taking them into captivity: and that unless their hand was stayed they would send them across the great water as slaves. Then he told of battles fought; of how Philip had met with and defeated many Englishmen at Pocasset, of the battle in the swamp beside the Taunton River where countless of the enemy had been slain, of his attack on Mendon and the ambush at Quaboag. According to the narrator, King Philip had been everywhere victorious and the English were in terror and in all places falling back on their forts. Before the leaves were off the trees, declared Wissataumkin, not one white man would be left. The Narragansetts and the Nipmucks to the south had joined with the Great Sachem Philip. Woosonametipom and his people were also Nipmucks, and now Philip bade them choose whether they would fight with him or against him. Soon the war would come to their country, and those who were not with Philip would be considered against him. What word should he carry back to his chief?
When Wissataumkin had ceased, Metipom, who had listened gravely and in silence, spoke. “What you say may be true, O Wissataumkin, but we have heard other tales.
