Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims

by Jane G. Austin

  CHAPTER XXXIII.

  PECKSUOT'S KNIFE.

  The next morning as the village sat at breakfast, two men at half anhour's interval passed hastily down the forest trail, and entering thetown sought the governor's house.

  The first was Wassapinewat, brother of Obtakiest, chief of theNeponsets, who, having suffered both wounds and terror in Corbitant'sattempted rebellion, now hastened to turn State's evidence, and whilewarning the white men of his brother's intended attack wash his hands ofany share in it.

  The other visitor was a long lank Caucasian, Phineas Pratt by name,carpenter by trade, Weymouth settler by position. This man half deadwith suffering of various sorts, footsore and weary, came stumbling downthe King's Highway just as Bradford came out of his own door followed byWassapinewat, at sight of whom Phineas started and trembled, thenpointing a finger at him shrieked,--

  "Have a care, Governor! 'T is one of the bloody salvages sworn to takeall our lives!"

  "Nay, friend Pratt, for I remember thee well, 't is a penitent robbernow, come to warn us of danger. Methinks thine errand may be the same.Come in, and after due refreshment tell us the truth of this matter."

  But weary as he was, the excited fugitive would pause for neither restnor refreshment until he had poured out his story of the wrongs, theinsults, the threats with which the Neponsets had harassed the Weymouthmen in their weakness, in part revenging the foul wrongs they whilestrong had put upon the savages, until in an Indian council of the daybefore, it had been formally resolved to wait only for two days' morework upon the boats which Phineas and another were finishing, and thento inaugurate the massacre.

  Both Pratt and Wassapinewat had by different channels learned the resultof this council, and each had resolved to not only save himself from theexplosion of this mine, but to warn the Plymouth colonists of theirdanger, and each had set out by a slightly different route from theother and made the journey in ignorance of the other's movements.

  It was afterward discovered, however, that Pratt's flight was at oncediscovered, and an Indian dispatched to overtake and kill him, acatastrophe averted by the carpenter's straying from the path in thedarkness, so that his pursuer reached Plymouth, and went on to Manometbefore the village was astir.

  These two confirmatory reports were very welcome to Bradford, upon whomthe nominal responsibility of the expedition rested, and to the elderwhose reverend face was very pale and grave in these days.

  Standish, however, as he had felt no doubts, now felt no added impulse,but went quietly on, seeing his command and his stores embarked, andexamining personally the arms of his eight soldiers.

  At last all was ready, the men seated each at his post, Hobomok in thebow, and Standish at the stern, the men and boys who stayed behindgrouped upon the shore, while a vague cloud of skirts and kirtleshovered upon the brow of Cole's Hill, when Elder Brewster, baring hiswhite head, stepped upon the Rock, and raising his hands to heavenprayed loud and fervently that the God of battles, the God of victory,the God of their fathers, would bless, protect, and prosper those whowent forth in His name to do battle for His Right; and as the old man'svoice rose clear and sonorous in its impassioned appeal, the firstbreath of a favoring wind came out of the South, and the lapping wavesof the incoming tide answered melodiously to the deep diapason of theAmen sent up from fifty bearded throats.

  "And now we may go home and make our mourning weeds," said Priscillawith a petulant half-sob, half-laugh, as she and Mary Chilton turnedaway from the wheatfield on the hill.

  "Nay, John Alden will come home safe, I'm sure on 't," said Mary gently,but her vivacious friend turned sharply upon her.

  "And if he comes not at all, I'd liefer know him dead in honor, thanlingering here among the women like some others."

  "Gilbert Winslow, or his brother John if you mean him, would have goneas gladly as any man had the captain chosen him," replied Marycomposedly, if coldly, and Priscilla turned and clipped her in a sharpembrace, crying out that indeed her friend were no more than right tobeat her for a froward child.

  The prosperous wind lasted all the way, and before noon the shallop layat anchor close beside the Swan, a small craft owned by the Weymouthmen, and intended for their use in trading and fishing. Standish'sfirst visit was to her, and much to his surprise he found her bothundefended and deserted. Landing with four of his men he next proceededto the plantation, as it was called, where some ten or twelvesubstantial buildings surrounded with a stockade established a verydefensible position, but here again neglect and suicidal folly staredhim in the face.

  The settlers were dispersed in every direction: three had that verymorning gone to live among the Indians; many were roaming the woods andshore in search of food; one poor fellow going to dig clams on theprevious day had stuck fast in the mud by reason of weakness, and thoughthe Indians stood upon the shore watching him with shouts of derisivelaughter, not one put out a hand to help him, and he perished miserablyat the flow of the tide.

  The master of the Swan, stricken with the folly of strong drink, met allStandish's expostulations with a fatuous laugh, and the declaration thatthere was no danger,--no danger whatever; that he and the Indians weresuch friends that he carried no arms, and never closed the gates of thestockade; that all the stories reaching Plymouth were lies or blunders;and that although they were short of provisions, and especially ofstrong waters, they asked nothing more of the Plymouth people than somefresh supplies to last until Sanders, the head of the colony, shouldreturn from Monhegan on the coast of Maine, whither he had gone forcorn.

  Leaving the drunken captain in disgust, Standish at once took thecommand of the post upon himself, and dispatched Hobomok and two of thesettlers who came to place themselves under his orders, to bring in allof the others whom they could reach, sending word that he would feedthem. Many of them, including Sanders' lieutenant named Manning, came atthe summons, and before night all who would were safe within thestockade, and were served each man with a pint of shelled corn, all thatcould be spared, for it was taken from the Pilgrims' stock of seed-corn.

  Then in a brief and vigorous address Standish told the colonists why hehad come, and repeated to them the assurance given him by Hobomok thatthe day but one after his arrival was the day fixed upon for themassacre, the boats needing but the one day's work to complete them.Furthermore, he assured them that he needed nor would accept any helpfrom them in his punishment of the savages, the danger and theresponsibility being no more than Plymouth could endure, and, as hesignificantly added, "The savages were not like to flee before men whohad so often fled before them."

  Hardly was the harangue ended when a Neponset bringing a few hastilycollected furs entered the stockade, and warily approaching the captainoffered them for sale. Standish controlling all appearance ofindignation parleyed with him and paid a fair price for the furs, but asthe Indian turned toward one of the houses, he called him back, anddismissed him somewhat peremptorily.

  "To spy out the land hath he come," remarked he to Alden. "And I willnot have him glean our purpose." But the savage had already learnedsomething, and went back to his comrades to report thatThe-Sword-of-the-White-Men "spoke smoothly, but his eyes showed thatthere was anger in his heart."

  The second morning so soon as the gates were opened several Indiansentered together. One of them named Pecksuot, a pniese of greatcelebrity, greeted Hobomok jeeringly, and told him that he supposed hismaster had come to kill all the Neponsets including himself, andadded,--

  "Tell him to begin if he dare; we are not afraid of him, nor shall werun away and hide. Let him begin unless he is afraid. Is he afraid?"

  Hobomok repeated the message word for word, but Standish only replied,--

  "Tell the pniese I would speak with his sachem, Obtakiest."

  "Obtakiest is busy, or he is feasting, or he is sleeping," repliedPecksuot disdainfully. "He does not trouble himself to run about afterany little fellow who sends for him."

  Again Hobomok translated the insult, but added in a low v
oice,--

  "Obtakiest is waiting for some of his braves who are gone to theShawmuts for help. When they return he will attack the white men."

  "So! Then we will not wait for them, but so soon as we can gather theheads in one place we will return some of their courtly challenges." AndStandish ground his strong teeth together in the pain of self-restraintunder insult.

  Perceiving that he did not mean to act, some of the Indians who hadlingered a little behind at first, now came forward, hopping and dancingaround Standish, whetting their knives upon their palms, makinginsulting gestures, and shouting all sorts of jeers and taunts at himand the white men generally.

  Then Wituwamat came forward and in his own tongue cried out,--

  "The Captain Sword-of-the-White-Men escaped the knife I carried toCanacum for him, but he will not escape this." And he showed a daggerhung around his neck by a deer's sinew, on whose wooden handle a woman'sface was not inartistically carved.

  "This is Wituwamat's squaw-knife," declared he. "At home he has anotherwith a man's face upon it which has already killed both French andEnglish; by and by they will marry, and there shall be a knife ready forevery white man's heart; they can see, they can eat, and they make nochildish noise like the white man's weapons. But the squaw knife isenough for the white pniese."

  "Hm! Methinks I cannot much longer keep Gideon in his scabbard--he willfly out of his own accord," muttered Standish, a deadly pallor showingbeneath the bronze of his skin. Pecksuot saw it, and mistook it for thehue of fear. With a savage smile he approached and stood close besidethe Captain, towering above his head, for he was a giant in stature andstrength.

  "The Sword-of-the-White-Men may be a great pniese, but he is a verylittle man," said he contemptuously. "Now I am a pniese as well as he,and I am besides a very big man, and a very brave warrior. The Sword hadbetter run away before I devour him."

  Without reply Standish turned and walked into the principal house of thevillage, and looked around the large lower room.

  "It will do as well as another place," said he briefly. "Alden andHowland remove me this great table to the side of the room, and pitchout this settle and the stools. Now John Alden get you gone and send meHopkins and Billington. Tarry you with Cooke and Browne at the gate;bid Soule and Eaton stand on guard, and if they hear me cry Rescue! makein to my help. Let no more of the salvages into the stockade until wehave settled with these. Hobomok, tell Pecksuot, Kamuso, whom I sawbehind the rest, Wituwamat, and that notorious ruffian his brother, thatI fain would speak with them in this place."

  "Four to four," remarked Billington with grewsome relish.

  "Ay. Take you Wituwamat; Hopkins, I leave you to deal with Kamuso;Howland, take the young fellow, and I will deal with Pecksuot, for intruth he is a bigger man than I, but we will see if he is a better."

  What story Hobomok may have invented to bring the four ringleaders intothe house we know not, but as five white men remained outside with atleast an equal number of Indians, they could not fear being overmatched,and presently came stalking impudently in, exchanging jeers and laughterof the most irritating nature.

  Hobomok followed, and closing the door stood with his back against it,calmly observing the scene, but taking no part in it.

  Then at last the captain loosed the reins of the fiery spirit strugglingand chafing beneath the curb so long, and fixing his eyes red with theblaze of anger upon Pecksuot, he cried,--

  "On guard, O Pecksuot!" and sprang upon him, seizing the squaw-knife,which was sharpened at the back as well as at the front, and ground atthe tip to a needle point. With a coarse laugh Pecksuot snatched at thecaptain's throat with his left hand, while his right closed like ironover the captain's grasp of the hilt and tried to turn it against him.But the rebound from his forced inaction had strung the soldier'smuscles like steel and thrilled along his nerves like fire. A roar likethat of a lion broke from his panting chest, and with one mighty efforthe wrung the knife from the grasp of the giant, and turning its pointdrove it deep into the heart of the boaster. A wild cry of death anddefeat rung through the room as he fell headlong, and Wituwamat turninghis head to look, gave Billington his chance and received his own mortalwound; while Kamuso fighting with the silent courage of a great warrioronly succumbed at last beneath a dozen wounds from Hopkins's shortsword, and Howland having disarmed and wounded his opponent presentedhim as prisoner under Standish's orders.

  "Should'st have slain him in the heat of the onset, Howland," panted thecaptain, wiping his hands and looking around him. "Now--take him out,Billington, and hang him to the tree in the middle of the parade. Weshall leave him there as an example for the others. Open the door,Hobomok."

  Hobomok did as he was bid, but then advancing with slow step to the sideof the fallen Pecksuot he placed a foot upon his chest and softlysaid,--

  "Yes, my brother, thou wast a very big man, but I have seen a little manbring thee low."

  It was the giant's funeral elegy.

  "I have notched my sword on yon villain's skull," exclaimed Hopkinswiping and examining his blade, and the Captain smiling shrewdly said,--

  "I risked not Gideon in such ignoble warfare, though he clattered in hisscabbord. Savage weapons for savage hearts, say I."

  "Ha! There's fighting without!" cried Hopkins, rushing to the door,where in effect Soule and Browne had shot down two stout savages, whohearing Pecksuot's death cry had tried to avenge him; while anotherrushing upon Alden with uplifted knife was caught in mid career by abullet from the captain's snaphance snatched up at Hopkins's warning.

  So fell seven of the savages, who would if they could have barbarouslymurdered seventy white men, women, and children, and thus did theCaptain of the Pilgrim forces teach the red men a lesson that lasted invivid force until the men of that generation had given way to those ofpoor weak Sachem Philip's day.

  That night one of the three colonists who had gone to live among theIndians returned to the village bringing news that in the evening arunner had arrived at the place where he was, and had delivered a "shortand sad" message to his hosts, probably the news of Pecksuot's andWituwamat's death. The Indians had begun at once to collect and arm, andhe foreboding evil had slunk away after vainly trying to persuade hiscomrades to do the same.

  "They will be slain out of revenge," declared Hobomok in his own tongue,and the event proved him a true prophet.

  In the early gray of morning the watch reported a file of Indiansemerging from the forest, and Standish with four of his own men, and twosettlers who implored permission to join him, went to meet them. A bushyhillock lay midway between the two parties, and the Indians were makingfor its shelter, when the Pilgrims breaking into a double runforestalled them, and reached the summit where, as Standish declared, hewas ready to welcome the whole Neponset tribe.

  The Indians at once fell behind each man his tree, and a flight ofarrows aimed chiefly at Standish and Hobomok ensued.

  "Let no man shoot until he hath a fair mark," ordered the Captain."'T is useless to waste ammunition upon tree-trunks."

  "Both their pnieses are dead, and Obtakiest himself is none!" suddenlydeclared Hobomok. "I alone can drive them!" and throwing off his coat,leaving his chest with its gleaming "totem" bare, he extended wide hisarms and rushed down the hill shouting at the top of his voice,--

  "Hobomok the pniese! Hobomok the devil! Hobomok is awake! Hobomok hascome!"

  "The fool will be shot! Hath he gone mad!" shouted Billington, butHopkins grasped his arm.

  "Let be, let be! He knows what he is about. Himself told me that hisname Hobomok answereth to our word Devil, and that while every pniesethrough fasting and self-torture gains much power over demons and isgreatly feared by all who are not pnieses, he having taken the foulfiend's name, had gained double the power of the rest, and could whenput to it summon Sathanas and all his brood to aid him. Those othersknow it, and--lo, you now, see them scatter, see them fly!" and with aloud laugh he pointed to the savage crew, who panic stricken werefleeing before the pniese l
ike a flock of frightened sheep.

  "Have after them! Follow me, men!" shouted Standish rushing down thehill, the others following as fast as they could, but not fast enough,for before they came within shot, the party was halted by Hobomok'sreturn, who half glorious, half laughing, reported the enemy hidden in aswamp, whither he led his friends.

  "We will slay no more if we can help it," declared the captain. "Alden,show a flag of truce. Haply they will understand it."

  But although as Standish drew near the thicket, Alden carrying the whiteflag beside him, the savages refrained from firing, his invitation toparley was received with a volley of abuse and defiance renewed at everyattempt of his to speak.

  "Obtakiest is there. I know his voice," declared Hobomok who had creptup behind. "He will not show himself lest I curse him."

  "Obtakiest! Sachem! Art thou there?" demanded Standish. "Come forth thenlike a man, and we two will fight it out here in the midst. I challengethee, sachem!"

  A hoarse laugh and a volley of obscene abuse was the reply, and Standishindignantly cried,--

  "Dost not know how base and cowardly it is to hide there and tongue itlike an angry woman! Thou 'rt not fit to be called a man!"

  A shower of arrows was the only response to this, and presently themovement of the bushes showed that the Indians were retreating to adeeper fastness, and Standish deeply disgusted marched his own men backto the village, the only casualty on either side being the broken arm ofthe powah or priest, who with Wituwamat and Pecksuot were really theheart of the conspiracy; for Obtakiest after a while sent a squaw toPlymouth abjectly begging for peace, and declaring that he had sinceStandish's visit changed his camp every night for fear of receivinganother one.

  "And now, Master Manning, and you, master of the Swan and friend of theNeponsets," demanded Standish, as he arrayed the Weymouth men beforehim, and declared his success in their quarrel, "what shall I do morefor your comfort or safety before my return to Plymouth? For myself, Ishould never fear to remain in this plantation had I the half of yourmen, but for yourselves ye must judge. Only I will add that I am chargedby Governor Bradford to say that any who will come to settle in Plymouthand abide by its laws and governance shall be kindly welcomed."

  The settlers debated the matter among themselves for a while, andalthough a few and those of the best, decided to accept the invitationto Plymouth albeit somewhat coldly given, the majority decided to desertthe post where they had suffered so much, and to join some other ofWeston's men at Monhegan. The Pilgrims cheerfully lent their help, andbefore night the settlers had loaded all their portable property intothe Swan, Standish had seen the gates of the stockade securely boltedand barred, and Hobomok with some red paint had traced upon each ahideous emblem, which he assured the white men would frighten away anypredatory Indian.

  Standish only laughed, but Hopkins nodded sagely.

  "The rogue is right--I know the symbol, and have seen the terror itcarries," said he; and true it is that whether from superstitious orfrom martial terrors, that stockade and the houses it enclosed, and thebody of the savage left swinging from the tree in their midst, werenever molested or apparently visited by the red men again. As the heavyladen Swan weltered out of the harbor, victualed with all that remainedof Standish's seed corn except a scanty ration apiece to his own men,the pinnace bore gallantly up for Plymouth, and in due course joyfullyarrived there bringing home all her crew victorious and unscathed.

  With them came Wituwamat's head to be set on a pike over the gateway ofthe Fort, for these our Fathers were not of our day or thought in suchmatters; and these Englishmen did but follow the usage of England, whenso lately as 1747 the heads of the unhappy Pretender's more unhappyfollowers defiled the air of London's busiest street.

  Standish for one never doubted of the justice of his course either inthe slaying of the colony's avowed enemies, or the exposure of theringleader's head; not even when a year or so later Bradford sorrowfullyplaced in his hands a letter just received from his revered PastorRobinson at Leyden, who in commenting on the death of the Indianssaid,--

  "Oh how happy a thing it had been had you converted some before you hadkilled any. Let me be bold to exhort you seriously to consider of thedisposition of your captain, whom I love;--but there is cause to fearthat by occasion, especially of provocation, there may be wanting in himthat tenderness of the life of man made after God's image, that ismeet."

  Standish read the letter, and returning it without a word went out fromhis friend's presence, nor did he ever after allude to it, but a blowhad been struck upon that loyal loving heart from which it never in thislife recovered.

  Thirty years later as the hero set his house in order, his failing handwrote these words,--

  "I give 3L. to Mercy Robinson whom I tenderly love for her grandfather'ssake."

  And that was his revenge.