id stringlengths 16 16 | text stringlengths 151 2.3k | word_count int64 30 60 | source stringclasses 1 value |
|---|---|---|---|
twg_000012925100 | he not almost catch sight of the goodly forms of those young men, quaintly clad in doublet and hose and the wide hats or the close barret caps of the day, led by the sleek slender savage who patiently stood by, while Winslow turned and pointed out the beauties of sea and shore to his thoughtful companion. "A pleasant sight, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925101 | a goodly scene," said Hampden, as at last they turned away and struck into the dense forest. "If it be God's will I for one shall 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 to read the times," said Winslow flinging a hand | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925102 | eastward. * * * * * "No wife or child to see me off, Mistress Winslow," said the captain as he passed the door where Susanna lingered, and she, smiling with the tear in her eye, answered pleasantly,-- "Then why not purvey thee one, Captain Standish? Well I wot you need not long go a-begging." "Nay, none will look on | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925103 | a battered old soldier when fresh young faces are at hand," replied Standish casting a whimsical glance after Alden who preceded him down the hill, while the matron shook her head murmuring,--"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, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925104 | but among these he had included none of the fire-eaters, none of the independent souls of the little colony. Alden, to whom the captain had given the names of those to be summoned, had noted this feature of the selection, and ventured to comment upon it approvingly. "Ay, lad," replied his master with a grim smile. "'T is a service | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925105 | of danger, and a service of diplomacy, and I must have my force well in hand with no danger of a baulk from within. Dost know how the Romans conquered the world? I bade thee study my Csar in thy leisure moments." "By power to command, Master?" "Nay, boy, but by power to obey. Their forces moved as one man, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925106 | as a grand machine, and so they carried the Roman eagles to all the known world. There's the model of a Roman soldier in that big Book yonder. He says to his Sovereign Lord, 'Give not yourself the inconvenience of coming to heal my servant, but send some spirit to carry the command. I know how it is; I also | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925107 | am under the commands of my general, and men are under 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 the model of a soldier for you, John Alden; perfect obedience rendered, perfect obedience expected, perfect faith in the commander-in-chief. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925108 | Now, then, off upon your errand, sir, and mind you tarry not at the Elder's house. There is no errand there." The shallop's first port was Nauset, and here, although the corn was obtained and loaded without difficulty, a thief stole some clothes from the boat while it was for the moment unguarded; and finding mild words of no avail | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925109 | in their recovery, Standish sought Aspinet, who was encamped at a little distance from the shore, and refusing all hospitality or friendly conversation roundly announced that unless the missing articles were restored without delay he should at once make sail for Plymouth and declare war upon the whole tribe. Marching down to his boat closely followed by Alden the captain | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925110 | suddenly paused 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 as thou wilt." "But, Captain, so far as I heard the governor's command it was only to fetch some corn," suggested | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925111 | Alden slyly. "All else was left at your discretion, as indeed all matters military are. Such was the tenor of the vote that made you our Captain." "Come, now, John, that's not ill thought on; that's not so dull as might be," replied the captain glancing merrily at his follower. "Thou 'st been studying under Winslow as well as Standish. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925112 | Well, then, let us wait and see what comes of my roar." An hour later as the boat's crew sat around their camp-fire eating their frugal dinner, the sound of many feet was heard breaking through the neighboring thickets, and Standish with a glance at Alden said quietly,-- "Stand to your arms, men, but softly and without offense until we | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925113 | see the need. The savages are in force." But as it turned out the force was but a guard of honor to Aspinet, who came in state, followed by two women bringing the stolen coats elaborately bound around with gayly colored withes; these they at once took on board and laid in the cuddy, while Aspinet improving upon Tisquantum's former | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925114 | lessons as to the mode of saluting sovereigns seized upon Standish's hand, and much to his disgust licked it from wrist to fingers, at the same time bending his knee in uncouth genuflection. "Enough, enough, Aspinet," exclaimed the captain half laughing, half revolted at the homage. "The coats are returned I see"-- "And I have much beaten him who took | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925115 | them," averred Aspinet complacently. "And Aspinet is the friend of the white men though all other Indians turn against them." "Why, that is well, sachem," replied Standish, who was already able to converse freely with the red men in their own tongue. "Keep you to that mind, and hold your tribe to it, and no harm's done. And now men, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925116 | all aboard, and we will be off." With a fair wind the shallop soon made Barnstable or Mattachiest, and here Iyanough (or Janno) met them on landing with protestations of welcome so profuse and unusual that the captain was at once upon his guard, especially as he noticed among the crowd many new faces which he was confident belonged to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925117 | Massachusetts Indians. Night falling before the corn could be loaded, and ice making so suddenly as to freeze the shallop in before she fairly floated, the captain was obliged to accept an 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925118 | quick eye surprised a glance between one of the strangers and a Pamet Indian called Kamuso, who had always appeared to be one of the warmest friends of the white men, but in whose manner to-night Standish felt something of treachery and evil intention. And he was right, for Kamuso had been won over to the conspiracy beginning with the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925119 | Narragansetts and extending all the way down the Cape, and so soon as runners from the Nausets had warned the Mattakees that Standish and a small crew were about to land among them, it was agreed 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. Janno himself would | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925120 | fain have spared Standish, with whom he had ever been on friendly terms; but Kamuso so wrought upon the Mattakee warriors that their sachem was forced either to drop the reins altogether or to suffer his unruly steeds to take their own course. Like Pontius Pilate he chose the latter course, and to his own destruction. Before the pinnace was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925121 | anchored, the plan of the massacre was fully laid, and Kamuso had claimed the glory of killing The Sword with his own hand. But the subtle instinct which was Standish's sixth sense warned him of some unknown danger, and having carefully inspected the wigwam offered to his use, he directed that the fire newly kindled outside the door should be | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925122 | extinguished; and while the Indians officiously busied themselves in doing this, the captain by a word, a look, a sign, drew his men inside the hut, and rapidly conveyed to them his suspicions, and enjoined the greatest caution upon all. "The fire would have bewrayed our forms to archers hidden in yonder thicket," added he. "And as I will have | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925123 | half to watch while the others sleep, the watch must keep themselves under shelter of the cabin and away from any chance of ambush." Murmurs of wrath, of wonder, but of acquiescence arose from the half dozen bearded throats around, and the captain at once set the watch, to be relieved every two hours. In vain Janno offered another wigwam | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925124 | if this were too small, and urged that all his white brothers should sleep at once while his own men watched; in vain Kamuso tried to attach himself 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925125 | to retire to his own wigwam and to order his braves to do the same, for some of the white men as he averred were given to discharging their pieces in their sleep, or at any shadow that came within range, and it might happen that some of his friends should thus come by harm, which would be a great | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925126 | grief to him. "The Sword has pierced our intention," said Janno to Kamuso in their own tongue as the two withdrew. "Better give it up. He has eyes all around him." "I will kill him," retorted Kamuso sullenly. "To-night, to-morrow, next week,--I will kill him." The next day so soon as the shallop floated and was loaded Standish embarked, sick | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925127 | at heart as he received the slavish homage of Janno, whom he had liked and trusted so much, and who even while he yielded to the plot for the captain's death and that of all his friends really clung to him in love and reverence. Poor Janno, weak but not wicked, his punishment was both swift and stern; for fleeing | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925128 | a little later from the vengeance of the white men, he perished miserably among the swamps and thickets of Barnstable, and his lonely grave was only lately discovered. Go and look at his bones in Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth and muse upon the dangers of cowardice and weakness. As the shallop pushed off from shore, an Indian came running down | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925129 | the beach, 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 the pinnace. A sudden spark kindled in the captain's red-brown eyes and one hand tugged impatiently at his moustache, but he said nothing, and the Indian proceeded to make himself useful in a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925130 | variety of ways; and as the wind was favorable and the distance short, Standish made no open objection to the company of the spy, but busied himself with freshly charging his weapons, and curiously examining every inch of Gideon's shining blade. A little after noon the shallop made the harbor of Sandwich, or as the Pilgrims called it Manomet, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925131 | Standish at once went ashore, eager to see if Canacum shared in the wide-spread disaffection of the Indians. But ten minutes in the sachem's wigwam convinced the wary observer that something was wrong, for the old friendliness of manner had given place to restraint and formality; and although Canacum was very ready to deliver the corn, and professed great pleasure | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925132 | at the captain's visit, his voice and manner were both cold and false, and such of his braves as came into the wigwam showed a very different face from what Standish had hitherto encountered. Suddenly a sound was heard without, and as the captain sprang to his feet and laid his hand upon Gideon's hilt, the door-mat was thrust aside, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925133 | and two Indians recognized by their paint as Neponsets entered the cabin. Canacum received them with effusive cordiality, and presented the principal one to Standish as Wituwamat a pniese of the Neponsets. Standish received the careless salutation of the new-comer in silent gravity, and stepping to the door summoned Howland and Alden to his side, first however sending a message | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925134 | to the boat-keepers to be well on guard against a surprise. Returning into the hut with his two friends, the captain found Wituwamat upon his feet beginning an impassioned harangue to Canacum, who listened uneasily. Standish was already an excellent Indian scholar, and could converse in several dialects with great ease; but so soon as he appeared Wituwamat fell into | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925135 | a style so figurative and blind, and took pains to use such unusual and obsolete expressions, that Canacum himself could hardly understand him, and Standish was soon left hopelessly in the background. At a later day, however, one of the warriors then present repeated to the captain the amount of the Neponset's message, which was that Obtakiest, sachem of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925136 | Neponsets, had entered into a solemn compact with Canonicus, sachem of the Narragansetts, to cut off the Weymouth colonists, root and branch; but that as the Plymouth men would assuredly revenge their brethren, it was necessary that they should perish as well, and that while the two chiefs mentioned advanced upon the settlement from the west, they invited Canacum, Janno, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925137 | and Aspinet to fall upon them from the east, and having slain man and boy to equably divide the women and other plunder. As earnest of his authority Wituwamat here presented Canacum with a knife stolen or bought from the Weymouth settlers, and jeeringly said the coward pale faces had brought over the weapons that should cut their own throats. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925138 | Having thus delivered his message, the Neponset indulged himself in a burst of self-glorification, boasting that he had in his day killed both 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925139 | Howland in the captain's ear, but he shaking his head impatiently replied,-- "He means violence and treachery of some sort, but what form it takes I wot not. Be on your guard, John." The harangue ended, refreshments were served, but the Neponsets were now treated with so much more courtesy and attention than the white men that Standish refusing the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925140 | poorer portion offered to him and his comrades, rose and indignantly left the cabin, ordering his men to construct a shelter near the beach, and there cook some of the provisions they had brought. But they had hardly begun to do this when Kamuso appeared, full of indignant protests at Canacum's inhospitality, and loudly declaring that an affront to his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925141 | friends was an affront to him, and he should desert the wigwam where the red men were feasting, and share the humbler fare 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, for his suspicions in falling upon Canacum had in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925142 | some degree lifted from Kamuso, who certainly played his part with wonderful skill, and had he been white instead of red, and civilized instead of savage, might have left his name on record as a diplomatist beside that of Machiavelli or Ignatius Loyola. "A kettle! My brother would like a kettle!" exclaimed he now. "Nay, a friend of mine hath | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925143 | one which I will buy of him and present to The Sword. 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-sized brass kettle, which he ostentatiously laid at the captain's feet, refusing the handful of beads Standish offered in return. "Hm!" growled the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925144 | captain. "That's not in nature. Alden use the kettle an' thou wilt, but after, return it to the Pamet. We'll not have them making a Benjamin's sack of our shallop." After dinner Standish so peremptorily demanded that his corn should at once be put aboard that Canacum could do nothing but yield. The squaws were summoned, and John Alden stood | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925145 | by with pencil and paper, keeping tally as each delivered her basket-full on the beach, while Howland standing 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 to another. "And I, and I, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925146 | my brother!" exclaimed Kamuso in his loud braggadocio manner as he awkwardly lifted a third. "Never in all my life have I done squaw's work, for I am a brave, I am a pniese, but what my brother does I do." "Nay, 't is too much honor!" replied Standish with his grimmest smile; "especially as thou art somewhat awkward"-- And | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925147 | in effect the Pamet as he tried to swing the full basket off his shoulder 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, and night coming on, the captain decided to camp once more upon the beach, refusing somewhat curtly the pressing invitation | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925148 | sent by Canacum that the white men should sleep in his house. And once more Kamuso loudly proclaimed that he was of the white men's party and should share their quarters wherever they might be. Standish silently permitted him to do as he would, but, as on the previous evening, he divided the little company into watches, one to sleep | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925149 | 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 knife sent by Obtakiest." "Here it is, brother, and when it is red with the blood of The Sword it shall be thine own. Else it returns to him who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925150 | sends it." "It shall be red, it shall drink, it shall drip with the brave blood, it shall shine as the sun rising across the waters! It shall feast, and Kamuso shall be chief of Obtakiest's pnieses; yes, he shall be sachem of the Massachusetts!" Wituwamat made no reply in words, but as he turned away shivered heavily. Perhaps a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925151 | premonition of his own terrible fate crossed his brain, perhaps the hooting of the owl just then skimming across the thicket stirred his superstitious fancy, but without a word he rentered the wigwam; and Kamuso concealing the knife went back to the randevous, where already the first watch slept, and Standish, in command of the second, stood beside the fire | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925152 | leaning on his snaphance, and, deep in meditation fixed his eyes upon the approaching savage so sternly that he believing that all was discovered was on the point of springing at his prey, and risking all upon one sudden blow, when the captain, awaking from his reverie, sighed profoundly, and perceiving for the first time Kamuso's approach quietly said,-- "So | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925153 | it is thee, Pamet! Go back and sleep warm in the wigwams of the Mattakees. We need no help here." "Kamuso is no Mattakee; Kamuso is the friend of the white men. While The Sword wakes, Kamuso will gaze upon him and learn how to become the terror of his foes." "'T is easier to be the terror of one's | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925154 | foes than the delight of one's friends," muttered Standish gloomily, and then pulling himself together he stirred the embers with his heel, and throwing on more wood said carelessly,-- "E'en as thou wilt. Kamuso, go or stay, watch or sleep, 't is all one to me." And marching up and down the strip of level beach the soldier hummed an | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925155 | old ballad song of Man, which Rose had loved to sing, and clean forgot the savage who, crouching in the shadow, fingered the knife hilt hidden in his waist cloth, and never removed the gaze of his snaky eyes from the figure of his destined prey. The night went on, and Standish waked the second watch and dismissed the first, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925156 | but still himself took no rest, nor felt the need of it, as he paced up and down, his outward senses alert to the smallest sign, and his memory roaming at will over scenes for many years forgot; over boyhood's eager days, his mother's tenderness, his father's death upon a French battle-field, his own early days as a soldier, his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925157 | home-coming to find Barbara acting a daughter's part to the dying mother--Rose--ah Rose! He stood a moment at the point of his promenade furthest from the randevous, his back to the fire, his gaze fixed upon the sea whose lapping waves seemed whispering with sobbing sighs, Rose!--Rose!--Rose!-- A faint sound upon the shingle caught the outward ear of the soldier, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925158 | and wheeling instinctively he faced the Pamet, who with his hand upon the hilt of the dagger had crept up to within six feet of his victim, and already had selected the spot between those square shoulders where the fatal blow should be planted. "Ha savage! What does this mean! Why are you tracking me!" demanded the captain angrily, but | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925159 | the wily Indian, instead of starting back and betraying himself by terror, advanced quietly, not even removing his hand from the hidden knife hilt, and answered smoothly in his own tongue,-- "The red man's moccason sounds not upon the sand as the white man's boot. I did but come to ask my lord if he will not rest at all. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925160 | Midnight is long past, and the day must bring its labors. Will not The Sword sheath for a while his intolerable splendor in sleep, while his slave watches for him?" "Why, Kamuso, thou 'rt more than eloquent! Pity but thou shouldst be trained, and brought to London to show off before the King!" laughed Standish. "But sleep and I have | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925161 | quarreled for to-night. I know not how it is, but never after a sound night's rest did I feel more fresh and on the alert. Go thou and sleep if thou 'rt sleepy, but come not creeping after me again, or I'll send thee packing! I like not such surprises." "The will of my lord is the will of his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925162 | slave," meekly replied Kamuso, and crept back to his former sheltered nook beside the fire. The chill March night grew on toward morning, the east reddened with an angry glare, the solemn stars wheeled on their appointed courses, and Mars, who had held the morning watch, gave way to Sol, bidding him have a care of his son, whom he | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925163 | had left gazing with sleepless eyes across the waters to the East. "Up, men! 'T is morning at last, and surely never was a night so long as this. 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 and active. Kamuso, his face | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925164 | black with sullen rage, retreated to the wigwams to confess his defeat to Wituwamat and Canacum, who listening said quietly,-- "His totem is too strong for us. The Sword will never fall before the tomahawk." "It is because he is so strong that Obtakiest took a knife of the white man's make and use, and sent it. The powah that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925165 | charmed the weapons of The Sword may have charmed this knife also." And Kamuso drawing the Weymouth knife from his belt regarded it with disgust for a moment, then thrusting it back into his belt doggedly declared,-- "But all is not over. Wait, my brothers, wait for the end, and then say if Kamuso is a fool." As the pinnace | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925166 | drew out of Manomet Harbor Standish for the first time perceived 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?" asked the Indian, an air of humble sympathy pervading his voice and manner. "Nay. If the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925167 | famine we forebode is upon us we need twice, thrice, as much as this, before the harvest not yet sown is ready for use." "For that then is Kamuso here. At Nauset, Aspinet hath great store of corn hidden from the white men, but it is not his alone, it is mine, it is the tribe's, it is The Sword's. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925168 | Let my lord come to Nauset and I will have his canoe filled to the brim, there shall not be room to put in one grain more--Kamuso says it." "Hm! That would be a matter of fifty bushels or more," replied Standish literally. "What say you, Howland? What is your mind, men?" Various brief replies showed that the mind of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925169 | the crew was to obey the captain's orders, and after a moment's thought he muttered to Howland in Dutch,-- "I like not this fellow's carriage. He is too smooth to be honest, and yet what can one wretched savage do against seven men armed and on their watch? But pass the word among the rest to be wary, and Alden, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925170 | I leave it in charge to thee, lad, in case the savage treacherously smites me as I think he meant last night, do thou avenge me." "He'll not breathe thrice after his blow, Master," replied Alden in his deepest tones. "Well said, lad; but gentle thy face and eke thy voice, or he'll suspect. Now then, lads, put her before | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925171 | this western wind, and ho for Nauset once more!" The command was obeyed, but lo the wind, which had since sunrise blown softly from the south of west making a fair breeze for Nauset near the end of the Cape, now suddenly hauled round with angry gusts and gathering mists, until it stood in the northeast right in the teeth | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925172 | of the shallop's course, while every sign of sky and sea foreboded a gathering storm. "His totem is too strong," muttered the Pamet in his throat, and the hand beneath his garment clinching the handle of the dagger seized with it a handful of his own flesh and gripped it savagely, while in silence he called upon his gods for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925173 | help. But none came, more than to the priests of Baal what time Elijah jeered them, and after a brief consultation with his crew Standish once more altered his course, and the pinnace with double-reefed sails flew before the rising wind like a hunted creature to her covert, bearing The-Sword-of-the-White-Men safely to his post. . A POT OF BROTH. Yes, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925174 | a Pot of Broth, and one more classic than any black broth ever supped by Spartan; more pregnant of Fate than the hell-broth compounded by Macbeth's witches; broth in which was brewed the destiny of a great nation, broth but for whose brewing I certainly, and you, if you be of Pilgrim strain, had never been, for in its seething | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925175 | liquid was dissolved a wide-spread and most powerful conspiracy that in its fruition would have left Plymouth Rock a funeral monument in a field of blood. Hardly an hour after the pinnace had landed its passengers at the Rock, and the Pamet, sullenly declining farther hospitality, had proceeded on his way to meet Obtakiest and report his ill success, when | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925176 | Winslow with John Hampden and Hobomok entered the village from the north, sore spent with travel and scanty food, but laden with matter of the profoundest interest. A Council of the chiefs, including nearly all of the Mayflower men, was immediately called together in the Common house, now used altogether for these assemblages and for divine worship, and first Standish | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925177 | and then Winslow were called upon for their reports. The captain's was given with military brevity. "I have brought a hundred bushels of corn and all the men I carried away. The savages are no doubt disaffected, and a notorious blood-thirsty rascal called Wituwamat, a Neponset, brought Canacum a knife wherewith to kill some one, and I fancy 't is | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925178 | myself; but though he impudently delivered both knife and message in my presence, he so wrapped up his meaning in new and strange phrases, that I could make but little of it. Perhaps Master Winslow can read my riddle as well as tell his own story." "Methinks I can, Captain," replied Winslow pleasantly; and then in smooth and polished phrase | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925179 | bearing such resemblance to Standish's rough and brief utterances as a rapier doth to a battle-axe, the future Grand Commissioner narrated how he had found Massasoit as it seemed already dying, for he could neither see, nor swallow either medicine or food. The sachem's wigwam was so crowded with visitors that the white men could scarcely edge their way in, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925180 | and around the bed circled the powahs at their incantations, "making," said Winslow, "such a hellish noise as distempered us that were well, and was therefore unlike to ease him that was sick." This ended, and about half the guests persuaded to withdraw, the dying chief was with difficulty made to understand who were his visitors, and feebly groping with | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925181 | his hand he faintly murmured,-- "_Winsnow, keen Winsnow?_" (Is it you Winsnow?) To which Winslow gently replied, grasping the cold hand,-- "It is Winslow who is come to see you, sachem." "I shall never see thee again, Winsnow," muttered the dying man, and those standing by explained that the sight had left his eyes some hours before. But Winslow, after | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925182 | patiently repeating over and over the message of sympathy and friendship delivered him by the governor, produced a little pot of what he calls a confection of many comfortable conserves, and with the point of his knife inserted a portion between the sick man's teeth. "It will kill him! He cannot swallow," declared the favorite wife, who stood chafing her | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925183 | lord's hands; but presently as the conserve, prepared by Doctor Fuller and of rare virtue, melted, it trickled down the patient's throat, who presently whispered, "More!" and Winslow well pleased administered several doses. Then, finding the mouth whose muscles had now relaxed, foul with fever, this courtly and haughty gentleman, this necessity of the Lord Protector of England, this Grand | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925184 | Commissioner of the future, with his own hands performed a nurse's loathly work, and ceased not until the sachem, refreshed, relieved, rescued from death, was able to ask for drink, when Hampden prepared some of the confection with water, and Winslow administered it. All night this work went on, and when morning broke, the sick man could see and hear | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925185 | and swallow as well as ever he could, and his appetite returning he demanded broth such as he had tasted at Plymouth. Now that especial broth was a delicious compound of Priscilla's compounding, and Winslow knew no more of its recipe than you or I do, nor were any materials such as should go to the making of white man's | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925186 | broth at hand. Worst of all, Winslow had never taken note or share in culinary labors, for Susanna was a notable housewife and had both men and maids at her command; but a willing mind is a powerful teacher, and not only Winslow the man, was full of Christian charity, but Winslow the statesman desired intensely that Massasoit should remain | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925187 | sachem of the Pokanokets, instead of making way for Corbitant, who had once declared his enmity to the white men, and had only been put down by the strong hand. So Winslow leaving his patient for a moment went into the fresh air, both to revive himself and to write a hasty note, begging Doctor Fuller to send not only | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925188 | some medicine suited to the case, but a pair of chickens, and a recipe for making them into broth, with such other material as might be needed. Fifty miles of forest lay between Sowams and Plymouth, but a swift runner was dispatched at once with the missive, and the promise of a rich reward if he hastened his return; then | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925189 | Winslow turned to his fellow-statesman who stood looking on with an amused smile. "Master Hampden, know you how to make broth?" demanded he. "I have no teaching but mother wit," replied Hampden. "And you are richer in that than I." "Nay then--here Pibayo, is that thy name?" "Ahhe," replied the squaw modestly. "Thou hast corn in store?" "Ahhe," again replied | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925190 | the woman, and Winslow making the most of his little stock of Indian words directed her to bruise some of the maize in her stone mortar, and meantime calling for one of the egg-shaped earthen stew-pans used by the natives, he half filled it with water, and settled it into the hot ashes of the open air fire. The maize | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925191 | ready, he winnowed it in his hands, blowing away the husks and chaff, and poured the rest into the boiling water. "So far well," remarked he gayly to Hampden; "but what next? I remember in the garden of our home at Droitwich there was a gay plot of golden bloom that my mother called broth marigolds, but we shall hardly | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925192 | come by such in this wilderness." "Methinks there are turnips in broth," ventured Hampden. "And there are turnips in Plymouth, but that is not here," retorted Winslow. "Come, let us see what herbs Dame Nature will afford." A little search and some questioning showed the herbalists a goodly bush of sassafras, and Winslow, who with the rest of his generation | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925193 | ascribed almost magical virtues to this plant, enthusiastically tugged up several of its roots, and cleansing them in the brook, sliced them thinly into his broth. Finally he added a handful of strawberry leaves, the only green thing to be found, and leaving the mess to stew for a while, he strained it through his handkerchief, and presented it to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925194 | his patient who eagerly drank a pint of it. Perhaps there really is magic in sassafras, perhaps the child of nature throve upon this strictly Pre-Raphaelitish composition, perhaps Indian gruel with strawberry leaves in it and strained through a pocket handkerchief is the disguise under which the Elixir Vit masquerades among us; certain it is that beneath its benign influence | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925195 | the sachem of the Pokanokets revived so rapidly that when, twenty-four hours from his departure, the runner arrived with the chickens and the physic, his master frankly threw the physic to the dogs, and handed over the fowls to Pibayo, bidding her guard them carefully, feed them well, and order them to lay eggs and provide chickens for future illnesses. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925196 | So this was the fateful broth of which we spoke but now, and its results were immediate, for although Massasoit himself said nothing more than,-- "Now I perceive that the English are my friends and love me, and while I live I will never forget this kindness that they have showed me," he in a private conclave with some of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925197 | his most trusted pnieses solemnly charged Hobomok with a message for Winslow, only to be delivered however as upon their return they came within sight of Plymouth. This message, to hear which the Council had been convened, was to the effect that the Neponsets had fully determined to fall upon the Weymouth settlers and cut them off root and branch | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925198 | so soon as two of them, who were ship-carpenters, had completed some boats they were now building to the order of the Indians. The forty braves of the Neponset tribe were fully equal to this task, and if the Plymouth Colony would remain neutral they had no desire to injure them; but knowing full well that they would not, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012925199 | having moreover a superstitious dread of Standish's prowess and abilities, they had arranged with all the tribes lying near Plymouth to join with them, and on an appointed day to massacre the entire colony. "Ay, ay," interrupted Standish at this point of Winslow's narrative. "Now do I comprehend some of the figures and parables of Wituwamat's impudent speech, what time | 60 | gutenberg |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.