A few miles only distant, the encampment of the Indians around their
Mount was distinctly visible from Pakeunit; and Eliot, with two or three
of his people, went to have an interview with the chieftain. Philip
respected his character, though he disliked his proceedings, for he had
always treated his mission with contempt and slight; among the warriors,
however, both of his own and other tribes, were many who had heard
Eliot preach, and had received him beneath their roof. The interview
was without any success; the spirit of the Indian was made up to the
desperate struggle, and all that could be done was to beseech him to
spare the settlements of the converts.
The contrast between the two men must have been sufficiently striking.
Philip was in the prime of life, with a frame nerved by early hardship,
and the usages of savage warfare, in which he was very expert; he was
dressed like his chiefs, save that he wore a silver-laced tunic, or coat,
and that his arms were more rich; his chief ensign of dignity was his
princely, yet cruel and gloomy features, where the thirst of revenge was
stamped. The frame of the missionary was not bowed even by seventy years,
though they had turned his hair white; the leathern girdle was about his
loins, that he always wore, and the simple apparel that he loved; he
stood among these fierce and exasperated men as calm and fearless as in
his own assembly at Naticke: he could not but foresee the devastation
about to be let loose on the land; that the fire and the sword would
waste all his pleasant places, and scatter his converts; and he returned
with a heavy heart to his home. Several of the latter afterwards sided
with the forces of Philip: whether from this circumstance, or from the
nearness of the settlement of Pakeunit to the camp of the prince, the
colonists contracted the strongest dislike and mistrust of the Christian
Indians. Eliot, when he saw there was no longer a chance of peace,
exhorted his people in the above town, and at Naticke, as well as the
other congregations, not to be moved by the example or seductions of
either party.
[Illustration]