“‘Keep heart of grace, Dorothy, my love,’ said Samuel when he bade her good-bye. ‘A year may pass, or a year and a half at farthest; then shall you see me home, and never more will I quit shore save by your leave or in your company.’ “But hardly had he put to sea when troubles came upon his bride. First her long-ailing mother died; then three months after that her father bade her farewell also. So she was left alone in the world. She had kin in plenty—though none of them were very near—who would have welcomed her to their homes, but they lived on plantations out of sight of the sea, and Dorothy had a mind to be where she could see it rolling in bringing the brave ships on it. “‘What if _The Adventure_ should land and Samuel come seeking me and I not be at hand?’ she said. “So she chose her a house on the side of the hill that led up from the wharves, and from its galleries she could see every ship that came sailing into port. Here she made her a home, putting into it whatever was most beautiful or treasured from the old house of the Marshalls, and those curious things which the brothers Bings had brought her from China and Java and Japan and the South Sea isles; yes, and from the Bahamas and the Azores and the Canaries and the Hebrides and all the islands they had visited. Moreover, she made it her business to build a fine stable for her husband’s beloved horse, Pacolet, so that he was tended like a king’s horse, and every day she rode him to keep him in form, and she would take him to a certain place where they could overlook the sea, and the two of them would stand there like statues, watching the horizon for a sight of _The Adventure_. “The year passed with no word from Samuel. But Dorothy comforted her heart. “‘Did he not say I might have to wait a year and a half a year?’ she asked. “But the year and the half year went by, and it was two years, and then three, and nothing was heard of the ship at all. So a dark fear began to grow up in the heart of Dorothy, and she never missed her church, not only because she was devout, but because she thought that some time she might hear the name of her husband read as among those who were lying in one of the cruel Barbary prisons awaiting a ransom. But never a word did she hear, and the years rolled by. “Then came the year 1801 and Tripoli declared war upon America, and Stephen Decatur was sent to deal with the treacherous governments of Tangier and Tripoli, and there, after his victories, he saw to the release of all American prisoners. “‘Now, surely,’ thought Dorothy Bings, ‘my husband will return.’ “But he did not come, and though his brothers, always traveling, inquired at all ports if anything had been heard of him, they never were able to bring his waiting wife any word. “Then the brothers, compassionate for her youth and her sorrow, bade her accept her widowhood with courage.