[16]
a sweet flavor.
She told me, in her broken way, that the whole tribe now numbered only twentyfive men and women, counting out the number very fast with yellow grains of corn, on the corner of her blanket.
She was, she said, the youngest woman in the tribe; and her husband, Peckanaminet, was the Indian we had met in the bridles path.
I gave her a pretty piece of ribbon, and an apron for the child; and she thanked me in her manner, going with us on our return to the path; and when I had ridden a little onward, I saw her husband running towards us; so, stopping my horse, I awaited until he came up, when he offered me a fine large fish, which he had just caught, in acknowledgment, as I judged, of my gift to his wife.
Rebecca and Mistress Broughton laughed, mad bid him take the thing away; but I would not suffer it, and so Robert Pike took it, and brought it on to our present tarrying place, where truly it hath made a fair supper for us all. These poor heathen people seem not so exceeding bad as they have been reported; they be like unto ourselves, only lacking our knowledge and opportunities, which, indeed, are not our own to boast of, but gifts of God, calling for humble thankfulness, and daily prayer and watchfulness, that they be rightly improved.
Newbury on the Merrimac, May 14, 1678.
We were hardly on our way yesterday, from Agawam, when a dashing young gallant rode up very fast behind us. He was fairly clad in rich stuffs, and rode a nag of good mettle.
He saluted 