Chapter 11

"I will watch to-night;
Perchance 't will walk again."

Hamlet.

"May not this be a warning given in mercy?" the Puritan, at all times
disposed to yield credit to supernatural manifestations of the care of
Providence, demanded with a solemnity that did not fail to produce its
impression on most of his auditors. "The history of our Colonies is full
of the evidences of these merciful interpositions."

"We will thus consider it;" returned the stranger, to whom the question
seemed more particularly addressed. "The first measure shall be to seek
out the danger to which it points. Let the youth they call Dudley, give me
the aid of his powerful frame and manly courage; then trust the discovery
of the meaning of these frequent speakings of the conch, to me."

"Surely, Submission, thou wilt not again be the first to go forth!"
exclaimed Mark, in a surprise that was equally manifested by Content and
Ruth, the latter of whom pressed her little image to her side as though
the bare proposal presented a powerful picture of supernatural danger.
"'Twill be well to think maturely on the step, ere thou runnest the hazard
of such an adventure."

"Better it should be I," said Content, "who am accustomed to forest
signs, and all the usual testimonials of the presence of those who may
wish us harm."

"No," said he, who for the first time had been called 'Submission,' a name
that savored of the religious enthusiasm of the times, and which might
have been adopted as an open avowal of his readiness to bow beneath some
peculiar dispensation of Providence. "This service shall be mine. Thou art
both husband and father; and many are there who look to thy safety as to
their rock of earthly support and comfort, while neither kindred, nor--but
we will not speak of things foreign to our purpose! Thou knowest, Mark
Heathcote, that peril and I are no strangers. There is little need to bid
me be prudent. Come, bold woodsman; shoulder thy musket, and be ready to
do credit to thy manhood, should there be reason to prove it."

"And why not Reuben Ring?" said a hurried female voice, that all knew to
proceed from the lips of the sister of the youth just named. "He is quick
of eye and ready of hand, in trials like these; would it not be well to
succor thy party with such aid?"

"Peace, girl," meekly observed Ruth. "This matter is already in the
ordering of one used to command; there needeth no counsel from thy short
experience."

Faith shrunk back abashed, the flush which had mantled over her brown
cheek deepening to a tint like that of blood.

Submission (we