arrangements, the governor set sail with
Betts, Bigelow, and Socrates for his companions; leaving Heaton, with
Peters and Jones, to take care of most of the females. We say of most,
since Dido and Juno went along, in order to cook, and to wash all the
clothes of the whole colony, a part of which were sent in the pinnace,
but most of which were on hoard the ship. This was a portion of his
duty, when a solitary man, to which Mark was exceedingly averse, and
having shirts almost _ad libitum_, Bridget had found nearly a hundred
ready for the 'buck-basket.' There was no danger, therefore, that the
'wash' would be too small.

Betts was deeply impressed with the change that he found in the rocks.
There, where he had left, water over which he had often floated his
raft, appeared dry land. Nor was he much less struck with the appearance
of the crater. It was now a hill of a bright, lively verdure, Kitty and
her new friend keeping it quite as closely cropped as was desirable. The
interior, too, struck him forcibly; for there, in addition to the
garden, now flourishing, though a little in want of the hoe, was a
meadow of acres in extent, in which the grass was fit to cut. Mark had
observed this circumstance when last at the crater, and Socrates had
brought his scythe and forks, to cut and cure the hay.

The morning after the arrival, everybody went to work. The women set up
their tubs, under an awning spread for that purpose, near the spring,
and were soon up to their elbows in suds. The scythe was set in motion,
and the pinnace was taken round to the ship. Three active seamen soon
hoisted out the carronades, and stowed them in the little sloop. The
ammunition followed, and half-a-dozen barrels of the beef and pork were,
put in the Neshamony also. Mark scarcely ever touched this food now, the
fish, eggs, chickens, and pigs, keeping his larder sufficiently well
supplied. But some of the men pined for _ship's_ provisions, beef and
pork that had now been packed more than two years, and the governor
thought it might be well enough to indulge them. The empty barrels would
be convenient on the Peak, and the salt would be acceptable, after being
dried and pulverized.

The day was passed in loading the Neshamony, and in looking after
various interests on the Reef. The hogs had all come in, and were fed.
Mark shot one, and had it dressed, putting most of its meat into the
pinnace. He also sent Bob out to his old place of resort, near Loa