where the grass was knee-high, and everything possessing life was out of the ship, the rats and cock-roaches perhaps excepted.  As for the enemy, no one now cared for them.  The man aloft said they could be seen, paddling away as if for life, and already too far for pursuit.  It would have been easy enough for the vessels to cut off the fugitives by going into the offing again, but this was not the desire of any there, all being too happy to be rid of them, to take any steps to prolong the intercourse.

Great was the delight of the colonists to be once more on the land.  Under ordinary circumstances, the immigrants might not have seen so many charms in the Reef and crater, and hog-lot; but five months at sea have a powerful influence in rendering the most barren spot beautiful.  Barrenness, however, was a reproach that could no longer be justly applied to the group, and most especially to those portions of it which had received the attention of its people.  Even trees were beginning to be numerous, thousands of them having been planted, some for their fruits, some for their wood, and-others merely for the shade.  Of willows, alone, Socrates with his own hand had set out more than five thousand, the operation being simply that of thrusting the end of a branch into the mud.  Of the rapidity of the growth, it is scarcely necessary to speak; though it quadrupled that known even to the most fertile regions of America.

Here, then, was Mark once more at home, after so long a passage.  There was his ship, too, well freighted with a hundred things, all of which would contribute to the comfort and well-being of the colonists!  It was a moment when the governor’s heart was overflowing with gratitude, and could he then have taken Bridget and his children in his arms, the cup of happiness would have been full.  Bridget was not forgotten, however, for in less than half an hour after the ship was secured Betts sailed in the Neshamony, for the Peak; he was to carry over the joyful tidings, and to bring the ‘governor’s lady’ to the Reef.  Ere the sun set, or about that time, his return might be expected, the Neshamony making the trip in much less time than one of the smaller boats.  It was not necessary, however, for Betts to go so far, for when he had fairly cleared Cape South, and was in the strait, he fell in with the Abraham, bound over to the Reef.  It appeared that some signs of the hostile canoes had been seen from the Peak, as Waally was crossing from Rancocus Island, and, after a council, it had been decided to send the Abraham across, to notify the people on the Reef of the impending danger, and to aid in repelling the enemy.  Bridget and Martha had both come in the schooner; the first, to look after the many valuables he had left at the ‘governor’s house,’ on the Summit, and the last, as her companion.