"Vainly, but well, that Chief had fought,
He was a captive now;
Yet pride, that fortune humbles not,
Was written on his brow.
The scars his dark, broad bosom wore,
Showed warrior true and brave;
A prince among his tribe before--"
BRYANT.
"A manifest Papist! I can scent one of them out as easily as a hound
doth the hare," said Endicott, after the lady had retired.
"Beyond a peradventure," echoed Dudley; "and the attempt at deception
doth aggravate her guilt."
"I, too, remarked," said an Assistant, "that she possesses not the
shibboleth whereunto she laid claim."
"Yet, wherefore should they, being Papists, come hither?" said Master
Nowell. "I understand not the mystery that surrounds them."
"A circumstance in itself suspicious," said Endicott, "wherefore needs
an honest intent to hide its head?"
"On the contrary, it is ever ready to show itself in the sunlight,"
said Master Nowell.
"Know you what is expected to be learned from the child?" asked an
Assistant, of Dudley.
"I surmise our Governor desires something further to quiet his
ever-anxious and doubting mind," answered Dudley.
"I lack no light to form a judgment," said Endicott, "and a further
inquiry is supererogatory."
"Nevertheless," said Master Bradstreet, "there be some of us on whom a
clear light hath not yet shined. My charity strongly inclines me to
view this poor woman in a less unfavorable light since she hath avowed
herself not to be an idolater of Rome."
"Well saith the Scripture," exclaimed Dudley, "that charity doth cover
a multitude of sins. The rule is good in the exercise of judgment in
things pertaining to private concerns, but in public business it is
naught. But your scruples, and those of Master Winthrop, are likely
soon to be satisfied, for here comes the little Canaanite."
And as he spoke the door was opened, and the servitor appeared,
bringing in the child.
"Where is the other Indian?" inquired Endicott.
"He will be here incontinently, your worship," replied the man. "As
there was some delay in the needful preparation, I did think it
expedient not to keep your worships waiting, more especially as it
would not be becoming that ye should be put to inconvenience for a
heathen red skin."
"Reasoned like Aristoteles," said Dudley, laughing. "Give me a man of
thy humor, Hezekiah Negus, who rightly apprehends the value of time,
and the danger of keeping his superiors dependent on his laziness."
"Bring hither the child," said Winthrop.
The servitor, in obedience to the order, led the girl to the
Governor's seat, and placed her standing by his side.
"What is thy name, little one?" asked Winthrop, putting his hand upon
her head.
"Neebin," answered the girl, whose eyes, from the moment of her
entrance, had been scanning the company and the room in that quiet,
covert way, in which the Indian is wont to gratify his curiosity while
endeavoring to conceal it. At the same time, if she felt fear, neither
her voice nor manner betrayed it.
"Neebin!" repeated Winthrop. "A very pretty name, and hath a pretty
meaning in English, I doubt not."
The child, encouraged by the gentleness of his voice and looks, and
perhaps proud of showing her knowledge of the language of the whites,
answered:
"Neebin is summer."
"Darling Neebin," said Winthrop, whose countenance really expressed an
interest in the little Indian, "hast ever been taught thy prayers?"
"Neebin knows two prayers."
"Will she say them for me?"
The child crossed her arms upon her bosom, after having first made the
sign of the cross upon her brow, her lips, and breast; and then,
letting fall the long, black lashes of her eye-lids, commenced
repeating the "pater-noster." At the sign of the cross, Dudley
started; but, as if recollecting himself, sunk back with a groan.
After finishing the pater-noster, the little girl began the "Ave
Maria;" but this was more than the scandalized deputy could endure.
"I may not," he cried, starting up, "listen without sin to this
idolatry. Better to smite--"
"I pray thee to have a little patience," said Winthrop, interrupting
him. "None of its guilt attaches itself to us."
"I know not that," replied Dudley. "I will not, like Naaman the
Syrian, bow myself down in the house of Rimmon, even although my
master leaneth on my hand. I do bear my testimony against these popish
incantations."
The face of Winthrop flushed at the taunt conveyed, both in the manner
and in the language; but, as his custom was, he paused before
replying, which gave opportunity to Endicott to say:
"My teeth, also, as well as those of Master Dudley, are set on edge;
and I think that any farther inquiry on this branch of the subject may
well be pretermitted."
"In my judgment," said Sir Richard Saltonstall, "it were well,
inasmuch as, though not partaking to the degree of their delicacy of
the scruples of the Deputy-Governor and of Master Endicott, yet do I
respect them, considering the fountain whence they flow. I also highly
approve of and thank the Governor for his judicious questions, whereby
the truth hath been brought to light, and what was a little dark
before hath been made plain. But the end being sufficiently attained,
it were better, perhaps, not to press in this way after further
knowledge, seeing we neither need nor desire it."
"I accede to your wishes, gentlemen," said Winthrop, "though I hardly
approve of this cutting short the answer of a witness. Ye shall have,
however, your will."
"What!" exclaimed Dudley; "not when the answer is blasphemous, or
idolatrous, or otherwise impious?"
"We will have no argument thereupon, Master Dudley," said Winthrop.
"Your desire is granted, and that, methinks, should satisfy you."
The door now opened, and Sassacus entered between two soldiers,
clanking the fetters on his wrists as he moved. Alas! confinement,
though short, had not been without baleful effect on the Sagamore. Not
that he appeared cast down or humiliated; not that his gait was
uncertain, or his bearing less proud; but a shadow, the shadow of a
prison house, encompassed him. The iron was evidently beginning to
enter his soul. The free denizen of the boundless forest could no more
live without liberty, than flame without air. He was like an eagle
struck down from his home in the clouds,
"Sailing with supreme dominion,
Through the azure deep of air,"
to be chained upon a stump, and approached and gazed at by every
wayfarer. The imperial bird darts round the lightning of his eyes, but
he knows them to be innocuous, and his head droops at the
consciousness.
"Remain where ye are," said an Assistant to the soldiers. "The
Governor is engaged at this moment."
"Can Neebin," said Winthrop, resuming his interrogatories, "tell me
where is Sir Christopher Gardiner?"
"Flower of the forest and of the wild rushing stream," exclaimed
Sassacus, in his own language, "be to him as the rock to which the
wind whispers an idle tale."
"What says he?" inquired the Assistants of one another, not one of
whom understood more than here and there a word.
"Let the chief keep silent," said Winthrop, addressing Sassacus. "He
will soon have an opportunity to say what he will;" and he repeated
the question.
But the little Indian showed herself no longer docile as before, but
to every question returned a stubborn silence.
"We have made a mistake in bringing in the chief," said an Assistant.
"She will not open her lips again. He hath said something to frustrate
our inquires."
"Thou hast rightly divined," said Winthrop, after another vain attempt
to induce the child to speak. "And now what shall be done? for I hold
it unmeet that she should be sent back to the source whence, instead
of the Gospel truth she should have been taught, she hath sucked only
error."
"That were indeed a deadly unkindness to the poor fawn," said Sir
Richard, "seeing it would be imperiling her eternal salvation."
"Better," said Endicott, "that she should continue in a darkness
penetrated only by the dim light of nature than be made a victim of
Roman superstition."
"If any one of ye, gentlemen, will take her in charge," said Winthrop,
"gladly will I resign the child into your hands; but if not, then
will I receive her into mine own household, where, by God's grace, the
tares which the enemy hath sown may be eradicated."
No one manifesting a desire to accept the offer of Winthrop, he
ordered the child to be removed to his own house.
As the little girl on her way out of the apartment passed nigh the
chief, she stopped, and with childish impatience strove to take the
manacles from his arms. A sad smile crossed the face of Sassacus at
her vain attempt, and he said:
"They are the presents of Owanux. Neebin will not forget."
"Allow no farther speech between them," cried Winthrop, as the
Sagamore commenced saying something more. "Part them, and take her
instantly away."
"Waqua, or Sassacus, or whatever be thy name," said Winthrop,
"wherefore, being at peace with my people, have you slain two of my
men."
The chief looked steadily at the questioner, but returned no answer.
"We know," said the Governor, "that thou hast sufficient knowledge of
our tongue to make thyself intelligible, for thou hast conversed with
me. Speak, lest for thy refusal it should go the harder with thee."
Thus addressed, Sassacus surveyed with an indignant look his chains,
and then stretching out one of his arms as far as his bonds permitted,
spoke in a bold tone several sentences in his own language in reply.
"The spirit of the old proverb," said an Assistant, "that one may lead
a horse to water, nathless it will be impossible to compel him to
drink, applies, it seems, as well to Indians as to horses."
"Why sit here to be scorned by this unbreeched heathen?" cried Dudley.
"Away with him! He was taken in the very act, and can render no excuse
for this devilish malignity."
"Under favor," said Sir Richard, "that were but a hasty conclusion. It
is only Christian mercy to labor with him a little more."
"It may be," said Winthrop, "that on an occasion so momentous, he
distrusts his ability worthily to defend himself in a speech wherewith
he is imperfectly acquainted. He must not be condemned unheard. The
flashes of nobility I have discovered in him did once prepossess me
greatly in his favor, and, therefore, if for nought else, would I be
indulgent. But, besides, he is a man whose blood is not to be spilled
like a wild animal's."
"Be it so," said Dudley, "If ye can make him speak, I will promise to
listen."
"Samoset is in the settlement, and may be instantly forthcoming,"
suggested Master Nowell.
"Let him then be called," said Winthrop.
But a short time elapsed before the messenger returned with the
Indian, Samoset, who, in consequence of his superior acquaintance with
the English language, had often acted as interpreter between his
countrymen and the white strangers. This knowledge he had acquired
from his intercourse with the English fishermen, before the wanderers
who erected their tabernacle at Shawmut arrived in the country. He was
a quick, apprehensive fellow, who, on account of the services he had
rendered the colonists, stood high in their favor, and was treated
with considerable confidence. No sign of recognition passed betwixt
him and Sassacus on his entrance, but they regarded one another as
strangers.
"We have called thee, Samoset," said Winthrop, "to interpret between
us and this prisoner. Ask him if he acknowledges himself to be the
famous chief of the Pequots."
"Tell him," replied Sassacus, "that I am that eagle at whose scream
the Narraghansetts hide themselves like little birds in the bushes."
"A bold answer," said Winthrop. "Ask him now, wherefore he hath been
lurking in the woods in the vicinity of our lodges."
"The feet of Sassacus," answered the chief, "tread upon the forest
leaves at his pleasure. His ancestors never inquired of the Taranteens
nor of the Narraghansetts where they should hunt, and he will not ask
permission of the strangers with beards."
"Frank and defiant," muttered Endicott. "Come, I like this."
"The forests are very wide," said Winthrop, "and the game is not so
abundant in our immediate neighborhood. There must be some more
particular reason for thy conduct."
"Listen, O, white chief!" returned the Indian. "The path whereon the
tongue of Sassacus travels is a straight path. A great chief disdains
to tell a lie. Know then, that, for a long, long time--our oldest men
cannot recollect so far back, for they heard the legend from their
grandfathers, and they again from theirs--it hath been told among us,
that a race with a skin like the snow should come to our land, with
strange manners, and speaking a strange language; and when I heard of
Owanux, I came to see whether they were the men, for it becomes a
chief to watch for his people."
"And what said the tradition," asked Winthrop, "should be the fate of
the two races?"
"Tell him not, O, Samoset! my friend, who hast eaten with me from the
same pot--that the legend, sadder than the wail of warriors from an
unsuccessful expedition over the dead; than the sobs of the wintry
wind around the grave of my first-born--that, like the cloud in the
full moon, we were to waste away, and the intruders to occupy our
hunting grounds."
"He says," said Samoset, interpreting to suit the chief, "that the
Indians were to drive the strangers, as the wind whirls the leaves
into little heaps."
"There will be two words to that bargain," said Dudley. "I trow it
will take more than one Powah to make me believe such a story."
"It is the inspiration of the devil, who is ever the father of lies,"
observed Endicott. "Go to, with nonsense like this, but I do admire
the brave bearing of the savage."
"Yet is it an unfortunate belief to prevail among the natives," said
Master Bradstreet. "If extensively entertained, it may be fraught with
great peril."
"A cunning invention of the Powahs, no doubt, to sustain the fainting
courage of their deluded followers," said Sir Richard.
"Give me three hundred stout and well-armed fellows, trusting in the
Lord, and careful to keep their powder dry and bullets ready, and I
will so take the conceit out of their red-skins, from the Kennebec to
the mouth of the Connecticut, that they will never tell this story
again," said Endicott.
"Ask him," proceeded Winthrop, "if this Sir Christopher Gardiner is
his friend."
"Soog-u-gest is my brother," answered the Sagamore.
"Does he know the occasions of Soog-u-gest's frequent absences from
home?"
"He hunted sometimes with Sassacus," was the answer.
"And what knows he of the woman?"
"She is the sister of Soog-u-gest."
"Is she not his wife?" demanded Dudley.
But Sassacus, merely shaking his head, made no reply.
"The proud savage disdains to answer your question, Master Dudley,"
observed Endicott, with a smile.
"Nay," answered Dudley. "It is because he cannot deny it."
"We will see," said Winthrop; and he put the question.
It was as Endicott (better acquainted from his longer residence in the
country than the others with the feelings of the natives) had
suggested, for now Sassacus spoke without hesitation.
"Soog-u-gest is the woman's brother. His wigwam is large. The woman
and Neebin, the little sister of Sassacus, live in one part, and
Soog-u-gest and his men in the other."
An expression of great astonishment was visible in the faces of the
members of the Council, as Sassacus avowed his relationship to the
little girl, but nothing was said. The thoughtful countenance of
Winthrop became still more grave, and a moment or two passed before he
asked the next question.
"Why did Sassacus give away his own sister?"
"He gave her not away. She was to remain to learn the wisdom of the
white man, as the little bird stays in the nest until it is strong
enough to fly."
Another pause ensued, for the reply of the Sagamore had furnished
pregnant matter for thought, until the silence was broken by the voice
of Winthrop.
"Why did Sassacus attack my people, and kill two of my men?"
"A superfluous question, after what we have heard," said Sir Richard
Saltonstall.
"Nevertheless, it is involved in the purpose for which the Indian was
brought before us, and he shall have the benefit of a reply, Sir
Richard," answered the Governor.
"Is it an earnest question the white chief asks," demanded the Pequot
chief. "Why does the bear attack the hunter who has robbed her of her
cubs? Shall Sassacus love Neebin less than a bear its cub? Owanux
burned the lodge of my friend. They seized his sister and Neebin, and
carried them away, and their chief asks why Sassacus fought for his
friends, and for the daughter of many Sachems! What white man ever
before was hurt by Sassacus? Who ever came to his lodge, and he set
not a meal before him? Who ever was tired, and Sassacus gave him not a
skin whereon to lay his limbs? When the white chief burns our lodges,
and carries away captive our women and children in the dark, must
Sassacus run with a bowl of succotash to refresh him, after his great
victory?"
"A shrewd retort withal, and, according to the law of nature, and of
the woods, an all-sufficient justification," said Sir Richard
Saltonstall, who had been opposed to the plan to capture the Knight
from the beginning.
"And yet none other than I expected," said Winthrop, whose generous
design in allowing the chief to exculpate himself in his own way was
only now understood. "Gentlemen," he added, desirous to take advantage
of the favorable impression produced by the Sagamore's reply, "what
remains but to remand our prisoner, unless it be your intention to
discharge him in consideration of the provocation, and that he can
hardly be said to be as fully amenable to our laws as they who
understand what these laws are."
"I desire to express my hearty astonishment," exclaimed Deputy Dudley,
"at the extraordinary proposition of the Governor. The consequences
which lie hid therein are horrible. Are our friends, engaged in the
execution of our orders, to be slaughtered with impunity, and thus
others to be encouraged to like atrocities?"
"Blood for blood," thundered Endicott. "If that of Abel fell not to
the ground unavenged, though the slayer knew no law, save that written
in his heart, to forbid the deed, so now may not this savage escape.
Besides, the example were impolitic, as hath been already set forth."
Similar opinions were uttered by almost all of the Assistants, being
none other than anticipated by the wily Governor, who meant not what
he said, but desired to mitigate the severer counsels of his
associates.
During these remarks, a conversation in a low tone had been passing
betwixt the Sagamore and Samoset.
"Has the heart of Samoset turned white?" asked the Pequot.
"Samoset is an Indian," replied the interpreter, "and his heart is
red."
"Has he forgotten the time when, with Sassacus and his Paniese, he
drank of the Shetucket, where it bounds into the river of the Pequots,
when he was thirsty with driving the Narraghansetts over the hills,
like leaves chased by the wind?"
"Samoset has not forgotten."
"Does he powah with Owanux, or is he true to the faith of his
fathers?"
"The feet of Samoset will chase the deer and the bear over the happy
hunting grounds, whither his fathers have gone. He would not know what
to do in the heaven of Owanux."
"Then is not Samoset my brother, and lies he not close to the heart of
Sassacus, as a pappoose nestles up to its mother?"
"Samoset will do the bidding of the great Sagamore," said the
interpreter, anticipating what was to follow.
"Go then, my friend, my brother, terror of the Narraghansetts, praise
of the valiant Pequots, and find Soog-u-gest. Tell him that the blood
of Sassacus is running away, like water from an overturned vessel, and
that soon all will be spilled, unless he comes to set up the vessel.
Tell him to come quickly, and deliver the great Sagamore of the
Pequots, and his sister, and the young man with eyes like the sky."
"The feet of the blue eyes are free," said Samoset. "I saw him only a
little while ago."
"Good!" said the chief. "Then seek first my young friend, for he loves
Sassacus, and tell him, and do what he says. But if they cannot help,
fly, like the swallow over the hills and streams, to the hunting
grounds of my tribe, and say to my people that their Sachem is a wolf
in a trap, and Neebin a slave to Owanux."
"What says he?" inquired Endicott, whose attention had been attracted
by the longer speech, and somewhat raised tone of the Sagamore's
voice.
"He says," answered Samoset, drawing readily on his invention, "that a
great Sachem ought not to be put into a box for killing wolves who run
into his wigwam."
A pleased expression lighted up the face of the captive chief at the
answer, which he perfectly understood, as indeed he had much that had
been spoken. His avoiding to use the English language, as through
ignorance, having had for him, at least, the advantage of putting his
examiners off their guard, and inducing them to speak more freely in
his hearing. The tone of Samoset's voice, and the reply, satisfied the
Pequot that he was secure of the interpreter's fidelity, and he
stretched out both his arms, as though grasping his recovered liberty.
Endicott bent his brow at the reply, as a suspicion darted through his
jealous mind; but the stolid mien of the Indian, who bore the look as
if he had been a statue carved out of the heart of the cedars of his
native hills, baffled his penetration.
"Why do I distrust him?" he murmured, under his thick moustache. "Yet
is distrust the mother of safety, and in our situation a duty."
"Let him return now," said Winthrop, "and take order that every
comfort be supplied consistent with safe keeping. Noble Sassacus," he
added, "it grieves me that we meet and part thus."
The savage, who, through the whole interview, could not mistake the
favorable sentiments of Winthrop, answered as before, in his own
Pequot tongue.
"Sassacus understands the thoughts of chiefs, for he is one himself.
The voice of the long knife (alluding to the rapier worn by Winthrop)
is not so unpleasant to him as those of these counsellors, and he
hopes that what he is about to say will be listened to as the words of
a great Sagamore. Sassacus is very tired of lying in a box, but not
afraid to die. Let him depart to his own country, or if the white
chief will kill, let him, with his long knife, pierce the bosom of
Sassacus, for the blood of a chief should be shed by a chief."
"It may not be, noble savage," said Winthrop, mournfully. "Such is not
our custom. Yet be not cast down, but rely upon our justice."
The withdrawal of the captives was a signal for the discussion of what
had been elicited by their examination. It had confirmed suspicions
before entertained, and more than that, revealed an intimacy betwixt
the Knight and Pequots, a warlike and restless, though not numerous
tribe, which filled the minds of the Assistants with apprehension. If
the influence of Sir Christopher (whom not one doubted to be a
Catholic) extended as far as they suspected, he might make himself a
formidable enemy. He had been able to induce the chief of the Pequots
to intrust to him his own sister, to be taught the Catholic faith,
doubtless intending to make her conversion the means of extending
among the tribes the superstitions of Popery. The success of the plan
was fraught with danger to the colony, for the new religion would be a
means of reconciling the differences of the tribes, and binding them
together, in a common union with the Eastern Indians, already much
under the influence of the Romish priests. Favored secretly or openly
by the French government, which they were sure to be, and supplied
with fire-arms, they might become too powerful to be resisted, and,
reversing the campaign of the Israelites in the wilderness, drive out
those who had intruded into their Canaan, only themselves to fall
finally a prey to the French, and to have one form of idolatry
substituted for another. Sternly frowned Dudley, and grimly stroked
Endicott his tufted chin, as they revolved such thoughts, and inly
vowed, as they trusted in the God of Jacob, that such things should
not be. The conclusion to which the council came, was that the Pequot
and the woman should be detained in custody until the Knight was
taken, whose capture they considered not difficult, and that then the
fate of the three should be decided.
As for Samoset, he sought Arundel at the earliest opportunity when he
could do so unnoticed, and acquainted him with the message of the
chief. With this coadjutor it was easy to establish a communication
with his friends in the forest, the consequences of which will
presently be seen.