In the evening about 7 o'clock, the three Mohawks returned from the Esopus Indians. They had brought three Indians and two Dutch women and 2 Children whom they left about two hours from Wildwyck ; said, they had been freely given, and had they not been so tired, we should have brought them with them to the fort; said the Esopus Indians had abandoned the fort, and had ratived to the Mountains where they awere mostly dispersed here & there hunting.

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SECOND ESOPUS WAR. 51

20thditto. Sent Jan Davets with 2 Mohawks to the 3 Esopus Indians who were in the woods with the abovenamed prisoners, to see if he could get, and bring with him the four prisoners from here, and have a talk with the Indians relative to the other prisoners ; whether they will not restore these tous; returned about noon with a woman whom one of the Mohawks had fetched ; but he, himself, had not been with the Indians as one of the Mohawks had been taken sick and he was obliged toremain with him. In the afternoon one of the Mohawks returned thither, he took with him half a loaf for the prisoners who remained: with the above mentioned Esopus Indians. Being come there, he asked the Esopus Indians whether they would not entrust the 3 prisoners to him to convey them to the Dutch; whereupon they allowed him to take the 3 prisoners, with whom he arrived at the fort about 11 o'clock at night, but under promise as they informed us, that they should have in return their three prisoners whom we held. The prisoners told us that the Esopus Indians had fled to a high mountain through fear of the Dutch, and that they Jay here and there in small bands, and that the prisoners were also distributed and dispersed among them here and there, and were not together and that they would not trust them in their fort, and that the Indians daily threatened them--Should the Dutch come thither, we will give you a Knock and Kill you all at once.