No convenient harbor had yet been found. But “the pilot of the boat, who had been in these regions before, gave assurance of a good one which might be reached before night; and they followed his guidance. After some hours’ sailing, a storm of snow and rain began; the sea was swollen; the rudder broke; the boat had to be steered with oars. Every moment the storm increased; night was at hand; to reach harbor before dark, as much sail as possible was crowded on: then the mast broke into three pieces; the sail fell overboard. The pilot, in dismay, would have run the shallop on shore in a cove full of breakers. ‘About with her,’ shouted a sailor, ‘or we are cast away!’ They got her about immediately, and, in passing over the surf, they entered a fair sound, and found shelter under the lee of a small rise of land. It was dark, and the rain beat furiously; yet the men were so wet, and cold, and weak, that they slighted the danger to be apprehended from the savages, and going ashore, after great difficulty kindled a fire. Morning, as it dawned, showed the place to be a small island without the entrance of a harbor. Time was precious; the season advancing; their companions were left off Cape Cod in suspense. Yet the day was required for rest and preparation. It was so spent. The following day was the ‘Christian Sabbath.’ Nothing marks the character of the Pilgrims more fully than that they kept it sacredly though every consideration demanded haste.”[148] On Monday, the 11th[149] of December, 1620, the exploring shallop quitted the island Patmos, and, proceeding up the harbor, landed the Pilgrim scouting party, on that same immortal day, at Plymouth Rock. There, in one sense, New England was born; and, as the Forefathers stepped upon the rock-ribbed shore, it uttered its first baby-cry, a prayer and a thanksgiving to the Lord—an echo of the old Chaldean shepherds’ song, “Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, good-will to men.” CHAPTER VI. THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT. “Quit ye as men; be true then, who would fight In this so holy cause; think ye a soul Weighed down by beggarly lusts can have a right To urge God’s ark of freedom to its goal? They must be holy who’re ordained to be The high priests of a people’s liberty.” WILSON. A short survey of the surrounding country convinced the Pilgrim pioneers that the long-sought spot had at last been found. They determined to plant their settlement on Plymouth Rock, with no other seal than the broad one of the Divine sanction. Entering their shallop, they soon regained the “Mayflower.” Carver recited the story of their adventures to the clustering voyagers; and when he said that a spot had been found where they might erect their Ebenezer, devoutly all thanked God.