ships from time to time fresh forces. They are clad
in armor thy arrows' cannot pierce, and wield the thunder and the
lightning. What have the Pequots to oppose, but naked bodies and
uncertain arrows?"

"Owanux are few, and the Indians many," replied the Sagamore.
"Sassacus will bury the tomahawk with the Narraghansetts, and exchange
wampompeag with the Taranteens, and they unite against the strangers.
The eyes of Sassacus are opened. There can be no peace with Owanux."

"Good!" answered the Knight, whose apprehensions, lest plans which he
cherished might be defeated by the precipitancy of the chief, were
quieted by the answer, knowing that the pacification of the tribes
among themselves was no easy matter, and would require time. "Good!
the eyes of the Sagamore are sharp. He is wise when he says that he
will do nothing until he has made friends with the Narraghansetts and
the Taranteens. Farewell, then, and be that the compact between us."

The chief now turned away, and, calling Towanquattick, the two began
to dig a hole in the ground with pointed sticks. The white men, looked
on in silence, rightly judging it to be some ceremony, and waiting for
its explanation. After a cavity of a foot in depth, and about the same
diameter was dug, the Indians ceased their labor, and the chief
answered the wondering eyes of his friends.

"This hole," he said, "shall tell all Indians who see it of the
captivity of Sassacus, and of the white men, his deliverers."

"I never heard before of a hole talking," said Joy.

"It will talk," said the chief. "When Sassacus passes by with his
Paniese he will tell them that here was a great parting, and
Towanquattick will do so also, and they shall tell it it to their
children, and so the tale shall run, as the waters of a spring follow
one another until they become a lake. So the hole shall speak, long
after I have departed with my friends for the happy hunting grounds.
Hole!" he added, addressing it as if it were capable of understanding
what he said, "Sassacus is sad because he leaves Neebin behind, but
say thou not that. Say to all who behold thee, that Soog-u-gest and
Sassacus were friends; say that when Owanux put Sassacus into a box,
Soog-u-gest and two other white men, and Towanquattick, let him out;
say that Soog-u-gest and the other white men, and Towanquattick,
remain to watch that no harm shall happen to Neebin, whom Owanux have
made a prisoner; and say that Sassacus has gone aft