After a while he came to live with the Pilgrims. He liked them so
much that when the poor fellow died he begged Governor Bradford to
pray that he might go to the white man's heaven.
70. Canonicus[11] dares Governor Bradford to fight; the palisade;
the fort and meeting-house.--West of where Massasoit lived, there
were some Indians on the shore of Narragansett Bay,[12] in what is
now Rhode Island. Their chief was named Canonicus, and he was no
friend to Massasoit or to the Pilgrims. Canonicus thought he could
frighten the white men away, so he sent a bundle of sharp, new arrows,
tied round with a rattlesnake skin, to Governor Bradford: that meant
that he dared the governor and his men to come out and fight. Governor
Bradford threw away the arrows, and then filled the snake-skin up
to the mouth with powder and ball. This was sent back to Canonicus.
When he saw it, he was afraid to touch it, for he knew that Myles
Standish's bullets would whistle louder and cut deeper than his
Indian arrows.
|