Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/108

94 to tempt them in the heavy leather of the captive’s shoes, retreated to the fire. The children, the youngest scarcely more than a  papoose, gazed with steady, curious, dark  eyes. Only the largest, who might have been six years of age, boasted clothing of any  sort, and his costume was no more than a  cloth about his middle. He was already well bronzed of skin, but the youngest child was  still nearly as white as when born.

While he stood there awaiting what Fate should award him, David viewed the sachem  of the Wachoosetts with interest. The chief was an older man than he had thought; perhaps well-nigh sixty; and his hair was  streaked with gray. But he was still straight of back and firm of body, and the years  seemed to have dealt lightly with him. He was a large man, broad of shoulder and deep  of chest, and his muscles looked strong and  hard. In countenance he was well-favored for one of his tribe, for the Nipmucks, unlike some of the more northerly tribes, were  generally unprepossessing of form and feature. Woosonametipom had a long head and sharp cheek-bones, the latter more prominent because of the thinness of the face, and  the lines and wrinkles were many and deep.