Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/23

Rh Indians. In some cases the savages were known to be Wampanoags; in other cases  the friendly Indians of the villages and settlements were suspected, perhaps often unjustly. Even John Eliot’s disciples at Natick did not escape suspicion. Rumors of threatening signs were everywhere heard. Exaggerated stories of Indian depredations traveled about the sparsely settled districts. From the south came the tale of disaffection amongst the Narragansetts, and from the  north like rumors regarding the Abenakis. There was a feeling of alarm everywhere amongst the English, and even in Boston  there were timorous souls who feared an attack on that town. As yet, however, nothing untoward had occurred in the Massachusetts-Bay Colony, and the only Indians that David knew were harmless and frequently  rather sorry-looking specimens who led a  precarious existence by trading furs with the  English or who dwelt in the village at Natick. Most of them were Nipmucks, although other neighboring tribes were represented as well. Save that they not infrequently stole from his traps—sometimes taking trap as well as  catch—David knew nothing to the discredit  of the Indians. Often they came to the house,