Pitched on the edge of a meadow, between the sea and the

forest;

Women at work by the tents, and warriors, horrid with war

paint,

Seated about a fire, and smoking and talking together;

Who, when they saw from afar the sudden approach of the

white men,

25

Saw the flash of the sun on breastplate and sabre and musket,

Straightway leaped to their feet, and two, from among them advancing,

Came to parley with Standish, and offer him furs as a present; Friendship was in their looks, but in their hearts there was hatred.

Braves of the tribe were these, and brothers, gigantic in

stature,

30

Huge as Goliath of Gath,' or the terrible Og, king of Ba

shan; 2

One was Pecksuot named, and the other was called Wattawamat.

Round their necks were suspended their knives in scabbards of wampum,"

Two-edged, trenchant knives, with points as sharp as a needle. Other arms had they none, for they were cunning and

35

crafty. "Welcome, English!" they said, these words they had learned from the traders

Touching at times on the coast, to barter and chaffer for peltries.

Then in their native tongue they began to parley with Standish,

1 1 Samuel, xvii. 4-7.

2 Deuteronomy, iii. 11.

3 Strips of leather embroidered with shell-beads, used as money, and worn for ornaments in strings, belts, scabbards, etc., by the Indians.

Through his guide and interpreter, Hobomok, friend of the

white man,

Begging for blankets and knives, but mostly for muskets and

powder,

40

Kept by the white man, they said, concealed, with the plague,

in his cellars,

Ready to be let loose, and destroy his brother the red man! But when Standish refused, and said he would give them the Bible,

Suddenly changing their tone, they began to boast and to

bluster.

Then Wattawamat advanced with a stride in front of the 45

other,

And, with a lofty demeanor, thus vauntingly spake to the

Captain:

"Now Wattawamat can see, by the fiery eyes of the Captain, Angry is he in his heart; but the heart of the brave Wattawamat

Is not afraid at the sight.

He was not born of a woman,

But on a mountain, at night, from an oak-tree riven by light

ning,

6

50

Forth he sprang at a bound, with all his weapons about him, Shouting, Who is there here to fight with the brave Wattawamat?'"'

Then he unsheathed his knife, and, whetting the blade on his left hand,

Held it aloft and displayed a woman's face on the handle, Saying, with bitter expression and look of sinister mean

ing:

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"I have another at home, with the face of a man on the handle; By and by they shall marry; and there will be plenty of children!" i

1 "Among the rest," says Winslow, "Wituwamat bragged of the excellency of his knife. On the end of the handle there was pictured a woman's face; but,' said he, 'I have another at home wherewith I have killed both French and English, and that hath a

Then stood Pecksuot forth, self-vaunting, insulting Miles Standish;

While with his fingers he patted the knife that hung at his

bosom,

Drawing it half from its sheath, and plunging it back, as he

66

muttered,

60

By and by it shall see; it shall eat; ah, ha! but shall speak not! This is the mighty Captain the white men have sent to destroy us!

He is a little man; let him go and work with the women!

Meanwhile Standish had noted the faces and figures of Indians

Peeping and creeping about from bush to tree in the forest, 65 Feigning to look for game, with arrows set on their bow

strings,

Drawing about him still closer and closer the net of their ambush.

But undaunted he stood, and dissembled and treated them smoothly;

So the old chronicles say, that were writ in the days of the fathers.

But when he heard their defiance, the boast, the taunt and

the insult,

70

All the hot blood of his race, of Sir Hugh and of Thurston de Standish,

Boiled and beat in his heart, and swelled in the veins of his temples.

Headlong he leaped on the boaster, and, snatching his knife from its scabbard,

man's face on it, and by and by these two must marry.' Further, he said of that knife he there had, Hinnaim namen, hinnaim michen, matta cuts; that is to say, By and by it should see, and by and by it should eat, but not speak. Also Pecksuot, being a man of greater stature than the captain, told him, though he were a great captain, yet he was but a little man; and, said he, though I be no sachem, yet I am a man of great strength and courage." Winslow's Relation of Standish's Expedition.

Plunged it into his heart, and, reeling backward, the savage Fell with his face to the sky, and a fiendlike fierceness upon it.

75 Straight there arose from the forest the awful sound of the war-whoop,

And, like a flurry of snow on the whistling wind of December, Swift and sudden and keen came a flight of feathery arrows. Then came a cloud of smoke, and out of the cloud came the lightning,

Out of the lightning thunder; and death unseen ran before it. 80 Frightened the savages fled for shelter in swamp and in

thicket,

Hotly pursued and beset; but their sachem, the brave Wattawamat,

Fled not; he was dead. Unswerving and swift had a bullet Passed through his brain, and he fell with both hands clutching the greensward,

Seeming in death to hold back from his foe the land of his fathers.

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There on the flowers of the meadow the warriors lay, and

above them

Silent, with folded arms, stood Hobomok, friend of the white

man.

Smiling at length he exclaimed to the stalwart Captain of Plymouth:

"Pecksuot bragged very loud, of his courage, his strength and his stature,

Mocked the great Captain, and called him a little man; but I

see now

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Big enough have you been to lay him speechless before you!"

1 "Hobbamock stood by all this time as a spectator," says Winslow, "and meddled not, observing how our men demeaned themselves in this action. All being here ended, smiling, he brake forth into these speeches to the Captain: 'Yesterday Pecksuot,

1

Thus the first battle was fought and won by the stalwart Miles Standish.

When the tidings thereof were brought to the village of Plymouth,

And as a trophy of war the head of the brave Wattawamat' Scowled from the roof of the fort, which at once was a church and a fortress,

95

All who beheld it rejoiced, and praised the Lord, and took courage.

Only Priscilla averted her face from this spectre of terror, Thanking God in her heart that she had not married Miles

Standish;

Shrinking, fearing almost, lest, coming home from his battles, He should lay claim to her hand, as the prize and reward of his valor.

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VIII.

THE SPINNING WHEEL.

MONTH after month passed away, and in autumn the ships of the merchants 2

Came with kindred and friends, with cattle and corn for the

Pilgrims.

All in the village was peace; the men were intent on their

labors,

Busy with hewing and building, with garden-plot and with merestead,'

bragging of his own strength and stature, said, though you were a great captain, yet you were but a little man; but to-day I see you are big enough to lay him on the ground.'

1 "Now was the Captain returned," says Winslow, "and received with joy, the head being brought to the fort, and there set up." The Pilgrims were observing a ghastly custom which they had been familiar with in England, of exposing in conspicuous places, such as London Bridge and Temple Bar, the heads of traitors, highwaymen, etc., as a warning to other criminals.

2 The

Anne" and the "Little James," which arrived in August, 1623.

3 A homestead or bounded portion of land; O. E., mere, boundary; stead, place.