emies, that he resolved to pass on to the
harbor in Narragansett Bay; and, after having strengthened his forces
with the warriors promised by Miantonomo, to attack the Pequodees from
thence. A circumstance occurred here that is so characteristic of the
time, and of the manners of the Puritans, that it must not be omitted.
The officers under Mason were dissatisfied with this alteration in the
plan of the campaign, and asserted that the instructions given to the
commander ought to be literally followed. It was, therefore, resolved
to refer the question to the minister, who was directed 'to bring down
by prayer the responsive decision of the Lord.' Stone passed nearly the
whole night in prayer and supplication for wisdom to decide the matter,
and the next morning declared to the officers that the view taken by
their leader was the right one; on which they all submitted without a
murmur.

[Footnote: Now Newhaven]

The Indian reinforcements continued to increase. Miantonomo brought two
hundred warriors, and other allied tribes joined them on their march,
until the number of native auxiliaries amounted to five hundred. In
these Mason placed little confidence, and would gladly have awaited the
arrival of the forty men from Plymouth, who were already at Providence
on their way to join him. But his men were eager to attack the savages,
and the Indians taunted him with cowardice for desiring to delay the
conflict; and he was forced to advance at once.

The great strength of the Pequodees consisted in two large forts, in
one of which the redoubted Chief, Sassacus, himself commanded. The
other was situated on the banks of the Mystic, an inconsiderable river
that runs parallel to the Connecticut. These Indian forts or castles
consisted of wooden palisades, thirty or forty feet high, generally
erected on an elevated situation, and enclosing a space sufficiently
large to contain a considerable number of wigwams for the aged men--or
whiteheads--and the women and children.

These two fortresses were the pride and the confidence of the
Pequodees, who believed them to be invulnerable; as, indeed, they had
hitherto found them to the assaults of their own countrymen. And the
other Indian tribes appeared to hold them in the same estimation; for
when they found that it was Mason's intention to march directly to the
fort on the Mystic, their courage failed completely. They were only
accustomed to the Indian mode of warfare, which consist