iance
rested. The guns were carefully cleaned, the locks seen to be in
order, and store of bullets and powder was provided. These
preparations being completed, refreshed with the noonday meal, Sir
Christopher called on Arundel to follow him. An Indian was to go with
them as far as it was judged safe for him to proceed into an enemy's
country. The journey it was calculated would require a week to
accomplish to the principal village of the Taranteens; so that,
allowing an equal length of time for coming back, and the necessary
delay among the Indians, a period of at least three weeks might be
expected to elapse before their return. The two white men, then,
habited in closely-fitting hunting garments, made of dressed
deer-skin, as pliable when dry as silk, their guns slung over their
shoulders, followed the Indian, dressed in native costume, with bow
and quiver, and carrying the provisions, and commenced their journey.

The first two days were unmarked by any incident. Their course lay
over the hills and through the valleys of the pleasant State of
Massachusetts, now blooming under the hand of culture, ornamented with
cities and villages, and supplying the world with the products of her
joyful and free industry; then, an interminable forest, roved by
fierce animals, and by red men scarcely less savage, divided into
tribes sparsely scattered, living in mutual distrust, incapable of
labor, supporting themselves by the uncertain issues of the chase,
already daunted by the whites, and perhaps dimly descrying the fate
that awaited them.

Crevecoeur, in the description of his journey in Upper Pennsylvania,
tells us how accurately the native sagacity of the wiser Indians could
discriminate between their own characteristics and those of the white
strangers, and foresee the consequences that must follow.

"Seest thou," said one of them, "that the whites subsist on grain,
while we depend on flesh; that the flesh requires more than thirty
moons to mature, and is often scarce; that each of those wonderful
grains which they deposit in the ground gives back more than a
hundredfold in return; that the meat whereon we subsist has four legs
to run away, while we have only two to catch it; and that the seeds
planted by the strangers remain and increase, and never run away? That
is the reason why they have so many children, and live longer than we
do. I say unto each one of you who will listen, that, before the
cedars of our village shal