a dense swamp in what is now South Kingstown,
Rhode Island. The terrible cold which rendered this Narraganset campaign
so severe had turned the marsh into a bridge, and at once on their
arrival the soldiers, weary and hungry as they were from their long
march, and spite of its being Sunday, advanced to the attack.
Massachusetts was in front, then Plymouth, then Connecticut. Long and
bitter was the fight. The Indians, perfect marksmen, took deadly aim at
the leaders. Five captains were killed outright and as many more
mortally wounded. The fort was taken, re-taken, and taken again, the
whites at last, to make sure work, setting fire to the wigwams. The
storming party lost in killed and wounded one-fifth of its number. This
Swamp Fight, as it was called, broke forever the strength of the
Narragansets, the tribe and its allies dispersing in all directions.

[Illustration: Goffe at Hadley.]

[1676]

In 1676 central Massachusetts was again aflame. Lancaster was sacked and
burned, its inhabitants nearly all either carried captive or put to
death with indescribable atrocities. Mrs. Rowlandson, wife of the
Lancaster Minister, also her son and two daughters, were among the
captives. We have this brave woman's story as subsequently detailed by
herself. Her youngest, a little girl of six, wounded by a bullet, she
bore in her arms wherever they marched, till the poor creature died of
cold, starvation, and lack of care. The agonized mother begged the
privilege of tugging along the corpse, but was refused. She with her son
and living daughter were ransomed, after wandering up and down with the
savages eleven weeks and five days.

From Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative we have many interesting facts touching
the Indians' habits of life. They carried ample stores from Lancaster,
but soon squandered them, and were reduced to a diet of garbage, horses'
entrails, ears, and liver, with broth made of horses' feet and legs. The
liver they seemed to prefer raw. Their chief food was ground-nuts. They
also ate acorns, artichokes, beans, and various sorts of roots. They
especially delighted in old bones, which, being heated to drive out
maggots and worms, they first boiled for soup, then ground for use as
meal.

The captive lady often saw Philip. At his request she made a shirt and a
cap for his son, for which he paid her. Says Hubbard, "Such was the
goodness of God to these poor captive women and children that they found
so much favor in the s