This was considered the “capital exploit” of Miles Standish. It struck such wholesome terror into the hearts of the surrounding tribes, that, in connection with the uniform justice and kindliness of the Pilgrims, it secured peace for half a century.[428] The Westonians, discouraged and disgusted, resolved to break their ranks and give up their settlement. Standish “offered to escort them to Plymouth, and give them entertainment till Weston or some supply should come,” says Bradford; “or if they liked any other course better, he promised to help them all he could. They thanked him, but most of them desired him to grant them some corn, then they would go with their ship to the eastward, where, haply, they might hear of Weston, or of some supply from him. That failing, since it was the time of year for ships to frequent the fishing waters, they could work among the fishermen till they could get passage into England. So they shipped what they had of any value, and the captain gave them all the corn he could—scarcely leaving himself sufficient to take him home—and saw the colonists well out of the bay; then he himself sailed back to Plymouth in triumph.”[429] There the head of Wetawamat was impaled, and set up prominently in the fort; and an Indian who had been sent in pursuit of that pioneer who had first brought word to the Pilgrims of the condition of his fellow-settlers, and had been himself captured, recognized it. The Pilgrim Fathers were not revengeful; they did not love to shed blood; so when Habbamak vouched for the friendship of this captive, he was liberated, and sent home to tell his tribe that the colonists loved peace, but that they could fight in case of need. Ere long the offending red men sent peace-offerings into Plymouth, and sued for and obtained amity.[430] Bradford, Winslow, and the rest, kept their friends in England and Holland as fully informed as possible of the daily history of the colony; and of course so memorable an event as this conspiracy and its suppression, received a profuse recital. When Robinson heard of the rencontre, he wrote back these words, finely illustrative of his character: “Oh, how happy a thing had it been, that you had converted some before you killed any.”[431]