At other times the Indians would enter the plantation, and, in the presence of the captain, sharpen their knives, feel their points, and jeer. One of their chiefs, Witawamat, often boasted of the fine qualities of his knife, on the handle of which was cut a woman’s face; “but,” said he, “I have another at home with which I have killed both French and English, and that hath a man’s face on it; by-and-by these two must marry.”[422] Not long after, he said again, holding up his knife, “By-and-by this shall see and eat, but not speak,” in allusion to the muskets of the English, which always reported their doings.[423] Pecksuot was an Indian of immense muscular size and strength; Standish was a small man. Once the brave said to the captain: “You are a great officer, but a little man; and I am not a sachem, yet I possess great strength and courage.”[424] Standish quietly pocketed these insults, and awaited his chance. It soon came. Pecksuot, Wetawamat, and two others, chiefs of the conspiracy, were finally all entrapped in one cabin. Standish with three comrades and Habbamak were also present. The door was secured and a terrific death-grapple at once ensued. There were no shrieks, no cries, no war-whoops. Nothing was heard save the fierce panting of the combatants and the dull thud of the blows given and returned. Habbamak stood quietly by, and meddled not. Soon the Englishmen were successful; each slew his opponent, and Standish himself closing with Pecksuot, snatched from the braggadocio’s neck his vaunted knife, and plunged it into his foeman’s heart. One blow did not kill him; frenzied and glaring, he leaped on Standish and tugged wildly at his throat. The struggle was brief but awful, and Standish called his whole skill into requisition to complete his victory. At length the death-blow was dealt: “See, his face is black and full of blood; His eye-balls farther out than when he lived; Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man; His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with struggling; His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped And tugged for life, and was by strength subdued.”[425] After the tragedy was over, Habbamak said to Standish, while a smile played over his swarthy features: “Yesterday, Pecksuot, bragging of his strength and stature, said you were a great captain, but a little man; but to-day I see that you are big enough to lay him on the ground.”[426] Standish did not pause for congratulation, nor did he care much for it; knowing the value of promptitude, he at once headed a foray on the neighboring Indian villages. Several skirmishes ensued; the savages, beaten and terrified, retreated from morass to morass. The conspiracy was buried with its originators; and many of the sachems who had joined the league, Conacum, Aspinet, Iyanough, died from diseases contracted in their headlong flight.[427]