and, at the urgent request of the governor and council,
hastened to the chief of the Narragansets and dissuaded him from
entering into the alliance.

The moment was critical. Captain Mason with about ninety English and
seventy Mohegans, under their sachem, Uncas (a sub chief, who with his
district, Mohegan, had rebelled against the Pequot sachem, Sassacus),
was sent from Hartford down the Connecticut River. Entering the Sound,
he sailed past the mouth of the Thames and anchored in Narragansett Bay,
at the foot of Tower Hill, near Point Judith. He knew that keen-eyed
scouts from the Pequot stronghold on the west bank of the Mystic River,
near Groton, had, as his three little ships skirted the shore, been
watching him, to give warning of his approach. He therefore resolved to
come upon the enemy from an unlooked-for quarter. This plan was directly
contrary to his instructions, which required him to land at the mouth of
the Thames and attack the fort from the west side. He hoped, marching
westward across the country, to take the enemy by surprise on their
unprotected rear, while the Indians, trusting in the strength of their
fort, as it fronted the west, should believe themselves secure.

[Illustration: Attack on the Fort of the Pequots on the Mystic River
"The figure of the Indians fort or Palizado in NEW ENGLAND And the maner
of the destroying It by Captayne Underhill and Captayne Manson"]

Thirteen men had been sent back to the Thames with the vessels. Two
hundred Narragansets had joined the expedition, though their sachem,
Miantonomoh, thought the English too weak to fight the dreaded Pequots.
Mason's enterprise was admirably planned, and he was as fortunate as he
was bold and skilful. He divided his men into two parties. One, led by
Underhill, climbed the steep ascent on the south side of the Indian
village; the other, directed by Mason himself, mounted the northern
slope. The garrison was buried in slumber, made more profound by
carousals the preceding night. One Indian was heard to cry out
"Englishmen" before the volley of musketry from the attacking force told
that the white enemy had come. Mason entered a wigwam and fought, as did
the others, hand-to-hand with the now awakened and desperate foe. Coming
out with a firebrand and exclaiming "We must burn them," he set fire to
the wigwam. The flames were quickly carried through the fort by the
northeast wind. Underhill from his side applied powder. So rapidly did
th