Possibly even the supernatural
explanation might have been started, with a touch of Yankee humour, as
a blind. The silence of Mather and Hubbard was no more remarkable than
some of the other ingenious incidents which had so long served to
conceal the existence of this sturdy and crafty man. The reasons for
doubting the story are best stated by Mr. George Sheldon of Deerfield,
in _Hist.-Genealogical Register_, October, 1874.
[33] If Philip was half the diplomatist that he is represented in
tradition, he never would have gone into such a war without assurance of
Narragansett help. Canonchet was a far more powerful sachem than Philip,
and played a more conspicuous part in the war. May we not suppose that
Canonchet's desire to avenge his father's death was one of the principal
incentives to the war; that Philip's attack upon Swanzey was a premature
explosion; and that Canonchet then watched the course of events for a
while before making up his mind whether to abandon Philip or support
him?
[34] A wretched little werewolf who some few years ago, being then a lad
of fourteen or fifteen years, most cruelly murdered two or three
young children, just to amuse himself with their dying agonies. The
misdirected "humanitarianism," which in our country makes every murderer
an object of popular sympathy, prevailed to save this creature from
the gallows.
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