The Knight Of The Golden Melice, John Turvill Adams [the reading list TXT] 📗

Success Of His Enterprise, And The Sagamore's

Enjoyment Of His Recovered Freedom Was Heightened By The Thought That

He Had Been Remembered By One Who Had So Much Attracted Him. The Young

Man Succeeded In Reaching His Quarters Without Being Discovered, And

We Now Leave Him, To Accompany Those With Whom He Had Been Associated.

  

 

So Well Had Their Measures Been Taken, And With Such Good Fortune

Executed, That They Were Already Deep In The Woods Before The

Settlement Was Aroused By The Alarm Given By The Sentinel.

 

  

"They May Make As Much Noise As They Choose, For Their Own Pleasure,"

Said Philip, Laughing, As The Report Of The Culverins, Which Startled

The Colonists From Their Sleep, Were Heard; "But It Is Only A Useless

Pother, And A Vain Rubbing Of Drowsy Eyes. I Should Like To See How

Valiant Captain Endicott Will Look, When He Finds That The Bird Has

Flown."

 

 

 "In Thy Present Habiliments Of A Savage?" Said The Knight.

 

  

"Nay," Answered The Soldier. "I Care Not To Be Seen Naked, And Stained

Up Like An Aberginian. I Was Half Ashamed Of Myself, Especially Before

The Lady, Though There Was Not Much Light."

 

  

"It Were Well," Said The Knight, "To Cast Our Slough Before We Chance

To Be Seen By Indians, Notwithstanding They May Be Friendly. We Must

Retire Deep, Too, Into The Forest, For I Mistake Much The Character Of

Winthrop And His Council, If Desperate Means Be Not Adopted To Avenge

The Doings Of This Night."

  

 

This Indeed Appeared To Be The Opinion Of All, To Judge From The Haste

With Which They Pushed Steadily On, Resting Not Until They Had Reached

The Wigwam Of The Chief Whereto Spikeman Had Been Taken. Here, The

First Care Of The White Men Was To Wash Off The Paint From Their

Persons, Not Without A Half-Jesting Objection From The Sagamore.

  

 

"The Two Friends Of Sassacus," He Said, "Have Indian Hearts; Why

Should They Not Keep Their Indian Skins? Let Them Come With Me, And

They Shall Become Great Sachems Over The Tribes That Listen To The

Voice Of The Little Salt Lake."

  

 

Philip, Who Was In High Spirits At The Success Of Their Enterprise,

And Whose Philosophy Enabled Him Always To Enjoy The Present Moment,

Was Ready With An Answer.

 

 

 "A Tempting Offer," He Said; "And, By The Head Of King Charles, (His

Favorite Oath), Better, I Trow, Than This Hand-To-Mouth Life We Have

Lately Been Leading. Plenty Of Bear's Meat And Venison, And No

Prisons, Sagamore! Verily, Thy Words Are Pleasant."

 

  

"The Deer Shall Come To Lick The Hands Of My Brothers, And The Bear

Offer His Steaks, And They Will Be As Free As The Wind On The Tops Of

The Hills. They Shall Also Have Many Squaws, And Young Wives Shall

Smile On Them When The Old Are Wrinkled And Cross."

 

 

"Ha! Ha!" Laughed Philip. "I Misdoubt Whether That Would Suit All

Round. But, Sagamore, If I Should Ever Have The Luck To Get A Nice

White Squaw, I Will Ask Her Opinion; And If She Fancies The Plan Of My

Having Half A Dozen Wives, I Will Consider It."

 

  

"A Truce To This Trifling," Said Sir Christopher. "It Is All Sport

With Thee, Philip, But Dost Not Remark It Begins To Be Earnest With

The Chief?"

 

  

"He Is Quick-Witted Enough To Understand," Answered Joy. "Why, Sir

Christopher, These Salvages Laugh So Seldom, That They Ought To Be

Encouraged When They Begin. I Fear Me That The Long Faces Of The Folk

At The Settlement Are Catching, And That The Poor Indians Are More

Than Half Spoiled Already. Now, According To My Judgment, It Is A

Human Privilege To Laugh. Some Say, To Be Sure, That Dogs And Horses

Laugh, But I Never Heard Anything That Amounted To More Than A

Snicker, And That I Suppose They Caught From Being With People."

 

 

 

"Sassacus," Said The Knight, "This Is No Longer Any Place For Thee.

The White Men Are At This Moment Seeking Me, And Will Soon Be Also On

Thy Track, And Show No Mercy. The Voices Of Thy Tribe Are Shouting Thy

Name Through The Forest, And Calling Thee Home. Here And Now We Part."

 

 

 "Sassacus Is Troubled," Replied The Sagamore, "About His Little

Sister. How Shall He Answer His Mother, When She Asks After Neebin?"

 

  

"Neebin Is In No Danger," Said The Knight; "And Though She Were, Thy

Remaining Could Do No Good. But I Will Stay, And If Artifice Can

Avail--For Force We Have None--Neebin Shall Be Restored To Her

Mother."

 

  

"My Brother Speaks Well," Said The Sagmore, Having Thus Secured

Another Guardian For The Sister Whom He Tenderly Loved. "He Shall

Stay, But Sassacus Will Return To The River Of The Pequots, And Will

Speak A Loud Word In The Ears Of His Tribe, And They Shall Fill Their

Quivers With Arrows, And Sharpen Their Tomahawks, And Many Will Come

Back With Him To Ask For Neebin. Sassacus Will Go Alone, And Will

Leave Towanquattick."

 

 

 

"Leave Not The Paniese Behind," Said The Knight. "That Were Only To

Expose Him To Unnecessary Danger."

  

 

But The Chief Was Not Be Diverted From His Purpose. To Every Objection

He Replied: "A Great Chief Takes Not Back The Word He Has Spoken. Were

He To Do So, What Would Become Of The Respect Of His People?"

  

 

Yet, Notwithstanding The Peremptory Tone Wherewith He Had Announced

His Determination, Very Soft Was The Voice, And Gentle The Manner Of

The Sagamore, As He Addressed His Follower:

  

 

"Towanquattick," He Said, "Is My Fiend, And Will Watch Over The

Little Pequot Bird That Has Strayed Into The Trap Of Owanux."

 

  

"Towanquattick Will Watch," Was The Answer.

 

  

"Stay To Teach The Little Bird To Fly Away, Or Until I Return With My

Warriors. Sassacus Goes Now Like A Brook Just Starting From The

Ground; But He Will Come Back Like A Mighty River When Angry 'Hpoon

Pours Its Swollen Waters Into The Salt Lake. Sassacus Hath Said."

  

 

The Words Were Pronounced With A Dignity And Gravity That Impressed

Those Who Heard Them, And Seemed To Communicate Some Of The Daring Of

The Speaker; But The Wiser Knight Saw The Rashness Of Their Import,

And Determined To Convince The Sagamore Of The Impolicy Of The Course

Proposed. Taking Him For That Purpose On One Side, That The Chief

Might Speak Uninfluenced By The Presence Of His Follower, He

Represented To Him The Superior Strength Of The English, And The

Impossibility Of Prevailing In Any Contest Until A Complete Union Was

Established Among The Tribes.

 

  

"Behold!" He Said: "These Strangers Are As One Man, And Across The

Salt Lake Come In Ships From Time To Time Fresh Forces. They Are Clad

In Armor Thy Arrows' Cannot Pierce, And Wield The Thunder And The

Lightning. What Have The Pequots To Oppose, But Naked Bodies And

Uncertain Arrows?"

 

  "Owanux Are Few, And The Indians Many," Replied The Sagamore.

"Sassacus Will Bury The Tomahawk With The Narraghansetts, And Exchange

Wampompeag With The Taranteens, And They Unite Against The Strangers.

The Eyes Of Sassacus Are Opened. There Can Be No Peace With Owanux."

 

 

 

"Good!" Answered The Knight, Whose Apprehensions, Lest Plans Which He

Cherished Might Be Defeated By The Precipitancy Of The Chief, Were

Quieted By The Answer, Knowing That The Pacification Of The Tribes

Among Themselves Was No Easy Matter, And Would Require Time. "Good!

The Eyes Of The Sagamore Are Sharp. He Is Wise When He Says That He

Will Do Nothing Until He Has Made Friends With The Narraghansetts And

The Taranteens. Farewell, Then, And Be That The Compact Between Us."

 

 

 The Chief Now Turned Away, And, Calling Towanquattick, The Two Began

To Dig A Hole In The Ground With Pointed Sticks. The White Men, Looked

On In Silence, Rightly Judging It To Be Some Ceremony, And Waiting For

Its Explanation. After A Cavity Of A Foot In Depth, And About The Same

Diameter Was Dug, The Indians Ceased Their Labor, And The Chief

Answered The Wondering Eyes Of His Friends.

 

 

"This Hole," He Said, "Shall Tell All Indians Who See It Of The

Captivity Of Sassacus, And Of The White Men, His Deliverers."

 

 

 "I Never Heard Before Of A Hole Talking," Said Joy.

  

 

"It Will Talk," Said The Chief. "When Sassacus Passes By With His

Paniese He Will Tell Them That Here Was A Great Parting, And

Towanquattick Will Do So Also, And They Shall Tell It It To Their

Children, And So The Tale Shall Run, As The Waters Of A Spring Follow

One Another Until They Become A Lake. So The Hole Shall Speak, Long

After I Have Departed With My Friends For The Happy Hunting Grounds.

Hole!" He Added, Addressing It As If It Were Capable Of Understanding

What He Said, "Sassacus Is Sad Because He Leaves Neebin Behind, But

Say Thou Not That. Say To All Who Behold Thee, That Soog-U-Gest And

Sassacus Were Friends; Say That When Owanux Put Sassacus Into A Box,

Soog-U-Gest And Two Other White Men, And Towanquattick, Let Him Out;

Say That Soog-U-Gest And The Other White Men, And Towanquattick,

Remain To Watch That No Harm Shall Happen To Neebin, Whom Owanux Have

Made A Prisoner; And Say That Sassacus Has Gone After His Warriors.

This Is Enough For Thee, O Hole, To Remember. Forget Not Lest Thou Be

Ashamed."

 

  

While The Pequot Chief Was Speaking, The Paniese Paid The Strictest

Attention, Evidently Striving To Fasten The Speech In His Memory. It

Was A Custom Common Among The Natives, Though Witnessed By The Knight

And Joy For The First Time, Whereby, On The Same Principle That More

Civilized Communities Erect Monuments To Perpetuate The Memory Of

Events, The Indians Transmitted To Posterity Matters Of Interest. The

Hole Was Usually Dug Either By The Side Of Some Traveled Path Or On

The Spot Where The Event Desired To Be Commemorated Took Place. They

Who Passed By Naturally Inquired Into Its Meaning, And The Facts,

Known To Few At First, Became Of Public Notoriety.

 

 

 hen The Ceremony Was Completed, The Sagamore Of The Pequots, As If

Unwilling By Further Words To Confuse The Record, Turned Away In

Silence, And Took His Solitary Way Through The Forest, To Seek The

Seat Of His Tribe.

 

Chapter XXXII ( Deserted At His Utmost Need By Those His Former Bounty Fed, On The Bare Earth, Exposed, He Lies.)

 

 

 

 Dryden.

 

  

The Colonists Were Exasperated At The Breaking Of The Prison, Justly

Concluding That It Was Not Entirely The Work Of Indians,

Notwithstanding Bars, Faithful To The Impression Made On Him By The

Gold Pieces, Stoutly Maintained Such To Be The Fact; And That Cowlson

Was Unable To Contradict Him. But It Was, After All, Only Suspicion--A

Suspicion, Too, That Pointed At Various Persons. While Some, With A

Lucky Sagacity, Ascribed The Violence Done Their Authority To The

Knight, As A Leader; There Were Those Who Suspected Others, Of Whom

They Would Gladly Be Rid. For, However Desirous The Great Bulk Of The

Colonists Were That Only They Of Their Own Moral Habits And Modes Of

Thinking Should Be Connected With Their Enterprise, It Was Impossible

Completely To Exclude The Obnoxious. Some Would Creep In, And The

Colony Resembled A Draught Of Fishes From The Rivers In The Spring,

When The Schools Are Running; Wherein, Although The Great Majority Are

Shad Or Salmon, Occasional Intruders Of Other Scales And Stripes Are

Found. This Little Minority Were Watched With Argus Eyes--Every

Transgression Being Visited With Exemplary Punishment--The Hand Of

Justice Being Made Heavier By Two Considerations, Viz: Difference Of

Opinion, And A Desire To Drive Away Recusants, Who Were Regarded As

Vessels Doomed To Destruction, And Whose Presence Was Held To Be

Dangerous. That Was No Era Of Toleration, But Of Fierce, Intractable

Dogma. The Breach Betwixt Protestants Then Was Almost, If Not Quite,

As Wide As Between Protestants And Catholics Now. Opinion, Bold,

Enthusiastic Opinion, Calling Itself By The Gracious Name Of Saving

Faith, Usurped The Place And Prerogative Of Reason; And, As From A

Papal Chair, Denounced, As Damnable Error, Whatever Harmonized Not

With Itself. In This Strife Of Ignorances, The Amenities And Charities

Of Life Were Lost Sight Of And Forgotten; And, If Not Quite Trampled

Out Of Existence, It Was Owing More To That Celestial Spark Which,

With A Dimmer Or A Brighter Light, Guides