The Knight of the Golden Melice Part 39

"How can it be a fire?" said Ephraim Pike, who had contrived to join the band without his absence being noticed, after accomplis.h.i.+ng his purpose. "There is nothing in that direction but the house we just left, and sure it cannot be that."

"I know not," said Spikeman. "It may be the work of the desperate man whom we failed to take, and who has done the deed, in order to throw disgrace in some sort on us."

"That is a strange supposition," said Lieutenant Venn. "A man would hardly be likely to destroy his own property."

"Not without some malicious design, I grant ye; but that were motive sufficient with Sir Christopher. Besides, what is it he would burn up but a heap of old logs, whose whole value could scarcely exceed ten pounds?"

By this time the fire had gained such an ascendancy over the building, as to throw a light which could no longer be mistaken, and all were satisfied that it must proceed from the habitation of the Knight. The majority of the men adopted, without reflection, the idea thrown out by the wily a.s.sistant, but there were others who were unable to satisfy themselves as easily.

CHAPTER XXVII.

When the King of Tars saw that sight, Wood he was for wrath aplight: In hand he hent a spear, And to the Soudan he rode full right; With a dunt of much might, Adown he gan him bear.

OLD ENGLISH METRICAL ROMANCE.

Only the accidental absence of the Knight saved him from the indignity to which his household was subjected. Well were the measures of his enemies taken, and the time chosen, for it was reasonable to suppose, that after so long a journey, he would certainly be found at his domicile the first night. His erratic habits were well known, and it was this knowledge which induced the choice of the time for the arrest, and indeed had a.s.sisted to deepen suspicions, in a suspicious community, against him. It would not have suited the purposes of Spikeman to wait, and thus afford the Knight an opportunity to present himself in town. He chose to bring in Sir Christopher as a criminal, knowing that having committed his a.s.sociates thus far, to an act of violence, they would not be likely to rest until they had expelled Sir Christopher from the colony.

At the time Spikeman was rifling his house, and injuriously treating its inmates, the Knight, unsuspicious of harm, was lying in the wigwam of Sa.s.sacus, which was distant but a mile or two from his own residence. Lying on his side, with his head supported on one hand by the elbow resting on the ground, he was addressing the Sagamore, who, seated in Indian fas.h.i.+on, with the soothing pipe at his lips, was listening to his discourse. A flickering fire sent up now and then a bright flame, by means of which the two became ever and anon more distinctly discernible to each other, while in the intervals, there was only light enough to distinguish the outlines of their persons.

Even through the studied apathy of the Pequot, it was obvious that the subject possessed considerable interest for him, for occasionally he would remove his pipe from his mouth, and gaze fixedly on the ground, as if lost in profound thought.

"Wonderful, O chief," he said, after the Knight had ceased speaking, "are the things which thou hast told, and I believe, because the white men are very strange, and I have never caught thee in a lie. Truly, as thou sayest, are the red men children, and the white men exceed them in wisdom, even as the beaver the wolf. The wise beaver is warm in his lodge, when the wolf howls for hunger and cold in the forest. The white man is the beaver, and the red man the wolf. The Great Spirit made them so, for so it pleased him, and so they must remain."

"Nay," said the Knight. "There was a time when the white race was like thine own, without that knowledge which makes them so powerful."

"And can the chief say why the Great Spirit gave Owanux the wisdom which he denied to us?"

"That is a question I cannot answer, any more than why thy skin is red and mine white; but the Christian religion was the means whereby the change was effected."

"There is but one Great Spirit, who made all things," said Sa.s.sacus, solemnly, "and we wors.h.i.+p him as well as the white men. Lightnings are the glances of his eyes; thunder is his voice; the sun is the fire before his lodge, which he extinguishes when he sleeps, and the moon and stars are the sparks which fly up into the air when it goes out."

"Thou hast indeed, in some sort, a religion, for He hath not left even the most barbarous nations without some knowledge of himself, howbeit it is not unto wisdom. But it is only with his true religion that he has connected that acquaintance with himself, which makes men to advance in all that is worthy to be known here, and happy hereafter."

"Our wise men say," replied Sa.s.sacus, "that for the spirits of brave and just warriors there are happy hunting grounds, far away towards the setting sun, which the Indian travels to, over the white path in the middle of the sky, where deer, and elk, and bears never fail, and where the hunter is never tired, nor very hungry."

"Alas!" said the Knight; "these are but figments of the imagination--fond dreams as unsubstantial as morning mist, and deceitful as the wandering fire, which lures the ignorant traveller into the mora.s.s."

"O, wise chief," said Sa.s.sacus, "our tribes have also their traditions, and I know not why they may not be as true as thine. We do not think, as your powahs teach, that our traditions come from Hobbamocki, while yours all proceed from the Master of life."

"Hobbamocki is thy name for the Evil Spirit?"

"My brother has said it. Would he like to know how he was created?"

"I listen," said the Knight.

"A long, long time ago," said Sa.s.sacus, "the Master of Life, Kiehtan, went to a large flat island, in order to complete his work of creation. He there created a mult.i.tude of animals, some of which were so large that he was unable to control them. It is said that remains of gigantic beasts are still to be found upon the island, which were never finished. It was out of clay that Kiehtan formed the beasts, while the inferior manitos looked on and rejoiced in his labor. He made in the side of each animal an opening, whereinto he crept, and so warmed it into life. It the animals pleased him he permitted them to swim to the great pasture land, and to fill the woods; if they pleased him not, he first withdrew the life, and then turned them into clay again. Once he made so large a beast that he was afraid to give him life. There were also other smaller, to whom he gave not life, because he considered them not useful. Once he made a creature, in the form of a man, which he also rejected, but he forgot to take the life away from him, and this is the evil spirit, Hobbamocki."

"And thou believest this fable, as wild as ever sprung from the unbridled license of an Oriental story-teller?"

"Sa.s.sacus believes as the wise men of his nation believed, when he was a little pappoose, and as their fathers believed, when they were papooses, and as his people have always believed, for more summers than there are stars in the sky. But do not the white men believe in Hobbamocki?"

"They do, though they give him a different name," answered the Knight.

"He was a Great Spirit, who was expelled from heaven, or the happy hunting grounds, because of his wickedness."

"Was he not very happy there, and had all that he wanted?" inquired the Pequot.

"He was happy and preeminent above all other manitos in glory and power."

"How then became he wicked?"

"That is a question which our wise men have never been able to answer.

But he envied the greatness of the Master of Life, and desired to occupy his place."

"Can your Hobbamocki be in two places at once?"

"No. Being a created spirit, he is limited."

"It cannot be, then, that he was such a fool," said the chief, decisively. "Behold! the Master of Life is every where! He is like the air and the light. Manitos are very little things beside him, and all together cannot fill his place. Your powahs have deceived you, and told a foolish story of their own invention. No. Hobbamocki was vexed because the Great Spirit did not like him, and for that reason tries to revenge himself, by troubling those whom the Great Spirit loves."

"At least," said the Knight, "our two traditions agree in this--that there is an evil spirit, who injures and leads men into wickedness, and therein do thy legends confirm the truth of the Catholic religion."

"Do the people at Shawmut, under Sagamore Winthrop, believe in all things, as my brother?"

"Nay. They are heretics, and given over to believe a lie--from whom this land shall be taken, and bestowed as an heritage on others, who shall be the Indians' friends, and they shall all live together."

"Listen! My brother has spoken of this before, and Sa.s.sacus has thought much about it. It seems to me that when the Great Spirit spoke to the white men, they could not understand his words, but his voice was to them like the sighing of the wind among the trees, or the das.h.i.+ng of the green water on the sh.o.r.e, for they cannot agree about their religion. But the ears of the Indians were sharper, and they all understood alike, and therefore they do not differ about what the Master of Life said, and they also know better concerning Hobbamocki.

Has not my brother told me that the white men fight and kill one another about their religion?"

"Alas! it is too true," replied Sir Christopher.

"Indians never do so. Let us do a great thing," added Sa.s.sacus, his face suddenly kindling, as with the inspiration of a magnificent thought--"we will teach the English our religion, which we never fight about, because we know it to be true, and the English shall teach us how to build s.h.i.+ps, and make guns and powder; and, together, we will drive the Taranteens into the salt lake."

"It is in vain," said the Knight to himself, on hearing this extraordinary proposition. "He doth, ever in his childlike simplicity, say something to confound me. His untutored mind is yet incapable of receiving the mysteries of our holy religion, but, in lieu thereof, perpetually runs after the practical and immediate advantages of powder and guns. Direct the conversation as I may, this target doth it hit at last."

At this moment an Indian stepped into the lodge, and, uttering the word "fire!" accompanied by a gesture of the arm, retired.

The Knight and Sa.s.sacus sprung up, and, looking in the direction indicated, beheld the heavens all aglow with the conflagration.

"It is my lodge!" exclaimed Sir Christopher. "I will hasten thither instantly."

"Come with us, Towanquattick," said the Chief, calling to the Indian, and the three at once directed their course toward the dwelling of the Knight.

With all their haste, they did not reach it until the fire had made such progress that it was impossible to suppress it, or even save anything from the building. The flames were pouring out in billows from the doors and windows, and a moment after their arrival the roof fell in. They approached as near as the heat would permit, but were unable to distinguish anything in the interior, nor was a sound to be heard, save that of the rus.h.i.+ng flames and falling timbers. No one was present, except the three--the natives who lived near having retired deeper into the wood on the first alarm. Leaning on his gun, the Knight gazed sadly on the burning ruin, reflecting on what had probably become of its former occupants. If he had any doubts, they were soon dissipated by Sa.s.sacus, whose attention, with that of the other Indian, had been attracted by marks upon the ground which had escaped the notice of Sir Christopher. These plainly revealed to them by the light of the fire, the two, like well-bred hounds, had been examining in every direction, until, gathering together the various tracks into one trail, they had followed it into the wood. Returning to the Knight, and pointing out the traces, the chief said:

"Many Owanux have been here, and all are gone to Shawmut."