our Indians die? We have waited long to have you tell us, and
now we want yes or no."

To this the English could only reply, "You admit that the Western
Indians do not wish for peace. Should you let them have the powder we
sell you, what do we better than to cut our own throats? This is the
best answer we can return to you, though you should wait ten years."

At this the chiefs took umbrage, declined any farther talk, and the
conference was broken up angrily. War was soon resumed in all its
horrors.

Early in August a numerous band of savages made an incursion upon
Casco Neck and swept it of its inhabitants. Thirty-four of the
colonists were either killed or carried into captivity. On the 14th of
August, two days after King Philip was slain in the swamp at Mount
Hope, a party of Indians landed from their canoes upon the southeast
corner of the island of Arrowsic, near the spot where the fort stood.
They concealed themselves behind a great rock, and, with true Indian
cunning, notwithstanding the sentinels, succeeded in creeping within
the spacious inclosure which constituted the fortress. They then
opened a sudden and simultaneous fire upon all who were within sight.
The garrison, thus taken by midnight surprise, were in a state of
terrible consternation. A hand to hand fight ensued of the utmost
ferocity. The Indians, however, soon overpowered their opponents and
applied the torch. Captain Davis, who was in command of the fort, with
Mr. Lake, who was one of the owners of the island, escaped with two
others from the massacre by a back passage, and, rushing to the
water's edge, sprang into a canoe and endeavored to reach another
island. The savages, however, pursued them, and, taking deliberate aim
as they were paddling to the opposite shore, killed Mr. Lake, and
wounded Mr. Davis, so as to render him helpless, just as he was
stepping upon the shore. The savages then took a canoe and crossed in
pursuit of their victims. Captain Davis succeeded in hiding himself in
the cleft of a rock, and eluded their search. Here he remained for two
days, until after the savages had left, and then, finding an old canoe
upon the beach, he succeeded in paddling himself across the water to
the main land, where he was rescued. The other two who were not
wounded, plunging into the forest, also effected their escape.

The exultant savages rioted in the destruction of the beautiful
establishment upon Arrowsic. The spacious mansion house, t