"To looke humanly on y^e state of things as they presented them selves at this time, it is a marvell it did not wholy discourage them, and sinck them. But they gathered up their spirits, and y^e Lord so helped them, whose worke they had in hand, as now when they were at lowest they begane to rise againe, and being striped (in a maner) of all human helps and hops, he brought things aboute other wise, in his devine providence, as they were not only upheld & sustained, but their proceedings both honoured and imitated by others." They went resolutely to work anew, giving their attention to planting and trading. Bradford and Winslow proceeded by boat, with several hands, to Monhegan Island in Maine, where an attempted plantation was about to give up and sell out their trading stock. A good supply of articles being procured, a number of debts were cleared away in consequence, and clothing bought for those who still needed it. Little by little their wants were being met, and actual discomfort prevented. Also Isaac Allerton was commissioned to go to England the same year Myles Standish came back, and with the assistance of friends over there, a formal agreement satisfactory to the colonists was drawn up and subscribed by forty-two Merchant Adventurers. Thereupon in 1627 Bradford and six or seven other leading citizens ran a large venture and made themselves personally responsible for the eventual purchase, by them and their partners, of the revived English company's interest in the Colony, amounting to eighteen hundred pounds, of which two hundred were to be paid annually at the Royal Exchange in London. Next year, 1628, the transaction was fully confirmed, with the best legal counsel available; and the first instalment was paid. This gradual settlement was completed three years ahead of time, with the help of a large quantity of beaver skins. Yet it was ten years beyond the expiration of those creditors' time limit of nine years before the Colony was finally free from heavy indebtedness to other parties in England, so making a financial struggle of a quarter of a century from the landing of the Pilgrims. To the lasting wonder of all who consider them, they exhibited alongside of their piety, a practical business ability and perseverance, which ultimately was not frustrated by reverses such as the seizure of consignments by national enemies, and the loan to themselves of absolutely necessary sums at the fearfully extortionate rate of thirty and even fifty per cent. An indomitable tenacity, and the endurance of rock, reposed in these gentle spirits.