o be communicated.

The run was made in six hours, and the Abraham was taken into the cove,
and anchored there, just as easily as one of the smaller craft. There
was water enough for anything that floated, the principal want being
that of room, though there was enough even of room to receive a dozen
vessels of size. The place, indeed, was a snug, natural basin, rather
than a port, but art could not have made it safer, or even much more
commodious. It was all so small an island could ever require in the way
of a haven, it not being probable that the trade of the place would
reach an amount that the shipping it could hold would not carry.

The governor now summoned a general council of the colony. The seven
seamen attended, as well as all the others, one or two at the crater
excepted, and the business in hand was entered on soberly, and, in some
respects, solemnly. In the first place, the constitution and intentions
of the colonists were laid before the seven men, and they were asked as
to their wishes for the future. Four of these men, including Brown, at
once signed the constitution, and were sworn in as citizens. It was
their wish to pass their days in that delicious climate, and amid the
abundance of those rich and pleasing islands. The other three engaged
with Mark for a time, but expressed a desire to return to America, after
awhile. Wives were wanting; and this the governor saw, plainly enough,
was a difficulty that must be got over, to keep the settlement
contented. Not that a wife may not make a man's home very miserable, as
well as very happy; but, most people prefer trying the experiment for
themselves, instead of profiting by the experience of others.

As soon as the question of citizenship was decided, and all the
engagements were duly made, the governor laid his question of conscience
before the general council. For a long time it had been supposed that
the Rancocus could not be moved. The eruption had left her in a basin,
or hole, where there was just water enough to float her, while twelve
feet was the most that could be found on the side on which the channel
was deepest. Now, thirteen feet aft was the draught of the ship when she
was launched. This Bob well knew, having been launched in her. But,
Brown had suggested the possibility of lifting the vessel eighteen
inches or two feet, and of thus carrying her over the rock by which she
was imprisoned. Once liberated from that place, every one knew there
wo