Miles looked up and saw Ned Lister, his cap on straight and his face earnest, speaking with the Captain. He rose, and, a little unsteadily, pushed the women aside, so he could clutch Ned's arm. "I want to go ashore," he whispered chokedly. "Take me now."
"You shall go," said Captain Standish. "I'll bid them make ready the boat."
"You and the little wench get on your cloaks briskly," Ned admonished, as he turned to follow the Captain. "We'll be ready ere you be."
Constance came down with the two children to the cabin beneath the main deck. It seemed darker and colder than ever before, and Dolly's cloak strings were tied in a hard knot, and Miles could not find his mittens. At the very last, as, in stupid fashion, he searched for them a third time in a bag that held some odds and ends of his mother's, he heard Dolly cry, "Oh, Solomon, poor Solomon! Don't leave him behind, Miles. I know they'll not tend him. And daddy was fond of him."
The cat was dozing among the blankets, but when Miles, slow and uncomprehending, tried to seize him, he took fright and ran beneath the bunk.
"We've the boat ready. Quickly, Miles!" called Ned Lister in the passageway.
Miles saw Solomon's eyes shining yellow in the dark beneath the bunk, and, making a grab, he clutched the cat. The creature spit and clawed, but Miles, with his hands bleeding, still clung to him, and, headlong, thrust him into the bag that had held their biscuit. One white paw came struggling out, but the boy shoved it in roughly, and drew the strings tight.
"Wait, wait! Your cloak, Miles." Constance detained him, and fastened his cloak about his neck. Miles suffered her, like a very little boy, and then, slinging Solomon's bag over one shoulder, he followed Dolly up on deck.
The rain, pelting on his cheeks and forehead, half blinded him, and the faces of the men, seen fitfully beneath the flaring light of the lantern at the gangway, looked strange to him. Their voices had no meaning, and they must repeat the question when one asked: "What have you there, Miles? Give me the bag; I'll hand it you."