On quitting the hill, Philip had summoned his Wampanoags, and, supported
by the obedient and fierce Annawon, a savage that might, under better
auspices, have proved a worthy lieutenant to Caesar, he left the fields of
Wish-Ton-Wish. Accustomed to see these sudden outbreakings of temper in
their leaders, the followers of Conanchet, who would have preserved their
air of composure under far more trying circumstances, saw him depart,
equally without question and without alarm. But when their own Sachem
appeared on the ground which was still red with the blood of the
combatants, and made known his intention to abandon a conquest that seemed
more than half achieved, he was not heard without murmuring. The authority
of an Indian Chief is far from despotic, and though there is reason to
think it is often aided, if not generated, by the accidental causes of
birth and descent, it receives its main support in the personal qualities
of him who rules. Happily for the Narragansett leader, even his renowned
father, the hapless Miantonimoh, had not purchased a higher name for
wisdom, or for daring, than that which had been fairly won by his still
youthful son.
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