of his voice, for one of the women had
assured him that the former was alive, and that Corbitant was already
many miles on his homeward way.

Not two minutes had elapsed, when an answering whoop was heard from the
cluster of huts forming the village of Namasket, now the town of
Middleboro', and an irregular stream of warriors, headed by Tisquantum
in person, came running toward the beleaguered hut.

The struggle was now over, for so soon as the _casus belli_ was
disproved by Squanto's appearance, the capture of Corbitant was no
longer desirable, and Standish ordered his men to sheathe their swords
and release their prisoners. Those who had been wounded by persisting in
trying to escape were attended to by Surgeon Fuller, and by Standish's
invitation returned to Plymouth with their friendly conquerors to
receive a certain amount of petting by way of compensation for their
wounds, although the captain did not fail to point out that if they had
believed and obeyed him, they need not have been hurt at all.

Tisquantum shrewdly flattered at the importance set upon his life by his
white friends, seated himself with them around the new-fed fire, and
with much gesticulation and flowery forms of speech related how, by his
combined prowess and subtlety, he had forced Corbitant to release him,
and finally to leave Namasket with his warriors, not, however, without
hideous threats of what should befall that village if it persisted in an
alliance with the white men, who were soon to be exterminated with all
their friends.

"Ha! We will send an embassage to this haughty sachem, with some counter
promises and warnings," exclaimed Standish in hearing this part of the
report; and at the last moment, before the little army with its captives
left the place upon the following morning, a runner was dispatched to
follow Corbitant, and assure him from The-Sword-of-the-White-Men, as
Standish now began to be called among the Indians, that unless Massasoit
returned in safety from the country of the Narragansetts, whither he had
been beguiled, the death of the great sachem should be visited upon
Corbitant and all his tribe to the uttermost, and that if anything more
was heard of sedition and treachery as preached either among the
Namaskets or elsewhere, Corbitant should find that no distance and no
concealment should avail to save him from punishment.

The message was duly delivered, and so convincing did its terrors,
combined with the prompt