lph to induce her to
delay her journey for some months, were ineffectual. Her husband lived;
and he was suffering hardship--and could she remain separated from him,
now that her own strength had been restored? The only concession she
could be persuaded to make, was to wait until some friend from Plymouth
was found to accompany her. Gladly would her father have done so; but
he was suffering so severely from the ague that so often attacked the
settlement in the spring months, as to be perfectly incompetent to
attempt the toilsome journey. No vessel could now be procured, and it
was on foot that Edith proposed to traverse the wide extent of
wilderness that stretched between Plymouth and Roger's place of refuge.

Two faithful and active Indians were appointed by Mooanam to be her
guides, and to carry the infant which she would not consent to leave
behind her; and, in order that this might be accomplished with greater
facility, Apannow provided her with one of the Indian cradles--or,
rather, pouches--in which the red squaws so commonly carry their young
children on their backs. This was thickly lined with soft and elastic
bog-moss, and well adapted to the purpose for which it was designed.

All was prepared, and the impatient Edith only waited for a companion
from among her own countrymen, who were all so much occupied at that
busy season as to feel little disposed to undertake so long a journey.
But she found one at length who was sufficiently interested in her
happiness, and that of her husband, to leave his home and his
occupations, and offer to be her protector. This was the excellent
Edward Winslow, who had been her father's constant friend ever since
their first emigration, and who bad also learnt to know and value Roger
Williams, during his residence at Plymouth.

With such a companion, Edith felt she had nothing to fear; and her
anxious parents committed her to his care with greater confidence than
they would have done to that of any other protector. His natural
sagacity, his courage, and his knowledge of the Indians and their
language, rendered him peculiarly suitable for the enterprise; and his
warm friendship for Rodolph and all his family, and the lively powers
of his pious and intelligent mind, ensured to Edith both a kind and an
agreeable fellow-traveler.

Nevertheless, it was not without many prayers and tears that Helen saw
her daughter once more leave her childhood's home, and commence her
journey. Bu