Here, while the vessel lay at anchor, a brief governmental compact was drawn up, and John Carver, who had been very prominent in obtaining the King’s permission for their enterprise, was chosen governor of the colony. In the afternoon “fifteen or sixteen men well armed” were sent on shore to reconnoitre and to collect fuel. They returned at evening bringing good report of the country, and the welcome news that there was neither person nor dwelling in sight. The next day was Sunday, which the emigrants kept as strictly as usual. Monday morning, while the women washed and the men began their labors by hauling a boat on shore for repairs, Miles Standish and sixteen men set off on foot to explore the country. They returned Friday evening bringing some Indian corn which they had found in a deserted hut. The explorations were kept up for several weeks. At last a suitable location was decided upon; there was a convenient harbor, the country was well wooded; it had clay, sand, and shells for bricks and mortar, and stone for chimneys; there was plenty of good water, and the sea and beach contained a plentiful supply of fish and fowl. It was on Christmas Day that they landed. The record says: “Monday, the 25th day, we went on shore, some to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, and some to carry; so no man rested all that day.” They first erected a building for common occupation. Nineteen plots for dwelling-houses were laid out, and in spite of the bitter cold the little settlement gradually built itself into a town. Sickness set in, and within four months’ time one-half of their number was swept away. It was a terrible winter, but there was no inclination to weaken or to despond on the part of the heroic Pilgrims. They were in constant fear of the Indians, and the necessity for defenses becoming daily more apparent, a military organization was formed, with the valiant Miles Standish as Captain, and the fortification on the hill overlooking the dwellings was mounted with five guns. “Warm and fair weather” came at last; and never could spring have seemed fairer to these people than when it greeted them first in New England. The colony at Plymouth grew and prospered. The Indians made several threats of hostility but were each time repressed by Miles Standish and his men.