Upon receiving this startling intelligence, the Governor ordered the cannon upon the hill to be instantly discharged to recall the shallop. The day was calm, the boat had been retarded in its progress, and the report, booming over the still waters of the bay, reached the ears of the crew just as the shallop was disappearing around the point of Gurnet’s Nose. Captain Standish immediately returned, the whole military force of the colony was at once called into requisition, and measures were adopted for a vigorous defense. Upon the return of the shallop, Hobbomak, who was with Captain Standish, declared, with great positiveness, that the rumor was false. He said that he was sure that Massasoit would prove faithful to his pledges; that it was impossible that he could undertake such an enterprise without communicating his intentions to his sub-chiefs, of whom Hobbomak himself was one of the principal. This tended rather to increase the suspicions of the colonists that Squantum might be playing a double part. To ascertain the facts, the wife of Hobbomak, who seems to have been a very intelligent and reliable woman, was sent as a secret agent or spy to Pokanoket, the seat of Massasoit, to inform herself respecting the true posture of affairs, and to bring back a report. Her difficult and important mission she performed very creditably. Finding there everything quiet, and no indication whatever of any hostile movement, she frankly informed Massasoit of the rumors which had reached the ears of the Pilgrims. He was very indignant in being thus traduced, threw much blame upon Squantum, and expressed his gratitude that the Governor had not distrusted him. He requested the squaw to assure the Governor that he would prove faithful to his treaty obligations, and that should he see any indications of hostility in any quarter he would immediately give the Governor warning. CHAPTER IX. _The Weymouth Colonists._ The Double-Dealing of Squantum.--False Alarm.--Voyage to Massachusetts.--Massasoit Demands Squantum.--The Arrival of the boat.--The Virginia Massacre.--Preparations for Defense.-- Arrival of the Charity and the Swan.--Vile Character of the Weymouth Colonists.--Arrival of the Discovery.--Starvation at Weymouth.--Danger of the Plymouth Colony.--Expeditions for Food.--Death of Squantum.--Voyage to Massachusetts and the Cape. Speaking of the apprehended double-dealing of Squantum, Mr. Winslow writes: