“How did you dare to go so far into our hunting-grounds, with only one pale-face and Habbamak?”
“Because,” said Winslow, “where there is true love, there can be no fear; my heart is so upright towards the Indians, that I have no cause to fear to go among them.”
“If you love us so much,” retorted the shrewd chief, “why is it that, when we go to Plymouth, you stand on guard, and present the mouths of your big guns at us?”
“Oh,” was the reply, “that’s the most honorable reception we could give you. ’Tis the English way of saluting distinguished guests.”
“Ugh,” said Corbitant, with the peculiar Indian grunt and shrug, “perhaps; but I don’t like such ways of shaking hands.”[414]
Having noticed that before and after each meal his guests offered thanks, Corbitant asked them why they did it. “This led to a long conversation upon the character and works of the great Father; on the relations which his creatures sustain to him as their preserver and constant benefactor, and the duties which all owe to him as such, with which the chief seemed pleased. When the ten commandments were recited, he approved of all save the seventh; he saw many objections to tying a man to one woman.”[415]
“This,” says Banvard, “is a specimen of the manner in which the Pilgrims endeavored to communicate religious truths to the minds of their ignorant Indian neighbors. When among them, they observed religious exercises at their meals; continued the practice of morning and evening services; strictly regarded the Sabbath; and thus provoked inquiries. Then, when opportunity was given, they imparted, in a homely, familiar way, the elementary truths of the Bible.”[416]
After passing a pleasant night in Corbitant’s wigwam, the Pilgrims resumed their journey, and after twenty-four hours’ walk reached Plymouth.
They immediately imparted what they knew of the Indian plot to the governor. Bradford summoned the settlers to deliberate. Upon examination other evidence was found which corroborated Massasoit’s disclosure; and even in the midst of this consideration, one of Weston’s pioneers came in, like Bunyan’s Pilgrim, “with a pack on his back;” and “though he knew not a foot of the way, yet he got safe to Plymouth by losing his way,” as he was pursued by the Indians, and would have been caught had he travelled by the accustomed track.[417]
“He told us,” says Bradford, “how affairs stood at Wessagusset; how miserable all were; and that he dare not tarry there longer, as, by what he had observed, he apprehended those settlers would shortly be all knocked in the head.”[418]