child in my lap, and calling much for water, being now,
through the wound, fallen into a violent fever. My own
wound, also, growing so stiff that I could scarce sit down
or rise up, yet so it must be that I must sit all this cold
winter's night upon the cold snowy ground, with my sick
child in my arms, looking that every hour would be the last
of its life, and having no Christian friend near me either
to comfort or help me."

In the morning the Indians resumed their journey, marching, as was
their custom, in single file through trails in the forest. A humane
Indian mounted a horse and took Mrs. Rowlandson and her child behind
him. All the day long the poor little sufferer moaned with pain, while
the savages were constantly threatening to knock the child in the head
if she did not cease her moaning. In the evening they arrived at an
Indian village called Wenimesset. Here, upon a luxuriant meadow upon
the banks of the River Ware, within the limits of the present town of
New Braintree, the savages had established their head-quarters. It was
about thirty-six miles from Lancaster. A large number of savages were
assembled at this place, and they remained here for several days,
gathering around their council fires, planning new expeditions, and
inflaming their passions with war dances and the most frantic revels.
The Indians treated their captives with comparative kindness. No
violence or disrespect was offered to their persons. They reared a
rude wigwam for Mrs. Rowlandson, where she sat for five days and
nights almost alone, watching her dying child. At last, on the night
of the 18th of February, the little sufferer breathed her last, at the
age of six years and five months. The Indians took the corpse from the
mother and buried it, and then allowed her to see the grave.

[Illustration: CAPTIVITY OF MRS. ROWLANDSON.]

When Mrs. Rowlandson was driven from the flames of her dwelling, a
Narraganset Indian was the first to grasp her; he consequently claimed
her as his property. Her children were caught by different savages,
and thus became the slaves of their captors. The Indians, by the law
of retaliation, were perfectly justified in making slaves of their
captives. The human mind can not withhold its assent from the justice
of the verdict, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." The
English made all their captives slaves, and women and children were
sold to all the horrors of Wes