and his wife and sister have
gone to the north. I'll go with you. Listen: I heard one of the maids
say to-day that a ship sails to-morrow at daybreak from the bay by
Dunner's with a company of Puritans for Holland, on their way to one
of the American colonies. We will go for a time to our friends in
Amsterdam, and be quite safe."

Anything was better than staying where he was; and Squire Brenton,
bidding her hurry, went to the stables with his tired horse, and
waking one of his men whom he could trust, told him why he was there,
and to say, when the men came, that he was in Oxford yesterday, when
they had a letter, and that Mistress Brenton had gone north to some
friends. He gave him some messages for his brother, and then, sending
him out to a field with the horse he had been riding, which would
certainly have betrayed him, he went back to the yard, trying to keep
the two fresh horses still, while he listened, fearing every moment to
hear his pursuers coming down the road.

Presently out came Mistress Brenton, carrying some bundles of
clothing, and a few little things besides, and wrapped in a great
riding cloak; and at her side walked Polly, very sleepy, and looking
wonderingly in the faces of the others, and asking all manner of
childish questions.

Suddenly she ran back to the house, just as her father was going to
lift her on his horse; and when she came back, what do you think she
had? Together in a little bag were her doll and kitten, and one arm
held tightly her little apple tree, wrapped in some garment of her own
which she had found lying near it.

And then they rode away. The poor child, after begging them to go to
her uncle's, so she might say good by to grandmother, fell asleep,
holding fast her treasures all the while.

There was a faint glimmer of light over the sea as they neared the
shore, and they saw anchored at a little distance a small ship, and
could see the men moving about her deck; for the wind had risen. Mr.
Brenton found a man whom he knew, in whose charge he left the horses,
and then a fisherman rowed them to the vessel.

The captain was nowhere to be seen, and the sailors paid no attention
to them as they came on deck in the chilly morning twilight; and they
went immediately below, and hid themselves in a dark corner, thinking
they might have to go ashore if discovered, and that it was best to
keep out of sight until it was too late to turn back. In the darkness
they fell asleep. Thi