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
'And you have also drawn some of my people into rebel lion, and
persuaded them to consent to the murder of their Chief. One of them has
already shed his life-blood in punishment of his sin; and the rest will
bear the marks of shame to their graves. All this is your work.'
'If more of your people had the courage to join me in resisting the
pretensions of the proud stranger, you and Henrich would now have been
lying dead at my feet. You would never again have been obeyed as
Sachems by the Nausetts. But they loved their slavery--and let them
keep it. My soul is free. You may send it forth in agony, if you will:
for I am in your power, and I ask no mercy from those to whom I would
have shown none. Do your worst. Coubitant's heart is strong; and I
shall soon be with the spirits of my fathers, where no white men can
enter.
The wrath of Tisquantum was stirred by the taunts and the bold defiance
of his prisoner; and he resolved to execute on him a sentence that
should strike terror into any others of the tribe who might have
harbored thoughts of rebellion.
‘The death that you intended should be my portion, and that of all my
family, shall be your own!' he exclaimed. The torments of fire shall
put a stop to your boasting. My children,' he added--turning to the
warriors who stood around him--' I call on you to do justice on this
villain. Form a pile of wood here on the river's brink; end when his
body is consumed, his ashes shall he cast on the stream, and go to
tell, in other lands, how Tisquantum punishes treachery.'
A smile of scorn curled the lip of Coubitant, but he spoke not; and no
quivering feature betrayed any inward fear of the approaching agony.
‘Hear me yet, Coubitant,' resumed the old Chieftain; and, as he spoke,
the strokes of his warriors' hatchets among the neighboring trees fell
on the victim's ear, but did not seem to move him. 'Hear me yet, and
answer me. Was it by your arts that Salon's soul was turned away from
his lawful Chief, and filled with thoughts of murder? Was he true to me
and mine until you returned to put evil thoughts into his heart? or had
pride and jealousy already crept in there, which you have only
fostered?'
'Salon hugged his chains till I showed him that they were unworthy of a
true-born Indian. The smooth tongue of the pale-face had beguiled him,
till I told him that it would lead him to ruin and subjection. Yes: I
taught Salon to long for freedom for himself, and freedom for his race.
And now he will die for it, as a red man ought to die. Let the same
pile consume us both!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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