"This puts new life into me," declared the father when he had eaten a
few spoonfuls of hotchpot, "and now I 'll tell somewhat of the day's
work. There was no general uprising among the Indians. At least we saw
no evidence of it. 'T is more likely as I feared--they are the same
Indians that followed us from Plymouth, meaning to revenge themselves
upon me for wounding one of them when they set upon us in the forest."

"But how is it the lad was not with them?" asked his wife.

"That is a question which as yet hath no answer," replied her husband.
"It may be they have killed him and hidden the body."

At this fearful thought Nancy shuddered and covered her face with her
hands.

"It may be," went on the Goodman, "that they passed him on to some
one else to avoid suspicion. At any rate he was not with them, and we
could find no trace. Though the savages undoubtedly know some English,
they refuse to say a word, and so his fate remains a mystery."

"What further shall you do to find him?" asked the Goodwife.

"See if we cannot force the Indians to confess, for the first thing,"
answered her husband.

His wife sighed. "I fear no hope lieth in that direction," she said.
"Their faces were like the granite of the hills."

"What of the gun, Father?" asked Daniel. "Didst thou find it?"