Historical fiction; King Philip's War, 1675-1676 -- Fiction; War stories
When allusion was made to the ownership of the valley, the blood rushed
into the cheek of the warrior in such a flood, that it it deepened even
the natural swarthy hue; but, clenching the handle of his axe
convulsively, he continued to listen, like one accustomed to entire
self-command.
"What a red man does may be seen," he answered, pointing with a grim smile
towards the orchard; exposing, by the movement of the blanket, as he
raised his arm, two of the reeking trophies of victory attached to his
belt. "Our ears are open very wide. We listen, to hear in what manner the
hunting-grounds of the Indian have become the plowed fields of the
Yengeese. Now let my wise men hearken, that they may grow more cunning, as
the snows settle on their heads. The pale-men have a secret to make the
black seem white!"
"Narragansett----"
"Wampanoag!" interrupted the chief, with the lofty air with which an
Indian identifies himself with the glory of his people--then glancing a
milder look at the young warrior at his elbow, he added, hastily, and in
the tone of a courtier: "'tis very good--Narragansett, or
Wampanoag--Wampanoag or Narragansett. The red men are brothers and
friends. They have broken down the fences between their hunting-grounds,
and they have cleared the paths, between their villages, of briars. What
have you to say to the Narragansett?--he has not yet shut his ear."
"Wampanoag, if such be thy tribe," resumed Content, "thou shalt hear that
which my conscience teacheth is language to be uttered. The God of an
Englishman is the God of men of all ranks, and of all time." His listeners
shook their heads doubtingly, with the exception of the youngest chief,
whose eye never varied its direction while the other spoke, each word
appearing to enter deep within the recesses of his mind. "In defiance of
these signs of blasphemy, do I still proclaim the power of him I worship!"
Content continued; "My God is thy God; and he now looketh equally on the
deeds, and searcheth, with inscrutable knowledge, into, the hearts of
both. This earth is his footstool; yonder heaven his throne! I pretend not
to enter into his sacred mysteries, or to proclaim the reason why one-half
of his fair work hath been so long left in that slough of ignorance and
heathenish abomination in which my fathers found it; why these hills never
before echoed the songs of praise or why the valleys have been so long
mute. These are truths hid in the secret designs of his sacred purpose,
and they may not be known, until the last fulfilment. But a great and
righteous spirit hath led hither men, filled with the love of truth and
pregnant with the designs of a heavily-burthened faith, inasmuch as their
longings are for things pure, while the consciousness of their
transgressions bends them in deep humility to the dust. Thou bringest
against us the charge of coveting thy lands, and of bearing minds filled
with the corruption of riches This cometh of ignorance of that which hath
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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