“All this,” says Bradford, “was cold comfort to fill their empty bellies; and on the part of Mr. Weston, but a slender performance of his late promise never to forsake the colony;[362] and as little did it fill and warm cold and hungry men, as those the apostle James spoke of, by Weston before mentioned. Well might it remind the settlers of what the psalmist saith, ‘It is better to trust in the Lord than to have confidence in man.’[363] And again, ‘Put not your trust in princes’—much less in merchants—‘nor in the son of man; for there is no help in them.’[364] ‘Blessed is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.’[365] “These things seemed strange to the settlers. Seeing this inconsistency and shuffling, it made them think there was some mystery at bottom. Therefore the governor, fearing lest, in their straits, this news should tend to disband and scatter the colony, concealed these letters from the public, and only imparting them to some trusty friends for advice, concluded for the present to keep all quiet, and await the development of events.”[366] CHAPTER XIV. THE RIVAL COLONIES “Look here, upon this picture, and on this.” SHAKSPEARE, _Hamlet_. It was towards the close of May, 1622, that the seven pioneers from Weston’s fishing-smack had landed at Plymouth. About a month later, in the end of June or beginning of July, a new colony arrived. Two vessels, the “Charity” and the “Swan,” rounded Cape Cod and anchored off the Pilgrim settlement.[367] They brought out a fresh batch of home letters, which Bradford and his coadjutors eagerly opened, hoping to discover the hidden meaning of these strange movements. Weston’s missive was first searched. It was to this effect: “The ‘Fortune’ is arrived, whose good news touching your estate and proceedings I am very glad to hear. And howsoever she was robbed on the way by the Frenchmen, I hope your loss will not be great, for the conceit of a vast return doth animate the merchants. As for myself, I have sold my adventure and debts unto them, so I am quit of you and you of me. Now, though I have nothing to pretend as an adventurer among you, yet I will advise you a little for your good, if you can apprehend it. I perceive and know as well as any one the disposition of the Merchant-adventurers, whom the hope of gain hath drawn on to this they have done; yet that hope will not draw them much farther. Besides, most of them are against the sending of the Leyden congregation, for whose cause this business was first begun; and some of the most religious of the company except against them for their creed.”[368]