ot[4] had discovered it.

But Roger Williams said that the king had no right to the land unless
he bought it of the Indians, who were living here when the English
came.

Now the people of Massachusetts were always quite willing to pay the
Indians a fair price for whatever land they wanted; but many of them
were afraid to have Mr. Williams preach and write as he did. They
believed that if they allowed him to go on speaking out so boldly
against the king that the English monarch would get so angry that
he would take away Massachusetts from them and give it to a new
company. In that case, those who had settled here would lose
everything. For this reason the people of Boston tried to make the
young minister agree to keep silent on this subject.

[Footnote 4: See paragraph 22.]

84. A constable is sent to arrest Roger Williams; he escapes to the
woods, and goes to Mount Hope.--But Mr. Williams was not one of the
kind to keep silent. Then the chief men of Boston sent a constable
down to Salem with orders to seize him and send him back to England.
When he heard that the constable was after him, Mr. Williams slipped
quietly out of his house and escaped to the woods.

There was a heavy depth of snow on the ground, but the young man made
up his mind that he would go to his old friend Massasoit, and ask
him to help him in his trouble.

[Illustration: Map showing Roger Williams's route from Salem to
Mount Hope.]

Massasoit lived near Mount Hope, in what is now Rhode Island, about
eighty miles southwest from Salem. There were no roads through the
woods, and it was a long, dreary journey to make on foot, but Mr.
Williams did not hesitate. He took a hatchet to chop fire-wood, a
flint and steel to strike fire with,--for in those days people had
no matches,--and, last of all, a pocket-compass to aid him in finding
his way through the thick forest.

[Illustration: Striking fire with flint and steel. The sparks were
caught on some old, half-burnt rag, and were then blown to a blaze.]

All day he waded wearily on through the deep snow, only stopping now
and then to rest or to look at his compass and make sure that he was
going in the right direction. At night he would gather wood enough
to make a little fire to warm himself or to melt some snow for drink.
Then he would cut down a few boughs for a bed, or, if he was lucky
enough to find a large, hollow tree, he would creep into that. There
he would fall asleep, while listening