cus died, and Mi-an-to-no-mah, his nephew, who had helped him
rule, became chief sachem. Miantonomah was famed in council and in
war. The colonies suspected him, as they did Alexander, son of
Massasoit. They favored the Mohegans of the crafty sachem Uncas. When
Miantonomah had been taken prisoner by Uncas, at the battle of Sachem's
Plain in Connecticut, 1643, the United Colonies of Connecticut,
Massachusetts and Plymouth directed that the Mohegans put him to death,
as a treaty breaker.

Accordingly Uncas ordered him killed by the hatchet, and ate a piece of
his shoulder.

Possibly Miantonomah deserved to die, but the hearts of the
Narragansetts grew very sore.

It is scarcely to be wondered at that they favored the Pokanokets
rather than the English, when King Philip, who also had suffered,
called upon them to aid in cleaning the land of the white enemy.
"Brothers, we must be as one, as the English are, or we shall soon all
be destroyed," had said Miantonomah, in a speech to a distant tribe;
and that looked to be so.

Ca-non-chet, whose name in Indian was Qua-non-chet (pronounced the
same), and Nan-un-te-noo, was son of the celebrated Miantonomah. He
was now chief sachem of the Narragansetts, and the friend of King
Philip.

He was a tall, strongly built man, and accused by the English of being
haughty and insolent. Why not? He was of proud Narragansett blood,
from the veins of a long line of great chiefs, and the English had
given his father into the eager hands of the enemy.

Presently, he was asked to sign treaties that would make him false to
the memory of Miantonomah and double-hearted toward the hopeful King
Philip.

The papers engaged the Narragansetts not to harbor any of King Philip's
people, nor to help them in any way against the English, nor to enter a
war without the permission of the English. He was to deliver the
Philip and Wetamoo people, when they came to him.

Canonchet was not that kind of a man. He had no idea of betraying
people who may have fled to him for shelter from a common enemy. A few
of his men feared. It was suggested to him that he yield to the
colonies, lest the Narragansetts be swallowed up by the English. He
replied like a chief, and the son of Miantonomah.

"Deliver the Indians of Philip? Never! Not a Wampanoag will I ever
give up! No! Not the paring of a Wampanoag's nail!"

The venerable Roger Williams, his friend, the friend of his father and
the friend o