At daylight the savages came out together, running like
deer, and making for the canons. The soldiers fired, killing a buck and
accidentally wounding a squaw, but Massai simply disappeared.
"That's the story of Massai. It is not as long as his trail," said the
chief of scouts.
JOSHUA GOODENOUGH'S OLD LETTER
THE following letter has come into my possession, which I publish
because it is history, and descends to the list of those humble beings
who builded so well for us the institutions which we now enjoy in this
country. It is yellow with age, and much frayed out at the foldings,
being in those spots no longer discernible. It runs:
ALBANY _June_ 1798.
TO MY DEAR SON JOSEPH.--It is true that there are points in the history
of the country in which your father had a concern in his early life, and
as you ask me to put it down I will do so briefly. Not, however, my dear
Joseph, as I was used to tell it to you when you were a lad, but with
more exact truth, for I am getting on in my years and this will soon be
all that my posterity will have of their ancestor. I conceive that now
the descendents of the noble band of heroes who fought off the indians,
the Frenche and the British will prevail in this country, and my
children's children may want to add what is found here in written to
their own achievements.
To begin with, my father was the master of a fishing-schooner, of
Marblehead.
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