Part 2 (2/2)

I make but a poor attempt at telling the tale, otherwise I would have said that when we were first come to anchor, some of those people who had been sent over by the West India Company in advance of our s.h.i.+p, came on board the _Sea Mew_ to speak with my master; and, as each in turn was done with his business, or with his pleasure, as the case might be, orders were given him that the savages be told they were to meet Master Minuit on the sh.o.r.e nearby where we were then lying at anchor, to the end that he might have speech with them.

It puzzled me not a little to understand how he could have speech with the brown men, when they did not speak in the same tongue as did he; but I had enough of wit to understand that it did not concern me. Master Minuit most like had considered well the matter.

HANS BRAUN AND KRYN GILDERSLEEVE

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When I was done with my task, instead of going into the forward part of the s.h.i.+p where I had lived from the time we left Amsterdam, my master gave orders that I should remain nearby where were his own quarters, and sent me with his other servants, of whom I have already told you somewhat.

The elder, who might have been thirty years of age, was named Hans Braun. He was as sour-visaged, square-jawed, thick-headed a Dutchman as ever stepped foot in Holland; one who knew not the meaning of the word friends.h.i.+p, and cared for his own comfort and his own pleasure more than he did for the master he served, or for anything whatsoever.

When I came to have a good look at him, as he beckoned me to follow to that portion of the s.h.i.+p where he and his mate found lodgings, I said to myself that there at least was one in this New World who would never lend a helping hand, and would not hesitate to do a wrong if thereby he could compa.s.s his own ends.

The other servant was Kryn Gildersleeve, who, mayhap, was three or four years my elder; a dull, heavy lad, who did not give promise of being a cheerful comrade, and yet I would have put faith in him under the same conditions that I would have suspected Hans of working me harm.

If I have been overly careful in speaking of these two fellow servants, it is because of our being at a later day so placed that they could do me much of evil, or of good.

I had rather an hundred times over have gone into my meaner lodgings in the forward part of the s.h.i.+p, than spend the night in what were most comfortable quarters, with such as Hans, and yet it was not for me to say whether I would come here or go there, after the command had been given. Before another day was very old, however, I understood that, without having spoken a wrong word or done anything against him whatsoever, Hans Braun would never be my friend.

THE GATHERING OF THE SAVAGES

It seemed, as I afterward learned, that Master Minuit had given orders for me to follow him on sh.o.r.e, while the other two were to remain aboard the s.h.i.+p, and this it was, most like, which displeased Hans.

However that may be, it has nothing to do with my tale, and perhaps I am giving overly many words to it; yet would I have you know how I, the youngest body servant of Master Minuit, Director of the West India Company's lands in America, came to see so much of that which was, in fact, important business, such as a lad would not be likely to have any part in.

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We were yet on board the _Sea Mew_, when I, who was standing by the rail on the quarter-deck, where I could hear the slightest summons from my master, saw the brown men gathering on sh.o.r.e and verily it was a sight to cause wonder.

These brown men, with their hair standing upright on the middle of their heads, and naked to the waist, but wearing leggings fringed with strips of hide, and queer, soft shoes ornamented with colored quills of the porcupine, which I afterwards learned were called moccasins, seated themselves on the sand of the sh.o.r.e, gazing out toward the _Sea Mew_.

Below, in the great cabin, I could see that my master and his companions were arraying themselves as if about to set out for an audience with the king, and why this should be I failed to understand, save that they counted to surprise the savages by their bravery of attire.

Master Minuit wore a long coat of blue cloth, which was fastened around his waist with a silken sash, and black velvet breeches, gathered in at the knee with a knot of blue ribbon, while his low shoes, ornamented with huge silver buckles, set off, as it seemed to me, the s.h.i.+ny blackness of his silken hose.

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