As military leader Miles Standish at once became conspicuous in the life of the colony. He was born in Lancashire, England, in 1584, of a noble family, but was in some way deprived of his estates. Going to the Continent he became a valiant and daring soldier in the Netherlands. Feeling a deep interest in the cause of the Pilgrims, he joined them when they sailed for America in the Mayflower, and made their fortunes his own. Small of stature, quick-witted, hot-tempered, and ready to brave any danger, this stout-hearted man was a fitting leader for the little Pilgrim army of something like a score of men who were obliged to defend themselves and their families against wild beasts and unfriendly Indians. Many of the Pilgrim soldiers wore armor to protect themselves against Indian arrows. In some instances this armor consisted of a steel helmet and iron breastplates, and in others of quilted coats of cotton wool. Like Miles Standish, some of the soldiers had swords at their sides, and all carried either flintlock or matchlock muskets so big and heavy that, before they could fire them off, they had to rest them upon supports stuck into the ground for the purpose. Standish's daring little band of soldiers explored some of the coast on the day the Mayflower anchored. The next Wednesday after landing they started out a second time in search of a suitable place for settlement. As they skirted the coast, landing here and there, they saw and heard Indians, who fled at their approach. Soon they came upon some mounds, out of which they dug bows and arrows and other utensils. These, however, they replaced, because they believed the mounds to be Indian graves. In a rude and deserted house they also found an iron kettle. Digging into still another mound these home-hunters were delighted to discover large baskets filled with ears of Indian corn--red, white, and yellow. As they were sorely in need of food after their long voyage, they took with them some of the corn, for which they were careful to pay the Indians later. An amusing incident occurred on this otherwise serious journey. Before they got back to the Mayflower, William Bradford, who afterward became the second governor of the Plymouth Colony, met with an accident that must have caused even the stern Pilgrim soldiers to smile. Picking his way through the underbrush of the wood he stepped unwittingly into a deer-trap, and was suddenly jerked up into the air, where he dangled by one leg until his friends released him, none the worse for the ludicrous occurrence. [Illustration: The Mayflower.]