ng the bow to his ear upon
the side farthest from his heart, he put an arrow before it, and,
letting it fly, the bird fell dead upon the earth beneath the tree. The
Indians, upon seeing this exploit, shouted and hurraed, and made such a
noise, that the roaring of the sea could scarcely be heard for it. They
begged Hobbamock to shew them how he killed the bird at the distance of
a stone's throw, which he did at their request again and again, and each
time they repeated their hurrahing and shouting. "And now," said he,
"whose gift do you like best--the Great Spirit's, or mine?"

They all answered that "they liked his gift best, because it would
enable them to kill their enemies, the Mohegans."

"Will you continue to worship me?"

They were upon the point of answering "Yes," when Sasasquit asked them
to wait till another sun, before they gave themselves to the Evil One.
"To-morrow," said he, "I will kindle a fire, and burn a sacrifice to my
master, and see if he wills that the Wicked Spirit shall have the
Narragansetts for ever."

On hearing this, they agreed to wait till another day, and so they told
the Evil Spirit, who grew dreadfully angry thereupon, and, shaking his
hair and breathing flames, sank into the earth, to the great joy of the
Indians.

Up with the sun was Sasasquit; and about his business he went. He built
the fire of sacrifice, piling it high with the driest trees of the
forest, and he laid thereon the best offering he could procure--a fat
fish from the river beside his cabin. He sung as before a song or
invocation, in which he mentioned the wants of the wretched Indians, and
the cunning endeavours of the Evil Spirit to keep them in his service,
and ended by begging his master to shew his own superiority, and enable
his priest to foil the tricks of his adversary. The tribe assembled,
just as they had done on the previous days. But they were more anxious
now than they had been before, because the more there is in the cabin of
a man, the greater is his thirst to increase his store, and the stronger
his inclination for that he hath not. Nor did they before even dream
that the Great Spirit could do such things as be had done for them.
Being taught that he could bestow valuable gifts where he liked, they
expected something which should far surpass all they had before
received.

They had not waited long when they saw a large black eagle flying
swiftly from the east, directly towards their village. When th