The Pilgrims of New England: A Tale of the Early American SettlersWebb, J. B., Mrs. (Annie)
History
The Pilgrims of New England: A Tale of the Early American Settlers
Webb, J. B., Mrs. (Annie)
Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony) -- Fiction
But was it so? Had the cruel and wily savage indeed become the friend
of him who had, he deemed, supplanted him--not only in the favor of his
Chief, but also in the good graces of his intended bride--and who was
now, as he had learnt from Jyanough, the husband of Oriana, and the
virtual Sachem of Tisquantum's subject warriors? No: 'jealousy is cruel
as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most
vehement flame'; and in the soul of Coubitant there dwelt no gentle
principles of mercy and forgiveness to quench this fiery flame. He was
a heathen: and, in his eyes, revenge was a virtue, and the
gratification of it a deep joy: and in the hope of attaining this joy,
he was willing to endure years of difficulty and disappointment, and to
forego all that he knew of home and of comfort. Therefore had he left
the tribe of his adoption, and the friends of his choice, and dwelt for
so many winters and summers among the Narragansetts, until he had
acquired influence in their councils, and won for himself rank in their
tribe. And all this rank and influence he had, as we have seen, exerted
to procure the destruction of the white men, because one of their
number had caused the death of his friend, and he had vowed to be
revenged on the race. He hated the pale-faces, and he hated their
religion and their peaceable disposition, which he considered to be
merely superstition and cowardice; and now that he had failed in all
his deep-laid schemes for their annihilation, all his hatred was
concentrated against Henrich, and he resolved once more to seek him
out, and, by again uniting himself to the band of Nausetts under
Tisquantum, to find an opportunity of ridding himself of one who seemed
born to cross his path, and blight his prospects in life.
Until Coubitant had traced his old associates through many forests, and
over many plains, and had, at length, found the place of their present
abode, he knew not that all his former hopes of becoming the Sachem's
son-in law, and succeeding to his dignity, were already blasted by the
marriage of Oriana to Henrich, and the association of the latter in the
cares and the honors of the chieftainship. For some years after his
abrupt departure from the Nausetts--and while he was striving for
distinction, as well as for revenge, among the Narragansetts--he had
contrived, from time to time, to obtain information of the proceedings
of those whom he had thought it politic to leave for a time; and, as he
found that no steps were taken towards connecting the pale-faced
stranger with the family of the Sachem by marriage, after he had
attained the age at which Indian youths generally take wives; and it
was even reported that Tisquantum designed to unite him to the widow of
Lincoya--his jealous fears were hushed to sleep, and he still hoped to
succeed, ultimately, in his long-cherished plans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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