hom he earnestly charged to take the matter into their own
hands, and with no warning, no parley, to go and kill Pecksuot,
Wituwamat, Obtakiest, and several other ringleaders of the conspiracy,
for, as he assured them most earnestly and solemnly, unless these men
were promptly and effectually dealt with, both the Weymouth colony and
themselves would be overwhelmed and massacred without mercy. Finally,
the sachem added that he as Sagamore of the Pokanokets, and as it were
regent of the Massachusetts, had authority to order the punishment of
these rebels to his expressed commands for peace, and he hereby did so.

"And very sensible and good the sachem's counsel seemeth in my ears,"
remarked Standish complacently.

"Nay, Captain," replied the Elder sternly. "Men's lives are not so
lightly to be dealt withal. We came among these salvages to convert them
to the knowledge of God, not to slaughter them."

"Meseemeth, Elder," returned Standish impatiently, "it is a question of
our lives or theirs. I should be loth to see your gray hairs dabbled in
blood, and Mistress Brewster carried into captivity to drudge as the
slave of a squaw."

The elder turned even paler than his wont and covered his eyes with his
hand, but murmured,--

"God His will be done."

"Ay, so say I," replied the captain more gently. "But as I read Holy
Writ the chosen folk were often punished for sparing their foes, but
never for laying roundly on. 'Go and smite me Amalek and spare not,' is
one of many orders, and if the commander-in-chief obeyed not he was
cashiered without so much as a court-martial."

Several eager voices rose in reply, but Bradford lightly tapping the
table around which the Council was gathered said decisively,--

"These matters are too large, brethren, to be thus discussed. Let each
one declare his mind soberly and briefly, and without controversy.
To-morrow is the day appointed for our town meeting and annual election
of officers, and I will then lay the case before the whole, and also
will rehearse our own conclusions. Then, the voice of the majority shall
decide the matter."

And so began the reign of "the people" in America, for this was the
first great question to be decided since the coming of the Fortune had
so enlarged the colony that the Council was no longer composed of the
whole, as it was when the treaty with Massasoit was concluded.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE SUNSET GUN.

The town meeting was over, and its de