy's eyes grew larger. 
 He sent a frightened glance toward the girl. 
 
 " Yea, Sir. Many times the cat hath come to me 
 in the night and spit at me and once it pulled me 
 from the bed. "
 
 362 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The lad was led back by the constable and his 
 mother took his place, testifying that what he said 
 was true, for she had herself found him upon the 
 floor. 
 
 Mr. Mather dismissed her with a look of satisfac- 
 tion and summoned the other members of the group 
 surrounding her. One by one they gave their tes- 
 timony, eager or timid, casting curious or terrified 
 looks upon the Maid. 
 
 The last of these was a drover who went some- 
 times to and fro between Boston and Andover, 
 with sheep and cattle, and often hauled lum- 
 ber for the builders. His examination was long 
 and wearisome. 
 
 "Thou sayest she hath a rare malevolent influ- 
 ence upon the brutes that maketh them subordi- 
 nate to her will ? " Mr. Mather put the question. 
 
 " Sir? " The drover gazed anxiously about him. 
 
 "How dost know animals obey her? Speak." 
 Mr. Stoughton's precise and chilling brevity was 
 plainer to the man. 
 
 "I seen her, " he began in a low tone. Temple 
 turned at his voice that had grown bashful, and 
 looked at him with sudden recognition. He shuf- 
 fled uneasily, and his weather-scarred face reddened. 
 
 " He cannot speak because she looks at him. " 
 Mr. Mather nodded to his colleagues. "Turn thy 
 eyes another way, Mistress. " 
 
 Temple let her gaze dwell an instant in proud 
 compassion on the shuffling figure and looked 
 slowly about the hall. Frozen suspicion, blank 
 hostility, everywhere ! She drew herself more 
 quietly erect and waited without reply.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 363 
 
 " She moved my horses up a hill, your Honours, " 
 began the man. "I'd beaten till the blood run 
 on their backs, but they'd not budge. An' she 
 come out o' the book shop 'twas in King street 
 and she talked with 'em and touched 'em and 
 they went with her an' no more ado. Often 
 too I seen her when I had sheep an' cattle and they'd 
 let her go anigh 'em and show no fear.' ' 
 
 "Thou hast seen her often?" 
 
 "Aye, she visited my wife that lay sick and gave 
 her wine " 
 
 "And is thy wife afflicted?" 
 
 " She is dead, gored of an ox An' I seen the 
 
 witch only a sennight afore speak to the ox. I heerd 
 her words: 'Thou must mend thy manners wild 
 one,' she said, 'or thou'lt do mischief yet'. She put 
 it in his head. 'Twas ever unruly with me. I'd 
 nigh flayed it often for that 'twould not obey. But 
 to her alone it showed no rages. " 
 
 "Enough. Go thy way, Adonijah. Thou hast 
 borne witness for the Lord. They who have given 
 their testimony may depart an' they will. " Mr. 
 Mather waited. 
 
 The drover, whose breath was heavy of sugared 
 rum, pushed himself through the throng toward 
 the door. The rest remained, closing up nearer to 
 hear, and the constable, at a word from Mr. 
 Mather, led out the unhappy Betty from the cor- 
 ner where she had retreated. 
 
 "Thy name, woman." She looked up at the 
 command and dried her eyes. 
 
 "Betty, your Honour," she answered curtsey- 
 ing.
 
 364 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "You are of the household of Sir John Winch- 
 combe?" The words sounded like an arraign- 
 ment. 
 
 " Yea, Sir your Honour, " she replied quickly. 
 
 Mr. Mather sat more rigidly upright in the great 
 chair. "Doth not Sir John Winchcombe lie in 
 great agony afflicted of a witch ? " he asked. 
 
 "They say so," answered Betty tremulously. 
 " But he is better now. " 
 
 "Since Mistress Armitage is no longer in the 
 house ? " Mr. Mather brought out the question 
 with triumphant emphasis. 
 
 Betty was silent. Her eyes, roving in a troubled 
 fashion, had fallen upon her mistress. 
 
 "Answer thou. Answer the question of Mr. 
 Mather. " The Lieutenant-Governor had again 
 interposed. 
 
 "He is better, Sir " 
 
 "When began the change? Was it not after 
 Mistress Armitage had come away ? " Mr. Mather 
 persisted. 
 
 "He was better when I came forth, Madam said. 
 He was sleeping. " Betty drew her breath tear- 
 fully. 
 
 " Could I not afflict him still an' I were a witch ? " 
 asked Temple suddenly. 
 
 Betty wheeled and gazed at her intently and at 
 the circle of cold and curious faces behind her, and 
 with the look she became calmer and her helpless 
 trembling ceased. 
 
 "Madam said it was the flaxseed seemed to ease 
 him, " she volunteered. 
 
 " Answer what is asked thee ; save thy chatter
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 365 
 
 for without," Mr. Stoughton bade her, and she 
 curtseyed again, her eyes on the ground. 
 
 "Whom doth Sir John hold to have bewitched 
 him? Whom doth he suspect of this malignity?" 
 The clergyman watched her carefully. 
 
 "Madam hath the care of Sir John. None else 
 hath seen him, " the woman replied. 
 
 Mr. Mather's anger was in danger of mastering 
 his control. "How darest thou so mock us?" he 
 cried vociferously. "Speak. Whom doth Sir John 
 suspect ? 'Tis this maiden here, Temple Armitage, 
 is it not?" 
 
 "They say so." Betty wept again, plucking at 
 her round black apron and catching her breath in a 
 sob. 
 
 "Thou hast been much about her person?" Mr. 
 Mather went on. 
 
 "Ever since she came to Madam, Sir your 
 Honour " 
 
 " Hast thou never seen upon her the witchmarks ? 
 Think well lest a falsehood cost thee a doom like 
 hers. " 
 
 " Marks ! Upon my mistress ! " Betty dropped 
 her apron and glared at him forgetful and indig- 
 nant. "She hath not a mark on her whole body ! 
 Who dares say there's a mark on Mistress Armitage ! 
 She hath the fairest " 
 
 " That will do Answer no more than is re- 
 quired of thee, " her questioner interrupted. " Look 
 me in the face, Betty, and tell the whole truth. Is 
 not thy mistress a witch?" 
 
 "No she's not She's not a witch I 
 
 wish we'd never come to this cruel country "
 
 366 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Betty buried her face in the apron and rocked to 
 and fro in hysterical weeping. 
 
 "Calm thyself, Betty." The member of the 
 Council spoke again. " How long hast thou served 
 in the household of Sir John Winchcombe ? " 
 
 " Ten years come Christmas Ten years this 
 
 very day, Sir, " Betty looked up more hope- 
 fully. 
 
 " Has thou ever known Sir John to be thus afflict- 
 ed before ? " Mr. Mather frowned. Mr. Stoughton 
 cast a contemptuous glance in the direction of the 
 speaker and looked indifferently to the windows 
 where the frost was still thick on the small panes. 
 
 "O, often, sir," Betty answered clearly. "He 
 hath them ever after he goeth to London or hath 
 been all night drinking with his good friends at 
 home. Sometimes it taketh him in one place, 
 sometimes another. " 
 
 "And Mistress Armitage, hath she been of the 
 household of Sir John since first thou went to 
 them?" 
 
 " O, no, Sir. She came but five year agone, and 
 a glad day it was for all of us, that brought her " 
 
 " Hath Sir John been seized by these attacks only 
 since the coming of Mistress Armitage?" 
 
 " Nay, he had them always. 'Twas " 
 
 "Peace peace. Enough! These be but un- 
 profitable questions and irrelevant. Thou canst 
 go, Betty, " put in Mr. Mather peremptorily. 
 
 "May I be permitted briefly to question this 
 witness ? " 
 
 Temple made the request with a look of grave 
 appeal. The member of the Council leaned for-
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 367 
 
 ward and spoke in Mr. Mather's ear. The three 
 conferred, Mr. Stoughton reinforcing the chair- 
 man's emphatic denial. 
 
 "Thou art presumptuous, Mistress Armitage. 
 Hereafter, keep silence, unless thou'rt bid to 
 speak." Mr. Mather resettled himself, the judicial 
 severity of his manner rendered more forcible by 
 irritation. The shadows that told of a night-long 
 vigil showed more plainly under his angrily staring 
 eyes. 
 
 "Call the wife of Christopher Munch," he com- 
 manded. The dame, who was nearer to the 
 dais than the tipstaff, moved with some alacrity into 
 the place left vacant by Betty. 
 
 " Mistress Munch, it is your painful duty to tell us 
 aught known to you concerning this maiden here, 
 whom many have accused of a most heinous crime 
 in the sight of God. When did you first see this 
 Mistress Armitage ? " 
 
 "In the window of Madam Fitch's house. I 
 marked her then for one I would not have my Beu- 
 lah to know, and had she listened to me she would 
 not be as she is to-day, Mr. Mather. " 
 
 Temple, who had heard the opening words with 
 evident surprise, gazed with the rest of the throng 
 upon Beulah, who, as soon as she felt the eyes 
 of the Maid upon her, was drawn in a sudden 
 contortion, hiding her face and twisting her 
 body as if in pain. When Temple turned won- 
 deringly away, the contortions ceased. The 
 men upon the dais gazed significantly upon 
 one another, even the member of the Council 
 affected by the sight. "Look at her," Mistress
 
 3 68 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Munch went on unhindered, "and see to what her 
 trust has brought her now. None of my children 
 hath escaped. I cannot think why we of all others 
 were doomed to be so tormented and abused!" 
 Her voice quavered. 
 
 "You and yours have truly been but ill entreated 
 Mistress. The Lord's people are roused in your 
 defence. Speak on. " 
 
 "I marked her that day of Governor Phips's 
 arriving and no good luck have I had in aught since 
 first a royal Governor was set over us. " 
 
 "Keep to thy tale," interrupted Mr. Mather 
 hastily. 
 
 An approving gleam shot from the cold eyes of 
 Mr. Stoughton. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Sir." Mistress Munch curt- 
 seyed involuntarily to the reprimand of Mr. Mather, 
 and Beulah flushed darkly at her mother's tone. 
 " I have had many trials and I was ever readier for 
 
 work than words From the beginning I saw 
 
 that Jacob was no more himself. But young men, 
 an' they be pleasing to the maids, must go their own 
 gait, and he had held a fancy for many he soon for- 
 got. " She cast a glance at Temple who watched 
 her, each instant colder and more amazed. "But 
 I warned Beulah no good would come of knowing 
 such a vain aristocratical creature who would not 
 even show she saw that Jacob favoured her. Sly 
 
 and " 
 
 "What have you seen, Mistress Munch, that 
 persuades you the maiden is a witch?" asked the 
 member of the Council, stopping her soberly. 
 
 " Pray let Mistress Munch tell her tale in her own
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 369 
 
 manner," reproved Mr. Mather with asperity. 
 ' 'Tis so we get the truth most freely. " 
 
 "It were well she gave us the kernel and less of 
 the husk mayhap, " answered the admonished 
 Member settling his hat and drawing his cloak more 
 warmly about him. 
 
 Beulah coughed, and Temple looked with in- 
 voluntary sympathy in her direction, whereupon 
 the cough grew violent and the contortions began 
 again. 
 
 Mistress Munch rambled on through devious by- 
 ways of her own conjectures, till she came to her 
 daughter's illness, when she grew somewhat more 
 coherent. The coughing started by Beulah had be- 
 come general and the lad who had testified about 
 the cat fell also into contortions, crying out at in- 
 tervals and mewing violently. 
 
 "Jacob could neither sleep nor had he any stom- 
 ach for his victuals, and would do naught but mope 
 and say that Beulah must go with him to see Mis- 
 tress Armitage for that she'd not receive him an' he 
 went alone; and thereupon Beulah went, as she 
 will tell ye, and set forth her brother's misery and 
 prayed relief of the maid who wasted him away, 
 but the girl only mocked her and said Jacob was 
 none of her affair, and Beulah, being angry " 
 
 "Would not this properly be the testimony of 
 Mistress Beulah? Tell rather what you yourself 
 have known. " put in the member of the Council. 
 
 " 'Tis that I'm telling, " went on the dame. " Be- 
 ing angry, Beulah spoke sternly, warning the evil 
 witch of her ill doings, and straightway she sickened 
 and fell ill abed of the pest." The noises about
 
 370 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the hall had ceased. The attention that hung upon 
 the words was absolute. The Maid's face was 
 white but not with fear. The look she bent upon 
 the voluble witness was filled with scorn so fine it 
 passed for cold endurance. 
 
 "Shubael I sent away, and Jacob went also to 
 his aunt and I cared alone for Beulah, who was like 
 to die. She was an awful sight, Sirs, all " 
 
 "Mam!" Beulah's voice, protesting. 
 
 "Terrible sick she was," resumed the woman, 
 "and lying like a log and breathing hard. Then 
 came the good elder, and Mr. Larcas to pray with 
 her, and at the first word they uttered ( 'twas 'Al- 
 mighty an' Ever-living God') Beulah rose up from 
 the stupor and screamed, and ceased not to cry out 
 upon them and carry on till Mistress Armitage 
 stood by the bed and drove us all forth and took 
 Beulah in her arms. " 
 
 Beulah moved uneasily as her mother talked 
 and once looke"d up distractedly at the girl who had 
 nursed her back to health, but as she looked her 
 face hardened and grew old, and she dropped her 
 eyes, her fingers plucking nervously at her dress. 
 
 "Did Mistress Armitage do those things most 
 often commended for the sick ? " asked Mr. Mather, 
 encouraging the woman who had paused in a sort 
 of apoplexy of wordy anger. 
 
 "Nay, not one. She did all otherwise. She let 
 the wind blow into the room from open windows 
 and gave her all the water she could drink and 
 fastened down her hands so she could not even toss 
 about and get some ease. " 
 
 The audience listened with a lively horror. At
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 371 
 
 the mention of open windows the member of the 
 Council shook his head and frowned suspiciously. 
 
 "And yet the girl recovered?" Mr. Mather 
 asked quickly. 
 
 "She was completely in the evil power of her, 
 and hath been since the day when she went to plead 
 for her poor brother. Now, she mopes like him and 
 constantly hath pains and torments. " 
 
 "But why should Mistress Armitage go to so 
 much trouble in the nursing ? Would not this evil 
 power have been as great and she away from 
 contact with the pest if she be of a truth a 
 witch?" The member of the Council looked 
 puzzled.. 
 
 "She minded it not for that Satan would not let 
 her take the contagion, " answered Mistress Munch 
 glibly. 
 
 " Her daughter will explain that, " put in Mr. 
 Stoughton. "Let the woman finish, that we may 
 get on. " 
 
 "Aye ye'll not need to hang her an' ye freeze 
 her first, " muttered a voice in the crowd. 
 
 The judges frowned, and the constable went 
 fussily among the shivering throng, but the culprit 
 could not be found. 
 
 "Hast thou more to say ? " demanded Mr. Mather. 
 "Knowest thou aught else against the accused?" 
 
 "So much I could not take time to tell them 
 all " 
 
 "Thou shalt state them to the true Commission, " 
 put in the third judge somewhat wearily. 
 
 "But two of them I would first tell here," she 
 answered unabashed. "She hath bewitched my
 
 372 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 little Shubael that was a child in a thousand for a 
 quick obedience, and gentle ever, so that he flouts 
 his mother and " 
 
 Shubael burst into loud crying and Jacob boxed 
 his ears. For the first time the girl looked directly 
 at the young man's face, a flash of indignation in 
 her eyes. Jacob returned the flash with a gaze of 
 vicious triumph. 
 
 Mistress Munch enlarged upon the malice that 
 held Shubael in subjection, then raised her voice as 
 she went on. "And upon another hath she an 
 awful spell, one old enough to resist and suffer as 
 hath my Beulah and my Jacob and not weakly let 
 the Devil have his will and that is Roger 
 Verring. " 
 
 There was a sensation among those who listened. 
 All eyes were fixed upon the Maid to whose cheeks 
 a faint flush had risen at the words. 
 
 "Could this not " she began, but Mr. Mather 
 
 thundered at her with the denunciatory wrath 
 familiar in his pulpit. 
 
 " Wouldst thou be bound upon thy deceitful lips 
 that thy wanton tongue be quieted ! Know'st thou 
 not what things are an abomination to the Lord, 
 a proud look, a lying tongue, aye and a heart 
 that deviseth wicked imaginations ! Woe unto 
 them that put darkness for light and light for dark- 
 ness, and them who, going apparelled like kings' 
 daughters in rich raiment carry corruption in their 
 hearts. Wait till thou art bidden to speak, nor 
 interrupt the counsels of them that serve the 
 Lord. What hadst thou to say of Captain Ver- 
 ring, Mistress?" His voice, changed to a milder
 
 THE COASTS OF FREEDOM 373 
 
 tone, was still ringing with retributory fire. Mis- 
 tress Munch had been somewhat alarmed, but 
 she recovered quickly. 
 
 "What proof have you of his bewitchment?" 
 asked the third member. " Is he afflicted with any 
 grievous ill or doth he suffer pain?" 
 
 " He hath her black cat and hath a name for it, 
 as it had been a human being. 'Tis through it she 
 sends him word of her commands. " 
 
 "Who could believe such folly?" The Maid ex- 
 claimed, wondering. Mr. Mather had not observed 
 her; he was listening intently to the witness. 
 
 Mr. Stoughton looked less pleased. Nicolas Ver- 
 ring was his warm partisan and strong supporter. 
 Mistress Munch finished in a tone of bitter pique. 
 "Daily, and often many times a day, he 
 came " 
 
 "Roger Verring?" 
 
 "Yes, Sir he came to my door and oft followed 
 me within asking for speech with Mistress Armi- 
 tage, while Beulah lay nigh to death, above. " 
 
 "Inquired he not also for Beulah?" asked Mr. 
 Stoughton. 
 
 "Not save for politeness' sake. He hath never 
 given a glance to any maid till he was beset of the 
 Devil in the stranger. " 
 
 Temple looked at the woman, surprise showing 
 fleeting in her still face. Beulah saw the new 
 wonder in the look and set her lips in a yet straighter 
 line. 
 
 "It was for the witch he feared 'twas plain 
 enough. And all the strange herbs and fumiga- 
 tions and compounds that he brought, with wines
 
 374 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 and on a day a great bunch of red berries from the 
 woods that I cast out. There was no time for 
 wicked folly and to be bringing a clutter of 
 things from the woods " 
 
 "Were these not for Mistress Munch as well?" 
 asked Mr. Stoughton again. 
 
 "Nay, I tell you, Sir. The foolish twigs of ber- 
 ries were for Mistress Armitage 'twas some sign 
 agreed upon I doubt not " 
 
 "That is sufficient, Mistress, "put in the member 
 of the Council assertively. "'Is't not best we get 
 on?" he asked the other two. "Mistress Beulah 
 looketh quite unfit to linger in the chill of this hall. " 
 
 "The Lord of Hosts is with her, " pronounced Mr. 
 Mather sonorously. " Beulah Munch, stand forth. " 
 
 A quick expectancy crowded the listening multi- 
 tude nearer, and the tipstaff, flourishing his wand, 
 pushed them back, commanding those that had 
 risen before the filled benches to seat themselves or 
 be expelled. 
 
 Beulah appeared little like one supported of the 
 Lord. Her cheeks had a restless fire and her lips, 
 drawn in their hard and bitter line, were not the 
 signs of holiness. But her evident emotion, the soft- 
 ness and meekness of her drooping figure, the marks 
 of suffering plain upon her face, won instant sym- 
 pathy. Again a murmur ran about the hall, a sound 
 that acclaimed belief in all that she might utter. 
 
 Her voice, modulated to a pitch as far as possible 
 from the aggressive rattle of her mother's, came in 
 a reluctant undertone, but loud enough so her words 
 were audible to all who chose to listen. 
 
 Once when she had raised her eyes, drawn by
 
 375 
 
 the look of grieved betrayal Temple had involun- 
 tarily given, she had turned away startled for an 
 instant confused. The confusion was converted 
 instantly to a painful writhing, and she swayed 
 as if she would have fallen. "Make her turn 
 away, " she gasped. 
 
 Angry glances were shot at Temple. 
 
 "Aye, keep the witch's eyes from off her," 
 growled the undetected voice. 
 
 Beulah, with lids lowered again, corroborated 
 all her mother had said, adding circumstantial and 
 carefully constructed tales of the sufferings of 
 Jacob and the evil state of little Shubael, whose 
 cowering figure sufficiently bore out her words. 
 
 "And is it true that Roger Verring hath never 
 given attention to a Boston maid nor kept com- 
 pany with any at his age? " asked the member of 
 the Council, fixing a searching look upon the down- 
 cast face. 
 
 "It is true. Everyone will tell you that, Sir," 
 she said. 
 
 "Yea that's true A cold-blooded young 
 
 fellow is Verring, " commented the voice. 
 
 Mr. Mather's gaze sought sternly the cause of 
 the interruption, and the member of the Council 
 persisted. 
 
 "Let not modesty forbid any word you might 
 have to say, " he demanded with his firm mouth 
 more strictly pursed. " Was he at no time a suitor 
 for yourself ? Gave he no sign of interest ? " 
 
 "None." Again Beulah lifted her eyes. "He 
 hath never been even of the circle of my friends 
 since I grew up. "
 
 376 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Temple moved suddenly, so convincing was the 
 tone and the direct look, but no flush came to her 
 face and no sign showed whether among so many 
 lies she believed this one statement. 
 
 Mr. Mather was questioning the witness further. 
 
 "And what reason, think you she had, Mistress, 
 for afflicting you with the pest?" 
 
 "To destroy my soul, " came from the girl's lips 
 unfalteringly. The writhing took her again. " I 
 cannot talk unless Mistress Armitage be taken 
 away, " she said as she was restored once more. 
 
 "That cannot be. She must hear and know 
 wherefore justice demands her commitment. 
 Strive against her spell, and I will supplicate that 
 thy tongue be loosed, " answered Mr. Mather en- 
 couragingly. 
 
 There was a heavy pause in which the clergyman 
 bent his head in silence and Beulah's contortions 
 grew gradually less pronounced. 
 
 " I can go on now, " she said. 
 
 " Proceed. " Mr. Mather regarded her with com- 
 placency, seeing his petitions so soon rewarded. 
 
 "While I lay sick she asked me often if I would 
 serve the Devil, saying he would requite me well, 
 and twice she brought me the Devil's book that I 
 might sign it and said she was the Queen of Hell 
 and could give me all that I desired, would I but 
 put my name upon the page. " 
 
 While Beulah had been speaking the door had 
 opened hurriedly from without and Roger had 
 pushed his way through the throng. 
 
 When the girl paused, swaying again as if seized 
 with acute misery, he spoke in a voice whose ring
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 377 
 
 broke like good daylight upon the dismal creeping 
 of nightmare. 
 
 "And will any man sit here and listen, unpro- 
 testing, to lies so manifest?" 
 
 Beulah had grown whiter than the Maid but the 
 colour came quickly back. Roger's eyes that 
 sought first for Temple were fixed imperiously upon 
 the self-constituted judges. 
 
 Mr. Mather rose majestically from his platform 
 throne. 
 
 "Captain Verring, see that you outrage not the 
 decencies of these lawful and just proceedings. 
 If you would remain, have a care how you address 
 those vested with authority of church and state. " 
 
 " Nay, Sirs, there was no disrespect, but I would 
 know by whose command this malice is given the 
 chance to so display itself. " 
 
 ' 'Tis enough that we know by whose authority 
 we are assembled, Captain Verring. Proceed 
 Mistress. " Mr. Stoughton fixed his cold eyes in a 
 warning not wholly unfriendly upon the young 
 man. 
 
 When Beulah 's even flow of carefully uttered 
 phrases came to an end, Roger moved somewhat 
 nearer to the Maid and waited resolutely where all 
 could mark she was not left alone and undefended. 
 
 The witness, pausing effectively, had turned 
 back her loose sleeve. The arm beneath was 
 slightly scarred from her disease, but more con- 
 spicuous than the scars, across from side to side ran 
 sore and angry burns. 
 
 "These be some of the things I have endured," 
 she said quietly, "for that I refused to do as I
 
 378 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 was bid. I pray you excuse me from showing 
 more. " 
 
 ' 'Tis enough at present. Hold thyself in 
 readiness to testify, and may God chasten us to 
 greater zeal for beholding such grievous suffering, " 
 Mr. Mather replied with unction. 
 
 An angry groan had followed the exposure of the 
 burns. 
 
 Beulah walked staggeringly to her seat and as she 
 fell straightway into convulsions of much distress, 
 the frightened Shubael was led forward to the 
 dais. 
 
 Mr. Mather looked with a grim assurance at the 
 quivering figure and the tear-spotted face, and be- 
 gan in a tone whose energy left no option to the 
 answerer. 
 
 "Shubael, thou knowest Mistress Armitage is a 
 witch?" 
 
 Shubael, shivering the more, lifted his chubby 
 face, marked and blurred with tears, and the Maid 
 turned away her head, not doubting the child's 
 reply, and finding painful the sight of such massive 
 enginery set to coerce a creature so small; but 
 the boy's voice came with quick and loud 
 response. 
 
 "She is not a witch," he answered staunchly, 
 trembling mightily but gazing upon the judges as 
 if he dreamed they would believe his word. 
 
 "Shubael!" Mr. Mather gathered his brows in 
 a portentous scowl. "Shubael Munch, thou art 
 here to tell how thou hast been afflicted not to 
 contradict and fly out upon thy questioners. How 
 hath this wicked woman taught thee so to speak ? "
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 379 
 
 "She is not a wicked woman." Shubael stood 
 his ground. 
 
 " Hath she not brought thee to this? Why dost 
 thou cry if thou art happy, Shubael?" asked the 
 member of the Council. 
 
 The boy looked at him, badgered into anger, and 
 half weeping in his impotence. 
 
 "You know why! You make me cry," he an- 
 swered. "And I am beaten and you would have 
 me say a lie about Mistress Armitage. " The words 
 poured out convulsively. He turned toward the 
 Maid and Roger, tears running upon his swollen 
 little face. 
 
 Roger smiled upon the little fellow as if he held 
 himself from words with grim violence to his desire. 
 
 For the first time the Maid's gaze was dimmed, 
 and she set her teeth upon her lip that for a little 
 trembled like the lad's. 
 
 "Thou art beaten. That is the witch she 
 makes thee to be beaten, " went on Mr. Mather 
 excitedly. 
 
 " 'Tis not 'tis Jacob beats me and my mother," 
 cried out the boy, thrusting his fists into his brim- 
 ming eyes. 
 
 "Wouldst be a witch thyself like Mistress Armi- 
 tage?" demanded Mr. Stoughton with stern em- 
 phasis. 
 
 "She's not a witch," the child repeated stub- 
 bornly and fell to bitter sobbing, his body shaken 
 more than ever by fright and wretchedness. 
 
 "That will do. This contumacy in a child so 
 young is proof enough were there no other, " pro- 
 nounced Mr. Mather, waving the boy away.
 
 380 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Jacob Munch, come thou forward and give a 
 truthful history of what thou hast as yet divulged 
 to none but me. " 
 
 Roger's hand closed upon itself. 
 
 Jacob was less jaunty of manner as he advanced, 
 carrying himself with an unusual sedateness, a 
 smooth regret in his sliding inflections as he began. 
 
 "I must ask your patience, gentlemen," he said 
 deliberately, "if I go back to a time when I was but 
 a lad and Captain Verring and I were boys upon 
 the Araby Rose, a ship commanded, as you know, 
 by Captain Phips. " 
 
 ' ' It were well to omit the names of those not 
 directly concerned with what you have to tell, " 
 advised Mr. Mather. "It will allow our minds to 
 dwell the more impartially upon the evidence. " 
 
 Jacob looked meaningly at Mr. Stoughton, bowed 
 to Mr. Mather, and went on with his tale. 
 
 " I was then but a lad and might have been easily 
 led astray by evil practices had not the godly pre- 
 cepts and examples of my honoured father and my 
 mother, and that grace which is vouchsafed to them 
 who seek with earnestness, sustained me in many 
 ordeals wherein another might have succumbed. " 
 The words had evidently been conned with a care 
 unlike the evasive habit of one fond of his own ease. 
 " It would not behoove me to speak of many prac- 
 tices upon the Araby Rose, the drunkenness, the 
 obscenity, and foulness " 
 
 The girl looked with indignant scorn upon the 
 young man, who went forward with complacent 
 gravity. Roger had started, but restrained him- 
 self.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 381 
 
 Mr. Mather interrupted with some sharpness. 
 Jacob bowed again, a malicious light plain in his 
 shifty eyes, and resumed af if nothing had checked 
 the dull flow of his words. " I will speak only of the 
 occurrences that have a convenient bearing upon 
 the matter these revered and honoured gentlemen 
 are met here to consider, " he said mellowly. " You 
 may be aware " he lifted his gaze to the platform 
 and averted it as quickly "that the Rose was en- 
 gaged in a great battle with a pirate five times her 
 size. The freebooters were ferocious men and were a 
 myriad to our one. It was a monstrous struggle and 
 like to be a dreadful slaughter wherein we should 
 all perish, when upon a sudden" he paused; 
 the listeners gathered nearer "upon a sudden," 
 he repeated, " came a clap of thunder, lightning 
 played about the ships, and the pirates began to 
 yield, giving way most unaccountably to our blows, 
 though still in excess of us by countless numbers. 
 I was in the front of the battle " 
 
 The Maid smiled for the first time, listening with 
 the rest. 
 
 "And I saw beside the Captain, " went on Jacob, 
 "the figure of a maid." A loud stir, quickly 
 hushed, rose upon the words. "Although she was 
 in the midst of the swords that flashed across her 
 she was not harmed, and as fast as she moved ahead 
 the pirates tumbled backward, their arms appearing 
 paralyzed, until all were either sent over the side 
 to drown or were killed upon the deck. " 
 
 The excitement was growing. The crowd fell 
 still farther away from the Maid, leaving her and 
 Roger quite alone.
 
 382 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The girl turned about as if realizing their isola- 
 tion. 
 
 "You expose yourself to fearful danger, Captain 
 Verring; no need we both should perish," she 
 said in a rapid undertone. "Think on your 
 mother. " 
 
 He moved nearer, his look answering. 
 
 "I was knocked senseless in the fight," Jacob 
 was going on (Roger opened his lips but closed 
 them, waiting) "and when I came to myself the 
 great ship of the pirates had vanished and no sign 
 of them was left but this same maiden, who had no 
 name, but was called the Captain's Little Maid, be- 
 ing ever beside him. She went always in perfect 
 silence and sometimes she appeared without warn- 
 ing by those who talked secretly, nor could any see 
 from what direction she had approached. 
 
 " For many months we had sought everywhere 
 not finding the treasure, but upon her coming 
 among us Roger Verring and Captain Phips placed 
 her in the periagua and we rowed once more to 
 search the reefs. " 
 
 Mr. Mather was leaning forward, his expression 
 divided between uneasiness and overpowering in- 
 terest. 
 
 "She kept silence still," continued the softly 
 gliding voice, "but as we rowed among the rocks, 
 our boat stopped of itself in a narrow channel. 
 The oars could not move it. " A breath of wonder 
 again ! All had risen, those behind mounting upon 
 the benches to see the better. "When the boat 
 stopped the Maid stood up in the midst of a yellow 
 flame and pointed downward. Nopomuk, the
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 383 
 
 Indian, who drives the horses of the Governor, 
 leaped into the water and brought back a shining 
 mass of gold. " The murmur increased but Jacob 
 had not ceased and it hushed again. "These be a 
 few of the things that happened. The men, in 
 great fear of their souls, refused at last to touch this 
 unhallowed treasure and made a righteous mutiny, 
 and all who led the fray were seized with horrid 
 agonies and fell down crying out and moaning. 
 None who mutinied escaped some of these dreadful 
 pains and ere they could recover they were forced 
 to sign a compact with Hell " 
 
 "Didst thou also take that oath?" asked the 
 member of the Council. 
 
 "At the first, Sir, I resisted, at what -cost of tor- 
 ments 'tis needless here to say, " answered the wit- 
 ness, still smoothly. "But at the last I yielded, 
 being beside myself with the torture and scarce 
 knowing what I did." Roger moved forward a 
 pace and Jacob glanced at him, involuntarily shift- 
 ing his own position. Roger's gaze had discon- 
 certed him for the moment, and he went on hur- 
 riedly. ' ' 'Twas a fearful oath ' ' he shuddered with- 
 out affectation "and pledged the ship's company 
 never to reveal the pressence of a maid upon the 
 Rose. I held the oath binding but it were better 
 to suffer torment myself than to let many be in 
 danger, and though, since the Maid who stands 
 before you there appeared in Boston on the very 
 day of Sir William Phips's return, I have suffered 
 such horrors as none may know (so that even my 
 mother misinterpreted), I have, till my sister sick- 
 ened, held my peace. "
 
 384 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " Thou didst wrong, Jacob Munch, " Mr. Mather 
 spoke somewhat shrilly. "See how we be pun- 
 ished for any sheltering of evil-doers." He looked 
 meaningly at Roger, and turned again to Jacob, 
 who was ready to proceed. " If thou hast more to 
 say, it will be in good time when the Commis- 
 sion shall assemble. It had been better," he 
 added with condemnation, "thou hadst earlier told 
 me frankly the whole truth and not a part in this 
 matter. " 
 
 " 'Tis not the truth, but utter and malignant 
 falsehood. " Roger confronted Jacob Munch and 
 the judges with stern assurance. "I ask the right 
 to question this witness. This matter concerneth 
 me, and more, the Governor of this colony ! The 
 character of Governor Phips should prove to you 
 the falsehood of this tale. " 
 
 "Your presumption, Sir, is without all prece- 
 dent, " retorted Mr. Mather in sudden rage. " These 
 witnesses come not to be the plaything of any by- 
 stander ! " 
 
 " Had these things been true, " Roger insisted, 
 "I must have seen them, and my word should be 
 as good as that of Jacob Munch. I demand that 
 you hear me. " 
 
 The three were not listening. The member of 
 the Council had bent again to the other two, com- 
 bating their negation. 
 
 " 'Twill do no harm. An' he speak not, it may 
 be some will say the maid was not given justice, " 
 he urged. 
 
 "Of what consequence!" Mr. Stoughton re- 
 sponded angrily. "The maid is a witch. Why 
 let a grown man make exhibition of his slavery ?"
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 385 
 
 But the Member at length prevailed by his per- 
 sistency, and Mr. Mather, more hectic and still 
 more enraged than he had been before, announced 
 the decision. 
 
 " I misdoubt me we yield to Satan in the matter. 
 Be brief, " he ordered sharply, and Roger, coming 
 nearer to the platform, spoke directly to the three, 
 but with a clear decisive energy that filled the hall. 
 
 Certainty took on different forms of doubt, and 
 belief in the Maid's guilt seemed somewhat shaken. 
 
 "Jacob Munch was not near the fight, but cower- 
 ing in the vessel's hold, where he had hid himself ! " 
 The straight inflections had at the very first struck 
 home their truth to some whom Jacob's sliding 
 speech had wearied. "Ask any man who served. I 
 can produce a dozen here in Boston ere two months 
 be out. None could be found who would believe 
 his word, not one. He proves himself a liar. He 
 says he was knocked senseless by the pirates. Had 
 this been true and any apparition had arisen after, 
 he could not have seen it. But had he been fight- 
 ing when his apparition came, then could he not 
 have been knocked senseless since he says the 
 pirates' arms were paralyzed. Nor was there any 
 man who ever lived who believed Governor Phips 
 had need of witchcraft to win his battles ! And 
 the story of the treasure is a lie. 'Twas found by 
 months of seeking and not by miracle. I was 
 present and I know. If ye believe me not, ask 
 then the Governor himself. For the mutiny, I was 
 there as well when the Captain single handed 
 beat back the angry horde who would have 
 made of him a buccaneer and of the Rose a pirate
 
 3 86 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 ship not fearing the treasure but coveting its 
 wealth ! And never was there unrighteous com- 
 pact made upon the ship, but one 'twould honour 
 any man to make. A compact there was 'tis 
 true. How nobly 'twas kept by the Captain ye 
 know. Will you believe the man that stops not at 
 vile traducing of our Governor who even now risks 
 his life for us, absent and in peril ? 'Tis to naught 
 but the patience of Sir William that Jacob Munch 
 owes his life. After that very fight he would have 
 hung for his cowardice and desertion had it not been 
 for Sir William. " Mr. Stoughton would have 
 spoken, but Roger went swiftly on. "And if he 
 spare not the name of Governor Phips, assailing 
 him behind his back, who dreams he'll spare a 
 maiden his importunities did not please. There be 
 witnesses enough in Boston who know the double 
 life he leads. Nor is his baseness equalled by any 
 save hers who has here attacked that life was risked 
 for her. To bring accusation on evidence like this 
 violates what has been the unassailable right of 
 every Englishman since the Magna Charta. It 
 breaks every law of justice, every canon of proce- 
 dure, and is itself liable " 
 
 "Enough!" Mr. Mather and Mr. Stoughton 
 were reinforced by the constable who approached 
 discreetly, but paused near at hand. 
 
 The Maid's eyes were lighted with a gratitude 
 that warmed her face to a look less loftily remote. 
 
 "Captain Verring, " Mr. Mather looked confi- 
 dently upon his would-be victim. "How long 
 since this Maid entrapped thee in her spell; how 
 long hath she had thee in the toils?"
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 387 
 
 "Surely a man of weight cannot put seriously 
 a question of such folly !" Roger answered hotly. 
 "But in truth, Mistress Armitage hath plainly re- 
 pudiated even my proffered friendship. " 
 
 "You champion her cause somewhat ardently 
 for one who hath been so denied, " put in Mr. 
 Stoughton with dry and clicking precision. " Pray 
 will you state that you be not in love with Mistress 
 Armitage?" 
 
 Temple grew white again and the clear anger and 
 aversion of her gaze would have brought at least 
 a brief trouble to any man but William Stoughton. 
 
 "Such questions transcend the bounds of any 
 decent freedom. " Roger drew nearer yet to the 
 platform. "You avoid a more important question. 
 The point at issue is whether or no you sit quies- 
 cent while the Governor is slandered and an inno- 
 cent maid put in peril of her life by brazen malice. " 
 
 " 'Tis you, Sir, who evade, " shrieked Mr. Mather 
 in a fury. "Tell me this, dost thou or dost thou 
 not love this maid ? " 
 
 Roger gave back the look with a gaze before 
 which his questioner made literal retreat as if in 
 fear; then his expression changed. 
 
 "Yea, I love her," he said slowly, with solemn 
 emphasis. "Though she neither desireth nor 
 knoweth of my love. And I love her because' ' 
 his voice penetrated, thrilling the stolid listeners 
 to something deeper than a curious greed of new 
 sensation "because she is above all malice, all 
 envy, all things unclean and common, by the pure 
 and holy height of her own exalted truth. " 
 
 The hush that followed, even Mr. Stoughton
 
 3 88 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 made no attempt to break. Beulah sat rigid, her 
 hands locked. The Maid's lids drooped as if she 
 would escape the throng and then her eyes opened, 
 and she looked steadfastly before her. 
 
 Mr. Mather had risen with instant and volcanic 
 rage, silent only because his words had choked him 
 in their haste. 
 
 "Men of the Massachuset colony. " His outcry 
 shook the air as his voice returned. "We be met 
 here for examination of one accused of the most 
 awful crime of witchcraft, and the Lord hath guided 
 our deliberations to the exposing of two others, 
 dangerous malignants and not to be with safety 
 endured in this our afflicted town. Therefore the 
 constable will with all speed remove to the com- 
 mon jail, there to await their trial, by the Com- 
 mission, the persons of Temple Armitage, Roger 
 Verring, and Shubael Munch. " 
 
 At the last name a loud shriek rent the hall, stop- 
 ping even those without the building. Mistress 
 Munch had gathered up Shubael in her arms. Beu- 
 lah and Jacob sprang each before the boy with a 
 fearful alarm and the first withering blight of sure 
 remorse upon their faces. The constable advanced 
 toward the screaming and angry woman, but she 
 fled before him carrying the child clasped close, 
 and beating the crowd from her path with a frenzy 
 of terror that made its way. 
 
 Mr. Mather, still on his feet, shouted frantically 
 from the dais. 
 
 "Stop the woman. Stop the woman Bar 
 
 the way " 
 
 But Beulah and Jacob, exerting a force almost
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 389 
 
 equal to the mother's, broke through the half- 
 hearted efforts of the crowd who would have fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 The woman's screams resounded above the sud- 
 den babel; Mr. Mather's voice grew louder, and 
 Roger, under cover of the confusion, even as Mis- 
 tress Munch escaped, made his way, unnoticed of 
 the constable, to the door and out into the street.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 THE FLIGHT: IN THE MIDST OF THE FOREST 
 
 AT the moment that the town officer, giving 
 over for the time the effort to capture Mis- 
 tress Munch, returned to secure his other 
 prisoners, Roger was already past the King's 
 Armes, advancing as rapidly as was possible without 
 calling dangerous attention to his speed. 
 
 The day was too cold for any idlers to congre- 
 gate upon the streets, and the few men who were 
 abroad walked as quickly as their age or the bur- 
 dens they carried would permit. None molested 
 him nor was there any sign of pursuit. Before the 
 Maid had been left alone in the freezing atmosphere 
 of her cell the Governor's door had opened to him. 
 
 Lady Phips rose as he entered, welcoming him 
 with evident gladness, although her face was anx- 
 ious. 
 
 " Build up the fire again Debby. Here, Roger, 
 draw a chair nearer the hearth. 'Tis fearful 
 weather. I cannot keep my mind from dwelling 
 on the storms of Pemaquid and the salvages. It 
 hath been terrible too upon the sea. Surely Sir 
 William should have returned ere this. " She 
 moved about in a fidgetting restlessness unlike her- 
 self. 
 
 Roger had not known her when as the young 
 Widow Hull she had chosen to marry the poor and 
 
 390
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 391 
 
 half-educated ship carpenter, defying a social 
 world aghast and snappishly protesting. But he 
 honoured her the more for the tale, and had for her 
 the personal liking and the deep respect felt by all 
 who came beneath the charm of a quiet manner 
 that made the direct glance of her clear grey eyes 
 the more convincing. 
 
 He answered her with an attempt at reassur- 
 ance, though his own mind was troubled at the 
 delay. 
 
 " Sir William may be even now nearing the city, " 
 he said soberly. 
 
 "God grant it." Lady Phips seated herself by 
 the blaze and looked down at the much worn letter 
 she held in her hand. " He saith here, 'another 
 month at the most', and 'twas then but late Octo- 
 ber. Thou hast a harrowed look, Roger. Hast 
 thou ill news?" A startled expression followed 
 on the words. "Sir William there is no ill tid- 
 
 ings 
 
 " Nay, Lady Phips, not of Sir William. " 
 
 She interrupted with a sigh. "He hath been so 
 much from home. I grow more timorous with each 
 adventure. Hath the Lieutenant-Go vernor " 
 
 " The Little Maid is locked in prison charged with 
 witchcraft. The Commission meets to-morrow to 
 pronounce upon her. Mr. Cotton Mather and Mr. 
 Stoughton are determined on her death. " Roger 
 spoke each sentence slowly with a slight and preg- 
 nant pause after each. He was still standing. 
 
 Lady Phips rose quickly and confronted him. 
 At first she uttered no words but fixed her eyes 
 upon him in the amazement of unbelief.
 
 39* THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "The Little Maid in prison!" she repeated 
 dully. "Will they dare hang a girl like that O, " 
 she cried out with sharp recollection, "would that 
 the Governor were here ! " 
 
 " 'Tis well for them he's not. " Roger's eyes 
 flamed with the sudden rage she had seen in Sir 
 William's when the cause was terrible. "They'd 
 not have dared lay hands on her had he been 
 here." 
 
 "We must act for him," Lady Phips closed her 
 fingers tightly on the letter she had folded and 
 lifted the clear grey eyes to Roger's face. "What 
 can we do ? " 
 
 "Get her from the prison. They have kept her 
 standing full five hours in the Town Hall. She will 
 die of weariness and cold. " Roger looked from 
 the window as though to see if he were followed, 
 and turned back to Lady Phips, the hopefulness of 
 action strong in his vigorous movements. 
 
 " I will go at once and bring her here. Will the 
 jailer deliver her to me ? " Lady Phips was already 
 on her way to the hall. 
 
 " If he does, she will be sent for by the fiends who 
 placed her there, and if you refuse to give her up it 
 will be used against the Governor and they will have 
 their will by force. I, too, am accused and the 
 constable is no doubt searching for me yet I and 
 Shubael Munch ! " 
 
 "That great fellow that smells of musk. I can- 
 not bear him. " 
 
 "You do well. He attacked the Governor with 
 the Maid. 'Tis he is their chief witness. " Roger's 
 hand clenched upon the chair post where it rested.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 393 
 
 " 'Tis his brother is accused a child the mother 
 picked up in her arms and carried from the place. 
 We must be swift in planning. The moment 'tis 
 dark I must be at the jail. To break in is scarce 
 possible without bloodshed. The prisoners are 
 well watched. 'Tis best to try an order for the 
 Maid's release sent by you in the Governor's name. " 
 
 "Thou wilt bring her here at once. I will con- 
 ceal her, " Lady Phips broke in. 
 
 "They will search here first and every house in 
 Boston after. They are bent upon her death, " 
 Roger answered bitterly. "She hath an enemy here 
 will keep the chase alive " 
 
 "But where what can you do?" She shook 
 her head. "There's no other way." 
 
 " Flee. I know a place I will not tell you where 
 for you can then say truly that you know naught 
 of it but I can take her thither and she will be 
 safe unless they follow. 'Tis a cruel journey for 
 a maid. " The harassed look deepened as he 
 spoke. 
 
 Lady Phips had come close to him listening 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "She will need my storm cloak to protect her 
 from the cold and other things. How much canst 
 thou carry ? " she asked, eager to begin her task. 
 
 "Put in all that may give her comfort. The 
 weight will be nothing, " he answered quickly. " If 
 we be pursued 'twill be time to cast it away. " 
 
 "Hear me, Roger." Lady Phips laid her hand 
 on the young man's sleeve in earnest confidence. 
 " Go now to the Governor's room where there is ever 
 a fire lighted against his return, and eat what Debby
 
 394 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 will bring thee. If any demand thee go swiftly 
 from the house and I will keep the constable in 
 parley till thou be safe. Nopomuk shall carry to 
 thee the packet with food and warmer wrappings 
 for the Maid and thou must meet him in Gay alley 
 as soon as it be fallen dusk. Eat heartily for thy 
 strength may mean her life and thine. If the 
 jailer follow, Nopomuk will help thee put him off 
 the scent. But if he will not obey my order, what 
 wilt thou do then, Roger?" 
 
 "For that I have a plan, but it were best thou 
 knew'st naught of it, Lady Phips. If Nopomuk 
 be kept to wait without the prison until it be ac- 
 complished fear nothing. An' I be taken, then will 
 he bring the Maid to thee, and do thou send her 
 with all speed to those whose names and place I 
 will leave sealed for thee to open. But if Nopo- 
 muk brings news that all is well, burn the paper. 
 I shall return to give thee word soon. Sir Wil- 
 liam may then be here. " 
 
 "Remember thou art dear to us, Roger, and the 
 Maid the very apple of Sir William's eye. I shall 
 ne'er forgive myself if " 
 
 "Nay Lady Phips 'twould be certain death to 
 stay in Boston. Be sure by now this house is 
 watched. " 
 
 Lady Phips looked in fresh alarm from the win- 
 dows. "Go then; go now. I will bring the order. 
 Thou wilt find pen and ink above in the Govern- 
 or's secretary. ' 
 
 He waited an instant to hold fast her hands, 
 and would have spoken as well, but she would not 
 hear him.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 395 
 
 " We need no words, dear lad. We will say all 
 when we have saved her. Go quickly. " 
 
 When the tipstaff, thumping his wand of office 
 upon the steps, summoned the Governor's house- 
 hold to declare if aught had been seen of Captain 
 Verring, Roger was again out of his reach,' making 
 careful haste from Snow Hill through the Old Way 
 by the Mill Pond. The willows stripped of leaves, 
 drooped in strands like witch hair, blown upon a 
 rising wind. The drifts covered the berries and hid 
 the crotch of the tree bent camel-wise upon the 
 margin of the Pond, but a warmth rose about 
 his heart as he followed the path the May 
 had seen so full of fragrance and of loveliness, and 
 he moved faster in the shadows toward his 
 home. 
 
 As he neared the corner a dark object flung upon 
 the snow lay directly in his way. He stooped to it 
 wondering, and cried out grievingly. It was Felix, 
 the black kitten, with twisted neck and staring 
 yellow eyes, its soft black fur ruffled by the winter 
 wind. 
 
 When he came forth from the house his face was 
 stormy with new bitterness, but he gazed keenly 
 about to detect the presence of a spy, and went 
 forward steadily save once, when, stopping to 
 make sure he was not pursued, he looked back at 
 the window of his mother's room, thinking a face 
 was pressed against the pane. 
 
 A single star shone low down in the heavens and 
 the wind was driving the clouds in huddled masses 
 across the cold sky. Even the outlines of their 
 hurrying shapes were vanishing in the void. It was
 
 396 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 too cold for snow and the wind and darkness were 
 better than stillness with a moon. 
 
 The town was at its early supper and here and 
 there a solitary glint of candlelight shone out upon 
 the snow from some kitchen window left unshut- 
 tered. It was after five when he demanded en- 
 trance to the prison. No light showed here, and 
 the wind, rattling the heavy sashes in their frames 
 and howling about the cold walls in loud abandon, 
 seemed the only tenant. Nopomuk, waiting below 
 the pillory, shivered, hearing the wind and the 
 knocking and seeing nothing but the blacker mass 
 of the stone pile within against the inkiness be- 
 yond. 
 
 "Who's without?" The jailer's voice sounded 
 terrified, on the other side of the stout door. 
 
 "A messenger from the Governor's. Make 
 haste. 'Tis chill here, " answered Roger in a shout. 
 
 The key turned creaking and the bars dropped 
 slowly. 
 
 "Enter quickly or the wind will douse my candle." 
 called the voice and Roger wormed himself through 
 the aperture the man left open, and stood upon the 
 bare planks of the dismal hall. His hat was pulled 
 low, and his cloak drawn well up against the cold. 
 The flicker of the hempen wick was faint, and the 
 jailer in haste to get back to his fire. 
 
 " Hold the flame whilst I get my spectacles, " he 
 commanded shortly. "What's this what's this? 
 'Deliver Mistress Temple Armitage' that's the 
 witch ! Two have been here to command me 
 keep her safe. One was the Governor. " 
 
 ' ' The Lieutenant-Governor ? "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 397 
 
 "Aye him. Said he was Governor while Sir 
 William Phips was still away. This order be no 
 good. 'Tis signed by Mary Phips. That's not the 
 Governor. " The man, blinked in the fantastic 
 light and shook his head in a troubled fashion. 
 
 "Thou'lt find fast enough if it be good when 
 Governor Phips returns ! 'Tis said he is expected 
 every hour. I would not give a leaf of new tobacco 
 to be in thy shoes then. Best obey the order. 
 Reads it not Mary Phips 'for the Governor'?" 
 Roger thrust the tallow dip farther from himself 
 and nearer to the paper. 
 
 "Aye 'for the Governor'. But that's not the 
 Governor. " 
 
 " 'Tis the same. Look at the seal. 'Tis the 
 Governor's. Think you Lady Phips knows not what 
 she is about? Make haste. My Lady will like it 
 little her messenger was delayed. " 
 
 The jailer looked doubtfully at the paper, then 
 thrust it into his coat as the cold set his teeth chat- 
 tering. 
 
 "Come with me," he demanded shortly. "I 
 like not facing witches in the night. 'Tis a ticklish 
 business. " 
 
 The short wick gave but a faint and doleful 
 brightness to the dark corridors of the jail, and 
 everywhere the strong draughts threatened to ex- 
 tinguish it. At a corner cell upon the floor above 
 the jailer paused, handing his keys to Roger. 
 
 " The one that hath a red rag upon the loop of it. 
 Open. I'll keep the candle for thee. " 
 
 Roger fitted the key into the lock and turned it 
 with a raucous grating that sounded no more dis-
 
 3 g8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 tinct to him than the beating of his heart. The 
 dim flare set the interior dancing before his eyes. 
 There was no furniture, not even a stool, and the 
 chill got hold upon the very bones. The touch of 
 the door upon the bare hand seared like white 
 coals. The beating of his heart stopped sud- 
 denly. But there was a movement within. 
 
 A figure had revealed itself among the shadows. 
 
 "An order from the Governor for the deliver- 
 ance of Mistress Armitage. Come forth, " com- 
 manded the jailer in a shout, "and get thee gone. " 
 
 The man's courage had revived with Roger's 
 presence and at the sight of the girl who had trans- 
 formed herself neither into a cat nor any other beast 
 to fly at him. The liquor he had drunk against the 
 frost was in the bullying swagger of his voice. 
 
 "Have a care how you address her." Roger 
 thrust him back as the Maid came out to them. 
 
 " O take me, too. Take me out, good masters, " 
 wailed a voice. "I starve with cold. " 
 
 " 'Tis Goody Burrill, " explained the jailer. 
 " 'Twill be colder on Gallows Hill. " He nodded 
 grimly at his own facetiousness. 
 
 "Natheless it will fare but ill with you an' they 
 find her perished here. 'Twere wise to bring her 
 hot drinks and some protection from the air. " 
 Roger spoke with what temperance he might, fear- 
 ing to jeopardize the Maid. 
 
 "Drinks for a witch!" The jailer scowled. 
 "Who are you, that hath such tenderness for these 
 she-devils?" 
 
 Roger had held out his hand to lead the prisoner 
 and the fingers that she laid in his were so icy his
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 399 
 
 clasp closed upon them with startled pain. The 
 jailer had gone ahead, shielding his candle with a 
 rough palm against the breezes that swept the 
 corridor. 
 
 The old woman's voice was mumbling. 
 
 "Hast thou no place where this maid may be 
 warmed ere she brave the winds without?" 
 Roger asked as they descended. The girl clung to 
 his hand with involuntary protest. 
 
 " Nay, let us go, " she tried to say, but the words 
 were broken with the shivering of her body. 
 
 The man who led them had hastened faster than 
 she could follow, benumbed as she was with the 
 long exhaustion of cold and hunger, but her will 
 was quickly overcoming the paralysis. The jail- 
 keeper listened with an angry growl.' 
 
 "Lady Phips may warm her own witches," he 
 said coarsely. "They'll get no heat from my fire- 
 side. " 
 
 The girl's warning grasp restrained the answer 
 upon Roger's tongue. He was well aware that the 
 seal upon the letter was all that had convinced the 
 man the order was not a forgery and even now 
 there was a doubt in his rasping tones as they 
 paused before the heavy door. 
 
 But at last the bar was raised, the key turned 
 again, and they felt the delirious welcome of the 
 wind that seized them in a maniacal embrace as if 
 to draw them into its own uproarious delight. 
 
 Roger had thrown his cloak hastily about the 
 girl's shoulders, and now sheltering her by the full 
 resistance of his strength, led her onward across the 
 street.
 
 400 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Nopomuk waits us here," he explained. The 
 Maid heard his rapid words in silence, understand- 
 ing what must be done and assenting without argu- 
 ment. 
 
 "The fur boots," shouted Nopomuk. "She 
 
 is to put them on " He had appeared from 
 
 the side of the pillory. 
 
 "Come this way to Mr. Belknap's barn," 
 Roger answered, speaking close to the Indian's ear, 
 lest some night wanderer hear and follow. 
 . In the angle made by a lean-to the girl essayed to 
 eat and to swallow the cordial Lady Phips had sent. 
 The storm-cloak was lined with fur, and the shoes 
 Roger knelt to fasten upon her feet were also 
 furred within and deeply soled. Before they set 
 out he urged upon her again the potent cordial 
 and she drank, trying to suppress the chills that 
 took her in a hard shuddering. One after an- 
 other Nopomuk had produced his treasures, 
 and last, the package to be carried. It was 
 of an awkward bulk but with the Indian's help 
 the straps had been adjusted and now Roger 
 thrust his hands, stiffened almost to useless- 
 ness, within their coverings, and the three moved 
 out again into the full violence of the gale. 
 
 As they turned from North street, Nopomuk left 
 them, assured that none had followed. The girl 
 had quickened her pace more and more and now 
 went swiftly, breasting the wind with a renewed 
 and dauntless energy. 
 
 The storm caught them in its teeth and shook 
 them with a vicious will, but the hand upon Roger's 
 arm did not tremble. Whatever weakness had
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 401 
 
 overpowered her in the first moment of her deliv- 
 erance, she had subdued it in the need for effort. 
 
 Once she spoke, and he bent to hear. 
 
 " 'Tis terrible you should be so exposed for me. ' ' 
 
 "'Tis the one blessedness of this vile cruelty. 
 'Tis terrible it should come to me through your 
 suffering. " He pressed her arm closer, falling 
 silent in the futility of words. Speech was well- 
 nigh impossible where the blasts whirled the 
 sound into space and took the breath from their 
 lips. 
 
 At the river they came to a pause. The flood 
 was flung into heavy waves by the gusts, and here 
 and there a whitened crest showed in the blackness. 
 The boat Roger would impress into his service was 
 difficult to loosen from the ice in which it was em- 
 bedded, its oars encased in a slippery rime. Once 
 upon the water the darkness seemed to close 
 more heavily about them, but virile strokes 
 drove the firm craft straining toward the op- 
 posite shore and neither the wind nor the dark 
 prevailed. 
 
 The woods made a cover from the blast and the 
 early snows had barely hid the ground beneath the 
 trees. 
 
 "When it is safe we will rest and have a fire." 
 Roger spoke once more, setting a quieter pace for 
 their going. "There is a spot a little beyond 
 among the rocks. " 
 
 She answered the anxiety in his tones with un- 
 faltering confidence. 
 
 " I am warmer There is no haste for fire. " 
 
 When the cry of the wolves came to them on the
 
 402 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 crying wind she drew nearer, her hand tightening 
 upon his arm, but her step went without wavering 
 beside his, and the night that shut them in, wild 
 and desolate as it was, brought to them keener 
 happiness than the perfumed May.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THREATS FOR THE GOVERNOR 
 
 THE Governor hath returned ! " 
 "Thou art sure?" 
 "Aye. I saw him as I came. The expedi- 
 tion hath gotten back. " 
 
 The morning after the flight the air was still and 
 clear. The sun shone pleasantly and eased the grip 
 of the cold. The two men who stood talking 
 shouted at each other across Sudbury street. One 
 was digging out the path before his door. 
 
 "What is that, Tobias?" Mr. Stoughton reined 
 up his horse and leaned toward the wielder of the 
 shovel. " Sir William Phips in Boston ? I had no 
 news of it. " 
 
 " He hath but now reached his house, Sir. " The 
 man struck the shovel into the drift and advanced 
 to the side of the sleigh. "I saw him as I came 
 from delivering the milk to Mr. Henchman's place. 
 Lady Phips, they say, fair wept for joy. Hath the 
 constable caught Christopher Munch 's boy ? 'Twas 
 said Mistress Munch had fled and the child with 
 her. " 
 
 "Good-morrow, Governor Stoughton." Sir 
 Humphrey Wildglass, pausing beside them, lifted 
 his hat with a respectful gesture. 
 
 Mr. Stoughton greeted him with a courteous 
 relaxing of the muscles of his face and drove his 
 horse nearer to the walk. 
 
 " Will you not ride ? " he asked. 
 
 403
 
 404 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " I give you thanks, Sir. 'Twill be most agree- 
 able, though I go but to Marlborough street. " 
 
 The cavalier stepped blithely into the box of the 
 wide vehicle and seated himself beside the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, drawing the robes across his 
 knees. 
 
 " 'Tis a time of much anxiety for this colony and 
 great stress for those who bear its burdens, " he 
 began with sympathy. 
 
 Mr. Stoughton's face relaxed still more. 
 
 "You are right, Sir Humphrey," he answered 
 shortly. 
 
 "The courage to hold firm to hard and onerous 
 duties is not every man's. I would not misjudge 
 him who holds their Majesties' commission but I 
 have thought it not altogether without divine pur- 
 pose that one more strenuous should be at the 
 helm in this crisis. I speak too frankly, it may 
 be, but I have considered with great earnestness 
 the Providence of the delay that holds Sir William 
 at Pemaquid, " he finished confidentially. 
 
 Mr. Stoughton regarded him in silence. 
 
 "It is a grievous time," he answered after a 
 pause. "And it grows daily worse. " He brought 
 the whip down sharply upon the mare's back. 
 
 "Meets the Commission soon?" Sir Hum- 
 phrey tucked the robes closer and smiled as the 
 bells upon the harness broke into a cheerful peal at 
 the suddenly accelerated pace. The horse was 
 the finest of those that ran or plodded in the fast- 
 awakening streets. It was truly a fair morning. 
 Even the women who had come forth to do their 
 purchasing chatted at the corners of the streets.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 405 
 
 "The Commission, when doth it meet?" per- 
 sisted Sir Humphrey. 
 
 Mr. Stoughton roused himself from a heavy pre- 
 occupation and the sleigh swung, lurching about, 
 as they whirled into Queen street. 
 
 " I fear there will be opposition to the doing of a 
 plain duty, " he vouchsafed. " I would the execu- 
 tions had been over before Sir William Phips re- 
 turned. He is come back. " 
 
 Sir Humphrey's face lost its look of pious cheer- 
 fulness and he turned abruptly. 
 
 " He will interfere ? " 
 
 "He will do more," said Mr. Stoughton grimly. 
 " He will prevent the doing of justice to the Arch 
 Enemy in the shape of Mistress Armitage and he 
 will forbid all effort to discover Captain Verring or 
 the boy. He may even find a way to let Goody 
 Burrill go scot free to work harm among the right- 
 eous. " His eyes snapped with cold fire. "The 
 affair should have been hastened, " he ended impa- 
 tiently, "but Mr. Mather would first investigate 
 on his own behalf and then go through the needless 
 folly of examination. Had the Commission tried 
 the cases we could have finished the executions 
 ere now. " 
 
 " I have no influence with Sir William Phips, 
 but I bear certain secret commissions from their 
 Majesties to urge great zeal in this stamping out of 
 witchcraft. It might be well to lay these matters 
 before the Governor. " 
 
 Mr. Stoughton turned to him with some eager- 
 ness. 
 
 " Pray do so and with all speed, " he said.
 
 4 o6 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 
 
 Their steed, taking her own gait on the hill, had 
 drawn up without guidance at the prison door. 
 Mr. Stoughton did not get out, but waited, frown- 
 ing toward the entrance. 
 
 Steps were heard within and the creaking of the 
 key in the lock; then the jailer, a muffler about his 
 head, came forth to them, an anxious expression on 
 the features framed by the woollen scarf. 
 
 "Thou hast thy prisoners safe? They may 
 shortly be required of thee, " began the Lieutenant 
 Governor peremptorily. 
 
 " It was right and regular the order, Sir ? " asked 
 the jailer, coming nearer to the sleigh and speak- 
 ing so the passers-by might not hear the words. 
 
 "What order?" Mr. Stoughton drew his brows 
 close, the upraised whip held above the horse. 
 
 " Lady Phips's order in Sir William's name and 
 with the Governor's seal " 
 
 "Order for what?" broke in Sir Humphrey. 
 "Speak, fellow." 
 
 "To release Mistress Armitage " 
 
 " Thou hast let Mistress Armitage escape ? " Mr. 
 Stoughton lifted his whip higher as if to bring it 
 down upon the man's shoulders, but the jailer had 
 taken himself quickly out of reach, and the Lieu- 
 tenant Governor thought better of his impulse, 
 snapping the lash furiously after the retreating fig- 
 ure. "Hear, thou varlet, " he shouted. "This 
 shall cost thee thy place. Come thou hither and an- 
 swer my questions an' thou'dst not have worse be- 
 fal thee. The end of them that have traffic with 
 witches is one with theirs. Who took Mistress 
 Armitage away ? "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 407 
 
 "A messenger from Lady Phips; a youth who 
 commanded me as I had been his servant. " 
 
 "Verring!" Sir Humphrey bit his lip, mutter- 
 ing something beneath his breath of which Mr. 
 Stoughton caught but one word. 
 
 "'Game!' Aye he shall find others can play 
 this Devil's game as well as he, " he ejaculated 
 harshly. 
 
 " 'Tis Lady Phips deserves thy wrath, not me," 
 quavered the anxious official. "I had no wish to 
 set the beldame free. " 
 
 " I go to the Governor. Will you attend me and 
 make those representations whereof you spoke? 
 They may have a weight with him, though he is 
 
 but a hot-headed " He stopped in time, 
 
 turning the sleigh in the narrow space beside the 
 pillory. 
 
 "You were not minded to be taken literally 
 when you said that the Governor could prevent the 
 execution ? " asked Sir Humphrey quietly. 
 
 "He is pledged to accept the decision of the 
 Commission, but I dare not trust to his obedi- 
 ence. A royal Governor hath power to thwart 
 and delay the action of justice. All three, " he 
 broke out sternly, "let loose like firebrands to 
 destroy " 
 
 "The boy the young lad Munch surely he may 
 be recovered to a better mind?" put in his com- 
 panion, "lean see that the other two are vastly 
 dangerous " 
 
 Mr. Stoughton interrupted. "A witch is a 
 witch. They should all three be hanged, and 
 promptly. "
 
 4 o8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The Governor sat smoking in his chamber. Lady 
 Phips watched him and went to and fro, replenish- 
 ing the fire with her own hands and stopping to 
 set nearer to his hand the lacquered tobacco box or 
 to lift a coal from the hearth to light the refilled 
 pipe. 
 
 The Governor had been silent, anxious trouble 
 brooding in his look, but half relaxed from battle 
 with the elements. 
 
 " 'Tis a fearful thing, Mary. Who knows there 
 may be others as innocent, perished by the Com- 
 mission ! But my Little Maid and Roger too 
 I should have been in Boston. " Anger rose again, 
 mastering his thinking. "How dared they 
 Stoughton and Cotton Mather to make themselves 
 the easy tools of Jacob Munch ! I could throttle 
 them for their fools' cruelty the " 
 
 "The Lieutenant Governor and Sir Humphrey 
 Wildglass to see Sir William, " announced Debby, 
 entering upon her knock. " They wait below, Sir. " 
 She dropped a curtsey, her eyes brightening with 
 contentment at his presence and went noiselessly 
 away. 
 
 "Thou wilt remember, William." Lady Phips 
 came closer to him, pleading. "Mr. Stoughton 
 asks nothing better than to provoke thee to vio- 
 lence. 'Tis one thing to cane a King's officer for 
 his insolence " 
 
 "Fear not, Mary. This Sir Humphrey hath a 
 
 tongue wily as Satan's. For the Maid's sake " 
 
 The Governor brought his fist upon his chair arm 
 with resounding force. 
 
 "William for my sake, too," his wife begged
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 409 
 
 anxiously. "Think how they seek excuse against 
 thee with the King. Let not their wicked machi- 
 nations come to aught. Be wise and give them 
 no pretence. " 
 
 "Be not anxious," he answered. "I have cost 
 thee much in anxiousness, " he added, shaking his 
 head. "Think'st thou I'm worth it?" He laid his 
 great hand sturdily upon the fingers that hindered 
 him and smiled half ruefully. 
 
 "Aye, William, worth it a thousand times. 
 There never was thy like. Go lest Mr. Stoughton 
 be angered that thou keep'st him waiting. " 
 
 Lady Phips paced steadily to and fro, listening 
 for a sign of quarrel, fearing much, for the greatness 
 of the provocation, but all went with seeming 
 smoothness, and the voices below sounded equally 
 deliberate and well controlled. Debby came and 
 went, bringing great sticks to wait their turn upon 
 the gleaming andirons and the sun lay warm upon 
 the hearth rug where a deer woven of red woollen 
 rags bounded from a hunter whose gun seemed like 
 to tangle in the tops of trees. 
 
 The minutes passed but slowly, and after ten were 
 counted out upon her jewelled watch the anxious 
 wife descended to the kitchen to prepare with her 
 own hands the tray of spice cakes and glazed 
 almonds with a posset of mulled wine to set before 
 the enemies of her house. She watched Debby 
 carry it to the parlour, and hesitated upon the stair, 
 uncertain whether to interrupt the conference with 
 greetings that would revolt her in the uttering, or 
 to return and set herself to her abandoned sewing. 
 
 "You then refuse to fulfil the just and lawful
 
 4 io THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 demands of your high office, Sir ! The matter shall 
 
 be laid before the Council " Mr Stoughton's 
 
 voice came to her, raised in a paroxysm of un- 
 mastered rage. "We shall see, Sir William Phips, 
 whether thou wilt persist in this despotism. An' 
 you put not the whole town on the track of these 
 fugitives, and allow the law to accomplish its own 
 vengeance upon their crimes you shall repent it!" 
 
 " 'Twill surely appear to Governor Phips the 
 wisest method to let this matter be brought to a 
 lawful end, I myself am not without a personal 
 grief in these events. " Sir Humphrey paused, a 
 most natural break in his even tones. "But 'tis 
 my plain and most unpleasant duty, an' there be not 
 strong measures taken to discover and put to trial 
 all accused of witchcraft, to communicate these 
 facts to their Majesties to whom I am sworn to 
 make truthful report af all such matters. But I 
 would not so report till I had laid the plain com- 
 missions before Sir William in his own person. " 
 
 "Their Majesties having good knowledge of 
 Sir Humphrey Wildglass, and his incorruptible 
 loyalty will be vastly impressed!" The Gov- 
 ernor kept his voice on a level that might not pene- 
 trate to the rooms above, but its unwonted de- 
 liberation of utterance was ominous. 
 
 "We are not here to listen to sneers nor taunts; 
 we come for your plain declaration and we have it. " 
 Mr. Stoughton brought out the words with some 
 triumph in .the exasperation. 
 
 " You have my answer, and I stand by it. " The 
 Governor's voice was still kept rigidly to its level 
 but the words rang soundly. " I must beg to hold
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 41 1 
 
 myself responsible neither to the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, nor to the stranger who calls himself Sir 
 Humphrey Wildglass, in the conduct of an office 
 for whose faithful discharge I will answer to the 
 King. If you have no further business, gentle- 
 men, pray refresh yourselves ere you go forth again 
 into the cold?" 
 
 Debby had set her tray upon the stand and 
 slipped hastily away. The mulled wine brought 
 an appetizing whiff upon the air and Sir Humphrey 
 poured a cup of the steaming liquid and lifted it 
 to his lips with a courtly genuflexion. 
 
 "I drink your better mind and manners Sir 
 William, " he murmured softly, sipping delicately 
 as he spoke. 
 
 "I neither drink nor eat where evil practices be 
 shielded and encouraged. " Mr. Stoughton spoke 
 again with the cold precision of his natural manner. 
 "Look to yourself, William Phips, and your own 
 household, lest the vileness you allow to wax fat 
 in public be safely hiding at your bed and board. 
 What spell and devilish enchantment may not be 
 in aught beneath this roof " 
 
 Sir Humphrey interrupted. 
 
 "Why warn him of that, Mr. Stoughton. He 
 will scarce give you credence." The cavalier set 
 the cup upon the tray and dropped the almond he 
 picked up, as if the Lieutenant-Governor's words 
 had much impressed him. 
 
 "Speak out and deal not in inuendoes. " Sir 
 William addressed himself to Mr. Stoughton, ignor- 
 ing the other as if the sight of him roused an anger 
 he might not control. "Would you revenge your-
 
 4 i2 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 self upon my faithful servants, accusing them be- 
 cause I will not yield ? Speak if you be not afraid. " 
 
 "Aye, Sir William Phips, I will speak and may 
 God have mercy upon a soul set to thwart His will. " 
 Mr. Stoughton brought out his words with the 
 careful, clipped utterance that seldom lost itself 
 in any greater animation, " 'Tis no servant, but 
 one higher I accuse. Nor I alone. 'Tis the public 
 that accuses. Who took out of the hands of the 
 law a proven witch, compelling the jailer by a " 
 
 "But Roger is already accused," the Governor 
 interrupted. He was keeping his promise under 
 terrible strain. 
 
 "Not Roger Verring but Lady Phips," ended 
 the precise voice. 
 
 The Governor took one step forward and Mr. 
 Stoughton backed suddenly, upsetting the stand 
 and the silver pitcher, that rolled against the cabi- 
 net beneath the gold cup glowing undisturbed 
 within the ebony. 
 
 The Governor had flung the door wide and his 
 face, that had been for an instant terribly con- 
 vulsed, turned to them white and scorching in its 
 fury. 
 
 "Begone!" he shouted. "Out of my sight!" 
 The words shook the very foundations of the build- 
 ing and set the prisms jangling upon the candelabra 
 swung above. "Faster, ye persecutors of the in- 
 nocent Take your vile plots out of this house 
 
 and dare repeat within the limits of the universe 
 this slander ye have uttered here and I will flay ye 
 both alive and the King will hold me justified. " 
 
 The door clanged on the hastily retreated figures. 
 Even Sir Humphrey had not lingered upon his exit.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE HUT IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
 AT dawn of the Christmas morrow the wind 
 had fallen in the woods as well, and the ris- 
 ing sun had glinted through bare branches 
 with a prophecy of coming warmth. 
 
 Temple leaned more heavily upon Roger's arm. 
 There were shadows under her wide eyes and signs 
 of pain about the clean-curved lips. 
 
 Thrice they paused upon a hard ascent for her to 
 gather strength. 
 
 "We might have come a shorter way but 'twas 
 even rougher, " Roger said, as much to himself as 
 to the Maid, his face more worn than hers, so 
 greatly her weariness oppressed him. 
 
 She smiled at him as if it had been most com- 
 fortable to feel one's way at night upon ledges and 
 down steep hills, and to stumble through snow and 
 cold where the whole garrison of the darkened 
 forest flocked to hinder passage. 
 
 Her smile eased the trouble of his thoughts. 
 " 'Twas better this way and we have the light for 
 the worst climb of all, " she said. 
 
 ' 'Tis but little farther. Beyond the brow here, 
 unless I have forgotten. " Roger glanced eagerly 
 about him as they went on. " Aye, and there's the 
 smoke from the chimney now. " 
 
 The girl's eyes grew moist in the relief, and they 
 mounted the rest of the way in silence.
 
 414 
 
 In the little clearing on the farther side the snow 
 lay almost untrodden, and about the log house set 
 beneath them the smoke was the only evidence of 
 habitation. 
 
 At Roger's knock there was a startled sound, 
 then eyes peered through a slide within the door. 
 
 " Tis Roger Verring, Mother Lindwell. We 
 t " 
 
 The door swung quickly open and eager hands 
 drew them into the dark interior. 
 
 "Merciful save us, Roger, an' what bring'stthee 
 here. Hast married a Quakeress and run away? 
 
 Thou'st frozen her Poor thing poor thing. 
 
 There, there, my dear, sit here till I can warm thy 
 hands. " 
 
 The woman who had admitted them guided the 
 girl to a rough settle and pushed Roger away when 
 he would help about the fastenings of her hood and 
 cloak. 
 
 " Nay, see to thyself. I'll tend to her, " she said. 
 
 The room was close and the warm air set chilled 
 flesh stinging with pain almost unbearable. The 
 girl's ringers were too stiff to be of use and the 
 woman worked over her as if she had been a baby, 
 pausing only once to look up at Roger with 
 sharp little eyes that missed nothing in their 
 search. 
 
 "Art clean fordone, lad, and hast frosted thy 
 cheeks. Here Trott, bestir thy bones. Get snow 
 for Master Roger, and thaw the frost out. " A 
 silent figure rose from the other end of the settle, 
 deposited a child that wailed at being left, and 
 went forth obediently.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 415 
 
 " 'Tis hungry, " the mother explained shortly. 
 "I fear me, Master Roger, thou'st come to an ill 
 place, for we be well-nigh starved. Naught but 
 dried corn and a bit of hog's fat in two weeks, and 
 Trott laid by with a rheum and cannot go hunting 
 and none to venture nigh Boston for us ! 'Tis a 
 sorry thing being a Quaker's wife in these days 
 when they would as soon kill thee as say it. " 
 
 "We be in worse case yet," said Roger, "and 
 Mistress Armitage fled for her life. Lady Phips 
 got her forth of the prison and commissioned me 
 to bring her to thee. The Governor is not yet 
 back from Pemaquid. " 
 
 "Monstrous a maid like that!" The listener 
 had drawn off the furred boots, cut to rags upon 
 the roots and stones of the way, and sprang up 
 suddenly. Temple had put out her stiff hand to 
 soothe the wailing infant and the motion had sent 
 the blood too quickly on its reanimated way. 
 She leaned helplessly upon the goodwife's breast 
 and slow tears of weakness wet her cheeks. One 
 hand clung like a child's upon the woman's sleeve, 
 and at that touch Mother Lindwell gathered the 
 girl close and crooned over her in a tender murmur, 
 forgetting the brisk sharpness of her accustomed 
 manner. 
 
 "Here Trott, get down the bed. Make haste. 
 The maid is faint for sleep. Hast thou bread or 
 meat ? " She put the question to Roger anxiously. 
 
 Roger had laid out the flasks and the remaining 
 food upon the wide shelf that served for table, and 
 the woman, tucking the girl tenderly about, set 
 herself to toast a fragment of the wheaten bread.
 
 416 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 The man looked wistful and the little one cried, 
 for hunger. 
 
 Roger put into its hands a broken slice and it 
 sat up and ate, forcing bites upon the father who 
 nibbled gingerly, and glowed with delight as the 
 child sighed in a kind of rapture and fell asleep in 
 his arms. 
 
 The Maid was drowsy and would neither eat nor 
 drink. 
 
 "I would sleep," she protested. The goodwife 
 finally ceased to strive with her, drew the covers 
 more warmly over the reclining figure, and left 
 her lost already in the dim labyrinth of dreams. 
 
 The windows were narrow, mere slits in the logs, 
 nailed over with oiled paper and, all save one, 
 shuttered against the cold. The light came chiefly 
 from the fire and revealed the barren interior in 
 bursts and flashes of its glare. The table shelf, the 
 bed lowered on hinges from the wall, the settle, 
 and rude stools upon the hearth, were well-nigh all 
 the furniture, and made, like the house, here in the 
 woods. The rafters that should have hung with 
 strings of dried apples, bunches of onions, and wild 
 herbs for medicine were bare save for the central 
 beam that bore the unhusked corn ; the rough cup- 
 board nailed beside the fire held a couple of wooden 
 bowls, spoons made of shells clamped in split 
 sticks, and an iron toasting fork. Upon a green- 
 wood crane over the fire hung a pot that boiled 
 noisily, cooking nothing, but filling the chimney- 
 side with steam. 
 
 Mistress Lindwell talked eagerly with Roger, 
 bustling about to set the fragments of his own feast
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 417 
 
 more tidily upon the board. The wheaten bread 
 she kept apart, saving it for the Maid, but the rest 
 she urged on him. 
 
 "Eat it, and get strength to go forth and hunt 
 for us ! Trott there will be a new man for e'en a 
 bite of venison, "she said. "Eat and sleep, lad. 
 Thee've circles so deep under thy eyes they're fair 
 sunken away. " 
 
 "Nay, Mother Lindwell, eat, thyself, and make 
 Trott finish the little there be. I've had food 
 already and am not hungry. I, too, but want to 
 sleep. " 
 
 He rolled himself within the skins she threw upon 
 the floor, but before he slept he raised his head to 
 speak again. 
 
 "Sir William and Lady Phips hold Mistress 
 Armitage dear as if she were their own ! I know 
 there's naught thou and Trott here would not do 
 even to the last crumb within the wallet were she 
 wholly friendless, but 'tis no harm ye should know 
 the Governor will not forget this kindness. " 
 
 "Go to sleep, boy. Think'st thou we'd do for 
 Governor Phips what we'd not do a thousandfold 
 for thee who rescued us, and saved my baby when 
 we fled. And who that had seen the Maid would 
 not welcome her for her brave self, I'd ask to know ? 
 Would ye were man and wife ! It was ill fortune 
 that sent a maid forth so alone. The gossips 
 will " 
 
 Roger sat up and looked at her pleadingly. 
 "Thou 'It not let her be troubled by fears of gos- 
 sips? She hath had enough to bear!" 
 
 " Go thou to sleep. Try not to teach thy Mother
 
 4 i8 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Lindwell what to say to maids. Tell me who ac- 
 cused the girl. " 
 
 "The Munches first of all. " 
 
 "I remember them aye, old Christopher and 
 the galoot that wore the spangled doublet mean 
 and croping all of 'em and full of enviousness and 
 bile. There was a maid amongst them also ?" But 
 Roger did not answer and the woman softened her 
 tones, taking her little one and crouching on the 
 settle by the flames. 
 
 " Art in great pain, Trott ? I knew it, and I sent 
 thee after snow ! I will rub thy shoulder with the 
 bear's grease and do thou heat it in. Man man, 
 what can we do about the sleeping ! 'Twill be the 
 evergreens on the floor for us, the loft for Roger, 
 and the Maid's cloaks will help to keep her warm. " 
 
 "She is wondrous lovely," said Trott quietly. 
 "I'm glad the lad could save her. " 
 
 The Maid scarce woke for four and twenty hours. 
 When she rose at last and sat upon the edge of the 
 bed, pushing back the soft hair tumbled on her 
 forehead, the baby laughed within a pile of bear- 
 skins on the hearth, and savoury odours floated from 
 the bubbling pot, swung low upon the yielding 
 crane. 
 
 "Where is Captain Verring? Hath he gone?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " He is without, getting for me the wood to keep 
 us warm. The snow hath covered it and the good- 
 man grows worse each time he makes the attempt, " 
 answered her hostess cheerfully. " 'Twas a 
 Heaven-sent sleep thou's had, my child. " 
 
 "But you where did you sleep? I have taken
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 419 
 
 your bed ! " The girl came forward, seeming taller 
 and more beautiful still in the low room. She put 
 both hands upon the goodwife's arm and held her 
 fast. "You and your husband have done all this 
 for one who is a stranger. And you yourselves 
 are ill and anxious ! Now I will be of use. Cap- 
 tain Verring shall see 'tis not a man only may be 
 useful. " 
 
 " 'Tis blessed good to have thee here, " the woman 
 answered in an impetuous burst. " Thou's no idea 
 how lonely 'tis here in these woods, and Trott and 
 I were ever used to neighbours. Thou'rt useful 
 Mistress, just to stay with us !" 
 
 The day was blithe and the strangeness of this 
 refuge made but the more delight. The baby 
 fastened upon Temple and would not let her go, 
 and Trott 's aching arms were thereby greatly 
 eased. 
 
 " 'Tis a fine world when thou hast a warm chim- 
 ney corner and thy mother and father near, little 
 Peace, is't not ! " the Maid said gaily, tossing the 
 child to the smoky beams. Then she fell sober 
 and held the tiny one upon her knee, watching the 
 fire in a sad quietness, coming forth from her rev- 
 erie in still gayer mood. 
 
 But the blame of a hostile world found her even 
 here and the blitheness wore away or grew more 
 forced. Even Mistress Lindwell was openly trou- 
 bled at the flight together. Who knew what rumour 
 might not have said ! And the Maid became first 
 sorrowful, then indignant. Did Roger repent his 
 words before the judges? She grew scarlet with 
 remembrance. Should she have protested, refused
 
 420 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 to come with him? Had he found her but 
 too ready to trust and follow? It was plainly 
 his duty to show her that he was still of the same 
 mind. 
 
 And Roger, remembering that he had said pub- 
 licly to her enemies that which was hers alone to 
 hear, doubted if the words had not revolted her. 
 Her former distance had not been explained and 
 he wondered if she longed, here in the midst of this 
 rough friendliness of the Lindwells, for the polished 
 homage of Sir Humphrey. As she grew constrained 
 he grew more silent and held more aloof. Surely 
 it was hers to show whether or no his love had 
 angered her ! 
 
 The snows fell heavily and the scanty supply of 
 corn was near an end. The deer were few and the 
 hunting alone could not provide them with what 
 would keep the soul within the body. He thought 
 the Maid looked thinner and beneath her mirth 
 there seemed to him to lurk a baffling sadness. 
 
 The privations she endured cost him daily more 
 suffering. She had conquered the good wife by 
 invincible persistence and by the picture of Trott 
 grown worse or dying and now she slept upon 
 the evergreens. The bundle of Lady Phips had 
 held a truly marvellous array, yet he knew how 
 much of what had been to her but daily decencies 
 she must forego. 
 
 Temple woke one morning to hear the Quaker's 
 wife protesting staunchly. 
 
 " Not yet, Roger. We can do with what we have 
 till thou hast shot more rabbits or the deer return. 
 They're sure to kill thee if thou go now. "
 
 421 
 
 The girl arranged her hair, bathed her face in the 
 warm snow water, and throwing her cloak about 
 her, stepped out into the light. 
 
 Roger's face brightened as he saw her. 
 
 "What is it, Captain Verring ? What would you 
 do ? " she asked in visible alarm. 
 
 " Make a little journey. I shall shortly return, " 
 he answered, his eyes resting on her with a grave 
 wistfulness, of which she blindly marked but the 
 gravity. 
 
 "You go to Boston?" 
 
 " Oh beg him not to go he will listen to thee, " 
 implored the woman. "Think on those who love 
 him if he's hanged. 'Twill kill Madam Verring. 
 Bid him not to go. " 
 
 The Maid hesitated. 
 
 "I fear Captain Verring would heed me little, 
 but I would he might remain. I do ask him for us 
 all. " 
 
 Roger misinterpreted the words and look as she 
 had misread his. To go was best, but he had hoped 
 for some vague sign to ease his jealousy or show 
 him she forgave what had offended her. But 
 goodwife Lindwell stayed by them in her fear for 
 Roger, and did not guess the pain beneath the calm- 
 ness of their brief farewell.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 AN ENCOUNTER AND AN ACCIDENT 
 
 WHILE the Maid ate her parched corn 
 and slept upon the evergreens, smiling 
 through all as bravely as in the first 
 day of their exile, and hiding the hurt that made 
 hardship a relief from thought, Boston discussed 
 her and her absence, making large capital of scandal 
 or romance. 
 
 Nicolas Verring and Alison grew older in the 
 hearing and scourged their souls in the strong mis- 
 ery of their credence of the tales. 
 
 In the streets and behind the doors shut fast for 
 fear and secrecy, excitement ebbed and flowed. 
 The return of the Governor had infused a more 
 wholesome quality into the life of the town, but the 
 madness had not run its course. Fear and fanatic 
 rage still overpowered the growing force of protests 
 that had risen upon the rabid wantonness of accusa- 
 tion. No man's life was safe and dread of the ac- 
 cuser counteracted terror of the supernatural. 
 Captain Alden had broken jail and taken himself off, 
 with a nimbleness unexpected of his seventy years, 
 at the very moment when a praying band were met 
 within his own house to cast out the evil spirit that 
 enchained him. None knew whither he had gone 
 but it was plain so long as he remained away he and 
 his goods were safe. To come back would be death. 
 
 In the days of his return to the horror-smitten 
 town, in the long hours of enforced hiding and 
 422
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 423 
 
 delay, Roger endured much that was more wearing 
 than the privations of the wood, and his heart 
 burned with the live coals of his fears about the 
 Maid. The coldness of their parting lay hard 
 upon him and he grew sick with the certainty that 
 if Sir Humphrey were to follow her she would re- 
 joice to see him. 
 
 In his spy-hindered labours Nopomuk aided 
 him, and through Lady Phips he gathered by 
 night the stores he was to carry. She, too, 
 had need be careful, for many eyes watched every 
 purchase, informers were set upon the household, 
 and the servants plied with threats and questions 
 by those who sought the Maid. 
 
 At last a morning came when he would wait no 
 longer. The hour for Nopomuk's nightly visit 
 was long since past and, therefore, dark though it 
 was, some one must have followed. The sun was 
 rising. 
 
 Roger crept from the heavy robes concealed 
 among the rocks and examined in all directions 
 before he began his toil. Then he unearthed his 
 stores, packed them skilfully and strapped them 
 with leather thongs. Before he lifted them to place 
 the burden upon his shoulders he raised his eyes 
 once more to search the forest. 
 
 "A fine morning, Captain. " Sir Humphrey had 
 seated himself upon a rock and looked about with 
 cheerful interest. "Thou'st chosen a charming 
 woodland for thy stroll. " 
 
 Roger set the pack upon the ground and stood up 
 with a movement so sudden Sir Humphrey drew 
 his hand from beneath his cloak.
 
 424 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " 'Tis loaded and my aim hath been commended," 
 he said indifferently. The heavy pistol pointed 
 without wavering. Roger faced it with no* change 
 in his expression, but his thoughts moved quickly 
 from point to point of possible escape. 
 
 "Pray let me not interrupt, " went on the voice 
 of the cavalier. " I'm hi the mood myself for strol' 
 ling. We'll go together. " 
 
 Roger returned to his task, lifting his heavy 
 pack and fastening it with quiet deliberation as if 
 he either had not heard the other's words, or would 
 make no contradiction of their import. 
 
 "Lead, and I'll follow close upon thy steps," 
 the voice commanded. " 'Tis said I have a some- 
 what hasty temper. An' we come not within a 
 reasonable time to the destination thou'd selected 
 there'll be one witch defender less in pious Boston. 
 'Tis time we started. For what sweet inspiration 
 dost thou linger ? " 
 
 Roger looked at the cavalier, then at the pistol 
 as if irresolute. 
 
 "If 'tis the Indian thou expectest, he vanished 
 in witch smoke when he saw me upon his track 
 some half-mile distant. But from there the way 
 was easy. A Providential trail of footsteps guided 
 me to thy present cover. For which mercy I was 
 not ungrateful. " Sir Humphrey had risen from 
 the rock. 
 
 Roger frowned, seeming to find the yielding in- 
 evitable, and moved forward at a sharp angle from 
 the direction of the Quaker's house. 
 
 "Make not detours too long for patience, Captain. 
 I am inclined for strolling, but would not waste my
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 425 
 
 breath. So look to it an' thou wouldst not leave 
 this world and thy Enslaver to be consoled, it 
 may be, by thy enemies ! And die thou shalt, if 
 thou deceive me. " The last words dropped the 
 lightness of the bantering tone. 
 
 Still Roger made no reply, but kept a good pace 
 that lengthened gradually as he advanced. Upon a 
 slight rise in the rough ground the trail he followed 
 turned at right angles, skirting a low bluff that gave 
 a sheer plunge down its hidden bank. Of this the 
 other had no knowledge. 
 
 Roger's increasing stride had left him some six 
 paces in the rear. Discovering the widening dis- 
 tance between them and that a clump of evergreens 
 would shortly intervene, the cavalier quickened his 
 step and, as Roger vanished around the angle of the 
 rock, he was instantly upon him. The pistol, 
 knocked into the air, fell beneath the ledge and the 
 two men grappled in the entrance of the path. 
 The older man was not unskilled, his resistance 
 was desperate, powerful. Pebbles rolled from 
 beneath their feet and rattled into the hollow 
 where the jutting boulders had kept the ground 
 clear of the snows. Hearing the tumbling stones 
 Sir Humphrey leaped quickly back from what 
 seemed the edge of a precipice, setting his feet upon 
 what was its actual verge. A twig slipped under 
 him and he fell heavily, crashing upon the broken 
 edges of the rocks below. 
 
 Roger slid and clambered rapidly down the 
 farther end of the short descent. Here the trees 
 gave a hold and the brief precipice ended in a slope. 
 
 " Hast scored again, my doughty Puritan. Thy
 
 426 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 pasty-faced accusers have the right of it. " Sir 
 Humphrey looked up, helpless, his lips bitten hard 
 from pain. ' 'Twas some damned wizardry that 
 sunk this pitfall. " 
 
 Roger unstrapped his pack in haste, bestowing 
 it out of sight beneath a hemlock. 
 
 "I believe thou art relieved, thou fool, to find 
 me living. What a pother is a Puritan's righteous- 
 ness. " The injured man writhed a little over, 
 moving his arm to reach his side, but Roger was be- 
 fore him. 
 
 " I will bear your rapier; you but put yourself to 
 greater suffering by motion. " He quietly removed 
 the short sword, picked up the pistol and laid both 
 upon his pack. "I would not cause you needless 
 pain, " he went on, returning to the wounded man, 
 "but know I must if you can walk. 'Tis needful 
 precaution in my absence. " He examined his 
 fallen enemy as tenderly as might be, assuring 
 himself of broken bones and showing, spite of in- 
 ward rage, a certain sympathy for the evident suf- 
 fering of his foe. 
 
 At the word absence Sir Humphrey had looked up 
 searchingly. 
 
 "The highway is close at hand. I will return, " 
 Roger reassured him coldly. 
 
 Sir Humphrey left to himself swore with violence, 
 but his face welcomed Roger's return with the 
 sneering smile with which he had seen him go. 
 
 "Art welcome, sweet Samaritan, " he cried. "I've 
 nigh drained my flask in waiting and the rocks 
 be hard as well as chill. Who is thy genial friend ? " 
 
 The solemn-visaged farmer who followed Roger
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 427 
 
 looked with dour compassion upon the fallen man 
 and set about preparing a litter of thick boughs. 
 The cavalier made no complaint in the journey but 
 the sweat of doleful agonies stood upon his forehead 
 as he was laid at last upon the rude couch in the 
 farmer's cabin. 
 
 "I will resume our stroll some other day," he 
 gasped meaningly, as Roger left him. 
 
 Roger paused at the threshold. 
 
 ' ' Pray risk not your recovery by too much 
 haste, " he said unmoved. 
 
 "Here thou, quick!" The cavalier summoned 
 the dour- faced host with a shout. "Pursue the 
 man and hold him. He is a witch escaped from 
 Boston. The town is searching for him. Take thy 
 gun. He will be armed. " 
 
 The man seized his musket and vanished on the 
 word, running for the woods, but Roger had run 
 faster. At the bluff all trace was lost save the 
 footprints approaching from above. A rabbit 
 whisked across the snow. The man watched it 
 with startled eyes and fired his musket at the spot 
 where it had disappeared. Then he turned and 
 made his way back to his groaning guest. 
 
 " He turned himself into a rabbit and the ball 
 went through him harmless, " he reported. ' 'Tis 
 strange a witch animal hath no tail ! " He wagged 
 his head. 
 
 "But a rabbit is ever without a tail, thou oaf," 
 retorted Sir Humphrey angrily. 
 
 Roger waited till the man was well away, and 
 descended cautiously from his hiding place. Keep- 
 ing a sharp eye upon the approaches to the hollow,
 
 THE COAST OP FREEDOM 
 
 he bound his bundle again upon his shoulders and 
 set forth, walking backward in the tracks made by 
 Sir Humphrey and himself. At a point where they 
 had crossed a frozen brook blown almost clear of 
 snow he set his face once more toward the Quaker's 
 dwelling, moving forward rapidly wherever he had 
 not first to sweep clear the trackless ice.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 KIDNAPPED 
 
 now, we must let thee go!" Mistress 
 Lindwell sighed. She was making earnest 
 effort to sew by the troubled light that 
 penetrated the narrow rectangles of oiled paper, 
 and her eyes winked rapidly as if protesting 
 at their task. The women were alone. The 
 sound of the Quaker's saw came to them 
 from without the house. "How long is't since 
 thee came to us? 'Twould seem no longer than 
 yesterday to me, " went on the good wife, drawing 
 her needle swiftly. 
 
 " 'Tis many weeks this will be Captain Ver- 
 ring's fifth journey to the town, " broke in the girl. 
 " How long I've tried your goodness !" 
 
 "The trial's yet to come, when we must let thee 
 go ! And Roger O 'twill be grievous lonely with- 
 out ye ! Even a day like this when he be away 
 is longer. Dost remember how it dragged the 
 time when he made that first trip to find us food ? " 
 
 "You will see him often. Happy days be com- 
 ing for thee and goodman Trott. There'll soon 
 be end of hardship and loneliness for both. " The 
 Maid spoke cheerfully. 
 
 "Well, we've need of them, for now young Joliff 
 be gone, there's none we can trust to fetch and 
 carry from the town, and once Nicolas Verring gets 
 Roger again in the counting-house there'll be 
 
 429
 
 430 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 precious few hours to him for running of our er- 
 rands!" Mistress Lindwell appeared somewhat 
 heartened, spite of the lamentation of her words. 
 
 " Do you, in truth, hold that this madness of the 
 people about the witchcraft will pass? I cannot 
 trust it. You did not see them!" The Maid 
 stopped, troubled. "If my Uncle Amory would 
 but hasten his coming he might get me forth to 
 England. I am a danger here to all who harbour 
 me. " The girl sighed in her turn, moving to and 
 fro a forked stick for little Peace to peep through 
 and play owl-in-the- woods. 
 
 "There now, I've caught thee !" The goodwife 
 laughed. "All thy fine words of cheer be for me 
 and the sadness is heavier on thee than on us. I 
 knew it, well. " She looked up across her stitching. 
 
 Temple "hooted" once more through the twigs 
 and the child answered with a startling " wh-oo-oo " 
 much trilled with mirth. 
 
 The Maid smiled. " I must have my little mel- 
 ancholies and make my little wail, dear Mother 
 Lindwell, else should I forget how to be in the 
 fashion. To be sometimes sighing bespeaks a 
 weighty mind. " 
 
 " Pooh a dry leaf for the sighing ! and dear at 
 that ! 'A weighty mind' ! A laggard stomach 
 more like !" The woman's eyes twinkled over her 
 task. " 'Tis thy good honest pluck makes me most 
 admire, I tell thee. Thou art so young and hast 
 had such sadnesses and yet, give thee but one pale 
 ray, and thou mak'st a sunrise ! " 
 
 Temple smiled with humorous amusement. 
 
 "Where dost keep such rose mirrors to reflect
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 431 
 
 thy friends withal ! " she began mirthfully, growing 
 much in earnest as she talked. " I wonder if it hath 
 come to thee that 'twould be dull metal did not re- 
 flect the good cheer of thy own quick spirit ! " 
 
 "I'll not say nay. I love flattery an' it be warm 
 with some goodwill. " Mistress Lindwell bit off her 
 thread. "What luxury not to use ravellings, and 
 to have more than one needle, " she went on again. 
 "Roger is terrible thoughtful. Luxury! And 
 what dost suppose it hath been to me to chat so 
 over nothings with a woman ! 'Tis seldom men 
 know how to settle to a bit of talk. They must be 
 ever bobbing up to use their arms and legs, and get 
 no flavour from the trifles that rest the tongue !" 
 
 Temple laughed again, for Trott, coming from 
 without, stood in the doorway and observed his 
 wife with such reposeful zest that she looked up 
 and straightway set him to another task. 
 
 He nodded his head at the Maid. "A woman, 
 Temple Armitage, that hath a busy mind and 
 chooseth the right husband may set him 'bobbing 
 up' for two, " he said in his slow, comfortable speech. 
 " Not so, Peace; come from the door, or help me to 
 shut it. When I pull, then push thee hard, within," 
 and he departed, still nodding as if inwardly re- 
 peating his own jest. 
 
 As night came on and Peace was taken from her 
 arms, so fast asleep undressing could not stir the 
 fallen lids, the Maid left the house to stand in the 
 tree-circled clearing and watch the stars appear. 
 The days were well companioned, but the nights, 
 that began so early, were lengthened out of all pro- 
 portion to their hours. The close contentment of
 
 432 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the two who worked together in the house, pre- 
 paring for the supper half forgotten in the excite- 
 ment of the sewing, made her in this time of Roger's 
 absence more than ever lonely. 
 
 Every day she had grown more scornful of her- 
 self that she could not even pluck a winter fern 
 without longing for him to share delight in its brave 
 greenness. It had been given to her to love greatly, 
 but the stronger the force of her love the more it 
 built high walls for shield, dwelling where it could 
 neither admit another nor show itself without 
 strong and startling reason. 
 
 Not even Roger guessed how wholly this was true 
 'of her and that she could feel as he and yet leave 
 his vords, so clearly spoken, as if they had not been. 
 Did she care, surely some gate she would leave 
 open for approach, some reassurance of those 
 words her love would crave. But all gates she 
 barred, and he could not urge on her more of a 
 presence already too much forced upon her by 
 events. 
 
 In the despair of these days that might have held 
 a fuller comradeship than the town could give 
 them, he made frequent excuse for journeys, that 
 he might irk her less, hoping for some betrayal of 
 gladness at his return. 
 
 To her these absences were proof of the dreari- 
 ness he found in their unwilled seclusion, and her 
 welcome grew more staid, more bravely indifferent 
 with each. As the time came for Sir Humphrey 
 to be well again, the fear of her ill-protected isola- 
 tion drove Roger to seek more earnestly means for 
 her safe return. Under Sir William's roof she
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 433 
 
 would at least be safe from Sir Humphrey Wild- 
 glass, and malice itself must at last be silenced 
 among the accusers. Already the jails were empty- 
 ing and the exiled everywhere looking hopefully 
 toward home. 
 
 The Maid herself had only 'dread for a return that 
 meant but separation more complete, and the sight 
 of all that could bring to her the evil days before 
 the flight. It was for that she sighed, playing at 
 owl-games with little Peace. She felt assurance 
 that Roger would come from this latest absence 
 saying that she might go back, and a homeless deso- 
 lation stared at her. Even the thought of Richard 
 Amory, too long away to be more than a vague and 
 chilly refuge for a lonely girl, gave her small com- 
 fort. Doubtless to him she would be but an incu- 
 bus ! Better the morbid bitterness and the woods 
 than to be herself again, and go radiant about the 
 stupid business of more active days in town. 
 
 This thought was with her as she entered the 
 house again, and it was this that held her yet when 
 Trott drowsed on the settle, and the goodwife, 
 wearied, dropped beside the child. 
 
 It was from the smart of it that footsteps woke 
 her. The fire was dim, but the whole room bright- 
 ened with the belief that it was Roger. 
 
 She went swiftly to the door and flung it wide. 
 For the first time a welcome betrayed itself in her 
 exclamation. But the figure that brushed by her 
 was not Roger. She spoke again quickly, rousing 
 the Quaker from his doze. Mistress Lindwell had 
 started up from her couch, calling out instantly, 
 as if she had not slept.
 
 434 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "Who is it?" Temple asked, challenging the 
 intruder. 
 
 The fire blazed higher. The man had unclasped 
 his cloak, letting it fall upon the settle, and now he 
 tossed his hat upon it, sinking beside them as if 
 exhausted. 
 
 "Sir Humphrey Wildglass!" the girl cried, as 
 the light fell upon him. "What do you here?" 
 
 If she felt fear it was disarmed by his apparent 
 weakness. 
 
 " I was strolling, " he answered involuntarily. 
 "Truly, I crave pardon. I have been ill and my 
 stroll hath much fatigued me. " 
 
 It was more than the strolling that fatigued Sir 
 Humphrey. He had quarrelled vigorously with 
 the Lady, who waited upon the rocks above the 
 house, savagely in haste for action. 
 
 "You've deceived me again, " he had complained 
 with uncurbed fury. " I get the men, stout fellows 
 for the work and ready to keep a bargain, and am 
 prepared. Keep you out of it. Wait and see ye're 
 not fooled an' ye will, but leave the work to us ! " 
 
 "I'm like to have dragged myself this dismal 
 way at night to leave command to thee, thou 
 fool. For what am I here, think'st thou ! 'Tis 
 I command. Obey strictly if 'tis the reward 
 
 disquiets thee 'Twill be thine an' thou obey'st. 
 
 Wait here with thy fellows. " Sir Humphrey 
 would have left them but the other had detained 
 him roughly. 
 
 "Stay thou here thyself. Let me kill her. 
 There's no safety of reward till she be dead. I'll 
 not trust ye "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 435 
 
 "Wait here, I say," Sir Humphrey interrupted, 
 turning fearless and masterful upon the danger. 
 "Or go yonder. There's but one entrance. Canst 
 see from there if we escape. She shall not be 
 harmed villain. Dost hear me ! She's to go in 
 safety with us if the reward's to follow. Mayhap 
 she'll come of her own will. I may persuade 
 her " 
 
 " Ye're to kill her, my men, 'tis the only way to 
 
 make sure of the money " broke in the Lady 
 
 again. 
 
 The four who waited near at hand had crowded 
 closer. 
 
 " 'Tis a sure way to lose it. An ye'd have the 
 gold ye must obey. " Sir Humphrey drove them 
 
 back. "Wait ye And heed if I call," he 
 
 added to the Lady, then set his back to them 
 and began groping down the rocks toward the 
 house. 
 
 "Know'st thou to-morrow's morrow will be thy 
 birthday, Frances?" he asked now suddenly. 
 
 The Maid had set her hands together, clasping 
 them sharply in the shadows where she stood. 
 
 " Fear not to speak. Thou know'st who thou art 
 and I know. These good people will not harm 
 thee. Surely thou need'st not fear thy cousin. " 
 Sir Humphrey had risen as he talked. His bones 
 had knitted well and the soreness of unused muscles 
 was the only remembrancer of tedious weeks. 
 
 The girl came into the light of the fire and looked 
 at him earnestly. 
 
 "Why are you here?" she asked. 
 
 "To save thee. The Boston men are on thy
 
 436 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 track. Thy hiding place is discovered. " He sank 
 upon the settle again, playing the role of illness 
 cleverly. " We must make haste. These two will 
 not betray us? " 
 
 He glanced at Trott, who stood defiant and un- 
 quakerlike beside them. 
 
 " Not half so soon as I would betray myself, " the 
 girl answered promptly. Sir Humphrey had seen 
 that his blow struck home. The trial, the prison, 
 were fresh in her mind. Hope stirred itself in him. 
 
 "Come," he said again. 
 
 "With you?" She looked at him without stir- 
 ring. 
 
 "None could better care for thee. But the time 
 is short. " 
 
 " Whither would you take me ? " The girl watched 
 him, and saw that he was not so ill as he appeared. 
 There was small weakness in the movement that 
 brought him beside her as she seemed to yield. 
 
 "The Soldan sails by dawn. I will conceal thee 
 on her. To stay in the country is death. " He 
 saw the meaning of her look and went on quickly. 
 "An* thou dread'st the sea I have safe hiding place 
 not far from here. Goodwife, get her cloak and 
 hood. She is not safe an instant, nor you while 
 she is here. " 
 
 "How know we the tale be true?" demanded 
 Temple. "Where be these men? How had you 
 knowledge of them?" 
 
 "I passed them on the way. I heard in Boston 
 of their attempt and followed, eluding them. " Sir 
 Humphrey waited, questioning her faith. 
 
 " I do not believe the tale, " Temple answered,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 437 
 
 turning from him to the others, who listened credul- 
 ous and bewildered. 
 
 The cavalier went softly to the door and peered 
 forth, as though regarding the sky. 
 
 "If thou wilt take thy stand beside me and let 
 thy gaze wander while thy head is still lifted as in 
 transport at the moon, thou'lt see them, " he said 
 rapidly, his tones carefully suppressed. "There be 
 figures beneath the trees yonder. " 
 
 She joined him instantly. The Lady and his 
 followers had stationed themselves where they held 
 the doorway in full view and the moonlight re- 
 vealed them. She drew back into the room. 
 
 " I will not go with you, " she said steadily, ' 'but 
 I will go forth to them. Then will they not molest 
 my friends. " 
 
 She reached for her cloak and pulled it about her 
 shoulders, but as her fingers went to the fastenings 
 Mistress Lindwell interfered. The husband had 
 placed himself directly before the door that Sir 
 Humphrey had closed. 
 
 "Temple Armitage, thee'll stay here," he said, 
 his calm eyes on the girl. "Mount into the loft 
 quickly. I will parley with them. Thee doth not 
 trust this man who saith he is thy cousin ? " 
 
 Temple looked from one to the other of her de- 
 fenders anxious and determined. 
 
 "I do not trust him," she said, "but I would 
 almost go with him, though I believe he seeks my 
 life, rather than ye be exposed and the child. 
 We must think on Peace. " 
 
 Sir Humphrey waited before the fire, listening 
 as at a comedy.
 
 438 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " It lies with thee to choose twixt peace and war, 
 Frances. " His smile changed as his eyes rested on 
 her. "An" thou'd been a man the name of Belling- 
 ham had not died inglorious!" he interjected. 
 '"Seek thy life'! An' thou think'st that, thou 
 knowest little At this instant, as worse for- 
 tune may yet prove, I risk my own for thine ! Nay, 
 child, doubt not. I have coined many falsehoods 
 and better mintage than most but love lies not. 
 'Tis not by will of mine I have lost power, even 
 power to lie ! Look at me, Frances " He ap- 
 proached, entreating eagerly "Dost thou doubt 
 I love thee !" The fire showed him briefly, a swift 
 presentment of what he might have been. 
 
 "I cannot learn in one hour to undo a long dis- 
 trust." The girl spoke gently. "Even if I be- 
 lieved the words, I could not go Pray do not 
 
 let us waste the time endangering these. " Her 
 eyes went back to the Quaker and his wife. 
 
 But he remained still pleading, in his eagerness 
 bending passionately near. As he talked the 
 watchers gazed fascinated at the two, so like in this 
 changing firelight that the resemblance seemed un- 
 canny. 
 
 " O if Roger were here ! " cried out Mistress Lind- 
 well, then bit her tongue, remembering the men 
 without. 
 
 The girl was cold, troubled, eager for escape from 
 protestation; Sir Humphrey absorbed, besieging 
 her distrust by all there was of him of fervour and 
 address. He pleaded eloquently, well. His roused 
 look, warm with conquering emotion, clung to her 
 with the full energy of his intent.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 439 
 
 Upon Mistress Lind well's cry for Roger he 
 stopped, and the ardour of his gaze became a 
 jealous question. 
 
 The girl's colour rose hotly under it, an answer 
 stronger than her will. 
 
 He stood more straightly, facing her. "Wilt 
 thou come?" he asked again. 
 
 She shook her head in quick refusal. In her 
 silence was the pain of the betrayal he had evoked. 
 
 He left her, took up his cloak and hat, and 
 opened the door. Master Lindwell stood back to 
 let him pass; but he went no farther than the 
 threshold. At his signal, the men under the trees 
 moved forward into the clearing, and before those 
 within had understood, the five were in the room. 
 
 "Touch not the maid. Bind these," he com- 
 manded, "but hurt them not. " He had stepped 
 once more to the girl's side. 
 
 "Wilt thou come now, or must I take thee by 
 violence?" he said.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 THE PURSUIT 
 
 AT the moment when Temple thought she 
 heard his footsteps approaching the log 
 house, Roger stood waiting in the hall of 
 the Governor's mansion while Debby went to fetch 
 still one more package for his carrying. 
 
 " 'Twill rejoice Sir William mightily to have ye 
 both again, " Lady Phips was saying. " 'Twill be 
 proclaimed ere long and return will then be 
 safe enough for all. There is no question. Mis- 
 tress Munch came back from hiding yesterday, 
 bringing the boy. They say 'tis a scandal the way 
 he is indulged as like now to be ruined for too 
 much petting as formerly for unkindness. Gossip 
 hath it the woman is much chastened in spirit, but 
 quarrels with her daughter who hath been some- 
 what slighted since men suspect not all of those ac- 
 cused were guilty. " 
 
 Roger had tried more than once to interrupt. 
 
 "I must go, Lady Phips. Sir Humphrey hath 
 been seen in Boston this very day. I fear " 
 
 "Thou shalt go; Debby will be here in a minute. 
 Thou'rt thinner with all this trouble, Roger. " 
 She fixed on him her grey eyes, searching as the 
 Governor's were shrewd, and went on quickly, 
 "And thou'rt not the only one's grown thin. " She 
 smiled. " 'Tis said Sir John Winchcombe's figure 
 hath sadly fallen away, and that he curseth Sir 
 440
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 441 
 
 Humphrey Wildglass for a knave. Nay more, he 
 threatens him though I misdoubt me if Sir 
 Humphrey be much disquieted. Madam Chan- 
 terell hath been to plead with me ! She fears, it 
 seems, the wrath of Richard Amory who rewarded 
 them liberally for safety to the Maid. Sir John 
 hath been extravagant and his fortunes be low. 
 I like not the woman, but had she been alone " 
 
 " I must go Never mind the packet. She 
 
 herself will be here to-morrow, it may be " 
 
 " But I hear Debby now, " Lady Phips began. 
 
 "A man without must see you instantly, my 
 Lady." Debby 's scared face appeared within the 
 door. 
 
 " Lady Phips where is thy mistress " The 
 
 voice that followed, Roger knew. 
 
 "Roger" it began joyfully at sight of him, 
 then with the suddenness of a pistol shot " Where 
 is the Maid?" 
 
 "At the Quaker's house What is't Maccartey ? " 
 
 The answer came at the same instant with the 
 question. " Sir Humphrey's there or on the way. 
 I got it at the Ship Tavern a sot that blabbed 
 
 what Come. Thou'lt tell the Governor?". 
 
 He turned to Lady Phips. k 
 
 "I'll send messengers " she began. 
 
 Roger was already without the house. "Tell 
 him to follow the New Trail, " his voice came 
 back to her. 
 
 "The man hath a dozen with him. " Maccartey's 
 shout as the two disappeared. 
 
 It was a grim race for the sailor. The younger 
 man outstripped him much. Roger did not wait
 
 442 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 nor look behind. When he stumbled headlong 
 across the sill of the cabin he could not speak, but 
 cutting swiftly the Quaker's bonds, he listened. 
 
 "Toward the N-ew Trail by Miller's pasture and 
 Spot Pond. An hour agone, lacking the quarter. " 
 The Quaker pointed as he spoke. "There be six 
 men. " 
 
 Sir Humphrey's captured pistol lay, still, upon 
 the shelf above the cupboard. Roger seized it and 
 was gone. 
 
 "They have the start but we shall find them; 
 they'll go more slowly with the Maid, " he said as 
 he came upon Maccartey. He panted less fiercely. 
 
 "More quietly for a space and hear me," he 
 went on. " 'Tis like they're on the New Trail. Dost 
 remember the Devil's Nippers?" 
 
 " I know not the New Trail, " answered his com- 
 panion, striding more quickly. 
 
 " 'Tis a deep cut where the rocks be split apart 
 and the path goes at the bottom. At the far end 
 but one or two may pass at once. Faster than this 
 an thou canst, Maccartey. We'll pass them, an' it 
 can be done, and wait them there. " 
 
 They fell into the step of their march, Maccartey 
 still following, accomplishing the miracle of Roger's 
 pace under the rowelling sharpness of his dread. 
 
 "Listen." Roger turned back, his hand raised 
 warningly. The sounds of walking that broke 
 upon stones, and an oath whose words could 
 not be heard. They skirted the path, hiding 
 among the evergreens, and counted the enemy. 
 
 The train was moving in Indian file, a Boston 
 man seen often drunk within the pillory at its
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 443 
 
 head. The Lady and two others followed, before 
 they saw the Maid. Sir Humphrey walked beside 
 her and the moon revealed her clearly. 
 
 He who came last was most dangerous of any, 
 a woodsman and famous in a fight for ruse and 
 cunning. When his powerful figure was concealed 
 beyond the trees the two started swiftly, whisper- 
 ing for caution even after they had passed the 
 Lady's band. 
 
 "They mean to keep the trail. " 
 
 "Where be thy Devil's Nippers?" 
 
 "Not far from the town. 'Tis our best chance 
 against the six. " 
 
 " Hast thou a plan for th' attack ? " 
 
 They were already in advance and Roger eased 
 their speed to be within call if the Maid should cry 
 out suddenly. 
 
 "To let the four get past " he began. 
 
 "Then each of us take one I'll make for Long- 
 legs in the rear. See thou to the Maid and Sir 
 Humphrey " 
 
 " Sir Humphrey should be easy even for a child 
 He must be weak. " 
 
 "Trust it not, lad. He's taut as a steel bow 
 and full of battles. " 
 
 They took their stations without the narrowed 
 entrance of the Nippers, on the town side of the 
 shallow ravine and hidden from those coming 
 down the trail. 
 
 The silence lengthened till Roger was certain 
 the leader had been wary and sought out another 
 way. But even upon the conviction came foot- 
 steps sounding on the rocks.
 
 444 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 There were no voices, only steps that beat louder 
 till the foremost issued from the cleft boulders and 
 tramped stolidly past the hemlocks where the two 
 waited for Sir Humphrey and the Maid. One by 
 one four emerged and moved onward in the path. 
 The climbing had left them somewhat more apart. 
 The Lady had changed places with the man be- 
 hind him. 
 
 As Roger sprang forward he saw the guardian of 
 the rear fall without a sound beneath Maccartey's 
 swift attack, and in the instant that Sir Humphrey 
 was felled by his own unexpected blow, he cried 
 to the Maid, 
 
 " Back quickly. " 
 
 The girl obeyed, retreating at Roger's word 
 through the narrow opening of the Nippers into the 
 shelter of the rocks. 
 
 He and Maccartey leaped after as the four who 
 had passed them turned hurriedly; both fired and 
 one of the enemy staggered. 
 
 The moon was hid when most they needed it. 
 The fight's worst moment was waged in the con- 
 fusion of darkness that a moment earlier had been 
 light. 
 
 The Lady had crept up the rocks and waited for 
 a glimmer. When it came he hurled the great stone 
 he had lifted, straight at Maccartey's head. The 
 sailor fell, unconscious, as Sir Humphrey got upon 
 his feet. 
 
 " Run back then to the left of the trail the 
 Governor" Roger gasped to the girl as they set 
 upon him. 
 
 He had held two at bay and even the three had
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 445 
 
 felt the weight of his resistance in a struggle that 
 the shifty dark prolonged, but the five plunged on 
 him at once, the wounded man, his right arm 
 nerved by his hurt, striking with quick, murderous 
 strokes. Two of the blows crashed down in heavy 
 succession as the moon appeared again, and Roger 
 dropped like a thing broken and done with upon 
 the rocky path within the ledge. 
 
 Sir Humphrey's eyes went quickly after the 
 Maid, and found her by the sheen of her cloak that 
 caught the light among the trees. The Lady had 
 lifted his rapier, thoroughly to content himself 
 with the end of his foes, when the woods resounded 
 to the noise of a rapid and furious approach. 
 
 He turned with an oath to where the cavalier had 
 stood. Sir Humphrey was not there; he and the 
 girl both were vanished. 
 
 "The cheat the cheat," the pirate swore, 
 mumbling the word as he pursued. Greed gave 
 him speed and he searched with fiery haste. 
 
 The cavalier had bound the Maid so she could 
 neither call nor move her arms. 
 
 "Swift there, " he commanded as he discovered 
 his pursuer. " Help me, ye devil and lead us 
 the shortest way " 
 
 The noise of men approaching had grown louder 
 in their ears ; the clatter of a rush upon the stones 
 followed them as they fled. 
 
 The victors had disappeared, all save the man 
 that had been first to fall. Maccartey, raising 
 himself upon an elbow, peered at him wondering. 
 
 The voice he knew best brought into his dazed 
 staring a roused look of remembrance. He got
 
 446 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 upon his feet and saw those who scoured among 
 the evergreens for the triumphant foe, and won- 
 dered again at the silence of those who drew near 
 with the Governor to another figure outstretched 
 upon the ground. 
 
 Sir William had knelt and was working swiftly 
 to restore the man. 
 
 " My God in Heaven 'tis Roger. " Maccartey's 
 cry rang terrible upon the silence and reached even 
 the Maid. 
 
 The Governor stooped lower over the lifeless 
 frame, his hand upon the heart, his cheek bent to 
 detect a sign of breathing. 
 
 "Here lad, come, " he said, "Comeback 
 
 The Maid's in danger " 
 
 But even the name did not move the fixedness of 
 Roger's look. One by one the searchers returned 
 and gathered in the ravine where the full light of 
 the changeful moon rested steadfastly upon the 
 moveless form over which the Governor still 
 worked in vain.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 A DEFENCE AND A CAPTURE 
 
 NICOLAS VERRING drew the window 
 shade in Captain Fitch's parlour and looked 
 out. The night was still light and clear 
 save in the intervals when slow heavy clouds pro- 
 gressed across the moon. It was nearly midnight 
 and the house had the dismal quiet of places where 
 healthful slumber is replaced by silent watching 
 and cool hours of the dark are sunk to the dead 
 chill of fear. 
 
 Alison came noiselessly down the stairs and 
 sought her husband. 
 
 " There is no more that we can do to-night, " she 
 whispered. "Mercy will watch till dawn; then 
 Martha will take her place. I will get my things. 
 They've laid them in the stair closet. Wilt thou 
 bring the candle?" 
 
 While they talked, an angry shout had rung out 
 at the waterside, but Boston slept profoundly and 
 the watchers by the sick had not remarked the 
 sound. Like an arm of the land, Long Wharf 
 reached out into the sea. The Soldan, at anchor 
 beside its farthest end, rode lifelessly upon the 
 lifeless water that stretched in a metallic plain from 
 the broad curve of the muddy shore. 
 
 Beneath the narrow shadow of the brigantine 
 the Maid picked up the knife the Lady had dropped. 
 The pirate's treachery was meeting its reward. 
 
 447
 
 448 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 Sir Humphrey's shout had followed on discovery, 
 and the two figures wrestled in a hard-breathed 
 struggle from dark to light and back again into the 
 shade. The girl glanced at them as she bent to 
 seize the knife, and rising, moved in the shadow 
 toward the land. 
 
 Upon the wharf the struggle grew more violent. 
 The Lady fell backward, losing his hold, and top- 
 pled into the placid waves. His cloak torn off in 
 the final grapple hung upon the margin of the 
 planks. 
 
 As the cavalier turned his back to explore the 
 shadow for the girl, the head of the pirate ap- 
 peared above the water and he set off swimming 
 for the land, cursing the victor who was already 
 hastening to overtake the girl. 
 
 "Here he is!" Maccartey's voice rang among 
 the ships, filling a ghostly silence with intrusive 
 echoes. "He's stowed her on the ship!" He 
 spread both arms as he spoke and the running fig- 
 ure lurched from the embrace. 
 
 "Where is the Maid?" The Governor pinioned 
 Sir Humphrey with a resistless grip. 
 
 "I know not. I was seeking her. While I 
 chastised her enemy she ungratefully made escape. 
 She cannot be far. " Behind the Governor a group 
 cut off the shoreward way. The cavalier stood 
 peacefully in the unrelaxing grasp. 
 
 " He lies. She's on the ship, " Maccartey re- 
 peated doggedly. "How could she escape?" 
 
 "Just strolled away, not even pausing to see 
 which of us was slain, " Sir Humphrey answered 
 flippantly. "An' you must grasp me so lovingly,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 449 
 
 Governor Phips, pray beg your henchman here to 
 modify his insults. " 
 
 "How came you fighting?" the Governor 
 asked, ignoring the words. The group had sur- 
 rounded their prisoner and the questioner searched 
 and then released him, remaining where the clasp 
 could be instantly renewed. 
 
 "The Lady would have stabbed her. I well- 
 nigh throttled the beast, but he escaped me by the 
 
 water Her I can recover an' she be alive, but 
 
 'twill cost some exertion to secure the Lady. " He 
 sighed. "Here, good people," he went on, his 
 tone hardening, " Get home now and cease to inter- 
 fere with what concerns ye not. " 
 
 "The violent carrying off of maids doth concern 
 this colony," put in the Governor. "And other 
 traffic of a different sort. Your course here is nigh 
 run, Sir Humphrey Wildglass. What clemency 
 you can expect will come from the safety of the 
 Maid. " 
 
 " Her safety regards me first who am her lawful 
 guardian appointed by King James before ever 
 they took her out of England. Who hath so great 
 a right? And more, I am her kinsman and the 
 head of her house as well. " 
 
 "Is thy name then Armitage?" 
 
 Plimly, flanking the cavalier on the farther side, 
 looked up. 
 
 "No more than she is. I am Gregory Belling- 
 ham and she my cousin Frances, " he ended with 
 impatience. "Are you satisfied?" 
 
 "Satisfaction were not so easy come at," an- 
 swered Sir William. "Since the name she bears
 
 450 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 is worn to help her from the knowledge of a cousin 
 Gregory who would take her life ! " 
 
 " The proof ! What proof have ye of that slan- 
 der?" demanded the man indignantly. "Would I 
 tell it if 'twere so? And who else could but cut- 
 throats !" 
 
 "Captain Verring's no cut-throat and he heard 
 ye plan the murder on a London wharf, " the Gov- 
 ernor answered. 
 
 " A gentle tale, of weird imagination. But shows 
 commendable ignorance of the ways of murderers. 
 They tell not their schemes on public wharves 
 where eavesdroppers may gloat upon the story ! 
 Ye've naught but speeches windy and nonsensical 
 to back your words. I have the proofs of mine. " 
 
 "Produce them," Governor Phips commanded 
 promptly. 
 
 "Think ye I carry them about to satisfy the 
 curiosity of the prying knaves of Boston?" re- 
 torted the cavalier. "An* ye'll wait me in some 
 spot not too remote I will fetch them. " 
 
 "We will go with thee, " the Governor assented. 
 "Come thou, Maccartey and Bozoun Plimly. 'Tis 
 so wily a fellow we give him a guard. Zachary, go 
 thou to my Lady for me and tell her that I be gone 
 to the S.ign of the Orange Tree on business of the 
 state. And the rest of ye search the streets, 
 though 'tis certain in my mind, an' there be truth 
 in the tale, the Maid will be safe beneath my roof 
 by this. " 
 
 "That's not so sure; the pirate is abroad," put 
 in Sir Humphrey. " He may well have had his 
 knife in her while ye've held me here with your 
 gentle interest in my ancestry. "
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 451 
 
 "Thou'rt lying altogether," reiterated Mac- 
 cartey, unshaken. "We'll find the Maid upon the 
 ship. " 
 
 The Governor was giving directions to the volun- 
 teers. 
 
 "And watch sharp for him they call the Lady," 
 he ended. " I know no better food for carrion. " 
 
 "The Maid you've found her?" Sir William 
 turned toward the shore as a new voice broke upon 
 their colloquy. 
 
 "Roger 'tis thou ! Nay, my lad, we've not 
 found her. Thou'st done well. I'd not expected 
 thee, under another hour. " 
 
 "I leaned on Eben's arm. 'Twas but my head. 
 My legs be sound enough. The Soldan hath been 
 searched?" 
 
 "It will be. None hath left it since we came. 
 Do thou get thee home, " the Governor added. 
 "We shall make the search thorough. An' the 
 Maid be not found, for every fear or ill that she 
 hath suffered his shall be " 
 
 Sir Humphrey laughed. ' 'Tis noteworthy to 
 mark, Captain Verring, that our strolls do so end 
 in disaster for one of us. 'Twould seem to dis- 
 courage the use of healthful exercise. I thought 
 thou'dst pleasured the world by getting out of it. 
 But a Puritan is ever hard to kill ! " He sighed 
 humorously, as children blow bubbles from the 
 froth, and turned with a shrug to look off upon 
 the sea. 
 
 Roger did not appear to know the man had 
 spoken. 
 
 "Every instant we delay she may be in peril,"
 
 452 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 he urged. "Come with me, two of ye." Before 
 he had heard either denial or assent he was on his 
 way to the brigantine. The strain and sharpness 
 in his voice seemed to have gotten into his whole 
 body, and the arrest of action to threaten the 
 bond between it and the soul.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 MANY WATERS 
 
 "Many waters cannot quench love; neither can the 
 floods drown it." 
 
 THE Maid hid herself in Mackrill Lane, and 
 kneeling, with the handle of the knife 
 clamped upon the stone flag that served 
 as step to a great warehouse, she slipped the 
 sharp point beneath the thongs that held her 
 wrists, cutting painfully through the obstinate 
 bonds, then set to work upon the knotted folds 
 that gagged and stifled her. 
 
 She worked as rapidly as her anxious haste al- 
 lowed, but pursuit might be even now close upon 
 her. As she pulled off the tight-drawn bands of 
 silk, Sir Humphrey's neckerchief, she imagined 
 him watching her close by, waiting the dramatic 
 moment of her uncertain freedom to fasten on her 
 again. 
 
 Reconnoitring cautiously as she ventured forth, 
 she saw the group upon the wharf,, but felt a worse 
 fear lest these be only added menace. Hurrying 
 from them she concealed herself in devious alleys, 
 pausing in every shadow, starting often at a half- 
 suggested sound as if it had been a blow that took 
 from her both breath and motion. 
 
 When she returned into King street, after min- 
 utes that had compassed years in shuddering 
 dread, the long hill seemed deserted and she made 
 
 453
 
 454 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 haste to cross it, meaning to hide herself again in 
 lanes that would take her nearer to the refuge that 
 she sought. The moon had disappeared once more 
 under the sullen clouds that were spreading like 
 blots soaking in upon the surface of the sky; the 
 way was indistinct, and she hastened the faster, 
 rejoicing in the darkness. 
 
 Comprehension of the cry she had heard came 
 to her fully now for the first time. She had seen 
 Roger fall, but Sir Humphrey's flight had come so 
 quickly on their discomfiture she had believed the 
 outcry but Maccartey's discovery of the escape. 
 Memory, consciousness as well, had been a mere 
 struggle in her mind that battled against the thing 
 that threatened her, tied and impotent for any but 
 a vague revolt. The fight on the wharf, the sight 
 of the sea, had awakened her. Now that the suc- 
 ceeding weakness of dreadful terror began to yield 
 to the necessity for deeds, she moved involuntarily 
 toward the Governor's. 
 
 It was then, when she knew for what she went, 
 that she saw the succour she would beg must be too 
 late. Roger's face, the blood upon his cheek, 
 the dead iiuertness of his figure, the hours that had 
 passed since she. had seen him fall, more than all, 
 the desolation in Maccartey's voice, proved to her 
 that the worst was true. The tenseness of her 
 exhausted mood left her no room for hope, 
 sending her at once to the extreme of possible 
 horror. 
 
 There was no turning opposite the lane by which 
 she had emerged into the broader thoroughfare 
 and she hurried quickly on the farther side, no
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 455 
 
 longer afraid but keeping mechanically upon the 
 track she had earlier chosen. 
 
 There had been more than one of the Lady's 
 men unhurt after the fight. Was Roger, done to 
 death for her, lying at their mercy, even his body 
 unguarded from their profaning touch ? Or had 
 Maccartey stayed to watch? What could she do 
 with life sucked dry of meaning, emptied of itself ? 
 In the obscurity to which her eyes had not grown 
 used she overtook two who walked more slowly, 
 and she had come swiftly against them before she 
 had even guessed she was not alone in the whole 
 street. 
 
 Her scream was low and had less sound of fright 
 than final torture. She could not have answered 
 a simple greeting without betrayal of her grief. 
 
 "Be not affrighted, woman; we will not harm 
 thee. " Nicolas Verring's voice gave kindly reas- 
 surance. 
 
 " 'Tis some one suffering she is weeping," his 
 wife said, quickly. 
 
 "Madam Verring" the low cry flung itself out 
 to her as to a shelter gained, and the girl's hands 
 sought her in the dark. "They have killed 
 him " 
 
 "Whom is't ye mean, woman ? Hath there been 
 murder?" Mr. Verring spoke again, rebukingly 
 as to a rash hysteria naught less than murder could 
 excuse, but his wife understood. 
 
 " 'Tis Roger, " she cried instantly, and herself 
 held upon the outstretched clasp, not weeping but 
 grown icy cold. " Nicolas 'tis Roger. " 
 
 "Why was it Roger?" the girl's cry again
 
 456 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 the futile appeal. "There was none to care foi 
 
 me 'Twas dark or I could have seen and 
 
 taken the blow instead " 
 
 "And now you were going " Nicolas Verring's 
 tones broke under the weight of what she told; 
 the moon drawing out from its close covering 
 showed him bent, moving unsteadily as if to find 
 support. 
 
 "To the Governor's. He is there in the woods. 
 None but Maccartey and there be four left 
 of " 
 
 "Where in the woods?" Nicolas Verring's 
 voice again. His grasp had found his wife and 
 clung as men cling under the knife. 
 
 The sense of them, these two who had given 
 Roger being, thrilled and sustained her. She told 
 the story, all she knew, as they went onward. The 
 awful reality of her grief, one with their own, 
 swept from their minds even the memory of false 
 accusation. And when she came to the end of the 
 struggle in the dark and what the light had shown, 
 Nicolas interrupted, straightening his shoulders 
 with a powerful hope. 
 
 "Then you are not sure! He is young. We 
 may find him living. Sir William will go with us. 
 He knows the way you speak of, I do not. Let us 
 make haste. " 
 
 His quickened pace was a kind of running, but 
 they kept with him step for step. The girl had no 
 hope. Power for all sense or feeling but pain was 
 snapped. 
 
 Lady Phips came out to them in swift agitation. 
 
 "I do not know A message came
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 457 
 
 The man gave it to Debby and ran to join the search 
 forthee." She turned to the Maid. "He said 
 only that Sir William is at the Inn of the Orange 
 Tree. The Governor is but now come from the 
 woods. He followed Roger and Captain Mac- 
 cartey " 
 
 "Then 'tis there we must go. " Nicolas Verring 
 turned quickly back. 
 
 "Sir William would not leave him unless" 
 began Alison, trembling sorely, but she could not 
 finish. Her husband did not speak again. What 
 days and years his soul re-lived in the long journey 
 of the silent streets none could have guessed but 
 the woman who moved beside him, broken with 
 the memory of separation, and bearing his sorrow 
 with her own. 
 
 By them walked the girl, swiftly, with neither 
 tears nor words, the quick of her stabbed through 
 with death and creeping deeper into that fastness 
 whose walls, left undefended in her misery, had 
 crashed before her eyes.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 THE OLD WAY 
 
 THE light streamed weakly from the un- 
 shuttered parlour of the Inn and a yellow 
 gleam showed in Sir Humphrey's windows. 
 In the street below a watching figure was visible to 
 seeking eyes, precaution against possible escape. 
 
 Simon Bolt, mystery and excitement in his face 
 where the heavy lids blinked sleepily, went from 
 house to street and back again, or questioned the 
 suddenly laconic Plimly on the landing above the 
 stair. For a little, Nicolas Verring seemed to de- 
 lay upon the path, failing before the mastery of 
 his dread, but the sentinel had seen them, ex- 
 claiming at the Maid on whom the fitful glamour 
 of the moon had cast a broken radiance. 
 
 Unconsciously the girl had kept the same pace 
 and so had gone beyond the others, drawing more 
 quickly near the entrance. But steps faster than 
 her own sounded upon the street, and Roger, dis- 
 tancing Maccartey, sprang past them through the 
 open door. 
 
 " She is not there ! " they heard him say hurriedly 
 to Bozoun who leaned from the stair to listen. 
 
 " My son ! " The cry was Nicolas Verring's. 
 
 The Maid drew back suddenly, heard Roger's 
 "Father!" and knew that Alison was clinging un- 
 rebuked in her boy's arms. Anything more was 
 
 458
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 459 
 
 blank to her till she came with the rest into the dim 
 hall and stood upon the threshold of the lighted 
 room. The mother looked up at her and back to a 
 place by her own side. The men were talking in 
 suppressed tones, with determined emphasis in 
 every motion. 
 
 Roger had sprung to them startled, hearing their 
 words. 
 
 " Give her to him! Not if the King were 
 
 here to " The voice went on, but the listener, 
 
 raising his eyes to the Governor's face, had seen 
 beyond him in the gilt-framed mirror and stared 
 upon it like one who knows he is already mad. 
 Nor did he lower his eyes nor move till the girl her- 
 self put out her hand to lean upon the solid frame- 
 work of the door. 
 
 To the Maid the place to which she was beck- 
 oned seemed infinitely far away. And she felt 
 alone, even in her rejoicing, her pride of self con- 
 tainment striving to rally against overwhelming 
 odds. She tried to stir from the spot to which she 
 had come unwitting what she did, to go back to 
 the night and find cover for the nakedness of her 
 soul's joy, but the body no longer answered to the 
 will, and she lifted her eyes up, blind with her 
 tears and forgetting all other refuge, as Roger 
 turned from the figure in the mirror to know that 
 she was there. 
 
 When the voices came to them again so that the 
 words made sense in the oblivion of their happi- 
 ness, the group of men had broken, and Maccartey 
 gone without to strengthen the vigilance of the 
 sentinel.
 
 4 6o THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 "What is it, Nicolas?" Alison Verring was 
 asking earnestly. "Doth he demand the Maid?" 
 
 "Who?" Temple gazed from one to the other 
 of those that had been talking. 
 
 "Sir Humphrey Wildglass. He saith he is thy 
 cousin and thy guardian appointed by King James 
 when thou wast still a child. " 
 
 " 'Tis not true, " the Maid said quickly. " How 
 could that be, yet I not know it. Mr. Amory hath 
 governed my affairs as was my father's wish nor 
 hath he been molested. " 
 
 " 'Tis a curious thing he hath not been molested 
 an' he be not the one appointed by the law, " com- 
 mented Mr. Verring, who had stepped back to stand 
 beside his son. 
 
 "He declareth he hath proofs, and so the power 
 to take thee hence, since thou art not yet of age. " 
 The Governor spoke without alarm. "Of course 
 he knoweth he cannot have thee, " he added com- 
 fortably. 
 
 " But if the proofs be there and we defy the law 
 he will take vengeance on thee on all who would 
 defend " The girl began, 
 
 " He'll not succeed. " The Governor interrupted 
 her. "The man's a spy of the French. Fear naught 
 for us. " 
 
 "You have the proof?" Nicolas Verring asked 
 the question without marking the warning frown 
 that would have stopped it. 
 
 "The man taketh a wondrous time! Doth 
 he think we can wait for him to compose his 
 documents!" The Governor gazed upward 
 testily.
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 461 
 
 Temple's look was still fixed on him, refusing to 
 be deceived. 
 
 "You shall not endanger yourselves for me," 
 she said with calmness. " I will prevent it. " The 
 decision in her tone, the force with which she con- 
 quered the weakness of her body and faced the 
 horror of the possible truth, woke a stern gleam 
 of battle in Nicolas Verring's eyes. 
 
 "Thou'lt yield no jot to the villain, let him 
 prove what he will, " he said vehemently. 
 
 Alison laid her fingers gently on the Maid's. 
 
 "Thou'lt not leave us when we've just found 
 thee, " she said softly. 
 
 Temple turned to her with the great glow of un- 
 expected joyousness breaking over her face. 
 
 "I've loved thee" she answered quickly 
 "from the dinner at the Governor's even be- 
 fore I " 
 
 Alison tightened her clasp upon the firm hand 
 beneath her own. Roger had said nothing of Sir 
 Humphrey's proofs. What difference would they 
 make ? The universe in arms should not take her 
 from him. 
 
 A shout broke on their waiting. While it still 
 echoed Roger was without the house. The sen- 
 tinel was struggling with a man who had a knife. 
 The blade showed in the light. Maccartey from 
 his station close beyond was almost upon the two. 
 The man struck downward, and wrenching free 
 from the wounded arm, tore himself away and 
 darted from them at the moment Roger leaped 
 across the threshold. In the final twisting wrench 
 he had faced the house.
 
 462 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 " 'Tis the Lady ! " 
 
 Roger was already far up the deserted street, 
 Maccartey close upon him. But the man had 
 vanished, eluding them cunningly. 
 
 " He came from that window, down the tree " 
 
 the sentinel explained as they returned. 
 
 He pointed to Sir Humphrey's room, now dark, 
 where the open casement gaped upon them 
 strangely. 
 
 Bozoun holding doggedly to his watching in the 
 hall, questioned Simon Bolt who had dozed upon 
 his vigil, and knew nothing. 
 
 " He is not come out ? " Roger asked the ques- 
 tion from below. 
 
 " Nay, " Plimly answered. " Nor hath there been 
 a sound, but he hath doused his candle. Doubt- 
 less he comes now. Who watches beneath the 
 windows ? " 
 
 "Eben " 
 
 The others had looked forth wondering. 
 
 " Follow with me. You Maccartey, and Bozoun. " 
 Sir William was on the stair, Roger already be- 
 side him. 
 
 " 'Tis a great day for the improving of the mus- 
 cles, " whispered the sailor with a wry look of weari- 
 ness. "I think we've run our hundred leagues," 
 but he ceased to jest when silence answered to the 
 knock. 
 
 Simon Bolt, yawning no longer, blinked fast with 
 curious eagerness, holding the candle near and 
 grumbling disapproval as they attacked the door. 
 
 The draught blew the flame, grotesquely danc- 
 ing. In its inconstant light the room appeared,
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 463 
 
 peaceful, undisturbed. At the table a figure was 
 seated ; with the fitful blaze and dying of the candle 
 it seemed to move. They drew nearer and stood 
 beside it, seeing the head fallen forward and the 
 letter unfinished that it partly hid. Simon Bolt held 
 the flaring gleam tremulously nearer yet and showed 
 the clean cut upon the closely fitted doublet where 
 the dagger had struck through. The breeze flut- 
 tered the lace about the fallen hand and swayed 
 the heavy curtains of the bed. 
 
 Governor Phips drew out the letter and read it 
 standing where he was. The tallow splashed upon 
 it from the candle and the smell of the teased wick 
 blended with the words. 
 
 "Sir Humphrey Wildglass, " so it went, "regrets 
 y* hee is unable to accept the Governor's urgent 
 invitacion to attend him further, the way by the roof 
 of the Orange Tree seducinge with better Promisse 
 but hee hopeth in ye neare Futur to return in full 
 measur those Favors wch he hath rec d att y e 
 h " 
 
 The writing failed upon the broken h and a trail- 
 ing line wavered a little across the page where the 
 fingers that still grasped the quill had dropped. 
 
 The Governor's eyes went about the room to see 
 if there was other egress than the hall. 
 
 " How reachest thou the roof, Simon ? " he asked 
 perplexedly. 
 
 "By this stairway closet, sir. " The innkeeper's 
 hoarse whispering sounded loud in the stillness. 
 He threw wide an unlatched door and showed the 
 ladder mounting from a storeroom to the garret 
 overhead.
 
 464 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 They closed the swinging sash that slammed 
 upon its hinges, and lifting the figure, still warm 
 with life that had burned hot within, laid it upon 
 the curtained bed. The pulseless arms fell stiffly, 
 but the face smiled on them in derision as if it spoke 
 the words the hand had penned. 
 
 Below the women were talking quietly. Then a 
 man's tone rose upon their speaking. 
 
 " 'Twas God's good Providence sent us to the 
 sick this eve, " Nicolas Verring was saying rever- 
 ently. ' 'Tis the first night in many months we 
 have been abroad beyond a seemly hour. " 
 
 " Had we not met thee as we did, thou'd not have 
 shown us thy true self we'd not have known thee 
 
 as that moment " Alison's sight dimmed as 
 
 she turned to the stairway, and she saw those 
 who descended through a shining cloud. 
 
 The Maid and Roger went slowly as they left the 
 inn. 
 
 "Thou'lt take her home," the Governor had 
 said. "She's wearied, lad, and I must wait. Thy 
 father will assist me here in all I need. Tell Mary 
 all is well she'll know that when she greets ye, 
 though " 
 
 Without slow speech or formal answer they fol- 
 lowed their unuttered thought, mounted the hill 
 beyond the miller's stream, and found the Old 
 Way by the Pond. Lingering as they passed, 
 they gazed with a new vision on the staunch walls 
 of Roger's home. At the willow bent like a camel 
 they stopped. 
 
 " Rest here a little. I am but selfish to ask thee
 
 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 465 
 
 to come so far. " He unclasped his cloak and threw 
 the loose folds upon the trunk. 
 
 "Thou didst not ask " Even then she 
 
 paused upon the thou, a quick warmth rising in her 
 cheek. "I have come before," she finished softly. 
 She had sat down once more upon the willow 
 seat where she had rested in the dark May night. 
 
 He bent to hear and drew her gently to lean 
 against his side. 
 
 " Thou I thought " 
 
 "Thought what?" she asked in the same under- 
 tone, the voice that fears to wake the hour to fullest 
 consciousness lest it should then depart. "What 
 didst thou think ? " 
 
 "Thou lovedst me not. I had no wonder. I 
 knew the dulness of my ways the Puritan " 
 
 She interrupted, her low tone challenging the 
 hour with strongest life. 
 
 "Thou'lt never know even if I told thee all my 
 days how much I love thee. " 
 
 The brief moments of their lingering gave might- 
 ily the largess they had been denied. 
 
 " Let me not ever, " he pleaded as they rose to go, 
 "grieve thee with what seems strange, with what 
 is come of all that's been so different in our " 
 
 "Thou wilt not," she answered, breaking again 
 upon the halting words. "And thou'lt forgive me 
 
 if I sometimes seem but slow to understand 
 
 I see things clearer now Love teacheth us, I 
 
 think. " 
 
 The Mill Pond rippled upon the bank. The snow 
 lay white where the willows stood, and caught the 
 shadows of their waving strands. Her face, up-
 
 466 THE COAST OF FREEDOM 
 
 turned to his, had its own light more lovely than 
 the glamour of the moon. 
 
 Beneath his look she smiled and then grew wistful 
 with the soberness of joy more strong than grief. 
 
 " 'Tis like the flowers, " he said. " 'Tis happiness 
 we need not fear, and gives us knowledge even 
 of Him. " 
 
 "I could be pitiful for all the world to-night." 
 Her voice had found again its undertone. 
 
 "I too, for all save those who would do harm to 
 thee, " he said, and held her close against a sudden 
 anger of remembered pain. 
 
 "Nay, for all," she answered. "We cannot 
 know how they may need our ruth. "
 
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