you. But where is Master Ashly, Peregrine? I do not see him here.'

'I do'nt know what has become of him,' said Peregrine; 'I saw him just now, behind that big tree, pointing his gun to the clouds, I think.'

• You speak that you do not know, Master Peregrine,' said Ashly, emerging from the shelter of some trees, I levelled my gun fairly at the beast, and did but step behind that tree to save myself from the jaws of destruction, when the terrible creature glared upon me, and seemed to single me out for his prey.'

'Perhaps,' said Peregrine, gravely, he mistook you for another calf.'

6

Touching thy foolish talking, Master Peregrine,' returned Ashly, it harms me not; neither thy jesting, which is not convenient.'

• Not convenient to you, perhaps,' replied Peregrine; but as we walk along, I will shew Captaid Standish that cunning trap, which caught you like a "ram in the thicket," just now."

What!' said the Captain, laughing, Mr. Ashly caught in a deer-trap! I would I had been here sooner; methinks it must have been worth the looking at.'

6

6

It is a pit into which we may all be left to slide,' said Benjamin Ashly; and let him that " thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

And pray, Master Benjamin,' asked the Captain,' were you stooping to pick up acorns how came you into the snare?'

"No,' replied Peregrine, 'it took him at the lower extremity, and lifted his legs up between heaven and earth, leaving his head resting on a soft pillow of chesnut burs. But look, Captain! here is the unlucky place; and the trap quite spoiled for further use."

'I have often seen them,' said the Captain. These savages are ingenious enough; but so improvident, that they are content to live on what they can find one day, and run the risk of starving the next. Mr. Bradford got entangled in a trap like this, in one of our roving excursions, to search the country, and was laughed at almost as much as you have been, Master Ashly; so you need not mind what this wild boy, Peregrine, says to you.'

6

I regard it not,' returned Ashly; it is as idle as the "crackling of thorns under a pot," and forgotten as soon as it entereth into my ears.'

'Perhaps it is lost while going in there,' said Peregrine; they are stately portals to pass through,'—and he glanced his mirthful eyes at Benjamin's prominent ears.

'Come, come,' said the Captain, we must quicken our pace, my lads, if we would reach home * in season for dinner; I wish that were a fat deer instead of a carrion wolf we killed yonder; we might have a dainty feast from it.'

6

If you keep on at this quick march, Captain, said Peregrine White, I, for one, shall hardly live to eat my dinner; I have been ranging about since

sunrise, and begin to wax faint and weary; good Master Ashly, we are commanded to "bear one another's burthens," and I would you were inclined to obey, and relieve me of my musket for a

season.'

'Let every man provide for himself, Master Peregrine,' replied Ashly, with unusual asperity; and I exhort you to mind your own affairs, and leave me in peace.'

You speak most wisely,' returned Peregrine; 'but nevertheless, I must admonish you to take heedto your ways, and fall not into another deer-trap.

Mr. Ashly deigned no further reply, and the party soon after left the woods, and dispersed to their different abodes. Captain Standish proposed calling a few moments at Mr. Grey's, and both Atherton and Calvert readily consented to accompany him. But Major Atherton fancied himself received less cordially than usual by Mr. Grey, while Miriam, from whatever cause, evidently shunned his attentions, and with her usual gaiety, conversed almost entirely with the Captain and Mr. Calvert. Rejoiced that the interview proved short, Atherton left the house depressed in spirits, and strongly inclined to accuse the father of injustice, and the daughter of caprice; and for the first time, was heartily sorry that he had ever touched the shores of New-England..

CHAPTER XIV.

Come, haste to the wedding, ye friends and ye neighbours,
The lovers their bliss can no longer delay;

Suspend all your sorrows, your cares, and your labours,
And let every heart beat with rapture to-day.

NEW-ENGLAND SONG.

MAJOR ATHERTON, for three succeeding days, refrained from visiting Plymouth; a sacrifice of inclination which cost him no inconsiderable effort, though he endeavoured to conceal his uneasiness from the keen eyes of Captain Standish, and busied himself, almost constantly, in writing letters to his friends in England. Captain Martin, who was to be the bearer of them, and had just returned from a trading voyage to the Massachusetts Bay, expected shortly to sail from Plymouth, and Mr. Grey had taken passage in his vessel, being constrained to visit England, on some business which required his personal attention. It was, however, with feelings of regret rather than pleasure, that he anticipated a return to his native land after an absence of so many years, during which he had become weaned from all the friendships of his youth, and bound by every tie of affection to his adopted country.

Mr. Grey had in early life formed an attachment for a young woman of respectable family, and whose personal attractions, though great, were surpassed by the purity and excellence of her mind

and character. But her friends, who had at first sanctioned his addresses, withdrew their approbation, when in subsequent years, he became a convert to the opinions of the Brownists, and exerted his utmost influence to induce her to embrace the same tenets. Yet, though these tenets were at that time too obnoxious to harmonize with her feelings, his change of faith did not remove the deep-rooted affection she cherished for him; and persisting in her resolution to become the wife of no other man, her father at length yielded a reluctant consent to their union. But his prejudice against the religion of Mr. Grey was insuperable, and from that time his tenderness for her seemed to diminish; and as the arguments of the husband proved more persuasive than those of the lover, and the spirit of persecution had already commenced its reign, Mrs. Grey was induced to join the Puritans, who fled for safety to Holland, and united with a church at Leyden. Mrs. Grey, however, after their removal to America, had the satisfaction of receiving many affectionate letters from her father, whose displeasure at her marriage was gradually softened by time, and the intercession of his eldest daughter, who discreetly pleaded the cause of her absent sister, to whom she was devotedly attached. On the death of Mrs. Grey, this attachment was transferred to Miriam, whom she loved for her mother's sake, and wished to adopt as her own child; but the objections of Mr. Grey were invincible, and too reasonable to be disputed. Still, Miriam was con