The Pilgrims of New England - Mrs. J. B. Webb
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28
These hours were not unimproved by Henrich. His character was formed,
and his principles were fixed, and his mind and spirit grew strong and
ripe beyond his years. Never were these hours of peaceful happiness
forgotten; and often amid the strange and stirring scenes which it was
his lot in after-life to witness and to share, did he bless the over-
ruling providence of God, which had laid him on a bed of pain and
weakness, that he might learn lessons of piety and of usefulness, which
otherwise he would never have acquired.
It was while they were thus happily engaged one afternoon, when Henrich
was slowly recovering his strength, that the elder and his young
audience were startled by wild and discordant sounds, mingled with
cries of fear, which proceeded from the outskirts of the straggling
village, and seemed to be approaching. Henrich raised himself on his
bed, and a look of terror overspread his countenance, as he exclaimed:
'It is the war cry of the savages! O! I know it well! Go, Mr.
Brewster, fly! save my mother. I will follow you.'
And the brave boy tried to leap from the couch, and reach his father's
sword, which hung against the wooden walls of his chamber. But it was
in vain; the wounded leg refused to bear his weight, and he was forced
to relinquish his design. Brewster, however, snatched the sword, and
drawing it, rushed from the hut, leaving Edith and Ludovico clinging
with trembling hands around their brother.
Henrich's fears proved but too true. No sooner had the elder traversed
the enclosure that surrounded Maitland's dwelling, than he beheld
Helen, and several of the other women who had gone out to assist their
husbands in the lighter parts of their agricultural labors, flying in
terror and confusion to their huts, while the men were engaged in close
combat with a party of native Indians. The same war-cry which had rung
on their ears in the first encounter told Rodolph and his comrades that
these savages were of the same tribe, and probably the same individuals
from whom they had escaped with such difficulty on that occasion. They
were right; for it was indeed a band of the Nausetts, who, headed by
their Chief, had come to seek revenge for the loss they had sustained
at their former meeting. The warrior whom Rodolph's musket had laid
low was Tekoa, the only son of the Nausett chief; and he was resolved
that the white man's blood should flow, to expiate the deed. He knew
that the son of the stranger who had slain his young warrior had been
wounded, and, as he hoped, mortally; but that did not suffice for his
revenge, and he had either suddenly attacked the settlement, in the
hope of securing either Rudolph himself or some of his comrades, that
he might shed the white man's blood on the grave of his son, and tear
off their scalps as trophies of victory.
The settlers who now contended with the savages were but few in number,
for many of the men lay sick, and many had died; and they were mostly
unarmed, except with their agricultural implements. Rudolph and a few
others had short swords, or dirks, attached to their girdles, and with
these they dealt blows that told with deadly effect on the half-naked
bodies of their foes; and the good broad-sword that Brewster quickly
placed in Maitland's hand, was not long in discomfiting several of the
Indians, who had singled him out, at the command of their Chief, as the
special object of their attack. Meanwhile, many of the women, and such
of the invalids as had power to rise, had again left the huts, and
borne to their husbands and friends the arms which had been left in
their dwellings; and in spite of the arrows and darts of the Indians,
by which several of them were wounded, they continued to load the guns
for the combatants while the conflict lasted. Happily this was not
long. The _fire-breathing_ muskets struck terror into the ignorant
savages; and when two or three of their number had fallen, they turned
to fly; first, however, catching up the bodies of their comrades, which
they carried off to ensure their honorable burial, and to save them
from the indignities which they supposed the pale-faces would heap on
the dead.
In vain their Chief endeavored to rally them, and compel them to
return to the conflict. In vain he waved his battle-axe on high, and
shouted his war-whoop, Woach! woach! ha, ha, hach, woach!' A panic had
seized his followers, and they fled precipitately into the forest from
they had issued, so suddenly and so fiercely, to the attack. One
warrior stood alone by the Chief. He was young and handsome, but his
countenance was dark and sinister and an expression of cunning was
strongly marked in his glittering deep-set eyes and overhanging brows.
He saw that it was hopeless to contend any longer with the powerful
strangers, and, by words and actions, he was evidently persuading the
Chief to retire. The settlers had ceased to fire the moment that their
enemies fled; and there was a deep silence, while every eye was fixed
on the striking figure of the enraged Chief, whose every feature was
distorted by excited passions. He stood with his tomahawk uplifted,
and his tall and muscular figure in an attitude of command and
defiance; while, in a loud and distinct voice, he uttered a vow of
vengeance, the words of which were unintelligible to the settlers,
though the meaning could easily be guessed from his looks and gestures.
Then he hung his battle-axe to his gaudy belt, and pointing his hand at
Rodolph, he retired slowly and majestically like a lion discomfited but
not subdued, to seek his people and to upbraid them with their
cowardice.
This attack of the Indians effectually destroyed all feelings of
security in the minds of the settlers. Henceforth they were obliged,
like the Jews of old, to go to their labor every man with his sword
girded to his side, and continually to hold themselves in readiness for
a sudden assault. The pestilence continued to rage, and the scarcity of
food increased to such a degree, that for several weeks no bread was to
be been in the settlement. The governor, Mr. Carver, exerted himself
with zeal and benevolence to lesser the misery of his people; but with
so little effect, that when the spring at length set in, and the
captain of the Mayflower prepared to return to England, the little band
of settlers was found to be reduced to one half the original number;
and these were weakened by illness, and by want of proper nourishment.
But great as were their difficulties and sufferings, their faith and
resolution never failed; and when the Mayflower again set sail for
England, not one of the fifty emigrants who remained expressed a desire
to return.
CHAPTER III.
'What men were they? Of dark-brown color,
With sunny redness; wild of eye; their tinged brows
So smooth, as never yet anxiety
Nor busy thought had made a furrow there.
. . . . . . . Soon the courteous guise
Of men, not purporting nor fearing ill,
Won confidence: their wild distrustful looks
Assumed a milder meaning. MADOC.
We have said that the band of the exiles was reduced to half the number
that had, six months before, left the shores of Europe, so full of hope
and of holy resolution; and still, in spite of all their outward trials
and difficulties, the hope and the resolution of the survivors were as
high and as firm as ever. They trusted in the God whom they had served
so faithfully; and they knew that, in his own good time, he would give
them deliverance. But their days of darkness were not yet over. The
inclemency of the winter had indeed passed away, and the face of nature
began to smile upon them; yet sickness still prevailed, and the many
graves that rose on the spot which they had chosen for a burial ground,
daily reminded them of the losses that almost every family had already
sustained. The grief that had thus been brought upon them by death was
also greatly aggravated by the harassing attacks of the Indians, who
Were evidently still lurking in the neighboring woods; and who now
frequently came in small parties, and committed depredations of every
kind that lay in their power. Their real but concealed object was to
capture Rodolph, either alive or dead; for nothing short of his
destruction, or at least that of some member of his family, could
satisfy the bereaved Chief for the loss of his son. He, therefore,
left a party of his bravest and most subtle warriors in an encampment
about a day's journey from the Christian village, with orders to make
frequent visits to the settlement, and leave no means untried which
either force or cunning could suggest, that might lead to the full
gratification of his revenge.
The old Chief himself returned to his wigwams, which lay some distance
from New Plymouth, near the burial ground where the 'first encounter
'had taken place. The detachment was left under the command end
guidance of Coubitant, the young warrior who had stood by him to the
last in the conflict at the village; and who was, since the death of
Tisquantum's son, regarded as the most distinguished of the young
braves of that part of the tribe over which the Sachem ruled. His
cunning, and his ferocious courage, well fitted him for the task
assigned to him; and as the young warrior who fell at 'the first
encounter' had been his chosen friend and companion in arms, his own
desire for vengeance was only second to that of the Chief; and the
malignant gaze which he had fixed on Rodolph when he led Tisquantum
from the field, well expressed the feelings and the determination of
his heart.
That glance had been seen by Janet; who, on that occasion, had
displayed a courage and resolution hardly to be expected at her
advanced age. She had easily induced her trembling mistress to remain
in the house, whither they had both fled at the first attack of the
Indians; but she had herself returned to the place of conflict, bearing
Rodolph's musket and ammunition, and she bad remained by the side of
Brewster, to whose ready hand she transferred it, until all danger was
over. Then she had fixed her attention on the Chief and his companion;
and the fine form and handsome features of the young Indian warrior
appeared like a statue of bronze, while he stood motionless by
Tisquantum. But when he turned to follow his Chief, the expression
with which he looked at Rodolph transformed his countenance into that
of a demoniac. Janet never forgot that look.
The state of continual watchfulness and suspense in which the emigrants
were kept by their wary and active foes, was extremely harassing to
their weakened force; so much so, that the President resolved to make
another attempt to establish a friendly intercourse with some other
native tribe, who might, possibly, assist them in driving of' the
Nausetts; and whose friendship would also be useful to them in various
ways. An opportunity for this attempt soon presented itself; for a
party of the settlers, in following the windings of a brook that flowed
through their new town into the sea, in pursuit of wild fowl, came upon
two large and beautiful lakes, about three miles inland. The shores of
these lakes were adorned with clumps of lofty and majestic trees, and
the grass was spangled with wild flowers, and studded with graceful
shrubs and underwood. Among the bushes they descried several fallow
deer, and the surface of the water was animated by flocks of water
fowl, among which the brilliant and graceful wood duck was conspicuous.
But the objects that chiefly attracted the notice of the sportsmen,
were several wigwams that stood on the further side of the lake,
beneath the shade of some overhanging trees. In front of these huts the
hall-naked children were playing, while the women were pursuing their
domestic occupations. Some were weaving baskets and mats, and others
washing their fishing nets in the lake. But no men were to be seen; and
Rodolph, who, as usual, led the hunting party, determined to approach
the wigwams. In order to show his peaceful intentions, be gave his
musket to one of his companions; and inviting his friend Winslow to do
the same, and to accompany him, he proceeded round the lake. As soon as
the women perceived them, they uttered wild cries of fear; and,
snatching up their children, attempted to escape into the thicket
behind their huts. Rodolph and Winslow then started in pursuit, and
succeeded in capturing one little copper-colored fellow, who was
endeavoring to keep pace with his mother. She could not carry him, for
she had already an infant in her arms, and she knew not that he was in
the power of their dreaded pursuers until she reached the thicket, and
looked back for her boy. He was struggling violently in Maitland's
hands, but not a cry escaped his lips; and when he found all his
efforts to free himself were vain, he gave up the attempt, and stood
motionless, with a look of proud endurance that was highly
characteristic of his race. His mother had less fortitude. She uttered
a shriek that pierced the heart of Rodolph; and laying her infant on
the grass, she almost forgot her own fears, and, in an imploring
attitude, crept forward towards her imaginary foes while her eloquent
eyes pleaded for her child's release more than any words could have
done. Maitland could not resist that appeal. He only detained the boy
until he had hung round his neck several strings of gaily-colored
beads, with which the hunters were always provided, and then he set him
at liberty.
In an instant the child was in his mother's arms; and when her
passionate caresses had expressed her joy, she waved with a graceful
salutation to the Englishman, and bent to the ground in token of
gratitude. Then she looked at the beads, and her white teeth glittered
as she smiled a sunny smile of delight and admiration at what seemed to
her such priceless treasures. Rodolph drew from the pouch which hung at
his leathern belt a string of beads more brilliant still, and held them
towards the woman. She gazed at them, and then at the frank and open
countenance of the stranger; and fear gave way to the desire of
possessing the offered gift. She slowly approached, holding her child
by the hand, and suffered Rodolph to suspend the gaudy necklace round
her graceful and slender throat. Then she motioned to him to remain,
and ran swiftly to the thicket to bring back her companions, who had
paused in their flight, and were now watching with eager eyes the
actions of the white man.
Her persuasions, and the sight of her newly-acquired ornament, soon
overcame the remaining fears of her auditors, and all returned in a
body, smiling, and extending their hands, in the hope of receiving
similar gifts. Maitland and Winslow, who had now joined him, divided
all their store of trinkets among the eager applicants; and then, in
return, made signs requesting to be permitted to enter the wigwams.
This request was acceded to; and Apannow--for that was the name of the
female who had first approached the strangers--led the way to the hut
in the center of the village, which was larger and better appointed
than any one of the rest. It was evidently the dwelling of the chief of
the tribe; and the beautifully carved implements which hung to the
walls, and the skulls and scalps that adorned the roof, showed that its
possessor was a distinguished warrior.
Apannow brought forth the best refreshment that her hut afforded, and
placed it with a native grace before her guests, inviting them to
partake of it, and first tasting of each article herself, to show that
it was harmless. Her gentle and intelligent manners greatly interested
Rudolph and his companion; and by degrees they succeeded in obtaining
from her, and the other women who crowded the wigwam, such information
as they chiefly desired. By expressive signs and gestures, they were
made to understand that all the red men were gone on a fishing
expedition to the head of the further lake, and would not return until
the morrow. They afterwards learnt, also, that the village had only been
occupied for a few days, as it was merely the summer residence of a part
of the tribe of the Wampanoge Indians, who, with their chief, annually
repaired to that beautiful station for the purpose of fishing in the
extensive lakes. The rest of the tribe were located in various places to
the west, occupying the district since known as the state of Rhode
Island.
Maitland and Winslow took leave of their new friends, intimating that
they would return and seek an interview with the Chief in two days, and
bearing with them a supply of fish and dried maize, which they received
from Apannow as a pledge of amity, and which they knew would be most
welcome to the invalids who were still suffering from disease at the
settlement. They quickly rejoined the rest of their comrades, who had
remained at a distance, for fear of alarming the timid Indian females;
and all returned to New Plymouth. The intelligence they brought, and
the seasonable refreshment they bore to the sick, were joyfully
welcomed by the whole community; and the spirits of the settlers rose
at the prospect of securing Indian friends and allies, who might, under
their present distressing circumstances, afford them such essential
help and security. The necessity for such aid had lately become more
urgent than ever, for a party of their untiring enemies, the Nausetts,
had very recently invaded the enclosure within which lay the loved
remains of all who bad perished since their arrival in America. The
graves were sadly numerous; and the sorrowing survivors had reverently
decked the mounds that covered them with shrubs, and green boughs from
the evergreens that abounded in the neighboring woods, as emblems of
their abiding grief, and also of their immortal hopes. These marks of
affectionate regard the savages had rudely torn away; and not content
with this, they had even, in some instances, removed the fresh-laid
turf, and dug up the earth, so as to expose the coffins that lay
beneath. No other injury or outrage could have so deeply wounded the
feelings, or aroused the indignation, of the emigrants, as this
desecration of the homes of the dead and they earnestly desired to form
some alliance with another tribe, which might enable them to punish and
to prevent such gross and wanton indignities. In the meantime, in the
hope of avoiding a recurrence of so distressing a calamity, the
colonists ploughed over the whole surface of their cemetery, and sowed
it with corn; thus concealing what was to them so sacred from the eyes
of their wild and ruthless foes.
The day after Maitland's visit to the wigwams, the emigrants were
astonished at the appearance of a fine athletic Indian, armed with a
bow and arrows, who walked up to the common hall, near the center of
the village, and saluted the Governor and those who were with him, in
the words 'Welcome Englishmen!' In reply to their eager inquiries, he
informed them that his name was Samoset, and that he was 'a Sagamore of
a northern tribe of Indians dwelling near the coast of Maine, where he
had acquired a slight knowledge of the English language from the
fishermen who frequented the island of Monhiggon near that shore. He
had been for several months residing among the Wampanoges; and on the
return of the Chief and his followers to the wigwams, he had heard from
the Squaw-Sachem, that two strangers, who, from her account, he
concluded to be Englishmen, had visited the encampment, and proposed to
do so again in two days. He had, therefore, by desire of the Chief,
Mooanam, come over to the British settlement, to assure the emigrants
of a friendly reception, and to conduct the embassy to the presence of
the Sagamore. His kind offices were gratefully and joyfully accepted by
the Governor; and Samoset remained that day as his guest. Although the
Indian's knowledge of English was very limited, the Pilgrim Fathers
learnt from him the name, and something of the history, of their
inveterate foes, the Nausetts; and also, that the commencement of their
enmity to the settlers arose not merely from their being intruders on
their domains, but from the remembrance of an injury which they had
received, some years previously, from an English captain of the name of
Hunt, who, when cruising on these shores, had allured a number of
natives on board his ship, and had then treacherously carried them off,
and sold the greater part of them at Malaga, as slaves. Two he took
with him to England, and they at length got back to Cape Cod Bay, in a
vessel belonging to the Plymouth Company. This scandalous action had
filled the Nausetts and Pokanokits,[*] who were the injured tribes,
with bitter hatred against the white men; and five years afterwards,
they would have sacrificed the life of Captain Dermer, when he was
skirting these shores, had he not been saved by Squanto, one of the
kidnapped Pokanokits, whom he had brought back in his vessel, and who
had become attached to the English.
[Footnote: The Pokanokit, dwelt on the peninsula which forms the Bay of
Cape Cod, and on a small pert or Rhode Island; the rest being occupied
by the Wampanoge; of whom Masasoyt was Grand Sagamore.]
The feeling of animosity thus engendered had been aggravated by the
slaughter of Tisquantum's only son; and little hope could be
entertained of establishing a friendly intercourse with a tribe who
felt that they had so much to revenge against the white race.
In two days, according to the intimation of Rodolph to the Indian
women, a deputation of the settlers, headed by Captain Standish, and
accompanied by Maitland, repaired to the Indian village under the
guidance of Samoset. They were expected by the inhabitants; and, as
soon as they were perceived approaching round the margin of the lake,
two young men came forth to meet them, and accompany them to the tent
of the Chief. Mooanam was prepared for their reception, and attired in
his gala costume of furs and feathers, with his most elaborately worked
battle-axe hung to his side, and a long and slender spear, tipped with
bone, in his hand. He rose from his seat on the ground at the entrance
of the strangers, and greeted them courteously; while his wife, the
Squaw-Sachem Apannow, and his lively little son Nepea, stood by his
side, and smiled a welcome to Rodolph, pointing at the same time
significantly to the beads which adorned their necks and arms.
Standish had now an interpreter, though a very imperfect one; and by
his means a sort of friendly compact was formed, and gifts were
exchanged as the pledges of its sincerity. An invitation was then given
to the young Chief and to his brother Quadequina--who was one of those
who had conducted the white men to their presence--to return the visit
of the settlers, by coming the following day to their town. The
invitation was accepted, and the deputation returned to their homes,
escorted a great part of the by many of their Indian allies.
Great preparations were made at New Plymouth for the reception of the
red Chief and his attendants, in such a manner as to impress them with
the wealth and power of emigrants. The large wooden building which was
intended as a sort of council chamber and public hall, was hung inside
with cloth and linen of various colors, and ornamented with swords, and
muskets, and pistols that the colony could produce. An elevated seat
was placed for the Governor at the upper end of the apartment, and
tables composed of long planks were laid down on each side, on which
were arranged such viands as the settlers could produce. The repast was
humble; but Helen and her female friends arranged it with taste, and
the children gathered the bright wild flowers that so early enliven the
groves and meadows when an American winter has passed away, to deck the
tables, and form garlands along the walls. A strange contrast did these
buds and blossoms of spring form to the implements of war and death
with which they were mingled: but the effect of the whole was gay, and
appeared very imposing to the simple children of the wilderness, as
they entered the wide portal, and passed up the hall to meet the
Puritan Governor.
John Carver and his attendants were clad in the dark-colored and sober
garments which were usually adopted by their sect; and their long
beards and grave countenances struck a feeling of awe and reverence
into their savage guests. But the red men betrayed no embarrassment or
timidity. They advanced with a step at once bold and graceful, and
even controlled their natural feeling of curiosity so far as to cast no
wandering glances at the novelties that surrounded them. They kept
their eyes steadily fixed on the Governor, and returned his salutation
with a courteous dignity that did credit to their native breeding; and
then the Chief and Quadequina seated themselves on the high-backed
chairs that were placed for them on each side of the seat of the
President. Such a mode of sitting was certainly altogether new to these
sons of the forest, and they found it both awkward and disagreeable;
yet they showed no discomposure or restraint, and not a smile betrayed
their surprise, either at this or any other of the strange customs of
their hosts.