CHAPTER XXX.
A SOLDIER'S INSTINCT.
A year and more from that Christmas Day has sped, and again we findBradford and Standish with Winslow gathered together at the governor'shouse, resting after the labors of the day, smoking the consoling pipe,and even tasting from time to time the contents of a square case bottle,which, with a jug of hot water and a basin of sugar were set forth upona curious little clawfooted table worth to-day its weight in gold ifonly it could have survived.
None of the three look younger than they did when they first steppedupon the Rock; sun and wind, and winter storm and summer heat havebronzed their English complexions and deepened the lines about the quietsteadfast lips and anxious eyes. Already Bradford's shoulders were alittle bowed, partly by the burden of his responsibility, partly byarduous manual labor, but upon his face had grown the serenity andsomewhat of the impassiveness into which the Egyptians loved to mouldthe features of their kings,--that expression which of all othersbelongs to a man who uses great power firmly and decisively, and yetlooks upon himself as but a steward, who soon or late shall be called torender a strict account of his stewardship.
And Winslow, courtly, learned, and fit for lofty emprise, how bore hethis life of toil and privation, this constant contention with suchfoes as famine, and disease, and squalor, and uncouth savagery? Look atthe portrait painted of him in London some years later, and see if thereis not an infinite weariness, a brooding _Cui bono?_ set as a seal uponthose haughty features. Can one after studying that face much wonderthat when the Massachusetts Bay authorities in 1646 besought Plymouth tospare their sometime governor, their wise and astute statesman, toarrange the Bay's quarrel with the Home government, Winslow eagerlyaccepted the mission, although as Bradford sadly records, his goingwas--"much to the weakening of this government, without whose consent hetook these employments upon him."
So well, however, did he fill the larger sphere for which his ambitiousnature perhaps had secretly pined, that after four years of arduousservice when the Massachusetts quarrel was well adjusted, and Winslowwould have returned home, President Steele, whom he had helped to foundthe Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, wrote to the ColonialCommissioners in New England that although Winslow was unwilling to bekept longer from his family, he could not yet be spared, because hisgreat acquaintance and influence with members of Parliament made himinvaluable to the work in hand.
Then in 1652 the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, placed him at the head of acommittee for settling a Dutch quarrel; and in 1655 the same power namedhim governor of Hispaniola, and dispatched him thither with a fleet andbody of soldiers to conquer and take possession of his new territory.But General Venable in command of the soldiers, and Admiral Penn incommand of the fleet, fell to loggerheads as to which was the other'ssuperior, and even Winslow's diplomacy could not heal the breach; so theattack upon Hispaniola proved a disgraceful failure, and as the fleetsailed away to attack Jamaica, the Great Commissioner, as they calledhim fell ill of chagrin and worry, and after a few days of wild deliriumwherein he stood upon Burying Hill, and drank of the Pilgrims' Spring,and spoke loving words to the wife and children he should see no more,he died, and was committed to the great deep with a salute oftwo-and-forty guns, and never a kiss or tear, for all who loved him werefar away.
But all this honor, all this disaster, lies in the future, for as yetWinslow is only seven-and-twenty, and yet the lines of ambition, ofweariness, of hauteur are foreshadowed upon his face; already Time withhis light indelible pencil has faintly traced the furrows he by and bywill plow that all who run may read.
Perhaps the least change of all is that upon the captain's face, forbefore ever he landed on the Rock full twenty years of a soldier's lifehad set those firm lips, and steadied those marvelous eyes, andimpressed upon every line of the deep bronzed face the air of thevigilant commander who was both born and bred for the post he fills sothoroughly. If any change, perhaps there is a softening one, for thosekeen eyes have looked so often upon misery and need, and so little uponbloodshed in these three last years, that they have gained somewhat oftenderness, somewhat of human sympathy; and the look that dying men andwomen have strained their glazing eyes to see to the last, is not so farfrom the surface as once it was. But the governor is speaking,--
"Yes, my friends, I will confess to feeling more than a little uneasyover the matter. This party whom our sometime friend Weston hath sentover to settle at our very doors as it were, and to steal our trade withthe Indians, and so hold us from paying off our debt to theAdventurers"--
"With whom he was still to abide as our Advocate," growled Standish.
"Ay. He hath doubtless served us a sorry turn by not only dividinghimself from the Adventurers, but setting up a rival trading-post of hisown," remarked Winslow.
"And worse than that is this news Squanto brings in to-day," resumed thegovernor. "I mean the dealings of those new-comers with the Indians."
"Yes, they carry themselves like both knaves and fools, and willpresently find their own necks in the noose," said Standish rapping theashes out of his pipe with such force as to break it.
"But worse again than that," suggested Winslow quietly, "is the dangerthey bring upon us. Hobomok warneth me that there is a wide discontentgrowing among the red men, springing from the conduct of these men atWeymouth as they call it. The Neponsets have suffered robbery, andinsult, and outrage at their hands, and both the Massachusetts on theone hand and the Pokanokets on the other are in sympathy with them. Thenyou will see, brethren, that Canonicus with his Narragansetts, whoalready hath sent us his cartel of defiance, will make brief alliancewith Massasoit, and all will combine to drive every white man from thecountry. There is hardly any bound to the mischief these roysterers atWeymouth have set on foot."
"And Massasoit no longer our friend, since we refused to send him poorSquanto's head," said Bradford meditatively.
"Yes," laughed the captain. "'T is food for mirth, were a man dying, tosee Squanto skulk at our heels like a dog who sees a lion in the path.He hardly dares step outside the palisado, for fear some envoy ofMassasoit's shall pounce upon him."
"'T is a good lesson to teach him discretion," said Winslow. "Certes hestirred up strife between us and the sachem with his cock-and-bullstories."
"Especially when he sent his squaw to warn us that Canonicus withMassasoit and Corbitant were on the way from Namasket to devour us."
"Ay, no wonder Massasoit was aggrieved at being so slandered, and couldhe have got Tisquantum once within his clutches 't would have gone hardwith the poor fool. But never burnt child dreaded fire as he now doththe outside of the palisado."
"Didst hear, Winslow, that t' other day when some of us were unearthinga keg of powder buried there in the Fort, Squanto and a savage guest ofhis clomb the hill to see what was going on? The magazine is passablydeep as you know, and Squanto himself had never seen it opened; so whenthey saw Alden hand up the keg to Hopkins, the guest asked in the Indiantongue what was in it, and Squanto told him 't was the plague which justbefore our coming swept the land, and that the white men had captured itand buried it here upon the hill to let loose upon their enemies; and inthe end the knave got a goodly price from his visitor for assurance thatthe plague should not be liberated till he had time to reach Sandwich."
All three men laughed, but Bradford said,--"I fear me Squanto hath doneus no little harm with his double dealings, his jealousy of Hobomok, andhis craving for bribes; but withal he hath been so good a friend to us,more than useful at the first when we knew naught of the place or how tolive, or plant, or fish, that I thought right to risk even Massasoit'senmity rather than to give our poor knave up to his wrath."
"And then I never can forget," said Winslow, "that Squanto as onlysurvivor of the Patuxets was in some sort lord of the soil whereon wepitched."
"Yes truly," responded the captain with a short laugh. "Like myself hewas born to great estates and sees them enjoyed by others."
"Well then, since nothing is imm
inent in this matter of the Weymouthcolonists and their quarrel with the Indians, we had better, now thatthe palisado around the town is complete"--
"Gates, bolts, bastions, all complete from the great rock around to thebrook," interposed Standish, his figure visibly dilating withsatisfaction. Bradford smiled and allowed his eyes to restaffectionately for an instant upon his comrade, then continued in alighter tone,--
"So having fortified your hold, Captain, it is now fitting that youshould provision it. Thou knowest how in my journeyings last month Ibought and stored corn at Nauset, and Manomet, and Barnstable, and nowthat we have a moment's breathing space, it were well that some oneshould take the pinnace and fetch it. At the same time there will begood occasion to feel the pulse of the various chiefs, and determinewhat is their intended course and so settle our own."
"Nay, Winslow is the man for that work, Governor," replied the captainbluntly. "I will go and get the corn, and if need be teach the savages alesson upon the dangers of plotting and conniving, but as to talkingsmoothly with men who are lying to me"--
"But why prejudge them, Captain," began Winslow, when with a tap uponthe door Squanto himself appeared ushering in a strange Indian whom hefluently presented as a friend of his who had come with great news.Bidden to deliver it, the stranger stated that a great Dutch ship hadgone ashore at Sowams (Bristol), and would be wrecked unless help couldbe had, and this could not be given by the Indians, for Massasoit laydying and no one would stir without his command.
This news changed the aspect of affairs, and Winslow was at onceappointed to pay Massasoit a visit of inquiry, and in case of his deathto make an alliance if possible with Corbitant, his probable successoras sachem of the Pokanokets. He also was to see the commander of theDutch vessel, and in case of a wreck to offer the hospitality ofPlymouth to the sufferers, for in case of the famine narrowly impendingover the colony, the friendship and aid of the Dutch might become of thelast importance. Besides this, the dangerous Narragansetts were known tohave made alliance with the Dutch, and might by them be deterred frommolesting the Plymouth settlers if they were known to be their friends.
"And so, Myles," declared Bradford finding himself alone with his friendat the end of the informal council, "thou must e'en go by thyself forthe corn, with what men thou dost call for, and I doubt not we shallfind thee burgeon into a diplomatist equal at least to the great Cecilor to Sir Walter Raleigh"--
"Ay, and that minds me," interrupted Standish "of the news sent us bygood Master Huddlestone of the Betsey, how the Virginia savages hadmassacred three hundred and forty-seven of Raleigh's settlers, and wouldhave made an end of them but for warning given by a friendly Indian."
"Ay, it was heavy news, and a timely warning," said the governor losinghis air of gayety and sighing deeply. "And if indeed Weston's men haveangered the Neponsets to the pitch we fear, the news of this Virginiasuccess will embolden them to undertake the same revenge. Be wary,Standish, and very gentle in thy dealings. If war is determined, let itbe entered upon deliberately and formally; take not the matter intothine own hands and mayhap lose us our commander just at the onset."
"Ay Will, 'I'll roar thee gently' as any sucking dove, an' there seemethneed to roar at all."
"Best not roar at all until all thy comrades may join in unison," andonce more Bradford's face lighted with its peculiar smile, the sort ofsmile one might bestow upon his double should he meet him and addresshim with a jest unknown to any other.
And so it came to pass that the next morning's rising sun saw twoimportant expeditions leaving the hamlet in opposite directions. Towardthe dark and almost pathless woods at the North marched Winslowaccompanied by Master John Hampden, then visiting the colony andstudying the science of republican government in its most perfect,because most simple, development. With them went Hobomok as guide andinterpreter, and after them went the tearful prayers of Susanna Winslow,who loved her new lord better than she had the father of baby Peregrinetoddling at her side, as she stood in the cabin door to gaze after thelittle group already almost out of sight, and making now for the"Massachusetts trail" where it crosses Jones's River in Kingston. And asone driving over that pleasant road which now intersects the old trailpauses to look up its green ascent, or on across the placid stream itforded, does he not almost catch sight of the goodly forms of thoseyoung men, quaintly clad in doublet and hose and the wide hats or theclose barret caps of the day, led by the sleek slender savage whopatiently stood by, while Winslow turned and pointed out the beauties ofsea and shore to his thoughtful companion.
"A pleasant sight, a goodly scene," said Hampden, as at last they turnedaway and struck into the dense forest. "If it be God's will I for oneshall be well content to return hither and end my days."
"And yet there is world's work to do yonder for a man with an eye toread the times," said Winslow flinging a hand eastward.
* * * * *
"No wife or child to see me off, Mistress Winslow," said the captain ashe passed the door where Susanna lingered, and she, smiling with thetear in her eye, answered pleasantly,--
"Then why not purvey thee one, Captain Standish? Well I wot you need notlong go a-begging."
"Nay, none will look on a battered old soldier when fresh young facesare at hand," replied Standish casting a whimsical glance after Aldenwho preceded him down the hill, while the matron shook her headmurmuring,--"Such fools as maids will be!"
Besides Alden, the captain had chosen five men, enough to man the boat,and to make a good defense in case of attack, but among these he hadincluded none of the fire-eaters, none of the independent souls of thelittle colony. Alden, to whom the captain had given the names of thoseto be summoned, had noted this feature of the selection, and ventured tocomment upon it approvingly.
"Ay, lad," replied his master with a grim smile. "'T is a service ofdanger, and a service of diplomacy, and I must have my force well inhand with no danger of a baulk from within. Dost know how the Romansconquered the world? I bade thee study my Caesar in thy leisure moments."
"By power to command, Master?"
"Nay, boy, but by power to obey. Their forces moved as one man, as agrand machine, and so they carried the Roman eagles to all the knownworld. There's the model of a Roman soldier in that big Book yonder. Hesays to his Sovereign Lord, 'Give not yourself the inconvenience ofcoming to heal my servant, but send some spirit to carry the command. Iknow how it is; I also am under the commands of my general, and men areunder me. I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to the other, Come,and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.' There's themodel of a soldier for you, John Alden; perfect obedience rendered,perfect obedience expected, perfect faith in the commander-in-chief.Now, then, off upon your errand, sir, and mind you tarry not at theElder's house. There is no errand there."
The shallop's first port was Nauset, and here, although the corn wasobtained and loaded without difficulty, a thief stole some clothes fromthe boat while it was for the moment unguarded; and finding mild wordsof no avail in their recovery, Standish sought Aspinet, who wasencamped at a little distance from the shore, and refusing allhospitality or friendly conversation roundly announced that unless themissing articles were restored without delay he should at once make sailfor Plymouth and declare war upon the whole tribe.
Marching down to his boat closely followed by Alden the captain suddenlypaused and struck his heel upon the ground.
"Now then, I was to roar like a dove, and I have howled like any wolf!And I to preach obedience! nay then, John, thou 'rt free to flout me asthou wilt."
"But, Captain, so far as I heard the governor's command it was only tofetch some corn," suggested Alden slyly. "All else was left at yourdiscretion, as indeed all matters military are. Such was the tenor ofthe vote that made you our Captain."
"Come, now, John, that's not ill thought on; that's not so dull as mightbe," replied the captain glancing merrily at his follower. "Thou 'stbeen studying under Winslow as well as Standish. Well, t
hen, let us waitand see what comes of my roar."
An hour later as the boat's crew sat around their camp-fire eating theirfrugal dinner, the sound of many feet was heard breaking through theneighboring thickets, and Standish with a glance at Alden saidquietly,--
"Stand to your arms, men, but softly and without offense until we seethe need. The savages are in force."
But as it turned out the force was but a guard of honor to Aspinet, whocame in state, followed by two women bringing the stolen coatselaborately bound around with gayly colored withes; these they at oncetook on board and laid in the cuddy, while Aspinet improving uponTisquantum's former lessons as to the mode of saluting sovereigns seizedupon Standish's hand, and much to his disgust licked it from wrist tofingers, at the same time bending his knee in uncouth genuflection.
"Enough, enough, Aspinet," exclaimed the captain half laughing, halfrevolted at the homage. "The coats are returned I see"--
"And I have much beaten him who took them," averred Aspinetcomplacently. "And Aspinet is the friend of the white men though allother Indians turn against them."
"Why, that is well, sachem," replied Standish, who was already able toconverse freely with the red men in their own tongue. "Keep you to thatmind, and hold your tribe to it, and no harm's done. And now men, allaboard, and we will be off."
With a fair wind the shallop soon made Barnstable or Mattachiest, andhere Iyanough (or Janno) met them on landing with protestations ofwelcome so profuse and unusual that the captain was at once upon hisguard, especially as he noticed among the crowd many new faces which hewas confident belonged to Massachusetts Indians. Night falling beforethe corn could be loaded, and ice making so suddenly as to freeze theshallop in before she fairly floated, the captain was obliged to acceptan invitation for himself and crew to sleep in one of the Indian huts;but as the chief with some of his principal men escorted them to it,Standish's quick eye surprised a glance between one of the strangers anda Pamet Indian called Kamuso, who had always appeared to be one of thewarmest friends of the white men, but in whose manner to-night Standishfelt something of treachery and evil intention.
And he was right, for Kamuso had been won over to the conspiracybeginning with the Narragansetts and extending all the way down theCape, and so soon as runners from the Nausets had warned the Mattakeesthat Standish and a small crew were about to land among them, it wasagreed that now was the best time to cut off The-Sword-of-the-White-Men,and so deprive the colony of one of its principal safeguards. Jannohimself would fain have spared Standish, with whom he had ever been onfriendly terms; but Kamuso so wrought upon the Mattakee warriors thattheir sachem was forced either to drop the reins altogether or to sufferhis unruly steeds to take their own course. Like Pontius Pilate he chosethe latter course, and to his own destruction. Before the pinnace wasanchored, the plan of the massacre was fully laid, and Kamuso hadclaimed the glory of killing The Sword with his own hand.
But the subtle instinct which was Standish's sixth sense warned him ofsome unknown danger, and having carefully inspected the wigwam offeredto his use, he directed that the fire newly kindled outside the doorshould be extinguished; and while the Indians officiously busiedthemselves in doing this, the captain by a word, a look, a sign, drewhis men inside the hut, and rapidly conveyed to them his suspicions, andenjoined the greatest caution upon all.
"The fire would have bewrayed our forms to archers hidden in yonderthicket," added he. "And as I will have half to watch while the otherssleep, the watch must keep themselves under shelter of the cabin andaway from any chance of ambush."
Murmurs of wrath, of wonder, but of acquiescence arose from the halfdozen bearded throats around, and the captain at once set the watch, tobe relieved every two hours. In vain Janno offered another wigwam ifthis were too small, and urged that all his white brothers should sleepat once while his own men watched; in vain Kamuso tried to attachhimself to the party inside, meaning to stab the captain in his sleep;without a show of anger or suspicion Standish put both attempts aside,and finally with a jeering laugh advised Janno to retire to his ownwigwam and to order his braves to do the same, for some of the white menas he averred were given to discharging their pieces in their sleep, orat any shadow that came within range, and it might happen that some ofhis friends should thus come by harm, which would be a great grief tohim.
"The Sword has pierced our intention," said Janno to Kamuso in their owntongue as the two withdrew. "Better give it up. He has eyes all aroundhim."
"I will kill him," retorted Kamuso sullenly. "To-night, to-morrow, nextweek,--I will kill him."
The next day so soon as the shallop floated and was loaded Standishembarked, sick at heart as he received the slavish homage of Janno, whomhe had liked and trusted so much, and who even while he yielded to theplot for the captain's death and that of all his friends really clung tohim in love and reverence. Poor Janno, weak but not wicked, hispunishment was both swift and stern; for fleeing a little later from thevengeance of the white men, he perished miserably among the swamps andthickets of Barnstable, and his lonely grave was only lately discovered.Go and look at his bones in Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth and muse upon thedangers of cowardice and weakness.
As the shallop pushed off from shore, an Indian came running down thebeach, and with a cat-like spring leaped upon the deck. It was Kamuso,who said he was bound for Sandwich and would beg a passage in thepinnace.
A sudden spark kindled in the captain's red-brown eyes and one handtugged impatiently at his moustache, but he said nothing, and the Indianproceeded to make himself useful in a variety of ways; and as the windwas favorable and the distance short, Standish made no open objection tothe company of the spy, but busied himself with freshly charging hisweapons, and curiously examining every inch of Gideon's shining blade.
A little after noon the shallop made the harbor of Sandwich, or as thePilgrims called it Manomet, and Standish at once went ashore, eager tosee if Canacum shared in the wide-spread disaffection of the Indians.But ten minutes in the sachem's wigwam convinced the wary observer thatsomething was wrong, for the old friendliness of manner had given placeto restraint and formality; and although Canacum was very ready todeliver the corn, and professed great pleasure at the captain's visit,his voice and manner were both cold and false, and such of his braves ascame into the wigwam showed a very different face from what Standish hadhitherto encountered.
Suddenly a sound was heard without, and as the captain sprang to hisfeet and laid his hand upon Gideon's hilt, the door-mat was thrustaside, and two Indians recognized by their paint as Neponsets enteredthe cabin. Canacum received them with effusive cordiality, and presentedthe principal one to Standish as Wituwamat a pniese of the Neponsets.
Standish received the careless salutation of the new-comer in silentgravity, and stepping to the door summoned Howland and Alden to hisside, first however sending a message to the boat-keepers to be well onguard against a surprise.
Returning into the hut with his two friends, the captain found Wituwamatupon his feet beginning an impassioned harangue to Canacum, who listeneduneasily. Standish was already an excellent Indian scholar, and couldconverse in several dialects with great ease; but so soon as he appearedWituwamat fell into a style so figurative and blind, and took pains touse such unusual and obsolete expressions, that Canacum himself couldhardly understand him, and Standish was soon left hopelessly in thebackground. At a later day, however, one of the warriors then presentrepeated to the captain the amount of the Neponset's message, which wasthat Obtakiest, sachem of the Neponsets, had entered into a solemncompact with Canonicus, sachem of the Narragansetts, to cut off theWeymouth colonists, root and branch; but that as the Plymouth men wouldassuredly revenge their brethren, it was necessary that they shouldperish as well, and that while the two chiefs mentioned advanced uponthe settlement from the west, they invited Canacum, Janno, and Aspinetto fall upon them from the east, and having slain man and boy to equablydivide the women and other plunder. As earnest of his authorityWituwamat he
re presented Canacum with a knife stolen or bought from theWeymouth settlers, and jeeringly said the coward pale faces had broughtover the weapons that should cut their own throats.
Having thus delivered his message, the Neponset indulged himself in aburst of self-glorification, boasting that he had in his day killedboth French and Englishmen, and that he found the sport very amusing,for they died crying and making wry faces more like children than men.
"What is the impudent villain saying, and what means that knife,Captain?" muttered Howland in the captain's ear, but he shaking his headimpatiently replied,--
"He means violence and treachery of some sort, but what form it takes Iwot not. Be on your guard, John."
The harangue ended, refreshments were served, but the Neponsets were nowtreated with so much more courtesy and attention than the white men thatStandish refusing the poorer portion offered to him and his comrades,rose and indignantly left the cabin, ordering his men to construct ashelter near the beach, and there cook some of the provisions they hadbrought. But they had hardly begun to do this when Kamuso appeared, fullof indignant protests at Canacum's inhospitality, and loudly declaringthat an affront to his friends was an affront to him, and he shoulddesert the wigwam where the red men were feasting, and share the humblerfare of his white friends.
"Well, I wish thou hadst brought along a kettle to cook some corn in!"exclaimed Standish with something of his old joviality of manner, forhis suspicions in falling upon Canacum had in some degree lifted fromKamuso, who certainly played his part with wonderful skill, and had hebeen white instead of red, and civilized instead of savage, might haveleft his name on record as a diplomatist beside that of Machiavelli orIgnatius Loyola.
"A kettle! My brother would like a kettle!" exclaimed he now. "Nay, afriend of mine hath one which I will buy of him and present to TheSword. I am rich, I Kamuso, and can make rich presents to those I love."
And rushing back to the wigwams, he presently returned with a good-sizedbrass kettle, which he ostentatiously laid at the captain's feet,refusing the handful of beads Standish offered in return.
"Hm!" growled the captain. "That's not in nature. Alden use the kettlean' thou wilt, but after, return it to the Pamet. We'll not have themmaking a Benjamin's sack of our shallop."
After dinner Standish so peremptorily demanded that his corn should atonce be put aboard that Canacum could do nothing but yield. The squawswere summoned, and John Alden stood by with pencil and paper, keepingtally as each delivered her basket-full on the beach, while Howlandstanding mid-leg deep in the icy water shot it over the gunwale.
"Here men, bear a hand, and let us get this thing over and be off,"commanded Standish, himself seizing a full basket and motioning Dotey toanother.
"And I, and I, my brother!" exclaimed Kamuso in his loud braggadociomanner as he awkwardly lifted a third. "Never in all my life have I donesquaw's work, for I am a brave, I am a pniese, but what my brother doesI do."
"Nay, 't is too much honor!" replied Standish with his grimmest smile;"especially as thou art somewhat awkward"--
And in effect the Pamet as he tried to swing the full basket off hisshoulder lost his hold, and the corn came showering down upon the sand.At length, however, the tale was complete, and as the tide was out, andnight coming on, the captain decided to camp once more upon the beach,refusing somewhat curtly the pressing invitation sent by Canacum thatthe white men should sleep in his house. And once more Kamuso loudlyproclaimed that he was of the white men's party and should share theirquarters wherever they might be. Standish silently permitted him to doas he would, but, as on the previous evening, he divided the littlecompany into watches, one to sleep and one to stand on guard.
"So soon as he sleeps I shall kill him," muttered Kamuso to Wituwamat,as they secretly met behind Canacum's wigwam. "Give me now the knifesent by Obtakiest."
"Here it is, brother, and when it is red with the blood of The Sword itshall be thine own. Else it returns to him who sends it."
"It shall be red, it shall drink, it shall drip with the brave blood, itshall shine as the sun rising across the waters! It shall feast, andKamuso shall be chief of Obtakiest's pnieses; yes, he shall be sachem ofthe Massachusetts!"
Wituwamat made no reply in words, but as he turned away shiveredheavily. Perhaps a premonition of his own terrible fate crossed hisbrain, perhaps the hooting of the owl just then skimming across thethicket stirred his superstitious fancy, but without a word he reenteredthe wigwam; and Kamuso concealing the knife went back to the randevous,where already the first watch slept, and Standish, in command of thesecond, stood beside the fire leaning on his snaphance, and, deep inmeditation fixed his eyes upon the approaching savage so sternly that hebelieving that all was discovered was on the point of springing at hisprey, and risking all upon one sudden blow, when the captain, awakingfrom his reverie, sighed profoundly, and perceiving for the first timeKamuso's approach quietly said,--
"So it is thee, Pamet! Go back and sleep warm in the wigwams of theMattakees. We need no help here."
"Kamuso is no Mattakee; Kamuso is the friend of the white men. While TheSword wakes, Kamuso will gaze upon him and learn how to become theterror of his foes."
"'T is easier to be the terror of one's foes than the delight of one'sfriends," muttered Standish gloomily, and then pulling himself togetherhe stirred the embers with his heel, and throwing on more wood saidcarelessly,--
"E'en as thou wilt. Kamuso, go or stay, watch or sleep, 't is all one tome."
And marching up and down the strip of level beach the soldier hummed anold ballad song of Man, which Rose had loved to sing, and clean forgotthe savage who, crouching in the shadow, fingered the knife hilt hiddenin his waist cloth, and never removed the gaze of his snaky eyes fromthe figure of his destined prey.
The night went on, and Standish waked the second watch and dismissed thefirst, but still himself took no rest, nor felt the need of it, as hepaced up and down, his outward senses alert to the smallest sign, andhis memory roaming at will over scenes for many years forgot; overboyhood's eager days, his mother's tenderness, his father's death upon aFrench battle-field, his own early days as a soldier, his home-comingto find Barbara acting a daughter's part to the dying mother--Rose--ahRose! He stood a moment at the point of his promenade furthest from therandevous, his back to the fire, his gaze fixed upon the sea whose lappingwaves seemed whispering with sobbing sighs, Rose!--Rose!--Rose!--
A faint sound upon the shingle caught the outward ear of the soldier,and wheeling instinctively he faced the Pamet, who with his hand uponthe hilt of the dagger had crept up to within six feet of his victim,and already had selected the spot between those square shoulders wherethe fatal blow should be planted.
"Ha savage! What does this mean! Why are you tracking me!" demanded thecaptain angrily, but the wily Indian, instead of starting back andbetraying himself by terror, advanced quietly, not even removing hishand from the hidden knife hilt, and answered smoothly in his owntongue,--
"The red man's moccason sounds not upon the sand as the white man'sboot. I did but come to ask my lord if he will not rest at all. Midnightis long past, and the day must bring its labors. Will not The Swordsheath for a while his intolerable splendor in sleep, while his slavewatches for him?"
"Why, Kamuso, thou 'rt more than eloquent! Pity but thou shouldst betrained, and brought to London to show off before the King!" laughedStandish. "But sleep and I have quarreled for to-night. I know not howit is, but never after a sound night's rest did I feel more fresh and onthe alert. Go thou and sleep if thou 'rt sleepy, but come not creepingafter me again, or I'll send thee packing! I like not such surprises."
"The will of my lord is the will of his slave," meekly replied Kamuso,and crept back to his former sheltered nook beside the fire. The chillMarch night grew on toward morning, the east reddened with an angryglare, the solemn stars wheeled on their appointed courses, and Mars,who had held the morning watch, gave way to Sol, bidding him have a careof his son, whom he had left
gazing with sleepless eyes across thewaters to the East.
"Up, men! 'T is morning at last, and surely never was a night so long asthis. Up, and let us break our fast and be off within the hour!"
So cried the captain, and in a moment all his command was afoot andactive. Kamuso, his face black with sullen rage, retreated to thewigwams to confess his defeat to Wituwamat and Canacum, who listeningsaid quietly,--
"His totem is too strong for us. The Sword will never fall before thetomahawk."
"It is because he is so strong that Obtakiest took a knife of the whiteman's make and use, and sent it. The powah that charmed the weapons ofThe Sword may have charmed this knife also."
And Kamuso drawing the Weymouth knife from his belt regarded it withdisgust for a moment, then thrusting it back into his belt doggedlydeclared,--
"But all is not over. Wait, my brothers, wait for the end, and then sayif Kamuso is a fool."
As the pinnace drew out of Manomet Harbor Standish for the first timeperceived that the Pamet was aboard her, and rather sharply demanded,--
"Whither bound now, Kamuso? Thou didst but ask passage to Manomet."
"My white brothers have not all the corn they need, have they?" askedthe Indian, an air of humble sympathy pervading his voice and manner.
"Nay. If the famine we forebode is upon us we need twice, thrice, asmuch as this, before the harvest not yet sown is ready for use."
"For that then is Kamuso here. At Nauset, Aspinet hath great store ofcorn hidden from the white men, but it is not his alone, it is mine, itis the tribe's, it is The Sword's. Let my lord come to Nauset and I willhave his canoe filled to the brim, there shall not be room to put in onegrain more--Kamuso says it."
"Hm! That would be a matter of fifty bushels or more," replied Standishliterally. "What say you, Howland? What is your mind, men?"
Various brief replies showed that the mind of the crew was to obey thecaptain's orders, and after a moment's thought he muttered to Howland inDutch,--
"I like not this fellow's carriage. He is too smooth to be honest, andyet what can one wretched savage do against seven men armed and on theirwatch? But pass the word among the rest to be wary, and Alden, I leaveit in charge to thee, lad, in case the savage treacherously smites me asI think he meant last night, do thou avenge me."
"He'll not breathe thrice after his blow, Master," replied Alden in hisdeepest tones.
"Well said, lad; but gentle thy face and eke thy voice, or he'llsuspect. Now then, lads, put her before this western wind, and ho forNauset once more!"
The command was obeyed, but lo the wind, which had since sunrise blownsoftly from the south of west making a fair breeze for Nauset near theend of the Cape, now suddenly hauled round with angry gusts andgathering mists, until it stood in the northeast right in the teeth ofthe shallop's course, while every sign of sky and sea foreboded agathering storm.
"His totem is too strong," muttered the Pamet in his throat, and thehand beneath his garment clinching the handle of the dagger seized withit a handful of his own flesh and gripped it savagely, while in silencehe called upon his gods for help.
But none came, more than to the priests of Baal what time Elijah jeeredthem, and after a brief consultation with his crew Standish once morealtered his course, and the pinnace with double-reefed sails flew beforethe rising wind like a hunted creature to her covert, bearingThe-Sword-of-the-White-Men safely to his post.
Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims Page 31
