It was as if my heart came into my mouth when I saw these English people, and I made no doubt they would welcome me warmly on knowing that my father was of the same religious faith; but they gave little heed to my words, and because of being received so coldly, I felt shame that I had rejoiced when the Secretary told me where our voyage was to come to an end. However, we were not then at Plymouth, but nearly twenty miles away. That the Englishmen might have warning of our coming, word was sent ahead by one of the savages who had journeyed with us, that a messenger from the West India Company wished to visit Plymouth, and would do so if the governor of the town would send a boat to a point four or five miles from where we then were. All this was done as the Secretary wished, and we walked across a neck of land, some of the people from the trading post carrying the chests of gifts, until coming to where a boat was in waiting. Before another night had come we were in Plymouth; but it was to me as if I had met entire strangers, for none gave me the hearty welcome I had been hungering for, although my story was not doubted. I suppose there were too many like me in this wide world, and those who were battling against the wilderness and the savages, as were these people, could give but little heed to a lad who had no standing among men. [Illustration] I was lodged in the fort, where were women who did by me as best they might; but my heart was sore because of disappointment. TWO DAYS IN PLYMOUTH The Secretary was received into the house of the governor, Master Bradford, and I neither saw nor heard from him, save when he sent me word next morning, which was the Sabbath, that he expected I would show myself at the meeting-house. [Illustration] All this would I have done even though he had not been so thoughtful, for I was burning to hear the preachers my father had known: but the sermon was overly long; I was tired from the journey of the day before, and, without meaning so much disrespect to the minister, I fell asleep, nor did I awaken until one of the tithing-men struck me a sharp blow on the head with a long pole, at the end of which was affixed a wolf's tail. It can well be supposed that from then on I sat bolt upright, my face crimsoned with shame, and after such moment I had no desire to make myself known to any who had met my father and mother, lest they reproach me for the crime I had committed. We stayed in Plymouth the first two days of the week, and I had good opportunity to see the town; but did not fall in love with it. Although the people had been living there more than seven years, save for the manner in which the houses were built, they were not so comfortably settled as we of New Amsterdam, who had been in America no more than fourteen months.