noon
`` Nay , John Alden will come home safe , I 'm sure on ` t , '' said Mary gently , but her vivacious friend turned sharply upon her . `` And if he comes not at all , I 'd liefer know him dead in honor , than lingering here among the women like some others . '' `` Gilbert Winslow , or his brother John if you mean him , would have gone as gladly as any man had the captain chosen him , '' replied Mary composedly , if coldly , and Priscilla turned and clipped her in a sharp embrace , crying out that indeed her friend were no more than right to beat her for a froward child . The prosperous wind lasted all the way , and before noon the shallop lay at anchor close beside the Swan , a small craft owned by the Weymouth men , and intended for their use in trading and fishing . Standish 's first visit was to her , and much to his surprise he found her both undefended and deserted . Landing with four of his men he next proceeded to the plantation , as it was called , where some ten or twelve substantial buildings surrounded with a stockade established a very defensible position , but here again neglect and suicidal folly stared him in the face . The settlers were dispersed in every direction : three had that very morning gone to live among the Indians ; many were roaming the woods and shore in search of food ; one poor fellow going to dig clams on the previous day had stuck fast in the mud by reason of weakness , and though the Indians stood upon the shore watching him with shouts of derisive laughter , not one put out a hand to help him , and he perished miserably at the flow of the tide .