The Knight of the Golden Melice Part 47

"Does he know the occasions of Soog-u-gest's frequent absences from home?"

"He hunted sometimes with Sa.s.sacus," was the answer.

"And what knows he of the woman?"

"She is the sister of Soog-u-gest."

"Is she not his wife?" demanded Dudley.

But Sa.s.sacus, merely shaking his head, made no reply.

"The proud savage disdains to answer your question, Master Dudley,"

observed Endicott, with a smile.

"Nay," answered Dudley. "It is because he cannot deny it."

"We will see," said Winthrop; and he put the question.

It was as Endicott (better acquainted from his longer residence in the country than the others with the feelings of the natives) had suggested, for now Sa.s.sacus spoke without hesitation.

"Soog-u-gest is the woman's brother. His wigwam is large. The woman and Neebin, the little sister of Sa.s.sacus, live in one part, and Soog-u-gest and his men in the other."

An expression of great astonishment was visible in the faces of the members of the Council, as Sa.s.sacus avowed his relations.h.i.+p to the little girl, but nothing was said. The thoughtful countenance of Winthrop became still more grave, and a moment or two pa.s.sed before he asked the next question.

"Why did Sa.s.sacus give away his own sister?"

"He gave her not away. She was to remain to learn the wisdom of the white man, as the little bird stays in the nest until it is strong enough to fly."

Another pause ensued, for the reply of the Sagamore had furnished pregnant matter for thought, until the silence was broken by the voice of Winthrop.

"Why did Sa.s.sacus attack my people, and kill two of my men?"

"A superfluous question, after what we have heard," said Sir Richard Saltonstall.

"Nevertheless, it is involved in the purpose for which the Indian was brought before us, and he shall have the benefit of a reply, Sir Richard," answered the Governor.

"Is it an earnest question the white chief asks," demanded the Pequot chief. "Why does the bear attack the hunter who has robbed her of her cubs? Shall Sa.s.sacus love Neebin less than a bear its cub? Owanux burned the lodge of my friend. They seized his sister and Neebin, and carried them away, and their chief asks why Sa.s.sacus fought for his friends, and for the daughter of many Sachems! What white man ever before was hurt by Sa.s.sacus? Who ever came to his lodge, and he set not a meal before him? Who ever was tired, and Sa.s.sacus gave him not a skin whereon to lay his limbs? When the white chief burns our lodges, and carries away captive our women and children in the dark, must Sa.s.sacus run with a bowl of succotash to refresh him, after his great victory?"

"A shrewd retort withal, and, according to the law of nature, and of the woods, an all-sufficient justification," said Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had been opposed to the plan to capture the Knight from the beginning.

"And yet none other than I expected," said Winthrop, whose generous design in allowing the chief to exculpate himself in his own way was only now understood. "Gentlemen," he added, desirous to take advantage of the favorable impression produced by the Sagamore's reply, "what remains but to remand our prisoner, unless it be your intention to discharge him in consideration of the provocation, and that he can hardly be said to be as fully amenable to our laws as they who understand what these laws are."

"I desire to express my hearty astonishment," exclaimed Deputy Dudley, "at the extraordinary proposition of the Governor. The consequences which lie hid therein are horrible. Are our friends, engaged in the execution of our orders, to be slaughtered with impunity, and thus others to be encouraged to like atrocities?"

"Blood for blood," thundered Endicott. "If that of Abel fell not to the ground unavenged, though the slayer knew no law, save that written in his heart, to forbid the deed, so now may not this savage escape.

Besides, the example were impolitic, as hath been already set forth."

Similar opinions were uttered by almost all of the a.s.sistants, being none other than antic.i.p.ated by the wily Governor, who meant not what he said, but desired to mitigate the severer counsels of his a.s.sociates.

During these remarks, a conversation in a low tone had been pa.s.sing betwixt the Sagamore and Samoset.

"Has the heart of Samoset turned white?" asked the Pequot.

"Samoset is an Indian," replied the interpreter, "and his heart is red."

"Has he forgotten the time when, with Sa.s.sacus and his Paniese, he drank of the Shetucket, where it bounds into the river of the Pequots, when he was thirsty with driving the Narraghansetts over the hills, like leaves chased by the wind?"

"Samoset has not forgotten."

"Does he powah with Owanux, or is he true to the faith of his fathers?"

"The feet of Samoset will chase the deer and the bear over the happy hunting grounds, whither his fathers have gone. He would not know what to do in the heaven of Owanux."

"Then is not Samoset my brother, and lies he not close to the heart of Sa.s.sacus, as a pappoose nestles up to its mother?"

"Samoset will do the bidding of the great Sagamore," said the interpreter, antic.i.p.ating what was to follow.

"Go then, my friend, my brother, terror of the Narraghansetts, praise of the valiant Pequots, and find Soog-u-gest. Tell him that the blood of Sa.s.sacus is running away, like water from an overturned vessel, and that soon all will be spilled, unless he comes to set up the vessel.

Tell him to come quickly, and deliver the great Sagamore of the Pequots, and his sister, and the young man with eyes like the sky."

"The feet of the blue eyes are free," said Samoset. "I saw him only a little while ago."

"Good!" said the chief. "Then seek first my young friend, for he loves Sa.s.sacus, and tell him, and do what he says. But if they cannot help, fly, like the swallow over the hills and streams, to the hunting grounds of my tribe, and say to my people that their Sachem is a wolf in a trap, and Neebin a slave to Owanux."

"What says he?" inquired Endicott, whose attention had been attracted by the longer speech, and somewhat raised tone of the Sagamore's voice.

"He says," answered Samoset, drawing readily on his invention, "that a great Sachem ought not to be put into a box for killing wolves who run into his wigwam."

A pleased expression lighted up the face of the captive chief at the answer, which he perfectly understood, as indeed he had much that had been spoken. His avoiding to use the English language, as through ignorance, having had for him, at least, the advantage of putting his examiners off their guard, and inducing them to speak more freely in his hearing. The tone of Samoset's voice, and the reply, satisfied the Pequot that he was secure of the interpreter's fidelity, and he stretched out both his arms, as though grasping his recovered liberty.

Endicott bent his brow at the reply, as a suspicion darted through his jealous mind; but the stolid mien of the Indian, who bore the look as if he had been a statue carved out of the heart of the cedars of his native hills, baffled his penetration.

"Why do I distrust him?" he murmured, under his thick moustache. "Yet is distrust the mother of safety, and in our situation a duty."

"Let him return now," said Winthrop, "and take order that every comfort be supplied consistent with safe keeping. n.o.ble Sa.s.sacus," he added, "it grieves me that we meet and part thus."

The savage, who, through the whole interview, could not mistake the favorable sentiments of Winthrop, answered as before, in his own Pequot tongue.

"Sa.s.sacus understands the thoughts of chiefs, for he is one himself.

The voice of the long knife (alluding to the rapier worn by Winthrop) is not so unpleasant to him as those of these counsellors, and he hopes that what he is about to say will be listened to as the words of a great Sagamore. Sa.s.sacus is very tired of lying in a box, but not afraid to die. Let him depart to his own country, or if the white chief will kill, let him, with his long knife, pierce the bosom of Sa.s.sacus, for the blood of a chief should be shed by a chief."

"It may not be, n.o.ble savage," said Winthrop, mournfully. "Such is not our custom. Yet be not cast down, but rely upon our justice."

The withdrawal of the captives was a signal for the discussion of what had been elicited by their examination. It had confirmed suspicions before entertained, and more than that, revealed an intimacy betwixt the Knight and Pequots, a warlike and restless, though not numerous tribe, which filled the minds of the a.s.sistants with apprehension. If the influence of Sir Christopher (whom not one doubted to be a Catholic) extended as far as they suspected, he might make himself a formidable enemy. He had been able to induce the chief of the Pequots to intrust to him his own sister, to be taught the Catholic faith, doubtless intending to make her conversion the means of extending among the tribes the superst.i.tions of Popery. The success of the plan was fraught with danger to the colony, for the new religion would be a means of reconciling the differences of the tribes, and binding them together, in a common union with the Eastern Indians, already much under the influence of the Romish priests. Favored secretly or openly by the French government, which they were sure to be, and supplied with fire-arms, they might become too powerful to be resisted, and, reversing the campaign of the Israelites in the wilderness, drive out those who had intruded into their Canaan, only themselves to fall finally a prey to the French, and to have one form of idolatry subst.i.tuted for another. Sternly frowned Dudley, and grimly stroked Endicott his tufted chin, as they revolved such thoughts, and inly vowed, as they trusted in the G.o.d of Jacob, that such things should not be. The conclusion to which the council came, was that the Pequot and the woman should be detained in custody until the Knight was taken, whose capture they considered not difficult, and that then the fate of the three should be decided.

As for Samoset, he sought Arundel at the earliest opportunity when he could do so unnoticed, and acquainted him with the message of the chief. With this coadjutor it was easy to establish a communication with his friends in the forest, the consequences of which will presently be seen.