r purpose, and
we lay in the Downs near six weeks, while Master Hunt, the preacher, who
had joined the company that he might labor for the good of our souls;
lay so nigh unto death in the cabin of the Susan Constant, that I
listened during all the waking hours of the night, fearing to hear the
tolling of the ship's bell, which would tell that he had gone from among
the living.

It was on the second night, after we were come to anchor in the Downs
awaiting a favorable wind, that I, having fallen asleep while wishing
Nathaniel Peacock might have been with us, was awakened by the pressure
of a cold hand upon my cheek. I was near to crying aloud with fear,
for the first thought that came was that Master Hunt had gone from this
world, and was summoning me; but before the cry could escape my lips, I
heard the whispered words: "It is me, Nate Peacock!"

It can well be guessed that I was sitting bolt upright in the narrow
bed, which sailors call a bunk, by the time this had been said, and in
the gloom of the seamen's living place I saw a head close to mine.

Not until I had passed my hands over the face could I believe it
was indeed my comrade, and it goes without saying that straightway
I insisted on knowing how he came there, when he should have been in
London town.

I cannot set the story down as Nathaniel Peacock told it to me on that
night, because his words were many; but the tale ran much like this:

NATHANIEL'S STORY

When Captain John Smith had promised on Cheapside that I should be one
of the company of adventurers, because of such labor as it might be
possible for me to perform, and had refused to listen to my comrade,
Nathaniel, without acquainting me with the fact, had made up his mind
that he also would go into the new world of Virginia.

Fearing lest I would believe it my duty to tell Captain Smith of his
purpose, he kept far from me, doing whatsoever he might in London town
to earn as much as would provide him with food during a certain time.

In this he succeeded so far as then seemed necessary, and when it was
known that the fleet was nearly ready to make sail, he came to Blackwall
with all his belongings tied in his doublet.

To get on board the Susan Constant without attracting much attention
while she was being visited by so many curious people, was not a hard
task for Nathaniel Peacock, and three days before the fleet was got
under way, my comrade had hidden himself in the very foremost p