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The Adventures of Miles Standish: Indian

An Indian tribe had lived among the Plymouth hills, but a plague had swept the entire tribe away. The stubble in the fields was several years old, and the rude shelters of the Indians were rotting.

There was no one to dispute the rights of the settlers to claim the soil for their own.

Rough houses of logs were soon built, the spaces between the cracks of the logs being daubed with mud. Oiled paper was used instead of glass for the windows. The weather was now very cold, the snow covered the ground, and almost blocked the people in their homes. There was little fuel and scant food. The colonists suffered dreadfully.

Many of them died, including Rose Standish, the beautiful young wife of the brave Captain.

But the Captain himself kept up staunchly, and went among the sick and dying, doing all he could to help them. At one time he and six others were the only well ones in the place. These well ones brought all the wood, made all the fires, cooked all the food, attended to all the beds, and even washed the clothes for the entire colony. When spring came, only fifty of the company were left alive. It was a dreadful winter, but the Pilgrims were not dismayed by this bad beginning.

For fear the Indians would discover the weakness of the whites, and attack them in their sick and helpless condition, the graves of those who had died were ploughed over and sown with seed.