The Pilgrims of New England - Mrs. J. B. Webb
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'But why do you thus so kindly treat me? It were better to let me die
of hunger and fatigue; for I know that to-morrow my blood is to be
shed: the cold knife is to pierce my heart.'
'It shall not be,' replied Oriana, fervently. 'I have said that I will
save you.' And then she raised her sparkling eyes as she heard her
father's entrance; and springing on her feet, she darted forward, and
caught his arm.
'Father!' she cried--and now she spoke so rapidly and energetically,
that Henrich could only guess the purport of her words, and read it in
her sweet expressive countenance--'Father! do not slay the white boy.
He says that he is doomed to die because his father caused my brother's
death. But surely Tekoa's generous spirit does not ask the blood of a
child. My brother is now happy in the great hunting grounds where our
fathers dwell. He feels no wrath against his slayer's son: he never
would have sought revenge against an innocent boy. Give me the captive,
O my father! and let him grow up in our lodge, and be to me a
playfellow and a brother.'
Tisquantum gazed at his child in wonder, and his countenance softened.
She saw that he was moved and hastily turning from him, she approached
Henrich, who had risen from the couch, and now stood an earnest
spectator of the scene, on the issue of which his life or death,
humanly speaking, depended. She took his band, and led him to her
father, and again pleaded earnestly and passionately for his life;
while the touching expression of his own deep blue eyes, and the beauty
of his fair young face, added greatly to the power of her appeal.
I have a little sister at home,' said Henrich--and the soft Indian
language sounded sweetly from his foreign lips--'and she will weep for
me as Oriana has wept for her brother. Let me return to Patupet, and
she and my parents will bless you.'
At the mention of his parents, Tisquantum's brow grew dark again. He
thought of Rodolph as the destroyer of his son; and he turned away from
the two youthful suppliants, whose silent eloquence he felt he could
not long resist.
'Your father killed my young Tekoa,' he replied. 'His fire weapon
quenched the light of my lodge, and took from me the support of my old
age. Should I have pity on his son?'
'But let him dwell in our lodge, and fill my brother's vacant place!'
exclaimed Oriana. 'Do not send him back to the white men; and his
father, and his mother, and his little sister will still weep for him,
and believe him dead.'
The same idea had crossed Tisquantum's breast. He looked again at the
boy, and thought how much Oriana's life would be cheered by such a
companion. His desire of revenge on Rodolph would also be gratified by
detaining his child, and bringing him up as an Indian, so long as his
parents believed that he had met with a bloody death; and, possibly, he
felt a time might come when the possession of an English captive might
prove advantageous to himself and his tribe. All fear of the boy's
escaping to his friends was removed from his mind; for he was about to
retire from that part of the country to a wild district far to the
west, and to join his allies, the Pequodees, in a hunting expedition to
some distant prairies. The portion of his tribe over which he was
Sachem, or chief, was willing to accompany him; and he had no intention
of returning again to the neighborhood of the English intruders, who,
he clearly foresaw, would ere long make themselves masters of the soil;
and who had already secured to themselves such powerful allies in the
Wampanoges--the enemies and rivals of the Nausetts.
Tisquantum weighed all these considerations in his mind; and he
resolved to spare the life of his young captive. But he would not at
once announce that he had relented from his bloody purpose, and yielded
to his child's solicitations. He therefore maintained the severe
gravity that usually marked his countenance, and replied--
'But what can the white boy do, that he should fill the place of an
Indian chieftain's son? Can he cast the spear, or draw the bow, or
wrestle with our brave youths?'
Reviving hope had filled the heart of Henrich with courage, and he
looked boldly up into the Sachem's face, and merely answered, 'Try me.'
The brevity and the calmness of the reply pleased the red Chief, and he
determined to take him at his word.
'I will,' he said. 'To-morrow you shall show what skill you possess,
and your fate shall depend on your success. But how have you learned
anything of Indian sports, or of the Indian tongue?'
'I have been much in Mooanam's lodge, and have played with the youths
of his village,' replied Henrich; 'and the Sachem was well pleased to
see me use a bow and arrow in his woods. And from him, and my young
companions, I learnt to speak their tongue.'
'It is good,' said the old Chief, thoughtfully. Then, fixing his
penetrating eyes on Henrich again, he hastily inquired: 'And can you
use the fire-breathing weapons of your countrymen? and can you teach me
to make them?
'I can use them,' answered the boy; 'but I cannot make them. They come
from my father's land, beyond the great sea. But,' he added--while a
stronger hope of life and liberty beamed in his bright blue eye and
flushing face--'send me back to my countrymen, and they will give you
muskets for my ransom.'
'No, no!' said the Sachem: and the dark cloud again passed over his
countenance. 'Never will I restore you to your father, till he can give
me back my son. You shall live, if you can use our Indian weapons; but
you shall live and die as an Indian.'
He turned and left the apartment; and the heart of Henrich sank within
him. Was he then taken for ever from his parents, and his brother, and
sister? Should he behold his friends, and his teacher, no more? And
must he dwell with savages, and lead a savage life? Death, he thought,
would be preferable to such a lot; and he half resolved to conceal his
skill and dexterity in Indian exercises, that Tisquantum might cast him
off and slay him, as unfit to dwell among his tribe. But hope soon
revived; and his trust in the providential mercy of God restored his
spirits, and enabled him even to look upon a lengthened captivity among
the red men with composure. Plans for escaping out of their hands, and
making his way back to the settlement, filled his mind; and a short
residence among the wild men even appeared to offer some attraction to
his enterprising spirit. So he turned to Oriana, who stood gazing on
his changing and expressive countenance with the deepest interest, and
again resumed the conversation which had been interrupted by the
entrance of the Chief.
Many questions did those young strangers ask each other relative to
their respective homes, and native customs; and Henrich learnt, with
much dismay, that the Nausetts under Tisquantum's rule were so soon to
change their place of residence. His hopes of escape became less
strong, but they were not destroyed: and when he was summoned to pass
the night in the Sachem's apartment, he was able to lift up his heart
to God in prayer, and to lie down to sleep on the rude couch prepared
for him, with a calm trust in His Almighty power and goodness, and a
hope that He would see fit to shorten his trials, and restore him to
his friends.
The Chief watched him as he knelt in prayer; and when he rose, and
prepared to lie down to sleep, he abruptly asked him why he had thus
remained on his knees so long?
'I was praying to my God to protect me,' answered Henrich; and a tear
rose to his eye, as he remembered how he had knelt every evening with
his own beloved family; and thought how his absence, and their probable
belief in his death, would sadden the act of worship that would that
night be performed in his father's house.
'Do you pray to the Great Spirit?' asked Tisquantum.
'I do!' replied the young Christian. 'I pray to the Great Spirit, who
is the God and Father of all men; and I pray to his Son Jesus Christ,
who is the friend and Savior of all who love him.'
'It is good!' said the Chief. 'We know the Great Spirit; but we know
nothing of the other gods of the white men. Sleep now; for your
strength and activity will be tried to-morrow.' And Henrich lay down,
and slept long and peacefully.
He was awakened the next morning by the gentle voice of Oriana, who
stood beside him, and said, 'You must rise now, and eat with me, before
you go out to try your strength and skill. Come to my apartment.'
Henrich opened his eyes, and gazed around him in wonder. But quickly
the whole sad reality of his situation came over him, and he felt that
he must nerve himself for the coming trial. Soon he followed Oriana to
her inner room, where a slight Indian repast of maize and fruits had
been prepared by the young Squaw-Sachem and her attendants. Tisquantum
had left the lodge, and was now occupied in preparing a spot for the
exercise of the white boy's skill. At his side stood Coubitant, silent
and gloomy. His indignation at the Chief's merciful intentions towards
the intended victim was great; and strongly had he urged him to the
immediate slaughter of the captive. But Tisquantum was not to be
lightly moved, either to good or evil. He had said that the boy should
live, if he proved himself worthy to bear Indian arms, and all the
cruel suggestions and arguments that Coubitant could bring forward only
made him more resolved to keep his word.
The young savage then forbore to speak, for he saw that it was useless,
and he feared to displease his Chief, whose favor was the highest
object of his ambition. Since the untimely death of his son, Coubitant
had been constantly his companion and attendant, until he had been left
near the English settlement to carry out his schemes of revenge. His
success in this enterprise a raised him still higher in Tisquantum's
estimation; and visions of becoming the son-in-law of the Chief, and
eventually succeeding him in his office, already floated in the brain
of Coubitant. In a few years, Oriana's hand would be given to some
fortunate warrior; and who could have so strong a claim to it as the
man who had risked his own life to procure vengeance for her brother's
death? Therefore Coubitant held his peace, and checked the expression
of his deadly and malignant feelings towards the young prisoner.
Soon Henrich was summoned to the ground where his fate was to be
decided, and he was directed to try his powers with several Indian boys
of his own age. In shooting with the bow and arrow, he could not, by
any means, rival their skill and accuracy of aim; but in casting the
spear, and wielding the tomahawk, he showed himself their equal; and
when he was made to wrestle with his swarthy and half-naked
competitors, the superior height and muscular powers of the British lad
enabled him to gain the victory in almost every instance.
Tisquantum was satisfied. He pronounced him worthy to live; and,
notwithstanding the opposition of Coubitant, which was once more
cautiously manifested, he presented Henrich with the arms that he knew
so well how to use, and informed him that he should henceforth dwell in
his lodge among his braves, and should no more inhabit the apartments
of the women. To a young and generous mind success and approbation are
always grateful; and Henrich's eye kindled, and his cheek burned, as he
listened to the praises of the Chief, and felt that he owed his life,
under Providence, to his own efforts. And when his little friend Oriana
came bounding up to him, with joy and exultation in her intelligent
countenance, and playfully flung a wreath of flowers across his
shoulders in token of victory, he felt that even among these children
of the wilderness--these dreaded Nausett Indians--he could find
something to love.
In Coubitant, he instinctively felt that he had also something to
dread; but the savage tried to conceal his feeling and even to please
the Chief and Oriana, by pretending an interest in their young
favorite, which for a long time deceived them as to his real
sentiments. The bustle of preparation for the intended removal of the
encampment began that day--for Tisquantum was now more eager than ever
to get beyond the reach of the settlers--and before sunset all was
ready. The next morning the march commenced at daybreak, and continued
for many days uninterruptedly, until the Chief and his followers
reached the residence of his Pequodee allies, when he considered
himself safe from pursuit, even if the settlers should attempt it. He
therefore halted his party, and took up his abode among his friends, to
wait until they were prepared to set out on their hunting expedition to
the western prairies. A period of repose was also very needful for the
women and children, for the march had been a most fatiguing one. Not
only had the Sachem dreaded the pursuit of the injured settlers, and
therefore hurried his party to their utmost speed; but the country
through which they had traveled was inhabited by the Narragansett
tribe, the ancient and hereditary foes of the Pequodees. It was,
consequently, desirable for the Nausetts, as allies of the latter, to
spend as little time as possible in the territories of their enemies;
and little rest ad been permitted to the travelers until they had
passed the boundary of the friendly Pequodees.
CHAPTER VI.
'The woods--oh! solemn are the boundless woods;
Of the great western world, when day declines,
And louder sounds the roll of distant floods,
More deep the rustling of the ancient pines;
When dimness gathers on the stilly air,
And mystery seems o'er every leaf to brood,
Awful is it for human heart to bear
The might and burden of the solitude!' HEMANS.
Many weeks elapsed after the Nausett party had joined the friendly
Pequodees, ere any preparations were made for journeying to the west;
and these days were chiefly employed by Henrich in improving his
knowledge of the Indian language, and especially of the Nausett
dialect, by conversing with Oriana and her young companions, both male
and female. He also endeavored to learn as much as possible of the
habit and the ideas of the simple people among whom his lot was now
cast; for he hoped, at some future time, when he had succeeded in
returning to his own countrymen, that such a knowledge might prove
useful both to himself and them.
He was treated with much kindness by Tisquantum; and his favor with the
Chief ensured the respect and attention of all his dependants and
followers. From the day that the white boy had been spared from a cruel
and violent death, and established as a regular inmate of Tisquantum's
dwelling, it seemed as if he had regarded him as a son, and had adopted
him to fill the place of him whose death he so deeply deplored; and
Oriana already looked on him as a brother, and took the greatest
delight in his society. No apprehensions were now felt of his escaping
to the settlement; for the distance which they had traveled through
woods, and over hills and plains, to reach the Pequodee encampment, was
so great, that it was utterly impossible for any one but an Indian,
well accustomed to the country, to traverse it alone. Henrich was,
therefore, allowed to enjoy perfect liberty, and to ramble unmolested
around the camp; and it was his greatest pleasure to climb to the
summit of a neighboring hill, which was crowned by a few ancient and
majestic pines, and there to look in wonder and admiration at the
scenery around him. To the west, a vast and trackless forest spread as
far as the eye could reach, unbroken save by some distant lakes, that
shone like clear mirrors in their dark green setting. Trees of gigantic
growth rose high above their brethren of the wood, but wild luxuriant
creepers, many of them bearing clusters of bright blossoms, had climbed
ambitiously to their summits, seeking the light of day, and the warmth
of the sunbeams, which could not penetrate the thick underwood that was
their birth-place. It was a sea of varied and undulating foliage,
beautiful and striking, but almost oppressive to the spirit; and
Henrich gazed sadly over the interminable forest, and thought of the
weeks, and months--and, possibly, the years that this wilderness was to
be his home. Escape, under present circumstances, he felt to be
impossible; and he endeavored to reconcile himself to his fate, and to
look forward with hope to a dim and uncertain future. Could his parents
and Edith but have been assured of his safety, he thought he could have
borne his captivity more cheerfully; but to feel that they were mourning
him as dead, and that, perhaps, they would never know that his blood had
not been cruelly shed by his captors, was hard for the affectionate boy
to endure.
To Oriana, alone, could he tell his feelings, and pour out his griefs
and anxieties; and Edith herself could not have listened to him with
more attention and sympathy than was shown by the young Indian girl.
When her domestic duties were accomplished, she would accompany her new
friend to his favorite retreat on the hill-top; and there, seated by
his side beneath the tall pines, she would hold his hand, and gaze into
his sorrowful countenance, and listen to his fond regrets for his
distant home, and all its dearly-loved inmates, till tears would gather
in her soft black eyes, and she almost wished that she could restore
him to his countrymen. But this she was powerless to do, even if she
could have made up her mind to the sacrifice of her 'white brother,' as
she called him. She had, indeed, wrought upon her father so far as to
save his life, and have him adopted into their tribe and family; but she
well knew that nothing would ever induce him to give up his possession
of Rodolph's son, or suffer his parents to know that he lived.
All this she told to Henrich; and his spirit, sanguine as it was,
sickened at the prospect of a lengthened captivity among uncivilized
and heathen beings. He gazed mournfully to the east; he looked over the
wide expanse of country that he had lately traversed, and his eye
seemed to pierce the rising hills, and lofty forests, that lay between
him and his cherished home; and in the words of the Psalmist he cried,
'Oh that I had wings as a dove, for then would I flee away and be at
rest!'
Would you leave me, my brother?' said Oriana, in reply to this
unconscious utterance of his feelings; 'would you leave me again alone,
to mourn the brother I have lost?' The Sachem loves you, and I love
you, too; and you may be happy in our lodge, and become a brave like
our young men.'
'Yes, Oriana, you and your father are kind to me; and I had never known
any other mode of life, I might be happy in your lodge. But I cannot
forget my parents, and me dear Edith who loved me so fondly, and my
little brother also. And then I had a friend--a kind friend, and full
of wisdom and goodness--who used to teach me all kinds of knowledge;
and, above all, the knowledge of the way to heaven. How can I think
that I may, perhaps, never see all these again, and not be sad?' And
Henrich buried his face in his hands and wept without restraint.
Oriana gazed at him affectionately, and tears of sympathy filled her
large eyes also. But she drew away Henrich's hand, and kissed it, and
tried to cheer him in the best way that her simple mind could suggest.
'My brother must not weep,' she said; 'for he is not a child, and our
Indian youths are ashamed of tears. Henrich will be a brave some day,
and he will delight in hunting, and in war, as our red warriors do; and
he will, I know, excel them all in strength and courage. What can he
desire more than to be a Nausett warrior?'
'Oh, Oriana,' replied the boy--as he wiped away his tears, and almost
smiled at her attempts to console him by such a future prospect--' I
desire to return to my home, and my friends, and the worship of my God.
Among your people none know anything of the true God, and none believe
in His Son. I have no one to speak to me as my parents, and my
venerable teacher, used to do; and no one to kneel with me in prayer to
the Almighty.'
'Do not you worship the Great Mahneto--the Mighty Spirit from whom
every good gift comes?' asked Oriana, with surprise. 'He is the one
true God, and all the red men know and worship him.'
'Yes, Oriana, I do worship the one Great Spirit; the God and Father of
all men of every color and of every clime. But the Christian's God is
far more wise, and good, and merciful than the Indian's Mahneto: and He
has told his servants what He is, and how they ought to serve Him.'
'Does your Mahneto speak to you?' asked the Indian girl. 'Could I hear
him speak?'
'He has spoken to our fathers long ages ago,' replied Henrich; 'and we
have His words written in a book. Oh, that I had that blessed book with
me! How it would comfort me to read it now!'
'And you would read it to me, my brother? But tell me some of your
Mahneto's words; and tell me why you say He is greater and better than
the Good Spirit who protects the red men.'
'I will gladly tell you all I know of the God whom I have been taught
to love and worship ever since I was a little child. I wish I could
make you love Him too, Oriana, and teach you to pray to Him, and to
believe in His Son as your friend and Savior.'
'I will believe all you tell me, dear Henrich,' answered the ingenuous
girl; 'for I am sure you would never say the thing that is not.[*] But
what do you mean by a Savior? Is it some one who will save you from the
power of the evil spirit Hobbamock--the enemy of the red men?'
[Footnote: The Indian expression for speaking a falsehood.]
Then Henrich told her of Jesus the Merciful--Him who came to save a
world that was lost and ruined through sin; and to die for those who
deserve nothing but wrath and condemnation. Long the youthful teacher
and his attentive pupil conversed; and many and strange were the
questions that Oriana asked, and that Henrich was enabled, by the help
of the Spirit, to answer. The dark searching eyes of the intelligent
young Indian were fixed on his, and her glossy black hair was thrown
back over her shoulders, while she listened in wonder and admiration to
every word that fell from the lips of her' white brother.'
That evening, a new and awakening source of interest was opened to the
young captive, and the dreariness of his life seemed almost to have
passed away. The affection of Oriana had hitherto been his only solace
and comfort, and now the hope of repaying that affection by becoming
the humble means of leading her out of the darkness of heathenism, and
pointing out to her the way of eternal salvation, raised his spirits,
and almost reconciled him to his present banishment from home, and all
its cherished joys and comforts.
More deeply than ever did he now regret that he was deprived of all
access to the Word of Life, from which he might have read and
translated the story of mercy to his young disciple, and have taught
her the gracious promises of God. But Henrich had been well taught at
home; his truly pious parents had early stored his mind with numerous
passages of Scripture; and the effort he now made to recall to his
memory all the most interesting stories, and most striking texts, that
he had learnt from the Word of God, was the means of fixing them
indelibly on his own heart. He never in after life forgot what he now
taught to Oriana. The instruction was, as is generally the case, quite
as much blessed to the teacher as to the learner; and Henrich was
himself surprised to find how readily he could call to mind the very
passage he wanted; and how easily he could convey its import to Oriana
in her own melodious language.
Frequently were these interesting conversations renewed, and never
without Henrich's perceiving, with thankfulness, that Oriana was making
progress in spiritual knowledge, and also in quickness of understanding
and general intelligence; for it may truly be said, that no kind of
learning awakens the dormant powers of the intellect, or quickens the
growth of the mind so effectually, as the knowledge of the one true
God, who created the spirit, and of his Son who died to redeem it from
the ignominious and degrading bondage, of sin and Satan. Henrich had,
at first, imagined that it would be utterly impossible for him to find
an intelligent companion among the savage race into whose hands he bad
fallen and he had deeply felt that sense of loneliness which a
cultivated mind, however young, must experience in the society of those
whose ideas and feelings are altogether beneath its own, and who can in
no way sympathize with any of its hopes, and fears, and aspirations.
But now the well-informed English boy began to perceive that the
superiority of the white men over the dark aborigines of America might,
possibly, arise much more from difference of education, than from
difference of race and color. He remembered, also, how ardently he had
desired to share with the pious Brewster and Winslow, in their
projected plans for the conversion of the natives; and he hoped that,
young and comparatively ignorant as he knew himself to be, it might,
perhaps, please God to make him the instrument of bestowing spiritual
blessings on some, at least, of the heathen among whom he dwelt. He,
therefore, resolved to employ all 'his powers of argument and
persuasion to convince the mind, and touch the heart of the young
Squaw-Sachem; not only for the sake of her own immortal soul, but also
in the hope that her influence, if she became a sincere Christian,
might greatly tend to the conversion of her father and his tribe.