m the tree before they had charged their guns, which was a wrong
step; and they were under some surprise when they came to the place, and
found no less than four of them alive, and of them two very little hurt,
and one not at all. This obliged them to fall upon them with the stocks
of their muskets; and first they made sure of the runaway savage, that
had been the cause of all the mischief, and of another that was hurt in
the knee, and put them out of their pain; then the man that was not hurt
at all came and kneeled down to them, with his two hands held up, and
made piteous moans to them, by gestures and signs, for his life, but
could not say one word to them that they could understand. However, they
made signs to him to sit down at the foot of a tree hard by; and one of
the Englishmen, with a piece of rope-yarn, which he had by great chance
in his pocket, tied his two hands behind him, and there they left him;
and with what speed they could made after the other two, which were gone
before, fearing they, or any more of them, should find way to their
covered place in the woods, where their wives, and the few goods they had
left, lay. They came once in sight of the two men, but it was at a great
distance; however, they had the satisfaction to see them cross over a
valley towards the sea, quite the contrary way from that which led to
their retreat, which they were afraid of; and being satisfied with that,
they went back to the tree where they left their prisoner, who, as they
supposed, was delivered by his comrades, for he was gone, and the two
pieces of rope-yarn with which they had bound him lay just at the foot of
the tree.

They were now in as great concern as before, not knowing what course to
take, or how near the enemy might be, or in what number; so they resolved
to go away to the place where their wives were, to see if all was well
there, and to make them easy. These were in fright enough, to be sure;
for though the savages were their own countrymen, yet they were most
terribly afraid of them, and perhaps the more for the knowledge they had
of them. When they came there, they found the savages had been in the
wood, and very near that place, but had not found it; for it was indeed
inaccessible, from the trees standing so thick, unless the persons
seeking it had been directed by those that knew it, which these did not:
they found, therefore, everything very safe, only the women in a terrible
fright. While they