such as remained steadfast, just 102 in number, reëmbarked on the
_Mayflower_ and began the most memorable of voyages. The weather was so
foul, and the wind and sea so boisterous, that nine weeks passed before
they beheld the sandy shores of Cape Cod. Having no right to settle
there, as the cape lay far to the northward of the lands owned by the
London Company, they turned their ship southward and attempted to go on.
But head winds drove them back and forced them to seek shelter in
Provincetown harbor, at the end of Cape Cod.

[Illustration: The Mayflower[1]]

[Footnote 1: From the model in the National Museum, Washington.]

[Illustration: THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST (map)]

%33. The Mayflower Compact%.--Since it was then the 11th of November,
the Pilgrims, as they are now called, decided to get permission from
the Plymouth Company to remain permanently. But certain members of the
party, when they heard this, became unruly, and declared that as they
were not to land in Virginia, they were no longer bound by the contracts
they had made in England regarding their emigration to Virginia. To put
an end to this, a meeting was held, November 21, 1620, in the cabin of
the _Mayflower_, and a compact was drawn up and signed.[1] It declared

1. That they were loyal subjects of the King.

2. That they had undertaken to found a colony in the northern parts of
Virginia, and now bound themselves to form a "civil body politic."

3. That they would frame such just and equal laws, from time to time, as