came when it was a
fixed purpose in my mind, and not until then did I breathe to Nathaniel
a word of that which had been growing within me.

He took fire straightway I spoke of what it might be possible for us
lads to do, and declared that whether his mother were willing or no, he
would brave all the dangers of that terrible journey overseas, if so be
we found an opportunity. To him it seemed a simple matter that, having
once found a ship which was to sail for the far off land, we might hide
ourselves within her, having gathered sufficient of food to keep us
alive during the journey. But how this last might be done, his plans had
not been made.

Lest I should set down too many words, and therefore bring upon myself
the charge of being one who can work with his tongue better than with
his hands, I will pass over all that which Nathaniel and I did during
the long time we roamed the streets, in the hope of coming face to face
with Captain Smith.

It is enough if I set it down at once that we finally succeeded in our
purpose, having come upon him one certain morning on Cheapside, when
there was a fight on among some apprentices, and the way so blocked
that neither he nor any other could pass through the street, until
the quarrelsome fellows were done playing upon each other's heads with
sticks and stones.

It seemed much as if fortune had at last consented to smile upon us, for
we were standing directly in front of the great man.

I know not how it chanced that I, a lad whose apparel was far from being
either cleanly or whole, should have dared to raise my voice in speech
with one who was said to have talked even with a king. Yet so I did,
coming without many words to that matter which had been growing these
many days in my mind, and mayhap it was the very suddenness of the words
that caught his fancy.

"Nathaniel Peacock and I are minded to go with you into that new world,
Captain John Smith, if so be you permit us," I said, "and there we will
serve you with honesty and industry."

There was a smile come upon his face as I spoke, and he looked down upon
Nathaniel and me, who were wedged among that throng which watched the
apprentices quarrel, until we were like to be squeezed flat, and said in
what I took to be a friendly tone:

"So, my master, you would journey into Virginia with the hope of making
yourself rich, and you not out from under your mother's apron as yet?"

"I have no mother to wear an apron, Capta