We have decided to exterminate the weak and starving colony at Weymouth. We are strong enough to do it any day. But we fear that the colony at Plymouth will avenge the death of their countrymen. It is therefore necessary to destroy both colonies. To do this we must unite our tribes against them. We now come to solicit your aid. The redoubtable Captain of the Plymouth colony is now with you, with six of his men. They can all easily be killed. This will make our work easy.[31] Canacum was evidently impressed by this speech. He neglected Captain Standish, and treated his Indian guest with marked distinction. A plot was formed for the assassination of the whole boat’s crew. The Indians stood in deadly fear of the muskets of the English, and did not dare approach the shallop with hostile intent. The Captain did not allow any armed men to draw near them. The Indians tried to lure them all on shore, saying that it was too cold for them to sleep in the shallop. They hoped to fall upon them, in sudden massacre, while asleep in the huts. With this purpose in their hearts they feigned great friendship, made presents to Captain Standish, and with alacrity aided in carrying corn to the shallop. The Captain evaded all their wiles, and a fair wind soon bore him back again to his friends. While he was absent, word came to Plymouth that Massasoit was very dangerously sick, and that his death was daily expected; and also that a Dutch ship had been driven ashore almost opposite his dwelling. It was a custom with the Indians that when any chief was sick, all his friends should hasten to visit him. In observance of this custom, and also to obtain some intercourse with the Dutch, and hoping also to secure the friendship of the neighboring sachems, it was decided that Mr. Winslow and Mr. Hampden, with Hobbomak as a guide, should visit the dying chief at his home in Paomet. It was a perilous journey in the then unsettled state of affairs. It was not known who of the Indians were friendly, and who were hostile. The death of Massasoit might bring the hostile party into power, and then there would be hardly a possibility that the two envoys could escape with their lives. Hobbomak, who had embraced Christianity, and was apparently a consistent Christian, seemed to be deeply grieved in view of the death of his chief. He said to Mr. Winslow, “I shall never see his like again. He was no liar; he was not bloody and cruel, like other Indians. In anger and passion he was soon reclaimed. He was easy to be reconciled to those who had offended him. Ruled by reason, he scorned the advice of mean men, and governed his people better with few strokes than others did with many. When he is gone the English will not have a true and faithful friend left among the Indians.”