speed to meet him.  William picked up his hoe and followed at a slower pace.  When he reached the group, Dan was up behind his father on the pillion with his arms about him, and standing before them on the ground was a black boy about William’s own size and age.  He had only a little ragged clothing on, and what he had seemed to make him uneasy, perhaps because he had been used to none at all in his native home far across the sea.  His eyes were rolling wildly from one face to another, and it was plain that he was in a great state of fear.

“He is but a savage as yet,” said Goodman Pepperell.  “He was doubtless roughly handled on the voyage and hath naught but fear and hatred in his heart.  It will take some time to make a Christian of him!  Thou must help in the task, Daniel, for thou art near his age and can better reach his darkened mind.  As yet he understands but one thing.  He can eat like a Christian, or rather like two of them!  We must tame him with food and kindness.”

“What is his name?” asked Daniel, still gazing at the boy with popping eyes, for never before had he seen a skin so dark.

[Illustration]

“Call him Zeb,” said his father.

“Come, Zeb,” said William, taking the boy gently by the arm, and looking compassionately into the black face.  “Food!” He shouted the word at him as if he were deaf, but poor Zeb, completely bewildered by these strange, meaningless sounds, only shrank away from him and looked about as if seeking a way of escape.

Daniel immediately sprang from the pillion and seized Zeb’s other arm.  “Yes, Zeb, food—­good,” he howled, pointing down his own throat and rubbing his stomach with an ecstatic expression.  It is probable that poor Zeb understood from this pantomime that he was about to be eaten alive, for he made a furious effort to get away.  The boys held firmly to his arms, smiling and nodding at him in a manner meant to be reassuring, but which only convinced the poor black that they were pleased with the tenderness of his flesh and were enjoying the prospect of a cannibal feast.  With the slave boy between them, “hanging back and digging in his claws like a cat being pulled by the tail,” as Dan told his mother afterward, they made slow progress toward the village.

News of the return spread quickly, and a curious crowd of children gathered to gaze at Zeb, for many of them had never seen a negro before in their lives.  Goodman Pepperell went at once to the Governor’s house, and when he learned that the Captain had come and gone, he decided to push on to Boston at once by land. “’T is an easier journey than the one I have just taken,” he said.  “There are settlements along the way, and time passes.  I have been gone now longer than I thought.  The farm work waits, and Susanna will fear for our safety.  I must start home as soon as I can return this horse to the owner and secure another.  I would even buy a good mare, for I stand in need of one on my farm.”