countrymen: and well and zealously be
complied with this request. He left his now comfortable home, and all
the various employments that occupied his time, and travelled
restlessly from place to place, defying the storms and the waves, in a
miserable canoe; and meeting, with an undaunted courage, the assembled
parties of hostile tribes whom he sought, at his own extreme peril, to
bring into alliance with the English. He succeeded in his patriotic
object, and, after along doubtful negotiation, he persuaded the
Narragansetts to refuse the proffered coalition with the Pequodees.
Their young chief, Miantonomo, even went a journey to Boston, where he
was received with distinguished marks of honor and respect, and signed
a treaty which allied him to the settlers against his own countrymen.

The troops from the river-towns assembled together, and went down the
Connecticut to attack the Pequodees in their own land. Their numbers
were but small--not exceeding eighty men--as each town furnished a much
weaker force than had been promised. But they were joined by a band of
the Mohicans, a hardy race inhabiting the valleys of the Connecticut,
and who had been alienated from the Pequodees by the oppression and
arrogance that had excited the enmity of so many other tribes. The
combined forces of the English and Indians were placed under the
command of Captain Mason, a brave and intelligent officer who had
served in the Netherlands under General Fairfax.

The detachment that was expected from New Plymouth was not ready to
march at the time of the troops taking the field. Captain Standish,
therefore, did not set out himself; but he allowed such of his brother-
soldiers as were ready, to precede him, and take part in the
commencement of the campaign. Among these, Rodolph Maitland, who still
retained all the fire and energy of his youth, was the foremost; and he
led a little band of brave companions to the place of rendezvous. The
learned minister Stone--the friend and colleague of Hooker--accompanied
the troops from Boston; for a band of Puritanical warriors would have
thought themselves but badly provided for without such spiritual aid.

The instructions of the government of Connecticut directed Mason to
land in the harbor of Pequod,[*] and thus attack the Indian forces on
their own ground. But he found the natural strength of the place so
much greater than he expected, and also observed that it was so
watchfully guarded by his en