A year and more from that Christmas Day has sped, and again we find
Bradford and Standish with Winslow gathered together at the governor's
house, resting after the labors of the day, smoking the consoling pipe,
and even tasting from time to time the contents of a square case bottle,
which, with a jug of hot water and a basin of sugar were set forth upon
a curious little clawfooted table worth to-day its weight in gold if
only it could have survived.
None of the three look younger than they did when they first stepped
upon the Rock; sun and wind, and winter storm and summer heat have
bronzed their English complexions and deepened the lines about the quiet
steadfast lips and anxious eyes. Already Bradford's shoulders were a
little bowed, partly by the burden of his responsibility, partly by
arduous manual labor, but upon his face had grown the serenity and
somewhat of the impassiveness into which the Egyptians loved to mould
the features of their kings,—that expression which of all others
belongs to a man who uses great power firmly and decisively, and yet
looks upon himself as but a steward, who soon or late shall be called to
render a strict account of his stewardship.
And Winslow, courtly, learned, and fit for lofty emprise, how bore he
this life of toil and privation, this constant contention with
such foes as famine, and disease, and squalor, and uncouth savagery?
Look at the portrait painted of him in London some years later, and see
if there is not an infinite weariness, a brooding Cui bono? set as a
seal upon those haughty features. Can one after studying that face much
wonder that when the Massachusetts Bay authorities in 1646 besought
Plymouth to spare their sometime governor, their wise and astute
statesman, to arrange the Bay's quarrel with the Home government,
Winslow eagerly accepted the mission, although as Bradford sadly
records, his going was—"much to the weakening of this government,
without whose consent he took these employments upon him."
So well, however, did he fill the larger sphere for which his ambitious
nature perhaps had secretly pined, that after four years of arduous
service when the Massachusetts quarrel was well adjusted, and Winslow
would have returned home, President Steele, whom he had helped to found
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, wrote to the Colonial
Commissioners in New England that although Winslow was unwilling to be
kept longer from his family, he could not yet be spared, because his
great acquaintance and influence with members of Parliament made him
invaluable to the work in hand.
Then in 1652 the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, placed him at the head of a
committee for settling a Dutch quarrel; and in 1655 the same power named
him governor of Hispaniola, and dispatched him thither with a fleet and
body of soldiers to conquer and take possession of his new territory.
But General Venable in command of the soldiers, and Admiral Penn in
command of the fleet, fell to loggerheads as to which was the
other's superior, and even Winslow's diplomacy could not heal the
breach; so the attack upon Hispaniola proved a disgraceful failure, and
as the fleet sailed away to attack Jamaica, the Great Commissioner, as
they called him fell ill of chagrin and worry, and after a few days of
wild delirium wherein he stood upon Burying Hill, and drank of the
Pilgrims' Spring, and spoke loving words to the wife and children he
should see no more, he died, and was committed to the great deep with a
salute of two-and-forty guns, and never a kiss or tear, for all who
loved him were far away.
But all this honor, all this disaster, lies in the future, for as yet
Winslow is only seven-and-twenty, and yet the lines of ambition, of
weariness, of hauteur are foreshadowed upon his face; already Time with
his light indelible pencil has faintly traced the furrows he by and by
will plow that all who run may read.
Perhaps the least change of all is that upon the captain's face, for
before ever he landed on the Rock full twenty years of a soldier's life
had set those firm lips, and steadied those marvelous eyes, and
impressed upon every line of the deep bronzed face the air of the
vigilant commander who was both born and bred for the post he fills so
thoroughly. If any change, perhaps there is a softening one, for those
keen eyes have looked so often upon misery and need, and so little upon
bloodshed in these three last years, that they have gained somewhat of
tenderness, somewhat of human sympathy; and the look that dying men and
women have strained their glazing eyes to see to the last, is not so far
from the surface as once it was. But the governor is speaking,—
"Yes, my friends, I will confess to feeling more than a little uneasy
over the matter. This party whom our sometime friend Weston hath sent
over to settle at our very doors as it were, and to steal our trade with
the Indians, and so hold us from paying off our debt to the
Adventurers"—
"With whom he was still to abide as our Advocate," growled Standish.
"Ay. He hath doubtless served us a sorry turn by not only dividing
himself from the Adventurers, but setting up a rival trading-post of his
own," remarked Winslow.
"And worse than that is this news Squanto brings in to-day," resumed the
governor. "I mean the dealings of those new-comers with the Indians."
"Yes, they carry themselves like both knaves and fools, and will
presently find their own necks in the noose," said Standish rapping the
ashes out of his pipe with such force as to break it.
"But worse again than that," suggested Winslow quietly, "is the danger
they bring upon us. Hobomok warneth me that there is a wide discontent
growing among the red men, springing from the conduct of these men at
Weymouth as they call it. The Neponsets have suffered robbery, and
insult, and outrage at their hands, and both the Massachusetts on the
one hand and the Pokanokets on the other are in sympathy with them. Then
you will see, brethren, that Canonicus with his Narragansetts, who
already hath sent us his cartel of defiance, will make brief alliance
with Massasoit, and all will combine to drive every white man from the
country. There is hardly any bound to the mischief these roysterers at
Weymouth have set on foot."
"And Massasoit no longer our friend, since we refused to send him poor
Squanto's head," said Bradford meditatively.
"Yes," laughed the captain. "'T is food for mirth, were a man
dying, to see Squanto skulk at our heels like a dog who sees a lion in
the path. He hardly dares step outside the palisado, for fear some envoy
of Massasoit's shall pounce upon him."
"'T is a good lesson to teach him discretion," said Winslow.
"Certes he stirred up strife between us and the sachem with his
cock-and-bull stories."
"Especially when he sent his squaw to warn us that Canonicus with
Massasoit and Corbitant were on the way from Namasket to devour us."
"Ay, no wonder Massasoit was aggrieved at being so slandered, and could
he have got Tisquantum once within his clutches 't would have gone
hard with the poor fool. But never burnt child dreaded fire as he now
doth the outside of the palisado."
"Didst hear, Winslow, that t' other day when some of us were
unearthing a keg of powder buried there in the Fort, Squanto and a
savage guest of his clomb the hill to see what was going on? The
magazine is passably deep as you know, and Squanto himself had never
seen it opened; so when they saw Alden hand up the keg to Hopkins, the
guest asked in the Indian tongue what was in it, and Squanto told
him 't was the plague which just before our coming swept the
land, and that the white men had captured it and buried it here upon the
hill to let loose upon their enemies; and in the end the knave got a
goodly price from his visitor for assurance that the plague should not
be liberated till he had time to reach Sandwich."
All three men laughed, but Bradford said,—"I fear me Squanto hath
done us no little harm with his double dealings, his jealousy of
Hobomok, and his craving for bribes; but withal he hath been so good a
friend to us, more than useful at the first when we knew naught of the
place or how to live, or plant, or fish, that I thought right to risk
even Massasoit's enmity rather than to give our poor knave up to his
wrath."
"And then I never can forget," said Winslow, "that Squanto as only
survivor of the Patuxets was in some sort lord of the soil whereon we
pitched."
"Yes truly," responded the captain with a short laugh. "Like myself he
was born to great estates and sees them enjoyed by others."
"Well then, since nothing is imminent in this matter of the Weymouth
colonists and their quarrel with the Indians, we had better, now that
the palisado around the town is complete"—
"Gates, bolts, bastions, all complete from the great rock around to the
brook," interposed Standish, his figure visibly dilating with
satisfaction. Bradford smiled and allowed his eyes to rest
affectionately for an instant upon his comrade, then continued in a
lighter tone,—
"So having fortified your hold, Captain, it is now fitting that you
should provision it. Thou knowest how in my journeyings last month I
bought and stored corn at Nauset, and Manomet, and Barnstable, and now
that we have a moment's breathing space, it were well that some one
should take the pinnace and fetch it. At the same time there will be
good occasion to feel the pulse of the various chiefs, and determine
what is their intended course and so settle our own."
"Nay, Winslow is the man for that work, Governor," replied the
captain bluntly. "I will go and get the corn, and if need be teach the
savages a lesson upon the dangers of plotting and conniving, but as to
talking smoothly with men who are lying to me"—
"But why prejudge them, Captain," began Winslow, when with a tap upon
the door Squanto himself appeared ushering in a strange Indian whom he
fluently presented as a friend of his who had come with great news.
Bidden to deliver it, the stranger stated that a great Dutch ship had
gone ashore at Sowams (Bristol), and would be wrecked unless help could
be had, and this could not be given by the Indians, for Massasoit lay
dying and no one would stir without his command.
This news changed the aspect of affairs, and Winslow was at once
appointed to pay Massasoit a visit of inquiry, and in case of his death
to make an alliance if possible with Corbitant, his probable successor
as sachem of the Pokanokets. He also was to see the commander of the
Dutch vessel, and in case of a wreck to offer the hospitality of
Plymouth to the sufferers, for in case of the famine narrowly impending
over the colony, the friendship and aid of the Dutch might become of the
last importance. Besides this, the dangerous Narragansetts were known to
have made alliance with the Dutch, and might by them be deterred from
molesting the Plymouth settlers if they were known to be their friends.
"And so, Myles," declared Bradford finding himself alone with his friend
at the end of the informal council, "thou must e'en go by thyself for
the corn, with what men thou dost call for, and I doubt not we shall
find thee burgeon into a diplomatist equal at least to the great Cecil
or to Sir Walter Raleigh"—
"Ay, and that minds me," interrupted Standish "of the news sent
us by good Master Huddlestone of the Betsey, how the Virginia savages
had massacred three hundred and forty-seven of Raleigh's settlers, and
would have made an end of them but for warning given by a friendly
Indian."
"Ay, it was heavy news, and a timely warning," said the governor losing
his air of gayety and sighing deeply. "And if indeed Weston's men have
angered the Neponsets to the pitch we fear, the news of this Virginia
success will embolden them to undertake the same revenge. Be wary,
Standish, and very gentle in thy dealings. If war is determined, let it
be entered upon deliberately and formally; take not the matter into
thine own hands and mayhap lose us our commander just at the onset."
"Ay Will, 'I'll roar thee gently' as any sucking dove, an' there seemeth
need to roar at all."
"Best not roar at all until all thy comrades may join in unison," and
once more Bradford's face lighted with its peculiar smile, the sort of
smile one might bestow upon his double should he meet him and address
him with a jest unknown to any other.
And so it came to pass that the next morning's rising sun saw two
important expeditions leaving the hamlet in opposite directions. Toward
the dark and almost pathless woods at the North marched Winslow
accompanied by Master John Hampden, then visiting the colony and
studying the science of republican government in its most perfect,
because most simple, development. With them went Hobomok as guide and
interpreter, and after them went the tearful prayers of Susanna Winslow,
who loved her new lord better than she had the father of baby Peregrine
toddling at her side, as she stood in the cabin door to gaze
after the little group already almost out of sight, and making now for
the "Massachusetts trail" where it crosses Jones's River in Kingston.
And as one driving over that pleasant road which now intersects the old
trail pauses to look up its green ascent, or on across the placid stream
it forded, does he not almost catch sight of the goodly forms of those
young men, quaintly clad in doublet and hose and the wide hats or the
close barret caps of the day, led by the sleek slender savage who
patiently stood by, while Winslow turned and pointed out the beauties of
sea and shore to his thoughtful companion.
"A pleasant sight, a goodly scene," said Hampden, as at last they turned
away and struck into the dense forest. "If it be God's will I for one
shall be well content to return hither and end my days."
"And yet there is world's work to do yonder for a man with an eye to
read the times," said Winslow flinging a hand eastward.
"No wife or child to see me off, Mistress Winslow," said the captain as
he passed the door where Susanna lingered, and she, smiling with the
tear in her eye, answered pleasantly,—
"Then why not purvey thee one, Captain Standish? Well I wot you need not
long go a-begging."
"Nay, none will look on a battered old soldier when fresh young faces
are at hand," replied Standish casting a whimsical glance after Alden
who preceded him down the hill, while the matron shook her head
murmuring,—"Such fools as maids will be!"
Besides Alden, the captain had chosen five men, enough to man the boat,
and to make a good defense in case of attack, but among these
he had included none of the fire-eaters, none of the independent souls
of the little colony. Alden, to whom the captain had given the names of
those to be summoned, had noted this feature of the selection, and
ventured to comment upon it approvingly.
"Ay, lad," replied his master with a grim smile. "'T is a service
of danger, and a service of diplomacy, and I must have my force well in
hand with no danger of a baulk from within. Dost know how the Romans
conquered the world? I bade thee study my Cæsar in thy leisure
moments."
"By power to command, Master?"
"Nay, boy, but by power to obey. Their forces moved as one man, as a
grand machine, and so they carried the Roman eagles to all the known
world. There's the model of a Roman soldier in that big Book yonder. He
says to his Sovereign Lord, 'Give not yourself the inconvenience of
coming to heal my servant, but send some spirit to carry the command. I
know how it is; I also am under the commands of my general, and men are
under me. I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to the other, Come,
and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.' There's the
model of a soldier for you, John Alden; perfect obedience rendered,
perfect obedience expected, perfect faith in the commander-in-chief.
Now, then, off upon your errand, sir, and mind you tarry not at the
Elder's house. There is no errand there."
The shallop's first port was Nauset, and here, although the corn was
obtained and loaded without difficulty, a thief stole some clothes from
the boat while it was for the moment unguarded; and finding mild words
of no avail in their recovery, Standish sought Aspinet, who was
encamped at a little distance from the shore, and refusing all
hospitality or friendly conversation roundly announced that unless the
missing articles were restored without delay he should at once make sail
for Plymouth and declare war upon the whole tribe.
Marching down to his boat closely followed by Alden the captain suddenly
paused and struck his heel upon the ground.
"Now then, I was to roar like a dove, and I have howled like any wolf!
And I to preach obedience! nay then, John, thou 'rt free to flout
me as thou wilt."
"But, Captain, so far as I heard the governor's command it was only to
fetch some corn," suggested Alden slyly. "All else was left at your
discretion, as indeed all matters military are. Such was the tenor of
the vote that made you our Captain."
"Come, now, John, that's not ill thought on; that's not so dull as might
be," replied the captain glancing merrily at his follower.
"Thou 'st been studying under Winslow as well as Standish. Well,
then, let us wait and see what comes of my roar."
An hour later as the boat's crew sat around their camp-fire eating their
frugal dinner, the sound of many feet was heard breaking through the
neighboring thickets, and Standish with a glance at Alden said
quietly,—
"Stand to your arms, men, but softly and without offense until we see
the need. The savages are in force."
But as it turned out the force was but a guard of honor to Aspinet, who
came in state, followed by two women bringing the stolen coats
elaborately bound around with gayly colored withes; these they at once
took on board and laid in the cuddy, while Aspinet improving
upon Tisquantum's former lessons as to the mode of saluting sovereigns
seized upon Standish's hand, and much to his disgust licked it from
wrist to fingers, at the same time bending his knee in uncouth
genuflection.
"Enough, enough, Aspinet," exclaimed the captain half laughing, half
revolted at the homage. "The coats are returned I see"—
"And I have much beaten him who took them," averred Aspinet
complacently. "And Aspinet is the friend of the white men though all
other Indians turn against them."
"Why, that is well, sachem," replied Standish, who was already able to
converse freely with the red men in their own tongue. "Keep you to that
mind, and hold your tribe to it, and no harm's done. And now men, all
aboard, and we will be off."
With a fair wind the shallop soon made Barnstable or Mattachiest, and
here Iyanough (or Janno) met them on landing with protestations of
welcome so profuse and unusual that the captain was at once upon his
guard, especially as he noticed among the crowd many new faces which he
was confident belonged to Massachusetts Indians. Night falling before
the corn could be loaded, and ice making so suddenly as to freeze the
shallop in before she fairly floated, the captain was obliged to accept
an invitation for himself and crew to sleep in one of the Indian huts;
but as the chief with some of his principal men escorted them to it,
Standish's quick eye surprised a glance between one of the strangers and
a Pamet Indian called Kamuso, who had always appeared to be one of the
warmest friends of the white men, but in whose manner to-night Standish
felt something of treachery and evil intention.
And he was right, for Kamuso had been won over to the conspiracy
beginning with the Narragansetts and extending all the way down the
Cape, and so soon as runners from the Nausets had warned the Mattakees
that Standish and a small crew were about to land among them, it was
agreed that now was the best time to cut off The-Sword-of-the-White-Men,
and so deprive the colony of one of its principal safeguards. Janno
himself would fain have spared Standish, with whom he had ever been on
friendly terms; but Kamuso so wrought upon the Mattakee warriors that
their sachem was forced either to drop the reins altogether or to suffer
his unruly steeds to take their own course. Like Pontius Pilate he chose
the latter course, and to his own destruction. Before the pinnace was
anchored, the plan of the massacre was fully laid, and Kamuso had
claimed the glory of killing The Sword with his own hand.
But the subtle instinct which was Standish's sixth sense warned him of
some unknown danger, and having carefully inspected the wigwam offered
to his use, he directed that the fire newly kindled outside the door
should be extinguished; and while the Indians officiously busied
themselves in doing this, the captain by a word, a look, a sign, drew
his men inside the hut, and rapidly conveyed to them his suspicions, and
enjoined the greatest caution upon all.
"The fire would have bewrayed our forms to archers hidden in yonder
thicket," added he. "And as I will have half to watch while the others
sleep, the watch must keep themselves under shelter of the cabin and
away from any chance of ambush."
Murmurs of wrath, of wonder, but of acquiescence arose from the
half dozen bearded throats around, and the captain at once set the
watch, to be relieved every two hours. In vain Janno offered another
wigwam if this were too small, and urged that all his white brothers
should sleep at once while his own men watched; in vain Kamuso tried to
attach himself to the party inside, meaning to stab the captain in his
sleep; without a show of anger or suspicion Standish put both attempts
aside, and finally with a jeering laugh advised Janno to retire to his
own wigwam and to order his braves to do the same, for some of the white
men as he averred were given to discharging their pieces in their sleep,
or at any shadow that came within range, and it might happen that some
of his friends should thus come by harm, which would be a great grief to
him.
"The Sword has pierced our intention," said Janno to Kamuso in their own
tongue as the two withdrew. "Better give it up. He has eyes all around
him."
"I will kill him," retorted Kamuso sullenly. "To-night, to-morrow, next
week,—I will kill him."
The next day so soon as the shallop floated and was loaded Standish
embarked, sick at heart as he received the slavish homage of Janno, whom
he had liked and trusted so much, and who even while he yielded to the
plot for the captain's death and that of all his friends really clung to
him in love and reverence. Poor Janno, weak but not wicked, his
punishment was both swift and stern; for fleeing a little later from the
vengeance of the white men, he perished miserably among the swamps and
thickets of Barnstable, and his lonely grave was only lately discovered.
Go and look at his bones in Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth and muse upon the
dangers of cowardice and weakness.
As the shallop pushed off from shore, an Indian came running down the
beach, and with a cat-like spring leaped upon the deck. It was Kamuso,
who said he was bound for Sandwich and would beg a passage in the
pinnace.
A sudden spark kindled in the captain's red-brown eyes and one hand
tugged impatiently at his moustache, but he said nothing, and the Indian
proceeded to make himself useful in a variety of ways; and as the wind
was favorable and the distance short, Standish made no open objection to
the company of the spy, but busied himself with freshly charging his
weapons, and curiously examining every inch of Gideon's shining blade.
A little after noon the shallop made the harbor of Sandwich, or as the
Pilgrims called it Manomet, and Standish at once went ashore, eager to
see if Canacum shared in the wide-spread disaffection of the Indians.
But ten minutes in the sachem's wigwam convinced the wary observer that
something was wrong, for the old friendliness of manner had given place
to restraint and formality; and although Canacum was very ready to
deliver the corn, and professed great pleasure at the captain's visit,
his voice and manner were both cold and false, and such of his braves as
came into the wigwam showed a very different face from what Standish had
hitherto encountered.
Suddenly a sound was heard without, and as the captain sprang to his
feet and laid his hand upon Gideon's hilt, the door-mat was thrust
aside, and two Indians recognized by their paint as Neponsets entered
the cabin. Canacum received them with effusive cordiality, and presented
the principal one to Standish as Wituwamat a pniese of the
Neponsets.
Standish received the careless salutation of the new-comer in silent
gravity, and stepping to the door summoned Howland and Alden to his
side, first however sending a message to the boat-keepers to be well on
guard against a surprise.
Returning into the hut with his two friends, the captain found Wituwamat
upon his feet beginning an impassioned harangue to Canacum, who listened
uneasily. Standish was already an excellent Indian scholar, and could
converse in several dialects with great ease; but so soon as he appeared
Wituwamat fell into a style so figurative and blind, and took pains to
use such unusual and obsolete expressions, that Canacum himself could
hardly understand him, and Standish was soon left hopelessly in the
background. At a later day, however, one of the warriors then present
repeated to the captain the amount of the Neponset's message, which was
that Obtakiest, sachem of the Neponsets, had entered into a solemn
compact with Canonicus, sachem of the Narragansetts, to cut off the
Weymouth colonists, root and branch; but that as the Plymouth men would
assuredly revenge their brethren, it was necessary that they should
perish as well, and that while the two chiefs mentioned advanced upon
the settlement from the west, they invited Canacum, Janno, and Aspinet
to fall upon them from the east, and having slain man and boy to equably
divide the women and other plunder. As earnest of his authority
Wituwamat here presented Canacum with a knife stolen or bought from the
Weymouth settlers, and jeeringly said the coward pale faces had brought
over the weapons that should cut their own throats.
Having thus delivered his message, the Neponset indulged himself in a
burst of self-glorification, boasting that he had in his day
killed both French and Englishmen, and that he found the sport very
amusing, for they died crying and making wry faces more like children
than men.
"What is the impudent villain saying, and what means that knife,
Captain?" muttered Howland in the captain's ear, but he shaking his head
impatiently replied,—
"He means violence and treachery of some sort, but what form it takes I
wot not. Be on your guard, John."
The harangue ended, refreshments were served, but the Neponsets were now
treated with so much more courtesy and attention than the white men that
Standish refusing the poorer portion offered to him and his comrades,
rose and indignantly left the cabin, ordering his men to construct a
shelter near the beach, and there cook some of the provisions they had
brought. But they had hardly begun to do this when Kamuso appeared, full
of indignant protests at Canacum's inhospitality, and loudly declaring
that an affront to his friends was an affront to him, and he should
desert the wigwam where the red men were feasting, and share the humbler
fare of his white friends.
"Well, I wish thou hadst brought along a kettle to cook some corn in!"
exclaimed Standish with something of his old joviality of manner, for
his suspicions in falling upon Canacum had in some degree lifted from
Kamuso, who certainly played his part with wonderful skill, and had he
been white instead of red, and civilized instead of savage, might have
left his name on record as a diplomatist beside that of Machiavelli or
Ignatius Loyola.
"A kettle! My brother would like a kettle!" exclaimed he now.
"Nay, a friend of mine hath one which I will buy of him and present to
The Sword. I am rich, I Kamuso, and can make rich presents to those I
love."
And rushing back to the wigwams, he presently returned with a good-sized
brass kettle, which he ostentatiously laid at the captain's feet,
refusing the handful of beads Standish offered in return.
"Hm!" growled the captain. "That's not in nature. Alden use the kettle
an' thou wilt, but after, return it to the Pamet. We'll not have them
making a Benjamin's sack of our shallop."
After dinner Standish so peremptorily demanded that his corn should at
once be put aboard that Canacum could do nothing but yield. The squaws
were summoned, and John Alden stood by with pencil and paper, keeping
tally as each delivered her basket-full on the beach, while Howland
standing mid-leg deep in the icy water shot it over the gunwale.
"Here men, bear a hand, and let us get this thing over and be off,"
commanded Standish, himself seizing a full basket and motioning Dotey to
another.
"And I, and I, my brother!" exclaimed Kamuso in his loud braggadocio
manner as he awkwardly lifted a third. "Never in all my life have I done
squaw's work, for I am a brave, I am a pniese, but what my brother does
I do."
"Nay, 't is too much honor!" replied Standish with his grimmest
smile; "especially as thou art somewhat awkward"—
And in effect the Pamet as he tried to swing the full basket off his
shoulder lost his hold, and the corn came showering down upon the sand.
At length, however, the tale was complete, and as the tide was
out, and night coming on, the captain decided to camp once more upon the
beach, refusing somewhat curtly the pressing invitation sent by Canacum
that the white men should sleep in his house. And once more Kamuso
loudly proclaimed that he was of the white men's party and should share
their quarters wherever they might be. Standish silently permitted him
to do as he would, but, as on the previous evening, he divided the
little company into watches, one to sleep and one to stand on guard.
"So soon as he sleeps I shall kill him," muttered Kamuso to Wituwamat,
as they secretly met behind Canacum's wigwam. "Give me now the knife
sent by Obtakiest."
"Here it is, brother, and when it is red with the blood of The Sword it
shall be thine own. Else it returns to him who sends it."
"It shall be red, it shall drink, it shall drip with the brave blood, it
shall shine as the sun rising across the waters! It shall feast, and
Kamuso shall be chief of Obtakiest's pnieses; yes, he shall be sachem of
the Massachusetts!"
Wituwamat made no reply in words, but as he turned away shivered
heavily. Perhaps a premonition of his own terrible fate crossed his
brain, perhaps the hooting of the owl just then skimming across the
thicket stirred his superstitious fancy, but without a word he
reëntered the wigwam; and Kamuso concealing the knife went back to
the randevous, where already the first watch slept, and Standish, in
command of the second, stood beside the fire leaning on his snaphance,
and, deep in meditation fixed his eyes upon the approaching savage so
sternly that he believing that all was discovered was on the
point of springing at his prey, and risking all upon one sudden blow,
when the captain, awaking from his reverie, sighed profoundly, and
perceiving for the first time Kamuso's approach quietly said,—
"So it is thee, Pamet! Go back and sleep warm in the wigwams of the
Mattakees. We need no help here."
"Kamuso is no Mattakee; Kamuso is the friend of the white men. While The
Sword wakes, Kamuso will gaze upon him and learn how to become the
terror of his foes."
"'T is easier to be the terror of one's foes than the delight of
one's friends," muttered Standish gloomily, and then pulling himself
together he stirred the embers with his heel, and throwing on more wood
said carelessly,—
"E'en as thou wilt. Kamuso, go or stay, watch or sleep, 't is all
one to me."
And marching up and down the strip of level beach the soldier hummed an
old ballad song of Man, which Rose had loved to sing, and clean forgot
the savage who, crouching in the shadow, fingered the knife hilt hidden
in his waist cloth, and never removed the gaze of his snaky eyes from
the figure of his destined prey.
The night went on, and Standish waked the second watch and dismissed the
first, but still himself took no rest, nor felt the need of it, as he
paced up and down, his outward senses alert to the smallest sign, and
his memory roaming at will over scenes for many years forgot; over
boyhood's eager days, his mother's tenderness, his father's death upon a
French battle-field, his own early days as a soldier, his home-coming to
find Barbara acting a daughter's part to the dying
mother—Rose—ah Rose! He stood a moment at the point of his
promenade furthest from the randevous, his back to the fire,
his gaze fixed upon the sea whose lapping waves seemed whispering with
sobbing sighs, Rose!—Rose!—Rose!—
A faint sound upon the shingle caught the outward ear of the soldier,
and wheeling instinctively he faced the Pamet, who with his hand upon
the hilt of the dagger had crept up to within six feet of his victim,
and already had selected the spot between those square shoulders where
the fatal blow should be planted.
"Ha savage! What does this mean! Why are you tracking me!" demanded the
captain angrily, but the wily Indian, instead of starting back and
betraying himself by terror, advanced quietly, not even removing his
hand from the hidden knife hilt, and answered smoothly in his own
tongue,—
"The red man's moccason sounds not upon the sand as the white man's
boot. I did but come to ask my lord if he will not rest at all. Midnight
is long past, and the day must bring its labors. Will not The Sword
sheath for a while his intolerable splendor in sleep, while his slave
watches for him?"
"Why, Kamuso, thou 'rt more than eloquent! Pity but thou shouldst
be trained, and brought to London to show off before the King!" laughed
Standish. "But sleep and I have quarreled for to-night. I know not how
it is, but never after a sound night's rest did I feel more fresh and on
the alert. Go thou and sleep if thou 'rt sleepy, but come not
creeping after me again, or I'll send thee packing! I like not such
surprises."
"The will of my lord is the will of his slave," meekly replied Kamuso,
and crept back to his former sheltered nook beside the fire. The chill
March night grew on toward morning, the east reddened with an angry
glare, the solemn stars wheeled on their appointed courses, and
Mars, who had held the morning watch, gave way to Sol, bidding him have
a care of his son, whom he had left gazing with sleepless eyes across
the waters to the East.
"Up, men! 'T is morning at last, and surely never was a night so
long as this. Up, and let us break our fast and be off within the hour!"
So cried the captain, and in a moment all his command was afoot and
active. Kamuso, his face black with sullen rage, retreated to the
wigwams to confess his defeat to Wituwamat and Canacum, who listening
said quietly,—
"His totem is too strong for us. The Sword will never fall before the
tomahawk."
"It is because he is so strong that Obtakiest took a knife of the white
man's make and use, and sent it. The powah that charmed the weapons of
The Sword may have charmed this knife also."
And Kamuso drawing the Weymouth knife from his belt regarded it with
disgust for a moment, then thrusting it back into his belt doggedly
declared,—
"But all is not over. Wait, my brothers, wait for the end, and then say
if Kamuso is a fool."
As the pinnace drew out of Manomet Harbor Standish for the first time
perceived that the Pamet was aboard her, and rather sharply
demanded,—
"Whither bound now, Kamuso? Thou didst but ask passage to Manomet."
"My white brothers have not all the corn they need, have they?" asked
the Indian, an air of humble sympathy pervading his voice and manner.
"Nay. If the famine we forebode is upon us we need twice,
thrice, as much as this, before the harvest not yet sown is ready for
use."
"For that then is Kamuso here. At Nauset, Aspinet hath great store of
corn hidden from the white men, but it is not his alone, it is mine, it
is the tribe's, it is The Sword's. Let my lord come to Nauset and I will
have his canoe filled to the brim, there shall not be room to put in one
grain more—Kamuso says it."
"Hm! That would be a matter of fifty bushels or more," replied Standish
literally. "What say you, Howland? What is your mind, men?"
Various brief replies showed that the mind of the crew was to obey the
captain's orders, and after a moment's thought he muttered to Howland in
Dutch,—
"I like not this fellow's carriage. He is too smooth to be honest, and
yet what can one wretched savage do against seven men armed and on their
watch? But pass the word among the rest to be wary, and Alden, I leave
it in charge to thee, lad, in case the savage treacherously smites me as
I think he meant last night, do thou avenge me."
"He'll not breathe thrice after his blow, Master," replied Alden in his
deepest tones.
"Well said, lad; but gentle thy face and eke thy voice, or he'll
suspect. Now then, lads, put her before this western wind, and ho for
Nauset once more!"
The command was obeyed, but lo the wind, which had since sunrise blown
softly from the south of west making a fair breeze for Nauset near the
end of the Cape, now suddenly hauled round with angry gusts and
gathering mists, until it stood in the northeast right in the teeth of
the shallop's course, while every sign of sky and sea foreboded a
gathering storm.
"His totem is too strong," muttered the Pamet in his throat, and the
hand beneath his garment clinching the handle of the dagger seized with
it a handful of his own flesh and griped it savagely, while in silence
he called upon his gods for help.
But none came, more than to the priests of Baal what time Elijah jeered
them, and after a brief consultation with his crew Standish once more
altered his course, and the pinnace with double-reefed sails flew before
the rising wind like a hunted creature to her covert, bearing
The-Sword-of-the-White-Men safely to his post.
