A series of tragedies followed.  “I went down to my vise-bench in the steerage,” says Mr. Jewett, in his Narrative, “where I was employed in cleaning muskets.  I had not been there more than an hour, when I heard a great bustle and confusion on deck.  I ran up the steerage stairs, but scarcely was my head above deck when I was caught by the hair by one of the savages.  My hair was short, and I fell from his hold into the steerage.  As I was falling, he struck me with an axe and cut a deep gash in my forehead.  I remained in a state of suspense for some time, when Maquina himself appeared at the hatch and ordered me to come up.  What a terrific spectacle met my eyes!  Six naked savages stood in a circle around me, covered with the blood of my murdered comrades!  I thought that my last moment had come, and commended my soul to my Maker.

“‘John,’ said the chief, ’I speak—­you no say no; you say no—­daggers come.  Will you become my slave and fight for me?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’  Then he told me that he would spare my life.

“Taking me by the hand, he led me to the quarter-deck, where the most horrid sight presented itself; the heads of our unfortunate captain and his crew, to the number of twenty-five, were arranged in a line.

“Maquina then ordered me to get the ship under way for Friendly Cove.  We were there received by the inhabitants of the village with loud shouts of joy and a horrible drumming of sticks upon the roofs and sides of their houses.  Maquina took me on shore to his house.”

Young Jewett became a favorite of the chief’s son, and was made a member of the tribe.  He was compelled to marry an Indian princess, and his search for his wife is a wonderful romance, and really very poetic, as the marriage customs of the tribes are associated with a rustic festival worthy of a painter and poet.  The young princess chosen was beautiful, and served him with the most affectionate devotion, but he could not love her, because he had been compelled to marry her.

The most remarkable incidents of this strange narrative are associated with the fate of those who were engaged in the massacre of the officers and crew of the Boston, and which show that the experience of retribution is a law common to all peoples and lands.

The principal chief or sub-chief among the warriors was Tootooch.  He had married Maquina’s sister.  He ranked next to Maquina in all things pertaining to war, and he had been the foremost leader and the most merciless of conquerors in the destruction of the Boston.  He killed two men on shore, presumably with his own hand.

Insanity is not common among the Indians.  But a terrible mania took possession of this ambitious warrior.  “While in the enjoyment of the highest health,” says Mr. Jewett, “he was suddenly seized with delirium, in which he fancied that he saw the ghosts of the two men that he had murdered.”  The avenging vision followed him wherever he went.  He was filled with terror at all times, and at last refused to eat to sustain his life.  The Indians forced food into his mouth.