ill men,--that had been matter of sore peril, and well to
be thought on; yet would I not have said him nay, had the Lord called
him to it;--but to make his _home_!"

And Mr Underhill stopped short, as if words were too weak adequately to
convey his feelings.

"Maybe the Lord hath called him to that, old friend," said the Rector.
"His eyes be on Virginia, no less than England."

"God forbid I should deny it! Yet there is such gear as tempting the
Lord. For my part,--but la! I am an old man, and the old be less
venturesome than the young,--yet for me, I see not what should move a
man to dwell any whither out of his own country, without he must needs
fly to save his life."

"Had all men been of your mind," observed Mr Tremayne with a smile,
"there had ne'er been any country inhabited save one, until men were
fairly pushed thence by lack of room."

"Well!--and wherefore should any quit home until he be pushed out?"

"Ask at Hal," said the Rector laughing.

"No have I so? Yea, twenty times twice told: but all I may win from the
young ne'er-do-well is wise saws that the world must be peopled (why so,
I marvel?),--and that there is pleasure in aventure (a deal more, I
reckon, in keeping of one's carcase safe and sound!)--and that some men
must needs dwell in strange lands, and the like. Well-a-day! wherefore
should they so? Tell me that, Robin Tremayne."

"I will, old friend, when mine amaze is o'er at hearing of such words
from one Ned Underhill."

"Amaze!--what need, trow?"

"But little need, when one doth call to mind that the most uncommon of
all things is consistency. Only when one hath been used for forty years
and more to see a man (I name him not) ever foremost in all perilous
aventure, and thrusting him forward into whatsoever danger there were as
into a bath of rosewater, 'tis some little surprise that taketh one to
hear from the self-same party that 'tis never so much sweeter to keep
safe and sound at home."

Mr Underhill threw his head back, and indulged in a hearty peal of
laughter.

"On my word, Robin, thou ticklest me sore! But what, lad!--may a man
not grow prudent in his old age?"

"By all manner of means, or in his youth no less; but this will I say,
that the last prudent man I looked to set eyes on should bear the name
of Underhill."

"Well-a-day! Here is Eunice made up of prudence."

"She taketh after her mother, trow," replied the Rector dryly.

"Come, I'll give o'er, while I