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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16458-8.txt b/16458-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbd7a6a --- /dev/null +++ b/16458-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7583 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Princess Pocahontas, by Virginia Watson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Princess Pocahontas + +Author: Virginia Watson + +Illustrator: George Wharton Edwards + +Release Date: August 6, 2005 [EBook #16458] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: THE WHITE FIGURE MOVED RAPIDLY] + +THE PRINCESS +POCAHONTAS + +BY + +VIRGINIA WATSON + +Author of "WITH CORTES THE CONQUEROR" + + +WITH DRAWINGS AND DECORATIONS BY +GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS + + + +THE HAMPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY +NEW YORK + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + +INTRODUCTION + + +To most of us who have read of the early history of Virginia only in our +school histories, Pocahontas is merely a figure in one dramatic +scene--her rescue of John Smith. We see her in one mental picture only, +kneeling beside the prostrate Englishman, her uplifted hands warding off +the descending tomahawk. + +By chance I began to read more about the settlement of the English at +Jamestown and Pocahontas' connection with it, and the more I read the +more interesting and real she grew to me. The old chronicles gave me the +facts, and guided by these, my imagination began to follow the Indian +maiden as she went about the forests or through the villages of the +Powhatans. + +We are growing up in this new country of ours. And just as when children +get older they begin to feel curious about the childhood of their own +parents, so we have gained a new curiosity about the early history of +our country. The earlier histories and stories dealing with the Indians +and the wars between them and the colonists made the red man a devil +incarnate, with no redeeming virtue but that of courage. Now, however, +there is a new spirit of understanding. We are finding out how often it +was the Indian who was wronged and the white man who wronged him. Many +records there are of treaties faithfully kept by the Indians and +faithlessly broken by the colonists. Virginia was the first permanent +English settlement on this continent, and if not the _most_ important, +at least equally as important to our future development as that of New +England. From how small a seed, sown on that island of Jamestown in +1607, has sprung the mighty State, that herself has scattered seeds of +other states and famous men and women to multiply and enrich America. +And amid what dangers did this seed take root! But for one girl's +aid--as far as man may judge--it would have been uprooted and destroyed. + +In truth, when I look over the whole world history, I can find no other +child of thirteen, boy or girl, who wielded such a far-reaching +influence over the future of a nation. But for the protection and aid +which Pocahontas coaxed from Powhatan for her English friends at +Jamestown, the Colony would have perished from starvation or by the +arrows of the hostile Indians. And the importance of this Colony to the +future United States was so great that we owe to Pocahontas somewhat the +same gratitude, though in a lesser degree, that France owes to her Joan +of Arc. + +Pocahontas's greatest service to the colonists lay not in the saving of +Captain Smith's life, but in her continued succour to the starving +settlement. Indeed, there are historians who have claimed that the story +of her rescue of Smith is an invention without foundation. But in +opposition to this view let me quote from "The American Nation: A +History." Lyon Gardiner Tyler, author of the volume "England in America" +says: + + "The credibility of this story has been attacked.... Smith was + often inaccurate and prejudiced in his statements, but that is far + from saying that he deliberately mistook plain objects of sense or + concocted a story having no foundation." + +and from "The New International Encyclopaedia": + + "Until Charles Deane attacked it (the story of Pocahontas's rescue + of Smith) in 1859, it was seldom questioned, but, owing largely to + his criticisms, it soon became generally discredited. In recent + years, however, there has been a tendency to retain it." + +It is in Smith's own writings, "General Historie of Virginia" and "A +True Relation," that we find the best and fullest accounts of these +first days at Jamestown. He tells us not only what happened, but how the +new country looked; what kinds of game abounded; how the Indians lived, +and what his impressions of their customs were. Smith was ignorant of +certain facts about the Indians with which we are now familiar. The +curious ceremony which took place in the hut in the forest, just before +Powhatan freed Smith and allowed him to return to Jamestown, was one he +could not comprehend. Modern historians believe that it was probably the +ceremony of adoption by which Smith was made one of the tribe. + +In many places in this story I have not only followed closely Smith's +own narrative of what occurred, but have made use of the very words in +which he recorded the conversations. For instance the incident related +on page 101 was set down by Smith himself; on pages 144, 154, 262 the +words are those of Smith as given in his history; on pages 173, 195, +260, 300 the words of Powhatan or Pocahontas as Smith relates them. + +There may be readers of this story who will want to know what became of +Pocahontas. She fell ill of a fever just as she was about to sail home +for Virginia and died in Gravesend, where she was buried. Her son Thomas +Rolfe was educated in England and went to Virginia when he was grown. +His daughter Jane married John Bolling, and among their descendants +have been many famous men and women, including Edith Bolling (Mrs. Galt) +who married President Woodrow Wilson. + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I THE RETURN Of THE WARRIORS + + II POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN + + III MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST + + IV RUNNING THE GAUNTLET + + V THE GREAT BIRDS + + VI JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION + + VII A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP + + VIII POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN + + IX SMITH'S GAOLER + + X THE LODGE IN THE WOOD + + XI POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN + + XII POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR + + XIII POWHATAN'S CORONATION + + XIV A DANGEROUS SUPPER + + XV A FAREWELL + + XVI CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER + + XVII POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND + + XVIII A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN + + XIX JOHN ROLFE + + XX THE WEDDING + + XXI ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF + + XXII POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + The white figure moved rapidly + + "We choose to-day," he cried + + "Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan" + + "I will lead the princess" + + Virginia in 1606--from Captain John Smith's Map + + "Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas, "thou must not go" + + "Do not shoot, Mark!" + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE RETURN OF THE WARRIORS + + +Through the white forest came Opechanchanough and his braves, treading +as silently as the flakes that fell about them. From their girdles hung +fresh scalp locks which their silent Monachan owners did not miss. + +But Opechanchanough, on his way to Werowocomoco to tell The Powhatan of +the victory he had won over his enemies, did not feel quite sure that he +had slain all the war party against which he and his Pamunkey braves had +gone forth. The unexpected snow, coming late in the winter, had been +blown into their eyes by the wind so that they could not tell whether +some of the Monachans had not succeeded in escaping their vengeance. +Perhaps, even yet, so near to the wigwams of his brother's town, the +enemy might have laid an ambush. Therefore, it behooved them to be on +their guard, to look behind each tree for crouching figures and to +harken with all their ears that not even a famished squirrel might crack +a nut unless they could point out the bough on which it perched. + +Opechanchanough led the long thin line that threaded its way through the +broad cutting between huge oaks, still bronze with last year's leaves. +He held his head high and to himself he framed the words of the song of +triumph he meant to sing to The Powhatan, as the chief of the Powhatans +was called. Then, suddenly before his face shot an arrow. + +At a shout from their leader, the long line swung itself to the right, +and fifty arrows flew to the northward, the direction from which danger +might be expected. Still there was silence, no outcry from an ambushed +enemy, no sign of other human creatures. + +Opechanchanough consulted with his braves whence had the arrow come; and +even while they talked, another arrow from the right whizzed before his +face. + +"A bad archer," he grunted, "who cannot hit me with two shots." Then +pointing to a huge oak that forked half way up, he commanded: + +"Bring him to me." + +Two braves rushed forward to the tree, on which all eyes were now fixed. +It was difficult to distinguish anything through the falling snow and +the mass of its flakes that had gathered in the crotch. All was white +there, yet there was something white which moved, and the two braves on +reaching the tree trunk yelled in delight and disdain. + +The white figure moved rapidly now. Swinging itself out on a branch and +catching hold of a higher one, it seemed determined to retreat from its +pursuers to the very summit of the tree. But the braves did not waste +time in climbing after it; they leapt up in the air like panthers, +caught the branch and swung it vigorously back and forth so that the +creature's feet slipped from under it and it fell into their +outstretched arms. + +Not waiting even to investigate the white bundle of fur, the warriors, +surrounded by their curious fellows, bore it to Opechanchanough, and +laid it on the ground before him. He knelt and lifted up the cap of +rabbit skin with flapping ears that hid the face, then cried out in +angry astonishment: + +"Pocahontas! What meaneth this trick?" + +And the white fur bundle, rising to her feet, laughed and laughed till +the oldest and staidest warrior could not help smiling. But +Opechanchanough did not smile; he was too angry. His dignity suffered at +thus being made the sport of a child. He shook his niece, saying: + +"What meaneth this, I ask? What meaneth this?" + +Pocahontas then ceased laughing and answered: + +"I wanted to see for myself how brave thou wert. Uncle, and to know just +how great warriors such as ye are act when an enemy is upon them. I am +not so bad an archer, Uncle; I would not shoot thee, so I aimed beyond +thee. But it was such fun to sit up there in the tree and watch all of +you halt so suddenly." + +Her explanation set most of the party laughing again. + +"In truth, is she well named," they cried--"Pocahontas, Little Wanton." + +"I have yet another name," she said to an old brave who stood nearest +her. "Knowest thou it not?--Matoaka, Little Snow Feather. Always when +the moons of popanow (winter) bring us snow it calls me out to play. +'Come, Snow Feather,' it cries, 'come out and run with me and toss me up +into the air.'" + +Her uncle had now recovered his calm and was about to start forward +again. Turning to the two who had captured Pocahontas, he commanded: + +"Since we have taken a prisoner we will bear her to Powhatan for +judgment and safekeeping. Had we shot back into the tree she might have +been killed. See that she doth not escape you." + +Then he stalked ahead through the forest, paying no further attention to +Pocahontas. + +The young braves looked sheepishly at each other and at their captive, +not at all relishing their duty. Opechanchanough was not to be +disobeyed, yet it was no easy thing to hold a young maid against her +will, and no force or even show of force might be used against a +daughter of the mighty werowance (chieftain). + +Seeing their uncertainty, Pocahontas started to run to the left and they +to pursue her. They came up with her before she had gone as far as three +bows' lengths and led her back gently to their place in the line. Then +she walked sedately along as if unconscious of their presence, until +they were off their guard, believing she had resigned herself to the +situation, when she sprang off to the right and was again captured and +led back. She knew that they dared not bind her, and she took advantage +of this to lead them in truth a dance, first to one side and then to the +other. Behind them their comrades jeered and laughed each time the +maiden ran away. + +The regular order of the warpath was now no longer preserved. They had +advanced to a point where there was no longer any possibility of danger +from hostile attack. Werowocomoco lay now but a short distance away; +already the smoke from its lodges could be seen across the cleared +fields that surrounded the village of Powhatan. The older warriors were +walking in groups, talking over their deeds of valor performed that day, +and praising those of several of the young braves who had fought for the +first time. Pocahontas and her captors had now fallen further behind. + +Though well satisfied with the results of her enterprise and amusement, +Pocahontas had no mind to be brought into her home as a captive, even +though it be half in jest. Her father might not consider it so amusing +and, moreover, she did not like to be outwitted. She was so busy +thinking that she forgot to continue her game and walked quietly ahead, +keeping up with the longer strides of the warriors by occasional little +runs forward. The braves, their own heads full of their first campaign, +kept fingering lovingly the scalps at their girdles, and paid little +attention to her. + +She stooped as if to fasten her moccasin, then, as their impetus carried +them a few feet ahead of her before they stopped for her to come up, she +darted like a flash to the left and had slid down into a little hollow +before they thought of starting after her. + +It was now almost dark and her white fur was indistinguishable against +the snow below. Before they had reached the bottom, Pocahontas, who knew +every inch of the ground that was less familiar to men from her uncle's +village, had slipped back into the forest which skirted the fields the +pursuers were now speeding across, and was lost at once in the darkness. + +Opechanchanough knew nothing of this escape. He meant to explain to his +royal brother how much mischief a child might do who was not kept at +home performing squaw duties in her wigwam. And Powhatan's favorite +daughter or not, Pocahontas should be kept waiting outside her father's +lodge until he had related his important business and had recounted all +the glorious deeds done by his Pamunkeys. + +Now they had come to Werowocomoco itself, and the noise of their +shoutings and of their war drums brought the inhabitants running out of +their wigwams. As the Pamunkeys were an allied tribe, their cause +against a common enemy was the same, yet the rejoicings at the victory +against the Monachans was somewhat less than it would have been had the +conquerors been Powhatans themselves. However, Opechanchanough and his +braves could not complain of their reception, and runners sped ahead to +advise Powhatan of their coming, while all the population of their +village crowded about them, the men questioning, the boys fingering the +scalps and each boasting how many he would have at his girdle when he +was grown. + +The great Werowance was not in his ceremonial lodge but in the one in +which he ordinarily slept and ate when at Werowocomoco. Opechanchanough +paused at the opening of the lodge and ordered: + +"When I call out then bring ye in Pocahontas, and we shall see what +Powhatan thinks of a squaw child that shoots at warriors." + +The lodge was almost dark when he entered it. Before the fire in the +centre he could see his brother Powhatan seated, and on each side of him +one of his wives. Then he made out the features of his nephew Nautauquas +and Pocahontas' younger sister, Cleopatra (for so it was the English +later understood the girl's strange Indian name). They had evidently +just been eating supper and the dogs behind them were gnawing the wild +turkey bones that had been thrown to them. At Powhatan's feet crouched a +child in a dark robe, with face in the shadow. + +Powhatan greeted his brother gravely and bade him be seated. The lodge +soon filled with braves packed closely together, and about the opening +crowded all who could, and these repeated to the men and squaws left +outside the words that were spoken within. + +Proudly Opechanchanough began to tell how he had tracked the Monachans +to a hill above the river, and how he and his war party had fallen upon +them, driving them down the steep banks, slaying and scalping, even +swimming into the icy water to seize those who sought to escape. And The +Powhatan nodded in approval, uttering now and again a word of praise. +When Opechanchanough had finished his recital the shaman, or +medicine-man, rose and sang a song of praise about the brave Pamunkeys, +brothers of the Powhatans. + +Then, one after another, Opechanchanough's braves told of their personal +exploits. + +"I," sang one, "I, the Forest Wolf, have devoured mine enemy. Many suns +shall set red between the forest trees, but none so red as the blood +that flowed when my sharp knife severed his scalp lock." + +And as each recited his deeds his words were received with clappings of +hands and grunts of approval. + +Powhatan gave orders to open the guest lodge and to prepare a feast for +the victors. Then Opechanchanough rose again to speak. After he had +finished another song of triumph, he turned to Powhatan and asked: + +"Brother, how long hath it been that thy warriors keep within their +lodges, leaving to young squaws the duty of sentinels who cannot +distinguish friends from foes?" + +Powhatan gazed at the speaker in astonishment. + +"What dost thou mean by such strange words?" asked the chief. + +"As we returned through the forest," explained Opechanchanough, "before +we reached the boundary of thy fields, while we still believed that a +part of the Monachans might lie in ambush for us there, an arrow, shot +from the westward, flew before my face. Then came a second arrow out of +the branches of an oak tree. We took the bowman prisoner, and what +thinkest thou we found?--a squaw child!" + +"A squaw child!" repeated Powhatan in astonishment. "Was it one of this +village?" + +"Even so. Brother. I have her captive outside that thou mayst pronounce +judgment upon one who endangers thus the life of thy brother and who +forgetteth she is not a boy. Bring in the prisoner," he commanded. + +But no one came forward. The young braves to whom Pocahontas had been +entrusted kept wisely on the outskirts of the crowd. + +Then the little sombre figure at Powhatan's feet rose and stood with +the firelight shining on her face and dark hair and asked in a gentle +voice: + +"Didst thou want me, mine uncle?" + +"Pocahontas," exclaimed Opechanchanough, "how camest thou here ahead of +us, and in that dark robe?" + +"Pocahontas can run even better than she can shoot. Uncle, and the +changing of a robe is the matter but of a moment." + +"What meaneth this, Matoaka?" asked Powhatan, making use of her special +intimate name, which signified Little Snow Feather. He spoke in a low +tone, but one so stern that Cleopatra shivered and rejoiced that she was +not the culprit. + +"It was but a joke, my father," answered Pocahontas. "I meant no harm." +She hung her head and waited until he should speak again. + +"I will have no such jokes in my land," he said angrily, "remember +that." + +With a gesture of his hand and a whispered word of command he sent the +Pamunkey braves to the guest lodge. Opechanchanough, still angry at the +ridicule that a child had brought upon him, lingered to ask; + +"Wilt thou not punish her?" + +"Surely I will," Powhatan answered. "Go ye all to the guest lodge and I +will follow. Away, Nautauquas, and carry my pipe thither." + +They were now alone in the lodge, the great chief over thirty tribes and +his daughter, who still stood with downcast head. The Powhatan gazed at +her curiously. She waited for him to speak, then as he kept silent, she +turned and looked straight into his face and asked: + +"Father, dost thou know how hard it is to be a girl? Nautauquas, my +brother, is a swift runner, yet I am fleeter than he. I can shoot as +straight as he, though not so far. I can go without food and drink as +long as he. I can dance without fatigue when he is panting. Yet +Nautauquas is to be a great brave and I--thou bidst remember to be a +squaw. Is it not hard, my father? Why then didst thou give me strong +arms and legs and a spirit that will not be still? Do not blame me. +Father, because I must laugh and run and play." + +As she spoke she slipped to her knees and embraced his feet and when she +had ceased speaking, she smiled up fearless into his face. + +Powhatan tried not to be moved by the child's pleading. Yet he was a +chief who always harkened to the excuses made by offenders brought +before him and judged them justly, if sometimes harshly. This child of +his was as dear to him as a running stream to summer heat. If at times +its spray dashed too high, could he be angry? + +And Pocahontas, seeing that his anger had gone from him, stood up and +laid her head against his arm. She did not have to be told that the +mighty Powhatan loved no wife nor child of his as he loved her. Then his +hand stroked her soft hair and cheek, and she knew that she was +forgiven. + +"Thine uncle is very angry," he said. + +"If thou couldst but have seen him. Father, when the arrow whizzed," and +she laughed gaily in memory of the picture. + +"I have promised to punish thee." + +"Yea, as thou wilt." But she did not speak as if afraid. + +"Hear what I charge thee," he said in mock solemnity. "Thou shalt +embroider for me with thine own hands--thou that carest not for squaw's +needles--a robe of raccoon skin in quills and bits of precious shells." + +Pocahontas laughed. + +"That is no punishment. 'Tis a strange thing, but when I do things I +like not for those I love, why, then I pleasure in doing them. I will +fashion for thee such a robe as thou hast never seen. Oh! I know how +beautiful it will be. I will make new patterns such as no squaw hath +ever dreamed of before. But thou wilt never be really angry with me. +Father, wilt thou?" she questioned pleadingly. "And if I should at any +time do what displeaseth thee, and thou wearest this robe I make thee, +then let it be a token between us and when I touch it thou wilt forgive +me and grant what I ask of thee?" + +And Powhatan promised and smiled on her before he set forth for the +guest lodge. + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER II + +POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN + + +Some months later on there came a hot day such as sometimes appears in +the early spring. The sun shone with almost as much power as if the corn +were high above the ground in which it had only just been planted with +song and the observance of ancient sacred rites and dances. Little +leaves glistened like fish scales, as they gently unfurled themselves on +the walnut and persimmon trees about Werowocomoco, and in the forest the +ground was covered with flowers. The children tied them together and +tossed them as balls to and fro or wound them into chaplets for their +hair; the old squaws searched among them for certain roots and leaves +for dyes to stain the grass cloth they spun, called pemmenaw. + +The boys played hunters, pretending their dogs were wild beasts, but the +bears and wolves did not always understand the parts assigned them and +frolicked and leaped up in delight upon their little masters instead of +turning upon them ferociously. The elder braves lay before their lodges, +many of them idling in the sunshine, others busied themselves making +arrows, fitting handles to stone knives or knotting crab nets. Two +slaves, brought home prisoners by a war party, were hollowing out a +dugout, which the Powhatans used instead of the birchbark canoes +preferred by other tribes. They had cut down an oak tree that, judging +from its rings, must have been an acorn when Powhatan was a papoose, +seventy years before. They had burned out a portion of the outer and +inner bark and were now hacking at the heart of the wood with sharp +obsidian axes. + +The squaws were also all busy out of doors, though they chatted in +groups as eagerly as if their energy were being expended by their +tongues only. Many were at work scraping deerskin to soften it before +they cut it into robes for themselves or into moccasins for the men. +Here and there little puffs of smoke that seemed to come from beneath +the earth testified to the dinners that were being cooked under heated +stones. + +Pocahontas was seated upon a small hill overlooking the village. As the +chief's daughter, it was only on special occasions and as an honored +guest, that she joined the knots of squaws or maidens chatting before +the wigwams. But she was not alone now in solitary grandeur. She was +accustomed to surround herself, when she desired company, with a number +of younger girls of the tribe who obeyed her, less because she was the +daughter of the feared werowance, than because she had a way with her +that made it pleasant to do as she willed and difficult to oppose her. +Cleopatra, her youngest sister, sat beside her, trying to coax a +squirrel on the branch above them to come down and eat some parched corn +from her hands. + +Over Pocahontas's knees was spread a robe of raccoon skin, smooth, +painted in a wide border. Along the edge of this she was embroidering a +deep pattern of white beads made from sea shells. A basket of reeds +beside her was full of other beads, large and small, white, red, yellow +and blue. + +"What doth thy pattern mean, Pocahontas?" asked the girl nearest her. +"As it is not one any of our mothers hath ever wrought before, thou must +have a meaning for it in thy mind." "Yes," assented the worker, "it +differeth from all other patterns because my father differeth from all +other werowances. It meaneth this that I sing: + + "Powhatan is a mighty chief, + As long as the river floweth, + As long as the sky upholdeth, + As long as the oak tree groweth, + So long shall his name be known. + +"See, this line is for the river, this one that goeth up straight is the +oak tree and this long line all wavy is the heavens. I make this for my +father because I am so proud of him." + +"But why, Pocahontas," asked another of her companions, "dost thou not +use more of these red beads? They are so like fire, like the blood of an +enemy; why dost thou refer the white?" + +Pocahontas held her bone needle still for a moment and her face wore a +puzzled expression. + +"I cannot answer thee exactly, Deer-Eye, since I do not know myself. I +love the white beads as I love best to wear a white robe myself, or a +white rabbit hood in winter. In the woods I always pick the white +flowers, and I love the white wild pigeon best of all the birds except +the white seagull. And the white soft clouds high in the heavens I love +better than the red and yellow ones when the sun goeth down to sleep in +the west. Yet I cannot say why it is so." + +As noon approached the day grew hotter, and the fingers wearied of the +work. Down in the village the men had ceased their activities and lay +stretched out on the shady side of the lodges; only the squaws preparing +dinner were still busy. + +"Let us go to the waterfall," cried Pocahontas, jumping up suddenly. +"Each of you go and beg some food from her mother and hurry back here. I +will put my work away and await ye here." + +The maidens flew down the hill while Pocahontas and Cleopatra carried +the robe and the basket to their lodge. Then, a few minutes later, they +were rejoined by their companions and all started off laughing as they +ran through the woods. + +The stream that flowed into the great river below was now still wide +with its spring fulness. A mile away from Werowocomoco it fell over high +rocks, then rushing down a gentle incline bubbled over smooth rocky +slabs, and made a deep pool below them. + +The maidens tossed off their skirts and stood for a moment hesitatingly +on the shore. Mocking-birds sang in the oaks above them, startled by +their shrill young voices, and on the bare branches of a sycamore tree +that had been killed by a lightning bolt a score of raccoons lay curled +up in the sunshine. + +Pocahontas was the first to spring into the stream, but her comrades +quickly followed her, laughing, pushing, crying out the first chill of +the water. Only Cleopatra remained standing on the shore. + +"Come," called Pocahontas to her; "why dost thou tarry, lazy one?" + +"I will not come. The water is too cold." + +Cleopatra was about to slip on her skirt again when her sister splashed +through the stream to her and half pushed, half pulled her into the pool +and then to the rocks partly submerged in the water. There was much +screaming and calling, slipping from the rocks into the pool and +clambering from the pool back on to the rocks. The water was now +pleasantly warm and the dinner awaiting them was forgotten in the +pleasure of the first bath of the season. + +Deer-Eye, in trying to pull herself back on the rock, caught hold of +Cleopatra's foot, who slipped on the mossy surface and fell backwards +into the water, hitting her head against a sharp edge. She lost +consciousness and sank down into the pool. + +Almost before she had disappeared beneath the water Pocahontas had +sprung after her, and groping about on the fine smooth sand of the +bottom, she caught hold of her sister and brought her to the surface. + +Then, with the aid of the terrified maidens, she lifted her up on the +bank, the blood flowing freely from a cut on her head. After vainly +trying to staunch the wound with damp moss, Pocahontas commanded: + +"Hasten as though the Iroquois were coming, and cut me some strong +branches." + +They obeyed her, hurriedly throwing their skirts about them, and then +with their stone knives severed branches and tied them together with +deer thongs which they tore from the fringe of their girdles. On top of +these they placed leafy branches and lifted the unconscious Cleopatra on +to this improvised stretcher. In spite of their remonstrances, +Pocahontas insisted upon taking one end of it, while the strongest two +of her playmates bore the other. + +Through the woods they walked, as silent now as they had been noisy +before, but Pocahontas thought her heart-beats sounded as loud as the +war drums of the Pamunkeys. + +They were still distant many minutes' walk to the village when they +caught sight of Pochins, a medicine man famous among many tribes for his +powerful manitou, his guardian spirit, which enabled him to communicate +with the manitous of the spirit world. + +"Pochins, oh Pochins," cried out Pocahontas, "come and help us. I fear +my sister is dying, and that I have killed her. She did not wish to go +into the water, Pochins, and I pulled her in and now she hath cut her +head and the blood floweth from it so that I can not stop it." + +The shaman made no answer, but bent down from his great height and +looked carefully at the wound, then he took the end of the stretcher +from Pocahontas, saying: + +"I will bear her to my prayer lodge here nearby." + +Even then through the trees they caught sight of the bark covering of +the lodge, which few persons had ever entered. The maidens shuddered at +the sight of it, for none of them knew what mysterious terrors might lie +in wait for them there. Nevertheless they followed Pochins as he bore +Cleopatra inside and laid her on the ground. From an earthen bowl he +took certain herbs and bound the leaves, after he had moistened them, +over the wound. Soon Pocahontas, crouching at her sister's side, could +see that the blood had ceased to flow. But no sign of life could be +detected in the little body lying there. The hands and feet were clammy +and though Pocahontas rubbed them vigorously, she could feel no warmth +stirring in them. + +The shaman paid, however, no further heed to her. From another bowl he +took out a rattle of gourd, and from a peg on one of the rounded +supports of the roof he lifted down a horrible mask painted in scarlet, +and this he fastened over his face. Then, waving the children out of the +way, he began to dance about the two sisters and to chant in a loud +voice, shaking the rattle till it seemed as if the din must waken a dead +person. + +"My medicine is a mighty medicine," he exclaimed in his natural voice to +Pocahontas. "Wait a little and thou shalt see what wonders it can do." + +And indeed in a few moments Pocahontas felt the pulse start in her +sister's arm, saw her eyelids quiver and her feet grow warm. And when +the shouting and the shaking of the rattle grew even louder and more +hideous, Cleopatra opened her eyes and looked about her in astonishment. + +"Mighty indeed is the medicine (the magic) of Pochins," cried the shaman +proudly as he laid aside mask and rattle; "it hath brought this maiden +back from the dead." + +Pocahontas now had to soothe the child, terrified by the sights she had +seen and the sounds she had heard. She patted her arms and spoke to her +as if she were a papoose on her back: + +"Fear not, little one, no evil shall come to thee. Pocahontas watcheth +over thee. She will not close her eyes while danger prowleth about. Fear +naught, little one." + +And Cleopatra clung to her, feeling a sense of security in her sister's +fearlessness. + +By this time the news of the accident had spread through the village and +several squaws, led by Cleopatra's mother, came running to Pochins's +lodge. Finding Cleopatra was able to rise, they carried her back with +them. The other maidens, now the excitement was over, remembered their +empty stomachs and hurried off to recover the dinner they had left +behind at the waterfall. + +Pocahontas did not go with them. She still sat on the ground beside the +medicine man while he busied himself painting the mask where the color +had worn off. + +"Shaman," she asked, "tell me where went the manitou of my sister while +she lay there dead?" + +"On a distant journey," he answered; "therefore I had to call so loudly +to make it hear me and return." + +"Who taught thee thy medicine?" she questioned again. + +"The Beaver, my manitou, daughter of Powhatan," he answered. + +"And who then will teach me; how shall I learn?" + +"Thou needest not such knowledge, since thou art neither a medicine man +nor a brave. I, Pochins, will call to Okee, the Great Spirit, for thee +when thou hast need of anything, food or raiment or a chief to take thee +to his lodge." + +"But I should like to do that myself, Pochins," she remonstrated. "Thou +dost not know how many things I long to do myself. Let me put on thy +mask and take thy rattle, just to see how they feel." + +"Nay, nay, touch them not," he cried, stretching out his hand. "The +Beaver would be angry with us and would work evil medicine on us." + +Pochins was not fond of children. His dignity was so great that he never +even noticed them as he strode through the village. But the eager look +in Pocahontas's eyes seemed to draw words out of him. He began to talk +to her of the many days and nights he had spent alone, fasting, in the +prayer lodge until some message came to him from Okee, some message +about the harvest or the success of a hunting party. Pocahontas was so +interested that she asked him many questions. + +"Tell me of Michabo, Michabo, the Great Hare," she coaxed, as she moved +over on a mat Pochins had spread for her. + +"Hearken, then, daughter of The Powhatan," he began, his voice changing +its natural tone to one of chanting, "to the story of Michabo as it is +told in the lodges of the Powhatans, the Delawares and of those tribes +who dwell far away beyond our forests, away where abideth the West Wind +and where the Sun strideth towards the darkness. + +"Michabo dived down into the water when there was no land and no beast +and no man or woman and he was lonely. From the bottom took he a grain +of fine white sand and bore it safely in his hand in his journey upward +through the dark waters. This he cast upon the waves and it sank not but +floated like a tiny leaf. Then it spread out, circling round and round, +wider and wider as the rings widen when thou casteth a stone into a +still lake, till it had grown so large that a swift young wolf, though +he ran till he dropped of old age, could not come to its ending. This +earth rose all covered with trees and hills and beasts and men and +women, and Michabo, the Great Hare, the Spirit of Light, the Great White +One, hunted through earth's forests and he fashioned strong nets for +fishing and he taught the stupid men, who knew naught, how to hunt also +and to catch fish that they might not die of hunger. + +"But Michabo had mightier deeds to do than the slaying of the fat deer +or the netting of the salmon. His father was the mighty West Wind, +Ningabiun, and he had slain his wife, the mother of Michabo. So when +Michabo's grandmother had told him of the misdeeds of his father, +Michabo rose up and called out to the four corners of the world: 'Now go +I forth to slay the West Wind to avenge the death of my mother.' + +"At last he found Ningabiun on the top of a high mountain, his cheeks +puffed out and his headdress waving back and forth. At first they talked +peacefully together and the West Wind told Michabo that only one thing +in all the world could bring harm to him, and that was the black rock. + +"'Wert thou the cause of my mother's death?' questioned Michabo, his +eyes flashing, and Ningabiun calmly answered 'Yes.' + +"So Michabo in his fury picked up a piece of black rock and struck at +Ningabiun with all his might. A terrible conflict was this, such as hath +never been seen since; the earth shook and the lightnings flashed down +the sides of the mountain. So great was Michabo's strength that the West +Wind was driven backwards. Over mountains and lakes Michabo drove him +and across wide rivers, till they two came to the very brink of the +world. Ningabiun feared that his son was going to push him off and cried +out: + +"Hold, my son, thou knowest not my power and that it is impossible to +kill me. Desist and I will portion out to thee as much power as I have +given to thy brothers. The four quarters of the globe are theirs, but +thou canst do more than they, if thou wilt help the people of the earth. +Go and do good, and thy fame will last forever.' + +"So Michabo ceased from the battle and went down to help our fathers in +the hunt and in the council and in the prayer-lodge; but to this day +great cliffs of black rock show where Michabo strove with his father, +the West Wind." + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER III + +MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST + + +Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was returning at night through the forest +towards his lodge at Werowocomoco. Over his shoulder hung the deer he +had gone forth to slay. His mother had said to him: + +"Thy leggings are old and worn, and thou knowest that good luck cometh +to the hunter wearing moccasins and leggings made from skins of his own +slaying. Go thou forth and kill a deer that I may soften its hide and +make a covering of it for thy feet." + +So Nautauquas had taken his bow and a quiver of arrows, and while +Pocahontas and Cleopatra were sporting at the waterfall he had sought a +pond whose surface was all but covered with fragrant water lilies, and +he had hidden behind a sumac, bush, waiting patiently till a buck came +down alone to drink. Only one arrow did he spend, which found its place +between the wide branched antlers; then the hunter had waded into the +pond, pushing aside the lily pads, and with one cut of his knife he had +put an end to the struggling deer. Now he was bearing it home and he +thought with eagerness of the savory meat it would yield him on the +morrow. There was no doubt that he would have appetite ready for it, as +all day long he had eaten nothing. It had been easy enough for him to +have killed a squirrel and roasted it, but Nautauquas, knowing it was +part of a brave's training to accustom himself to hunger, often fasted a +long time voluntarily. + +The night was a dark one, but now that the moon had risen, long vistas +of light shone down the forest avenues, generally at that time so free +from underbrush. Nautauquas, looking up through the branches at the +moon, thought how it was the squaw of the sun and remembered the queer +tales the old women were fond of relating about it. + +Suddenly before him he saw a creature dancing down the moon-path, +whirling and springing about while a pair of rabbits, that were startled +in crossing the path, scurried off into a clump of sassafras bushes +nearby. Then, as if reassured, they sat there calmly, even when the +dancing figure came closer to them. And Nautauquas heard singing, though +the words of the song did not come to his ears. He slipped behind an oak +tree and watched the dancer advance. Now that it was nearer he +discovered that it was a young girl; her only garment, a skirt of white +buckskin, napped against her firm bare brown legs and a necklace of +white shells clicked as she spun about. In the branches above some +squirrels, awakened from their slumber, straightened their furry tails +and began to chatter and a screech-owl tuwitted and tuwhoed. There was +something familiar in the outlines, and Nautauquas was therefore not +completely astonished when, turning about, she showed the face of +Pocahontas. + +"Matoaka," he cried, stepping from the shadow; "what dost thou here +alone at night?" + +His sister did not scream nor jump at this sudden interruption. She +seized her brother's hand and pressed it gently. + +"It was such a beautiful night, Nautauquas," she replied, "that I could +not lie sleeping in the lodge. I come often here." + +"And hast thou no fear, little sister?" he asked affectionately; "no +fear of wild animals or of our enemies?" + +"Wild animals will not hurt me. I patted a mother bear with cubs one +night, and she did not even growl." + +Nautauquas did not doubt her word. He knew that there were certain human +beings whom beasts will not hurt. + +"And enemies," she continued, "would not venture so near the village of +the mighty Powhatan." + +"I heard thee singing, little White Feather; what was thy song?" + +"I made it many moons ago," she answered, "and I sing it always when I +dance here at night. Listen then, thou shalt hear the song Matoaka, +daughter of Powhatan, made to sing in the woods by Werowocomoco." + +And she danced slowly, imitating with head and hands, body and feet, the +words of her song. + + I am the sister of the Morning Wind, + And he and I awake the lazy Sun. + We ruffle up the down of sleeping birds, + And blow our laughter in the rabbits' ears, + And bend the saplings till they kiss my feet, + And the long grass till it obeisance makes. + + I am the sister of the wan Moonbeam + Who calls to me when I have fallen asleep: + Come, see how I have witched the world in white.-- + So faint his voice no other ear can hear. + And I steal forth from out my father's lodge, + And of the world there only waketh I + And bears and wildcats and the sly raccoon + And deer from out whose eyes there look the souls + Of maidens who have died ere they knew love. + And then the world we shorten with our feet + That wake no echoes, but the hornèd owl + Sigheth to think that thus our wingless speed + All but outdoes that of the tree-dwellers. + +When she had finished she threw herself down at his feet, asking: + +"Dost thou like my song, my brother?" + +"Yes, it is a new song, Matoaka, and some day thou must sing it for our +father. But it seemeth to me that thou art different from other maids. +They do not care to rise from their sleeping mats and go forth alone +into the forest." + +"Perhaps they have not an arrow inside of them as have I." + +Nautauquas had seated himself in the crotch of a dogwood-tree and looked +with interest at his sister below him. + +"An arrow?" he queried; "what dost thou mean?" + +"I think," she answered, speaking slowly, "that within me is an +arrow--not of wood and stone, but one of manitou--how shall I explain it +to thee? I must go forth to distances, to deeds. I am shot forward by +some bow and I may not hang idle in a quiver. I know," she continued, +fingering the quiver on his back, "how thine own arrow feels after thou +hast fashioned it carefully of strong wood and bound its head upon it +with thongs. It says to itself; 'I am happy here, hanging in my warm bed +on Nautauquas's back.' And then when thou takest it in thy hand and +fittest its notch to the bowstring, it crieth out: 'Now I shall speed +forth; now shall I cut the wind; now shall I journey where no arrow ever +journeyed before; now shall I achieve what I was fashioned for!'" + +"Strange thoughts are these, little sister, for a maid to think," and +Nautauquas stroked the long braid against his knee. + +"I am so happy, Nautauquas," she went on. "I love the warm lodge, the +fire embers in the centre, the smoke curling up towards the stars I can +see through the opening above me. I love to feel little Cleopatra's feet +touching my head as we lie there together. But then I feel the arrow +within me and I rise to my feet silently and creep out, and if the dogs +hear me I whisper to them and they lie down quietly again. I love +Werowocomoco, yet I long too to go beyond the village to where the sky +touches the earth. I love the tales of the beasts the old squaws tell, +but I want to hear the braves when they speak of war and ambushes. +Springtime and the sowing of the corn are full of delight, yet I look +forward eagerly to the earing of the corn and the fall of the leaf." + +The maiden spoke passionately. So had she never spoken to anyone. She +ceased for a moment and there was no sound save the call of the owl. +Then she turned around and knelt, her elbows on her brother's knees, and +asked: + +"Tell me, Nautauquas, tell me the truth, since thou canst speak naught +else; what manitou is in me that I am like to rushing water, to a stream +that hurries forward? What shall I become?" + +"Something great, Matoaka," he answered; "I know not whether a +warrior--such there have been--a princess who shall hold many tribes in +her hand, or a prophetess; but I am certain that the arrow of thy +manitou shall bring down some fair game." + +"Ah!" she breathed deeply. "I thank thee for thy words, Nautauquas, my +brother, and that thou hast not made sport of me." + +"Why should anyone make sport of thee? It is not strange that the aspen +should quiver when the wind blows, nor that thou shouldst be swayed by +the spirit that is within thee, Matoaka. Some day--" + +He was interrupted by a piercing scream from the depth of the forest. He +sprang to his feet; all the dreaminess of his attitude and mood had +vanished; he pulled an arrow from his quiver fitted it to the string in +readiness to shoot. Was it possible, he wondered, for any war party of +their enemies to have ventured so near Powhatan's stronghold without +having been halted at other villages belonging to his people? Pocahontas +too was on her feet, her head on one side, listening intently. + +Again came the scream, then Nautauquas loosened his bow, saying: + +"That is no human cry. It is a wildcat in agony. Let us go and see what +aileth it." + +They ran swiftly towards the point from which the sound had come. Again +came the cry to guide them, and then there was silence as they ran +through the moonlight checkered by the shadows of the trees. + +Nautauquas stood still suddenly, so suddenly that Pocahontas behind him +could not stop quickly enough and fell against him and almost down into +a ravine that lay beneath, but Nautauquas caught her on the very brink. + +"It is down there," he pointed; "there must be a trap, I think. Let us +descend very carefully." + +They clambered down through the darkness made by the overhanging bushes +and rocks. At the bottom the light was not obscured, and they beheld the +striped body of a large wildcat caught in a trap. + +"Look," cried Pocahontas excitedly, "there is another beast just there +in those bushes. Our coming must have frightened it. He has been trying +to kill the one in the trap, that cannot defend himself." + +"That is so," assented Nautauquas, making ready to shoot the beast that +was at liberty in case it should spring towards them. But the animal +evidently had no taste that night for an encounter with human beings, +and slouched off and up the side of the ravine. The imprisoned animal, +they could see, was bleeding from a large wound on its back, and in the +moonlight its eyes shone like fire. + +"Poor beast!" exclaimed Nautauquas compassionately. "I would free him if +he would let me touch him. As it is he will have to starve to death +unless his enemy comes back to finish him." + +"No," said Pocahontas, "that need not be. I will loose him and bind up +his wound if thou wilt cut a strip off thy leggings." + +"Silly child," he laughed. "A wild beast needs no balsam nor cloths for +his wounds. If he were free to drag himself to safety he would lick his +hurt till it healed. But he would bite thy hand off shouldst thou +attempt to touch him." + +"Nay, Nautauquas, he would not harm me. See how quiet he will grow." + +She knelt down just beyond the reach of the wildcat and began to whisper +to it. Nautauquas could not make out what she said, but to his amazement +he beheld how the beast ceased to lash its tail and how its muscles +seemed to relax. Nevertheless the young brave caught Pocahontas by the +arm and tried to pull her away. + +"There is no danger, my brother," she remonstrated. "Fear not. Hast thou +not seen old Father Noughmass when the bees swarm over his neck and +hands? They never sting him. He cannot tell thee why, nor do I know why +wild beasts will not harm me." + +So Nautauquas, knife in hand and breathing deeply, looked on while +Pocahontas, speaking words in a low voice, moved nearer and nearer the +wildcat. Taking her knife from her girdle, she began to cut through the +thongs that held him. One paw was now loose and yet the beast did not +move to touch his rescuer. Then when the other thongs were loose and it +was free, it moved off slowly and painfully into the woods as if no +human beings were there. + +Nautauquas breathed a sigh of relief. + +"It is wonderful, Matoaka, yet I pray thee test thy strange power not +too far. I am glad though the poor beast got away. I like not to see +them suffer. I shoot and kill for food and for skins, but I kill at +once." + +They now climbed up the ravine again and started off in the direction of +Werowocomoco. + +The night was already far advanced and Pocahontas was growing drowsier +and drowsier. Nautauquas, seeing that she was almost asleep, took hold +of her arm and made her lean on him. As they approached the spot where +he had first come across her dancing, they noticed a human figure +crouched on the ground. Even in the moonlight, grown dimmer as dawn +approached, he could see that it was an old squaw. Pocahontas recognized +old Wansutis, a gatherer of herbs and roots. + +"What dost thou here, Wansutis?" she questioned. + +"He! the little princess," cried the old woman, scowling up at them, +"and the young brave Nautauquas. I seek roots and leaves by the light of +the Sun's squaw. So is it meet for me and so will the drinks be stronger +when brewed by old Wansutis. I have found many rare plants this night; +it hath been a lucky one, perchance because the young princess was also +abroad in the forest." + +All the children of the tribe were afraid of the old woman. They told +each other tales of how she could turn those she disliked into dogs, +bats or turtles. And now even Nautauquas remembered how he had run from +her when he was a little fellow. Her expression was so ugly and so +malign that Pocahontas, though she did not fear her exactly, had no +desire to stay longer, and so started forward. + +"And what doth Pocahontas in the woods at night?" asked Wansutis. +"Knoweth The Powhatan that she hath left his lodge?" + +Pocahontas, though she often willingly allowed those about her to forget +her rank, could yet be very conscious of it when she desired. Now it did +not please her to be questioned in this manner by the old squaw and she +did not answer. + +"Oh hey," cried Wansutis, "thou wilt not answer me. Thou art proud of +thy rank and thy youth. Yet one day thou wilt be an old squaw like me, +without teeth, with weak legs, and life a burden to thee. Then thou wilt +not be so proud." + +Pocahontas stopped and turned around again. + +"Nay, I will not grow old. I will not let the day come when life shall +be a burden. Thou canst not read the future, Wansutis. I shall always be +as fleet as now." + +"Thinketh thou to ward off old age by some of my potions made from these +roots I carry here, a bundle too heavy for an ancient crone like me to +bear on her back? Thou shalt have none of them." + +At these words Pocahontas's manner changed. Stooping, she picked up the +bundle and pressed it into the net that lay on the ground and swung it +on to her strong shoulders. + +"Come, Wansutis," she cried. "Seek not to anger me with words and I will +bear thy bundle to thy wigwam. It is in truth too heavy for thy old +bones." + +The old woman grunted ungraciously as she rose to her feet, then the +three, one following the other, moved forward. They were obliged to go +slowly, as Wansutis could only hobble along, and Nautauquas was sorry to +see that dawn was approaching. He feared now that Pocahontas would not +be able to steal unobserved back to her place beside Cleopatra and that +she would be scolded. They went with Wansutis to her wigwam and +Pocahontas let fall her bundle. Nautauquas took out his knife and cut +off a hind quarter of the deer and laid it on the squaw's hearth. + +"She hath no son to hunt for her," he said in explanation as he and +Pocahontas went off unthanked. + +Wansutis's wigwam was on the edge of the village. As they came nearer to +the lodges they heard yelling and shouting from every side, and they saw +small boys and young braves rush forth, glancing eagerly about them. + +"Let us hasten," cried Pocahontas. "I wonder what hath befallen, +Nautauquas." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER IV + +RUNNING THE GAUNTLET + + +"What hath happened?" Nautauquas called out to Parahunt, his brother, +when he caught up with him hastening to the river. + +"Word hath come by a runner that one of the tribes from the Chickahominy +villages hath fallen upon a party of Massawomekes and hath vanquished +them. Even now they are approaching with the prisoners." + +In passing the front of his wigwam Nautauquas threw down the carcass of +the deer, then ran on to join the ever increasing crowd of braves and +children on the river bank. + +Pocahontas too had mingled in the throng, and so Cleopatra and the +squaws in the lodge had not noticed her absence, thinking when they saw +her that she had been roused from sleep in the early dawn as they had +been. + +It was now almost light. Far down the river six large dugouts were +approaching. But even that sight was not sufficient to make the +onlookers forget the fact that the sun was rising and must be greeted +with the customary ceremony. Two chiefs, whose duty it was, took from +their pouches handfuls of dried uppowoc (tobacco), and each turning away +from the other, walked in a large half-circle, scattering the uppowoc +upon the ground, until when they met a brown ring had been formed. +Within this braves and squaws hurried to seat themselves. With uplifted +eyes and outstretched hands they greeted the Sun who had come back to +them to warm their fields and to draw their young corn upright. + +By the time this morning ceremony was over the dugouts were almost at +the beach. There was now a great shouting and yelling from shore to +boats and from boats to shore, and Pocahontas slipped into a thicket of +bushes on to a higher point of the bank where she could be alone to +watch the landing. She clapped her hands as their friends, the stalwart +Chickahominies, leaped ashore, twenty to each huge dugout; and though +her dignity would not permit her to call out derisively, as did the +crowd, to the three prisoners each boat contained, she looked eagerly to +see what kind of monsters these enemies of her tribe might be. + +The eighteen Massawomekes were not bound; they stepped from the dugouts +as firmly as if they were going to a feast instead of to torture. They +were of the Iroquois nation; and Pocahontas, who had heard many stories +of this race, always at enmity with her own, noticed certain differences +in the way they were tattooed and in the shape of their headdresses. + +Victors and prisoners, followed by the crowd, marched forward to the +ceremonial lodge where The Powhatan was awaiting them. Pocahontas +slipped into the already crowded space, though one of Powhatan's squaws +tried to stay her. She made her way without further opposition between +Chickahominies and Massawomekes, up to the dais where her father sat, +and crouched down on a mat spread on raised hurdles at his feet, where +she could observe all that went on. + +One of the Chickahominy chiefs, whose face she remembered to have seen +at the great autumn festivals, was the first to speak: + +"Powhatan, ruler of two hundred villages and lord of thirty tribes, who +rulest from the salt water to the western forests, we come to tell thee +how we have pursued thine enemies, the Massawomekes, who two months ago +did slay in ambush a party of our young men out hunting deer. By the +Great Swamp (the Dismal Swamp of Virginia) we came upon them, and though +they sought like bears to hide themselves in its secret places, lo! I, +Water Snake, did track them and I and my braves fell upon them, and now +they are no more." + +Murmurs of assent and of approval were heard throughout the lodge. The +prisoners alone were apparently as unconscious of Water Snake's recital +as if they were still hidden in the fastnesses of the Great Swamp. + +"There where we fought," continued the orator, waving his hand towards +the southwest, "the white blossoms of the creeping plants turned +crimson, and the hungry buzzards circled overhead. Many a Massawomeke +squaw sits to-night in a lonely wigwam; many a man child among them hath +lost the father to teach him how to bend a bow. We slew them all, Great +Werowance, all but these captives we have brought before thee." + +This time louder shouts of approval rewarded Water Snake's speech, +which did not cease until it was seen that Powhatan meant to acknowledge +it. He did not rise nor change his position in any way, and his voice +was low and measured. + +"A tree hath many branches, but one trunk only. Deep into the earth +stretch its roots to suck up nourishment for every twig and leaf. I, +Wahunsunakuk, Chief of the Powhatans and many tribes, am the trunk, and +one of my many branches is that of the Chickahominies and one that is +very close to my heart. My children have done well and the Powhatan +thanks them for their brave deeds. Now can your young braves go forth +upon the hunt unharmed and bring back meat for feastings and hides for +their squaws to fashion." + +He paused and all the eyes of his people in the lodge were bent on him +with the same question. + +"My children ask of me 'What shall we do with these captives?' and I +make answer, feast them first, that they may not say that the Powhatans +are greedy and give not to strangers. Then when they have feasted let +them run the gauntlet." + +He waved his hand in token that he had finished speaking, and the glad +news was shouted from the lodge to the eager crowd without. Pocahontas +knew as well as if she could see them that the squaws were hurrying +about to prepare the food, and from her low seat she could see between +the legs of the braves before her how a number of boys were lying on +their stomachs, trying to wriggle into the lodge that they might hear +for themselves the interesting things going on and observe for +themselves whether the captives showed any sign of fear. + +Now Powhatan gave an order and all seated themselves on the ground or on +mats in lines facing him. Then in came the squaws bearing large wooden +and grass-woven dishes of food. There were hot cakes of maize and wild +turkeys and fat raccoons. The captives were served first and none of +them refused. They would not let their enemies believe that fear of +their coming fate could spoil their appetites. So, after throwing the +first piece of meat into the fire as an offering to Okee, they ate +eagerly. + +One of them who sat nearest the front, Pocahontas noticed, was but +little older than herself. He was too young to be a brave; perhaps, she +thought, he had run off from home and had followed the war party, as she +had heard of boys in her own tribe doing. She wondered if now he was +regretting that his eagerness for adventure had made his first warpath +his last one. + +When they had feasted the squaws passed around bunches of turkey +feathers for them to wipe their greasy fingers on, and in every way the +captives were treated with that exaggerated courtesy that was customary +towards those about to be tortured. + +Then Powhatan rose, and, preceded and followed by several of his fifty +armed guards chosen from the tallest men of his thirty tribes, he strode +down the centre of the lodge and out into the sunshine. Pocahontas +walked next behind him, and once outside, ran to tell the curious +Cleopatra all she had witnessed. + +"Why shouldst thou have seen it all?" asked her jealous sister of +Pocahontas, "while I had naught of it all but the shouting?" + +"Because," laughed Pocahontas, pulling her sister's long hair, "because +my two feet took me in. Thine are too fearful, little mouse." + +An open space stretched before the ceremonial lodge, used for games and +feats of running and shooting at a mark. Now Powhatan and his guard and +his sons seated themselves upon the firm red ground that rose in a +little hillock to a height of several feet at one side of the lodge. +Then other chieftains took up their places behind them, standing or +sitting; the squaws crowded in among them and the boys sought the +branches of a single walnut-tree, the only tree within the limits of +Werowocomoco. They looked with longing eyes at the slanting roof of the +great lodge. That was undoubtedly the point of vantage, but The Powhatan +was a much dreaded werowance and they dared not risk his ire. + +Pocahontas, who had been wondering where to bestow herself, noticed the +envying glances they cast in its direction. She was not withheld by +their restraining fear, so running to the opposite side of the lodge, +she climbed its sides, finding foothold in its bark covering, and soon +was curled up comfortably, her hands about her knees, where she would +miss nothing of the spectacle. + +Now she beheld two long rows of young braves, one of them composed of +Powhatans, the other of Chickahominies, stride down the open space below +her and form a lane of naked, painted human walls. In their hands they +held bunches of fresh green reeds, sharp as knives, or heavy bludgeons +of oak, or stone tomahawks. For a moment they stood there motionless as +if they were merely spectators of some drama to be enacted by others. + +Pocahontas recognized most of them: Black Arrow, whose ear had been +clawed off by a bear; Leaping Sturgeon, who had hung two scalps at his +girdle before the chiefs had pronounced him old enough to be a brave; +her own cousin, White Owl, the most wonderfully tattooed of them all; +and the Nansamond young chieftain who wore a live snake as an earring in +the slit of his ear. + +Then Powhatan gave the signal and the captives were led forward. They +knew what awaited them; probably each of them, except the young boy, had +himself meted out the same fate to others that was now to befall them. +They did not repine; it was the fortune of war. Singing songs of +triumph, of derision of all their enemies, they started to run down the +awful lane of death. Blows rained upon them, on neck, on head, on arms, +even on their legs from stooping adversaries. So swift came the blows +from both sides that sometimes two fell upon the same spot almost at +once. + +Pocahontas marked with interest that the boy was last of the line, and +that he bore himself as bravely as the others. + +When they reached the end of the row there was no escape--no escape +anywhere more for them. Back they darted, so swiftly that it seemed as +if each escaped the blow aimed at himself, only to receive the one meant +for his comrade ahead. + +Pocahontas had a queer feeling as she looked down on them and saw the +blood spurting from a hundred wounds. She thought perhaps it was the hot +sun that made her feel a little sick. Her eyes followed the boy and as +he came nearer she noticed that he was almost at the end of his +strength. A few more blows would finish him. Already some of his elders +had fallen to the ground, and if, when beaten unmercifully, they were +still unable to rise, the tomahawk dashed out their brains. + +To her astonishment, Pocahontas found herself wishing the boy might not +fall, might escape in some miraculous manner. What a wrong thought! she +said to herself: was he not an enemy of her tribe? Yet she could not +help closing her eyes when she saw Black Arrow aiming a terrible blow at +his head. She did not know what to make of herself. She suddenly began +to think of the hurt wild-cat she and Nautauquas had pitied during the +night. But no one ought ever to pity an enemy. What was she made of? + +As she opened her eyes again she heard a woman's outcry and beheld a +squaw rushing towards the end of the line where Black Arrow's blow had +felled the boy. It was old Wansutis. + +"I claim the boy," she panted; "I claim him by our ancient right. Cease, +braves, and let me have him." + +The astounded braves let their arms drop at their sides, and the +panting, bleeding captives who had not already fallen, breathed for a +moment long breaths. + +"I claim the boy," the old woman cried again in a loud voice, turning +towards Powhatan, "to adopt as a son. Many popanows (winters) and seed +times have passed since my sons were slain. Now is Wansutis old and +feeble and hath need of a young son to hunt for her. By our ancient +custom this captive is mine." + +There was an outcry of opposition from the younger braves at being +robbed of one of their victims, but the older chiefs on the hill debated +for a few moments, and then gave their decision: there was no doubt of +the old woman's right to claim the boy. So Powhatan sent two of his +guards to fetch him and to carry him to Wansutis's lodge. + +Pocahontas suddenly felt at ease again. Yes, she couldn't help it, she +said to herself, but she was glad the boy had not been beaten to pieces. +As soon as he was carried off the running of the gauntlet began again. +But Pocahontas had now had enough of it. It would continue, she knew, +until all of the captives were dead. She slid down from the back of the +lodge and led by curiosity, set off for Wansutis's wigwam. It was at the +edge of the village, and before the slow procession of the two guards, +the old woman and the boy had arrived, Pocahontas had hidden herself +behind a mossy rock, from which hiding place she had a view right into +the opening of the wigwam. + +She watched the guards lay the unconscious boy gently down and Wansutis +as she knelt and blew upon the embers under the smoke hole till they +blazed up. Then she saw the old woman take a pot of water and heat it +and throw herbs into it. With this infusion she bathed the wounds, +anointing them afterwards with oil made from acorns. And while she +worked she prayed, invoking Okee to heal her son, to make him strong +that he might care for her old age. + +Pocahontas was so eager to know whether the boy were alive that she +crept closer to the wigwam, and when at last he opened his eyes they +looked beyond the hearth and the crouching Wansutis, straight into those +of Pocahontas. She saw that he had regained his senses, so she put her +fingers to her lips. She did not want Wansutis to know that she had been +watched. Already the touch of the wrinkled fingers was as tender as +that of a mother, and Pocahontas felt sure that she would resent any +intrusion. Now that she had seen all there was to see, she stole away. + +After wandering through the woods to gather honeysuckle to make a +wreath, she returned to the village. There was no longer a crowd in the +open space; the captives were all dead and the spectators had gone to +their various lodges. Only a number of boys were playing run the +gauntlet, some with willow twigs beating those chosen by lot to run +between them. A girl, imitating old Wansutis, rushed forward and claimed +one of the runners for a son. + +A few days later when the young Massawomeke lad had recovered there were +ceremonies to celebrate his adoption as a member of the Powhatan tribe, +of the great nation of the Algonquins. The other boys of his age looked +up to him with envy. Had he not proved his valor on the warpath and +under torture while they were only gaming with plumpits? They followed +him about, eager to do his bidding, each trying to outdo his comrades in +sports when his eye was on them. And all the elders had good words to +say about Claw-of-the-Eagle, and Wansutis was so proud that she now +often forgot to speak evil medicine. + +Pocahontas wondered how Claw-of-the-Eagle liked his new life, and one +day when she was running through the forest she came upon him. He had +knelt to look through a thicket at a flock of turkeys he meant to shoot +into, but his bow lay idle beside his feet, and she saw that his eyes +seemed to be looking at something in the distance. + +"What dost thou behold, son of Wansutis?" she asked. + +He started but did not reply. + +"Speak, Claw-of-the-Eagle," she said impatiently. "Powhatan's daughter +is not wont to wait for a reply." + +He saw that it was the same face he had beheld peering into the lodge at +the moment he regained consciousness. + +"I see the sinking sun. Princess of many tribes, the sun that journeys +towards the mountains to the village whence I came." + +"But thou art of us now," she rejoined. + +"Yes, I am son of old Wansutis and I am loyal to my new mother and to my +new people. And yet. Princess, I send each day a message by the sun to +the lodge where they mourn Claw-of-the-Eagle. Perhaps it will reach +them." + +"Tell me of the mountains and of the ways of thy father's people. I long +to learn of strange folk and different customs." + +"Nay, Princess, I will not speak of them. Thou hast never bidden +farewell to thy kindred forever. I would forget, not remember." + +And Pocahontas, although it was almost the first time that any one had +refused to obey her, was not angry. She was too occupied as she walked +homeward wondering how it would seem if she were never to see +Werowocomoco and her own people again. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GREAT BIRDS + + +Opechanchanough, brother of Wahunsunakuk, The Powhatan, had sent to +Werowocomoco a boat full of the finest deep sea oysters and crabs. The +great werowance had returned his thanks to his brother and the bearers +of his gifts were just leaving when Pocahontas rushed in to her father's +lodge half breathless with eagerness. + +"Father," she cried, "I pray thee grant me this pleasure. It hath grown +warm, and I and my maidens long for the cool air that abideth by the +salty water. Therefore, I beseech thee, let us go to mine uncle for a +few days' visit." + +Powhatan did not answer at once. He did not like to have his favorite +child leave him. But she, seeing that he was undecided, began to plead, +to whisper in his ears words of affection and to stroke his hair till he +gave his consent. Then Pocahontas ran off to get her long mantle and her +finest string of beads and to summon the maidens who were to accompany +her. They embarked in the dugout with her uncle's people and were rowed +swiftly down the river. + +At Kecoughtan they were received with much ceremony, for Pocahontas knew +what was due her and how, when it was necessary, to put aside her +childish manner for one more dignified. Opechanchanough greeted her +kindly. + +"Hast thou forgiven me, my uncle?" she asked as they sat down to a feast +of the delicious little fish she always begged for when she visited him, +and to steaks of bear meat; "hast thou forgiven the arrow I shot at thee +last popanow?" + +"I will remember naught unpleasant against thee, little kinswoman," he +replied as he drank his cup of walnut milk. + +"Indeed I am ashamed of my foolishness," continued his niece. "I was but +a child then." + +"And now?--it is but a few moons ago." + +"But see how I grow, as the maize after a rain storm. Soon they will say +I am ready for suitors." + +"And whom wilt thou choose, Pocahontas?" + +"I do not know. I have no thoughts for that yet." + +"What then are thy thoughts of?" + +"Of everything, of flowers and beasts, dancing and playing, of wars and +ceremonies, of the new son of old Wansutis, of Nautauquas's new bow, of +necklaces and earrings, of old stories and new songs--and of to-morrow's +bathing." + +"Fear not that thou hast yet left thy childhood behind thee," said her +uncle. + +Then when the fire died down and the storyteller's voice had grown +drowsy, Pocahontas fell asleep, her arm resting on a baby bear that had +been taken away from its dead mother and that would cuddle close to the +person who lay nearest the fire. + +Opechanchanough had not the same deep affection for children as that +which Powhatan showed to his sons and daughters. He was as brave a +fighter but not as great a leader in peace as Wahunsunakuk. It irked +him that he had to give way to his brother and that he must obey his +commands; yet he knew that only by unity between the different tribes of +the seacoast could they be safe from their common enemies, the Iroquois. +His vanity was very great and he had felt hurt at the ridicule which +Pocahontas had caused to fall upon him. Had she come on her visit sooner +he had surely not received her so kindly. But now there were other +strange happenings and more important matters to consider, and he was +too wise a chief to worry long over a child's pranks. Besides, he had +learned, from his own observance and from the tongues of others, how his +brother cherished her more than any of his squaws or children. So policy +as well as his native hospitality dictated a kindly reception. + +In the morning after they had eaten, Opechanchanough offered to send +Pocahontas and her maidens in a canoe down to where a cape jutted out +into the ocean that they might see the breakers at their highest, but +Pocahontas declined. + +"Nay, Uncle," she said, "but my maidens have never seen the sea. They be +stay-at-homes and I would not affright them too sorely by the sight of +mountains of water. Have no care for us save to bid some one supply us +with food to take along. I know the way down to a smooth beach where we +can disport ourselves." + +So Opechanchanough, relieved to have them off his hands, let her have +her will. + +The town was within a mile of open water, and the maidens started off +with a large supply of dried flesh slung in osier baskets on their +backs. Some of the young braves looked after them as they went and +disputed as to which of them they would like to choose as squaw when +they were older. + +Pocahontas led the way through wild rose bushes and sumac, with here and +there an occasional tall pine tree, its lowest branches high above their +heads. They were all of them in the gayest humor: it was a day made for +pleasure, and they had not a care in the world. They sang as they walked +and joked each other, Pocahontas herself not escaping. + +"Did the bear, thy bedfellow, scratch thee?" asked one, "and didst thou +outdo him, for this morning he was not to be found near the lodge." + +"Perhaps," suggested another, "it was not a real bear cub but some evil +manitou." + +The maidens shuddered deliciously at this possibility. + +"Nonsense," called back Pocahontas, "he was real enough; here is the +mark of one claw on my foot. Besides, I do not believe the evil manitou +can have such power on such a beautiful day as this. Okee must have bid +them fly away." + +Now suddenly the path turned and before them shone the silver mirror of +the sea. + +"Behold!" cried Pocahontas, and then Red Wing, her nearest companion, +fell flat upon the ground, burying her face in the sand. The others +stood and stared at the new watery world in front of them, hushed in an +awed silence. Gradually their curiosity got the better of their fear and +they began to question: + +"How many leagues does it stretch, Pocahontas?"--"Can war canoes find +their way on it?"--"Come the good oysters from its depths?" asked +Deer-Eye, whose appetite was always made fun of. + +Pocahontas answered as well as she was able, but to her who had seen +several times before the great water, it was almost as much of a mystery +as to her comrades. But to-day she greeted it as an old friend. She +could scarcely wait to throw herself into the little rippling waves at +her feet. + +"Come on," she cried, "let us hasten. How wonderful to our heated bodies +will its freshness be." And as she ran towards it she threw off her +skirt, her moccasins and her necklace and dashed into the sea. + +Though her companions were used to swimming from the day their mothers +had thrown them as babies into the river to harden them, they had never +been where there were not protecting banks on each side of them, and +they were afraid to follow Pocahontas into this unknown. But gradually +her evident safety and delight were too much for their caution, and they +were soon at home in the gentle waves. + +For nearly an hour they played their water games, chasing and ducking +each other, racing and swimming underneath the surface. Then they grew +hungry and bethought themselves of their food waiting to be cooked. But +when they were on the shore again and about to start a fire to heat +their meat, Pocahontas bade them wait. + +"Here," she said, "is fresher food. See what the tide has left for us." + +To their great astonishment the maidens, who did not know the sea +retreated, saw how while they were bathing the water had bared the sand, +leaving it full of little pools. Standing in one of them, Pocahontas +stooped down and ran her hand through the mud, bringing up a +soft-shelled crab. + +"See," she cried, "there are hundreds of them for our dinner, but be +careful to hold them just so, that they may not nip you." + +And her maidens, laughing and shrieking, soon had a larger supply of +crabs than they could eat. They found bits of wood on the beach and +dried sea weed which they set on fire by twirling a pointed stick in a +wooden groove they had brought along with their food. After they had +eaten, they stretched out lazily on the sand and talked until they began +to doze off, one by one. + +Pocahontas had strolled a little further down the beach, picking up the +fine thin shells of transparent gold and silver which she liked to make +into necklaces. She had found a number of them and as they were more +than she could hold in her hands, she sat down to string them on a piece +of eel grass until she could transfer them to a thread of sinew. When +she had finished she lay back against a ridge of sand and watched the +gulls as they flew above her, dipping down into the waves every now and +then to bring up a fish. Far away a school of porpoises was circling the +waves, their black fins sinking out of sight and reappearing as +regularly as if they moved to some marine music. Pocahontas wondered +whence they came and whither they and the gulls were bound. How +delightful it was to move so rapidly and so easily through water or air. +But she did not think of envying them. Was she not as fleet as they in +her element? She pressed her hand against the warm sand how she loved +the feel of it; she stretched her naked foot to where the little waves +could wet it. How she loved the lapping of the water! Within her was a +welling up of feeling, a love for all things living. + +It was a very quiet world just now; the sun was only a little over the +zenith. Only the cries of the sea gulls and the soft swish of the waves +broke the silence. It would be pleasant to sleep here as her comrades +were sleeping, but if she slept then she would miss the consciousness of +her enjoyment. + +Yet, though she intended to keep awake, when she looked seaward, she +felt sure that she must have fallen asleep and was dreaming the +strangest of dreams. For nowhere save in dreamland had anyone ever +beheld such a sight as seemed to stand out against the horizon. Three +great birds, that some shaman had doubtless created with powerful +medicine, so large that they almost touched the heavens, were skimming +the waves, their white wings blown forward. One, much larger than the +others, moved more swiftly than they. + +Yet never, in a dream or in life, were such birds, and little +Pocahontas, who had sprung to her feet, stood gaping in terrified +wonder. + +"Then must I be bewitched!" she cried aloud; "some evil medicine hath +befallen me." + +She called out, and there was a tone in her voice that roused the +sleeping maidens as a war drum roused their fathers. + +"What see ye?" she asked anxiously. + +"Oh! Pocahontas, we know not," they answered in terror, huddling about +her; "answer _thou_ us. What are those strange things that speed over +the waves? Whence come they--from the rim of the world?" + +Pocahontas, the fearless, was frightened. She gave one more glance +seaward, and then turning, took to her heels in terror. Her maidens, who +had never seen her thus, added her fright to they own, and none stopped +until they had reached the lodge at Kecoughtan. + +The squaws rushed out when they caught sight of the frightened children +and tried to soothe them, but they could get no explanation of what had +startled them. Finally Opechanchanough strode out, and when Pocahontas +had tried to tell him what she had seen his face grew stern. + +"It is as I feared," he said to another chief. "And so the word which +came from the upper cape was true. It is a marvel that bodeth no good." + +He began to give orders hurriedly; the dugout was brought up to the +landing, and he waved Pocahontas and her maidens in with scant ceremony. + +"I will send a runner to Werowocomoco with news to my brother," he +called out to her as the boat was swung out into the river; "he will +reach the village by land more quickly than by river. Farewell, +Matoaka." + +And Pocahontas, though she longed to have questioned him in regard to +what he had heard and feared, yet rejoiced that she was on her way to +her people, to her home where such strange sights as she had just beheld +never came. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER VI + +JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION + + +The _Discovery_, the _Godspeed_ and the _Susan Constant_, after nearly +five months of tossing about upon the seas, were now swinging at anchor +in the broad mouth of the River James, which the loyal English +adventurers had named after their king. The white sails that had so +terrified the Indian maidens now flapped against the masts, having fully +earned their idleness. On board the discussion still continued as to the +best situation for the town they designed to be the first permanent +English settlement in America--in Wingandacoa, as the land was called +before the name Virginia was given to it in honour of Queen Elizabeth, +"The Virgin Queen." + +The expedition had set out from England in December of the year before +(1606). Among those who filled the three ships were men already veteran +explorers and others who had never been a day's voyage away from their +island home. + +Among the former were Bartholomew Gosnold, who had first sailed for the +strange new world some five years before. He had landed far to the north +of the river where the ships now rested--on a colder, sterner shore. +There he had discovered and named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. +Christopher Newport too had sailed before in Western waters, but +further to the southward. He was an enemy of the Spaniard wherever he +found him, and had left a name of terror through the Spanish Main, for +had he not sacked four of their towns in the Indies and sunk twenty +Spanish galleons? And there was John Smith, who had fought so many +battles in his twenty-seven years that many a graybeard soldier could +not cap his tales of sieges, sword-play, imprisonment and marvelous +escapes. And many other men were there whom hope of gain or love of +adventure had brought across the Atlantic. They had listened to the +strange story of the lost colony on Roanoke Island, English men and +women killed doubtless by the Indians, though no sure word of their fate +was ever to be known, but fear of a like destiny had not deterred them +from coming. + +There were many points to be considered: The settlement must be near the +coast, so that the ships from home would be able to reach it with as +little delay as possible, yet away from the coast in case of raids by +the Spaniards. + +Again, the location must be healthful, and quite easily defended, for +the attack by the natives upon the colonists when they first landed at +the cape they called Henry after the young Prince of Wales, had given +them a taste of what they might have to expect. It was the rumor of this +fight which had reached Opechanchanough at Kecoughtan. + +At the prow of the _Discovery_ stood a man who paid no attention to the +disputes going on behind him. He was not tall, but was powerfully built, +and even the sight of his back would have been sufficient to prove him a +man accustomed to a life of action. It was not so easy, however, to +guess at his age. His long beard and mustache hid his mouth, and there +were deep lines from his nose downward that might have been marked by +years. Yet his brow was high and wide and unfurrowed, and his hair was +abundant and his eyebrows dark and high. An intelligent, eager +countenance it was, of a man who had seen more of the world in his short +twenty-eight years than any white-haired octogenarian of his native +Lincolnshire. He held a spy glass and, standing by the rail, moved it +slowly until he had pointed it in every direction. He had swept the +river and both shores as far as his eye could reach and now it rested on +an island some little distance above, near the right-hand bank of the +newly named river. + +A sailor, pushing through the crowd about the cabin door, approached the +man at the prow. + +"Captain Smith," he said, "Captain Newport bids me say that the Council +is about to be sworn in in the cabin and that he desires thy presence +there." + +John Smith turned and walked slowly aft, wondering what would be decided +in the next hour. Was he, who felt within himself an unusual power to +organize and to command men, to be given this wonderful chance, such as +never yet had come to an Englishman, to plant firmly in a new land the +seed of a great colony? From his early youth his days had been devoted +to adventure. He was of that race of Englishmen who first discovered how +small were the confines of their little island and who sallied gaily +forth to seek new worlds for their ambition and energy. Raleigh, Drake, +Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir Humphry Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville and +John Smith were the scouts sent out by England's genius to discover the +pathways along which she was to send her sons. Bold, fearless, +untiring, cruel often, at other times kind and firm, they went into new +seas and lands, seeking a Northwest Passage, or to "singe the beard of +the King of Spain," or to find the legendary treasures of the New +Indies--yet all of them were serving unconsciously the genius of their +race in laying the foundations of new worlds. Perhaps of them all Smith +saw most clearly the value of the settlement in Virginia, and just as +clearly was he aware that the jealousies and avarice of many of his +fellow colonists would threaten seriously its growth and indeed its very +existence. + +Though not one among the curious eyes turned on him, as he walked slowly +towards the stem, beheld any trace of emotion on his grave face, he was +consumed with the hope that he might be chosen to lead the great work. +Yet he feared, knowing that all the long voyage, almost from the time +they had sailed from England, his enemies, jealous of his fame and of +his power over men, had sought to undermine it and to slander his good +name. What lies they had spread through the three ships of a mutiny he +was said to be instigating, until orders were passed which made him +virtually a prisoner for the rest of the journey. But he would soon find +out if they intended to disregard and pass him by. + +[Illustration: "WE CHOOSE TODAY," HE CRIED] + +When he entered the little cabin he saw seated along the transom and in +the wide-armed chairs Captain Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, +Edward Wingfield, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George Kendall. They +greeted Smith as he entered, as did the other gentlemen leaning against +the bulkheads, but with no cordiality, and he knew well that they had +been talking of him before he entered. He took his seat in silence. + +These men composed the Council which had been designated in the secret +instructions given them when they sailed and opened after they had +passed between Capes Charles and Henry. And this Council now it was +which, according to its right, was to elect their president for the year +to come. Smith now felt certain that owing to their hostility to him +they had already determined among themselves what their votes should be +while he was without the cabin. The form, however, was gone through with +and the result solemnly announced: Wingfield was to be the first +president of the Colony, and Smith found himself not even mentioned for +the smallest office. The others for the most part smiled with pleasure +as they looked to see his disappointment, but he showed none. Instead he +rose to his feet and said: + +"Captain Newport and gentlemen of the Council, will ye let me suggest +for the name of this new colony that of our gracious sovereign, King +James." + +Here at last they must follow his lead, and all sprang to their feet and +shouted "Jamestown let it be!" + +Then began again the discussion of the spot to be chosen for their +settlement. There were those who desired a site nearer the bay; one +advocated exploring the other rivers in the vicinity, the Apamatuc, the +Nansamond, the Chickahominy, the Pamunkey, as the Indians called them, +before deciding; but Newport, eager to return to England, would not +consent. + +"We choose to-day," he cried, bringing his fist down on the table with a +bang. + +The island that Smith had been examining with his glass was considered. +It was large and level and not too far from the sea, said one in its +favor. The majority were for it and the others were at last brought +round to their point of view. Smith had not put forward any suggestions. +He knew whatever he advocated would have been voted down. When asked +what he thought of the island his answer, "It hath much to commend it," +left his hearers still in doubt as to his real choice. + +"Now that we have christened the babe before it is born," said Captain +Newport, rising, "let us ashore and get to work to mark out the site of +our Jamestown." + +All left the ship with the exception of a few sailors who remained on +guard. After more discussion the Council picked out the spots for the +government house, for the church, for the storehouse, while the artisans +busied themselves with no loss of time in cutting down trees and +clearing spaces for the temporary tents. The matter of a fort had not +been broached, yet Smith, whose military knowledge showed him how +vulnerable the island was, made no suggestion for its fortification. + +He had strolled alone through the tangle of undergrowth, of flowering +vines in which frightened mocking-birds and catbirds were darting, to +the side of the island nearest the bank of the mainland. + +"Here," he said, speaking aloud as he had learned to do when he was a +captive among the Tartars that he might not forget the sound of his own +tongue, "here, on this side should be a bastioned wall with some strong +culverins. A lookout tower at this corner and, extending around north +and south, a strong palisade--that with vigilant sentries would ensure +against attack except by water. If I--" + +Then he stopped, his brow knitting. His disappointment had been a keen +one, his pride was smitten to the quick. Never had he left England, +never thrown in his lot with the new colony, had he known how he was to +be made to suffer from jealousy, intrigue and neglect. As he stood +gazing across into the deeper tangle on the opposite shore his thoughts +were occupied with decisions for his future. + +"Why should I remain here," he cried aloud, "to be disregarded, when +there is many an English ship that would be fain to have me stand on her +poop, many a company of yeomen that would be main glad to have me +command them? I am not of those men who are wont always to follow +orders. I am made to _give_ them. The world's wide and this island need +not be my prison. I will sail back on the _Discovery_ and e'en be on the +lookout for some new adventures." + +A rustling in the bushes behind him made him turn quickly. There stood +Dickon and Hugh and Hob, three of the men who had come from his own part +of the country, with whom during the long voyage he had often been glad +to chat of their homes and the folk they all knew. + +"Captain," spake Dickon, "we have followed to have a word wi' thee in +secret. 'Tis said they have not given thee a place in the Council. Is't +true?" + +"Aye," answered Smith calmly. + +"'Tis a dirty trick," cried Hugh, and his comrades echoed him. "A dirty +trick, but what wilt thou do now?" + +"What would ye have me do, men?" asked Smith curiously. + +Dickon was again spokesman, the others nodding approval of his words. + +"We be thy friends, Captain, and thy wellwishers. We came to this +strange land to make our fortunes because of thy coming. We felt safe +with one who had already travelled far and knew all about the outlandish +ways of queer folks, blackamoors and these red men here. Now if so be +thou art not to have a voice in the managing we be cheated and know not +what may befall us. There be many of the others who think as we do, not +only laborers such as we, but many of the gentlemen who have little +faith in them as have been set in the high places. Now I say to thee, +let us three go amongst them we knows as are friendly to thee and we +will speak in secret with them and we will draw together to-morrow at +one end of this island, and there we will all stay until they agree to +make thee President. And if fightin' comes o' it why all the better. +What sayst thou, Captain?" + +Smith did not answer at once. The friendliness of these men touched him +deeply just at the moment when he was smarting under the treatment +accorded him. He knew they spoke truth; there were a number of the +colonists who had shown themselves friendly to him and who would be +willing to stand by him. Moreover, he felt within himself the power to +use them, to make them follow his bidding as Wingfield could never +succeed in doing. It was less for personal gratification he was tempted +to consent than for the knowledge that his leadership would benefit the +colony as would that of none of his fellow adventurers. He was not a +vain man, but one conscious of unusual powers. + +"If we were strong enough to gain and hold part of the stores and one of +the vessels, would ye let me lead ye away to some other island of our +own, men?" he asked, and immediately saw in his imagination the +possibilities of such a step. + +"Aye, aye. Captain," cried all three, "and we'd be strong enough too, +never fear," added Hugh. + +The temptation to John Smith was a strong one, and he walked up and down +weighing the matter. What consideration after all did he owe to those +who had not considered him? He had no fear of failure; he had come +safely through too many dangers not to be confident. It was only the +first step that he doubted. The men, he could see, were growing +impatient, yet he did not speak. Suddenly an arrow whizzed close to his +ear and fell at his feet. + +"The savages!" cried Dickon. + +Smith peered towards the woods beyond the water and imagined he could +see half hidden behind a birch tree a naked figure. + +"Let us go back and warn the Council," he said, turning towards the way +he had come. "I scarcely think that they will attack us, particularly if +we stay together." + +He stood still a moment lost in thought. Then he said: + +"That's the word, Dickon, _if we stay together_! Nay, frown not, Hugh. +Put out of thy mind all that we have spoken of this last half-hour, as I +shall put it out of mine. We must stand together, men, here in this new +world. Ye three stand by me because we're all neighbors and +Lincolnshire-born; but here in this wilderness we're all neighbors, +English-born, just like a bigger shire. It's no time now when savages +are about us all, to be thinking of our own little troubles. We must +e'en forget them and stick together for the good of us all. Will ye +promise, men?" + +"Since 'tis so thou hast decided, Captain," answered Dickon. + +"I'm for or against, as thou wilt," said Hugh, "but I'd been glad hadst +thou chosen to fight instead o' to kiss." + +And Hob, who had not spoken a word of his own invention up to now, spake +solemnly: + +"I'll not blab. Captain, how near thou wast to the fightin'." + +When they got back to the site of the future Jamestown Smith, who had +made up his mind to do what seemed to him right no matter what reception +his advice received, told President Wingfield of the hidden bowman and +warned him of the danger to those who might straggle away from their +companions. But the members of the Council, whether they would be +beholden to Smith not even for advice, or whether the friendly attitude +of the Indians at first which was now just beginning to change, +influenced them, refused to believe that the savages intended to molest +them and refused to admit the necessity of putting up a palisade or +taking other precautions against them. + +Each day the work of clearing the ground and of setting up the tents +proceeded apparently more rapidly than the day before, as the results +were more visible. Every one was so wearied with the cramped life aboard +ship for so many weeks that he was glad to stretch himself on the earth +or on improvised beds. Smith, to give an example to some of the +gentlemen who stood with folded arms looking on while the mechanics +worked, swung axe and wielded hammer lustily. Yet he was very unhappy at +the manner in which he was still treated and he eagerly seized an +opportunity to leave the island. + +With Captain Newport and twenty others, he set out in one of the ships' +boats to explore the upper part of the river. They were absent a number +of days, after having ascended the James as far as the great falls near +the Powhata, a Powhatan village near the site of the present city of +Richmond. Then they returned to Jamestown. + +On their arrival they were greeted with the grave news that during their +absence the Indians had killed a boy and wounded seventeen of the +colonists. A shot fired from one of the ships had luckily so terrified +the savages that they made off for the woods. Now the Council was forced +to recognize the need of some protection and ordered every one to stop +work on everything else until a strong palisade and a rough fort had +been built. + +It was now June. Suddenly, to the astonishment of all, the Indians +approached and made signs that they desired to enter into amicable +relations with the white men. They jumped out from their boats and +fingered the clothes of the colonists, their guns and their food, +showing great curiosity at everything. The next day, perhaps because the +Council had seen the folly of their suspicions or had realized the value +of Smith's military experience and knowledge, the state of his +semi-imprisonment, which had lasted since the early part of the voyage, +was put an end to. Now that all seemed peaceful, from without and +within, as a sign of gratitude and of their brotherly feelings towards +each other, all the colonists partook of the Communion together, +kneeling in the temporary shed covered with a piece of sail-cloth which +served as a church. + +Then on the seventh of June they stood on the river bank, looking +gravely, with many doubts and fears in their hearts, at the _Discovery_ +as she sailed for England, bearing Captain Newport away, and leaving +them alone in Virginia. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER VII + +A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP + + +Not a day passed without new rumors at Werowocomoco of the white +strangers and their curious habits. + +Pamunkeys from the tops of swaying trees on either bank watched eagerly +the doings of the colonists, and runners bore the word of every movement +to both Opechanchanough at Kecoughtan and to The Powhatan at his +village. Curiosity and consternation were equally balanced in the minds +of the red men. What meant this coming from the rising sun of beings +whose ways no man could fathom? Were they gods enjoying a charmed life, +against whom neither bow nor shaman's medicine might avail? About the +council fires in every village this was debated. The old chiefs, wise in +the traditions of their people, spake of prophecies which foretold the +coming of heroes with faces pale as water at dawn who should teach to +the tribes good medicine and bring plentiful harvests and rich hunting. +Others recalled the vague rumors which had come from far, far away in +the Southland, from tribes whose very names were unknown, of other +palefaces (the Spanish colonists in the West Indies), who had brought +fire and fighting into peaceful, happy islands of the summer seas, who +like terrible, powerful demons, spread about them death and strange +diseases. + +Then came to the councils the comforting word of the death of a white +boy slain by a Pamunkey arrow. So they were mortal after all, said the +chiefs, and they smoked their pipes more placidly as they sat around the +fire. Against gods man could not know what action was right; but since +these were but men who could hunger and thirst and be wounded, it +behooved them to plan what measures should be adopted against them. + +Many of the chiefs urged immediate steps. + +"It is easy," said one, "to pull up a young oak sapling, whereas who may +uproot a full-grown tree?" + +Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was among the most eager for action. He had +won for himself the name of a great brave and a mighty hunter though +still so young. Many a scalp hung to the ridgepole of his lodge and many +a bear and wildcat had he slain at great risk to his life. Now here was +a new way to distinguish himself--to go forth against dangers he could +not even foresee. What magic these pale-faced strangers used to protect +themselves was unknown; therefore if he and his band should overcome +them and wipe away all traces of their short stay, it would be a tale +for winter firesides and a song for singers of brave deeds as long as +his nation endured. + +"Let me go, my father," he pleaded. "Thou, who thyself hast conquered +thirty tribes, grudge not this fame to thy son." + +"Wait!" was Powhatan's only answer. + +The shamans and priests had advised the werowance thus. Not yet had they +fathomed Okee's intentions in regard to these newcomers, though they had +climbed to the top of the red sandy hills at Uttamussack where stood the +three great holy lodges filled with images, and they had fasted and +prayed that Okee would reveal to them what he desired. Powhatan, in +spite of his years, felt the urge of action, and his heart leaped up +when his favorite son gave voice to his own wishes. He longed to take +the warpath, to glide through the forest, to spy upon the strangers who +had dared make a place for themselves in his dominion, and then to fall +upon them, terrifying them with his awful war-cry as he had terrified so +many of his enemies. Yet he dared not do this yet: he was not only a +great war chief, but a leader of his people in peace. Okee had not yet +spoken. Perchance the men with strange faces and strange tongues would +of their own accord acknowledge his sovereignty, and there might be no +need of sacrificing against them the lives of his young men. + +All this he was thinking when he bade Nautauquas wait; but there was no +one who read his mind, yet no one who dared to disobey him. + +When Nautauquas came out from his father's lodge he took his bow and +quiver and went into the forest to hunt. In his disappointment he had a +hatred of more words and a longing for deeds. He ran swiftly and had +reached a spot where he felt sure that he would find a flock of wild +turkeys, when he saw Pocahontas ahead of him. She too was hurrying, bent +evidently on some errand that absorbed her, for she did not stop to peer +up at the birds or to pull the flowers as she was wont to do. + +"Matoaka," he called, "whither goest thou?" + +"To see the strangers and their great white birds again which I beheld +from Kecoughtan, Brother. I cannot rest for my eagerness to know what +they are like nearby." + +"Hast thou not heard our father's word that no one shall go near the +island where the strangers be?" he asked. + +"My father meaneth not me," she answered proudly. "As thou knowest, he +permitteth me much that is forbidden to others." + +"But not this, little Sister. Only just this moment did he forbid me to +go thither. His mind is set thereon; tempt not his anger. Even though he +loves thee well, if thou disobeyest his command in this matter he will +deal harshly with thee. Turn back with me, Matoaka, and thou shalt help +me shoot." + +Pocahontas was reluctant to give up her long-planned expedition, but she +let herself be persuaded. She remembered that Powhatan that very day had +ordered one of his squaws beaten until she lay at death's door. +Moreover, it was a great joy to hunt with Nautauquas and to see which of +them would bring down the most turkeys. They were needed by the squaws +who had been complaining that the braves were growing lazy and did not +keep them supplied with meat. + +While Powhatan's two children were adding to the well-filled larder of +Werowocomoco, there was real dearth of food at Jamestown. The stores, +many of them musty and almost inedible after the long voyage, were +growing daily scarcer. There was fish in the river, but the colonists +grew weary of keeping what they called "a Lenten diet," and in their +dreams munched juicy sirloins of fat English beef. At first their nearby +Indian neighbors had been glad to trade maize and venison for wonderful +objects, dazzling and strange; but now, whether owing to word sent by +Powhatan or for other reasons, they came no more with provisions to +barter. John Smith, seeing that supplies were the first necessity of +the colony, had gone forth on several expeditions up the different +rivers in search of them. By bargaining, by cajolery, by force, he had +managed each time to renew the storehouse. Yet again it was almost empty +and starvation threatened. + +Something must be done at once, and the Council sat in debate upon the +serious matter. Captain John Smith waited until the others had had their +say, and nothing practical had been suggested, then he rose and began: + +"Gentlemen of the Council, there is but one thing to do. Since our +larder will not fill itself, needs must someone go forth again to seek +for food. Give me two men and one of the ship's boats and I will set off +to the northward, up that river the Indians call the Chickahominy and, +God helping me, I will bring back provisions for us all and make some +permanent treaty with the savages to supply us till our crops be grown." + +President Wingfield agreed to Smith's demand. The barge was got ready +with a supply of beads and other glittering articles from Cheapside +booths, and Smith set off with the good wishes of the wan-faced +colonists. + +After they had reached what seemed to Smith a likely spot for trading, +he took two men, Robinson and Emery, and two friendly natives in a canoe +and set off to explore the river further, bidding the others to wait for +him where he left them and on no account to venture nearer shore. + +He was glad to be away from the noise of complaining men at Jamestown, +many of whom were ill and fretful from lack of proper nourishment and +some, who because they were gentlemen, would not labor yet repined that +they could not live as gentlefolk at home. On this expedition he was +with friends, even though he knew not what enemies might be lurking on +the shore; and he realized that the natives were growing less friendly +as time went on and they began to lose their first awe of the white men. +But he had no fear for himself; he had faced too many dangers in his +adventurous life to conjure up those to come. + +As they paddled up the Chickahominy the men began to talk of old days in +England before they had dreamed of trying their fortunes in a new world, +but Smith bade them be silent so that he could listen for the slightest +sound to indicate the vicinity of a human habitation. + +"Make friends as soon as thou canst with the copper men, Captain," +whispered Robinson, "for I be main hungry and can scarce wait till thou +hast bartered this rubbish 'gainst good victuals." + +"Pull thy belt in a bit tighter, men," suggested the Captain grimly; "if +I understand all they tell me, the Indians can beat the most devout +Christians in fasting. 'Tis one virtue we may learn from them." + +They kept in the middle of the stream to be safe from any arrows that +might be shot at them from shore; but after many hours of this caution. +Smith determined to explore a little on land. To his practiced eye a +certain little inlet seemed so suitable a landing for canoes that he +felt sure an Indian village could not be far off. + +"Push out into the stream again," he commanded as he stepped ashore, +"and wait for me there." + +John Smith strode into the forest, ready for friendship or war, since +he knew not the temper of the natives of that region. Suddenly, as he +came out upon an open space where a morass stretched from a hill to the +river, two hundred shrieking savages rushed upon him, shooting their +arrows wildly at all angles. + +"War then!" cried Smith aloud, and as one young brave in advance of the +others stopped to take aim, he leaped forward and caught him. Ripping +off his own belt. Smith bound the astonished Indian to his left arm so +that he could use him as a living buckler. Thus protected, he fired his +pistol and the ball, entering the breast of an older chief, killed him +instantly. For a moment the strange fate which had overtaken their +leader checked the onslaught, while his companions stooped down, one +behind the other, to examine the wound made by the demon weapon. This +respite gave Smith time to whip out his sword, and whirling it about +him, he kept his enemies at a distance. He might have succeeded in +defending himself thus for some time longer, for the savages had ceased +to shoot, not certain whether their arrows would not be ineffectual upon +an invulnerable body, but all at once he became aware of a new danger. +The marshy ground on which he stood had softened with his weight and +that of his living shield and he now felt himself sinking deeper and +deeper into the morass until he was submerged up to his waist. Still the +Indians, doubtless fearing he had some other strange weapons or evil +medicines in his power, did not rush forward to attack him. + +The day was bitterly cold, and the stagnant water struck a chill to his +very bones. His teeth began to chatter with cold, not fright. It was +almost with a sense of relief that he saw the Indians start towards +him. Carefully treading in their light moccasined feet, they gradually +surrounded him and two, taking hold of him, while others loosened the +bound brave, they drew him up from the slushy earth by the arms. + +He was now a captive, and not for the first time in his life. There was +nothing to be gained, he knew, by struggling, and he faced them with no +sign of fear. They led him to a fire which was blazing not far off on +firmer ground where sat a chief, who, he learned, was the werowance +Opechanchanough. + +At a word of command from him, the guards moved aside and the huge +warrior walked slowly around Smith, examining him from head to foot. + +There was a pause which, the Englishman knew, might be broken by an +order to torture and kill him. He did not understand their hesitancy, +but he meant at any rate to take advantage of it. He must engage the +attention of the giant chief before him. Slowly he pulled from his +pocket his heavy silver watch and held it up to his own ear. + +Never had Opechanchanough and his men experienced such an awe of the +unknown. For all they could tell, this small ball in the white man's +hand might contain a medicine more deadly than that of his pistol. They +stood like children in a thunderstorm, not knowing when or where the +bolt might strike. + +But nothing terrible came to pass. Then Opechanchanough's curiosity was +aroused and he put out his hand for the watch. Smith, smiling, held it +towards him in his palm and then laid it against the chief's ear, saying +in the Pamunkey tongue: "Listen." Opechanchanough jumped with +astonishment and cried out: + +"A spirit! A spirit! He hath a spirit imprisoned!" + +Then one by one the captors crowded forward to look at the +"turtle-of-metal-that-hath-a-spirit," and many were the exclamations of +astonishment. + +In order to increase this feeling of awe and to lengthen the delay, +though he did not know what he could even hope to happen. Smith felt in +his pocket again and brought out his travelling compass. It was of ivory +and the quivering needle was pronounced by Opechanchanough to be another +spirit. + +But suddenly, without warning, two of the younger warriors, who had +evidently determined once for all to discover if this stranger were +vulnerable or not, seized Smith and dragging him swiftly to a tree, +threw a cord of deer thong about him, drawing it fast. Then they notched +their arrows and took aim at his heart. "In one second it will be over," +thought Smith, "life, adventures, my ambitions and my troubles." + +Then Opechanchanough called out to the braves, holding up the compass. +Frowning with disappointment, the young men loosed their captive and +Smith realized that it was again the chief's curiosity which had saved +his life. By means of such Indian words as he knew and by the further +aid of signs he endeavored to explain its usage. + +"See," he said, pointing, "yon is the north whence comes popanow, the +winter; and there behind us lies cohattayough, the summer. I turn thus +and lo, the spirit in the needle loves the north and will not be kept +from it." + +When all had looked at the compass, Opechanchanough took it again in his +hand, holding it gingerly as he would have held a papoose if a squaw had +given one to his care. This was something precious and he meant to keep +it, yet he did not know what it might do to him. At any rate, it would +be a good thing to take with him the man who did understand it. + +"Come," he said, "since thou canst understand our words, come and eat in +the lodge of the Pamunkeys." + +And Smith, ignorant of when death might fall upon him, followed. That +day they feasted him, and the half-starved Englishman ate heartily for +the first time since he set foot in the new world. At least he had +gained strength now to bear bravely whatever might await him. The next +day he was bidden accompany them, and they marched swiftly and steadily +for many hours through the forest to Orapeeko. It may be that +Opechanchanough's messengers had informed him mistakenly that Powhatan +was at that village which, after Werowocomoco, he most frequented; but +on their arrival there they found the lodges empty except the great +treasure-house full of wampum, skins and pocone, the precious red paint +used for painting the body. This was guarded by priests, and while +Opechanchanough talked with them. Smith marvelled at the images of a +dragon, a bear, a leopard and a giant in human form that ornamented the +four corners of the treasure-house. + +Evidently the priests were giving the werowance some advice. Smith +wondered whether the savages offered human sacrifices to their Okee and +if such were to be his fate. But the night was passed quietly there; the +next day was spent in marching, and the following night in another +village. Everywhere he was the object of the greatest interest: braves, +squaws and children crowded about him, fingered his clothes, pulled at +his beard and asked him questions. The Englishman observed them with the +same interest. He noticed how the men wore but one garment leggings and +moccasins made in one piece, and how they were painted in bright colors, +many wearing symbols or rude representations of some animal which he +learned was their "medicine." He watched the women as they embroidered +and cooked, tanned hides and dyed skins, scolded and petted their +children. Their lodges were lightly built, he saw, yet strong and +well-suited for their occupants. Many of the young men and maidens made +him think of deer in the swiftness of their movements and in the +suppleness of their bodies. + +After many days of travelling, in which Smith believed that they often +retraced their steps, they found themselves one afternoon at the +outskirts of a larger village than any they had yet entered. Dogs barked +and children shouted as they neared the palisade, and men and women came +running from every side. + +"Certainly," thought Smith, "we are expected. Never in an English +village have I seen a Savoyard with a trained bear make more excitement +than doth here Captain John Smith." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER VIII + +POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN + +"Princess, Pocahontas!" cried Claw-of-the-Eagle, as he pointed excitedly +to the outskirts of the village, "look, yonder come thy uncle and his +men bringing the white prisoner with them." + +Pocahontas, who a few moments before had jumped down from the grapevine +swing, where she had been idling, to peep into Claw-of-the-Eagle's pouch +at the luck his hunting had brought him, now started off running after +the son of old Wansutis, who was speeding towards the gathering crowd. +Never in all her life had she desired anything as much as she now +desired to gain a sight of this stranger. + +"What doth he look like?" she called out, panting, to the boy ahead; but +her own swiftness answered the question, for she was soon abreast of the +procession. There, walking behind her uncle, unbound and apparently +unconcerned, she beheld the white man. Her eyes devoured every detail of +his appearance. She was almost disappointed to find that he had only +one head and two eyes like all the rest of her world. But his +beardedness, so unknown among her people, his youth, which showed itself +more in his figure and in his step than in his weatherworn features, his +cloth jerkin and his leather boots, but above all, the strange hue of +his face and hands offered enough novelty to satisfy her. + +Smith noticed the Indian maiden, already in her thirteenth year, tall +above the average. In his wanderings through the Pamunkey villages he +had seen many young girls and squaws, but none of them had seemed to him +so well built or with such clean-cut features as this damsel who gazed +at him so fixedly. When Opechanchanough, catching sight of her, made a +gesture of recognition, Smith knew that she must have some special claim +to distinction, since it was unusual, he had observed, for a chief to +notice anyone about him while occupied in what might be called official +duty. He felt sure too that he had now come to the end of his +journeyings. In the other towns through which he had travelled he had +heard men speak of Werowocomoco and of the great werowance who held sway +there, the dreaded ruler over thirty tribes. This large village he knew +must be the seat of the head of the Powhatan Confederacy and he was +about to be led before him. What would happen then, he wondered, as he +walked calmly through the crowd who eyed him curiously. + +And this, too, was what Pocahontas was thinking: what would her father +do with this man? Would his strange medicine, which those who had +ventured to Jamestown had much discussed, assist him in his peril? She +had listened to much talk lately about the necessity of getting rid of +all the white faces who had dared come and build them houses on land +which had belonged to her people since the beginning of the world. Here +was the first chance her father had had to deal with the interlopers. +She determined to see and hear all that should take place, so she +hurried ahead to the ceremonial lodge, where she was sure to find her +father, and entered it unchallenged by the guards. + +Once inside, she realized that the stranger's coming had been expected; +probably Opechanchanough had sent runners ahead whom she had not chanced +to see. All the chiefs were gathered there waiting and there also sat +the Queen of Appamatuck, the ruler of an allied tribe. She noticed that +her father, in the centre of a raised platform at the other end of the +lodge, had on his costliest robe of raccoon skin, the one she had +embroidered for him. All the chiefs were painted, as were the squaws, +their shoulders and faces streaked with the precious pocone red. She +regretted that she had not had time to put on her new white buckskin +skirt and her finest white bead necklace, since this was such a gala +occasion. On the other side of Powhatan sat one of his squaws, and her +brothers and her uncles Opitchapan and Catanaugh squatted directly +before him. She herself stood against the wall nearest to the mother of +her sister Cleopatra. She wished she had tried to bring in +Claw-of-the-Eagle with her. How interested he would have been; but it +was not likely that he would manage to get past the guards now, since +there were so many of his elders who must be excluded for lack of room. + +While she was still looking around to see who the lucky spectators +were, the entrance to the lodge was darkened and a great shouting went +up from all the braves as Opechanchanough strode in, followed by his +prisoner. + +Powhatan sat in silence until Smith stood directly before him, and then +he spoke: + +"We have waited many days and nights to behold thee, wayfarer from +across the sea." + +Smith, looking up at him, saw a finely built man of about sixty years, +with grizzled hair and an air of command. He smiled to himself at the +strangeness of his fancy's play, but the air of this savage chieftain, +this inborn dignity of one conscious of his power, he had seen in but +one other person--Good Queen Bess! + +"I too have listened to many voices which have told of thy might, great +chief," he answered, speaking the unfamiliar words slowly and +distinctly. + +Then in the pause that followed the Queen of Appamatuck came forward and +held out to Smith a bowl of water for him to wash his hands in. +Pocahontas leaned eagerly forward to see whether the water would not +wash off some paint from his hands, leaving them the color of her own, +for might it not be, she had questioned Claw-of-the-Eagle, that these +strangers were only _painted_ white? But even after Smith had wiped his +fingers upon the turkey feathers the Queen handed to him, they remained +the same tint as his face. + +At the command of Nautauquas, the slaves began to bring in food for the +feast which preceded any discussion of moment. An enemy, be he the +bitterest of an individual or of the tribe, must never be denied +hospitality. Baskets and gourds there were filled with sturgeon, +turkey, venison, maize bread, berries and roots of various kinds, and +earthern cups of pawcohiccora milk made from walnuts. Powhatan had +motioned Smith to be seated on a mat beside the fire, and taking the +first piece of venison, the werowance threw it into the flames as the +customary sacrifice to Okee. Then he was served again, and after him +each dish was offered to the prisoner. + +There was little talk while the feasting continued. Pocahontas, who did +not eat, lost no motion of the stranger's. + +"At least," she thought, "he lives by food as we do." And she watched to +see whether he would entangle his meat in his beard. + +At last every one had eaten his fill and the dogs snarled and fought +over the scraps until they were driven from the lodge. Then Powhatan +began to question his prisoner. + +"Art thou a king?" + +"Nay, lord," replied the Englishman when he had comprehended the +question; "I but serve one who ruleth over many thousand braves." + +"Why didst thou leave him?" + +Smith was about to answer that they sought new land to increase his +sovereign's dominions, but he realized that this was not a favorable +moment for such a statement. + +"We set forth to humble the enemies of our king, the Spaniards," he +replied, and in this he was not telling an untruth, because the +colonization in Virginia had for one of its aims the destruction of +Spanish settlements in the New World. + +"And why did ye come ashore on my land and build yourselves lodges on my +island?" + +"Because we were weary of much buffeting by the waves and in need of +fresh food." + +For a moment at least Powhatan seemed content with this explanation. His +curiosity in regard to the habits of these strangers was almost as keen +as that of his daughter. + +"Tell me of thy ways," he commanded. "Why dost thou wear such garments? +Why hast thou hair upon thy mouth? Worship ye an Okee? How mighty are +thy medicine-men? And how canst thou build such great canoes with +wings?" + +Smith endeavored to satisfy him. He dilated upon the power of King +James, though in his mind that sovereign could not be compared for regal +dignity to this savage; the bravery of the colonists, the wonder of +silken garments and jewels worn by the men and women of his land. And +remembering his duty as a Christian, he tried to explain the mysteries +of the Christian faith to this heathen, but he found his vocabulary +unequal to this demand. He could see that he was making an impression on +his listeners; the greater their awe for his powers, the more chance +that they might be afraid to injure him. Opechanchanough spoke to his +brother, telling him of the watch and compass. Powhatan seized them +eagerly, turned them over and over and held them to his ear, listening +while Smith explained their use. + +"I would fain know of those strange reeds ye carry that bear death +within them," commanded the werowance again. "By what magic are ye +served? Could not one of our shamans or our braves make it obey him +also?" + +[Illustration: "LET US BE FRIENDS AND ALLIES, OH POWHATAN"] + +Smith was aware that the Indians' fear of the white man's guns was the +colony's greatest protection. So he answered: + +"If my lord will come to Jamestown, as we call the island, since we +know not by what name ye call it, he himself shall see guns as much +greater than this one at my side," and he pointed to his pistol, "as +thou art greater than lesser werowances." + +This answer moved Powhatan strangely. He spoke rapidly, in words Smith +could not understand, to some of the chiefs before him. Then turning to +Smith again, and speaking in a tone no longer curious but cold and +stern, he asked: + +"How soon will ye set forth in your canoes again for your own land?" + +The question Smith had dreaded must now be answered. There was danger in +what he must say, yet perchance there was also the hope of soothing the +fears of the savages. At all events, a lie were useless even if he had +been able to tell one. + +"The land is wide, oh mighty king, this land of thine, and a fair land +with food enough and space aplenty for many tribes. Bethink thee of +thine enemies who dwell to the north and west of thee who envy thy corn +fields and thy hunting grounds. Will it not advantage thee when we, to +whom thou wilt present, or perchance if it please thee better, _sell_ a +little island and a few fields on the mainland, shall join with thee and +thy braves on the warpath against thy foes, and when we destroy them for +thee with our guns? Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan. I will +speak frankly, as it behooveth one to speak to a great chief, this land +pleaseth us and we would gladly abide in it." + +The Englishman could not read in the expressionless face of the +werowance what he was thinking of this proposition--the first attempt of +the colonists to explain their presence in the Indians' domain. But the +shouting from all sides of the lodge which followed showed him that the +other chiefs were strongly roused by his words. There was a long +consultation: Powhatan spoke first, then a priest of many years who was +listened to with great consideration, then one of the older squaws +expressed her opinion, which seemed to voice that of the braves as well. +Smith, knowing that his fate was being decided, tried to catch their +meaning, but they spoke so rapidly that he comprehended only a phrase +here and there. At last, however, Powhatan waved his hand for silence +and issued a command. + +It was the death sentence. Every eye was turned upon Smith. Well, they +should see how an Englishman met death. He smiled as if they had brought +him good news. If only his death could save the colony, it had been +indeed a welcome message. Not that he did not love life, but he was one +of those souls to whom an ambition, a cause, a quest, is dearer than +life. And because of its very weakness, its dependence upon him, the +colony had come to be like a child he must protect. + +Pocahontas, when she listened to her father's verdict, felt within her +heart the same queer faintness she had experienced when +Claw-of-the-Eagle was running the gauntlet. And seeing the Englishman +smile, she knew him to be a brave man, and somehow felt sorry for him. +She was sorry for herself also. He could have told her many new tales of +lands and people, far more interesting that those of Michabo, the Great +Hare. How eagerly she would have listened to him! Her father was a wise +leader and he did well to fear, as she had heard him tell his chiefs, +the presence in his land of these white men with their wonderful +medicine; but why must he kill this leader of them, why not keep him +always a prisoner? + +She saw that the slaves had lost no time in obeying the command given +them--they were dragging in the two great stones that had not been used +for many moons. These were set in the open space before Powhatan and she +knew exactly what was to follow. + +Was there any possible way of escape? John Smith asked himself. If there +had been but one loading in his pistol he would have fired at the +werowance and trusted to the confusion to rush through the crowd and out +of the lodge. But it was empty. No use struggling, he thought; he had +seen men who met death thus discourteously and he was not minded to be +one of them. So, when at a quick word from Powhatan two young braves +seized him, he made no resistance. They threw him down on the ground, +then lifted his head up on the stones, while another savage, a stone +hatchet in his hand, strode forward and took his stand beside him. + +"Well," thought John Smith, "life is over; I have travelled many a mile +to come to this end. What will befall Jamestown? At least I didn't fail +them. I'm glad of that now." + +He saw Powhatan lean forward and give a sign; then the red-painted face +of his executioner leered at him and he watched the tomahawk descending +and instinctively closed his eyes. + + * * * * * + +But it did _not_ descend. After what seemed an hour of suspense he +opened his eyes again to see why it delayed. The man who held it still +poised in the air was gazing impatiently towards the werowance, at +whose feet knelt the young girl Smith had noticed by the palisade. The +child was pleading for his life, he could see that. Were these savages +then acquainted with pity, and what cause had she to feel it for him? + +But the werowance would not listen to her pleadings and ordered her +angrily away. His voice was terrifying and the other squaws, fearing his +rage might be vented on the child, tried to pull her up to the seat +beside them. Powhatan nodded to the executioner to obey his command. + +With a bound Pocahontas flung herself down across Smith's body, got his +head in her arms and laid down her own head against his. The tomahawk +had stopped but a feather's breadth from her black hair, so close that +the Indian who held it could scarcely breathe for fear it might have +injured the daughter of The Powhatan. + +For a moment it seemed to all the anxious onlookers as if the werowance, +furious at such disobedience, were about to order the blow to fall upon +both heads. There was silence, and those at the back of the lodge +crowded forward in order not to miss what was to come. Then Powhatan +spoke: + +"Rise, Matoaka! and dare not to interfere with my justice!" + +"Nay, father," cried Pocahontas, lifting her head while her arms still +lay protectingly about Smith's neck, "I claim this man from thee. Even +as Wansutis did adopt Claw-of-the-Eagle, so will I adopt this paleface +into our tribe." + +Every one began to talk at once: "She desires a vain thing!"--"She hath +the right."--"If he live how shall we be safe?"--"Since first our +forefathers dwelt in this land hath this been permitted to our women!" + +Powhatan spoke sternly: + +"Dost thou claim him in earnestness, Matoaka?" + +"Aye, my father. I claim him. Slay him not. Let him live amongst us and +he shall make thee hatchets, and bells and beads and copper things shall +he fashion for me. See, by this robe I wrought to remind thee of thy +love for me, I ask this of thee." + +"So be it," answered The Powhatan. + +Pocahontas rose to her feet and, taking Smith by the hand, raised him +up, dazed at his sudden deliverance and not understanding how it had +come about. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER IX + +SMITH'S GAOLER + + +The following morning Claw-of-the-Eagle, passing before the lodge +assigned to the prisoner, beheld Pocahontas seated on the ground in +front of it. + +"What dost thou here?" he asked, "and where be the guards?" + +"I sent them off to sleep as soon as the Sun came back to us," she +answered, looking up at the tall youth beside her. "I can take care of +him myself during the day." + +"Hast thou seen him yet? Tell me what is he like. I saw him but for the +minute yesterday." + +"He sleeps still. I peeped between the openings of the bark covering +here and beheld him lying there with all those queer garments. I am +eager for his awakening; there are so many questions I would ask him." + +"Let me have a look, too," pleaded the boy. + +Pocahontas nodded and motioned graciously to the opening of the lodge. +It pleased her to grant favors, and Powhatan sometimes smiled when he +marked how like his own manner of bestowing them was that of his +daughter. + +With the same caution with which he crept after a deer in a thicket, +Claw-of-the-Eagle moved on hands and knees along the ground within the +lodge. Lying flat on his stomach, he gazed at the Englishman. He had +heard repeated about the village the night before the details of his +rescue as they had taken place within the ceremonial wigwam. Those who +told him were divided in their opinions; some looked upon Powhatan's +decision as a danger to them all, and others scouted the idea that those +palefaces were to be feared by warriors such as the Powhatans. +Claw-of-the-Eagle, however, did not waver in his belief: each of the +white strangers should be killed off as quickly as might be. His loyalty +to his adopted tribe was as great as if his forefathers had sat about +its council fires always. He was sorry that Pocahontas, much as she +pleased him, had persuaded her father to save the life of the first of +the palefaces that had fallen into his power. He believed The Powhatan +himself now regretted that he had yielded to affection and to an ancient +custom, and that he would gladly see his enemy dead, in order that the +news carried to his interloping countrymen might serve as a warning of +the fate that awaited them all. + +Suppose then--the thought flashed through his brain--that he, +Claw-of-the-Eagle, should make this wish a fact! Powhatan would never +punish the doer of the deed. + +He crept nearer still to the sleeping man, loosening the knife in his +girdle. There was no sound within the lodge, only the faint crooning of +Pocahontas without; yet something, some feeling of danger, aroused the +Englishman. Through his half-closed lids he scarce distinguished the +slowly advancing red body from the red earth over which it was moving. +But when the boy was close enough to touch him with the outstretched +hand. Smith opened his eyes wide. He did not move, did not cry out, +though he saw the knife in the long thin fingers; all he did was to fix +his gaze sternly upon the boy's face. Claw-of-the-Eagle tried to strike, +but with those fearless eyes upon him he could not move his arm. + +Slowly, as he had come, he crawled back to the entrance, unable to turn +his head from the man who watched him. It was only when he was out in +the air again that he felt he could take a long breath. + +"He is a good sleeper," was all he remarked. + +"And doubtless he is as good an eater and will be hungry when he wakes. +Wilt thou not stop at our lodge, Claw-of-the-Eagle, and bid them bring +me food for him?" + +He did as she asked, and shortly after the squaws arrived with earthen +dishes filled with bread and meat. They peered eagerly through the +crevices till Pocahontas commanded them to be off. Hearing a noise +within the lodge, she was about to bear the food inside when Smith +stepped to the entrance. + +He was astonished to see the kind of sentinel they had set to guard him. +He had expected to find that his unexpected guest would be waiting +outside for another chance at his life, and he preferred to hasten the +moment. He realized that this maiden, however, would be as efficient a +gaoler as a score of braves. Should he dream of escaping, of finding his +way without guides or even his compass, back to Jamestown, her outcry +would bring the entire village to her aid. He recognized his saviour of +the day before and bowed low, a bow meant for the princess and for his +protector. Pocahontas, though a European salutation was as strange to +her as Indian ways were to him, felt sure his ceremonious manner was +intended to do her honor, and received it gravely and graciously. + +"Here is food for thee, White Chief," she said, placing it on a mat she +had spread on the ground; "sit and eat." + +"It is welcome," he answered, "yet first harken to me. I have not words +of thy tongue, little Princess, to pay thee for thy great gift, and +though my words were as plentiful as the grains of sand by the waters, +they were still too few to offer thee." + +"Gifts made to chiefs," she answered with a dignity copied from her +father's, "can never pay for princely benefits." + +Smith could not help smiling at the grandiloquence of the child's +language, for in spite of her height, he realized that her years were +but few. + +"Yet," she continued, seating herself, "it pleaseth me to receive thy +thanks." + +Now she put aside her grown-up air and her curious glances were those of +the child she was. She fingered gently the sleeve of his doublet stained +by the morass in which he had been captured and torn by the briars of +the forests through which he had been led. + +"'Tis good English cloth," he remarked, "to have withstood such storm, +and I bless the sheep on whose backs it grew." + +"What beasts are those?" she queried, and Smith endeavored to explain +the various uses and the looks of Southdown flocks. + +"Did thy squaws make thy coat for thee when thou hadst slain that--that +new beast?" + +"I have no squaw, little Princess." + +"I am glad," she sighed. + +"And why?" + +"I do not know", her brow wrinkling as she tried to fathom her own +feelings. "Perhaps it is because now thou wilt not pine for her and to +be gone from amongst us." + +"But I must leave here soon, little maid; my people at Jamestown are +waiting for me." + +He said this in order to try and discern what was the intention of +Powhatan towards him. Now that his life was saved, his thought was for +his liberty. + +"Thou shalt not go," she cried, springing up. "Thou belongest to me and +it is my will to keep thee that thou mayst tell me tales of the world +beyond the sunrise and make new medicine for us. Thou shalt not go." + +"So be it," said Smith in a tone he tried to render as unemotional as +possible. He sighed inwardly as he thought of his fellows at Jamestown, +ill, starving, and now doubtless believing him dead. Perhaps if he bided +his time he would find some way of communicating with them. In the +meantime, policy, as well as inclination, urged his making friends with +this eager little savage maiden. + +Now that he did not attempt to oppose her, Pocahontas sank down again +beside him. Already there was an audience: braves, squaws and children +were crowding about, watching the paleface eat. Smith had learned since +his captivity the value the Indians set upon an impassive manner, so he +continued cutting off bits of venison and chewing them with as little +attention to those about him as King James himself might show when he +dined in state alone at Guildhall. But for Pocahontas's presence, whose +claim to the captive every one respected, they would have come even +nearer. As it was, one boy slipped behind her and jerked at Smith's +beard. Pocahontas ordered him away and said in excuse: + +"Do not be angry, he wanted only to find out if it were fast." + +She shared the child's curiosity in regard to the beard. Might it not +be, she wondered, some kind of adornment put on when he set out on the +warpath, as her people decked themselves on special occasions with +painted masks? + +Smith tugged at his beard with both hands, smiling, and his audience +burst out laughing. They could appreciate a joke, it seemed, and he was +glad to see that their temper to him was friendly, for the moment at +least. One of the older men pointed to the pocket in his jerkin and +asked what he had in it. Compass and watch were gone, but Smith delved +into its depths in hopes of finding something he had forgotten which +might interest them. He brought out a pencil and a small note-book. He +wrote a few words and handed them to Pocahontas, saying: + +"These are medicine marks. If one should carry them to Jamestown they +would speak to my people there and they would hear what I say at +Werowocomoco." + +Pocahontas shook her head as did those to whom she passed the leaf. The +stranger might do many wonderful things, but this claim passed the +bounds of even the greatest shaman's power. + +Smith, however, determined to keep her thinking of the possibility of +his return to Jamestown, continued: + +"It is possible for me, in truth. Princess, and if thou would'st +accompany me thither I could show thee stranger marvels still." + +"Nay," she cried angrily, "thou shalt never go there. Thou art mine to +do as I will. Is it not so?" she appealed to those about her. + +They all shouted affirmation, confirming Smith's belief that his fate +had been placed in a girl's hands. It was not the first time such a +thing had happened to him; once before in his life a woman had been his +gaoler, and he again made up his mind to bide his time. He answered the +numerous questions put to him as best he could, about the number of days +he had been with the Pamunkeys, his capture, and why he had separated +from his fellows. In turn he questioned them about their harvests, the +time and method of planting and the moon of the ripening of the maize; +but the Indians showed plainly that they liked better to ask than to +answer. + +As the day advanced the crowd began to dwindle. The captive would not +fail to be there whenever they desired to observe him and there was +hunting to be done and cooking, and already some of the boys had +strolled off to play their ever-fascinating game of tossing plumstones +into the air. At last only Pocahontas was left with the prisoner. + +Smith glanced about to see what the chances of escape might be should he +make a sudden dash, but the sight of some braves at a lodge not more +than a hundred feet away busied in sharpening arrowheads made him settle +down again. + +"Tell me, White Chief," said Pocahontas as she lighted a pipe she had +filled with tobacco and gave it now to Smith, "tell me about thyself and +thy people. Are ye in truth like unto us; do ye die as we do or can +your medicine preserve you forever like Okee? Canst thou change thyself +into an animal at will? If so, I fain would know how to do it, too." + +Smith looked critically at the girl who sat on a mat beside him. He had +never seen a maiden whose spirit was more eager for life. In her avidity +for the miraculous he recognized something akin to his own love of +adventure and desire to explore new lands and to sample new ways. She +could not sail across the ocean in search of them as he had done--_he_ +was her great adventure, he realized, a personified book of strange +tales to fire her imagination, as his had been stirred as a boy by +stories of the kingdom of Prester John, of the El Dorado, of the Spanish +Main and of the lost Raleigh Colony. The tobacco, which he had learned +to smoke while with the Pamunkeys, soothed him; he was in no immediate +danger; the warm sun was pleasant and the bright-eyed girl beside him +was a sympathetic audience. He was always fond of talking, of living +over the picturesque happenings that had crowded his twenty-eight years, +and now he let himself run on, seeing again in his mind's eye the faces +and the scenes of many lands, none of them, however, more strange than +his present surroundings. The only difficulty was his insufficient +vocabulary; but his mind was a quick and retentive one and each new +word, once captured, came at his bidding. Also, Pocahontas was a bright +listener; she guessed at much he could not express and helped him with +gesture and phrase. + +"Princess," he began, when she interrupted: + +"Call me Pocahontas as do my people. Perchance some day I'll tell thee +my other name." + +"Pocahontas, then," he repeated slowly, impressing the name on his +memory, "I will obey thee. We are but men, as are thy kinsfolk, subject +to cold and hunger, ills and death. Yet, as God, our Okee, is greater +than your Okee, so our power and our medicine excel those of the mighty +Powhatan and of his shamans. Thou asketh for tales of the land whence I +come. They are so many that like the leaves of the forest I cannot count +them. If we sat here until thou wert a wrinkled old crone like her +yonder," and he pointed to old Wansutis who was hobbling by, "I could +not relate half of them. Therefore, if it pleaseth thee, I will tell +thee of some matters that have affected thy captive." + +Pocahontas nodded her approbation. + +"Our land, fair England, set in a stormy sea, is a mighty kingdom many, +many days' journey over the waters. There all men and women are as white +or whiter than I, now so weatherworn, as indeed are those of many other +kingdoms further towards the sunrise. Our land, now ruled by a king who +wields dominion over hundreds of tribes, was a few years ago under the +sway of a mighty princess." + +"Was she fair?" asked Pocahontas. + +Smith hesitated. The glamour which had once hovered about "Good Queen +Bess," obscuring the eyes of her loyal subjects, had since her death +been somewhat dispelled. He thought of the pinched face, the sandy hair, +the long nose, the small eyes--but then he had a vision of her as his +boyish eyes had first beheld her, the sovereign riding her white steed +before the host assembled to encounter the forces of the Armada Spain +was sending to crush her realm. + +"Not beautiful was she," he replied, "but a very king of men!" + +He puffed a moment reminiscently, then continued: + +"I was born some years ago in a part of our island called Lincolnshire, +where it is low and marshy in places like unto the morass where thine +uncle took me prisoner. Yet it is a land I love, though it grew too +small for me, and when I was old enough to be a brave my hands itched to +be fighting our enemies. So I went forth on the warpath against our foes +in France and in the Netherlands. Then when I had fought for many moons +and had gained fame as a warrior I felt a longing to return to mine own +home. I abode there for a time, then I set forth once more and travelled +long in a land called Italy and entered later the service of a great +werowance, the Emperor Rudolph, to fight for him against the tribes of +his foes, the Turks. I cannot explain to thee, Princess, how different +are their ways from our ways; perchance theirs were nearer to thine +understanding since they are not given to mercy and take to themselves +many squaws; but let that rest. I fought them hard and often, and one +day before the two armies, that ceased their combat to witness, I slew +three of their great fighters, for which the Emperor did allow me to +bear arms containing Three Turks' Heads--that is, as if one of thy +kinsmen should sew upon his robe three scalps of enemies he had killed. +But soon after that was I taken prisoner by these Turks and sold into +captivity as a slave." + +"Ah!" breathed Pocahontas deeply. For once in her life she was getting +her fill of adventures. + +"I was given as a slave to another princess--Tragabizzanda--in the City +of Constantinople; then I was sent to Tartary, where I was most cruelly +used. One day I fell upon the Bashaw of Nolbrits, who ill-treated me, +and I slew him. I clothed myself in his garments and escaped into the +desert and finally after many strange adventures I reached again a land +where I had friends. Then--" + +"Tell me of the princess," interrupted Pocahontas. "Did she ill-use thee +also?" + +"Nay, in truth, she was all kindness to me," replied Smith, his eye +kindling at the remembrance of the Turkish lady who had aided him. "She +was very beautiful, with lovely garments and rich jewels," he added, +thinking to interest the girl with descriptions of her finery, "and I +owe her many thanks." + +"Was she more beautiful than I?" asked Pocahontas, her brows knitting +angrily. + +"She was very different," the amused Englishman answered. It was +scarcely possible for him to consider these savages as being real human +creatures, to be compared even with the Turks; yet he did not wish to +hurt the feelings of one who had done so much for him. "She was a grown +woman," he added, "and therefore it boots not to compare her with the +child thou art." + +"I am no child. I am a woman!" cried Pocahontas, springing up in a fury +and rushed off like a whirlwind towards the forest. + +John Smith looked after her in dismay. If he had turned his only friend +against him then was he indeed in a sad plight! + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LODGE IN THE WOODS + + +Neither the rest of that day nor the next had Smith any speech with +Pocahontas. True it was that she came accompanied by squaws and +children, all eager to serve as cupbearers in order to observe the +paleface closely. But she put down the food beside him and did not +linger. + +By the middle of the second day Smith found himself less an object of +interest. Everyone in Werowocomoco had been to gaze at him and the older +chiefs had sat and talked with him; but the Englishman could not +discover what their opinion in regard to his coming or his future might +be. Now there seemed to be something afoot which was engaging the +attention of the braves who congregated together before the long lodge. +Had it anything to do with his own fate, the captive wondered. The +children, too, had found other things to interest them. He saw them, +their little red bodies glistening in the sun, playing with the dogs or +pretending they were a war party creeping through a hostile country. +Smith missed them peering about the opening of his lodge, half amused, +half frightened, when he attempted to make friends. + +He leaned idly against the side of the wigwam, watching two squaws not +far away who were tanning a deerskin and cutting it in strips for +thread. Would the time ever come again, he wondered, when he would +behold a white woman sewing or spinning? + +He saw Pocahontas leave her lodge, but instead of coming in his +direction, she ran towards the wigwams that skirted the forest and was +soon out of sight. He could not see that a young Indian boy, astounded +to catch sight of her in that unaccustomed part of the village, went to +meet her. + +"Is Wansutis by her hearth?" asked Pocahontas. + +"She is," Claw-of-the-Eagle replied, and walked on beside her with no +further word. + +Pocahontas's heart was beating a little faster than usual. Wansutis +still excited a feeling of awe and discomfort in the courageous child; +she could not help experiencing a sort of terror when in her presence. +Nevertheless she had now come of her own accord to ask the old woman for +aid. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle, though he would have bitten his tongue off rather +than acknowledge his curiosity, was most eager to learn what had brought +the daughter of Powhatan to his adopted mother's lodge. He entered it +with Pocahontas and pretended to be busying himself with stringing his +bows in order to have an excuse for staying. + +"Wansutis," began Pocahontas, standing in the sunshine of the entrance, +to the old woman who sat smoking in the darkest part of the lodge, "thou +hast the knowledge of all the herbs of the fields and of the forests, +those that harm and those that help. Is it not so?" + +The wrinkled squaw looked up, a drawn smile upon her lips, and said: + +"And so Princess Pocahontas comes to old Wansutis for a love potion." + +"Nay," cried the girl angrily, coming closer, "not so; I desire of thee +something quite different--herbs that will make a man forget." + +"The same herb for both," snapped the squaw; "for whom wilt thou brew +it, for thine adopted son, thou who art no squaw and too young to have a +son? I have no such herb, maiden, and if I had, thinkest thou I had not +given it to Claw-of-the-Eagle to drink. Speak to her, son, and tell her +if a man ever forgets." + +Pocahontas turned a questioning glance on him and the young brave +answered it: + +"My thoughts are great and speedy travellers, Pocahontas; they take long +journeys backwards to my father's and mother's people. They wander among +old trails in the forests and they meet old friends by the side of +burned-out campfires. Yet, when like weary hunters who have been seeking +game all day, they return at night to their lodge, so mine return in +gratitude to Wansutis. For she hath not sought to hinder them from +travelling old trails, even as she hath not bound my feet to her lodge +pole to keep them from straying." + +"And if she had not left thee free," queried Pocahontas, "what wouldst +thou have done?" Somehow, captivity and the thought of captives had +suddenly become of extreme interest to the girl. + +"I know not, Princess," answered the boy after pondering a moment, "yet +had not my father and mother been dead I feel certain I should have +sought to escape to them, even had thy father set all his guards about +the village. But they were no more, and our wigwam afar off was empty; +and so my heart finds rest in a new home and I gladly obey a new +mother." + +"Is it then so hard to forget an old lodge and other ways?" pondered the +girl. "It seems to me that each day among strangers would be the +beginning of a new life, that it would be pleasant to know I could not +foresee what would come to pass before nightfall. Why," she queried, +looking eagerly at both the old woman and the boy, "why should this +paleface desire to return to the island where they sicken and starve +while here he hath food in plenty?" + +"Wait till thou thyself art among strangers away from thine own people," +cried Wansutis sternly, and then she turned her back upon the young +people and began to mutter. + +"So thou hast no drink of forgetfulness to give me?" asked Pocahontas, +hesitating at the entrance, to which she had retreated; but the old +woman did not answer; and Pocahontas walked off slowly, meditating as +she went, while Claw-of-the-Eagle, bow in hand, gazed after her. + +It had grown dark and John Smith, his legs cramped with long sitting, +stretched himself out by the side of the fire in his lodge into which he +had thrown some twigs, so that the embers which had smouldered all day +now blazed up brightly. The cheerful crackling was welcome, it seemed to +him to speak in English words of home and comfort, not the heathenish +jargon he had listened to perforce for several weeks. Not only was it a +companion but a protection. While it blazed he might be seized and put +to death, but at least he should see his enemies. He missed Pocahontas +for her own sake, not only because her staying away argued ill for his +safety. Gratitude was not the only reason for his interest in her: she +seemed to him the freest, brightest creature he had ever come across, as +much a part of the wilderness nature as a squirrel or a bird. Like all +cultured Englishmen of his day, he had read many books and poems about +shepherdesses in Arcadia and princesses of enchanted realms; but never +yet had any writer, not even the great Spenser or Sir Philip Sidney, +imagined in their words so free and wild and sylvan a creature as this +interesting Indian maiden. + +His thoughts were disturbed by the entrance of two Indians. "We are +come," they said, "at The Powhatan's bidding to take thee to his lodge +in the wood." + +He knew not what this order might mean, yet he was glad that come what +would, the monotony of his captivity was broken. He rose quickly and +followed them through the village, each lodge of which had its ghostly +curl of smoke ascending through the centre towards the dark sky. Within +some of the wigwams he could see the fire and sitting around it families +eating before lying down to sleep. Then they left the palisades of +Werowocomoco behind them and came out into the forest, to a lodge as +large as that in which he had first been led before Powhatan. + +This one, however, was differently arranged. It was divided into two +parts, separated by dark hanging mats that permitted no light to pass +through. Into the smaller apartment, to give it such a name. Smith was +ushered, and there the two Indians, after stirring up the fire and +throwing on fresh logs, left him alone. + +Not long, however, did Smith imagine himself the lodge's only +inhabitant. The sound of muffled feet, even though they moved softly, +betrayed the presence of a number of persons on the other side of the +mat. His ears, his only sentinels, reported that the unseen foes had +seated themselves and then, after a short silence, he heard a voice +begin a low, weird chant. He could not understand the words, but from +the monotonous shaking of a rattle and the steps that seemed to be +moving in some dance round and round from one part of the room to the +other, Smith was certain that it was a shaman beginning the chant for +some sacred ceremony. Then one by one the different voices joined in, +uttering hideous shrieks, and the ground shook with the shuffling of +many feet. The sounds were enough to terrify the stoutest heart, and +Smith had no doubt but that their song was a rejoicing over his coming +death. Perhaps Powhatan, he thought, had only pretended to grant his +daughter's request, having planned all along to put an end to him, and +when the boy, who had doubtless been sent by him, had not succeeded, he +had probably determined to kill him here. Or perhaps Pocahontas, now in +anger with him, had withdrawn her claims to his life and left him to her +father's vengeance. + +The noise grew louder and more fiendish in character and the Englishman +saw the corner of the mat begin to wave, to bulge as if a man were +butting his head against it to raise it. Then he saw it lifted and in +came a creature more hideous than Smith ever dreamed could exist. +Painted all in red pocone, with breast tattooed in black, wearing no +garment save a breech-clout and a gigantic headdress of feathers, +shells and beads, he straightened himself to his great height. A +horrible mask, distorting human lineaments, covered the face, and a +medicine-bag of otter skin hung from his back and dangling from one arm +as an ornament hung the dried hand of an enemy long since dead. On +account of his stature and in spite of the mask, Smith recognized The +Powhatan, and drew himself up proudly to meet his fate. + +Behind their werowance now swarmed the other braves and chieftains, two +hundred in all, and all with masks that made them as fearful, thought +John Smith, as a troop of devils from hell. + +To his astonishment, they did not fall upon him and in their shrieking +he thought he could even distinguish the word "friend." The Powhatan +alone of them all approached him, saying: + +"Have no fear, my son; we are not come to harm thee. The ceremony which +thou hast heard was to call Okee to witness to the friendship we have +sworn thee. Henceforth are we and thou as of one tribe. No longer art +thou a prisoner but free to come and go as thy brothers here, aye, even +to return to thy comrades on the island if thou so desirest. When thou +hast arrived there send unto me two of those great guns that spit forth +fire and death that my name may become a still greater terror to mine +enemies, and send to me also a grindstone such as thou hast told me of, +that my squaws may use it for crushing maize. I ask not these gifts for +naught. A great chief giveth ever gifts in return. Therefore I present +to thee for thine own the land called Capahosick, where thou mayst live +and build thee a lodge and take a squaw to till thy fields for thee. +Moreover, I, The Powhatan, I, Wahunsunakuk, will esteem thee as mine own +son from this day forth." + +It was difficult for Smith during this discourse not to betray his +astonishment. First came the relief at learning that he was not to be +killed immediately and then the wonderful news that he was free to go to +Jamestown. And if The Powhatan and his people had sworn friendship to +him, would that not mean that through him the colony should be saved? He +longed to know what had brought about this sudden change in his fate, +but he could not ask. In as stately a manner as that of the +werowance--so at variance with his appearance--and with the best words +at his command, he spoke his thanks. + +"I thank thee, great Powhatan, for thy words of kindness and the good +news thou bringest me. In truth if thou wilt be to me a father, I will +be to thee a son, and there shall be peace between Werowocomoco and +Jamestown. If thou wilt send men with me to show me the way they shall +return with presents for thee." + +Powhatan gave certain orders and twelve men stepped forward and laid +aside their sacrificial masks and announced themselves ready to +accompany the paleface. Smith had not imagined that he could leave that +night, but he was so eager to be off that he lost no time in his +farewells. + +They set forth into the forest which at first was not dense, and along +its edge were clearings where the summer's maize had grown. Then the +trees grew closer together, and to Smith there appeared no path between +them, but his guides strode quickly along with no hesitation, though the +night was a dark one. Six of the Indians went in front of him and six +behind. There was no talking, only the faint sound from the Englishman's +boots and his stumbling against trunks or rocks broke the silence. There +was little chance of an enemy's coming so near to the camp of The +Powhatan, nevertheless the Indians observed the usual caution. + +To John Smith there was something ghostly about this excursion by night, +through an unknown country, with unknown men. He could not help +wondering whether he had understood correctly all that Powhatan had +said, or whether he dared believe he had meant what he said, or if he +had not planned to kill him in the wilderness away from any voice to +speak in his favor. Even though the werowance himself were acting in +good faith, might not others of the chiefs have plotted to put an end to +the white man whose coming and whose staying were so beyond their +fathoming? In spite of these thoughts he went on apparently as +unconcernedly as though he were strolling along the king's highway near +his Lincolnshire home. + +The call of some animal, a wildcat perhaps, brought the little company +to a hurried standstill, and a whispered consultation. The sound might +really come from some beast, Smith knew; on the other hand, it might be +either a signal made by foes of the Powhatans or the call of another +party of their tribe about to join them. In the latter case it boded ill +for him. He clasped a stone knife he had managed to secrete at +Werowocomoco. He could not overhear what the Indians were saying, but +they were evidently arguing. Then when they seemed to have come to some +decision, they started on once more. + +Though the forest was so sombre. Smith's eyes had grown more accustomed +to the blackness and he began to distinguish between the various shades +of darkness. Once or twice he thought he saw to the side of them another +figure, moving or halting as they halted, but when he looked fixedly he +could distinguish nothing but the trunk of some great tree. + +On and on they went, mocked at by owls and whippoorwills, crossing +streams over log bridges, wading through others when the cold water +splashed at a misstep up in his face. At last the blackness turned to +grey, in which he could make out the fingers of his hand. Dawn was near. +Why, thought the Englishman, did they delay striking so long? If they +meant to kill him, he hoped it might be done quickly. The phantom figure +which had accompanied them after the halt following the wildcat call +must soon act. Even a brave man must wish such a night as this to end. + +Then the world ahead of him seemed to grow wider and lighter. The trees +had larger spaces between them and the figures of the Indians were like +a blurred drawing. Was it a star shining before them, that light that +grew brighter and brighter? + +"Jamestown!" he cried out in his own tongue. "Jamestown! Yon is +Jamestown! God be praised!" + +The Indians gathered about him and began to question him eagerly. Would +he give presents to them all; would they have the guns to carry back +with them? + +As they stood in a little knot, each individual of which was growing +more distinct, a young man ran up behind them. + +"Claw-of-the-Eagle!" they exclaimed. + +The boy put into the hands of the astonished Smith a necklace of white +shells he remembered to have seen Pocahontas wear. + +"Princess Pocahontas sends greetings," he said, "and bids thee farewell +for to-day now that she hath seen thee safe again among thy people." His +own scowl belied the kindliness of the message. + +So John Smith knew that Pocahontas had accompanied him through the +forest and that if death had been near him that night, it was she who +had averted it from him. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XI + +POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN + +"We have brought the white werowance safely back to his tribe again," +said Copotone, one of the guides, as they approached the causeway +leading to Jamestown Island. + +"Of a surety," remarked Smith, "since thus it was that Powhatan +commanded." + +It was his policy--a policy which did credit to the head of one who, in +spite of his knowledge of the world, was still so young--never to show +any suspicion of Indian good-faith. + +"Now that we have led thee thither," continued Copotone, who on his side +had no intention of betraying any secrets of the past night, "wilt thou +not fulfil thy promise and give to us the guns and grindstone?" + +"Ye shall take to your master whatever ye can carry," answered Smith, +whose heart was beating fast at the sight of the huts and fort before +him, the outlines of which grew more distinct each moment with the +brightening day. He had answered the hail of the sentry who, when he had +convinced himself that his ears and eyes did not betray him, ran out and +clasped the hands of one he had never thought to behold alive again. + +"Captain!" he exclaimed, "but it is indeed a happy day that bringeth +thee back to us, not but that some of them yonder," and he pointed +significantly towards the government house, "will think otherwise." + +The Indians in the meantime were looking about them with eager curiosity +as they strode through the palisades into the fort. It was but a poor +affair, judged by European military standards, and absolutely worthless +if it should have to withstand a siege by artillery. But to the savages +it was an imposing fortress, the very laws of its construction unknown +to them, even the mortar between the logs, a substance of which they had +no comprehension. Over the bastion as they emerged on the other side +they beheld the English flag floating. This they took to be some kind of +an Okee, in which opinion Smith's action confirmed them, for taking off +his hat, he waved it in delight towards the symbol of all that was now +doubly dear to him. + +But it was the guns which claimed the chief attention of the savage +visitors. There were four of them, all pointing towards the forest, iron +culverins with the Tudor Rose and E.R. (Elizabeth Regina) moulded above +their breeches. + +"Are these the fire-tubes of which we have heard?" asked Copotone +eagerly, longing to feel them, but not daring for fear of unknown +magic. + +"Aye," answered Smith, "art thou strong enough to carry one to +Werowocomoco?" + +The Indians looked them over appraisingly, wondering if they could drag +them through the forest. + +"Set the match to this one, Dickon," commanded Smith with a grim smile. +"It behooves us to frighten well this escort of mine, or they would be +trying to carry off one of my iron pets here to a strange kennel." + +Dickon took up a tinder-box that lay on the bench beside him, and in a +moment under the fixed gaze of his audience struck a light and applied +it to the flax at the breech. There was a flash, then a loud report, and +the Indians, as if actually hit, fell to the ground, where they stayed +until they gradually convinced themselves that they were unhurt. + +"If ye had been in front instead of behind ye had been killed," Smith +said solemnly, desiring to impress them with the terrors of the white +man's magic. + +The Indians got to their feet and, though they said nothing, and did not +attempt to run, John Smith knew that they were more terrified than they +had ever been in their lives. + +"Come," he said, leading the way from the fort to the town. "Since ye +find our guns too heavy and too noisy I will seek more suitable presents +for Powhatan and for you." + +The colonists, roused by the cannon shot, had run out from their doors +to see what had happened. They could scarcely believe their eyes, and it +was not until Smith called to them by name and questioned them in regard +to the happenings at Jamestown since his departure, that they were +convinced he was himself. All were thin and gaunt, and they peered +hungrily at the baskets of food the Indians bore. Most of them greeted +Smith with genuine pleasure; others there were who frowned at the sight +of him, who barely nodded a welcome, who answered him surlily and who +got together in twos and threes to talk quickly as he passed on. + +Smith led the way to the storehouse and bidding the Indians wait +outside, he went within and persuaded the man in charge to permit him to +take a number of articles. When he came out his arms were full of +colored cloths and beads, steel knives and trinkets of many sorts. The +Indians gave him their baskets to empty and he filled them with the +presents, going back for iron pots and kettles of glistening brass. +These he bade them carry to Powhatan. To each of his guides he gave +something for himself. Then speaking slowly, he said to Copotone: + +"Kehaten Pokahontas patiaquagh niugh tanks manotyens neer mowmowchick +rawrenock andowgh (bid Pocahontas bring hither two little baskets and I +will give her white beads to make her a necklace)." + +He would gladly have sent a message of thanks for her care of him that +night, but he thought it best not to do so, since she might not wish it +known that she had followed him. + +"Pray her to come and see us soon," he added as he bade farewell to his +guides whose eagerness to show their treasures at home was even greater +than their curiosity to see further marvels. + +After he had seen them safely outside of the palisades, Smith stopped to +enquire by name for such men as had not come out to greet him. + +"Oh! Ralph, he's dead and buried," they answered; and of another: +"Christopher? He wore away from very weakness. And Robin went a +sen'night ago with a quartain fever. This is no land for white men." + +"But thou lookest hale and hearty. Captain," remarked one of the +gentlemen, leaning against his door for support. "I'll wager the death +thou didst face was not by starvation." + +Then Smith learned in full the pitiful story of what the colony had +suffered during his absence: lack of food and illness had carried off +nearly half the colonists, and those that remained were weak and +discouraged. Death had taken both of his enemies and of his friends, but +some who had been opposed to him formerly had been brought to see during +his absence how with his departure the life and courage of Jamestown had +died down. Men there are--and most of them--who must ever be led by some +one, and in Smith these adventurers had come to see a real leader of +men. + +While Smith stood questioning and heartening the downhearted, President +Wingfield came out of his house on his way to the Government House. +Smith doffed his hat and made a brave bow to honour, if not the man, at +least the office he represented. + +"So thou art returned. Captain Smith," said the President, coldly. +"Methinks thou hast not fared so ill, better belike than most of us. +Hast thou brought the provisions thou didst promise? We have been +awaiting them somewhat anxiously. But first tell me where thou hast left +Robinson and Emery, for the lives of our comrades, however humble, are +of more value to us than even the sorely needed victuals." + +Now Smith was aware that President Wingfield knew, as every other man +in the colony knew, that Robinson and Emery were dead; the others had +already discussed their fate with him. Therefore he realized that the +President had some policy in putting such a question to him thus in +public. + +"Thou must have heard, sir, that they are dead," he replied. "Poor lads! +Disobedience was the end of them. Had they but followed my commands they +had returned alive to Jamestown many days ago; but they must needs land +on the shore, instead of keeping in the stream as I bade them, and they +were slain by the savages after I was captured." + +"That is easily answered, Captain Smith," Wingfield solemnly remarked, +and turning his head over his shoulder to speak as he walked off, he +added: "The Council will require their lives at thy hands this day. See +that thou art present in the Government House this afternoon at three by +the clock to answer their questions." + +"So that is what their next step is," Smith remarked to his friend Guy, +a youth of much promise, as they walked off together. "They will accuse +me of murder and try to hang me or to send me back to England in chains. +But I have not been saved from death by a young princess to come to any +such end, friend." + +And as they walked to his house he told the story of his captivity and +made plans for getting the better of those who sought to injure him. + +The councillors, on their side, were not unanimous as to the course to +adopt. Some were for putting him in safe-keeping--they did not mention +the word imprisonment--until a ship should arrive and return with him to +England. Others, who perhaps felt a doubt of their own ability to +manage the settlement, were willing to acknowledge that they had +misjudged him and suggested that at least he had better be given a +chance to help them; and other timorous members, having witnessed the +warmth of the greeting accorded him, advised that it would be wiser not +to rush into any course of action which would displease the majority of +the colonists. Thus it came to pass that Smith found the three o'clock +meeting like a tiger that has had its claws drawn. + +In the days that followed his spirit of encouragement, the willingness +with which he put his shoulder to the wheel everywhere that aid was +needed, his boldness in defying those leagued against him, completely +changed the aspect of Jamestown. The gentlemen who had refused to wield +axe or spade or bricklayer's trowel because of their gentility were +shamed by his example. + + "When Adam delved and Eve span + Who was then the gentleman?" + +he demanded and swung the axe with lusty strokes against some hoary +walnut tree. + +But though he enjoyed the triumph over his enemies and the knowledge +that his return, the provisions he had brought and the inspiration of +his courage and activity were of great benefit to his fellows, +nevertheless at times he experienced a feeling of loneliness. He thought +of Pocahontas and wondered whether she would not come to Jamestown. + +It was on a wintry day that Pocahontas made her first visit to the +colony. Though they might lack most of the necessities of life, there +was no scarcity of fuel. A huge bonfire was blazing at an open space +where two streets were destined to meet in the future. Over some embers +pulled away from the centre of the flame a pitch-kettle was heating and +its owners, while waiting for its contents to melt, were warming a small +piece of dried sturgeon. Around the bonfire sat John Smith and several +gentlemen. He was pointing out to them on a rough chart the direction in +which he thought the town should spread out when a new influx of +colonists would need shelter. There were carpenters working on a house a +few feet away, but their hammer blows did not ring out lustily as they +should do when men are building with hope a new habitation; there was +but little strength left in their arms. + +When Smith looked up from his chart to indicate where a certain line +should run, he saw standing before him the young Indian who had brought +him Pocahontas's greeting after the night journey through the forest and +who, he now realized, was the same fierce youth who had attempted his +life at Werowocomoeo. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle spoke: + +"Werowance of the white men, Princess Pocahontas sends me to inform thee +that she hath come to visit thee. E'en now she and her maidens await +thee at the fort." + +"She is most welcome," cried Smith, springing up. Then he called out in +English: "Come, friends, and help me receive the daughter of Powhatan, +who did save me at the risk of her own life. Give her a hearty English +welcome." + +[Illustration: "I WILL LEAD THE PRINCESS"] + +The colonists needed no urging. They were eager to see what an Indian +princess looked like. But Smith outran them all and at the sight of +the bright girlish face he stretched out his hands towards her as he +would have done to an English maiden he knew well. + +"Ah! little friend," he said coaxingly, "thou wilt not be angry with me +longer. How much dost thou desire to make me owe thee, Pocahontas, my +life, my freedom, my return home and now this pleasure?" + +Pocahontas only smiled. Smith then turned, waving his hand to the men +who had followed him. + +"These, my comrades, would thank thee too could they but speak thy +tongue." + +The hats of cavaliers and the caps of the workmen were all doffed, and +Pocahontas acknowledged their courtesy with great dignity. + +"Let us show our guests our town," suggested Smith, "even though it lack +as yet palaces and bazaars filled with gorgeous raiment. I will lead the +princess; do ye care for her maidens and the young brave." As they +walked along the path from the fort to Jamestown's one street he asked: +"Tell me, my little jailor, how came The Powhatan to set me free? I have +wondered every day since, and I cannot understand. Thou didst prevail +with him, was it not so?" + +"Aye," answered the girl. "First was I angry with thee, then my heart, +though I did not wish to hearken to it, made me pity thee away from thy +people, even as I pitied the wildcat I loosed from his trap. My father +would not list to me at first, but I plead and reasoned with him, +telling him that thy friendship for us would be even as a high tide that +covereth sharp rocks over which we could ride safely." + +"But what meant the songs and dances in the hut in the woods, Matoaka?" + +"That was the ceremony of adoption. Thou art now the son of Powhatan and +my brother. Thou wert taken into our tribe, and those were the ancient +rites of our people." + +"And the journey through the woods, didst thou fear for my safety then +that thou didst follow all the way?" + +But Pocahontas did not answer. She would not tell him that she had still +doubted her father, and that she was not sure what instructions he had +given the men ordered to guide the paleface. + +"Thou art like the Sun God," said Smith with genuine feeling, "powerful +to save and to bless, little sister--since I have been made thy brother. +And as man may not repay the Sun God for all his blessings, no more may +I repay thee for all thou hast done for me." + +Pocahontas was on the point of replying when she suddenly burst out +laughing at a sight before her. Two men who were rolling a barrel of +flour from the storehouse to their own home let it slip from their +weakened fingers. It rolled against one of the carpenters who was +standing with his back to it, and hitting against his shins, sent him +sprawling. It was undoubtedly a funny sight and she was not the only one +to be amused. But the man did not rise. + +"Why doth he not get up?" asked Pocahontas. "He cannot be badly hurt by +such a light blow from that queer-shaped thing." + +"I fear me he is too weakened by lack of food," answered Smith, +gravely. + +"Hath he naught to eat?" asked the girl in wide-eyed wonder. Then as if +a strange thought had just come to her: "Is there not food for all? Must +thou, too, my Brother, stint thyself?" + +"In truth, little Sister, our rations are but short ones and if the ship +cometh not soon from England with supplies, I fear me they must be +shorter still." + +"No!" she cried emphatically, shaking her head till her long braids +swung to and fro, "ye shall not starve while there is plenty at +Werowocomoco. This very night will I myself send provisions to thee. It +hurts me here," and she laid her hand on her heart, "to think that thou +shouldst suffer." + +Just then President Wingfield and several officers of the Council, +having heard the news of Pocahontas's visit, came toward them. They +realized that the presence among them of this child, the best-loved +daughter of the powerful Indian chieftain, was an important event. They +did not quite know what to expect. Vague ideas of some Eastern queenly +beauty, such as the Queen of Sheba or Semiramis, had led them to look +for a certain royal magnificence of bearing and of garments, and they +were taken aback to behold this slim young creature whose clothing in +the eyes of some of them was inadequate. Nevertheless, they soon +discovered that though she wore no royal purple nor jewels she bore +herself with a dignity that was both maidenly and regal. They had +hurriedly put on their own best collars and ruffs and to the eyes of the +unsophisticated Indian girl they made a brave, though strange, +appearance. She listened to their words of welcome and answered them +through Smith's interpretation. But all the while she was taking in +every detail of their costumes. + +"We must give her presents," suggested one of the councillors as if +discovering an idea that had come to no one else, and he sent a servant +to fetch some of the trinkets which they had brought for the purpose of +bartering with the savages. + +Pocahontas forgot her dignity at the sight of them and clapped her hands +in delight as Smith threw over her head a long chain of white and blue +beads. Her pleasure was even greater when he held up a little mirror and +she saw her face for the first time reflected in anything but a forest +pool. + +"Is that too for me?" she asked eagerly and clasped it to her breast +when it was put into her hand, and then she peered into it from one side +and the other, unwearied in making acquaintance with her own features. + +The other maidens and Claw-of-the-Eagle were given presents also, but +less showy ones. Smith went into his own little house and after hunting +through his sea-chest, brought out a silver bracelet which he slipped on +Pocahontas's arm, saying: + +"This is to remind Matoaka always that she is my sister and that I am +her brother." + +It seemed to Pocahontas that she was incapable of receiving any further +new impressions. It was as if her mind were a vessel filled to the brim +with water that could not take another drop. Like a squirrel given more +nuts than it can eat at once, who rushes to hide them away, her instinct +made her long to take her treasures off where she could look at them +alone. + +"I go back to my father's lodge," she said and did not speak again till +they reached the fort. Then when Smith had seen the little party beyond +the palisades, she called back to him: + +"Brother, I shall not forget. This night I will send thee food. I am +well pleased with thy strange town and I will come again." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XII + +POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR + + +Pocahontas was as good as her word. That same evening as soon as she had +exhibited her treasures to Powhatan and to his envious squaws and had +related her impressions of the town and wigwams of the palefaces, she +busied herself in getting together baskets of corn, haunches of dried +venison and bear-meat and sent them by swift runners to "her brother" at +Jamestown. + +In the days following, though she played with her sisters, though she +hunted with Nautauquas in the forest, though she listened at night, +crouched against her father's knees before the fire to tales of +achievements of her tribe in war, or to strange transformation of braves +into beasts and spirits, her thoughts would wander off to the white +man's island, to the many wonders it held which she had scarcely +sampled. The pressure of her bracelet on her arm would recall its giver, +and she saw again in her mind his eyes, so kind when they smiled on her, +so stern at other times. + +She thought too of the man she had seen rolled over by the barrel--of +how slowly he had risen. She knew that there was such a thing as +starvation, because sometimes allied tribes of the Powhatans, whose +harvests had not been successful or whose braves had been lazy hunters, +had come to beseech food from the great storehouse at Powhata. But she +herself had never before seen any one faint for food, and it hurt her +when she thought of the abundance at Werowocomoco, where not even the +dogs went hungry, to know that there were men not far away who must go +without. Her father made no objection when a day or two later she told +him that she wished to take another supply of provisions to the white +men. + +"So be it," nodded Powhatan. "Thy captive shall be fed until the big +canoe he said was on its way shall arrive. He saith--though this be +great foolishness, since he cannot see so far--that at the end of this +moon it will come safe over the waters. But until the day of its +arrival, whenever that may be, thou canst send or carry of our surplus +to them. And hearken, Matoaka," he whispered that the squaws might not +hear, "thou hast wits beyond thy years, therefore do thou seek to learn +some of the white man's magic. There be times when the cunning of the +fox is worth more than the claws of the bear." + +So every three or four days Pocahontas brought food to Smith, for his +own need and for that of his fellows. Sometimes, accompanied by her +sister or her maidens, she would go by night to Jamestown, and half +laughing, half frightened, they would set down the baskets before the +fort and run like timorous deer back to the forest before the sentinel +had opened the gate in the palisade in answer to their call. Sometimes, +with Claw-of-the-Eagle as her companion, she would walk through the +street of Jamestown, greeting, now with girlish dignity, now with +smiles, its inhabitants whose thin faces lighted up at sight of her. +She came to symbolize to them the hope in the new world they had all but +lost; they rejoiced to see her, not only for her gifts, but for herself. + +They taught her to say after them a few words such as "Good-day," +"food," and "the Captain," meaning Smith; and the possession of this new +and strange accomplishment was almost as dear to her as beads or +bracelet. The island for her was a place of enchantment. The sunset gun +from the fort awoke more thrills of marvel in her than the rages of a +thunderstorm; and the strangest medicine of all was the power the white +men had of communicating their wishes to others at a distance by means +of little marks upon scraps of paper. + +One afternoon when she had come, accompanied by Cleopatra, she found the +streets and houses of Jamestown deserted. As they wandered about, +wondering what had happened to the palefaces, they heard the sound of +voices issuing from a rough shed beyond. They seemed neither to be +talking nor shrieking but chanting in a kind of rhythm such as she had +never heard. Quietly the two maidens followed the sound to the shed. It +was made of wood, open at the sides and roofed over with a piece of +sail-cloth. Crouched behind some sumac bushes still bearing aloft their +crimson torches, the girls looked on in wonderment, themselves unseen. +The sun was sinking behind them, behind the backs too of the colonists +who all faced the east. Then Pocahontas whispered to her sister: + +"See, Cleopatra, they must be worshiping their Okee. Yon man all in +white before them must be a shaman." + +A keen curiosity kept her there, though Cleopatra pulled in fright at +her skirt, whispering entreaties to be gone before some dire medicine +should fall upon them. She saw them all, when the chanting had ceased, +kneel down on the bare ground and heard them repeat some incantation +which she felt sure must be of great strength, to judge by the firmness +of the tone in which they all recited it. Their Okee, she thought, must +be a very powerful one; and there came to her as she crouched there, the +hidden witness of this evening service, the conviction that her father, +if he would, and even with all his tribes, could never conquer this +handful of determined men. + +She was afraid that "her brother" might be angry with her for having +looked on at ceremonies that were perhaps forbidden to women or members +of other tribes; so, greatly to Cleopatra's relief, they slipped away, +leaving at the fort the provisions they had borne on their strong young +backs. + +A few days later news came from Opechanchanough that the big canoe, so +eagerly expected by the strangers, had been seen at Kecoughtan and was +now on its way up the river. Powhatan was astounded, for it was the very +day the white captain had foretold its arrival. Truly a man who could +see so far across the waves of the big water was one to be feared. And +from that day the werowance had deep respect for John Smith and his +powers. + +Now that the ship had brought provisions there was for a time no need of +aid from Werowocomoco. But only for a time. One day when Smith had +conducted Pocahontas over the ship to show her the wonders of this +monster canoe, he asked her to have her people bring food once more to +Jamestown. + +[Illustration: VIRGINIA IN 1606--FROM CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S MAP] + +"The sailors of Captain Newport," he explained, "are staying here too +long and are devouring much of the supplies designed for us. A strange +mania hath overtaken them, little Sister; they are mad for gold. They +believe that the streams about here are full of the dust they and our +men of Jamestown value more than life itself. It is more to them than +thy precious pocone, and as thou seest, they desert their ship and spend +their days sifting sand. If they are not soon gone there will be nothing +left for the mouths of any of us." + +"Thou shalt not want, Brother," promised Pocahontas, and the next day +came the Indians with large stores of provisions. These Smith now bought +from them with beads and utensils and colored cloths. But the President +and the Council, jealous of the growing importance of Smith's relations +with the savages, sought to increase their own by paying four times the +amount Smith had agreed upon. + +Discouragement met Smith with each morning's sun and kept him awake at +night. The colony seemed to take no root in this virgin soil; men who +would not work in the fields to raise grain toiled feverishly in search +of gold, forgetting that a full harvest would mean more for their +welfare than bags of money. Then, to add to the troubles, a fire started +one winter night at Jamestown and spread rapidly over most of the town, +burning down the warehouse in which the precious grain was stored. From +cold and starvation "more than halfe of us dyed," wrote Smith later in +his history. + +Both with his own strength and by his example John Smith strove to his +utmost to rebuild Jamestown and to encourage the downhearted and to make +friends for himself among those who had listened to suspicions of his +purposes. + +For a long time Powhatan had desired to secure weapons such as the white +men used, but the colonists had so far refused the Indians' request to +barter them. Now he determined to try other methods. He sent twenty fat +turkeys--each a heavy burden for the man who bore it across his +shoulders--to Captain Newport, asking that in return the Englishman +would send him twenty swords. Newport, whose orders from the authorities +in London had been not to offend the natives in any manner, had not +refused and had sent the swords in return. Then Powhatan, still eager to +secure a further store of weapons, had twenty more fine turkeys carried +to Smith, asking for twenty swords more. But Smith, who had been taught +by experience and insight many things about the relations which should +prevail between the colony and the Indians, knew how unwise it was to +give to an untried friend the means of turning against the giver. He +knew that the Indians respected his sternness with them more than they +did the evident desire of Newport and the Council to please them. +Therefore he refused. The disappointed savages showed their anger and +cried out insolent words against Smith. + +Finding they could not weaken his decision, they sought to steal the +swords. They were discovered and Smith, realizing that the time had come +when a decided stand must be taken, had them whipped and imprisoned. +Some of the Council protested, declaring that this was the wrong way to +treat the Indians and urged that Powhatan was sure to resent their +action. How did Smith know, they asked, that these savages were acting +at the command of their chief? Was it not merely a sudden impulse of +anger that had led them to take what ought to have been given them? + +But the prisoners, who believed in Smith's power to read the past as +well as the future, thinking it useless to try to hide the truth from +him, confessed that Powhatan had commanded them to secure the swords by +any method. Powhatan was now aware that his plan had failed and that it +was necessary for him to disavow the deed of his messengers. To convince +the palefaces of his good faith he must send some one to talk with them +whom they would trust. And so it was that Pocahontas went to Jamestown +as ambassadress. + +Accompanied by slaves bearing presents of food, seed corn for the spring +planting and pelts of deer and bear and wildcat, Pocahontas was received +at Jamestown with much ceremonial. + +"I bear these gifts from The Powhatan," she said to Smith, who always +acted as interpreter. "He begs thee to excuse him of the injuries done +by some rash ontoward captains his subjects, desiring their liberties +for this time with the assurance of his love forever." + +The manner in which she delivered this little speech was so frank that +Smith knew she was ignorant of her father's real part in the theft. The +men had had their lesson, and Powhatan his warning, therefore clemency +might be effectively dispensed. + +"Dost thou desire, Matoaka, that these men should be freed?" + +"Oh, yes, my Brother," she replied eagerly. "Thou knowest thyself how +the trapped man or beast pines to escape. My heart is sad at the thought +of any creature kept in durance." + +"And yet, little Sister," answered Smith gravely, while he watched her +quick change of expression, "I needs must deliver up these prisoners of +mine to another gaoler, to one who will treat them as sternly as thou +didst treat me at Werowocomoco." + +Pocahontas's drawn brows indicated her endeavor to understand his +meaning. + +"Wilt _thou_ be their gaoler, Matoaka?" he asked; and she, suddenly +comprehending his joke, laughed aloud. + +The men were given into her custody and on her return home Powhatan was +much pleased with his daughter's embassy. + +In September of that year Smith at last was made in name, what he had +long been in fact, the head of the colony. As President he could now +carry out his plans with less opposition. The building of new houses and +the church went on briskly; the training of men in military exercises, +the exploration of the shores of Chesapeake Bay--all these received his +attention. Master Hunt, the clergyman, whose library had been burned in +the fire, spent his time in encouraging the colonists, and twice each +day he held his services in the church for whose altar he melted candles +and gathered wild flowers. + +In London the governors of the Colony had decided it would be a wise +thing to attach Powhatan still closer to the English settlement. Their +ideas of the position and character of an Indian potentate were very +vague indeed. They had been told that all savages were fond as children +are of bright colored dress and ornaments. So they reasoned that of +course this Indian chieftain of thirty tribes would be delighted with +the regal pomp of a coronation. They sent orders by the _Phoenix_--a +ship laden with stores which arrived that summer--that Powhatan should +be brought to Jamestown and crowned there with the crown they shipped +over for that purpose. + +Smith, knowing Powhatan as none of the other colonists did, was not in +favor of this plan. It did not seem to him that a crown instead of a +feather headdress would make any difference to the werowance, whose +power among his own people needed no external decoration to strengthen +it. But he had no choice but to obey, so he and Captain Waldo and three +other gentlemen, went to Werowocomoco to bring Powhatan back with them. + +On their arrival they found the werowance absent, whether by chance or +by policy. By this time Powhatan had lost some of his first awe of the +white men's wits and had concluded it was worth while to try and meet +strangers' wiles with wiles of his own. + +"Where thinkest thou he can have gone?" asked Waldo. "I like it not. +Smith; mayhap he is e'en now preparing some mischief against us." + +"I wish we had not harkened to thee. Captain Smith," said one of the +gentlemen, glancing nervously over his shoulder; "it was a fool's wisdom +to come thus without good yeomen with match-locks to frighten away their +arrows." + +"Gentlemen," replied Smith, showing his vexation in his tone, "I tell ye +ye are in no danger if ye do not yourselves bring it about with your +looks of suspicion. Remember that all Werowocomoco is feasting its eyes +upon us, and bear yourselves as Englishmen should." + +"Where was it they nearly brained thee, Captain?" queried the fourth. +"And not even thy friend, the little princess, is here to welcome thee. +Doth not her absence cause thee some anxiety?" + +It did in truth set John Smith to wondering. He did not fear that any +harm was planned, but Pocahontas's absence was unexpected and he +wondered what its significance might be. He had been looking forward to +seeing his little sister again in her own home and had expected to enjoy +a talk with her which would not be interrupted as their conversations in +Jamestown always were by the many demands upon his time and attention. +Now that he was so much more familiar with her language, it was a +pleasure to discover what a maiden of the forests thought of her own +world and that strange world he had brought to touch hers. + +The Indians who had come forward to welcome the white men now pointed to +a small meadow at the edge of the trees. They did not reply to Smith's +questions as to what he was to do there, but knowing that this spot was +sometimes used for special purposes. Smith led the way. + +"Whither are we bound. Captain?" asked Andrew Buckler querulously. "It +doth not seem wise to go further off from our boat. If they mean harm to +us we shall have all the longer way to fight through." + +"There will be no fighting to be done," declared Smith, not deigning +even to slacken his gait. + +But just then loud shrieks came from the woods, and between the trees +dashed out a score or more creatures directly upon them. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XIII + +POWHATAN'S CORONATION + + +The trees grew so close together that it was difficult for the +Englishmen to distinguish in the shadows they cast the figures whirling +between the trunks. Half naked they were: here a mass of something +painted red; there flashed a white arm, of a whiteness such as nature +never dyed, and there issued shoulders of a brilliant blue, as they +advanced dancing and shrieking. + +"All their war paint on!" ejaculated Captain Waldo. + +And in that moment John Smith lost his faith in the friendship Powhatan +had sworn to him, and he drew his sword, ready to pierce the first +oncomer. + +Then he looked again ... and hastily thrust his sword back into its +scabbard, shouting to his comrades who had also drawn their blades, +"Hold!" + +For there before him, the first of the dancers who had run out of the +forest, advanced Pocahontas! On her head she wore branching antlers, an +otter skin at her waist and one across her arm, a quiver at her back, +and she carried a bow and arrow in her hand. In a flash she realized +what the Englishmen were thinking--that they were caught in an ambush. + +"My Brother!" she cried out in a tone that rang with disappointment, +"didst thou too doubt me? Tell them, thy companions, that I lay my life +in their hands if any harm was intended." + +Seldom in his life had John Smith felt so at a loss as to what he should +reply. He hurriedly explained to the others that Pocahontas was +evidently intending to do them special honour in welcoming them with +some kind of sylvan masque. Then facing her, he cried: + +"Forgive us, Matoaka, and be not angry that we mistook thy kindness. +See, we seat ourselves here upon the ground and we beseech thee that +thou and thy maidens will continue thy songs and thy dancing, which will +greatly divert us." + +Pocahontas's disappointment vanished at once and she sped back with her +comrades to the woods, where they repeated their masque, this time to +the amusement of the Englishmen, who were somewhat ashamed to think that +they had been so frightened by a troop of girls. All of the dancers were +horned like their leader and the upper parts of their bodies and their +arms were painted red, white or blue. There was a fire blazing in the +centre of the field and around this they formed a ring, dancing and +singing a song which, while unlike anything Smith's companions had ever +heard, affected their pulses like drumbeats. Some of the words they sang +Smith was able to catch words of welcome, songs of young maidens in +which they told of the joys of childhood and of the days when +sweet-hearts would seek them and when they would follow some brave to +his wigwam. + +Pocahontas, he thought, was as graceful as a young roe; her feet were as +quick as the flames of the fire, and every now and then, from the very +exuberance of her happiness, she shot an arrow over their heads into the +trees beyond. Smith could not help wondering what kind of a husband she +would follow home some day. + +The masque lasted an hour; all the different motions were symbolic, as +Smith had learned all Indian dances were, and much of it he was able to +comprehend. In any case he would have enjoyed the masque, knowing that +Pocahontas had performed it to honour her father's guests. When it was +over, suddenly as they had come, the maidens vanished into the dark +forest. + +The Englishmen were not left alone, however, for during the dancing a +number of braves and squaws had come to look on at the ceremony and even +more at the audience. Now Nautauquas came forward and greeted Smith. + +"My father hath just returned. He hurried back when he learned that ye +were to visit him. He hath had the guest lodge prepared and awaits your +coming there." + +Powhatan greeted them when they entered the lodge, which Smith +recognized at once as the one where his life had been in such jeopardy. + +"Tell them they are welcome, thy comrades," he said to Smith, "and thou, +my son, art always as one of mine own people." + +They seated themselves on the mats spread for them, and the usual +feasting began, the Englishmen doing more than justice to the Indian +dishes. + +"'Tis a strange beast and of a rare flavor withal, this raccoon," said +Waldo, "and methinks the King at Westminster hath no better trencher +meat. Hath the old savage asked of thee yet our errand, Smith?" + +"An Indian never asks the errand of his guest," he replied; "but now we +have eaten it is not meet that I delay longer to tell him." + +He rose to his feet and began to speak. Pocahontas, who had stood at the +entrance looking in, now entered and sat down at her father's feet. + +"Ruler of many tribes, Werowance of the Powhatans, Wahunsunakuk, we have +come to bring the greetings sent thee from across the sea by our own +great werowance, James. With the English, the Spaniards, the French and +other great peoples beyond the seas, their greatest chief who rules many +tribes is called a 'king.' He is mightier than all other werowances, +hath always much riches and honour, and when the time comes that, by the +death of an old king or by conquest, a new king takes his place, he is +crowned. They put a circlet upon his head and in his hand they place a +staff of honour and upon his shoulders they throw royal robes, so that +all who see shall know that this is the King and that all must do him +fealty. Our own King James, who hath heard of thee, and of the many +tribes that are subject to thee, hath desired that thou, too, shouldst +be crowned as another king, his friend, so that the English may know +that he calls thee 'brother,' and that thine own people shall hold thee +in yet greater awe." + +Powhatan manifested no sign of interest in these words; but from the +eager look on Pocahontas's face Smith was aware that his Indian speech +had at least been comprehended. + +"Therefore," Smith continued, "it is planned to hold thy coronation at +Jamestown upon as near a day as thou shalt see fit to appoint. Our King +hath sent presents for thee which await thy coming to us." + +Then he ceased and looked to Powhatan for an answer. The werowance +thought a moment in silence, then he spoke: + +"If your king hath sent me presents, I also am a king, and this is my +land; eight days I will stay to receive them. Your Father is to come to +me, not I to him, nor yet to your fort." + +He spoke with so kingly a dignity that the Englishmen did not seek to +dissuade him. They promised to do as he wished and to persuade Newport, +whom he called their "father," to go to Werowocomoco, which might be +considered as Powhatan's capital. Then they departed for Jamestown, +after having thanked Powhatan and Pocahontas for their entertainment. + +Pocahontas awaited their return with eagerness. She talked the matter +over with Nautauquas. Perhaps, she said, there was some strange medicine +in this ceremony which would make their father invulnerable and +perchance safe even from death itself. + +"I have more faith in the white men's guns than in their medicine," +declared Claw-of-the-Eagle. "Ever since one of those fat housebuilders +whom they call Dutchmen let me try to fire off one of them, I know now +that they are not worked by magic. If we could manage to get enough of +them we should be ten times as strong as their starving company and +could destroy all of them before another shipload of newcomers arrived." + +"Nay," cried Pocahontas, "not as long as our brother, the captain, +lives. Thou couldst not even face his eyes when he is angry." + +She did not imagine that she was stating an actual fact. +Claw-of-the-Eagle had never been able to look Smith in the eye since he +crawled away from the lodge where he had meant to kill the white man. It +was only Smith himself who awed him so; but he dreamed that some day he +might be able to deal a blow in the dark when those terrible eyes could +not stop him. In the meantime he felt equal to meeting the other +palefaces day or night. + +"But," asked Nautauquas slowly and gravely, as if weighing the matter, +"why should we wish to destroy these white men? I once had different +thoughts, and I have gone alone into the forest and fasted and prayed to +Okee that I might know whether to greet them as foe or friend. In some +way the white tribes that live across the great waters have found their +way westward. Many have come, the rumor is, to the south of us, men of +different race and different tongue from these on the island. These +others are cruel to the Indians among whom they have settled and have +destroyed many villages and made captive their braves and squaws. Now I +have talked with our father, Wahunsunakuk, of what I now speak, since we +can no longer hope to hide our trail again to these wanderers from the +rising sun, that it is better to make friends of these who have come and +who seem well-disposed towards us, and to have them for allies rather +than enemies." + +In spite of himself, Claw-of-the-Eagle was impressed with this +reasoning. + +"Dost thou then like these paleface strangers and their ways?" he asked. + +"There is much about them I do not understand," replied Nautauquas; "how +they can wear so many garments; why they build them houses that let in +no air; why they come here when they have villages beyond the seas; yet +I know that they are brave and that their medicine is mighty." + +Pocahontas spoke little. She had never told anyone how much interest she +found in all that concerned the white men and their ways. + +It was some days later that Smith, Captain Newport and fifty men started +to march to Werowocomoco for the coronation of Powhatan. The presents +which the King and the governors of the Colony in London had chosen for +him were sent by boat up the river. When the company of Englishmen in +their farthingale-breeches, slashed sleeves and white ruffs, their +swords and buckles glistening, accompanied by a few soldiers bearing +halberds and long muskets, arrived, the entire population of the village +and those of other villages for leagues about were awaiting them. Braves +and squaws had decked themselves out also in their choicest +finery--necklaces and beads and embroidered robes. + +It was a wonderful picture that the dark surrounding forest looked +upon--the group of gaily colored Indians facing the more soberly dressed +Europeans. Round them circled children, pushing, peering between their +elders that they might miss nothing. And through it all, running from +one group to the other, welcoming, explaining, smiling and laughing, +flitted the white-clad Pocahontas. + +After their greeting, when Powhatan and Captain Newport eyed each other +appraisingly, the gifts were brought into the field where Pocahontas had +danced her masque and spread out before the curious gaze of the savages. +Pocahontas, in her white doeskin skirt and wearing many strings of white +and blue beads, went about among her new friends, and laid her hand into +that of Captain Newport, as Smith had told her was the manner in which +the English greeted one another. Some of the chieftains scowled at the +sight and did not relish the friendliness shown by her to the strangers. +Several even remonstrated with Powhatan who, however, would not restrain +her. After a few words with Smith, she rejoined Cleopatra and others of +her sisters at one side of the field. + +"What is yon curious thing, Pocahontas?" they questioned of her superior +knowledge, as the wrappings were taken off a bedstead that Captain +Newport by means of signs presented solemnly to Powhatan. + +"That," she answered, having had a glimpse of such furniture at +Jamestown, "that is a couch on which they sleep." + +"Is it more comfortable than our mats?" asked Cleopatra. "I should fear +to fall out of it into the fire." + +Plainly Powhatan, too, was at a loss to know what to do with it. The +next gifts, a basin and ewer, met with more enthusiasm. The squaws were +particularly interested in them when Pocahontas told them that they were +made of a substance which would not break as did their own vessels of +sun-baked pottery. But it was the red mantle of soft English cloth, in +shape like to the one, he was told. King James had worn at his +coronation at Westminster, that made Powhatan's grim features relax a +little with pleasure. Captain Newport placed it on the werowance's +shoulders and held a mirror that he might behold himself thus handsomely +apparelled. + +Then they proceeded to the crowning. Newport would have liked to have +some words of ritual read, even though the principal of the ceremony had +not been able to understand them; but the chaplain pointed out that +neither the law nor the Prayer-Book made any provision for the crowning +of a heathen, and that after all it was the act, not the words, which +would impress the savages. + +The drummer beat a loud tattoo and the trumpeter blew a call that +startled the squaws and the children into shrieks; the braves were +quicker in hiding their astonishment. Then Smith and Newport walked +forward, Newport holding the crown. Smith said: + +"Kneel, Wahunsunakuk, that we may crown thee." + +But Powhatan, whose understanding of these strange proceedings was not +clear, though he comprehended Smith's words, continued to stand stiff +and straight as a pine tree. + +"Kneel down, oh, Powhatan," urged Smith. "Mistake not, this act is a +kingly one; so do all the kings of Europe." + +But Powhatan would not. To him the posture was one unfitting to the +dignity of a mighty werowance, ruler over thirty tribes and lord of +sixty villages. He would accept presents sent him, and he had no +objection to wearing a glittering ring upon his head if the white men +chose to give him one; but he would not kneel; that was going too far in +his acquiescence to strange ways. Such a position was for suppliants +and squaws and children. + +Smith was uncertain what to do. The officers of the Colony in London had +laid great stress upon a proper crowning, believing, as he did not, that +it would impress the Indians as the symbol of an alliance between their +people and the English. He thought a moment, then whispered a word to +Newport. The two quickly laid their hands on Powhatan's shoulders and +pressed down gently but firmly, a pressure which bowed his knees +slightly. Then, before he had time to recover himself, Newport had +placed the crown upon his grizzled head. + +According to orders, two soldiers, seeing that the ceremony was +accomplished, fired a salute with their muskets. Powhatan started +suddenly; Nautauquas raised his head like a deer scenting danger, and +some of the braves started to run towards the knot of white men. But the +calm demeanor of Smith showed them their error. + +"We are quits," said Captain Waldo to Buckler; "the maids frightened us +with their masks and we have frightened their braves with our muskets." + +Powhatan in the red robe and crown seated himself upon the mats that +were brought out to him, and Smith whispered to one of the gentlemen who +had accompanied him: + +"In faith, Radcliffe, is he not more kingly looking than our royal +James?" + +The idea of a coronation had seemed absurd to him, and he had believed +that the old chief would appear ridiculous decked out in mock finery, +but he admitted to himself that such was far from being the case. + +Then the feast was brought on and the Englishmen again did full justice +to the Indian dishes. Pocahontas came and sat beside Smith. + +"Welcome, little Sister," he said, "and how dost thou like thy father's +new robes?" + +"He appeareth strange to me," she answered, "but he will not wear them +long. It is beautiful, that cloak, but he can paint his flesh as fine a +color with pocone, and it will not be so warm nor so heavy." + +Smith laughed. + +"Wouldst thou not like to try to wear clothes such as our women wear? +Perchance thou mayst try what they are like before long, for soon we +shall be seeing white squaws come over on the ships." + +"Do white men have squaws, too?" asked Pocahontas in astonishment. + +"For a surety. Didst thou think Englishmen could live forever without +wife or chick at their hearths?" + +"And thou, my Brother," she queried eagerly, "will thy squaw and thy +children come soon?" + +"I have none, Matoaka; my trails have led through so many dangers that I +have not taken a squaw." + +"But a squaw would not fear danger if thou couldst take her with thee, +or if not, she would wait in thy lodge ready to welcome thee on thy +return. She would have soft skins ready for thy leggings, new mats for +thee to sleep upon; she would point out all the stores of dried venison +she had hung on her tent-pole while thou wert gone, and fresh sturgeon +would she cook for thee and prepare walnut-milk for thy thirst." + +"'Tis a pretty picture thou drawest, Matoaka," he answered, yet he did +not laugh at it. "Often I feel lonely in my wigwam and I wonder if some +day I shall not bring a wife into it." + +"There would be none who would refuse thee," answered the girl simply. + +Smith did not take in the significance of her words, yet his thoughts +were of her. Suppose he should throw in his lot altogether with this new +country and take for wife this happy, free child of the aboriginal +forest? It was only a passing thought. He had not time to consider it +further, for Newport had risen and gave the signal for them to start on +the return march to Jamestown. He rose, too, and bade farewell to +Pocahontas. + +During the feasting Powhatan had been thinking over what he meant to do. +Gravely he presented to Captain Newport a bundle of wheat ears for +spring planting; then with the utmost dignity, he handed him the +moccasins and the fur mantle he had laid aside when they placed his +coronation robe upon him. Newport received them in amazement, not +knowing what he was to do with them; but Smith made a speech of thanks +for him. + +"What did the old savage mean?" asked Newport as they were on their +homeward way. "Was it because he wanted to give a present in return?" + +"Methinks," answered Smith, "that Powhatan hath a sense of humor and +doth wish to show us that his coronation hath so increased his +importance that his cast-off garments have perforce won new value in our +eyes." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DANGEROUS SUPPER + + +Some months later, the first of the year 1609, there was again grave +danger of starvation at Jamestown, and Smith, remembering the full +storehouses at Werowocomoco, determined to go and purchase from Powhatan +what was needed. Taking with him twelve men, they set out by boat up the +river. + +"I doubt not," said John Russell as they sailed along the James, now no +longer muddy as in the summer but coated with bluish ice in the +shallows, "I doubt not that those fat Dutchmen the Council sent over to +build a house for Powhatan--what need hath he of a Christian +house?--have grown fatter than ever upon his good victuals while we be +wasting thinner day by day." + +"I have no liking for those foreigners," exclaimed Ratcliffe, watching +with greedy eyes a flock of redhead ducks that flew up from one of the +little bays as the boat approached, wishing he could shoot them for his +dinner. "Were there not enough carpenters and builders in Cheapside and +Hampstead that the lords of the Colony must needs hunt out these +ja-speaking lubbers from Zuider-Zee? They have no love for us, no more +than we for them. If they thought 'twould vantage them, they would not +scruple to betray us to the savages." + +As they proceeded up the James, away from tidewater, the ice extended +farther out into the river, until when they neared Werowocomoco there +was a sheet of it that stretched half a mile out from shore. Smith had +determined, so desperate was the plight of the colonists, that he would +not go back to Jamestown without a good supply of corn and other food. +He hoped that Powhatan would consent to his buying it; but he meant to +take it by force if necessary. For some time there had been little +intercourse between the English and the Indians; the latter had seemed +more unwilling to barter stores, and there was a rumor that Powhatan had +new grievances against the white men. + +The four Dutchmen who for some weeks had been building the house for +Powhatan, had discussed amongst themselves the relative advantages of +friendship with the werowance or with the English. They decided that to +weaken the latter would be their best policy, since they would be +content to see the struggling settlement of Europeans destroyed and to +entrust their own fate to the savages. There was much in the Indian +method of living which pleased them; plenty of good food and full pipes +of tobacco and squaws to serve them. So they laid their plans and +imparted to Powhatan in confidence that Smith, who they knew must soon +appear in search of supplies, was in reality using this need as a +pretext and that he meant to fire upon the Indians and do great damage +to Werowocomoco. + +Pocahontas did not overhear this talk, but she had watched the four +strangers together and her sharp ears had frequently caught the word +"Smith" repeated. Now when the news was shouted through the lodges that +the boat bearing Smith and his companions was approaching slowly through +the broken ice, Pocahontas hurried eagerly to the river and waved her +hand to her friends. She watched them come ashore but checked herself as +she started to run to meet them. She had a feeling that this was not the +moment for pretty speeches, and feared that Powhatan's enmity to the +English had been fanned by the Dutchmen until it was ready to burst +forth. She determined, instead of showing any interest in the strangers, +to appear indifferent to them and to let her people think she had grown +hostile to them. She would stay close to her father in order to learn +what he intended to do. + +The werowance as he came towards them did not wear his red mantle nor +his crown of English make, but a headdress of eagle feathers and +leggings and a cape of brown bear fur. Perhaps he wished to show that he +had no need to wear a crown to look a king. He strode slowly to the +river and called out in greeting to the white men: + +"Ye are welcome to Werowocomoco, my son, but why comest thou thus with +guns when thou visiteth thy father?" + +"We be come to buy food from thee, oh Powhatan," answered Smith, "to +fill thy hands and those of thy people with precious beads and knives +and cloths of many colors for thy squaws in exchange for food for to-day +and to last till comes nepinough (the earing of the corn), when we shall +harvest the fruit of the seed we plant." + +"But lay aside first your arms. What need have ye of arms who come upon +such a peaceful purpose? Have ye thought to try to frighten my people +to sell thee of their stores? What will it avail you to take by force +what you may quickly have by love, or destroy them that provide you +food? Every year our friendly trade will furnish you with corn, and now +also, if you will come in friendly manner to see us, and not thus with +your guns and swords as to invade your foes." + +Many of the English, when Smith had translated word after word of the +chief's discourse, felt shamed at the show of force their weapons +manifested, and would have been willing to lay them by while they were +upon the land of this friendly chieftain, whom, they felt, they had +misjudged. But Smith was not deceived. He was learning to read the signs +of Indian ways, and he knew that the chief had reasons for desiring to +see them unarmed. So he called out in answer: + +"Your people coming to Jamestown are entertained with their bows and +arrows without any exceptions, we esteeming it proper with you as it is +with us, to wear our arms as part of our apparel." + +There followed more words between the two and much talk of "father" and +"son"; but Pocahontas, who listened to it all, was not easy. She had +given her affection to Smith since the day she saved his life, and now +she was sure that her father planned to harm him. Nautauquas was away +with Claw-of-the-Eagle on a foray against the Massawomekes, the latter +having sworn to her that he would now accomplish deeds to make the +chiefs of his tribe declare him worthy to be called a real Powhatan +brave. Had her brother been at Werowocomoco, she might have confided her +fear to him; as it was, she realized that she alone must discover her +father's intentions. + +She saw that Powhatan had withdrawn on some pretext she did not overhear +and that Smith, standing at the entrance of the lodge which Powhatan had +assigned to the English, was chatting with some of the squaws he +remembered from the time of his captivity, while the rest of the white +men were busy in carrying the objects they had brought for bartering +from the boat to the lodge. + +Suddenly a number of Indian braves rushed towards him, arrows notched in +the bowstrings. The foremost savage let his arrow fly; it was aimed a +few feet too high and, grazing Smith's steel morion, hit the bark of the +lodge-covering above his head. The squaws, shrieking loudly, took to +their heels. Smith, before another arrow left its bow, whipped out his +pistol and pointed it at the advancing crowd. Then John Russell, hearing +the commotion, rushed from the lodge. Pressing the snaphance of his +musket, he fired into the oncoming savages, but failed to hit one. + +Nevertheless, the Indians, seeing that the Englishmen were still armed, +turned and fled, disappearing into the forest. Pocahontas, trembling +with anger, ran through the trees to find her father to ask him what was +the meaning of this treacherous treatment of his guests. + +After she had run some little distance she caught sight of Powhatan +approaching and, hiding behind a rock, she waited to see whither he was +bound. To her amazement, she saw that he was turning to the strangers' +lodge and that behind him followed slaves bearing great baskets of food +and seed-corn. What could he mean, she wondered, by first trying to kill +and then to feast the white men? She followed, herself unseen, while +Powhatan approached Smith without the slightest hesitation. + +"It rejoiceth my heart, my son," she heard him call out when he was +within one hundred feet of where Smith was standing, watching him with +puzzled eyes, "to know that thou art unharmed. While I was gone to see +that provisions were provided for thee, even according to my word, my +young men who were crazed with religious zeal and fasting they have +undergone in preparation for a great ceremonial planned by our priests, +knew not what they were doing. See, my son, think no evil of us; would +we at one moment seek to harm and to help thee? Behold the supplies I, +thy father, have here for thee." + +And Smith, though he doubted somewhat, did not feel certain that +Powhatan was not speaking the truth. But Pocahontas, still in hiding, +knew well that no man in Werowocomoco would have dared shoot at the +white men except by direct order of their werowance. + +Perhaps, however, all was now well; perhaps her father had at least +realized that the Englishmen were not to be caught napping. She looked +on while Powhatan and Smith superintended the placing of the great piles +of stores in the boat and the refilling of the baskets with the goods +with which the Englishmen paid for them. + +Then, their work over, the Indians began to deck themselves out in the +beads and cloths. While they were thus occupied a man came running and +dropped down exhausted before Powhatan, able to gasp out a couple of +words only. Though the messenger had not breath enough to cry them out, +they were heard by the Indians standing nearby and shouted aloud. +Immediately the crowd jumped to their feet and uttering loud shrieks, +danced up and down and around in circles, to the sound of rattles and +drums. + +"What is the meaning of all this, Smith?" asked Russell, who with the +other white men stood watching the strange performance. + +"Tell them, my son," said Powhatan, understanding from the tone of the +Englishman's voice that his words were a question, "that two score of my +braves, among them Nautauquas and Claw-of-the-Eagle, have won a great +victory over one hundred of our enemies, and that this is our song of +triumph." + +The old chief's eye shone more brightly than ever, and his back was as +firm and straight as that of one of his sons. + +"I shall soon have witnessed all their different dances," John Smith +confided to Russell, when he had repeated Powhatan's explanation. "There +lacks now only the war dance." + +There was a pause in the dance; then Powhatan gave a signal. Drums and +rattles started up once more. The rhythm was a different one, even the +white men could tell this; and they noticed that the savages moved more +swiftly as if animated by the greatest excitement. Fresh dancers, their +faces and bodies painted in red and black, took the places of those who +fell from fatigue, and the woods resounded with their loud song. + +"It must have been a great victory," suggested Ratcliffe, "to have +excited them in this manner." + +But Pocahontas's heart beat as if it were the war drum itself, for she +knew what the white men did not know, that this last was a war dance; +but she was not yet certain against whom her tribe was to take the +war-path. She must wait and see. + +At last the dancing ceased and the feasting began, and the Englishmen +still watched with interest the "queer antics" of the savages, as they +called them. All was now so peaceful that they laid aside their weapons, +setting a guard to watch them, and sitting about the great fire they had +built in the lodge, waited for the morning's high tide to lift their +boat out of the half-frozen ooze in which the ebb had left it. Powhatan +and the Indians had withdrawn, but the werowance had sent a messenger +with a necklace and bracelet of freshwater pearls with words of +affection for "his son" and to say that he would shortly send them +supper from his own pots, that they might want for nothing that night. + +The darkness had come quickly and the woods that stretched between the +lodge and the centre of Werowocomoco were thick and sombre. Through them +Pocahontas sped more swiftly than she had ever run a race with her +brothers. She did not trip over the roots slippery with frost nor, +though she had not taken time to put a mantle over her bare shoulders, +did she feel the cold. For she knew now that the war dance had been +danced against the English. + +She was all but breathless when she reached the lodge near the river's +edge, but rushing inside, she seized a musket from the pile on the +ground, to the astonishment of the guard, who recognized her in time not +to hurt her, and thrust it into Smith's hands, crying: + +"Arm yourselves, my friends. Make ready quickly," and as Smith would +have questioned, she panted: "When your weapons are in readiness then +will I speak." + +Smith gave hurried orders, reproaching himself for his false confidence. +The men sprang up from the fire, seized their long-barrelled muskets and +their halberts; and a few who had laid aside their steel corselets +hastily fastened them on again, and threw their bandoliers, filled with +charges, over their shoulders. The merry, careless party was now quickly +converted into a troop of cautious soldiers. Then Smith turned to +Pocahontas, whose breath was coming more quietly as she beheld the +precautions taken for defence. She answered his unspoken query: + +"I overheard the words of the treacherous Dutchmen to my father even +now. I feared when I heard the war song and saw them dancing the war +dance. Woe is me! my Brother, that I should speak against my own father, +but I listened to the plans he hath made to take you here unawares, your +weapons out of your hands. For this moment he hath waited all day and he +hath sought to deceive you with fair words. They are now on their way +with the supper he promised thee; then when you are all eating he hath +given orders to his men that they fall upon you and slay all, that none +may escape. And so as soon as I learned this, that thou to whom he had +sworn friendship and thine were in dire peril, I hastened through the +dark forest to warn thee." + +Smith was deeply touched by this manifestation of her loyalty. He knew +the danger she ran if Powhatan should learn of what she had done. + +"Matoaka," he cried, clasping her hand, "thou hast this night put all +England in thy debt. As long as this Virginia is a name men remember, so +long will men recall how thou didst save her from destruction. In +truth, thy father had lulled my suspicions to sleep, and hadst thou not +come to warn us we had surely perished. The thanks of all of us to thee. +Princess," he continued, when he had turned and told his astonished men +the gist of her words, "and to my little Sister my own deep gratitude +again." + +He loosened a thick gold chain from about his neck, one that he had +brought back from the country of the Turks, and put it about her bare +neck. + +"Take this chain in remembrance," he said. Then his comrades pressed +forward, each with some gift they emptied into the maiden's hands. + +She gazed at them all lovingly, but she shook her head slowly, the tears +falling as she said: + +"I dare not, my friends; if my father should behold these gifts he would +kill me, since he would know that it was I who had brought ye warning." + +Slowly she took off the chain and reluctantly placed in it Smith's hand, +and let gently fall the other treasures she longed to keep. Smith bent +and kissed her hand as reverently as he had once kissed that of Good +Queen Bess. + +Pocahontas started. "I hear them coming," she cried, and with one bound +she had sprung forth again into the night, skirting the river until she +was sure of reaching her lodge without running into the troop of Indians +advancing with dishes and baskets of food, who, however, were not slaves +but braves and armed. + +When these reached the stranger-lodge they brought in the supper and +laid it down with apparent great heartiness that is the few who +actually bore the baskets. The others found themselves somehow halted by +Smith at the entrance and engaged in ceremonious conversation. When they +suggested that the white men lay aside their weapons and seat themselves +the better to enjoy their food, Smith replied that it was the custom of +the English at night always to eat standing, food in one hand and musket +in the other. For a long time this parleying went on; Smith would not +show that he had discovered their perfidy. + +Then the baffled Indians retired to the forest, to await the moment when +they could catch the white men off guard. But though all night they +spied about the lodge, not once did they find the sentinels away from +their posts, and they had too much fear of the "death tubes" to attempt +an onslaught on men so well defended. + +So, thanks to Pocahontas, the morning dawned on an undiminished number +of English, and at high tide they embarked in their boat and returned to +Jamestown with their provisions so precariously won. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XV + +A FAREWELL + + +The late summer sun was beating down pitilessly upon the lodges and open +spaces of Werowocomoco. Even the children were quiet in the shade, +covering their heads with the long green blades of the maize, plaiting +the tassels idly and humming the chant of the Green Corn Festival they +had celebrated some weeks before. The old braves smoked or dozed in +their wigwams, and the squaws left their pounding of corn and their +cooking until a cooler hour. The young braves only, too proud to appear +affected by any condition of the weather, made parade of their industry +and sat fashioning arrow-heads or ran races in the full sunshine, till a +wise old chief called out to them that they were young fools with no +more sense than blue jays. + +Off in the woods, near a hollow in a little stream where the trout and +crawfish disported themselves over a bright sandy bottom, Pocahontas lay +at full length, her brown arms stretched out, the color of the pine +needles beneath them. The leafage of a gigantic red oak shaded her; +through its greenery she could see the heavy white clouds, and once an +eagle flying as it seemed straight up into the sun. Away from its direct +rays, cooled by her bath in the stream and clad in an Indian maiden's +light garb, she was rejoicing in the summer heat. She enjoyed the sleepy +feeling that dulled the woodland sights and sounds: the tapping of a +woodpecker on a distant tree, the occasional call of a catbird, the soft +scurrying of a rabbit or a squirrel, the buzzing of a laden bee--all +mingled into one melody of summer of which she did not consciously +distinguish the individual notes. Just as pleasantly confused were her +thoughts, pictures of which her drowsiness blurred the outlines, so that +she passed with no effort from the flecked stream she had just left to +the moonlit field she and her maidens had encircled a few nights before, +chanting harvest songs. She saw, too, the supple bend of +Claw-of-the-Eagle's body as he had waited for the signal to bound +forward in the race at Powhata when he outran the others; and then she +seemed again to see him run the day Wansutis saved him from being +clubbed to death. + +As if the many deeds of violence done that day called up others of their +kind, she saw, and did not shrink from seeing, the fate of the Dutchmen +at Werowocomoco who had sought to betray Smith to Powhatan. Her father, +angered at them, had had them brained upon the threshold of the house +they had built for him. + +Then the thoughts of Pocahontas found themselves at Jamestown, whither +they now often wandered. She smiled as she remembered her own amazement +at the sight of the two Englishwomen who had lately arrived there: +Mistress Forrest and her maid, Anne Burroughs. With what curiosity the +white women and the Indian girl had measured each other, their hair, +their eyes, their curious garments! Then she beheld in her fancy her +friend, her "brother," so earnest, so brave, who out of opposition +always captured victory. She had witnessed how he forced the colonists +to labor, had seen the punishment he meted out to those who disobeyed +his commands against swearing--that strange offence she could not +comprehend--the pouring of cold water in the sleeve of those who uttered +oaths, amid the jeers and laughter of their companions. Her lips +continued to smile while she thought of Smith, of the gentle words he +had ever ready for her, of the interest he ever manifested at all she +had to tell him. He had talked to her as she knew he talked to few, of +his hopes for this little handful of men who must live and grow, and +how, if they two, he and his "little Sister," could bring it about, the +English and the Powhatans should forget any grievances against one +another and be friends as long as the sky and earth should last. +Perhaps, he had said one day, marriages between the English and the +Indians might cement this friendship. "Perhaps thou thyself, Matoaka," +he had begun, and then had ceased. Now she wondered again, as she had +wondered then, if he had perhaps meant himself. + +Such a possibility was an exciting one, and she would have been glad to +let her mind explore it fully; but her eyes were heavy and the pine +needles soft and fragrant, and soon the beaver, who from a hollow +beneath the exposed roots of the oak over the stream had been watching +her bright eyes, seeing them closed, slipped forth to begin again his +work on the dam her feet had flattened out. + +Though Nautauquas, returning an hour later from a peaceful mission to a +confederated tribe, made scarcely more noise than the beaver, Pocahontas +awoke and raised her head and loosening the needles from her hair, +sprang up. + +"Greetings, Matoaka!" called out her brother. "Thou wert as snugly +hidden here as a deer." + +"What news, my Brother?" she asked as he sat down and, taking off his +moccasins, let his heated feet hang into the stream. + +"Evil news it is," he answered gravely, "for the friends of the great +Captain." + +"What hath befallen my white Brother?" she cried out; "tell me +speedily." + +"He was sleeping in his boat, I heard, far off from their island. A big +bag of the powder they put into their guns lay in the bottom of his +canoe, and when by chance a spark from his pipe fell upon it it grew +angry and began to spit and burned his flesh till it waked him, and in +his agony, he sprang into the river to quench the blaze." + +Pocahontas, who had not winced at the thought of the brained Dutchmen, +shivered. + +"Where is he now?" she asked. "I wish to go to him." + +Nautauquas looked at her earnestly as if he would question her, but did +not. "They say he is on his way to Jamestown and should reach there on +the morrow." + +As Pocahontas and Nautauquas returned at sunset to Werowocomoco, the +girl stopped at Wansutis's lodge. + +"Thou comest for healing herbs for thy white man," exclaimed the old +woman before Pocahontas had spoken a word. "I have them here ready for +thee," and she thrust a bundle into the astonished maiden's hands. +"But," continued the hag, "though they would cure any of our people, +they will not have power with the white man's malady save he have faith +in them." + +Then she went back into the gloom of her lodge and Pocahontas walked +away in silence. + +It was not Pocahontas whom Wansutis wished to aid, but the white +Captain. The old woman had never spoken to him, or of him to others; but +she had listened eagerly to all the tales told of his powers. She was +sure that he possessed magic knowledge beyond that of her own people, +and she waited for the day when she might persuade him to impart some of +his medicine to herself. The fact that he was now injured and in danger +did not change her opinion. Some medicine was better for certain +troubles than for others. Perhaps her herbs in this case would be +stronger than his own magic. + +Before the night was over Pocahontas had started on her way to +Jamestown. She went alone, since somehow she did not wish to chatter +with a companion. The thunder storms had cooled the air and softened the +earth. It was still early in the morning when she reached the town, now +grown to be a settlement of fifty houses. On the wharf she saw men +hurrying back and forth to the ship, fastened by stout hawsers to the +posts, bearing bundles of bear and fox skins, such as she had seen them +purchase from her people, and boxes and trunks up to the deck. One of +the latter looked to her strangely like one she had seen in Smith's +house, of Cordova leather with a richly wrought iron lock. "Doubtless," +she thought, "he is sending it back filled with gifts for the king he +speaks so much of." + +She hastened towards his house and before she reached it she saw that +his bed had been carried outside the door and that he lay upon it, +propped up by pillows. She recognized, too, the doctor in the man who +was just leaving him. Now in her eagerness she ran the rest of the way +and Smith, catching sight of her, waved his hand feebly. + +"Alas! my Brother," she cried as she took his hand in hers, and saw how +thin it had grown, "alas! how hast thou harmed thyself?" + +"Thou hast heard, Matoaka?" he answered, smiling bravely in spite of the +pain, "and art come, as thou hast ever come to Jamestown, to bring aid +and comfort." + +"I have herbs here for thy wound," she replied, taking them out of her +pouch. "They will heal it speedily. They are great medicine." + +How could he help believe in their power, she had asked herself on her +way that morning. What had Wansutis meant? + +"I thank thee, little Sister," he answered gently, "for thy loving +thought and for the journey thou hast taken. Before thou earnest my +heart was low, for I said to myself: how can I go without bidding +farewell to Matoaka; yet how can I send a message that will bring her +here in time?" + +"Go!" she exclaimed. "Where wilt thou go?" + +"Home to England. The chirurgeon who hath just left me hath decided only +this morn that his skill is not great enough to save my wound, that I +must return to the wise men in London to heal me." + +"Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas; "thou must not go. Our wise women and our +shamans have secrets and wonders thou knowest not of. I will send to +them and thy wound shall soon be as clean as the palm of my hand." + +[Illustration: "NAY, NAY," CRIED POCAHONTAS, "THOU MUST NOT GO"] + +"Would that it might be so, little Sister. I have seen in truth strange +cures among thy people; and were my ill a fever such as might come to +them or the result of an arrow's bite, I would gladly let thy shamans +have their will with me. But gunpowder is to them a thing unknown, nor +would their remedies avail me aught." + +"Then thou wilt go?" she asked in a voice low with despair. + +"Aye, Matoaka, I must or else take up my abode speedily yonder," and he +pointed to the graveyard. "It is a bitter thing to go now and leave my +work unfinished, to know that mine enemies will rejoice--" + +"I shall die when thou art gone," she interrupted, kneeling down beside +him; "thou hast become like a god to Matoaka, a god strong and +wonderful." + +"Little Sister! Little Sister!" he repeated as he stroked her hair. Once +again there came to him the thought he had harbored before--that perhaps +when this child was grown he might claim her as a wife. Now this would +never come to pass. + +She knelt there still in silence, then she asked, hope and eagerness in +her voice: "Thou wilt come back to us?" + +"If I may, Matoaka; if I live we shall see each other again." + +He did not tell her what was in his mind, that no English Dorothy or +Cicely, golden-haired and rosy-cheeked, would ever be as dear to him as +he now realized this child of the forest had grown to be. + +And then with perfect faith that her "Brother" would bring to pass what +he had promised, Pocahontas's spirits rose. She did not try to calculate +the weeks and months that should go by before she was to see him again. +She seated herself beside him on the ground and listened while he +talked to her of all that he was leaving behind and his love and concern +for the Colony. + +"See, Matoaka," he said, his voice growing stronger in his eagerness, +"this town is like unto a child of mine own, so dear is it to me. I have +spent sleepless nights and weary days, I have suffered cold and hunger +and the contumely of jealous men in its behalf; nay perchance, even +death itself. And thou, too, hast shown it great favors till in truth it +hath become partly thine own and dear to thee. Now that I must depart, I +leave Jamestown to thy care. Wilt thou continue to watch over it, to do +all within thy power for its welfare?" + +"That will I gladly, my Brother, when thou leavest it like a squaw +without her brave. Not a day shall pass that I will not peer through the +forests hitherward to see that all be well; mine ears shall harken each +night lest harm approach it. 'Jamestown is Pocahontas's friend,' I shall +whisper to the north wind, and it will not blow too hard. 'Pocahontas is +the friend of Jamestown,' I shall call to the sun that it beat not too +fiercely upon it. 'Pocahontas loves Jamestown,' I shall whisper to the +river that it eat not too deep into the island's banks, and"--here the +half-playful tone changed into one of real earnestness--"I who sit close +to Powhatan's heart shall whisper every day in his ear: 'Harm not +Jamestown, if thou lovest Matoaka.'" + +A look of great relief passed over the wounded man's face. Truly it was +a wondrous thing that the expression of a girl's friendship was able to +soothe thus his anxieties. + +"I thank thee again, little Sister," he said. "And now bid me farewell, +for yon come the sailors to bear me to the ship." + +Pocahontas sprang up and bending over him, poured forth words of tender +Indian farewells. Then, as the bearers approached, she fled towards the +gates and into the forest. + +John Smith, lying at the prow of the ship, placed there to be nearer the +sea as he desired, thought as the ship sailed slowly past the next bend +in the river, that he caught sight of a white buckskin skirt between the +trees. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER + +And in the three years that had passed since Smith's return to England +Pocahontas did not forget the trust he had given her. Many a time had +she sent or brought aid to the colonists during the terrible "starving +time," and warded off evil from them. When she was powerless to prevent +the massacre by Powhatan of Ratcliffe and thirty of his men, she +succeeded at least in saving the life of one of his men, a young boy. +Henry Spilman, whom she sent to her kindred tribe, the Patowomekes. With +them he lived for many years. + +But her relations with Jamestown and its people, though most friendly, +were no longer as intimate as they had been when Smith was President, +and she went there less and less. + +One who rejoiced at her home-keeping was Claw-of-the-Eagle. He had hated +the white men from the beginning and had done his share to destroy them +in the Ratcliffe massacre, though he had never told Pocahontas that he +had taken part in it. He was now a brave, tested in courage and +endurance in numerous war parties against enemies of his adopted tribe +whose honor and advancement he had made his own. The Powhatan himself +had praised his deeds in council. + +One day Wansutis said to him: + +"Son, it is time now that thou shouldst take a squaw into thy wigwam. My +hands grow weak and a young squaw will serve thee more swiftly than I. +Look about thee, my son, and choose." + +Claw-of-the-Eagle had been thinking many moons that the time _had_ come +to bring home a squaw, but he had no need to look about and choose. He +had made his choice, and even though she were the daughter of the great +Powhatan, he did not doubt that the werowance would give her to one of +his best braves. And so, one evening in taquitock (autumn), when the red +glow of the forests was half veiled in the bluish mist that came with +the return of soft languid days after frost had painted the trees and +ripened the bristly chinquapins and luscious persimmons, +Claw-of-the-Eagle took his flute and set forth alone. + +Not far from the lodge of Pocahontas he seated himself upon a stone and +began to play the plaintive notes with which the Indian lover tells of +his longing for the maiden he would make his squaw. + +"Dost thou hear that, Pocahontas?" queried Cleopatra, who had peeped +out. "It is Claw-of-the-Eagle who pipes for thee. Go forth, Sister, and +make glad his heart, for there is none of our braves who can compare +with him." + +"I will not be his squaw. Go thou thyself if he pleaseth thee so," and +Pocahontas would not stir from her tent that evening, though the gentle +piping continued until the moon rose. + +Yet Claw-of-the-Eagle did not despair. Not only had he won fame as a +fighter but as a successful hunter as well. Never did he come back to +Wansutis's lodge empty-handed. Though the deer he pursued be never so +swift, or the quail never so wary, he always tracked down his quarry. +And he meant to succeed in his wooing. + +So even when Pocahontas left Werowocomoco to visit her kinsfolk, the +Patowomekes, he bided his time and spent his days building a new lodge +nearby that of Wansutis, that it might be in readiness for the day when +he should bring his squaw to light their first fire beneath the opening +under the sky. + +Meanwhile affairs in Jamestown had been going from bad to worse. Famine +had become an almost permanent visitor there. Sir Thomas Gale had not +yet arrived from England and no one was there to govern the Colony with +the firm hand of John Smith. At length, however, it was decided in the +Council that Captain Argall should set forth towards the Patowomekes +tribe and bargain with them for grain. + +Japezaws, the chief, received him in a friendly manner. + +"Yes, we will sell to thee corn as I sold it to thy great Captain when +he first came among us. What news hast thou of him? Will he come again +to us? He was a great brave." + +Captain Argall answered: + +"We have no word from him. Perchance he hath succumbed of his wound;" +and then, because he was jealous of Smith's fame among the savages, he +added, "England hath so many great braves that we waste little thought +on those that are gone. Jamestown hath all but forgot him already." + +"There is one amongst us who forgets him not," Japezaws pointed to the +valley behind him, "one there is who hath him and his deeds ever on the +tongue." + +"Who may that be?" asked the Englishman, wondering if the Indian village +held captive some countryman of his own long since thought dead. + +"It is Pocahontas, his friend, who looks eagerly every moon for his +return. She abideth gladly amongst us, for she groweth restless as a +young brave, and Werowocomoco hems her in." + +Even while Japezaws was speaking a thought flashed through Argall's +brain; and while the slaves at Japezaws's command poured forth measure +after measure of corn and dried meat, the Englishman was adding to his +first vague idea, until when the great load of yellow grain lay heaped +before him, his plan was fully laid. + +"I wish, Japezaws," he began, as if the idea had just struck him, "that +Powhatan, her father, had as great a love for Jamestown as his daughter. +He will not even sell to us provisions now, though his storehouse is +full to o'erflowing. If we could but make him see that, his gains would +be greater than ours. 'Tis a matter of but a few more harvests before we +have food and to spare, but where shall he find such copper kettles, +such mirrors, such knives of bright steel as we would pay him in +exchange for that he hath no need of?" + +The old chief's eyes glistened with covetousness. + +"I want some shining knives; I want to see a vessel that will not break +when my squaws let it fall on a rock. I want some of the marvels ye keep +in your lodges." + +Argall smiled; the fly had caught the fish for which he angled. + +"As soon as a man may hurry to Jamestown and back they shall be thine +if--thou wilt do what I ask of thee." + +"And what is thy will?" Suspicion had now awakened in the Indian. + +"Hearken!" continued Argall. "Thou knowest that Powhatan hath stolen +from us sundry arms and keeps in captivity some of our men. If he will +make peace with us we need not take our war party through the forests to +Werowocomoco, and the lives of many Indians will be spared." + +Here Japezaws grunted, but Argall did not appear to notice it. + +"If we held a hostage of Powhatan, someone who was dear to him, we could +force him to do as we would." + +He paused and glanced at the Indian who, whatever he may have thought, +betrayed nothing. + +"If thou wilt entrust the Princess Pocahontas to us," continued Argall, +"she shall be taken to Jamestown and there detained in all gentleness, +in the house of a worthy lady, until Powhatan agreeth to our terms and +she will be conveyed in safety to her father. And for thee, for thy help +in this matter, such presents shall be sent thee as thou hast never +seen, such as no one, not even Powhatan, hath yet received." + +Japezaws was silent a little. The maiden was his guest, and his people +had always upheld the sacred duties of hospitality. But he knew that no +harm would befall her. The friendship of the English for her was known +to all his tribe and the great affection of her father to this, his +favorite daughter. In a day or two she would be ransomed by Powhatan, +and for his part in the matter, he, Japezaws, would gain what he so +greatly longed to possess. He wasted neither time nor words: + +"Meet me here at sunset, and I will bring her to thee." + +Claw-of-the-Eagle had not thought to stir away from Wansutis's lodge for +many days to come. Food in plenty was stored there and he had need to +busy himself with the making of a new bow and arrows. But Wansutis, +letting fall the stone with which she was grinding maize, looked up +suddenly as if she heard distant voices. The youth, however, heard +nothing. Then she said: + +"Son, if in truth thy mind is set upon a certain maiden for thy squaw, +go seek her at once in the village of the Patowomekes. She hath been +there over long." + +Claw-of-the-Eagle did not ask for any explanation of his mother's words. +He had learned that she seemed to possess some strange knowledge he +could not fathom, but which he respected. Therefore, without any +discussion, with only a word of farewell, he took his bow and quiver and +his wooing pipe and set forth. + +As he approached the village of Japezaws at the end of several days' +journey, he said to himself: + +"Before three days are past I shall return this way with my squaw. No +longer will I wait for her to feign deafness to my piping. She shall +listen to it and follow me to my lodge." + +Knowing that he was among a friendly allied tribe, Claw-of-the-Eagle +strode along as openly and as carelessly as he would have done at +Werowocomoco or Powhata. Yet suddenly, like a deer that scents a bear, +he stood still, his nostrils quivering; then, slipping behind a tree, +he notched an arrow to his bow. + +"A white man," he thought, long before his eyes caught sight of him. + +Concealed by the tree, he waited and watched pass the man he knew was +the new English captain, and to his astonishment found that the women +who accompanied him were Pocahontas and a squaw of the Patowomekes. It +was the squaw of Japezaws; and it was at his bidding that she was now +acting. + +"Because thou hast seen as often as thou wilt the lodges of the +palefaces," Claw-of-the-Eagle heard her say to Pocahontas, "is it right +for thee to marvel that I am eager to witness with mine own eyes such +strange ways as are theirs and the marvels the white chief hath stored +in the canoe?" + +"I do not wonder," laughed Pocahontas; "and in truth I rejoice to go +with thee, and with the few words of their tongue that I have not +forgotten to ask for thee the questions thou wouldst put to him. I, too, +have questions to ask him." + +When they had passed the young brave followed them, far off enough that +Pocahontas's quick ear might not hear his step that would have been +noiseless to the Englishman. + +At the bank to which the pinnace was moored he sought cover back of a +large boulder, his eyes never moving from the women before him. He +watched them go on board, saw the English sailors rise to receive them, +and heard the eager outcries of the squaw as she felt of their garments +and went about the deck of the little craft, while Pocahontas explained +as far as her own knowledge went, the meaning of anchor and sail, of +cooking utensils and muskets. He saw Captain Argall open a small chest +and hand out presents to the two women, Japezaws's squaw uttering loud +cries of delight as beads and gaudy handkerchiefs were placed in her +hands. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle waited to see what would happen next. After an hour's +watching he beheld the two women approach the side of the pinnace +nearest the shore, the squaw in front. She sprang to the bank and ran +lightly into the forest. Pocahontas had her foot on the gunwale to +follow her when Captain Argall took hold of her arm. + +"Come with us to Jamestown, Princess," he said; "we will welcome you for +a visit." + +Pocahontas's anger flared up. Never in her life had she been restrained +by force. She wasted no time nor strength in entreaty, but sought to +wrench herself away from him. But the Englishman held her firmly but +gently, and while she struggled the sailors shoved the boat out into the +stream. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle rose that he might take better aim and shot an arrow +at the Englishman. It hit the astounded captain on his leathern doublet, +but did no more than knock the wind out of him. + +"Shoot into the trees there," he commanded, still holding on to +Pocahontas. + +One of the sailors started to aim into the thicket at an unseen enemy, +when Claw-of-the-Eagle, realizing that the boat was rapidly swinging out +of his range, ran out on to an exposed bluff and notched a second arrow. +Before it left the string, however, the bullet from the soldier's musket +had hit him in the shoulder. As he fell Pocahontas uttered a cry of +horror, for she had seen who her stricken defender was. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XVII + +POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND + + +It was the second night of Pocahontas's captivity. She had suffered no +restraint further than that necessary to keep her from jumping +overboard. Argall and the sailors treated her with all deference, both +from policy and inclination. Yet she was very unhappy and lonely: she +had always been so free to go and come that it was almost a physical +pain to be imprisoned within the narrow limits of the pinnace. Several +times she had tried to evade the vigilance of the sailors; but her +cunning, which on shore would have shown her a way to escape, was +useless on the unfamiliar boat. Her anger at Japezaws and his squaws +flamed up anew every time she dwelt on their treachery. She went over in +her mind the punishment she would beg her father to inflict upon them. + +"Wait!" she called out; and the sailors wondered what she was saying as +she stood there looking over the stern in the direction of the +Patowomeke village, her eyes flashing, "wait until Nautauquas brings ye +to my father to be tortured!" + +Then before she had grown tired planning their fate, her thoughts flew +to Claw-of-the-Eagle. Was he lying dead there in the forest? What a +playmate and companion he had always been, she thought; how brave, how +strong! Yet now he must be dead or surely he had managed to follow her. + +By nightfall the boat was anchored in the centre of the stream, which +here widened out into a small bay. Captain Argall, who had not known +what to make of Claw-of-the-Eagle's attack, did not feel certain that +Japezaws had not played him false. He had therefore made all speed +possible the first night and the following day. Now his wearied men +needed rest and, as no sign of pursuit appeared, he had granted them +leave to sleep. Only one sailor in the bow was left on watch, but he, +too, drowsed, to wake up with a start, when finding all well, he dropped +off to sleep again. + +Pocahontas lay alone in the stem, her head pillowed on a roll of sail +cloth that brought it up to the level of the gunwale. Argall had done +everything he could to make her comfortable and never even spoke to her +except hat in hand and bowing low. Now she, too, had fallen asleep, her +eyes wet with the tears she would not shed during the daylight. She +dreamed she was again at Werowocomoco and that she had just risen from +her sleeping-mat to run out into the moonlight as she so often did. + +Suddenly a faint, faint sound half wakened her, a sound scarcely louder +than the lapping of the water against the sides which had lulled her to +sleep. She opened her eyes but did not move, and waited, tense with +excitement. A fish flopped out of the water, then all was silent again +and she closed her heavy eyes once more. Then it came again, not louder +than the wind in the aspen trees on shore: + +"Pocahontas!" + +Raising herself to her elbow with a motion as quiet as a cat's, she +peered into the dark water over the stern. A hand came up from the +darkness and clasped her wrist. She needed no great light upon the +features of the face below to know whose it was. + +"Claw-of-the-Eagle," she whispered, "is it thou? I thought the white +man's gun had killed thee, and I have been mourning for thee." + +"I lay dead for an hour," he answered as he lifted himself up in the +water and hung with both hands to the sides of the boat. "But it was +well that I was wounded on the shoulder and not on the leg. The +stiffness made me slow, like a bear that has been hurt in a trap. But I +bound mud on the wound with my leggings and I have followed close behind +thee along the shore all the way." + +"I knew thou wouldst come after me if thou wert not killed," she +whispered. + +"Yea, I have come for thee, Pocahontas," and there was manly decision +now in the youth's voice. "Waste no time. Drop down here beside me as +quietly as if thou wert stalking a deer. We will swim under water until +we are beyond reach of the white men's dull ears and before three days +are passed we shall be at Powhata, where thy father now abideth." + +The thought of all home meant made Pocahontas pause: the kindly interest +of all her tribe in everything she did; the affection of her father and +brothers; the haunts in the forest and on the river; the freedom of her +daily existence. Here was her chance to return to them. If she did not +take it, what lay ahead of her? A terror of the unknown overcame her for +the first time. The knowledge that an old and tried friend was near was +as grateful as a light shining before one on a dark night. Yet she +answered: + +"I can not go with thee, Claw-of-the-Eagle." + +The young brave uttered a low murmur of astonishment. + +"Dost thou not know," he asked, "that Japezaws hath betrayed thee; that +thou art to be kept captive in Jamestown in order to force The Powhatan +to do whatever the English desire of him?" + +"Yes, I know. Captain Argall hath told me all." + +"And yet thou dost hesitate? Art thou, the daughter of a mighty +werowance, _afraid_ to try to escape?" + +She did not deign to reply to such a charge, but whispered instead: + +"Hadst thou come last night I should have harkened to thee only too +gladly. In truth, I had determined to escape myself this night, no +matter what the difficulties might be. Pocahontas beareth a knife and +knoweth how to use it. But to-day I have come to think otherwise, for +there have been long hours in which to think. Thou knowest that +captivity is as wearisome to me as to a wild dove; yet as I sat here +alone with naught to do, I followed a trail in my mind that led to +Jamestown, and so I am minded to go thither." + +"But why?" asked Claw-of-the-Eagle. + +"Because by going I believe I can serve both our nation and the English. +My Brother, John Smith, said we must be friends, and I promised him e'er +he left to watch ever over the welfare of his people. My father loveth +me so much that in order to free me I think he will do as the English +wish, and so I will go with Captain Argall that the strife may cease +between them and us. But," and here her voice rose so that +Claw-of-the-Eagle had to remind her of their danger by a pressure on the +hand, "but I will not intercede for that traitor Japezaws and his crafty +squaw. My father may wreak vengeance on them when he will." + +Her voice, low as it was, had risen in her emotion, and the boy's keen +hearing had caught the movement of a man's foot on the wooden deck. They +kept still, breathless, for a moment; then as all was still again, +Claw-of-the-Eagle asked sadly, in a tone that mourned as wind through +the pine trees: + +"Then thou wilt not come with me? I had built a lodge for thee, Matoaka, +with a smoke hole wide enough to let in the whole moon thou lovest. My +arrows had killed young deer and turkeys and I had smoked and hung meat +for thee to last through all popanow (winter). A young maid is lonely +till she follows her brave--all this I came to the village of Japezaws +to pipe to thee. Now I have run wounded through the forests and swum the +black stream to tell it to thee, and thou bidst me turn back alone. But +if thou hast no wish to enter Claw-of-the-Eagle's lodge let him at least +escort thee safely to the wigwam of thy father." + +"I thank thee, Claw-of-the-Eagle, for all thou hast done," she +whispered, "and all thou wouldst do for me. There is no braver warrior +in the thirty tribes and no better hunter since Michabo. But I have +listened to my manitou and he hath said to me, 'Remember the word thou +gavest to thy white Brother.'" + +Claw-of-the-Eagle knew that it was useless to plead and yet he pleaded: +"Come back with me, Matoaka; what are the white men to thee and me?" + +But she whispered: "Go, Claw-of-the-Eagle, go quickly ere the sailors +awake. Hasten back to old Wansutis that she may bind up thy wound, and +to Powhatan and tell him that he must buy Pocahontas's freedom from the +English by returning their men he holdeth prisoners." + +While she was still speaking the young brave's mind was working rapidly. +At first the respect he owed her as the daughter of the great werowance +was uppermost and he thought he must needs do her bidding and leave her. +Little by little, however, he began to think of her as a young maiden, +strong and courageous, but not so strong as a man, who now stood in need +of the help of a brave. He hated the English more than ever, and +Pocahontas's promise to aid them seemed to him only a girlish +foolishness. Let them all perish on their island or return across the +sea whence they had come. Why should she go with them? Why should he let +her go? Who knew what treatment she would receive away from her own +people? If he should rescue her and bring her back to her father, would +he not thus win great favor in the eyes of Powhatan, who would not +refuse her to him as his squaw? If she would not come willingly, he +would carry her off against her will for her good. + +Rescue Pocahontas! And in addition--kill the hated white men! Had they +not wounded him and carried her off? There were not many of them and +they were all asleep. While he and Pocahontas had talked he had pulled +himself out of the water and thrown his legs over the stern. Now he +rose and whispered: + +"Before I go I would know what their canoe is like. Be not afeared for +me; there is no danger, only do not stir." + +She wished to remonstrate with him, but he was already a few paces ahead +of her, treading as lightly as if the deck were gravel that would roll +about and betray him with its noise, and she did not dare call out to +him. She saw him draw near to a sleeping sailor and stoop; but it was +too dark for her to see that he had placed his hand over the man's mouth +and with the knife in his other hand, had stabbed him to the heart. + +The sailor's dying struggles were noiseless and when they were over +Claw-of-the-Eagle moved softly on to the next. + +There was something sinister to Pocahontas in the silence; she began to +divine that it was not mere curiosity which was keeping +Claw-of-the-Eagle, and yet she dared not go in search of him. + +The second victim was despatched as easily as the first, and the third, +though he awoke before the blow was struck, was unable to avert it. The +young brave, whose lust for slaughter increased as he went on, felt +about for Captain Argall. Already the dawn was coming, and he could +distinguish the forms of the four other men. He bent over one of them; +his hand, burning with the fever from his wound and excitement, touched +the cheek of the man instead of the mouth. The sailor cried out +instantaneously even before he was awake; and Claw-of-the-Eagle, +realizing in a second that his game was up, slashed out with his knife +at him in passing as he ran for the stern. + +He could have leapt overboard more easily, but though he had failed to +kill all his enemies, he meant to rescue Pocahontas. He dashed towards +her, followed by the sailor. Argall and the two others of the crew, +roused at the outcry, were at their heels. Claw-of-the-Eagle caught +Pocahontas in his arms and before she knew what was happening, he had +sprung with her into the river. + +The sailor, who had been but slightly wounded by the young brave's +knife, had seized his musket as he ran. His forebears had been outlaws +with Robin Hood, skilful archers, and bowmen with Henry V at Agincourt, +whose arrows never failed to find French marks. The same keen eye and +strong arm were his with a musket. + +"Do not shoot. Mark!" called out Argall breathlessly. He did not know +what had happened prior to his own awakening, though his feet had +stumbled over the dead bodies of his men. "The Indian princess is there +in the water. Shoot not, for the love of heaven, or we'll have all the +red hordes of America on top of Jamestown!" + +Mark, however, had already made out the two figures in the water so +close together that Argall's older eyes thought them but one. And just +as Claw-of-the-Eagle, hampered by his wounded shoulder, was about to +sink below the surface of the river to swim under water, Mark took aim. +The bullet hit the top of the head, gashing the skin about the +scalp-lock, but did not penetrate very deeply. + +[Illustration: "DO NOT SHOOT, MARK!"] + +Pocahontas saw that he was not badly wounded; but the blood running down +his face and into his mouth and nose made it impossible for him to +breathe deeply enough to swim under water. His weakness from his +other wound, too, made his motions slower. Before he would be able to +put a safe distance between him and the pinnace the sailor would have +fired again. + +But he would not fire at her--the thought flashed through her brain! + +With a few rapid strokes she had reached the brave and flung her arm +under his wounded shoulder, bearing him up. + +"Now, Claw-of-the-Eagle," she cried, "let us make for the shore. They +will not dare fire at me." + +And Argall and his men watched their hostage and the murderer of their +companions making their escape, while they seemed powerless to prevent +it. Though Claw-of-the-Eagle's strokes grew slower and slower, +Pocahontas's strength was aiding him. Once on shore, the Englishmen knew +that even though delayed by his wound, the two could hide so that no +white man could find them. Besides, it was likely that other Indians +might be lurking in the forest. + +"Fooled! Fooled!" cried out Argall, hitting one fist against the other +in his disappointment. + +But Mark was not one who willingly gave up a chase he had begun. He saw +that the two had reached a willow tree with roots that lay twisted about +each other across the surface of the river. For one second the youth and +maiden, close together, hung on to this natural shelf, gaining strength +to pull themselves up on to the ground. He realized how disastrous it +would be to injure the daughter of the Powhatan. Nevertheless, he +determined to take a chance. + +To the horror of his captain, he took careful aim and fired. This time +the bullet found its mark--it hit the young brave in the back of his +head and penetrated the brain. + +In horror Pocahontas tried to catch him in her arms before he sank +heavily, with no sound, out of sight. Gone! so quickly! Dead! The boy +who had been her friend, who had tried to save her! + +She could not weep as she floated along with no conscious movement. Then +slowly she turned and swam back towards the pinnace, the sailors +wondering if she was in truth returning to them. She let herself be +helped over the side by Captain Argall. + +"I will go with thee to Jamestown, now," was all that she said. She gave +no explanation of what had happened and refused to answer their +questions, or to tell them why she had chosen to go with them when she +might have regained her freedom. + +They had hoisted the anchor and started off after laying their dead +comrades together. The sun was rising but the air was still chill and +the sailors brought their dry coats to Pocahontas to throw over her and +placed food before her. She would not touch it nor turn her face away +from the river behind her. + +As they began to sail slowly down the stream she leaned back over the +gunwale and beheld, borne by a swift eddy, the body of Claw-of-the-Eagle +float by her. She rose to her feet, the sunbeams falling upon her face +and her uplifted arms, and she sang aloud a song of death as her tribe +sang it while the river hurried with its burden seawards. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN + + +Very unhappy was Pocahontas the rest of the voyage to Jamestown. +Claw-of-the-Eagle had been dear to her as a brother, and she sorrowed +for him greatly. It was forlorn to be away thus from her own people and +among those whose ways and tongue were strange to her; and she longed +for Nautauquas, whom she had not seen for several moons. + +News of their coming had outrun them, and all of Jamestown was at the +wharf to greet them. Captain Argall stepped ashore and explained that he +had brought generous stores and what was of far greater value, the +daughter of Powhatan. Sir Thomas Dale, in all the bravery of his best +purple doublet and new bright Cordova leather boots, came forward and +doffing his plumed hat, said: + +"Welcome, Princess, and be not angry with us if we in all courtesy +constrain thee to abide with us awhile. Let it not irk thee to visit us +again, to stay for a few days with those who have been thy debtors since +the time thou didst save the life of Captain Smith." + +Pocahontas, whose anger had been rising at the treachery practised on +her by Japezaws and Argall, had intended to show in her manner how she +resented it; but the name of Captain Smith disarmed her. She recalled +her white Brother's parting words to her. + +She would befriend his colony, as she had ever done. So she smiled at +Sir Thomas and spoke to those about whom she knew and let them show her +the way to the house that they chose for her use, a few paces from the +Governor's. Mistress Lettice, the wife of one of the gentlemen, who was +to occupy it with her, laid out some of her own garments in case the +Indian maiden should care to change; and Pocahontas, forgetting the +dangers and sadness of the past days, laughed with amusement as she +tried on farthingale and wide skirt. + +"They are sending messengers to thy father. King Powhatan," the +Englishwoman said as she showed Pocahontas how to adjust a starched ruff +that scratched her neck so that she made a grimace. "They will tell him +that thou art here, and then surely in his anxiety to see thee again, he +will grant what Sir Thomas desires: that he deliver up our men and the +arms he hath taken and give us three hundred quarters of corn. Perchance +thou wouldst like to send some word of thine own to thy father. If so +be, there is an Indian boy who hath brought fish to trade, and he can +bear it for thee." + +"Bring him to me, I pray thee," said Pocahontas, speaking slowly the +unaccustomed English words. + +She was looking at herself in the ebony-framed mirror that hung opposite +the door, much interested in her strange appearance, when the Indian boy +entered, following Mistress Lettice. She saw his face in the glass and +recognized him as the son of a Powhatan chief. She turned and faced him, +but knew that he did not recognize her. He looked no further than her +clothes and so believed her an Englishwoman. It was a rare amusement, +she thought, and she watched him eagerly to see his surprise when he +should find out his mistake. She was well rewarded by his puzzled and +astonished expression when she called out to him: + +"Little Squirrel!" When she herself had stopped laughing, she added: +"Take this sad message to old Wansutis. Tell her that her son, +Claw-of-the-Eagle, hath met his death bravely and that Pocahontas mourns +him with her." + +Then she dismissed the boy. As he walked away she remembered that she +desired him to bear also a special word to Nautauquas, so she started to +run and call him back. But the unaccustomed weight of her clothes and +shoes prevented her and she began to pull them off her even before she +reached the house, crying out: + +"Nay, I will not prison myself thus; give me back mine own garments," +and she breathed deep breaths of satisfaction when she had resumed them. + +Had the manner of her coming to Jamestown been otherwise, with no +treachery and no compulsion which hurt her pride, Pocahontas would have +much enjoyed her stay and a closer view of the ways of the English. As +it was, she was restlessly awaiting the message her father would return +to the demands of the colonists. The next day the messengers came back, +bringing with them the Englishmen who had been held captive by Powhatan +and some of the arms. The werowance promised, they reported, that when +his daughter was restored to him he would give the corn which the white +men asked for. + +This answer did not satisfy the Council, and day by day there were +parleyings in which the white men and the red men sought to constrain or +evade each other. Each side recognized the value of Pocahontas as a +hostage. She was not now unhappy. Even if the colonists had not done +their best to requite with kindness all the care she had manifested for +their welfare, policy would have led them to treat her with every +consideration. She was made welcome everywhere, and she went from the +guard house to that of the Governor, asking questions, eager to learn +all details, from the way to fire off a musket to the heating of the +sealing wax and the making of a great red seal which Master John Rolfe, +Secretary and Recorder General of the Colony, affixed to all the +documents sent to the Company in London. + +He explained everything to her, taking pains to choose the simplest +words, because he found a keen pleasure in watching her dark eyes +brighten when she began to comprehend something which had puzzled her, +and because her laughter and quick coming and going in the masculine +atmosphere of the council room was a most agreeable change from its +usual dull calm. He was a widower and, though he had got over the +sadness of the loss of his wife, he still missed a woman's +companionship. So he was nothing loath to follow when Pocahontas +commanded one day: + +"Come with me about the town and answer more of my questions. I have +stored away as many as a squirrel stores nuts for popanow--what keeps +the ship from floating with the tide down to the great water? Why doth +that man sit with his legs before him?"--and she pointed to a carpenter +who had been imprisoned in the stocks in punishment for theft--"And +why?"--... + +And Rolfe found himself kept as busy as Mr. Squirrel himself in cracking +her questions for her. + +She soon got over her awe of the white men, judging, now that she had a +closer view of them, that they were in many ways like her own people. +And seeing that her lightheartedness was pleasant to them, she teased +and joked with them. + +"Wilt thou eat a persimmon?" she asked Rolfe, smiling at the trap she +was laying as she stood on tiptoe to pick one from a branch above her. +And Rolfe bit into the golden fruit, not knowing that the persimmon till +ripened by frost is for the eye only. She laughed with glee as she saw +his mouth all puckered up until he believed it would never unpucker +again. + +"I'll pay thee for this some day," he threatened in mock anger as soon +as he could speak; but she only laughed the more. + +One of the reasons that Pocahontas was content to remain in Jamestown +was that she hoped to get news of Captain Smith's return. Every day she +would ask, sometimes Mistress Lettice, sometimes Sir Thomas Dale, or +anyone with whom she spoke: + +"When cometh back the Captain? I am longing to see my Brother." + +And one told her one thing, one another, some lying because it was +easier; some from sheer ignorance said they had heard that John Smith +had gone back to fight the Turks; that he grew fat and lazy in his +English home; that he was exploring further up the coast; that he might +be expected at Jamestown with the next ship. And Pocahontas, believing +those who said the last because she wished this to be the truth, was not +unhappy to wait among strangers that she might be the first to welcome +him. + +The spot in the town which most excited her curiosity was the church. +The colonists had now replaced the first rude hut by a substantial +building with a tower. The bells that called Jamestown to daily prayers +had a weird fascination for the Indian girl. They seemed to speak a +language she could not understand. Nor could she understand the ceremony +which she observed, wide-eyed, of the kneeling men and women and the +white-robed clergyman who stretched out his arms over them. + +"What doth it signify?" she queried; and Rolfe, remembering that the +conversion of the heathen was one of the reasons given by Europe for +sending colonies to the New World, tried to explain the mysteries of his +faith to her. But he found it too difficult a task, and besought the +Reverend Thomas Alexander Whitaker to undertake it in his stead. + +This the zealous and gentle minister of the Gospel gladly consented to +do. Here was the great opportunity he had desired since his coming to +Virginia--to make an Indian convert so notable that this conversion +might bring others in its train. Moreover the maiden herself interested +him. But it was not so easy to go about it. Pocahontas's knowledge of +English did not extend beyond the simplest expressions; and he found it +necessary to translate the long and abstruse theological dogmas into +familiar terms. He had almost despaired of making her comprehend until +he recalled how his Master had taught in parables. So he retold the +incidents of His life in stories which held the Indian maiden +spellbound. He showed her pictures in heavy leathern-bound volumes, and +tried with less success to explain the meaning of the daily religious +services he conducted in the church. + +"Why do ye put always flowers on that table?" she asked, pointing to the +vases on the altar which the Governor bade keep always filled with fresh +blossoms as long as the forests and river bank could supply them. "What +good hath thy god of them?" + +"Dost thou not take delight in the sunshine. Princess?" replied the +priest as they sat in the cool shade of the darkened church looking out +through the open door at waving green branches and the river beyond. "I +have beheld thee lift up thine arms on a fair day when the swift white +clouds moved across the blue heavens as if thou wouldst embrace the +whole wide earth. Why dost thou take pleasure in such things?" + +"Because," hesitated the maiden, seeking for a reason, "because they +make me happy." + +"Because," he added, "they are beautiful. And God who created all this +beauty rejoiceth too in it--in green fields and noble trees, in lovely +maidens, strong men and happy children. Therefore, in token thereof, we +place beautiful flowers upon His table." + +"And delighteth he not in incantations of shamans and jossakeed +(inspired prophets) and in self-torture?" she queried. + +"Nay," he answered; "such things are of the Devil; our God is love. +Ponder upon the difference." + +And Pocahontas did think much of what he told her. Her spirit was +maturing in this new atmosphere like a quick-growing vine climbing +higher each day. Dr. Whitaker's own fatherly kindness to her and to all +the colony became for her the symbol of the tenderness of the God of +whom he taught her. Then, too, this strange new deity was the god of her +Brother, John Smith; and whatever in any way was dear to him she wanted +to make her own. + +For weeks the instruction continued and at last Dr. Whitaker told Sir +Thomas Dale that he believed the Indian princess was now sufficiently +impressed with the teachings of Christianity to be baptized. So Sir +Thomas, meeting her one afternoon as she stood by the wharf watching men +unload a ship but newly arrived from England, began: + +"Good even, Princess, I rejoice at the news Dr. Whitaker hath even now +imparted to me, that he hath instructed thee fully in the teachings of +our blessed faith, and that thou hast shown wisdom and comprehension. +The time hath therefore arrived for thee to bear witness before man to +the truth and to accept the blessed sacrament of baptism at his hands +and to swear publicly that thou wilt have naught more to do with the +heathen gods whom thy people ignorantly worship." + +"I will not give them up," Pocahontas cried out in anger such as she had +not shown for many a day; and to Sir Thomas's amazement, she turned her +back upon his presence and sped, swift as a fawn, into the thicket which +still covered a portion of the island. + +There she lay upon the ground, panting with emotion and passionately +going over her arguments: "Why should I forsake the Okee of my fathers? +Why should I hate what my brothers serve? Why should I prefer this god +of the strangers?" + +She did not know that a sudden attack of homesickness was the principal +cause of this outburst. She was longing to sit at her father's knee, to +hunt with Nautauquas; and she wondered if they had ceased to care for +her that they left her to stay among the strangers. + +Here, at sunset, Dr. Whitaker, set upon her track by the startled Sir +Thomas, found her and seating himself beside her, he talked to her +gently, not finding fault with her loyalty to her people and their +beliefs, but explaining how they had never had the chance to hear what +she was being taught, and how by acknowledging the Christians' God, she +might lead those she loved to do the same and to benefit by His great +gifts. + +Not in one day did the clergyman convince her; but by the time April had +come Pocahontas eagerly consented to her baptism. Clothed by Mistress +Lettice in a simple white gown free from ruff and farthingale, with her +long black hair hanging down her back, Pocahontas walked to the little +church filled with all the inhabitants and a few Indians from the +mainland who wondered what it all meant; and while the bells rang softly +in the soft spring air, Pocahontas, the first of her race, was baptized +into the Christian faith, with the new name of Rebecca. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JOHN ROLFE + + +To John Rolfe and to all who observed closely the Lady Rebecca--as she +was now called--it seemed as if the little Indian maiden had put on a +new womanly dignity since her baptism. And to John Rolfe in special she +grew more lovely every day. He spent much time with her, strolling all +over Jamestown island and even the mainland. In the woods she taught him +as much as he taught her in the town: to observe the habits of the wild +animals and to find his way through a trackless forest. Often they would +go in a boat to catch fish or to dig for oysters in the Indian fashion. + +At times Rolfe was very happy, and at other moments perplexed and cast +down. It was joy for him to be in the company of one who made him feel +how splendid a thing was life and how full of interest and beauty the +woods, fields and river. Yet when the thought of marriage came to him he +remembered the difficulties in the way. First, she was, though called a +princess, only the child of a cruel savage chief and one accustomed to +savage ways. Why should he, an English gentleman, choose her instead of +a woman of his own race brought up in the manner of his people? + +Then, even if he were willing, it was unlikely that Powhatan would +consent to let his daughter wed a white man or the Governor on his side +allow it. So he pondered; but no matter what the obstacles in his way, +he came back again and again to his determination to win Pocahontas's +love and to marry her. Now that she had become a Christian, there was +one less barrier between them. + +Rolfe believed that his feelings for Pocahontas had gone unnoticed by +anyone, but Mistress Lettice, who had grown very fond of the Indian +maiden confided to her especial care, was far from blind in anything +that concerned her charge. Moreover, she had heard enough of the +discussions which went on in the Council to know that such a marriage +would be approved, since it would secure to the Colony the valuable +friendship of Powhatan. But she was also aware of an obstacle which +might prevent its coming to pass. This knowledge of hers she was +determined to share. + +One day she invited certain members of the Council to her house to drink +a cask of sack her brother in London had sent her by the last ship. She +had baked cake, also, and so excellent was its taste after the weariness +of plain baker's bread, that many of her guests sighed at the +remembrance of their womanless households; and those who had wives +behind in England determined to send for them without further delay. + +"But what I have to say, your Worships," she continued when she had +ceased serving and had settled down in a highbacked chair to rest, "is +that the Lady Rebecca will never wed another while she harboureth the +thought of Captain Smith's return." + +"What! did he teach her to love him?" exclaimed one who would gladly +have listened to any ill of Smith. + +"Nay, if ye should even question her thus she would not know how to +reply. She thinketh and speaketh of him constantly and in her thoughts +he standeth midway between a god and an elder brother, even as she doth +call him. All the knowledge she acquireth is learned because she +believeth he would wish it and will be glad to know that she is no +longer the ignorant child of the woods as he first saw her. She wished +even to delay her baptism because she expecteth him by every ship, and +this I know full well--she will marry no man until she hath speech with +Captain Smith or," here she paused significantly, "she believeth him to +be dead." + +She paused again to let her words sink in. Mistress Lettice wished no +harm to Pocahontas. Indeed she loved her dearly and desired above all +things to see her happy. And she believed that Rolfe as her husband +would make her happy. Smith, if not indeed dead, was not likely to +return to Jamestown, and therefore he might better be dead as far as +Pocahontas was concerned, she thought. The worthy dame had picked her +audience, which was composed chiefly of men who were well known to be +enemies of Smith, who would not hold back from a slight untruth when +they felt sure that it would help to secure safety from Indian attacks, +which were proving so disastrous to their small community. + +"We are mightily amazed at thy words. Mistress Lettice," said one of +her guests at last; "and in truth it hath taken thy woman's eyes to see +what was going on under our very noses and thy woman's tongue to show us +the importance of Master Rolfe's courtship to the welfare of the Colony. +If so small a thing as what thou hast suggested is all that stands +between us and the confirmation of this marriage, why, that is as easily +disposed of as this flagon of thy brother's sack which I drink to thy +health." + +He put the emptied cup upon the table and the company rose to go, now +that both business and pleasure were finished. They did not need much +talk about what they intended to do. + +As they were bidding Mistress Lettice farewell, with many compliments on +her housewifery and her zeal for the settlement, Pocahontas appeared at +the door. She had been, as Mistress Lettice well knew, away with Rolfe, +showing him how her people planted tobacco, since he had become much +interested in this weed--being the first in the Colony to grow it--and +had expressed what seemed to his neighbors ridiculous hopes of future +wealth to be derived from the sale of tobacco in England. + +Pocahontas looked about her with eagerness, and while the men doffed +their hats, she asked: + +"What hath happened, sirs, that so many come to visit us at one time? It +is like our councils when the old chiefs debate about the council +fires." + +No one was anxious to be the first to answer, but since some reply was +necessary, the councilor who had testified to Mistress Lettice's insight +said slowly and solemnly: + +"We have come. Princess, to condole with thee at the death of thy +friend, Captain John Smith." + +"Dead!" cried Pocahontas. "He is dead?" + +And the men, who wished not to burden their consciences with a spoken +lie, all nodded assent. They thought to see the girl burst into tears or +run away, as they had more than once seen her do when she was +displeased; but instead she stood still, her face as motionless as a +statue's. They were glad to slip away with muttered words of sympathy. + +Nor when they were gone did Mistress Lettice's curious and affectionate +eyes witness any sign of sorrow. + +"I own myself wrong," she said that night to her husband; "she careth +naught for the Captain. I wept all day last Michaelmas when my old dog +died." + +But Mistress Lettice did not hear the door unlatched that night, nor the +moccasined feet of Pocahontas as they sped through the street down to a +quiet spot on the river bank whither she often went. The maiden's heart +was so full that under a roof she felt it would burst. And until dawn +she stood on the shore, her face turned eastward towards the sea across +which he had sailed away, bewailing her "Brother" in the manner of her +people, now calling to Okee to guide him to the happy hunting grounds, +and now praying God to bear his soul to the Christian heaven. + + * * * * * + +John Rolfe found nothing amiss with Pocahontas when he saw her next day, +nor did any of the conspirators tell him of the false news that they had +communicated to Lady Rebecca or their interest in his wooing. + +And his wooing was very gentle and wonderful to Pocahontas. No Indian +lover, she knew, ever won his squaw in this way. She listened to his +words with amazement when he told her that he wanted her to be his wife, +to make a home for him in this new land. When she gave him her word she +felt much as if she were the very heroine of one of the tales she had +listened to so often about the lodge fire, a deer perhaps that was to be +magically transformed into human shape, or a bird on whom the spirits +had bestowed speech--so immeasurably superior did the English still +appear to her. + +It was some weeks later that Sir Thomas Dale, grown impatient for a +settlement of their differences with Powhatan, decided to go to +Werowocomoco and take Pocahontas with him to act as peacemaker. With +them, on Argall's ship, went John Rolfe and Master Sparkes and one +hundred and fifty men. + +When they tried to land at a village near Werowocomoco the Indians were +very arrogant and opposed their passage. In return the English fired +upon them and when the terrified savages ran into the forest to escape +the white men's weapons, the victors burned all the lodges of the town +and wantonly spoiled the corn stacked up in a storehouse. + +Pocahontas, who was sorrowful at the enmity between those she loved, +besought Sir Thomas: + +"Let me go among my people. They will harken to me and I will hasten to +my father, and when he beholdeth me once more he will deny me nothing. +And it is a long time since I have looked upon his face," she pleaded. + +But Sir Thomas refused. He was not minded to lose this valuable hostage; +even though Pocahontas might be eager to return, he was sure that the +old chieftain would never let her leave him. + +"Prithee, then," she suggested sadly, "send messengers in my name, +saying that ye will abstain from further fighting for a night and day. +If the messengers bear this feather of mine," here she took a white +eagle's feather from her headband, "they may pass in safety where they +will." As they were leaving she charged them: "And beg of my father to +send my brothers to see me, since I may not go to them." + +Now that she was so near home again she was homesick for the sight of +some member of her family that she had not seen for many moons. Her +father would not come, she felt sure, because he would not wish to treat +with the white men in person. She waited anxiously, her eyes and ears +strained for the sound of the messengers returning. + +An hour or so later she beheld in the distance two tall figures +approaching, and she sprang ashore from the boat, crying: + +"Nautauquas! Catanaugh!" as her two brothers hurried to meet her. + +"Is it indeed our little Matoaka?" asked Nautauquas, "and unharmed and +well?" + +He looked at her critically, as if seeking to discover some great change +in her. + +"We feared we knew not what evil medicine they might have used against +thee, little Snow Feather. How have they dealt with thee in thy +captivity?" + +"But fear no longer," cried Catanaugh, whose glance was fixed upon the +canoe of the palefaces; "we shall rescue thee now if we have to kill +every one of them yonder to get thee free." + +"Nay, my brothers," said Pocahontas, laying her hand gently on his +sinewy arm, "they are my friends, and they have treated me well. Look! +am I wasted with starvation or broken with torture? Harm them not. I am +come to plead with our father to make peace with them. It is as if yon +tree should plead with the sky and the earth not to quarrel, since both +are dear to it. The English are a great nation. Let us be friends with +them." + +"Have they bewitched thee, Matoaka?" asked Catanaugh sternly. "Hast thou +forgot thy father's lodge now that thou hast dwelt among these +strangers?" + +"Nay, Brother, but...." + +Nautauquas was quick to notice Pocahontas's confusion and the blush that +stole over her soft dark cheek. + +"I think," he said, smiling at her, "that our little Sister hath a story +to tell us. Let us sit here beneath the trees, as we so often sat when +we were wearied hunting, and listen to her words." + +It was not easy at first for Pocahontas to explain how it had come +about. But as she sat there on the warm brown pine needles, snuggled +closely against Nautauquas's shoulder, she found courage to tell of the +strong, fine Englishman who had taught her so much, and how one day he +had asked her to become his squaw after the manner of the white people. +She told them also how Sir Thomas Dale, the Governor, had willingly +given his consent. + +"Believe ye not," she concluded, looking eagerly first at one and then +the other of her brothers, "that our father will make peace for my sake +with the nation to which my brave belongeth?" + +Catanaugh said nothing, but Nautauquas laid his hand on his sister's arm +and looked her in the eyes searchingly: + +"Art thou happy?" + +"Yea, Brother, very happy. He is dear to me because I know him and +because I know him not. Thou surely hast not forgotten how Matoaka ever +longed for what lay unknown beyond her." + +"Hath thy manitou spoken?" questioned Nautauquas again. + +"The God of the Christians is my god now," she answered. + +"So should it be," said Nautauquas, although Catanaugh scowled; "a woman +must worship the spirits to which her brave prayeth. Then all is well +with thee?" + +"All if my father will but make peace. I would I might go to see him. +Doth he love me still?" she asked wistfully. + +"He saith," answered Nautauquas, "that he loveth thee as his life and, +though he hath many children, that he delighteth in none so much as in +thee." + +Pocahontas sighed half sadly, half happily. "Bear to him my loving +greetings. Brother," she said, "and say to him that Matoaka's thoughts +go to him each day, even as the tide cometh up the river from the sea." + +"He hath agreed," said Catanaugh, "to a truce until taquitock (fall of +the leaf) if the English will send important hostages to him, whom he +may hold as they hold thee." + +"And Cleopatra and our other sisters and old Wansutis, how is it with +them all, and...." and Pocahontas strung the names of most of the +inhabitants of Werowocomoco together in her enquiries. She listened to +all the news they had to tell her of the great deeds accomplished by the +young braves and the wise speeches made by the old chiefs in council, of +the harvest dances, of the losses on the warpath, and of old Wansutis, +who had grown more strange and more silent since Claw-of-the-Eagle's +death. Then Pocahontas told them of the manner of his going; and +Catanaugh's eyes flashed as he heard of the three palefaces his friend +had slain. + +They had not noticed how long they had sat there chatting until they saw +Sir Thomas himself coming down from the ship, accompanied by Rolfe and +Master Sparkes. + +"These two, Princess," he said, "will be the hostages we send to thy +father; and thy brothers will remain with us." + +The two Indians looked at the white men keenly. From the glance their +sister gave Rolfe they knew he must be her affianced husband. And Rolfe +looked with the same curiosity at his future brothers-in-law. They were +tall like their father, strong and well-built, men such as other men +liked to look at, no matter what their color might be. But it was +Nautauquas in particular that pleased him. He recalled that John Smith +had said of him that he was "the most manliest, comliest, boldest spirit +I ever saw in a savage." + +After they had conversed for a little, Rolfe and Sparkes, accompanied by +certain Indians to whom Nautauquas confided them, set out on their way +to Werowocomoco. They did not fear that harm would come to them, but +they begrudged the time they must spend away from the colony. On their +arrival Powhatan, who was still angry with the English, refused to see +them, so Opechanchanough entertained them and promised to intercede +with his brother for them. Nautauquas's messenger had brought him the +news of Rolfe's relation to his niece. + +In the meantime the truce was extended until the autumn and the +Englishmen were sent back to Jamestown. Nautauquas and Catanaugh had +enjoyed their time on the island among the palefaces, Catanaugh being +interested only in the fort and its guns and in the ship, and +Nautauquas, not only in these, but in talking as well as he could with +the colonists. He and Pocahontas again went hunting together on the +mainland, for the Governor allowed them full liberty to come and go as +they pleased, feeling sure that Nautauquas would keep his word not to +leave Jamestown until the Powhatan sent back Rolfe and Sparkes. + +And the day that these returned the two braves set off to join their +father at Orapaks. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WEDDING + + +Everyone in Jamestown was astir early one April morning in 1614. The +soldiers and the few children of the settlement, impressed with the +importance of their errand, had gone into the woods to cut large sprays +of wild azalea and magnolia to deck the church. + +Sir Thomas Dale, and in truth all the cavaliers of the town, had seen +that their best costumes were in order, sighing at the moth holes in +precious cloth doublets and the rents in Flemish lace collars and cuffs, +yet satisfied on the whole with their holiday appearance. The few women +of the Colony, Mistress Easton, Mistress Horton, Elizabeth Parsons and +others, had of course prepared their garments many days before. It was +not often they had an excuse for decking themselves in the finery they +had packed with such care and misgivings back in their English homes; +and this was an occasion such as no one in the world had ever before +participated in. Here was an English gentleman of old lineage who was to +wed the daughter of a great heathen ruler, one in whose power it lay to +help or hinder the progress of this first permanent English colony in +the New World. In addition to making themselves as gay as possible, +they had prepared a wedding breakfast to be served to the gentry at the +Governor's house, and the Governor had provided that meat and other +viands and ale should be distributed from the general store to the +soldiers and laborers and the Indians, their guests. + +The guard at the fort was kept busy admitting the Indians and bidding +them lay aside their bows, hatchets or knives; though in truth no one +that day looked for any hostile act, since Powhatan's consent to his +daughter's marriage had put an end to the enmity between them. + +He himself had not come to the ceremony. He was not minded to set his +foot upon any land other than his own, but he had sent as his +representative Pocahontas's uncle, Opechisco, and many messages of +affection to "his dearest daughter." The elderly werowance wore all the +ceremonial robes of his tribe: a headdress of feathers, leggings and +girdle and a long deerskin mantle heavily embroidered in beads of shell. +With him came Nautauquaus and Catanaugh. The two wandered as they +pleased through the town, and Nautauquaus, seeing Rolfe arrive in his +boat from his plantation Varina, where he had built a house for +Pocahontas, stepped forward to greet him. His love for Pocahontas made +him desire to know her future husband better. Though this man was of +another world than his, though his thoughts and ways were different, he +was a man as he was; therefore the Indian brave tried to appraise him by +the same methods he used in judging the men of his own race--and he was +satisfied. Rolfe, recognizing him, shook hands heartily and talked for a +while, enquiring about those of his family he had known while a hostage +at Werowocomoco. + +After Rolfe had left him to enter the Governor's house, Nautauquas +turned to find out what Catanaugh was doing, but could see nothing of +him. + +Catanaugh had not felt the same interest in Rolfe as did his brother and +had strolled away towards Pocahontas's house. He had a question he was +eager to put to her while Nautauquas was not by. He found his sister in +her white gown, with brightly embroidered moccasins on her feet and a +circlet of beads and feathers about her head. + +"Wilt thou not adorn thyself," he asked, "with the bright chains of the +white men?" + +"Nay, Brother," she answered; "it may be that I shall wear the strange +robes some day, and the bright chains and jewels I will don to-morrow +when I am the squaw of an Englishman; but to-day I am still only the +daughter of Powhatan." + +Catanaugh said nothing further, yet he still stood in the doorway. + +"Enter," invited Pocahontas, "and behold how I live." + +"I see enough," he answered, turning his head from side to side; "but +where dwelleth the white man's Okee?" + +"The God of the Christians?" she asked, puzzled at his question; "in the +sky above." + +"But where do the shamans call to him?" he continued. + +"Yonder in the church, that building with the peak to it," she pointed +out. + +"I will walk some more," announced Catanaugh and left her. When he +thought Pocahontas was no longer observing him, he hastened in the +direction of the church. During his former short stay in Jamestown he +had never been inside and had thought of it--if he paid any attention +to it at all--as some kind of a storehouse. + +He found the door open and entered quietly, glancing cautiously about +until he had assured himself that it was empty. Then he pushed the door +to and fastened it with the bolt. This done, he set about examining the +building curiously. At the end, towards the rising sun, was an elevation +of three steps which made him think of the raised dais that ran across +the end of Powhatan's ceremonial lodge. This was lined with the reddish +wood of the cedar, and there was a dark wooden table covered with a +white cloth standing in it, and the sun shining through the windows +above made the vases filled with flowers glisten brightly. In the part +where he stood there were many benches and chairs, and everywhere that +it was possible to stand or hang them, was a profusion of fragrant +flowering branches. + +The very simplicity of the church awed him; had there been a +multiplicity of furnishings, of strange objects whose use he could not +comprehend, he would have felt he had something definite to watch and +fear. His impulse was to flee out into the sunshine, and he turned +towards the door. Then he remembered his object in coming and stood +still again. + +He listened intently, but there was no sound; then taking from the pouch +that hung at his side a lump of deer's suet, he smeared it about the +sides of the benches and the backs of the chairs. Then with a handful of +tobacco taken from the same receptacle he began to sprinkle a small +circle in the centre aisle. When this was complete he seated himself +crosslegged inside of it. Slowly and deliberately he drew from the +larger pouch slung at his back and covered by his long mantle, a mask, +somewhat out of shape from its confinement in a small space, and a +rattle made of a gourd filled with pebbles. He attached the mask to his +face as carefully as if he were to be observed by all his tribe, and +laid the rattle across his knees. All these preparations had taken place +so quietly that no one who might have been in the church could have +discovered the Indian's presence by the aid of his ears alone. + +Catanaugh had not come to Jamestown with the sole idea of witnessing his +sister's wedding. It was not altogether of his own will that he was now +about to undertake a dangerous experiment. He was by no manner of means +a coward: his long row of scalps attested to his prowess as a brave; +but, unlike Nautauquas, he was one who followed where others led, who +obeyed when others commanded. He was fierce in fight, relentless to an +enemy, could not even dream as did his father and brother that the white +men might become valuable allies and friends. He would gladly have +killed them all, and he had grown more and more unwilling that +Pocahontas should unite herself to one of these interlopers, as he +called them, because he realized that her marriage would make a bond of +peace between the two peoples. He had hoped to discover that Pocahontas +was being forced into this marriage, in which case he had been prepared +to carry her off by some desperate deed at the last moment; but he could +not help seeing that she was happy and free in her choice, and would +never follow him willingly or go quietly if he tried to make her. + +Catanaugh was a member of the secret society of Mediwiwin and he was one +who had great faith in medicine men and shamans. He never undertook +even a hunting expedition unless he had had a shaman consult his Okee to +decide if the day would be a lucky one. In every religious ceremony he +would take an active part, would fast if the shamans said it was +pleasing to Okee, would kill his enemies or save them for slaves, +whichever the shamans suggested. He was himself little of a talker +except when after victory he was loud and long in his boasting; but he +loved nothing better than to listen when the shamans told tales, as they +sat on winter evenings around a lodge fire, or as they lay during the +long summer twilights on the soft dried grass, of the transformations of +human beings into otter, bear or deer forms, of the pursuit of evil +demons, of magic incantations. And the shamans, sure always of an +audience in Catanaugh, made much of him, and in many ways without his +knowing it, used him as a tool. + +Now, it was at their bidding that he sat there motionless, except for +his lips, which recited in a tone as regular and as loud as a +tree-toad's the words of an incantation they had taught him. And all the +time he, who had never trembled before an enemy, was trembling from fear +of the unknown. Of course, it was wise for the shamans to make this +trial, but he wished it had been possible for one of them to have taken +his place. But they knew they would never have got the chance to slip +unnoticed as he had done into the lodge of the white man's Okee. + +He wondered how this strange Okee would answer his call, for answer he +knew he must. The incantation was such strong medicine that no spirit +could resist it, especially when he shook the rattle as he did now, +rising to his feet and lifting his foot higher and higher, as bending +over, he went round and round on his tiptoes, always within the confines +of the tobacco circle. The shamans had been determined to find out what +kind of an Okee protected the white men, and it was only in this spot +they could do so. The palefaces knew so many things the Indian had never +learned and which he must learn if he was to hold his own against the +terrible medicine of the strangers. + +Catanaugh was afraid he might forget some of the magic words the Okee +would speak, which the shamans had told him he must hold fast in his +mind as he would hold a slippery eel in his hand. Even if he didn't +understand them he must just remember them, because they would be wise +enough to interpret them. He meant, too, if he only had the courage, to +try to make the Okee prevent the wedding. + +He had been shaking the rattle gently for fear it might be heard outside +the church; but now, anxious to bring this dreadful task to an end, he +began to shake it with all his might in one last challenge to the +strange spirit. + +Bim! Bam! Boum! BOUM! Bim! + +Catanaugh jumped like a deer that hears the crackle of a twig behind it. +Here in the deep brazen voice of the marriage bells ringing out in the +belfry above him he thought he heard the answer his incantation had +forced from the white man's Okee. But the voice was so terrible, so +loud, that, forgetting the shaman's injunctions, forgetting everything +but his need to escape, he rushed to the door, unbolted it frantically +and ran, still pursued by the "him, barn, boum" till he reached the +fort, where the frightened sentries, who had no orders to keep any +Indian from _leaving_ the town, let the masked figure through the gates. + +Dr. James Buck, who with Dr. Whitaker, was to perform the ceremony, +arrived at the church just as the wedding party was starting from the +other end of the town. His foot hit against something. He stooped and +picked up a rattle and his fingers were covered with brown dust. Hastily +seizing a broom which stood in the vestry-room, he swept the tobacco +down the aisle and into a corner. The curious rattle he hid with the +replaced broom, to be investigated later. Then he took his stand in the +chancel, where Dr. Whitaker soon joined him, and through the open door +the two clergymen watched their flock approach. Most of them were men, +cavaliers as finely dressed, if their garments were somewhat faded, as +though they were to sit in Westminster Abbey; soldiers in leathern +jerkins; bakers, masons, carpenters, with freshly washed face and hands, +in their Sunday garments of fustian and minus workaday aprons; and the +few women were in figured tabbies and damasks. + +Now when the congregation had filled every seat and were lined up +against the walls, a number of Indians, all relatives of Pocahontas, +slipped in and stood silently with faces that seemed not alive except +for the keenness of their curious eyes. Them through the doorway came +Pocahontas and old Opechisco and Nautauquas. + +A sudden feeling of the wonder of this marriage overcame Alexander +Whitaker. This Indian maiden who was a creature of the woods, shy and +proud as a wild animal, was to be married by him to an Englishman with +centuries of civilization behind him. What boded it for them both and +for their races? + +Then with love for the maiden whom he had baptized and with faith in his +heart, he listened while Dr. Buck began, until he himself asked in a +loud, clear voice: + +"Rebecca, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?" + +After the feast was over the bride said to her husband, using his +Christian name shyly for the first time: + +"John, wilt thou walk with me into the forest a little?" + +And Rolfe, nothing loath to escape the noisy crowd, rose to go with her. + +"Why dost thou care to come here?" he asked when they found themselves +beyond the causeway in the woods flecked with the white of the +innumerable dogwood trees. + +"Because I feel Jamestown too small to-day, John; because I have ever +sought the forest when I was happy or sad; because it seemeth to me that +the trees and beasts would be hurt if I did not let them see me this +great day." + +"'Tis a pretty fancy, but a pagan one, my child," said Rolfe, frowning +slightly. + +But Pocahontas did not notice. She had caught a glimpse across the leafy +branches of the spotted sides of a deer, and she saw a striped chipmunk +peer at her from overhead. + +"Hey! little friends," she called out gaily to them, "here's Pocahontas +come to greet ye. Wish her happiness, that her nest may be filled with +nuts. Little Dancer, and cool shade, Bright Eyes, in hot noondays." Then +as two wood pigeons flew by she clapped her hands gently together and +cried: + +"Here's _my_ mate, Swift Wings, wish us happiness." + +And John Rolfe, sober Englishman that he was, felt uprise in him a new +kinship with all the breathing things of the world, and he wondered +whether this Indian maiden he had made his wife did not know more of the +secrets of the earth than the wise men of Europe. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF + + +Pocahontas, clothed in European garb, was returning to her home at +Varina from the river, whither she had accompanied John Rolfe half a +day's journey towards Jamestown. The boatmen had escorted her from the +skiff and now doffed their hats as she bade them come no further. + +In the two years which had passed since her marriage, the little Indian +maiden had learned many things: to speak fluently the language of her +husband's people, to wear in public the clothes of his countrywomen, and +to use the manners of those of high estate. She had always been +accustomed to the deference paid her as the daughter of the great +werowance, ruler over thirty tribes, and now she received that of the +English, who treated her as the daughter of a powerful ally. For +Powhatan had seen the wisdom of keeping peace between Werowocomoco and +Jamestown and its settlement up the river of Henrici, of which Rolfe's +estate, Varina, was a portion. + +Indeed, so stately was the manner of the Lady Rebecca that it was with +difficulty that many could recall the wide-eyed maiden who used to come +and go at Jamestown. + +Now as she ascended the hill her eyes rested upon the home Rolfe had +built for her. It was to the eyes of Englishmen, accustomed to the +spacious manor houses of their own country, little more than a cabin. +But to one who had seen nothing finer than the lodges of her father's +towns, it was a very grand structure indeed, with its solid framework of +oak, its four rooms, its chimney of brick and its furnishings sent over +from London. Her husband had promised her that they should bring back +many other wonderful arrangements when they returned from England. + +She was a little warm from her climb and was looking forward to the +moment when she could discard her clothes for her loose buckskin robe +and moccasins. Rolfe, though he did not forbid them altogether, was not +pleased at the sight of them; and Pocahontas this day was conscious of a +slight feeling of relief that there were to be several days of his +absence in which she could forget to be an Englishwoman. + +She might forget for a while but only for a while for she was a happy +and dutiful wife; but she could never forget that she was a mother, that +her wonderful little Thomas, not so white as his father, nor so dark as +herself, was waiting for her at the house. She hurried on, thinking of +the fun she would have with him: how she would take him down to a stream +and let him lie naked on the warm rocks, and how she would sing Indian +songs to him and tell him stories of the beasts in the woods, even if he +were too little to understand them. + +She had left him in his cradle where, protected by its high sides, he +was safe for hours at a time, and the workmen who were helping her +husband start a tobacco plantation at Varina looked in often to see if +he were all right. + +She entered the house and hurrying to the cradle, called out: + +"Little Rabbit, here I am." + +But when she bent over the side, behold! the cradle was empty. + +She looked in every room, but found no sign of him. Then she rushed to +the door and called. Three of the men came running, and they told her, +speaking one on top of the other, how half an hour after she and their +master had left one of them had gone to look at the child and found the +cradle empty. Since then they had been searching the place over, but +with no success. + +It was quite impossible for the child to have got away alone; yet who +would take him away? Indians or white folk, there was none in all +Virginia who would dare injure the grandchild of Powhatan. + +When she had listened to what they had to say, Pocahontas bade them go +and continue their search. When she was alone she sat down, not on the +carven chair a carpenter had made her in Jamestown, but on the floor, as +she had so often sat about the lodge fire when she wished to think hard. + +After a long period of absolute silence and motionlessness she rose, +took off her hat, gown and shoes and clothed herself in her Indian +garments. Now she knelt by the cradle and examined the floor carefully, +then the sill of the door and the ground in front of it. Something she +must have discovered, for she sniffed the air eagerly like a hound that +had found the scent. She weighed her decision a moment--should she turn +in the direction of Powhata, where she knew Powhatan was staying, or +should it be in the direction of Werowocomoco? She turned towards the +latter, and stooping every few minutes to examine the ground, proceeded +quickly on her quest. + +It was the slightest imprint here and there on the earth of a moccasined +foot which was the clue. Her brothers and sisters came to see her +occasionally; but what purpose could one of them have in stealing her +child? No hostile Indians any longer, thanks to the fear Powhatan's +might and the English guns had spread among them, were ever seen in this +part of the country; so while she hurried on she wondered whence this +Indian kidnapper could have come. That it was an Indian she was certain, +and that he bore the child she knew, because lying on a rock in the +trail she had found a piece of the chain of chinquapins she had amused +herself stringing together to place about little Thomas's neck. + +Now that she was on the right trail it did not enter her mind to return +to her husband's men for help or to send a messenger to Jamestown to +fetch him back. She knew well that she was far better fitted than any +white man to follow swiftly and surely the way her child had gone. It +might be, since the thief had several hours' advantage, that it would be +days before she could catch up with him; but if it took years and she +had to journey to the end of the world she would not falter nor turn +back for help. + +As she travelled through the forest in the quick step that was almost a +trot, the polish of her English life fell away from her as the leaves +fell from the trees above her. She forgot the happenings of the two +years since she had been the "Lady Rebecca," forgot her husband; and her +baby was no longer the heir of the Rolfes about to be taken across the +sea to be shown to his kinsmen; he was her papoose, and as she ran she +called out to him all the pet names the Indian mothers loved. When she +thought that he might be crying with terror or hunger she began to pray, +prayers that came from the depth of her heart that she might reach him +before he really suffered. But these prayers were not to the God of the +Christians, but to the Okee her fathers had worshipped. + +Many times the trail was almost invisible. There was little passing of +feet this way and in no place was there anything like a path. But +Pocahontas's eyes, keener than even in the days when they had rivalled +her brother's in following in play the trail the pursued did his best to +cover up, were never long at fault. The ground, the bushes from which +raindrops had been shaken, a broken twig--all helped her read the way +she was to go. If she could only tell whether she were gaining! + +What she would do when she came face to face with the thief she did not +know. If he were a strong man who defied her command to give up the +grandson of Powhatan, how should she compel him? She had started off so +hastily that she had not armed herself with any weapon. But she did not +doubt that in some way or other she would wrest her child from him. + +The sun was sinking; its beams, she saw, struck now the lower part of +the tree trunks. Seeing this, she quickened her step; once the night +fell she would have to lie down and wait for morning for fear of missing +the trail. + +It was almost dark when she reached a sort of open space the size of +three lodges width, where doubtless the coming of many wild beasts to +drink of a spring that bubbled up in the centre had worn down the +growth of young trees. On one side of the ground where moss and creeping +crowfoot grew, there were overhanging rocks which formed a small cave +not much deeper than a man's height. + +No longer could she see a footprint in the dusk, so Pocahontas sadly +prepared to spend the night in this shelter. She leaned down and drank +long from the spring, and taking off her moccasins, bathed her tired +feet in it. Then because she wanted a fire more for its companionship +than for the warmth, she gathered twigs, and twirling one in a bit of +rotten wood, soon produced a spark that lighted a cheerful blaze. + +There was nothing to be gained by staying awake. There was no one from +whom she had anything to fear except possibly the thief, and the sooner +they met the better pleased she would be. She was drowsy from the warmth +of the fire and tired from the long pursuit, so Pocahontas lay down at +the entrance of the cave, half within and half without, and in a moment +was fast asleep. + +Several times during the night she was half awakened by the sound of +some young animal crying--perhaps a bear cub, she thought sleepily, but +even were the mother bear nearby she had no fear of her. + +Later on she dreamed that the mother bear had come into the cave and was +sniffing her all over. She opened her eyes and saw the glow from the +embers reflected in a pair of eyes above her. + +"Go away, old Furry One!" she commanded drowsily. "I'm not afraid of +thee. Be off and let me sleep." + +But the sound of her own voice wakened her and she raised herself to a +sitting position to see whether the bear were obeying her. Against the +almost extinguished embers she saw the dim outlines--not of the beast +she expected, but of a human being! She sprang up, seized hold of it +with her right hand before the other had time to escape, and with her +left hand caught up some dried twigs and threw them on the remains of +the fire. The wood already heated, ignited at once; the blaze lighted up +the little forest room and Pocahontas beheld--Wansutis! + +"Where is my child?" cried Pocahontas. "What hast thou done with him? +And so it was thou who alone in all the world didst dare steal him from +me. What hast thou done with my son? Speak!" + +The old woman did not struggle under the firm grasp of the young strong +hands. She stood still as if alone, staring into the flames that +reddened the circle of trees as if they had been stained with blood. + +"What hast thou done with my son?" cried Pocahontas again. + +"What hast thou done with _my_ son?" asked the old woman, without +turning her head to look at Pocahontas. + +"Thy son! Claw-of-the-Eagle? Why! I sent thee word many moons ago, +Wansutis, that he was dead." + +"Hadst thou loved him he had not died." + +"I loved him as a sister, Wansutis; my fate lay not in my hands. But +Claw-of-the-Eagle is dead, and we mourn him, thou and I"--here she +loosened her grasp on the old woman's shoulder, "but my son is alive +unless--" + +Here a dreadful possibility made her shake like an aspen. + +"What hast thou done with my son, Wansutis? What didst thou want with +him?" + +Wansutis, who was now crouched down looking at the heart of the fire, +began to chant as if alone: + +"Wansutis's son died in battle. No stronger, fiercer brave was there in +all the thirty tribes, and Wansutis's lodge was empty and there was none +to hunt for her, to slay deer that she might feed upon fresh meat. Then +Wansutis saw a prisoner with strong body, though it was yet small, and +Wansutis had a new son, a swift hunter, whose face was ruddy by the +firelight, whose presence in her lodge made Wansutis's slumbers quiet. +And this son wanted a maiden for his squaw and went forth to play upon +his pipes before her. But the maiden would not listen and the river and +the maiden killed the brave son of Wansutis, and again her lodge was +lonely." + +She ceased for a moment, then as if she were reading the words in the +flames, she sang more slowly: + +"I am old, saith old Wansutis, yet I'll live for many harvests. I will +seek another son now; I will bring him to my wigwam. He shall watch me +and protect me; he will cheer me in the winters." + +Pocahontas interrupted her: + +"That then is the reason thou didst steal my child. Thou shalt not keep +him; he is not for thy lodge. He goeth with his father and with me to be +brought up in the houses of the English." + +There came a cry from the forest, the same cry she had heard in her +dreams. Without an instant's doubt, Pocahontas sprang into the blackness +and in a few moments came back with the baby in her arms. She squatted +down by the fire, and felt it over feverishly until she had convinced +herself that it was unharmed. + +Wansutis now rose. + +"Farewell, Princess," she said. "Wansutis will now be returning to her +lodge." + +Now that she had her child safe again, Pocahontas's kind heart began to +speak: + +"Wansutis, thou knowest I cannot let thee have my son; but if thou wilt +I will pray my father to give thee the next young brave he captures that +thou mayst no longer be lonely." + +"I will seek no more sons," answered the old woman; "perchance he might +set off for a far land and leave me even as thy father's daughter +leaveth him." + +"But I will return to him," protested Pocahontas. + +"Dost thou know that?" the old woman asked, leaning down and peering +directly into Pocahontas's face. Her gaze was so full of hatred that +Pocahontas drew back in terror. + +"I see a ship"--Wansutis began to chant again--"a ship that sails for +many days towards the rising sun; but I never see a ship that sails to +the sunset. I see a deer from the free forests and it is fettered and +its neck is hung with wampum and flowers; but the deer seeks in vain to +escape to its bed of ferns in the woodland. I see a bird that is caught +where the lodges are closer together than the pebbles on the seashore; +but I never see the bird fly free above their lodge tops. I hear the +crying of an orphan child; but the mother lieth where she cannot still +it." + +Pocahontas gazed in horrible fascination at the old woman who, with +another harsh laugh, vanished into the darkness. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XXII + +POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND + + +It was an eager, happy Pocahontas that set sail with her husband. Master +Rolfe, her child and last--but not in his own estimation--Sir Thomas +Dale. With them, too, went Uttamatomakkin, a chief whom Powhatan sent +expressly to observe the English and their ways in their own land. + +Everything interested Pocahontas on the voyage: the ship herself, the +hoisting and furling of sails in calms and tempests, the chanteys of the +sailors as they worked, the sight of spouting whales and, as they neared +the English coast, the magnificence of a large ship-of-war, a veteran, +so declared the captain, of the fleet which went so bravely forth to +meet the Spanish Armada. During the long evenings on deck Rolfe told her +stories of real deeds of English history and fancied romances of poets; +and all were equally wonderful to her. + +She could scarcely believe after she had sailed so many weeks over the +unchanging ocean, where there were not even the signs to go by that she +could read in the trackless forest, that there was land again beyond all +the water. It was a marvel which no amount of explanations could +simplify that men should be able to guide ships back and forth across +this waste. Perhaps this more than any of the wonders she was to see +later was what made her esteem the white men's genius most. + +And then one day a grey cloud rested on the eastern horizon. Pocahontas +saw a new look in her husband's face as he caught sight of it. + +"England!" he cried, and then he lifted little Thomas to his shoulder +and bade him, "Look at thy father's England." + +Even before they stepped ashore at Plymouth Pocahontas's impressions of +the country began. On board the ship came officers from the Virginia +Company to greet her and put themselves and the exchequer of the Company +at her disposal. Was she not the daughter of their Indian ally, a +monarch of whose kingdom and power they possessed but the most confused +idea. They had arranged, they said, suitable lodgings for Lady Rebecca, +Master Rolfe and their infant in London and--with much waving of plumed +hats and bowing--they would attend in every manner to her comfort and +amusement. + +These men were different from any Pocahontas had ever seen; the +colonists were all, willy nilly, workers, or at least adventure lovers. +These comfortable citizens were of a type as new to her as she to them. + +As they rode slowly on their way to London at every mile of the road she +cried out with delighted interest and questioned Rolfe without ceasing +about the timbered and stuccoed cottages, the beautiful hedges, the rich +farms and paddocks filled with horses and cattle. At midday and at night +when they stopped at the inns, she was eager to examine everything, from +the still-room to the fragrant attics where bunches of herbs hung from +the rafters. Yet even in her girlish eagerness she bore herself with a +dignity that never allowed the simplest to doubt that, in spite of her +dark skin, she was a lady of high birth. + +"Ah! John," she said, "this is so fair a land; I know not how thou +couldst leave it. I can scarcely wait when I lie abed at night for the +morn to come. There is ever something new, and new things, thou knowest, +have ever been delightful to my spirit." + +"And to mine also, Rebecca," he answered; "for that reason did I seek +Wingandacoa and rejoiced in its strangeness, even as thou dost rejoice +in the strangeness of my country." + +The nearer they drew to London the more there was to see. The highway +was filled with those coming and going from town; merchants, farmers +with their wares, butchers, travelling artisans, tinkers, peddlers, +gypsies, great ladies on horseback or in coaches, who stared at +Pocahontas, and gentlemen who questioned the servants about her. And +Pocahontas asked Rolfe about all of them, of their condition, their +manner of living and what their homes were like within. + +When they reached the outskirts of London the crowds increased so that +Pocahontas turned to Rolfe and asked: + +"Why do all the folk run hither and thither? Is there news of the return +of a war party or will they celebrate some great festival?" And she +could hardly believe that it was only a gathering such as was to be seen +every day. However, as soon as those in the crowd caught sight of her +they began to press more closely to gaze at her and at Uttamatomakkin, +who looked down at them as unconcernedly as if he had been accustomed +to such a sight all his life. Officers of the Virginia Company appeared +just then with a coach, into which they conducted Pocahontas, Rolfe and +little Thomas, so that they escaped from the curiosity of the crowd. + +The days that followed were filled with strange and new enjoyments. +Mantuamakers and milliners brought their wares, and Lady Rebecca soon +began to distinguish what was best in what they had to offer. She drove +in the parks, was rowed down the river in gorgeous barges, had her +portrait painted in a gold-trimmed red robe with white collar and cuffs +and a hat with a gold band upon it, received the great ladies who came +out of curiosity to see for themselves what an Indian princess might be +like. All of them had only kind things to say about "the gentle Lady +Rebecca." + +The Bishop of London was in especial interested in this heathen +noblewoman who had become a Christian. He was her escort on many +occasions and decided to give a great ball in her honour. + +"What will they do, Master Bishop?" she asked of the dignitary who had +grown as fond of this new lamb in his flock as if she were his own +daughter. "What will all the ladies do at a ball?" + +"They will dance." + +"Dance!" exclaimed Pocahontas in amazement, who had never seen any other +kind of dancing than that which she herself, clad in scant garments, had +been wont to practice before she became the wife of an Englishman. This, +she now knew, was not of a character suited for English ladies. So, some +days later, watching the stately measures and the low reverences of +ladies and their cavaliers, Pocahontas wondered what pleasure they could +find in such an amusement. + +"Perchance, though," she suggested to the good Bishop, "it is some +religious ceremony which I know not." + +The Bishop laughed so at this idea that Pocahontas could not help +laughing, too, though she did not understand what was funny in her +speech. + +After the dance was over the ladies came to be presented to Lady +Rebecca. They did not know what they ought to talk to the stranger +about; but one of them in a dull mouse-colored tabby, with sad-colored +ribbons, remarked languidly: + +"What a fine day we are having." + +"Fine!" exclaimed Pocahontas, looking up at the grey sky through the +window, which to be sure had not dropped any rain for twenty-four hours, +"but the sun is not shining. I should think here in England ye would +wear your gayest garments to brighten up the landscape." + +"Then the Lady Rebecca doth not like our country?" queried the dame in +grey. + +"Ah, but yea. In truth it pleaseth me mightily, all but the dark skies. +And they tell me that is because of the smoke of the city." + +Then Pocahontas's eyes caught sight of an older woman whom Rolfe was +escorting towards her. There was something about her appearance that was +very pleasing. She was a little above medium height, with hair silvered +in front and with cheeks as full of color as the roses she carried in +her hands. Pocahontas felt at once that here was a woman whom she could +love. Her manner was as dignified as that of any lady in the +assemblage, but there was a heartiness in her voice and in her glance +which made Pocahontas feel at home as she had not before felt in +England. + +"This is Lady De La Ware, whose husband, thou knowest, Rebecca, was +Governor of our Colony," said Rolfe, "and she hath brought these English +roses to thee." Then he strolled off, leaving the two women together. + +"They are very beautiful, thy flowers," said Pocahontas, smiling at them +and at their giver, "and sweeter than the blossoms that grow in my +land." + +"Yet those are wonderful, too. I have heard of many glorious trees and +vines which grow there and I would that I might see them." + +"If thou wilt cross the ocean with us when we return, I will show thee +many things that would be as strange to thee as thy land is to me. I +would take thee to my father, Powhatan, and he would give dances in +thine honour that would not be"--and she laughed again at the +thought--"like the ball my Lord Bishop giveth me." + +Lady De La Ware smiled, too. She had been told something about the +Indian customs. + +"Perhaps some day thou shalt take me to thy father's court; but now I am +come to take thee to that of our Queen. She hath expressed her desire to +see thee shortly. A letter which was written her by Captain John Smith +about thee hath made her all the more eager to do honour to one who hath +ever befriended the English." + +"Captain John Smith hath written to the Queen about me?" said +Pocahontas, marvelling. + +"In truth, and since his words seemed to me worthy of remembrance, I +have kept them in my mind." He begins: + +"'If ingratitude be a deadly poyson to all honest vertues, I must be +guiltie of that crime if I should omit any meanes to be thankfull. So it +is that some ten years ago being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the +power of Powhatan, their chief King, I received from this great savage +exceeding great courtesy, especially from his son, Nautauquas, the most +manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit I ever saw in a savage, and his +sister, Pocahontas, the King's most dear and well beloved daughter, +being but a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, whose +compassionate pitiful heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause +to respect her--she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save +mine ... the most and least I can do is to tell you this, because none +so oft tried it as myself, and the rather being of so great a spirit, +however her stature, if she should not be well received, seeing this +Kingdom may rightly have a Kingdom by her means--' And much more there +was, Lady Rebecca, which I cannot now recall." + +Lady De La Ware did not know that Pocahontas believed Smith dead, and +Pocahontas, not imagining anything else, thought Smith must have written +this letter from Jamestown before he died; and her heart grew warm +thinking how, even dying, he had done what he could for her happiness on +the mere chance of her going to England. The truth of the matter was +that Smith was then at Plymouth, making ready to start on an expedition +to New England; and though he did not expect to see Pocahontas, he +wished England, and first of all England's Queen, to know what they owed +this Indian girl. + +It happened not long after that "La Belle Sauvage," as the Londoners +sometimes called Pocahontas, and Rolfe were being entertained at a fair +country seat. An English girl, much of the age of her guest, whose +curiosity about the ways of the Indians was restrained only by her +courtesy, had been showing her through the beautiful old garden. They +had talked of Virginia, and Mistress Alicia coaxed: + +"Wilt thou not take me with thee. Lady Rebecca, when thou returnest +thither? + +"But see," and she peered through an opening in the high yew hedge, +"yonder cometh Master Rolfe with a party of gentlemen. Oh! one of them +is a brave figure of a man, though he weareth not such fine clothes as +some of the others. By my troth! 'tis Captain John Smith, and of course +he cometh to greet thee. I would I might stay to hear what ye two old +friends have to say to each other." + +It seemed to Pocahontas that hours elapsed during the few minutes she +was alone after Mistress Alicia left her, while her husband was guiding +her guests to her through the garden's winding mazes. How could Smith be +alive when she knew that he was dead? Even as she caught in the distance +the sound of his voice, she asked herself if in truth she had ever heard +of his death from anyone but the councillors in Jamestown. + +The well-known voice was no longer weak as when she had last heard it +bid her farewell. There they were, the gentlemen all bowing to her but +remaining in the background, while Rolfe came forward with Smith. + +"I have brought thee an old friend, Rebecca," he said. + +Pocahontas saluted him, but words were impossible. + +John Smith afterwards wrote concerning this interview: + +"After a modest salutation, without any word, she turned about, obscured +her face, as not seeming well contented, and in that humor her husband +with divers others, we all left her two or three hours." + +Seeing that she preferred to be alone, the men departed to talk over the +affairs of the Virginia Colony since Smith had left Jamestown. +Pocahontas, sitting quietly on a garden bench near the carp pond, went +over in her thought all that had taken place in her own life since then. + +Then she saw him coming towards her again, alone, and she stretched out +her hand to him. + +"My father," she cried, "dost thou remember the old days in Wingandacoa +when thou earnest first to Werowocomoco and wert my prisoner?" + +"I remember well. Lady Rebecca," he said, leaning down to kiss her hand, +"and I am ever thy most grateful debtor." + +"Call me not by that strange name. Matoaka am I for thee as always. Dost +thou remember when I came at night through the forest to warn thee?" + +"I remember, Matoaka; how could I forget it?" + +"Dost thou remember the day when, lying wounded before thy door, thou +didst make me promise to be ever a friend to Jamestown and the English?" + +"I have thought of it many a day." + +"I have kept my promise, Father, have I not?" + +"Nobly, Matoaka; but it is not meet that thou shouldst call me father." + +Then Pocahontas tossed her head emphatically, and this gesture brought +back to Smith the bright young Indian maiden who, for a moment, had +seemed to him disguised by the stately clothes of an English matron. + +"Thou didst promise Powhatan," she cried, "what was thine should be his, +and he the like to thee; thou calledst him father, being in his land a +stranger, and by the same reason so must I do thee." + +"But, Princess," he objected, "it is different here. The King would like +it not if I allowed it here; he might say it was indeed truth what mine +enemies say of me, that I plan to raise myself above them." + +"Wert thou afraid to come into my father's country and caused fear in +him and all his people but me, and fearest thou here I should call thee +father? I tell thee then I will and thou shalt call me child, and so +will I be for ever and ever thy countryman." + +Smith smiled at her eagerness, yet was deeply touched by it. + +"Call me then what thou wilt; I can fear no evil that might come to me +from thee." + +Pocahontas then spoke a few words to him in the Powhatan tongue, anxious +to see if he still remembered it. And he answered her in her language. +She was silent, but Smith could see that something was disturbing her. + +"What is it, Matoaka; what words wait to cross the ford of thy lips?" he +asked. + +"They did tell me always," she replied, "that thou wert dead and I knew +no more till I came to Plymouth, yet Powhatan did command +Uttamatomakkin to seek thee and know the truth, because thy countrymen +will lie much." + +"Think of it no more. Little Sister, if thou still let me call thee +that. I am not dead yet and I have many journeys to make. I thank fate I +had not yet sailed for that coast to the north of Jamestown they call +'New England,' so that I might greet thee once again. When I return we +shall have many more talks together." + +"I shall not be here, Father; we too shall set sail ere long. I have +been happy here in thy land, but I am now suffering from an illness they +tell me is called homesickness." + +"That is an illness which may be easily remedied, Matoaka. But when thou +art come again to Wingandacoa forget not the England and the friends +which can never forget thee." + + * * * * * + +In the days that followed Lady De La Ware, touched by the affection +Pocahontas manifested towards her, accompanied her everywhere, to the +wonderful masque written by the poet, Ben Jonson, which was performed at +the Twelfth Night festival, and to the play written by Master Will +Shakespeare that he called "The Tempest," which represented court folk +cast ashore on an island in the western ocean. + +Everything was so full of interest that her new life seemed to be +leading her further and further away from the old simple existence of +forest and river. Then came the presentation to the Queen, Anne of +Denmark, consort of James First of England and Sixth of Scotland. Lady +De La Ware had seen that Lady Rebecca's costume suited her dark skin and +hair. + +Before coming to the presence chamber there were many halls and +anterooms filled with courtiers and ladies, whose curious glances might +have dismayed any woman who had not grown accustomed to a life at court; +but Pocahontas passed on unconscious of them all. + +In the large hall which they entered last, hung with rich tapestries and +furnished with dark oaken chairs and settles covered with royal purple +velvet, a few pages and the Queen's ladies alone kept her company. As +Pocahontas and Lady De La Ware advanced, the Queen motioned every one +else to withdraw to the farther end of the chamber. She curtsied in +return to the obeisances made by Pocahontas and her sponsor, but did not +stretch forth her hand to be kissed as she would have done had she not +considered this stranger before her as a princess of royal blood. + +"I thank thee for coming," she said graciously. "I have much desired to +see thee. Captain Smith was right when he reminded me of what our people +owe thee, he most of all." + +"He was dear to my people also," answered Pocahontas. + +"Hath Your Majesty heard how men speak of Captain Smith in the Colony?" +asked Lady De La Ware. "My brother who is still at Jamestown wrote me +that one of the colonists regretting the great Captain's departure said +of him: + +"What shall I say of him but thus we lost him, that in all his +proceedings made justice his first guide, and experience his second, +ever hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity more than any dangers; +that never allowed more for himself than his soldiers with him; that +upon no danger would send them where he would not lead them himself; +that would never see us want what he either had or could get us; that +would rather want than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved +action more than words, and hated falsehood and covetousness more than +death; whose adventures were our lives, and whose loss our death.'" + +"Tell me of thy long voyage," then questioned her majesty; and seating +herself, made room for Pocahontas beside her, while Lady De La Ware +moved off to talk with one of the ladies. "I do not see how men, and +more especially women, dare trust themselves for so long on the sea. +When I had been married by proxy to my lord, the King, I tried to go by +ship from Denmark to Scotland, but the tempests were so fierce that we +had to put in to Norway, scarce saving our lives; and thither came my +gracious lord, against the prayers of his councillors who tried to +dissuade him from venturing his precious safety in winter storms. Oh! I +have no love of the sea." + +"I did not fear it," said Pocahontas, "but I thought it would never end. +Had I been alone, though, without my husband and my child"--then, not +knowing that court etiquette did not sanction the changing the subject +of conversation by any one but the sovereign, she asked: "And how many +children hast thou?" + +Queen Anne was pleased with her naturalness and told her of her son and +daughter and of the wonderful Prince Henry whom she had lost. + +While they sat talking about their children as quietly as two plain +housewives, there was a commotion at the end of the hall. The pages +seemed very excited and uncertain what they ought to do. However, they +could not have prevented if they would, and into the hall, clad in his +long mantle, moccasins and with his headdress of feathers, strode +Uttamatomakkin. Pocahontas, looking up, saw that he was examining +eagerly all the furnishings of the hall and then his gaze was bent upon +the Queen. + +"Is yon the squaw of the great white werowance?" he asked, "and is this +their ceremonial lodge? I have already beheld the King and he is a weak +little creature whom any child at Werowocomoco could knock down." + +"Who is he, and what doth he say?" asked the Queen, who was delighted at +his strange appearance. + +"It is one of my people, Madame, and he wishes to know if thou art +indeed the Queen that he may tell of thee when he returneth to +Wingandacoa." She did not think it wise to repeat the rest of his +remarks. + +The Queen, whose curiosity was great in regard to this strange race from +overseas of whom she had heard so many tales, beckoned to Uttamatomakkin +to come closer. The Indian walked stolidly to the dais where she stood. + +"What is this mantle made of?" asked the sovereign, taking up an end of +the painted and embroidered deerskin robe and rubbing it critically +between her fingers. + +Uttamatomakkin, thinking this was the English form of salutation and not +intending to be outdone in politeness, caught hold of Queen Anne's +velvet skirt, and to the accompaniment of little shrieks of dismay from +the ladies-in-waiting, fingered it in the same manner. + +"That must thou not do," remonstrated Pocahontas, trying not to laugh; +but Uttamatomakkin grunted: + +"Why should I not do what a squaw doth?" + +The Queen recovered her equanimity and in sign of her good will +unfastened a golden brooch and pinned it on the Indian's broad shoulder. +Then the chief broke off from his girdle a string of wampum, and before +any one realized what he intended doing, he had fastened it to a pearl +pin on the Queen's bodice. + +"I see I cannot get the better of him. Lady Rebecca," laughed her +Majesty; "but ask him what he doth with yon long stick." + +The pages, whose interest in this savage overcame for the moment their +habit of etiquette, had approached little by little towards the end of +the hall where he stood. They watched eagerly and with a certain dread +of the unknown while he took from his pouch a white stick and his knife +from his girdle. The stick, they saw, was covered with tiny nicks; and +the Indian, looking from one person to another, made many more marks on +the wand. + +"What is it thou dost, Uttamatomakkin?" asked Pocahontas. + +"The werowance, thy father, told me to mark and let him know when I +return how many white folk there were in this land. I made a cut for +each one I counted at first, but my stick is all but covered now and the +Powhatan will not know how the palefaces swarm here like bees in a +hollow tree." + +Pocahontas repeated to the Queen what he had said, and her Majesty was +greatly amused. + +"But thou dost not plan to return to Virginia for a long; time yet?" she +asked. + +"Much I like thy land, and its pleasant folk," answered Pocahontas as +she rose to go. "But the time draweth near for us to set sail westward +again. Farewell." + +Then, accompanied by Lady De La Ware and Uttamatomakkin, she left the +audience chamber. + +"The Lady Rebecca," said the Queen to her ladies when the curtains had +fallen behind Pocahontas, "is one of the gentlest ladies England hath +ever welcomed." + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Princess Pocahontas, by Virginia Watson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS *** + +***** This file should be named 16458-8.txt or 16458-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/5/16458/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Princess Pocahontas + +Author: Virginia Watson + +Illustrator: George Wharton Edwards + +Release Date: August 6, 2005 [EBook #16458] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /> +</div> + + + +<h1>THE PRINCESS +POCAHONTAS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>VIRGINIA WATSON</h2> + +<h5>Author of "WITH CORTES THE CONQUEROR"</h5> + + +<h4>WITH DRAWINGS AND DECORATIONS BY +GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS</h4> + + + +<h5>THE HAMPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY</h5> +<h5>NEW YORK</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="one" id="one"> <img src="images/1.jpg" alt="THE WHITE FIGURE MOVED RAPIDLY" +title="THE WHITE FIGURE MOVED RAPIDLY" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">THE WHITE FIGURE MOVED RAPIDLY</span> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/1de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>To most of us who have read of the early history of Virginia only in our +school histories, Pocahontas is merely a figure in one dramatic +scene—her rescue of John Smith. We see her in one mental picture only, +kneeling beside the prostrate Englishman, her uplifted hands warding off +the descending tomahawk.</p> + +<p>By chance I began to read more about the settlement of the English at +Jamestown and Pocahontas' connection with it, and the more I read the +more interesting and real she grew to me. The old chronicles gave me the +facts, and guided by these, my imagination began to follow the Indian +maiden as she went about the forests or through the villages of the +Powhatans.</p> + +<p>We are growing up in this new country of ours. And just as when children +get older they begin to feel curious about the childhood of their own +parents, so we have gained a new curiosity about the early history of +our country. The earlier histories and stories dealing with the Indians +and the wars between them and the colonists made the red man a devil +incarnate, with no redeeming virtue but that of courage. Now, however, +there is a new spirit of understanding. We are finding out how often it +was the Indian who was wronged and the white man who wronged him. Many +records there are of treaties faithfully kept by the Indians and +faithlessly broken by the colonists. Virginia was the first permanent +English settlement on this continent, and if not the <i>most</i> important, +at least equally as important to our future development as that of New +England. From how small a seed, sown on that island of Jamestown in +1607, has sprung the mighty State, that herself has scattered seeds of +other states and famous men and women to multiply and enrich America. +And amid what dangers did this seed take root! But for one girl's +aid—as far as man may judge—it would have been uprooted and destroyed.</p> + +<p>In truth, when I look over the whole world history, I can find no other +child of thirteen, boy or girl, who wielded such a far-reaching +influence over the future of a nation. But for the protection and aid +which Pocahontas coaxed from Powhatan for her English friends at +Jamestown, the Colony would have perished from starvation or by the +arrows of the hostile Indians. And the importance of this Colony to the +future United States was so great that we owe to Pocahontas somewhat the +same gratitude, though in a lesser degree, that France owes to her Joan +of Arc.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas's greatest service to the colonists lay not in the saving of +Captain Smith's life, but in her continued succour to the starving +settlement. Indeed, there are historians who have claimed that the story +of her rescue of Smith is an invention without foundation. But in +opposition to this view let me quote from "The American Nation: A +History." Lyon Gardiner Tyler, author of the volume "England in America" +says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The credibility of this story has been attacked.... Smith was + often inaccurate and prejudiced in his statements, but that is far + from saying that he deliberately mistook plain objects of sense or + concocted a story having no foundation."</p></div> + +<p>and from "The New International Encyclopaedia":</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Until Charles Deane attacked it (the story of Pocahontas's rescue + of Smith) in 1859, it was seldom questioned, but, owing largely to + his criticisms, it soon became generally discredited. In recent + years, however, there has been a tendency to retain it."</p></div> + +<p>It is in Smith's own writings, "General Historie of Virginia" and "A +True Relation," that we find the best and fullest accounts of these +first days at Jamestown. He tells us not only what happened, but how the +new country looked; what kinds of game abounded; how the Indians lived, +and what his impressions of their customs were. Smith was ignorant of +certain facts about the Indians with which we are now familiar. The +curious ceremony which took place in the hut in the forest, just before +Powhatan freed Smith and allowed him to return to Jamestown, was one he +could not comprehend. Modern historians believe that it was probably the +ceremony of adoption by which Smith was made one of the tribe.</p> + +<p>In many places in this story I have not only followed closely Smith's +own narrative of what occurred, but have made use of the very words in +which he recorded the conversations. For instance the incident related +on page <a href="#pg_101">101</a> was set down by Smith himself; on pages <a href="#pg_144">144</a>, <a href="#pg_154">154</a>, <a href="#pg_262">262</a> the +words are those of Smith as given in his history; on pages <a href="#pg_173">173</a>, <a href="#pg_195">195</a>, +<a href="#pg_260">260</a>, <a href="#pg_300">300</a> the words of Powhatan or Pocahontas as Smith relates them.</p> + +<p>There may be readers of this story who will want to know what became of +Pocahontas. She fell ill of a fever just as she was about to sail home +for Virginia and died in Gravesend, where she was buried. Her son Thomas +Rolfe was educated in England and went to Virginia when he was grown. +His daughter Jane married John Bolling, and among their descendants +have been many famous men and women, including Edith Bolling (Mrs. Galt) +who married President Woodrow Wilson.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/2de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#INTRODUCTION"><b>INTRODUCTION</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS"><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I. THE RETURN Of THE WARRIORS</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II. POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III. MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV. RUNNING THE GAUNTLET</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V. THE GREAT BIRDS</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI. JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII. A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII. POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX. SMITH'S GAOLER</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X. THE LODGE IN THE WOOD</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI. POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII. POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII. POWHATAN'S CORONATION</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV. A DANGEROUS SUPPER</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV. A FAREWELL</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI. CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII. POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII. A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX. JOHN ROLFE</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX. THE WEDDING</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI. ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF</b></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>CHAPTER XXII. POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND</b></a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class='ctr'> +<table summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td><a href="#one">The white figure moved rapidly</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#two">"We choose to-day," he cried</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#three">"Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#four">"I will lead the princess"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#five">Virginia in 1606—from Captain John Smith's Map</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#six">"Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas, "thou must not go"</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#seven">"Do not shoot, Mark!"</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/3de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /> +</div> + +<h2>THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></h2> + +<h4>THE RETURN OF THE WARRIORS</h4> + + +<p>Through the white forest came Opechanchanough and his braves, treading +as silently as the flakes that fell about them. From their girdles hung +fresh scalp locks which their silent Monachan owners did not miss.</p> + +<p>But Opechanchanough, on his way to Werowocomoco to tell The Powhatan of +the victory he had won over his enemies, did not feel quite sure that he +had slain all the war party against which he and his Pamunkey braves had +gone forth. The unexpected snow, coming late in the winter, had been +blown into their eyes by the wind so that they could not tell whether +some of the Monachans had not succeeded in escaping their vengeance. +Perhaps, even yet, so near to the wigwams of his brother's town, the +enemy might have laid an ambush. Therefore, it behooved them to be on +their guard, to look behind each tree for crouching figures and to +harken with all their ears that not even a famished squirrel might crack +a nut unless they could point out the bough on which it perched.</p> + +<p>Opechanchanough led the long thin line that threaded its way through the +broad cutting between huge oaks, still bronze with last year's leaves. +He held his head high and to himself he framed the words of the song of +triumph he meant to sing to The Powhatan, as the chief of the Powhatans +was called. Then, suddenly before his face shot an arrow.</p> + +<p>At a shout from their leader, the long line swung itself to the right, +and fifty arrows flew to the northward, the direction from which danger +might be expected. Still there was silence, no outcry from an ambushed +enemy, no sign of other human creatures.</p> + +<p>Opechanchanough consulted with his braves whence had the arrow come; and +even while they talked, another arrow from the right whizzed before his +face.</p> + +<p>"A bad archer," he grunted, "who cannot hit me with two shots." Then +pointing to a huge oak that forked half way up, he commanded:</p> + +<p>"Bring him to me."</p> + +<p>Two braves rushed forward to the tree, on which all eyes were now fixed. +It was difficult to distinguish anything through the falling snow and +the mass of its flakes that had gathered in the crotch. All was white +there, yet there was something white which moved, and the two braves on +reaching the tree trunk yelled in delight and disdain.</p> + +<p>The white figure moved rapidly now. Swinging itself out on a branch and +catching hold of a higher one, it seemed determined to retreat from its +pursuers to the very summit of the tree. But the braves did not waste +time in climbing after it; they leapt up in the air like panthers, +caught the branch and swung it vigorously back and forth so that the +creature's feet slipped from under it and it fell into their +outstretched arms.</p> + +<p>Not waiting even to investigate the white bundle of fur, the warriors, +surrounded by their curious fellows, bore it to Opechanchanough, and +laid it on the ground before him. He knelt and lifted up the cap of +rabbit skin with flapping ears that hid the face, then cried out in +angry astonishment:</p> + +<p>"Pocahontas! What meaneth this trick?"</p> + +<p>And the white fur bundle, rising to her feet, laughed and laughed till +the oldest and staidest warrior could not help smiling. But +Opechanchanough did not smile; he was too angry. His dignity suffered at +thus being made the sport of a child. He shook his niece, saying:</p> + +<p>"What meaneth this, I ask? What meaneth this?"</p> + +<p>Pocahontas then ceased laughing and answered:</p> + +<p>"I wanted to see for myself how brave thou wert. Uncle, and to know just +how great warriors such as ye are act when an enemy is upon them. I am +not so bad an archer, Uncle; I would not shoot thee, so I aimed beyond +thee. But it was such fun to sit up there in the tree and watch all of +you halt so suddenly."</p> + +<p>Her explanation set most of the party laughing again.</p> + +<p>"In truth, is she well named," they cried—"Pocahontas, Little Wanton."</p> + +<p>"I have yet another name," she said to an old brave who stood nearest +her. "Knowest thou it not?—Matoaka, Little Snow Feather. Always when +the moons of popanow (winter) bring us snow it calls me out to play. +'Come, Snow Feather,' it cries, 'come out and run with me and toss me up +into the air.'"</p> + +<p>Her uncle had now recovered his calm and was about to start forward +again. Turning to the two who had captured Pocahontas, he commanded:</p> + +<p>"Since we have taken a prisoner we will bear her to Powhatan for +judgment and safekeeping. Had we shot back into the tree she might have +been killed. See that she doth not escape you."</p> + +<p>Then he stalked ahead through the forest, paying no further attention to +Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>The young braves looked sheepishly at each other and at their captive, +not at all relishing their duty. Opechanchanough was not to be +disobeyed, yet it was no easy thing to hold a young maid against her +will, and no force or even show of force might be used against a +daughter of the mighty werowance (chieftain).</p> + +<p>Seeing their uncertainty, Pocahontas started to run to the left and they +to pursue her. They came up with her before she had gone as far as three +bows' lengths and led her back gently to their place in the line. Then +she walked sedately along as if unconscious of their presence, until +they were off their guard, believing she had resigned herself to the +situation, when she sprang off to the right and was again captured and +led back. She knew that they dared not bind her, and she took advantage +of this to lead them in truth a dance, first to one side and then to the +other. Behind them their comrades jeered and laughed each time the +maiden ran away.</p> + +<p>The regular order of the warpath was now no longer preserved. They had +advanced to a point where there was no longer any possibility of danger +from hostile attack. Werowocomoco lay now but a short distance away; +already the smoke from its lodges could be seen across the cleared +fields that surrounded the village of Powhatan. The older warriors were +walking in groups, talking over their deeds of valor performed that day, +and praising those of several of the young braves who had fought for the +first time. Pocahontas and her captors had now fallen further behind.</p> + +<p>Though well satisfied with the results of her enterprise and amusement, +Pocahontas had no mind to be brought into her home as a captive, even +though it be half in jest. Her father might not consider it so amusing +and, moreover, she did not like to be outwitted. She was so busy +thinking that she forgot to continue her game and walked quietly ahead, +keeping up with the longer strides of the warriors by occasional little +runs forward. The braves, their own heads full of their first campaign, +kept fingering lovingly the scalps at their girdles, and paid little +attention to her.</p> + +<p>She stooped as if to fasten her moccasin, then, as their impetus carried +them a few feet ahead of her before they stopped for her to come up, she +darted like a flash to the left and had slid down into a little hollow +before they thought of starting after her.</p> + +<p>It was now almost dark and her white fur was indistinguishable against +the snow below. Before they had reached the bottom, Pocahontas, who knew +every inch of the ground that was less familiar to men from her uncle's +village, had slipped back into the forest which skirted the fields the +pursuers were now speeding across, and was lost at once in the darkness.</p> + +<p>Opechanchanough knew nothing of this escape. He meant to explain to his +royal brother how much mischief a child might do who was not kept at +home performing squaw duties in her wigwam. And Powhatan's favorite +daughter or not, Pocahontas should be kept waiting outside her father's +lodge until he had related his important business and had recounted all +the glorious deeds done by his Pamunkeys.</p> + +<p>Now they had come to Werowocomoco itself, and the noise of their +shoutings and of their war drums brought the inhabitants running out of +their wigwams. As the Pamunkeys were an allied tribe, their cause +against a common enemy was the same, yet the rejoicings at the victory +against the Monachans was somewhat less than it would have been had the +conquerors been Powhatans themselves. However, Opechanchanough and his +braves could not complain of their reception, and runners sped ahead to +advise Powhatan of their coming, while all the population of their +village crowded about them, the men questioning, the boys fingering the +scalps and each boasting how many he would have at his girdle when he +was grown.</p> + +<p>The great Werowance was not in his ceremonial lodge but in the one in +which he ordinarily slept and ate when at Werowocomoco. Opechanchanough +paused at the opening of the lodge and ordered:</p> + +<p>"When I call out then bring ye in Pocahontas, and we shall see what +Powhatan thinks of a squaw child that shoots at warriors."</p> + +<p>The lodge was almost dark when he entered it. Before the fire in the +centre he could see his brother Powhatan seated, and on each side of him +one of his wives. Then he made out the features of his nephew Nautauquas +and Pocahontas' younger sister, Cleopatra (for so it was the English +later understood the girl's strange Indian name). They had evidently +just been eating supper and the dogs behind them were gnawing the wild +turkey bones that had been thrown to them. At Powhatan's feet crouched a +child in a dark robe, with face in the shadow.</p> + +<p>Powhatan greeted his brother gravely and bade him be seated. The lodge +soon filled with braves packed closely together, and about the opening +crowded all who could, and these repeated to the men and squaws left +outside the words that were spoken within.</p> + +<p>Proudly Opechanchanough began to tell how he had tracked the Monachans +to a hill above the river, and how he and his war party had fallen upon +them, driving them down the steep banks, slaying and scalping, even +swimming into the icy water to seize those who sought to escape. And The +Powhatan nodded in approval, uttering now and again a word of praise. +When Opechanchanough had finished his recital the shaman, or +medicine-man, rose and sang a song of praise about the brave Pamunkeys, +brothers of the Powhatans.</p> + +<p>Then, one after another, Opechanchanough's braves told of their personal +exploits.</p> + +<p>"I," sang one, "I, the Forest Wolf, have devoured mine enemy. Many suns +shall set red between the forest trees, but none so red as the blood +that flowed when my sharp knife severed his scalp lock."</p> + +<p>And as each recited his deeds his words were received with clappings of +hands and grunts of approval.</p> + +<p>Powhatan gave orders to open the guest lodge and to prepare a feast for +the victors. Then Opechanchanough rose again to speak. After he had +finished another song of triumph, he turned to Powhatan and asked:</p> + +<p>"Brother, how long hath it been that thy warriors keep within their +lodges, leaving to young squaws the duty of sentinels who cannot +distinguish friends from foes?"</p> + +<p>Powhatan gazed at the speaker in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou mean by such strange words?" asked the chief.</p> + +<p>"As we returned through the forest," explained Opechanchanough, "before +we reached the boundary of thy fields, while we still believed that a +part of the Monachans might lie in ambush for us there, an arrow, shot +from the westward, flew before my face. Then came a second arrow out of +the branches of an oak tree. We took the bowman prisoner, and what +thinkest thou we found?—a squaw child!"</p> + +<p>"A squaw child!" repeated Powhatan in astonishment. "Was it one of this +village?"</p> + +<p>"Even so. Brother. I have her captive outside that thou mayst pronounce +judgment upon one who endangers thus the life of thy brother and who +forgetteth she is not a boy. Bring in the prisoner," he commanded.</p> + +<p>But no one came forward. The young braves to whom Pocahontas had been +entrusted kept wisely on the outskirts of the crowd.</p> + +<p>Then the little sombre figure at Powhatan's feet rose and stood with +the firelight shining on her face and dark hair and asked in a gentle +voice:</p> + +<p>"Didst thou want me, mine uncle?"</p> + +<p>"Pocahontas," exclaimed Opechanchanough, "how camest thou here ahead of +us, and in that dark robe?"</p> + +<p>"Pocahontas can run even better than she can shoot. Uncle, and the +changing of a robe is the matter but of a moment."</p> + +<p>"What meaneth this, Matoaka?" asked Powhatan, making use of her special +intimate name, which signified Little Snow Feather. He spoke in a low +tone, but one so stern that Cleopatra shivered and rejoiced that she was +not the culprit.</p> + +<p>"It was but a joke, my father," answered Pocahontas. "I meant no harm." +She hung her head and waited until he should speak again.</p> + +<p>"I will have no such jokes in my land," he said angrily, "remember +that."</p> + +<p>With a gesture of his hand and a whispered word of command he sent the +Pamunkey braves to the guest lodge. Opechanchanough, still angry at the +ridicule that a child had brought upon him, lingered to ask;</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou not punish her?"</p> + +<p>"Surely I will," Powhatan answered. "Go ye all to the guest lodge and I +will follow. Away, Nautauquas, and carry my pipe thither."</p> + +<p>They were now alone in the lodge, the great chief over thirty tribes and +his daughter, who still stood with downcast head. The Powhatan gazed at +her curiously. She waited for him to speak, then as he kept silent, she +turned and looked straight into his face and asked:</p> + +<p>"Father, dost thou know how hard it is to be a girl? Nautauquas, my +brother, is a swift runner, yet I am fleeter than he. I can shoot as +straight as he, though not so far. I can go without food and drink as +long as he. I can dance without fatigue when he is panting. Yet +Nautauquas is to be a great brave and I—thou bidst remember to be a +squaw. Is it not hard, my father? Why then didst thou give me strong +arms and legs and a spirit that will not be still? Do not blame me. +Father, because I must laugh and run and play."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she slipped to her knees and embraced his feet and when she +had ceased speaking, she smiled up fearless into his face.</p> + +<p>Powhatan tried not to be moved by the child's pleading. Yet he was a +chief who always harkened to the excuses made by offenders brought +before him and judged them justly, if sometimes harshly. This child of +his was as dear to him as a running stream to summer heat. If at times +its spray dashed too high, could he be angry?</p> + +<p>And Pocahontas, seeing that his anger had gone from him, stood up and +laid her head against his arm. She did not have to be told that the +mighty Powhatan loved no wife nor child of his as he loved her. Then his +hand stroked her soft hair and cheek, and she knew that she was +forgiven.</p> + +<p>"Thine uncle is very angry," he said.</p> + +<p>"If thou couldst but have seen him. Father, when the arrow whizzed," and +she laughed gaily in memory of the picture.</p> + +<p>"I have promised to punish thee."</p> + +<p>"Yea, as thou wilt." But she did not speak as if afraid.</p> + +<p>"Hear what I charge thee," he said in mock solemnity. "Thou shalt +embroider for me with thine own hands—thou that carest not for squaw's +needles—a robe of raccoon skin in quills and bits of precious shells."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas laughed.</p> + +<p>"That is no punishment. 'Tis a strange thing, but when I do things I +like not for those I love, why, then I pleasure in doing them. I will +fashion for thee such a robe as thou hast never seen. Oh! I know how +beautiful it will be. I will make new patterns such as no squaw hath +ever dreamed of before. But thou wilt never be really angry with me. +Father, wilt thou?" she questioned pleadingly. "And if I should at any +time do what displeaseth thee, and thou wearest this robe I make thee, +then let it be a token between us and when I touch it thou wilt forgive +me and grant what I ask of thee?"</p> + +<p>And Powhatan promised and smiled on her before he set forth for the +guest lodge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"> +<img src="images/6de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h4>POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN</h4> + + +<p>Some months later on there came a hot day such as sometimes appears in +the early spring. The sun shone with almost as much power as if the corn +were high above the ground in which it had only just been planted with +song and the observance of ancient sacred rites and dances. Little +leaves glistened like fish scales, as they gently unfurled themselves on +the walnut and persimmon trees about Werowocomoco, and in the forest the +ground was covered with flowers. The children tied them together and +tossed them as balls to and fro or wound them into chaplets for their +hair; the old squaws searched among them for certain roots and leaves +for dyes to stain the grass cloth they spun, called pemmenaw.</p> + +<p>The boys played hunters, pretending their dogs were wild beasts, but the +bears and wolves did not always understand the parts assigned them and +frolicked and leaped up in delight upon their little masters instead of +turning upon them ferociously. The elder braves lay before their lodges, +many of them idling in the sunshine, others busied themselves making +arrows, fitting handles to stone knives or knotting crab nets. Two +slaves, brought home prisoners by a war party, were hollowing out a +dugout, which the Powhatans used instead of the birchbark canoes +preferred by other tribes. They had cut down an oak tree that, judging +from its rings, must have been an acorn when Powhatan was a papoose, +seventy years before. They had burned out a portion of the outer and +inner bark and were now hacking at the heart of the wood with sharp +obsidian axes.</p> + +<p>The squaws were also all busy out of doors, though they chatted in +groups as eagerly as if their energy were being expended by their +tongues only. Many were at work scraping deerskin to soften it before +they cut it into robes for themselves or into moccasins for the men. +Here and there little puffs of smoke that seemed to come from beneath +the earth testified to the dinners that were being cooked under heated +stones.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas was seated upon a small hill overlooking the village. As the +chief's daughter, it was only on special occasions and as an honored +guest, that she joined the knots of squaws or maidens chatting before +the wigwams. But she was not alone now in solitary grandeur. She was +accustomed to surround herself, when she desired company, with a number +of younger girls of the tribe who obeyed her, less because she was the +daughter of the feared werowance, than because she had a way with her +that made it pleasant to do as she willed and difficult to oppose her. +Cleopatra, her youngest sister, sat beside her, trying to coax a +squirrel on the branch above them to come down and eat some parched corn +from her hands.</p> + +<p>Over Pocahontas's knees was spread a robe of raccoon skin, smooth, +painted in a wide border. Along the edge of this she was embroidering a +deep pattern of white beads made from sea shells. A basket of reeds +beside her was full of other beads, large and small, white, red, yellow +and blue.</p> + +<p>"What doth thy pattern mean, Pocahontas?" asked the girl nearest her. +"As it is not one any of our mothers hath ever wrought before, thou must +have a meaning for it in thy mind." "Yes," assented the worker, "it +differeth from all other patterns because my father differeth from all +other werowances. It meaneth this that I sing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Powhatan is a mighty chief,<br /></span> +<span>As long as the river floweth,<br /></span> +<span>As long as the sky upholdeth,<br /></span> +<span>As long as the oak tree groweth,<br /></span> +<span>So long shall his name be known.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"See, this line is for the river, this one that goeth up straight is the +oak tree and this long line all wavy is the heavens. I make this for my +father because I am so proud of him."</p> + +<p>"But why, Pocahontas," asked another of her companions, "dost thou not +use more of these red beads? They are so like fire, like the blood of an +enemy; why dost thou refer the white?"</p> + +<p>Pocahontas held her bone needle still for a moment and her face wore a +puzzled expression.</p> + +<p>"I cannot answer thee exactly, Deer-Eye, since I do not know myself. I +love the white beads as I love best to wear a white robe myself, or a +white rabbit hood in winter. In the woods I always pick the white +flowers, and I love the white wild pigeon best of all the birds except +the white seagull. And the white soft clouds high in the heavens I love +better than the red and yellow ones when the sun goeth down to sleep in +the west. Yet I cannot say why it is so."</p> + +<p>As noon approached the day grew hotter, and the fingers wearied of the +work. Down in the village the men had ceased their activities and lay +stretched out on the shady side of the lodges; only the squaws preparing +dinner were still busy.</p> + +<p>"Let us go to the waterfall," cried Pocahontas, jumping up suddenly. +"Each of you go and beg some food from her mother and hurry back here. I +will put my work away and await ye here."</p> + +<p>The maidens flew down the hill while Pocahontas and Cleopatra carried +the robe and the basket to their lodge. Then, a few minutes later, they +were rejoined by their companions and all started off laughing as they +ran through the woods.</p> + +<p>The stream that flowed into the great river below was now still wide +with its spring fulness. A mile away from Werowocomoco it fell over high +rocks, then rushing down a gentle incline bubbled over smooth rocky +slabs, and made a deep pool below them.</p> + +<p>The maidens tossed off their skirts and stood for a moment hesitatingly +on the shore. Mocking-birds sang in the oaks above them, startled by +their shrill young voices, and on the bare branches of a sycamore tree +that had been killed by a lightning bolt a score of raccoons lay curled +up in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas was the first to spring into the stream, but her comrades +quickly followed her, laughing, pushing, crying out the first chill of +the water. Only Cleopatra remained standing on the shore.</p> + +<p>"Come," called Pocahontas to her; "why dost thou tarry, lazy one?"</p> + +<p>"I will not come. The water is too cold."</p> + +<p>Cleopatra was about to slip on her skirt again when her sister splashed +through the stream to her and half pushed, half pulled her into the pool +and then to the rocks partly submerged in the water. There was much +screaming and calling, slipping from the rocks into the pool and +clambering from the pool back on to the rocks. The water was now +pleasantly warm and the dinner awaiting them was forgotten in the +pleasure of the first bath of the season.</p> + +<p>Deer-Eye, in trying to pull herself back on the rock, caught hold of +Cleopatra's foot, who slipped on the mossy surface and fell backwards +into the water, hitting her head against a sharp edge. She lost +consciousness and sank down into the pool.</p> + +<p>Almost before she had disappeared beneath the water Pocahontas had +sprung after her, and groping about on the fine smooth sand of the +bottom, she caught hold of her sister and brought her to the surface.</p> + +<p>Then, with the aid of the terrified maidens, she lifted her up on the +bank, the blood flowing freely from a cut on her head. After vainly +trying to staunch the wound with damp moss, Pocahontas commanded:</p> + +<p>"Hasten as though the Iroquois were coming, and cut me some strong +branches."</p> + +<p>They obeyed her, hurriedly throwing their skirts about them, and then +with their stone knives severed branches and tied them together with +deer thongs which they tore from the fringe of their girdles. On top of +these they placed leafy branches and lifted the unconscious Cleopatra on +to this improvised stretcher. In spite of their remonstrances, +Pocahontas insisted upon taking one end of it, while the strongest two +of her playmates bore the other.</p> + +<p>Through the woods they walked, as silent now as they had been noisy +before, but Pocahontas thought her heart-beats sounded as loud as the +war drums of the Pamunkeys.</p> + +<p>They were still distant many minutes' walk to the village when they +caught sight of Pochins, a medicine man famous among many tribes for his +powerful manitou, his guardian spirit, which enabled him to communicate +with the manitous of the spirit world.</p> + +<p>"Pochins, oh Pochins," cried out Pocahontas, "come and help us. I fear +my sister is dying, and that I have killed her. She did not wish to go +into the water, Pochins, and I pulled her in and now she hath cut her +head and the blood floweth from it so that I can not stop it."</p> + +<p>The shaman made no answer, but bent down from his great height and +looked carefully at the wound, then he took the end of the stretcher +from Pocahontas, saying:</p> + +<p>"I will bear her to my prayer lodge here nearby."</p> + +<p>Even then through the trees they caught sight of the bark covering of +the lodge, which few persons had ever entered. The maidens shuddered at +the sight of it, for none of them knew what mysterious terrors might lie +in wait for them there. Nevertheless they followed Pochins as he bore +Cleopatra inside and laid her on the ground. From an earthen bowl he +took certain herbs and bound the leaves, after he had moistened them, +over the wound. Soon Pocahontas, crouching at her sister's side, could +see that the blood had ceased to flow. But no sign of life could be +detected in the little body lying there. The hands and feet were clammy +and though Pocahontas rubbed them vigorously, she could feel no warmth +stirring in them.</p> + +<p>The shaman paid, however, no further heed to her. From another bowl he +took out a rattle of gourd, and from a peg on one of the rounded +supports of the roof he lifted down a horrible mask painted in scarlet, +and this he fastened over his face. Then, waving the children out of the +way, he began to dance about the two sisters and to chant in a loud +voice, shaking the rattle till it seemed as if the din must waken a dead +person.</p> + +<p>"My medicine is a mighty medicine," he exclaimed in his natural voice to +Pocahontas. "Wait a little and thou shalt see what wonders it can do."</p> + +<p>And indeed in a few moments Pocahontas felt the pulse start in her +sister's arm, saw her eyelids quiver and her feet grow warm. And when +the shouting and the shaking of the rattle grew even louder and more +hideous, Cleopatra opened her eyes and looked about her in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Mighty indeed is the medicine (the magic) of Pochins," cried the shaman +proudly as he laid aside mask and rattle; "it hath brought this maiden +back from the dead."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas now had to soothe the child, terrified by the sights she had +seen and the sounds she had heard. She patted her arms and spoke to her +as if she were a papoose on her back:</p> + +<p>"Fear not, little one, no evil shall come to thee. Pocahontas watcheth +over thee. She will not close her eyes while danger prowleth about. Fear +naught, little one."</p> + +<p>And Cleopatra clung to her, feeling a sense of security in her sister's +fearlessness.</p> + +<p>By this time the news of the accident had spread through the village and +several squaws, led by Cleopatra's mother, came running to Pochins's +lodge. Finding Cleopatra was able to rise, they carried her back with +them. The other maidens, now the excitement was over, remembered their +empty stomachs and hurried off to recover the dinner they had left +behind at the waterfall.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas did not go with them. She still sat on the ground beside the +medicine man while he busied himself painting the mask where the color +had worn off.</p> + +<p>"Shaman," she asked, "tell me where went the manitou of my sister while +she lay there dead?"</p> + +<p>"On a distant journey," he answered; "therefore I had to call so loudly +to make it hear me and return."</p> + +<p>"Who taught thee thy medicine?" she questioned again.</p> + +<p>"The Beaver, my manitou, daughter of Powhatan," he answered.</p> + +<p>"And who then will teach me; how shall I learn?"</p> + +<p>"Thou needest not such knowledge, since thou art neither a medicine man +nor a brave. I, Pochins, will call to Okee, the Great Spirit, for thee +when thou hast need of anything, food or raiment or a chief to take thee +to his lodge."</p> + +<p>"But I should like to do that myself, Pochins," she remonstrated. "Thou +dost not know how many things I long to do myself. Let me put on thy +mask and take thy rattle, just to see how they feel."</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay, touch them not," he cried, stretching out his hand. "The +Beaver would be angry with us and would work evil medicine on us."</p> + +<p>Pochins was not fond of children. His dignity was so great that he never +even noticed them as he strode through the village. But the eager look +in Pocahontas's eyes seemed to draw words out of him. He began to talk +to her of the many days and nights he had spent alone, fasting, in the +prayer lodge until some message came to him from Okee, some message +about the harvest or the success of a hunting party. Pocahontas was so +interested that she asked him many questions.</p> + +<p>"Tell me of Michabo, Michabo, the Great Hare," she coaxed, as she moved +over on a mat Pochins had spread for her.</p> + +<p>"Hearken, then, daughter of The Powhatan," he began, his voice changing +its natural tone to one of chanting, "to the story of Michabo as it is +told in the lodges of the Powhatans, the Delawares and of those tribes +who dwell far away beyond our forests, away where abideth the West Wind +and where the Sun strideth towards the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Michabo dived down into the water when there was no land and no beast +and no man or woman and he was lonely. From the bottom took he a grain +of fine white sand and bore it safely in his hand in his journey upward +through the dark waters. This he cast upon the waves and it sank not but +floated like a tiny leaf. Then it spread out, circling round and round, +wider and wider as the rings widen when thou casteth a stone into a +still lake, till it had grown so large that a swift young wolf, though +he ran till he dropped of old age, could not come to its ending. This +earth rose all covered with trees and hills and beasts and men and +women, and Michabo, the Great Hare, the Spirit of Light, the Great White +One, hunted through earth's forests and he fashioned strong nets for +fishing and he taught the stupid men, who knew naught, how to hunt also +and to catch fish that they might not die of hunger.</p> + +<p>"But Michabo had mightier deeds to do than the slaying of the fat deer +or the netting of the salmon. His father was the mighty West Wind, +Ningabiun, and he had slain his wife, the mother of Michabo. So when +Michabo's grandmother had told him of the misdeeds of his father, +Michabo rose up and called out to the four corners of the world: 'Now go +I forth to slay the West Wind to avenge the death of my mother.'</p> + +<p>"At last he found Ningabiun on the top of a high mountain, his cheeks +puffed out and his headdress waving back and forth. At first they talked +peacefully together and the West Wind told Michabo that only one thing +in all the world could bring harm to him, and that was the black rock.</p> + +<p>"'Wert thou the cause of my mother's death?' questioned Michabo, his +eyes flashing, and Ningabiun calmly answered 'Yes.'</p> + +<p>"So Michabo in his fury picked up a piece of black rock and struck at +Ningabiun with all his might. A terrible conflict was this, such as hath +never been seen since; the earth shook and the lightnings flashed down +the sides of the mountain. So great was Michabo's strength that the West +Wind was driven backwards. Over mountains and lakes Michabo drove him +and across wide rivers, till they two came to the very brink of the +world. Ningabiun feared that his son was going to push him off and cried +out:</p> + +<p>"Hold, my son, thou knowest not my power and that it is impossible to +kill me. Desist and I will portion out to thee as much power as I have +given to thy brothers. The four quarters of the globe are theirs, but +thou canst do more than they, if thou wilt help the people of the earth. +Go and do good, and thy fame will last forever.'</p> + +<p>"So Michabo ceased from the battle and went down to help our fathers in +the hunt and in the council and in the prayer-lodge; but to this day +great cliffs of black rock show where Michabo strove with his father, +the West Wind."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"> +<img src="images/4de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h4>MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST</h4> + + +<p>Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was returning at night through the forest +towards his lodge at Werowocomoco. Over his shoulder hung the deer he +had gone forth to slay. His mother had said to him:</p> + +<p>"Thy leggings are old and worn, and thou knowest that good luck cometh +to the hunter wearing moccasins and leggings made from skins of his own +slaying. Go thou forth and kill a deer that I may soften its hide and +make a covering of it for thy feet."</p> + +<p>So Nautauquas had taken his bow and a quiver of arrows, and while +Pocahontas and Cleopatra were sporting at the waterfall he had sought a +pond whose surface was all but covered with fragrant water lilies, and +he had hidden behind a sumac, bush, waiting patiently till a buck came +down alone to drink. Only one arrow did he spend, which found its place +between the wide branched antlers; then the hunter had waded into the +pond, pushing aside the lily pads, and with one cut of his knife he had +put an end to the struggling deer. Now he was bearing it home and he +thought with eagerness of the savory meat it would yield him on the +morrow. There was no doubt that he would have appetite ready for it, as +all day long he had eaten nothing. It had been easy enough for him to +have killed a squirrel and roasted it, but Nautauquas, knowing it was +part of a brave's training to accustom himself to hunger, often fasted a +long time voluntarily.</p> + +<p>The night was a dark one, but now that the moon had risen, long vistas +of light shone down the forest avenues, generally at that time so free +from underbrush. Nautauquas, looking up through the branches at the +moon, thought how it was the squaw of the sun and remembered the queer +tales the old women were fond of relating about it.</p> + +<p>Suddenly before him he saw a creature dancing down the moon-path, +whirling and springing about while a pair of rabbits, that were startled +in crossing the path, scurried off into a clump of sassafras bushes +nearby. Then, as if reassured, they sat there calmly, even when the +dancing figure came closer to them. And Nautauquas heard singing, though +the words of the song did not come to his ears. He slipped behind an oak +tree and watched the dancer advance. Now that it was nearer he +discovered that it was a young girl; her only garment, a skirt of white +buckskin, napped against her firm bare brown legs and a necklace of +white shells clicked as she spun about. In the branches above some +squirrels, awakened from their slumber, straightened their furry tails +and began to chatter and a screech-owl tuwitted and tuwhoed. There was +something familiar in the outlines, and Nautauquas was therefore not +completely astonished when, turning about, she showed the face of +Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>"Matoaka," he cried, stepping from the shadow; "what dost thou here +alone at night?"</p> + +<p>His sister did not scream nor jump at this sudden interruption. She +seized her brother's hand and pressed it gently.</p> + +<p>"It was such a beautiful night, Nautauquas," she replied, "that I could +not lie sleeping in the lodge. I come often here."</p> + +<p>"And hast thou no fear, little sister?" he asked affectionately; "no +fear of wild animals or of our enemies?"</p> + +<p>"Wild animals will not hurt me. I patted a mother bear with cubs one +night, and she did not even growl."</p> + +<p>Nautauquas did not doubt her word. He knew that there were certain human +beings whom beasts will not hurt.</p> + +<p>"And enemies," she continued, "would not venture so near the village of +the mighty Powhatan."</p> + +<p>"I heard thee singing, little White Feather; what was thy song?"</p> + +<p>"I made it many moons ago," she answered, "and I sing it always when I +dance here at night. Listen then, thou shalt hear the song Matoaka, +daughter of Powhatan, made to sing in the woods by Werowocomoco."</p> + +<p>And she danced slowly, imitating with head and hands, body and feet, the +words of her song.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>I am the sister of the Morning Wind,<br /></span> +<span>And he and I awake the lazy Sun.<br /></span> +<span>We ruffle up the down of sleeping birds,<br /></span> +<span>And blow our laughter in the rabbits' ears,<br /></span> +<span>And bend the saplings till they kiss my feet,<br /></span> +<span>And the long grass till it obeisance makes.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span>I am the sister of the wan Moonbeam<br /></span> +<span>Who calls to me when I have fallen asleep:<br /></span> +<span>Come, see how I have witched the world in white.—<br /></span> +<span>So faint his voice no other ear can hear.<br /></span> +<span>And I steal forth from out my father's lodge,<br /></span> +<span>And of the world there only waketh I<br /></span> +<span>And bears and wildcats and the sly raccoon<br /></span> +<span>And deer from out whose eyes there look the souls<br /></span> +<span>Of maidens who have died ere they knew love.<br /></span> +<span>And then the world we shorten with our feet<br /></span> +<span>That wake no echoes, but the hornèd owl<br /></span> +<span>Sigheth to think that thus our wingless speed<br /></span> +<span>All but outdoes that of the tree-dwellers.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When she had finished she threw herself down at his feet, asking:</p> + +<p>"Dost thou like my song, my brother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is a new song, Matoaka, and some day thou must sing it for our +father. But it seemeth to me that thou art different from other maids. +They do not care to rise from their sleeping mats and go forth alone +into the forest."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they have not an arrow inside of them as have I."</p> + +<p>Nautauquas had seated himself in the crotch of a dogwood-tree and looked +with interest at his sister below him.</p> + +<p>"An arrow?" he queried; "what dost thou mean?"</p> + +<p>"I think," she answered, speaking slowly, "that within me is an +arrow—not of wood and stone, but one of manitou—how shall I explain it +to thee? I must go forth to distances, to deeds. I am shot forward by +some bow and I may not hang idle in a quiver. I know," she continued, +fingering the quiver on his back, "how thine own arrow feels after thou +hast fashioned it carefully of strong wood and bound its head upon it +with thongs. It says to itself; 'I am happy here, hanging in my warm bed +on Nautauquas's back.' And then when thou takest it in thy hand and +fittest its notch to the bowstring, it crieth out: 'Now I shall speed +forth; now shall I cut the wind; now shall I journey where no arrow ever +journeyed before; now shall I achieve what I was fashioned for!'"</p> + +<p>"Strange thoughts are these, little sister, for a maid to think," and +Nautauquas stroked the long braid against his knee.</p> + +<p>"I am so happy, Nautauquas," she went on. "I love the warm lodge, the +fire embers in the centre, the smoke curling up towards the stars I can +see through the opening above me. I love to feel little Cleopatra's feet +touching my head as we lie there together. But then I feel the arrow +within me and I rise to my feet silently and creep out, and if the dogs +hear me I whisper to them and they lie down quietly again. I love +Werowocomoco, yet I long too to go beyond the village to where the sky +touches the earth. I love the tales of the beasts the old squaws tell, +but I want to hear the braves when they speak of war and ambushes. +Springtime and the sowing of the corn are full of delight, yet I look +forward eagerly to the earing of the corn and the fall of the leaf."</p> + +<p>The maiden spoke passionately. So had she never spoken to anyone. She +ceased for a moment and there was no sound save the call of the owl. +Then she turned around and knelt, her elbows on her brother's knees, and +asked:</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Nautauquas, tell me the truth, since thou canst speak naught +else; what manitou is in me that I am like to rushing water, to a stream +that hurries forward? What shall I become?"</p> + +<p>"Something great, Matoaka," he answered; "I know not whether a +warrior—such there have been—a princess who shall hold many tribes in +her hand, or a prophetess; but I am certain that the arrow of thy +manitou shall bring down some fair game."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she breathed deeply. "I thank thee for thy words, Nautauquas, my +brother, and that thou hast not made sport of me."</p> + +<p>"Why should anyone make sport of thee? It is not strange that the aspen +should quiver when the wind blows, nor that thou shouldst be swayed by +the spirit that is within thee, Matoaka. Some day—"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a piercing scream from the depth of the forest. He +sprang to his feet; all the dreaminess of his attitude and mood had +vanished; he pulled an arrow from his quiver fitted it to the string in +readiness to shoot. Was it possible, he wondered, for any war party of +their enemies to have ventured so near Powhatan's stronghold without +having been halted at other villages belonging to his people? Pocahontas +too was on her feet, her head on one side, listening intently.</p> + +<p>Again came the scream, then Nautauquas loosened his bow, saying:</p> + +<p>"That is no human cry. It is a wildcat in agony. Let us go and see what +aileth it."</p> + +<p>They ran swiftly towards the point from which the sound had come. Again +came the cry to guide them, and then there was silence as they ran +through the moonlight checkered by the shadows of the trees.</p> + +<p>Nautauquas stood still suddenly, so suddenly that Pocahontas behind him +could not stop quickly enough and fell against him and almost down into +a ravine that lay beneath, but Nautauquas caught her on the very brink.</p> + +<p>"It is down there," he pointed; "there must be a trap, I think. Let us +descend very carefully."</p> + +<p>They clambered down through the darkness made by the overhanging bushes +and rocks. At the bottom the light was not obscured, and they beheld the +striped body of a large wildcat caught in a trap.</p> + +<p>"Look," cried Pocahontas excitedly, "there is another beast just there +in those bushes. Our coming must have frightened it. He has been trying +to kill the one in the trap, that cannot defend himself."</p> + +<p>"That is so," assented Nautauquas, making ready to shoot the beast that +was at liberty in case it should spring towards them. But the animal +evidently had no taste that night for an encounter with human beings, +and slouched off and up the side of the ravine. The imprisoned animal, +they could see, was bleeding from a large wound on its back, and in the +moonlight its eyes shone like fire.</p> + +<p>"Poor beast!" exclaimed Nautauquas compassionately. "I would free him if +he would let me touch him. As it is he will have to starve to death +unless his enemy comes back to finish him."</p> + +<p>"No," said Pocahontas, "that need not be. I will loose him and bind up +his wound if thou wilt cut a strip off thy leggings."</p> + +<p>"Silly child," he laughed. "A wild beast needs no balsam nor cloths for +his wounds. If he were free to drag himself to safety he would lick his +hurt till it healed. But he would bite thy hand off shouldst thou +attempt to touch him."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Nautauquas, he would not harm me. See how quiet he will grow."</p> + +<p>She knelt down just beyond the reach of the wildcat and began to whisper +to it. Nautauquas could not make out what she said, but to his amazement +he beheld how the beast ceased to lash its tail and how its muscles +seemed to relax. Nevertheless the young brave caught Pocahontas by the +arm and tried to pull her away.</p> + +<p>"There is no danger, my brother," she remonstrated. "Fear not. Hast thou +not seen old Father Noughmass when the bees swarm over his neck and +hands? They never sting him. He cannot tell thee why, nor do I know why +wild beasts will not harm me."</p> + +<p>So Nautauquas, knife in hand and breathing deeply, looked on while +Pocahontas, speaking words in a low voice, moved nearer and nearer the +wildcat. Taking her knife from her girdle, she began to cut through the +thongs that held him. One paw was now loose and yet the beast did not +move to touch his rescuer. Then when the other thongs were loose and it +was free, it moved off slowly and painfully into the woods as if no +human beings were there.</p> + +<p>Nautauquas breathed a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"It is wonderful, Matoaka, yet I pray thee test thy strange power not +too far. I am glad though the poor beast got away. I like not to see +them suffer. I shoot and kill for food and for skins, but I kill at +once."</p> + +<p>They now climbed up the ravine again and started off in the direction of +Werowocomoco.</p> + +<p>The night was already far advanced and Pocahontas was growing drowsier +and drowsier. Nautauquas, seeing that she was almost asleep, took hold +of her arm and made her lean on him. As they approached the spot where +he had first come across her dancing, they noticed a human figure +crouched on the ground. Even in the moonlight, grown dimmer as dawn +approached, he could see that it was an old squaw. Pocahontas recognized +old Wansutis, a gatherer of herbs and roots.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou here, Wansutis?" she questioned.</p> + +<p>"He! the little princess," cried the old woman, scowling up at them, +"and the young brave Nautauquas. I seek roots and leaves by the light of +the Sun's squaw. So is it meet for me and so will the drinks be stronger +when brewed by old Wansutis. I have found many rare plants this night; +it hath been a lucky one, perchance because the young princess was also +abroad in the forest."</p> + +<p>All the children of the tribe were afraid of the old woman. They told +each other tales of how she could turn those she disliked into dogs, +bats or turtles. And now even Nautauquas remembered how he had run from +her when he was a little fellow. Her expression was so ugly and so +malign that Pocahontas, though she did not fear her exactly, had no +desire to stay longer, and so started forward.</p> + +<p>"And what doth Pocahontas in the woods at night?" asked Wansutis. +"Knoweth The Powhatan that she hath left his lodge?"</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, though she often willingly allowed those about her to forget +her rank, could yet be very conscious of it when she desired. Now it did +not please her to be questioned in this manner by the old squaw and she +did not answer.</p> + +<p>"Oh hey," cried Wansutis, "thou wilt not answer me. Thou art proud of +thy rank and thy youth. Yet one day thou wilt be an old squaw like me, +without teeth, with weak legs, and life a burden to thee. Then thou wilt +not be so proud."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas stopped and turned around again.</p> + +<p>"Nay, I will not grow old. I will not let the day come when life shall +be a burden. Thou canst not read the future, Wansutis. I shall always be +as fleet as now."</p> + +<p>"Thinketh thou to ward off old age by some of my potions made from these +roots I carry here, a bundle too heavy for an ancient crone like me to +bear on her back? Thou shalt have none of them."</p> + +<p>At these words Pocahontas's manner changed. Stooping, she picked up the +bundle and pressed it into the net that lay on the ground and swung it +on to her strong shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Come, Wansutis," she cried. "Seek not to anger me with words and I will +bear thy bundle to thy wigwam. It is in truth too heavy for thy old +bones."</p> + +<p>The old woman grunted ungraciously as she rose to her feet, then the +three, one following the other, moved forward. They were obliged to go +slowly, as Wansutis could only hobble along, and Nautauquas was sorry to +see that dawn was approaching. He feared now that Pocahontas would not +be able to steal unobserved back to her place beside Cleopatra and that +she would be scolded. They went with Wansutis to her wigwam and +Pocahontas let fall her bundle. Nautauquas took out his knife and cut +off a hind quarter of the deer and laid it on the squaw's hearth.</p> + +<p>"She hath no son to hunt for her," he said in explanation as he and +Pocahontas went off unthanked.</p> + +<p>Wansutis's wigwam was on the edge of the village. As they came nearer to +the lodges they heard yelling and shouting from every side, and they saw +small boys and young braves rush forth, glancing eagerly about them.</p> + +<p>"Let us hasten," cried Pocahontas. "I wonder what hath befallen, +Nautauquas."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"> +<img src="images/6de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h4>RUNNING THE GAUNTLET</h4> + + +<p>"What hath happened?" Nautauquas called out to Parahunt, his brother, +when he caught up with him hastening to the river.</p> + +<p>"Word hath come by a runner that one of the tribes from the Chickahominy +villages hath fallen upon a party of Massawomekes and hath vanquished +them. Even now they are approaching with the prisoners."</p> + +<p>In passing the front of his wigwam Nautauquas threw down the carcass of +the deer, then ran on to join the ever increasing crowd of braves and +children on the river bank.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas too had mingled in the throng, and so Cleopatra and the +squaws in the lodge had not noticed her absence, thinking when they saw +her that she had been roused from sleep in the early dawn as they had +been.</p> + +<p>It was now almost light. Far down the river six large dugouts were +approaching. But even that sight was not sufficient to make the +onlookers forget the fact that the sun was rising and must be greeted +with the customary ceremony. Two chiefs, whose duty it was, took from +their pouches handfuls of dried uppowoc (tobacco), and each turning away +from the other, walked in a large half-circle, scattering the uppowoc +upon the ground, until when they met a brown ring had been formed. +Within this braves and squaws hurried to seat themselves. With uplifted +eyes and outstretched hands they greeted the Sun who had come back to +them to warm their fields and to draw their young corn upright.</p> + +<p>By the time this morning ceremony was over the dugouts were almost at +the beach. There was now a great shouting and yelling from shore to +boats and from boats to shore, and Pocahontas slipped into a thicket of +bushes on to a higher point of the bank where she could be alone to +watch the landing. She clapped her hands as their friends, the stalwart +Chickahominies, leaped ashore, twenty to each huge dugout; and though +her dignity would not permit her to call out derisively, as did the +crowd, to the three prisoners each boat contained, she looked eagerly to +see what kind of monsters these enemies of her tribe might be.</p> + +<p>The eighteen Massawomekes were not bound; they stepped from the dugouts +as firmly as if they were going to a feast instead of to torture. They +were of the Iroquois nation; and Pocahontas, who had heard many stories +of this race, always at enmity with her own, noticed certain differences +in the way they were tattooed and in the shape of their headdresses.</p> + +<p>Victors and prisoners, followed by the crowd, marched forward to the +ceremonial lodge where The Powhatan was awaiting them. Pocahontas +slipped into the already crowded space, though one of Powhatan's squaws +tried to stay her. She made her way without further opposition between +Chickahominies and Massawomekes, up to the dais where her father sat, +and crouched down on a mat spread on raised hurdles at his feet, where +she could observe all that went on.</p> + +<p>One of the Chickahominy chiefs, whose face she remembered to have seen +at the great autumn festivals, was the first to speak:</p> + +<p>"Powhatan, ruler of two hundred villages and lord of thirty tribes, who +rulest from the salt water to the western forests, we come to tell thee +how we have pursued thine enemies, the Massawomekes, who two months ago +did slay in ambush a party of our young men out hunting deer. By the +Great Swamp (the Dismal Swamp of Virginia) we came upon them, and though +they sought like bears to hide themselves in its secret places, lo! I, +Water Snake, did track them and I and my braves fell upon them, and now +they are no more."</p> + +<p>Murmurs of assent and of approval were heard throughout the lodge. The +prisoners alone were apparently as unconscious of Water Snake's recital +as if they were still hidden in the fastnesses of the Great Swamp.</p> + +<p>"There where we fought," continued the orator, waving his hand towards +the southwest, "the white blossoms of the creeping plants turned +crimson, and the hungry buzzards circled overhead. Many a Massawomeke +squaw sits to-night in a lonely wigwam; many a man child among them hath +lost the father to teach him how to bend a bow. We slew them all, Great +Werowance, all but these captives we have brought before thee."</p> + +<p>This time louder shouts of approval rewarded Water Snake's speech, +which did not cease until it was seen that Powhatan meant to acknowledge +it. He did not rise nor change his position in any way, and his voice +was low and measured.</p> + +<p>"A tree hath many branches, but one trunk only. Deep into the earth +stretch its roots to suck up nourishment for every twig and leaf. I, +Wahunsunakuk, Chief of the Powhatans and many tribes, am the trunk, and +one of my many branches is that of the Chickahominies and one that is +very close to my heart. My children have done well and the Powhatan +thanks them for their brave deeds. Now can your young braves go forth +upon the hunt unharmed and bring back meat for feastings and hides for +their squaws to fashion."</p> + +<p>He paused and all the eyes of his people in the lodge were bent on him +with the same question.</p> + +<p>"My children ask of me 'What shall we do with these captives?' and I +make answer, feast them first, that they may not say that the Powhatans +are greedy and give not to strangers. Then when they have feasted let +them run the gauntlet."</p> + +<p>He waved his hand in token that he had finished speaking, and the glad +news was shouted from the lodge to the eager crowd without. Pocahontas +knew as well as if she could see them that the squaws were hurrying +about to prepare the food, and from her low seat she could see between +the legs of the braves before her how a number of boys were lying on +their stomachs, trying to wriggle into the lodge that they might hear +for themselves the interesting things going on and observe for +themselves whether the captives showed any sign of fear.</p> + +<p>Now Powhatan gave an order and all seated themselves on the ground or on +mats in lines facing him. Then in came the squaws bearing large wooden +and grass-woven dishes of food. There were hot cakes of maize and wild +turkeys and fat raccoons. The captives were served first and none of +them refused. They would not let their enemies believe that fear of +their coming fate could spoil their appetites. So, after throwing the +first piece of meat into the fire as an offering to Okee, they ate +eagerly.</p> + +<p>One of them who sat nearest the front, Pocahontas noticed, was but +little older than herself. He was too young to be a brave; perhaps, she +thought, he had run off from home and had followed the war party, as she +had heard of boys in her own tribe doing. She wondered if now he was +regretting that his eagerness for adventure had made his first warpath +his last one.</p> + +<p>When they had feasted the squaws passed around bunches of turkey +feathers for them to wipe their greasy fingers on, and in every way the +captives were treated with that exaggerated courtesy that was customary +towards those about to be tortured.</p> + +<p>Then Powhatan rose, and, preceded and followed by several of his fifty +armed guards chosen from the tallest men of his thirty tribes, he strode +down the centre of the lodge and out into the sunshine. Pocahontas +walked next behind him, and once outside, ran to tell the curious +Cleopatra all she had witnessed.</p> + +<p>"Why shouldst thou have seen it all?" asked her jealous sister of +Pocahontas, "while I had naught of it all but the shouting?"</p> + +<p>"Because," laughed Pocahontas, pulling her sister's long hair, "because +my two feet took me in. Thine are too fearful, little mouse."</p> + +<p>An open space stretched before the ceremonial lodge, used for games and +feats of running and shooting at a mark. Now Powhatan and his guard and +his sons seated themselves upon the firm red ground that rose in a +little hillock to a height of several feet at one side of the lodge. +Then other chieftains took up their places behind them, standing or +sitting; the squaws crowded in among them and the boys sought the +branches of a single walnut-tree, the only tree within the limits of +Werowocomoco. They looked with longing eyes at the slanting roof of the +great lodge. That was undoubtedly the point of vantage, but The Powhatan +was a much dreaded werowance and they dared not risk his ire.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, who had been wondering where to bestow herself, noticed the +envying glances they cast in its direction. She was not withheld by +their restraining fear, so running to the opposite side of the lodge, +she climbed its sides, finding foothold in its bark covering, and soon +was curled up comfortably, her hands about her knees, where she would +miss nothing of the spectacle.</p> + +<p>Now she beheld two long rows of young braves, one of them composed of +Powhatans, the other of Chickahominies, stride down the open space below +her and form a lane of naked, painted human walls. In their hands they +held bunches of fresh green reeds, sharp as knives, or heavy bludgeons +of oak, or stone tomahawks. For a moment they stood there motionless as +if they were merely spectators of some drama to be enacted by others.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas recognized most of them: Black Arrow, whose ear had been +clawed off by a bear; Leaping Sturgeon, who had hung two scalps at his +girdle before the chiefs had pronounced him old enough to be a brave; +her own cousin, White Owl, the most wonderfully tattooed of them all; +and the Nansamond young chieftain who wore a live snake as an earring in +the slit of his ear.</p> + +<p>Then Powhatan gave the signal and the captives were led forward. They +knew what awaited them; probably each of them, except the young boy, had +himself meted out the same fate to others that was now to befall them. +They did not repine; it was the fortune of war. Singing songs of +triumph, of derision of all their enemies, they started to run down the +awful lane of death. Blows rained upon them, on neck, on head, on arms, +even on their legs from stooping adversaries. So swift came the blows +from both sides that sometimes two fell upon the same spot almost at +once.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas marked with interest that the boy was last of the line, and +that he bore himself as bravely as the others.</p> + +<p>When they reached the end of the row there was no escape—no escape +anywhere more for them. Back they darted, so swiftly that it seemed as +if each escaped the blow aimed at himself, only to receive the one meant +for his comrade ahead.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas had a queer feeling as she looked down on them and saw the +blood spurting from a hundred wounds. She thought perhaps it was the hot +sun that made her feel a little sick. Her eyes followed the boy and as +he came nearer she noticed that he was almost at the end of his +strength. A few more blows would finish him. Already some of his elders +had fallen to the ground, and if, when beaten unmercifully, they were +still unable to rise, the tomahawk dashed out their brains.</p> + +<p>To her astonishment, Pocahontas found herself wishing the boy might not +fall, might escape in some miraculous manner. What a wrong thought! she +said to herself: was he not an enemy of her tribe? Yet she could not +help closing her eyes when she saw Black Arrow aiming a terrible blow at +his head. She did not know what to make of herself. She suddenly began +to think of the hurt wild-cat she and Nautauquas had pitied during the +night. But no one ought ever to pity an enemy. What was she made of?</p> + +<p>As she opened her eyes again she heard a woman's outcry and beheld a +squaw rushing towards the end of the line where Black Arrow's blow had +felled the boy. It was old Wansutis.</p> + +<p>"I claim the boy," she panted; "I claim him by our ancient right. Cease, +braves, and let me have him."</p> + +<p>The astounded braves let their arms drop at their sides, and the +panting, bleeding captives who had not already fallen, breathed for a +moment long breaths.</p> + +<p>"I claim the boy," the old woman cried again in a loud voice, turning +towards Powhatan, "to adopt as a son. Many popanows (winters) and seed +times have passed since my sons were slain. Now is Wansutis old and +feeble and hath need of a young son to hunt for her. By our ancient +custom this captive is mine."</p> + +<p>There was an outcry of opposition from the younger braves at being +robbed of one of their victims, but the older chiefs on the hill debated +for a few moments, and then gave their decision: there was no doubt of +the old woman's right to claim the boy. So Powhatan sent two of his +guards to fetch him and to carry him to Wansutis's lodge.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas suddenly felt at ease again. Yes, she couldn't help it, she +said to herself, but she was glad the boy had not been beaten to pieces. +As soon as he was carried off the running of the gauntlet began again. +But Pocahontas had now had enough of it. It would continue, she knew, +until all of the captives were dead. She slid down from the back of the +lodge and led by curiosity, set off for Wansutis's wigwam. It was at the +edge of the village, and before the slow procession of the two guards, +the old woman and the boy had arrived, Pocahontas had hidden herself +behind a mossy rock, from which hiding place she had a view right into +the opening of the wigwam.</p> + +<p>She watched the guards lay the unconscious boy gently down and Wansutis +as she knelt and blew upon the embers under the smoke hole till they +blazed up. Then she saw the old woman take a pot of water and heat it +and throw herbs into it. With this infusion she bathed the wounds, +anointing them afterwards with oil made from acorns. And while she +worked she prayed, invoking Okee to heal her son, to make him strong +that he might care for her old age.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas was so eager to know whether the boy were alive that she +crept closer to the wigwam, and when at last he opened his eyes they +looked beyond the hearth and the crouching Wansutis, straight into those +of Pocahontas. She saw that he had regained his senses, so she put her +fingers to her lips. She did not want Wansutis to know that she had been +watched. Already the touch of the wrinkled fingers was as tender as +that of a mother, and Pocahontas felt sure that she would resent any +intrusion. Now that she had seen all there was to see, she stole away.</p> + +<p>After wandering through the woods to gather honeysuckle to make a +wreath, she returned to the village. There was no longer a crowd in the +open space; the captives were all dead and the spectators had gone to +their various lodges. Only a number of boys were playing run the +gauntlet, some with willow twigs beating those chosen by lot to run +between them. A girl, imitating old Wansutis, rushed forward and claimed +one of the runners for a son.</p> + +<p>A few days later when the young Massawomeke lad had recovered there were +ceremonies to celebrate his adoption as a member of the Powhatan tribe, +of the great nation of the Algonquins. The other boys of his age looked +up to him with envy. Had he not proved his valor on the warpath and +under torture while they were only gaming with plumpits? They followed +him about, eager to do his bidding, each trying to outdo his comrades in +sports when his eye was on them. And all the elders had good words to +say about Claw-of-the-Eagle, and Wansutis was so proud that she now +often forgot to speak evil medicine.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas wondered how Claw-of-the-Eagle liked his new life, and one +day when she was running through the forest she came upon him. He had +knelt to look through a thicket at a flock of turkeys he meant to shoot +into, but his bow lay idle beside his feet, and she saw that his eyes +seemed to be looking at something in the distance.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou behold, son of Wansutis?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He started but did not reply.</p> + +<p>"Speak, Claw-of-the-Eagle," she said impatiently. "Powhatan's daughter +is not wont to wait for a reply."</p> + +<p>He saw that it was the same face he had beheld peering into the lodge at +the moment he regained consciousness.</p> + +<p>"I see the sinking sun. Princess of many tribes, the sun that journeys +towards the mountains to the village whence I came."</p> + +<p>"But thou art of us now," she rejoined.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am son of old Wansutis and I am loyal to my new mother and to my +new people. And yet. Princess, I send each day a message by the sun to +the lodge where they mourn Claw-of-the-Eagle. Perhaps it will reach +them."</p> + +<p>"Tell me of the mountains and of the ways of thy father's people. I long +to learn of strange folk and different customs."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Princess, I will not speak of them. Thou hast never bidden +farewell to thy kindred forever. I would forget, not remember."</p> + +<p>And Pocahontas, although it was almost the first time that any one had +refused to obey her, was not angry. She was too occupied as she walked +homeward wondering how it would seem if she were never to see +Werowocomoco and her own people again.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"> +<img src="images/1de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h4>THE GREAT BIRDS</h4> + + +<p>Opechanchanough, brother of Wahunsunakuk, The Powhatan, had sent to +Werowocomoco a boat full of the finest deep sea oysters and crabs. The +great werowance had returned his thanks to his brother and the bearers +of his gifts were just leaving when Pocahontas rushed in to her father's +lodge half breathless with eagerness.</p> + +<p>"Father," she cried, "I pray thee grant me this pleasure. It hath grown +warm, and I and my maidens long for the cool air that abideth by the +salty water. Therefore, I beseech thee, let us go to mine uncle for a +few days' visit."</p> + +<p>Powhatan did not answer at once. He did not like to have his favorite +child leave him. But she, seeing that he was undecided, began to plead, +to whisper in his ears words of affection and to stroke his hair till he +gave his consent. Then Pocahontas ran off to get her long mantle and her +finest string of beads and to summon the maidens who were to accompany +her. They embarked in the dugout with her uncle's people and were rowed +swiftly down the river.</p> + +<p>At Kecoughtan they were received with much ceremony, for Pocahontas knew +what was due her and how, when it was necessary, to put aside her +childish manner for one more dignified. Opechanchanough greeted her +kindly.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou forgiven me, my uncle?" she asked as they sat down to a feast +of the delicious little fish she always begged for when she visited him, +and to steaks of bear meat; "hast thou forgiven the arrow I shot at thee +last popanow?"</p> + +<p>"I will remember naught unpleasant against thee, little kinswoman," he +replied as he drank his cup of walnut milk.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I am ashamed of my foolishness," continued his niece. "I was but +a child then."</p> + +<p>"And now?—it is but a few moons ago."</p> + +<p>"But see how I grow, as the maize after a rain storm. Soon they will say +I am ready for suitors."</p> + +<p>"And whom wilt thou choose, Pocahontas?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. I have no thoughts for that yet."</p> + +<p>"What then are thy thoughts of?"</p> + +<p>"Of everything, of flowers and beasts, dancing and playing, of wars and +ceremonies, of the new son of old Wansutis, of Nautauquas's new bow, of +necklaces and earrings, of old stories and new songs—and of to-morrow's +bathing."</p> + +<p>"Fear not that thou hast yet left thy childhood behind thee," said her +uncle.</p> + +<p>Then when the fire died down and the storyteller's voice had grown +drowsy, Pocahontas fell asleep, her arm resting on a baby bear that had +been taken away from its dead mother and that would cuddle close to the +person who lay nearest the fire.</p> + +<p>Opechanchanough had not the same deep affection for children as that +which Powhatan showed to his sons and daughters. He was as brave a +fighter but not as great a leader in peace as Wahunsunakuk. It irked +him that he had to give way to his brother and that he must obey his +commands; yet he knew that only by unity between the different tribes of +the seacoast could they be safe from their common enemies, the Iroquois. +His vanity was very great and he had felt hurt at the ridicule which +Pocahontas had caused to fall upon him. Had she come on her visit sooner +he had surely not received her so kindly. But now there were other +strange happenings and more important matters to consider, and he was +too wise a chief to worry long over a child's pranks. Besides, he had +learned, from his own observance and from the tongues of others, how his +brother cherished her more than any of his squaws or children. So policy +as well as his native hospitality dictated a kindly reception.</p> + +<p>In the morning after they had eaten, Opechanchanough offered to send +Pocahontas and her maidens in a canoe down to where a cape jutted out +into the ocean that they might see the breakers at their highest, but +Pocahontas declined.</p> + +<p>"Nay, Uncle," she said, "but my maidens have never seen the sea. They be +stay-at-homes and I would not affright them too sorely by the sight of +mountains of water. Have no care for us save to bid some one supply us +with food to take along. I know the way down to a smooth beach where we +can disport ourselves."</p> + +<p>So Opechanchanough, relieved to have them off his hands, let her have +her will.</p> + +<p>The town was within a mile of open water, and the maidens started off +with a large supply of dried flesh slung in osier baskets on their +backs. Some of the young braves looked after them as they went and +disputed as to which of them they would like to choose as squaw when +they were older.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas led the way through wild rose bushes and sumac, with here and +there an occasional tall pine tree, its lowest branches high above their +heads. They were all of them in the gayest humor: it was a day made for +pleasure, and they had not a care in the world. They sang as they walked +and joked each other, Pocahontas herself not escaping.</p> + +<p>"Did the bear, thy bedfellow, scratch thee?" asked one, "and didst thou +outdo him, for this morning he was not to be found near the lodge."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," suggested another, "it was not a real bear cub but some evil +manitou."</p> + +<p>The maidens shuddered deliciously at this possibility.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," called back Pocahontas, "he was real enough; here is the +mark of one claw on my foot. Besides, I do not believe the evil manitou +can have such power on such a beautiful day as this. Okee must have bid +them fly away."</p> + +<p>Now suddenly the path turned and before them shone the silver mirror of +the sea.</p> + +<p>"Behold!" cried Pocahontas, and then Red Wing, her nearest companion, +fell flat upon the ground, burying her face in the sand. The others +stood and stared at the new watery world in front of them, hushed in an +awed silence. Gradually their curiosity got the better of their fear and +they began to question:</p> + +<p>"How many leagues does it stretch, Pocahontas?"—"Can war canoes find +their way on it?"—"Come the good oysters from its depths?" asked +Deer-Eye, whose appetite was always made fun of.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas answered as well as she was able, but to her who had seen +several times before the great water, it was almost as much of a mystery +as to her comrades. But to-day she greeted it as an old friend. She +could scarcely wait to throw herself into the little rippling waves at +her feet.</p> + +<p>"Come on," she cried, "let us hasten. How wonderful to our heated bodies +will its freshness be." And as she ran towards it she threw off her +skirt, her moccasins and her necklace and dashed into the sea.</p> + +<p>Though her companions were used to swimming from the day their mothers +had thrown them as babies into the river to harden them, they had never +been where there were not protecting banks on each side of them, and +they were afraid to follow Pocahontas into this unknown. But gradually +her evident safety and delight were too much for their caution, and they +were soon at home in the gentle waves.</p> + +<p>For nearly an hour they played their water games, chasing and ducking +each other, racing and swimming underneath the surface. Then they grew +hungry and bethought themselves of their food waiting to be cooked. But +when they were on the shore again and about to start a fire to heat +their meat, Pocahontas bade them wait.</p> + +<p>"Here," she said, "is fresher food. See what the tide has left for us."</p> + +<p>To their great astonishment the maidens, who did not know the sea +retreated, saw how while they were bathing the water had bared the sand, +leaving it full of little pools. Standing in one of them, Pocahontas +stooped down and ran her hand through the mud, bringing up a +soft-shelled crab.</p> + +<p>"See," she cried, "there are hundreds of them for our dinner, but be +careful to hold them just so, that they may not nip you."</p> + +<p>And her maidens, laughing and shrieking, soon had a larger supply of +crabs than they could eat. They found bits of wood on the beach and +dried sea weed which they set on fire by twirling a pointed stick in a +wooden groove they had brought along with their food. After they had +eaten, they stretched out lazily on the sand and talked until they began +to doze off, one by one.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas had strolled a little further down the beach, picking up the +fine thin shells of transparent gold and silver which she liked to make +into necklaces. She had found a number of them and as they were more +than she could hold in her hands, she sat down to string them on a piece +of eel grass until she could transfer them to a thread of sinew. When +she had finished she lay back against a ridge of sand and watched the +gulls as they flew above her, dipping down into the waves every now and +then to bring up a fish. Far away a school of porpoises was circling the +waves, their black fins sinking out of sight and reappearing as +regularly as if they moved to some marine music. Pocahontas wondered +whence they came and whither they and the gulls were bound. How +delightful it was to move so rapidly and so easily through water or air. +But she did not think of envying them. Was she not as fleet as they in +her element? She pressed her hand against the warm sand how she loved +the feel of it; she stretched her naked foot to where the little waves +could wet it. How she loved the lapping of the water! Within her was a +welling up of feeling, a love for all things living.</p> + +<p>It was a very quiet world just now; the sun was only a little over the +zenith. Only the cries of the sea gulls and the soft swish of the waves +broke the silence. It would be pleasant to sleep here as her comrades +were sleeping, but if she slept then she would miss the consciousness of +her enjoyment.</p> + +<p>Yet, though she intended to keep awake, when she looked seaward, she +felt sure that she must have fallen asleep and was dreaming the +strangest of dreams. For nowhere save in dreamland had anyone ever +beheld such a sight as seemed to stand out against the horizon. Three +great birds, that some shaman had doubtless created with powerful +medicine, so large that they almost touched the heavens, were skimming +the waves, their white wings blown forward. One, much larger than the +others, moved more swiftly than they.</p> + +<p>Yet never, in a dream or in life, were such birds, and little +Pocahontas, who had sprung to her feet, stood gaping in terrified +wonder.</p> + +<p>"Then must I be bewitched!" she cried aloud; "some evil medicine hath +befallen me."</p> + +<p>She called out, and there was a tone in her voice that roused the +sleeping maidens as a war drum roused their fathers.</p> + +<p>"What see ye?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Pocahontas, we know not," they answered in terror, huddling about +her; "answer <i>thou</i> us. What are those strange things that speed over +the waves? Whence come they—from the rim of the world?"</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, the fearless, was frightened. She gave one more glance +seaward, and then turning, took to her heels in terror. Her maidens, who +had never seen her thus, added her fright to they own, and none stopped +until they had reached the lodge at Kecoughtan.</p> + +<p>The squaws rushed out when they caught sight of the frightened children +and tried to soothe them, but they could get no explanation of what had +startled them. Finally Opechanchanough strode out, and when Pocahontas +had tried to tell him what she had seen his face grew stern.</p> + +<p>"It is as I feared," he said to another chief. "And so the word which +came from the upper cape was true. It is a marvel that bodeth no good."</p> + +<p>He began to give orders hurriedly; the dugout was brought up to the +landing, and he waved Pocahontas and her maidens in with scant ceremony.</p> + +<p>"I will send a runner to Werowocomoco with news to my brother," he +called out to her as the boat was swung out into the river; "he will +reach the village by land more quickly than by river. Farewell, +Matoaka."</p> + +<p>And Pocahontas, though she longed to have questioned him in regard to +what he had heard and feared, yet rejoiced that she was on her way to +her people, to her home where such strange sights as she had just beheld +never came.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"> +<img src="images/2de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h4>JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION</h4> + + +<p>The <i>Discovery</i>, the <i>Godspeed</i> and the <i>Susan Constant</i>, after nearly +five months of tossing about upon the seas, were now swinging at anchor +in the broad mouth of the River James, which the loyal English +adventurers had named after their king. The white sails that had so +terrified the Indian maidens now flapped against the masts, having fully +earned their idleness. On board the discussion still continued as to the +best situation for the town they designed to be the first permanent +English settlement in America—in Wingandacoa, as the land was called +before the name Virginia was given to it in honour of Queen Elizabeth, +"The Virgin Queen."</p> + +<p>The expedition had set out from England in December of the year before +(1606). Among those who filled the three ships were men already veteran +explorers and others who had never been a day's voyage away from their +island home.</p> + +<p>Among the former were Bartholomew Gosnold, who had first sailed for the +strange new world some five years before. He had landed far to the north +of the river where the ships now rested—on a colder, sterner shore. +There he had discovered and named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. +Christopher Newport too had sailed before in Western waters, but +further to the southward. He was an enemy of the Spaniard wherever he +found him, and had left a name of terror through the Spanish Main, for +had he not sacked four of their towns in the Indies and sunk twenty +Spanish galleons? And there was John Smith, who had fought so many +battles in his twenty-seven years that many a graybeard soldier could +not cap his tales of sieges, sword-play, imprisonment and marvelous +escapes. And many other men were there whom hope of gain or love of +adventure had brought across the Atlantic. They had listened to the +strange story of the lost colony on Roanoke Island, English men and +women killed doubtless by the Indians, though no sure word of their fate +was ever to be known, but fear of a like destiny had not deterred them +from coming.</p> + +<p>There were many points to be considered: The settlement must be near the +coast, so that the ships from home would be able to reach it with as +little delay as possible, yet away from the coast in case of raids by +the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>Again, the location must be healthful, and quite easily defended, for +the attack by the natives upon the colonists when they first landed at +the cape they called Henry after the young Prince of Wales, had given +them a taste of what they might have to expect. It was the rumor of this +fight which had reached Opechanchanough at Kecoughtan.</p> + +<p>At the prow of the <i>Discovery</i> stood a man who paid no attention to the +disputes going on behind him. He was not tall, but was powerfully built, +and even the sight of his back would have been sufficient to prove him a +man accustomed to a life of action. It was not so easy, however, to +guess at his age. His long beard and mustache hid his mouth, and there +were deep lines from his nose downward that might have been marked by +years. Yet his brow was high and wide and unfurrowed, and his hair was +abundant and his eyebrows dark and high. An intelligent, eager +countenance it was, of a man who had seen more of the world in his short +twenty-eight years than any white-haired octogenarian of his native +Lincolnshire. He held a spy glass and, standing by the rail, moved it +slowly until he had pointed it in every direction. He had swept the +river and both shores as far as his eye could reach and now it rested on +an island some little distance above, near the right-hand bank of the +newly named river.</p> + +<p>A sailor, pushing through the crowd about the cabin door, approached the +man at the prow.</p> + +<p>"Captain Smith," he said, "Captain Newport bids me say that the Council +is about to be sworn in in the cabin and that he desires thy presence +there."</p> + +<p>John Smith turned and walked slowly aft, wondering what would be decided +in the next hour. Was he, who felt within himself an unusual power to +organize and to command men, to be given this wonderful chance, such as +never yet had come to an Englishman, to plant firmly in a new land the +seed of a great colony? From his early youth his days had been devoted +to adventure. He was of that race of Englishmen who first discovered how +small were the confines of their little island and who sallied gaily +forth to seek new worlds for their ambition and energy. Raleigh, Drake, +Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir Humphry Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville and +John Smith were the scouts sent out by England's genius to discover the +pathways along which she was to send her sons. Bold, fearless, +untiring, cruel often, at other times kind and firm, they went into new +seas and lands, seeking a Northwest Passage, or to "singe the beard of +the King of Spain," or to find the legendary treasures of the New +Indies—yet all of them were serving unconsciously the genius of their +race in laying the foundations of new worlds. Perhaps of them all Smith +saw most clearly the value of the settlement in Virginia, and just as +clearly was he aware that the jealousies and avarice of many of his +fellow colonists would threaten seriously its growth and indeed its very +existence.</p> + +<p>Though not one among the curious eyes turned on him, as he walked slowly +towards the stem, beheld any trace of emotion on his grave face, he was +consumed with the hope that he might be chosen to lead the great work. +Yet he feared, knowing that all the long voyage, almost from the time +they had sailed from England, his enemies, jealous of his fame and of +his power over men, had sought to undermine it and to slander his good +name. What lies they had spread through the three ships of a mutiny he +was said to be instigating, until orders were passed which made him +virtually a prisoner for the rest of the journey. But he would soon find +out if they intended to disregard and pass him by.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="two" id="two"> <img src="images/2.jpg" alt=""WE CHOOSE TODAY," HE CRIED" +title=""WE CHOOSE TODAY," HE CRIED" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">"WE CHOOSE TODAY," HE CRIED</span> +</div> + +<p>When he entered the little cabin he saw seated along the transom and in +the wide-armed chairs Captain Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, +Edward Wingfield, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George Kendall. They +greeted Smith as he entered, as did the other gentlemen leaning against +the bulkheads, but with no cordiality, and he knew well that they had +been talking of him before he entered. He took his seat in silence.</p> + +<p>These men composed the Council which had been designated in the secret +instructions given them when they sailed and opened after they had +passed between Capes Charles and Henry. And this Council now it was +which, according to its right, was to elect their president for the year +to come. Smith now felt certain that owing to their hostility to him +they had already determined among themselves what their votes should be +while he was without the cabin. The form, however, was gone through with +and the result solemnly announced: Wingfield was to be the first +president of the Colony, and Smith found himself not even mentioned for +the smallest office. The others for the most part smiled with pleasure +as they looked to see his disappointment, but he showed none. Instead he +rose to his feet and said:</p> + +<p>"Captain Newport and gentlemen of the Council, will ye let me suggest +for the name of this new colony that of our gracious sovereign, King +James."</p> + +<p>Here at last they must follow his lead, and all sprang to their feet and +shouted "Jamestown let it be!"</p> + +<p>Then began again the discussion of the spot to be chosen for their +settlement. There were those who desired a site nearer the bay; one +advocated exploring the other rivers in the vicinity, the Apamatuc, the +Nansamond, the Chickahominy, the Pamunkey, as the Indians called them, +before deciding; but Newport, eager to return to England, would not +consent.</p> + +<p>"We choose to-day," he cried, bringing his fist down on the table with a +bang.</p> + +<p>The island that Smith had been examining with his glass was considered. +It was large and level and not too far from the sea, said one in its +favor. The majority were for it and the others were at last brought +round to their point of view. Smith had not put forward any suggestions. +He knew whatever he advocated would have been voted down. When asked +what he thought of the island his answer, "It hath much to commend it," +left his hearers still in doubt as to his real choice.</p> + +<p>"Now that we have christened the babe before it is born," said Captain +Newport, rising, "let us ashore and get to work to mark out the site of +our Jamestown."</p> + +<p>All left the ship with the exception of a few sailors who remained on +guard. After more discussion the Council picked out the spots for the +government house, for the church, for the storehouse, while the artisans +busied themselves with no loss of time in cutting down trees and +clearing spaces for the temporary tents. The matter of a fort had not +been broached, yet Smith, whose military knowledge showed him how +vulnerable the island was, made no suggestion for its fortification.</p> + +<p>He had strolled alone through the tangle of undergrowth, of flowering +vines in which frightened mocking-birds and catbirds were darting, to +the side of the island nearest the bank of the mainland.</p> + +<p>"Here," he said, speaking aloud as he had learned to do when he was a +captive among the Tartars that he might not forget the sound of his own +tongue, "here, on this side should be a bastioned wall with some strong +culverins. A lookout tower at this corner and, extending around north +and south, a strong palisade—that with vigilant sentries would ensure +against attack except by water. If I—"</p> + +<p>Then he stopped, his brow knitting. His disappointment had been a keen +one, his pride was smitten to the quick. Never had he left England, +never thrown in his lot with the new colony, had he known how he was to +be made to suffer from jealousy, intrigue and neglect. As he stood +gazing across into the deeper tangle on the opposite shore his thoughts +were occupied with decisions for his future.</p> + +<p>"Why should I remain here," he cried aloud, "to be disregarded, when +there is many an English ship that would be fain to have me stand on her +poop, many a company of yeomen that would be main glad to have me +command them? I am not of those men who are wont always to follow +orders. I am made to <i>give</i> them. The world's wide and this island need +not be my prison. I will sail back on the <i>Discovery</i> and e'en be on the +lookout for some new adventures."</p> + +<p>A rustling in the bushes behind him made him turn quickly. There stood +Dickon and Hugh and Hob, three of the men who had come from his own part +of the country, with whom during the long voyage he had often been glad +to chat of their homes and the folk they all knew.</p> + +<p>"Captain," spake Dickon, "we have followed to have a word wi' thee in +secret. 'Tis said they have not given thee a place in the Council. Is't +true?"</p> + +<p>"Aye," answered Smith calmly.</p> + +<p>"'Tis a dirty trick," cried Hugh, and his comrades echoed him. "A dirty +trick, but what wilt thou do now?"</p> + +<p>"What would ye have me do, men?" asked Smith curiously.</p> + +<p>Dickon was again spokesman, the others nodding approval of his words.</p> + +<p>"We be thy friends, Captain, and thy wellwishers. We came to this +strange land to make our fortunes because of thy coming. We felt safe +with one who had already travelled far and knew all about the outlandish +ways of queer folks, blackamoors and these red men here. Now if so be +thou art not to have a voice in the managing we be cheated and know not +what may befall us. There be many of the others who think as we do, not +only laborers such as we, but many of the gentlemen who have little +faith in them as have been set in the high places. Now I say to thee, +let us three go amongst them we knows as are friendly to thee and we +will speak in secret with them and we will draw together to-morrow at +one end of this island, and there we will all stay until they agree to +make thee President. And if fightin' comes o' it why all the better. +What sayst thou, Captain?"</p> + +<p>Smith did not answer at once. The friendliness of these men touched him +deeply just at the moment when he was smarting under the treatment +accorded him. He knew they spoke truth; there were a number of the +colonists who had shown themselves friendly to him and who would be +willing to stand by him. Moreover, he felt within himself the power to +use them, to make them follow his bidding as Wingfield could never +succeed in doing. It was less for personal gratification he was tempted +to consent than for the knowledge that his leadership would benefit the +colony as would that of none of his fellow adventurers. He was not a +vain man, but one conscious of unusual powers.</p> + +<p>"If we were strong enough to gain and hold part of the stores and one of +the vessels, would ye let me lead ye away to some other island of our +own, men?" he asked, and immediately saw in his imagination the +possibilities of such a step.</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye. Captain," cried all three, "and we'd be strong enough too, +never fear," added Hugh.</p> + +<p>The temptation to John Smith was a strong one, and he walked up and down +weighing the matter. What consideration after all did he owe to those +who had not considered him? He had no fear of failure; he had come +safely through too many dangers not to be confident. It was only the +first step that he doubted. The men, he could see, were growing +impatient, yet he did not speak. Suddenly an arrow whizzed close to his +ear and fell at his feet.</p> + +<p>"The savages!" cried Dickon.</p> + +<p>Smith peered towards the woods beyond the water and imagined he could +see half hidden behind a birch tree a naked figure.</p> + +<p>"Let us go back and warn the Council," he said, turning towards the way +he had come. "I scarcely think that they will attack us, particularly if +we stay together."</p> + +<p>He stood still a moment lost in thought. Then he said:</p> + +<p>"That's the word, Dickon, <i>if we stay together</i>! Nay, frown not, Hugh. +Put out of thy mind all that we have spoken of this last half-hour, as I +shall put it out of mine. We must stand together, men, here in this new +world. Ye three stand by me because we're all neighbors and +Lincolnshire-born; but here in this wilderness we're all neighbors, +English-born, just like a bigger shire. It's no time now when savages +are about us all, to be thinking of our own little troubles. We must +e'en forget them and stick together for the good of us all. Will ye +promise, men?"</p> + +<p>"Since 'tis so thou hast decided, Captain," answered Dickon.</p> + +<p>"I'm for or against, as thou wilt," said Hugh, "but I'd been glad hadst +thou chosen to fight instead o' to kiss."</p> + +<p>And Hob, who had not spoken a word of his own invention up to now, spake +solemnly:</p> + +<p>"I'll not blab. Captain, how near thou wast to the fightin'."</p> + +<p>When they got back to the site of the future Jamestown Smith, who had +made up his mind to do what seemed to him right no matter what reception +his advice received, told President Wingfield of the hidden bowman and +warned him of the danger to those who might straggle away from their +companions. But the members of the Council, whether they would be +beholden to Smith not even for advice, or whether the friendly attitude +of the Indians at first which was now just beginning to change, +influenced them, refused to believe that the savages intended to molest +them and refused to admit the necessity of putting up a palisade or +taking other precautions against them.</p> + +<p>Each day the work of clearing the ground and of setting up the tents +proceeded apparently more rapidly than the day before, as the results +were more visible. Every one was so wearied with the cramped life aboard +ship for so many weeks that he was glad to stretch himself on the earth +or on improvised beds. Smith, to give an example to some of the +gentlemen who stood with folded arms looking on while the mechanics +worked, swung axe and wielded hammer lustily. Yet he was very unhappy at +the manner in which he was still treated and he eagerly seized an +opportunity to leave the island.</p> + +<p>With Captain Newport and twenty others, he set out in one of the ships' +boats to explore the upper part of the river. They were absent a number +of days, after having ascended the James as far as the great falls near +the Powhata, a Powhatan village near the site of the present city of +Richmond. Then they returned to Jamestown.</p> + +<p>On their arrival they were greeted with the grave news that during their +absence the Indians had killed a boy and wounded seventeen of the +colonists. A shot fired from one of the ships had luckily so terrified +the savages that they made off for the woods. Now the Council was forced +to recognize the need of some protection and ordered every one to stop +work on everything else until a strong palisade and a rough fort had +been built.</p> + +<p>It was now June. Suddenly, to the astonishment of all, the Indians +approached and made signs that they desired to enter into amicable +relations with the white men. They jumped out from their boats and +fingered the clothes of the colonists, their guns and their food, +showing great curiosity at everything. The next day, perhaps because the +Council had seen the folly of their suspicions or had realized the value +of Smith's military experience and knowledge, the state of his +semi-imprisonment, which had lasted since the early part of the voyage, +was put an end to. Now that all seemed peaceful, from without and +within, as a sign of gratitude and of their brotherly feelings towards +each other, all the colonists partook of the Communion together, +kneeling in the temporary shed covered with a piece of sail-cloth which +served as a church.</p> + +<p>Then on the seventh of June they stood on the river bank, looking +gravely, with many doubts and fears in their hearts, at the <i>Discovery</i> +as she sailed for England, bearing Captain Newport away, and leaving +them alone in Virginia.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"> +<img src="images/5de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h4>A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP</h4> + + +<p>Not a day passed without new rumors at Werowocomoco of the white +strangers and their curious habits.</p> + +<p>Pamunkeys from the tops of swaying trees on either bank watched eagerly +the doings of the colonists, and runners bore the word of every movement +to both Opechanchanough at Kecoughtan and to The Powhatan at his +village. Curiosity and consternation were equally balanced in the minds +of the red men. What meant this coming from the rising sun of beings +whose ways no man could fathom? Were they gods enjoying a charmed life, +against whom neither bow nor shaman's medicine might avail? About the +council fires in every village this was debated. The old chiefs, wise in +the traditions of their people, spake of prophecies which foretold the +coming of heroes with faces pale as water at dawn who should teach to +the tribes good medicine and bring plentiful harvests and rich hunting. +Others recalled the vague rumors which had come from far, far away in +the Southland, from tribes whose very names were unknown, of other +palefaces (the Spanish colonists in the West Indies), who had brought +fire and fighting into peaceful, happy islands of the summer seas, who +like terrible, powerful demons, spread about them death and strange +diseases.</p> + +<p>Then came to the councils the comforting word of the death of a white +boy slain by a Pamunkey arrow. So they were mortal after all, said the +chiefs, and they smoked their pipes more placidly as they sat around the +fire. Against gods man could not know what action was right; but since +these were but men who could hunger and thirst and be wounded, it +behooved them to plan what measures should be adopted against them.</p> + +<p>Many of the chiefs urged immediate steps.</p> + +<p>"It is easy," said one, "to pull up a young oak sapling, whereas who may +uproot a full-grown tree?"</p> + +<p>Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was among the most eager for action. He had +won for himself the name of a great brave and a mighty hunter though +still so young. Many a scalp hung to the ridgepole of his lodge and many +a bear and wildcat had he slain at great risk to his life. Now here was +a new way to distinguish himself—to go forth against dangers he could +not even foresee. What magic these pale-faced strangers used to protect +themselves was unknown; therefore if he and his band should overcome +them and wipe away all traces of their short stay, it would be a tale +for winter firesides and a song for singers of brave deeds as long as +his nation endured.</p> + +<p>"Let me go, my father," he pleaded. "Thou, who thyself hast conquered +thirty tribes, grudge not this fame to thy son."</p> + +<p>"Wait!" was Powhatan's only answer.</p> + +<p>The shamans and priests had advised the werowance thus. Not yet had they +fathomed Okee's intentions in regard to these newcomers, though they had +climbed to the top of the red sandy hills at Uttamussack where stood the +three great holy lodges filled with images, and they had fasted and +prayed that Okee would reveal to them what he desired. Powhatan, in +spite of his years, felt the urge of action, and his heart leaped up +when his favorite son gave voice to his own wishes. He longed to take +the warpath, to glide through the forest, to spy upon the strangers who +had dared make a place for themselves in his dominion, and then to fall +upon them, terrifying them with his awful war-cry as he had terrified so +many of his enemies. Yet he dared not do this yet: he was not only a +great war chief, but a leader of his people in peace. Okee had not yet +spoken. Perchance the men with strange faces and strange tongues would +of their own accord acknowledge his sovereignty, and there might be no +need of sacrificing against them the lives of his young men.</p> + +<p>All this he was thinking when he bade Nautauquas wait; but there was no +one who read his mind, yet no one who dared to disobey him.</p> + +<p>When Nautauquas came out from his father's lodge he took his bow and +quiver and went into the forest to hunt. In his disappointment he had a +hatred of more words and a longing for deeds. He ran swiftly and had +reached a spot where he felt sure that he would find a flock of wild +turkeys, when he saw Pocahontas ahead of him. She too was hurrying, bent +evidently on some errand that absorbed her, for she did not stop to peer +up at the birds or to pull the flowers as she was wont to do.</p> + +<p>"Matoaka," he called, "whither goest thou?"</p> + +<p>"To see the strangers and their great white birds again which I beheld +from Kecoughtan, Brother. I cannot rest for my eagerness to know what +they are like nearby."</p> + +<p>"Hast thou not heard our father's word that no one shall go near the +island where the strangers be?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"My father meaneth not me," she answered proudly. "As thou knowest, he +permitteth me much that is forbidden to others."</p> + +<p>"But not this, little Sister. Only just this moment did he forbid me to +go thither. His mind is set thereon; tempt not his anger. Even though he +loves thee well, if thou disobeyest his command in this matter he will +deal harshly with thee. Turn back with me, Matoaka, and thou shalt help +me shoot."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas was reluctant to give up her long-planned expedition, but she +let herself be persuaded. She remembered that Powhatan that very day had +ordered one of his squaws beaten until she lay at death's door. +Moreover, it was a great joy to hunt with Nautauquas and to see which of +them would bring down the most turkeys. They were needed by the squaws +who had been complaining that the braves were growing lazy and did not +keep them supplied with meat.</p> + +<p>While Powhatan's two children were adding to the well-filled larder of +Werowocomoco, there was real dearth of food at Jamestown. The stores, +many of them musty and almost inedible after the long voyage, were +growing daily scarcer. There was fish in the river, but the colonists +grew weary of keeping what they called "a Lenten diet," and in their +dreams munched juicy sirloins of fat English beef. At first their nearby +Indian neighbors had been glad to trade maize and venison for wonderful +objects, dazzling and strange; but now, whether owing to word sent by +Powhatan or for other reasons, they came no more with provisions to +barter. John Smith, seeing that supplies were the first necessity of +the colony, had gone forth on several expeditions up the different +rivers in search of them. By bargaining, by cajolery, by force, he had +managed each time to renew the storehouse. Yet again it was almost empty +and starvation threatened.</p> + +<p>Something must be done at once, and the Council sat in debate upon the +serious matter. Captain John Smith waited until the others had had their +say, and nothing practical had been suggested, then he rose and began:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen of the Council, there is but one thing to do. Since our +larder will not fill itself, needs must someone go forth again to seek +for food. Give me two men and one of the ship's boats and I will set off +to the northward, up that river the Indians call the Chickahominy and, +God helping me, I will bring back provisions for us all and make some +permanent treaty with the savages to supply us till our crops be grown."</p> + +<p>President Wingfield agreed to Smith's demand. The barge was got ready +with a supply of beads and other glittering articles from Cheapside +booths, and Smith set off with the good wishes of the wan-faced +colonists.</p> + +<p>After they had reached what seemed to Smith a likely spot for trading, +he took two men, Robinson and Emery, and two friendly natives in a canoe +and set off to explore the river further, bidding the others to wait for +him where he left them and on no account to venture nearer shore.</p> + +<p>He was glad to be away from the noise of complaining men at Jamestown, +many of whom were ill and fretful from lack of proper nourishment and +some, who because they were gentlemen, would not labor yet repined that +they could not live as gentlefolk at home. On this expedition he was +with friends, even though he knew not what enemies might be lurking on +the shore; and he realized that the natives were growing less friendly +as time went on and they began to lose their first awe of the white men. +But he had no fear for himself; he had faced too many dangers in his +adventurous life to conjure up those to come.</p> + +<p>As they paddled up the Chickahominy the men began to talk of old days in +England before they had dreamed of trying their fortunes in a new world, +but Smith bade them be silent so that he could listen for the slightest +sound to indicate the vicinity of a human habitation.</p> + +<p>"Make friends as soon as thou canst with the copper men, Captain," +whispered Robinson, "for I be main hungry and can scarce wait till thou +hast bartered this rubbish 'gainst good victuals."</p> + +<p>"Pull thy belt in a bit tighter, men," suggested the Captain grimly; "if +I understand all they tell me, the Indians can beat the most devout +Christians in fasting. 'Tis one virtue we may learn from them."</p> + +<p>They kept in the middle of the stream to be safe from any arrows that +might be shot at them from shore; but after many hours of this caution. +Smith determined to explore a little on land. To his practiced eye a +certain little inlet seemed so suitable a landing for canoes that he +felt sure an Indian village could not be far off.</p> + +<p>"Push out into the stream again," he commanded as he stepped ashore, +"and wait for me there."</p> + +<p>John Smith strode into the forest, ready for friendship or <a name="pg_101" id="pg_101"></a>war, since +he knew not the temper of the natives of that region. Suddenly, as he +came out upon an open space where a morass stretched from a hill to the +river, two hundred shrieking savages rushed upon him, shooting their +arrows wildly at all angles.</p> + +<p>"War then!" cried Smith aloud, and as one young brave in advance of the +others stopped to take aim, he leaped forward and caught him. Ripping +off his own belt. Smith bound the astonished Indian to his left arm so +that he could use him as a living buckler. Thus protected, he fired his +pistol and the ball, entering the breast of an older chief, killed him +instantly. For a moment the strange fate which had overtaken their +leader checked the onslaught, while his companions stooped down, one +behind the other, to examine the wound made by the demon weapon. This +respite gave Smith time to whip out his sword, and whirling it about +him, he kept his enemies at a distance. He might have succeeded in +defending himself thus for some time longer, for the savages had ceased +to shoot, not certain whether their arrows would not be ineffectual upon +an invulnerable body, but all at once he became aware of a new danger. +The marshy ground on which he stood had softened with his weight and +that of his living shield and he now felt himself sinking deeper and +deeper into the morass until he was submerged up to his waist. Still the +Indians, doubtless fearing he had some other strange weapons or evil +medicines in his power, did not rush forward to attack him.</p> + +<p>The day was bitterly cold, and the stagnant water struck a chill to his +very bones. His teeth began to chatter with cold, not fright. It was +almost with a sense of relief that he saw the Indians start towards +him. Carefully treading in their light moccasined feet, they gradually +surrounded him and two, taking hold of him, while others loosened the +bound brave, they drew him up from the slushy earth by the arms.</p> + +<p>He was now a captive, and not for the first time in his life. There was +nothing to be gained, he knew, by struggling, and he faced them with no +sign of fear. They led him to a fire which was blazing not far off on +firmer ground where sat a chief, who, he learned, was the werowance +Opechanchanough.</p> + +<p>At a word of command from him, the guards moved aside and the huge +warrior walked slowly around Smith, examining him from head to foot.</p> + +<p>There was a pause which, the Englishman knew, might be broken by an +order to torture and kill him. He did not understand their hesitancy, +but he meant at any rate to take advantage of it. He must engage the +attention of the giant chief before him. Slowly he pulled from his +pocket his heavy silver watch and held it up to his own ear.</p> + +<p>Never had Opechanchanough and his men experienced such an awe of the +unknown. For all they could tell, this small ball in the white man's +hand might contain a medicine more deadly than that of his pistol. They +stood like children in a thunderstorm, not knowing when or where the +bolt might strike.</p> + +<p>But nothing terrible came to pass. Then Opechanchanough's curiosity was +aroused and he put out his hand for the watch. Smith, smiling, held it +towards him in his palm and then laid it against the chief's ear, saying +in the Pamunkey tongue: "Listen." Opechanchanough jumped with +astonishment and cried out:</p> + +<p>"A spirit! A spirit! He hath a spirit imprisoned!"</p> + +<p>Then one by one the captors crowded forward to look at the +"turtle-of-metal-that-hath-a-spirit," and many were the exclamations of +astonishment.</p> + +<p>In order to increase this feeling of awe and to lengthen the delay, +though he did not know what he could even hope to happen. Smith felt in +his pocket again and brought out his travelling compass. It was of ivory +and the quivering needle was pronounced by Opechanchanough to be another +spirit.</p> + +<p>But suddenly, without warning, two of the younger warriors, who had +evidently determined once for all to discover if this stranger were +vulnerable or not, seized Smith and dragging him swiftly to a tree, +threw a cord of deer thong about him, drawing it fast. Then they notched +their arrows and took aim at his heart. "In one second it will be over," +thought Smith, "life, adventures, my ambitions and my troubles."</p> + +<p>Then Opechanchanough called out to the braves, holding up the compass. +Frowning with disappointment, the young men loosed their captive and +Smith realized that it was again the chief's curiosity which had saved +his life. By means of such Indian words as he knew and by the further +aid of signs he endeavored to explain its usage.</p> + +<p>"See," he said, pointing, "yon is the north whence comes popanow, the +winter; and there behind us lies cohattayough, the summer. I turn thus +and lo, the spirit in the needle loves the north and will not be kept +from it."</p> + +<p>When all had looked at the compass, Opechanchanough took it again in his +hand, holding it gingerly as he would have held a papoose if a squaw had +given one to his care. This was something precious and he meant to keep +it, yet he did not know what it might do to him. At any rate, it would +be a good thing to take with him the man who did understand it.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said, "since thou canst understand our words, come and eat in +the lodge of the Pamunkeys."</p> + +<p>And Smith, ignorant of when death might fall upon him, followed. That +day they feasted him, and the half-starved Englishman ate heartily for +the first time since he set foot in the new world. At least he had +gained strength now to bear bravely whatever might await him. The next +day he was bidden accompany them, and they marched swiftly and steadily +for many hours through the forest to Orapeeko. It may be that +Opechanchanough's messengers had informed him mistakenly that Powhatan +was at that village which, after Werowocomoco, he most frequented; but +on their arrival there they found the lodges empty except the great +treasure-house full of wampum, skins and pocone, the precious red paint +used for painting the body. This was guarded by priests, and while +Opechanchanough talked with them. Smith marvelled at the images of a +dragon, a bear, a leopard and a giant in human form that ornamented the +four corners of the treasure-house.</p> + +<p>Evidently the priests were giving the werowance some advice. Smith +wondered whether the savages offered human sacrifices to their Okee and +if such were to be his fate. But the night was passed quietly there; the +next day was spent in marching, and the following night in another +village. Everywhere he was the object of the greatest interest: braves, +squaws and children crowded about him, fingered his clothes, pulled at +his beard and asked him questions. The Englishman observed them with the +same interest. He noticed how the men wore but one garment leggings and +moccasins made in one piece, and how they were painted in bright colors, +many wearing symbols or rude representations of some animal which he +learned was their "medicine." He watched the women as they embroidered +and cooked, tanned hides and dyed skins, scolded and petted their +children. Their lodges were lightly built, he saw, yet strong and +well-suited for their occupants. Many of the young men and maidens made +him think of deer in the swiftness of their movements and in the +suppleness of their bodies.</p> + +<p>After many days of travelling, in which Smith believed that they often +retraced their steps, they found themselves one afternoon at the +outskirts of a larger village than any they had yet entered. Dogs barked +and children shouted as they neared the palisade, and men and women came +running from every side.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," thought Smith, "we are expected. Never in an English +village have I seen a Savoyard with a trained bear make more excitement +than doth here Captain John Smith."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"> +<img src="images/3de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h4>POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN</h4> + +<p>"Princess, Pocahontas!" cried Claw-of-the-Eagle, as he pointed excitedly +to the outskirts of the village, "look, yonder come thy uncle and his +men bringing the white prisoner with them."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, who a few moments before had jumped down from the grapevine +swing, where she had been idling, to peep into Claw-of-the-Eagle's pouch +at the luck his hunting had brought him, now started off running after +the son of old Wansutis, who was speeding towards the gathering crowd. +Never in all her life had she desired anything as much as she now +desired to gain a sight of this stranger.</p> + +<p>"What doth he look like?" she called out, panting, to the boy ahead; but +her own swiftness answered the question, for she was soon abreast of the +procession. There, walking behind her uncle, unbound and apparently +unconcerned, she beheld the white man. Her eyes devoured every detail of +his appearance. She was almost disappointed to find that he had only +one head and two eyes like all the rest of her world. But his +beardedness, so unknown among her people, his youth, which showed itself +more in his figure and in his step than in his weatherworn features, his +cloth jerkin and his leather boots, but above all, the strange hue of +his face and hands offered enough novelty to satisfy her.</p> + +<p>Smith noticed the Indian maiden, already in her thirteenth year, tall +above the average. In his wanderings through the Pamunkey villages he +had seen many young girls and squaws, but none of them had seemed to him +so well built or with such clean-cut features as this damsel who gazed +at him so fixedly. When Opechanchanough, catching sight of her, made a +gesture of recognition, Smith knew that she must have some special claim +to distinction, since it was unusual, he had observed, for a chief to +notice anyone about him while occupied in what might be called official +duty. He felt sure too that he had now come to the end of his +journeyings. In the other towns through which he had travelled he had +heard men speak of Werowocomoco and of the great werowance who held sway +there, the dreaded ruler over thirty tribes. This large village he knew +must be the seat of the head of the Powhatan Confederacy and he was +about to be led before him. What would happen then, he wondered, as he +walked calmly through the crowd who eyed him curiously.</p> + +<p>And this, too, was what Pocahontas was thinking: what would her father +do with this man? Would his strange medicine, which those who had +ventured to Jamestown had much discussed, assist him in his peril? She +had listened to much talk lately about the necessity of getting rid of +all the white faces who had dared come and build them houses on land +which had belonged to her people since the beginning of the world. Here +was the first chance her father had had to deal with the interlopers. +She determined to see and hear all that should take place, so she +hurried ahead to the ceremonial lodge, where she was sure to find her +father, and entered it unchallenged by the guards.</p> + +<p>Once inside, she realized that the stranger's coming had been expected; +probably Opechanchanough had sent runners ahead whom she had not chanced +to see. All the chiefs were gathered there waiting and there also sat +the Queen of Appamatuck, the ruler of an allied tribe. She noticed that +her father, in the centre of a raised platform at the other end of the +lodge, had on his costliest robe of raccoon skin, the one she had +embroidered for him. All the chiefs were painted, as were the squaws, +their shoulders and faces streaked with the precious pocone red. She +regretted that she had not had time to put on her new white buckskin +skirt and her finest white bead necklace, since this was such a gala +occasion. On the other side of Powhatan sat one of his squaws, and her +brothers and her uncles Opitchapan and Catanaugh squatted directly +before him. She herself stood against the wall nearest to the mother of +her sister Cleopatra. She wished she had tried to bring in +Claw-of-the-Eagle with her. How interested he would have been; but it +was not likely that he would manage to get past the guards now, since +there were so many of his elders who must be excluded for lack of room.</p> + +<p>While she was still looking around to see who the lucky spectators +were, the entrance to the lodge was darkened and a great shouting went +up from all the braves as Opechanchanough strode in, followed by his +prisoner.</p> + +<p>Powhatan sat in silence until Smith stood directly before him, and then +he spoke:</p> + +<p>"We have waited many days and nights to behold thee, wayfarer from +across the sea."</p> + +<p>Smith, looking up at him, saw a finely built man of about sixty years, +with grizzled hair and an air of command. He smiled to himself at the +strangeness of his fancy's play, but the air of this savage chieftain, +this inborn dignity of one conscious of his power, he had seen in but +one other person—Good Queen Bess!</p> + +<p>"I too have listened to many voices which have told of thy might, great +chief," he answered, speaking the unfamiliar words slowly and +distinctly.</p> + +<p>Then in the pause that followed the Queen of Appamatuck came forward and +held out to Smith a bowl of water for him to wash his hands in. +Pocahontas leaned eagerly forward to see whether the water would not +wash off some paint from his hands, leaving them the color of her own, +for might it not be, she had questioned Claw-of-the-Eagle, that these +strangers were only <i>painted</i> white? But even after Smith had wiped his +fingers upon the turkey feathers the Queen handed to him, they remained +the same tint as his face.</p> + +<p>At the command of Nautauquas, the slaves began to bring in food for the +feast which preceded any discussion of moment. An enemy, be he the +bitterest of an individual or of the tribe, must never be denied +hospitality. Baskets and gourds there were filled with sturgeon, +turkey, venison, maize bread, berries and roots of various kinds, and +earthern cups of pawcohiccora milk made from walnuts. Powhatan had +motioned Smith to be seated on a mat beside the fire, and taking the +first piece of venison, the werowance threw it into the flames as the +customary sacrifice to Okee. Then he was served again, and after him +each dish was offered to the prisoner.</p> + +<p>There was little talk while the feasting continued. Pocahontas, who did +not eat, lost no motion of the stranger's.</p> + +<p>"At least," she thought, "he lives by food as we do." And she watched to +see whether he would entangle his meat in his beard.</p> + +<p>At last every one had eaten his fill and the dogs snarled and fought +over the scraps until they were driven from the lodge. Then Powhatan +began to question his prisoner.</p> + +<p>"Art thou a king?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, lord," replied the Englishman when he had comprehended the +question; "I but serve one who ruleth over many thousand braves."</p> + +<p>"Why didst thou leave him?"</p> + +<p>Smith was about to answer that they sought new land to increase his +sovereign's dominions, but he realized that this was not a favorable +moment for such a statement.</p> + +<p>"We set forth to humble the enemies of our king, the Spaniards," he +replied, and in this he was not telling an untruth, because the +colonization in Virginia had for one of its aims the destruction of +Spanish settlements in the New World.</p> + +<p>"And why did ye come ashore on my land and build yourselves lodges on my +island?"</p> + +<p>"Because we were weary of much buffeting by the waves and in need of +fresh food."</p> + +<p>For a moment at least Powhatan seemed content with this explanation. His +curiosity in regard to the habits of these strangers was almost as keen +as that of his daughter.</p> + +<p>"Tell me of thy ways," he commanded. "Why dost thou wear such garments? +Why hast thou hair upon thy mouth? Worship ye an Okee? How mighty are +thy medicine-men? And how canst thou build such great canoes with +wings?"</p> + +<p>Smith endeavored to satisfy him. He dilated upon the power of King +James, though in his mind that sovereign could not be compared for regal +dignity to this savage; the bravery of the colonists, the wonder of +silken garments and jewels worn by the men and women of his land. And +remembering his duty as a Christian, he tried to explain the mysteries +of the Christian faith to this heathen, but he found his vocabulary +unequal to this demand. He could see that he was making an impression on +his listeners; the greater their awe for his powers, the more chance +that they might be afraid to injure him. Opechanchanough spoke to his +brother, telling him of the watch and compass. Powhatan seized them +eagerly, turned them over and over and held them to his ear, listening +while Smith explained their use.</p> + +<p>"I would fain know of those strange reeds ye carry that bear death +within them," commanded the werowance again. "By what magic are ye +served? Could not one of our shamans or our braves make it obey him +also?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="three" id="three"> <img src="images/3.jpg" alt=""LET US BE FRIENDS AND ALLIES, OH POWHATAN"" +title=""LET US BE FRIENDS AND ALLIES, OH POWHATAN"" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">"LET US BE FRIENDS AND ALLIES, OH POWHATAN"</span> +</div> + +<p>Smith was aware that the Indians' fear of the white man's guns was the +colony's greatest protection. So he answered:</p> + +<p>"If my lord will come to Jamestown, as we call the island, since we +know not by what name ye call it, he himself shall see guns as much +greater than this one at my side," and he pointed to his pistol, "as +thou art greater than lesser werowances."</p> + +<p>This answer moved Powhatan strangely. He spoke rapidly, in words Smith +could not understand, to some of the chiefs before him. Then turning to +Smith again, and speaking in a tone no longer curious but cold and +stern, he asked:</p> + +<p>"How soon will ye set forth in your canoes again for your own land?"</p> + +<p>The question Smith had dreaded must now be answered. There was danger in +what he must say, yet perchance there was also the hope of soothing the +fears of the savages. At all events, a lie were useless even if he had +been able to tell one.</p> + +<p>"The land is wide, oh mighty king, this land of thine, and a fair land +with food enough and space aplenty for many tribes. Bethink thee of +thine enemies who dwell to the north and west of thee who envy thy corn +fields and thy hunting grounds. Will it not advantage thee when we, to +whom thou wilt present, or perchance if it please thee better, <i>sell</i> a +little island and a few fields on the mainland, shall join with thee and +thy braves on the warpath against thy foes, and when we destroy them for +thee with our guns? Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan. I will +speak frankly, as it behooveth one to speak to a great chief, this land +pleaseth us and we would gladly abide in it."</p> + +<p>The Englishman could not read in the expressionless face of the +werowance what he was thinking of this proposition—the first attempt of +the colonists to explain their presence in the Indians' domain. But the +shouting from all sides of the lodge which followed showed him that the +other chiefs were strongly roused by his words. There was a long +consultation: Powhatan spoke first, then a priest of many years who was +listened to with great consideration, then one of the older squaws +expressed her opinion, which seemed to voice that of the braves as well. +Smith, knowing that his fate was being decided, tried to catch their +meaning, but they spoke so rapidly that he comprehended only a phrase +here and there. At last, however, Powhatan waved his hand for silence +and issued a command.</p> + +<p>It was the death sentence. Every eye was turned upon Smith. Well, they +should see how an Englishman met death. He smiled as if they had brought +him good news. If only his death could save the colony, it had been +indeed a welcome message. Not that he did not love life, but he was one +of those souls to whom an ambition, a cause, a quest, is dearer than +life. And because of its very weakness, its dependence upon him, the +colony had come to be like a child he must protect.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, when she listened to her father's verdict, felt within her +heart the same queer faintness she had experienced when +Claw-of-the-Eagle was running the gauntlet. And seeing the Englishman +smile, she knew him to be a brave man, and somehow felt sorry for him. +She was sorry for herself also. He could have told her many new tales of +lands and people, far more interesting that those of Michabo, the Great +Hare. How eagerly she would have listened to him! Her father was a wise +leader and he did well to fear, as she had heard him tell his chiefs, +the presence in his land of these white men with their wonderful +medicine; but why must he kill this leader of them, why not keep him +always a prisoner?</p> + +<p>She saw that the slaves had lost no time in obeying the command given +them—they were dragging in the two great stones that had not been used +for many moons. These were set in the open space before Powhatan and she +knew exactly what was to follow.</p> + +<p>Was there any possible way of escape? John Smith asked himself. If there +had been but one loading in his pistol he would have fired at the +werowance and trusted to the confusion to rush through the crowd and out +of the lodge. But it was empty. No use struggling, he thought; he had +seen men who met death thus discourteously and he was not minded to be +one of them. So, when at a quick word from Powhatan two young braves +seized him, he made no resistance. They threw him down on the ground, +then lifted his head up on the stones, while another savage, a stone +hatchet in his hand, strode forward and took his stand beside him.</p> + +<p>"Well," thought John Smith, "life is over; I have travelled many a mile +to come to this end. What will befall Jamestown? At least I didn't fail +them. I'm glad of that now."</p> + +<p>He saw Powhatan lean forward and give a sign; then the red-painted face +of his executioner leered at him and he watched the tomahawk descending +and instinctively closed his eyes.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But it did <i>not</i> descend. After what seemed an hour of suspense he +opened his eyes again to see why it delayed. The man who held it still +poised in the air was gazing impatiently towards the werowance, at +whose feet knelt the young girl Smith had noticed by the palisade. The +child was pleading for his life, he could see that. Were these savages +then acquainted with pity, and what cause had she to feel it for him?</p> + +<p>But the werowance would not listen to her pleadings and ordered her +angrily away. His voice was terrifying and the other squaws, fearing his +rage might be vented on the child, tried to pull her up to the seat +beside them. Powhatan nodded to the executioner to obey his command.</p> + +<p>With a bound Pocahontas flung herself down across Smith's body, got his +head in her arms and laid down her own head against his. The tomahawk +had stopped but a feather's breadth from her black hair, so close that +the Indian who held it could scarcely breathe for fear it might have +injured the daughter of The Powhatan.</p> + +<p>For a moment it seemed to all the anxious onlookers as if the werowance, +furious at such disobedience, were about to order the blow to fall upon +both heads. There was silence, and those at the back of the lodge +crowded forward in order not to miss what was to come. Then Powhatan +spoke:</p> + +<p>"Rise, Matoaka! and dare not to interfere with my justice!"</p> + +<p>"Nay, father," cried Pocahontas, lifting her head while her arms still +lay protectingly about Smith's neck, "I claim this man from thee. Even +as Wansutis did adopt Claw-of-the-Eagle, so will I adopt this paleface +into our tribe."</p> + +<p>Every one began to talk at once: "She desires a vain thing!"—"She hath +the right."—"If he live how shall we be safe?"—"Since first our +forefathers dwelt in this land hath this been permitted to our women!"</p> + +<p>Powhatan spoke sternly:</p> + +<p>"Dost thou claim him in earnestness, Matoaka?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, my father. I claim him. Slay him not. Let him live amongst us and +he shall make thee hatchets, and bells and beads and copper things shall +he fashion for me. See, by this robe I wrought to remind thee of thy +love for me, I ask this of thee."</p> + +<p>"So be it," answered The Powhatan.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas rose to her feet and, taking Smith by the hand, raised him +up, dazed at his sudden deliverance and not understanding how it had +come about.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"> +<img src="images/4de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h4>SMITH'S GAOLER</h4> + + +<p>The following morning Claw-of-the-Eagle, passing before the lodge +assigned to the prisoner, beheld Pocahontas seated on the ground in +front of it.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou here?" he asked, "and where be the guards?"</p> + +<p>"I sent them off to sleep as soon as the Sun came back to us," she +answered, looking up at the tall youth beside her. "I can take care of +him myself during the day."</p> + +<p>"Hast thou seen him yet? Tell me what is he like. I saw him but for the +minute yesterday."</p> + +<p>"He sleeps still. I peeped between the openings of the bark covering +here and beheld him lying there with all those queer garments. I am +eager for his awakening; there are so many questions I would ask him."</p> + +<p>"Let me have a look, too," pleaded the boy.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas nodded and motioned graciously to the opening of the lodge. +It pleased her to grant favors, and Powhatan sometimes smiled when he +marked how like his own manner of bestowing them was that of his +daughter.</p> + +<p>With the same caution with which he crept after a deer in a thicket, +Claw-of-the-Eagle moved on hands and knees along the ground within the +lodge. Lying flat on his stomach, he gazed at the Englishman. He had +heard repeated about the village the night before the details of his +rescue as they had taken place within the ceremonial wigwam. Those who +told him were divided in their opinions; some looked upon Powhatan's +decision as a danger to them all, and others scouted the idea that those +palefaces were to be feared by warriors such as the Powhatans. +Claw-of-the-Eagle, however, did not waver in his belief: each of the +white strangers should be killed off as quickly as might be. His loyalty +to his adopted tribe was as great as if his forefathers had sat about +its council fires always. He was sorry that Pocahontas, much as she +pleased him, had persuaded her father to save the life of the first of +the palefaces that had fallen into his power. He believed The Powhatan +himself now regretted that he had yielded to affection and to an ancient +custom, and that he would gladly see his enemy dead, in order that the +news carried to his interloping countrymen might serve as a warning of +the fate that awaited them all.</p> + +<p>Suppose then—the thought flashed through his brain—that he, +Claw-of-the-Eagle, should make this wish a fact! Powhatan would never +punish the doer of the deed.</p> + +<p>He crept nearer still to the sleeping man, loosening the knife in his +girdle. There was no sound within the lodge, only the faint crooning of +Pocahontas without; yet something, some feeling of danger, aroused the +Englishman. Through his half-closed lids he scarce distinguished the +slowly advancing red body from the red earth over which it was moving. +But when the boy was close enough to touch him with the outstretched +hand. Smith opened his eyes wide. He did not move, did not cry out, +though he saw the knife in the long thin fingers; all he did was to fix +his gaze sternly upon the boy's face. Claw-of-the-Eagle tried to strike, +but with those fearless eyes upon him he could not move his arm.</p> + +<p>Slowly, as he had come, he crawled back to the entrance, unable to turn +his head from the man who watched him. It was only when he was out in +the air again that he felt he could take a long breath.</p> + +<p>"He is a good sleeper," was all he remarked.</p> + +<p>"And doubtless he is as good an eater and will be hungry when he wakes. +Wilt thou not stop at our lodge, Claw-of-the-Eagle, and bid them bring +me food for him?"</p> + +<p>He did as she asked, and shortly after the squaws arrived with earthen +dishes filled with bread and meat. They peered eagerly through the +crevices till Pocahontas commanded them to be off. Hearing a noise +within the lodge, she was about to bear the food inside when Smith +stepped to the entrance.</p> + +<p>He was astonished to see the kind of sentinel they had set to guard him. +He had expected to find that his unexpected guest would be waiting +outside for another chance at his life, and he preferred to hasten the +moment. He realized that this maiden, however, would be as efficient a +gaoler as a score of braves. Should he dream of escaping, of finding his +way without guides or even his compass, back to Jamestown, her outcry +would bring the entire village to her aid. He recognized his saviour of +the day before and bowed low, a bow meant for the princess and for his +protector. Pocahontas, though a European salutation was as strange to +her as Indian ways were to him, felt sure his ceremonious manner was +intended to do her honor, and received it gravely and graciously.</p> + +<p>"Here is food for thee, White Chief," she said, placing it on a mat she +had spread on the ground; "sit and eat."</p> + +<p>"It is welcome," he answered, "yet first harken to me. I have not words +of thy tongue, little Princess, to pay thee for thy great gift, and +though my words were as plentiful as the grains of sand by the waters, +they were still too few to offer thee."</p> + +<p>"Gifts made to chiefs," she answered with a dignity copied from her +father's, "can never pay for princely benefits."</p> + +<p>Smith could not help smiling at the grandiloquence of the child's +language, for in spite of her height, he realized that her years were +but few.</p> + +<p>"Yet," she continued, seating herself, "it pleaseth me to receive thy +thanks."</p> + +<p>Now she put aside her grown-up air and her curious glances were those of +the child she was. She fingered gently the sleeve of his doublet stained +by the morass in which he had been captured and torn by the briars of +the forests through which he had been led.</p> + +<p>"'Tis good English cloth," he remarked, "to have withstood such storm, +and I bless the sheep on whose backs it grew."</p> + +<p>"What beasts are those?" she queried, and Smith endeavored to explain +the various uses and the looks of Southdown flocks.</p> + +<p>"Did thy squaws make thy coat for thee when thou hadst slain that—that +new beast?"</p> + +<p>"I have no squaw, little Princess."</p> + +<p>"I am glad," she sighed.</p> + +<p>"And why?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know", her brow wrinkling as she tried to fathom her own +feelings. "Perhaps it is because now thou wilt not pine for her and to +be gone from amongst us."</p> + +<p>"But I must leave here soon, little maid; my people at Jamestown are +waiting for me."</p> + +<p>He said this in order to try and discern what was the intention of +Powhatan towards him. Now that his life was saved, his thought was for +his liberty.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt not go," she cried, springing up. "Thou belongest to me and +it is my will to keep thee that thou mayst tell me tales of the world +beyond the sunrise and make new medicine for us. Thou shalt not go."</p> + +<p>"So be it," said Smith in a tone he tried to render as unemotional as +possible. He sighed inwardly as he thought of his fellows at Jamestown, +ill, starving, and now doubtless believing him dead. Perhaps if he bided +his time he would find some way of communicating with them. In the +meantime, policy, as well as inclination, urged his making friends with +this eager little savage maiden.</p> + +<p>Now that he did not attempt to oppose her, Pocahontas sank down again +beside him. Already there was an audience: braves, squaws and children +were crowding about, watching the paleface eat. Smith had learned since +his captivity the value the Indians set upon an impassive manner, so he +continued cutting off bits of venison and chewing them with as little +attention to those about him as King James himself might show when he +dined in state alone at Guildhall. But for Pocahontas's presence, whose +claim to the captive every one respected, they would have come even +nearer. As it was, one boy slipped behind her and jerked at Smith's +beard. Pocahontas ordered him away and said in excuse:</p> + +<p>"Do not be angry, he wanted only to find out if it were fast."</p> + +<p>She shared the child's curiosity in regard to the beard. Might it not +be, she wondered, some kind of adornment put on when he set out on the +warpath, as her people decked themselves on special occasions with +painted masks?</p> + +<p>Smith tugged at his beard with both hands, smiling, and his audience +burst out laughing. They could appreciate a joke, it seemed, and he was +glad to see that their temper to him was friendly, for the moment at +least. One of the older men pointed to the pocket in his jerkin and +asked what he had in it. Compass and watch were gone, but Smith delved +into its depths in hopes of finding something he had forgotten which +might interest them. He brought out a pencil and a small note-book. He +wrote a few words and handed them to Pocahontas, saying:</p> + +<p>"These are medicine marks. If one should carry them to Jamestown they +would speak to my people there and they would hear what I say at +Werowocomoco."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas shook her head as did those to whom she passed the leaf. The +stranger might do many wonderful things, but this claim passed the +bounds of even the greatest shaman's power.</p> + +<p>Smith, however, determined to keep her thinking of the possibility of +his return to Jamestown, continued:</p> + +<p>"It is possible for me, in truth. Princess, and if thou would'st +accompany me thither I could show thee stranger marvels still."</p> + +<p>"Nay," she cried angrily, "thou shalt never go there. Thou art mine to +do as I will. Is it not so?" she appealed to those about her.</p> + +<p>They all shouted affirmation, confirming Smith's belief that his fate +had been placed in a girl's hands. It was not the first time such a +thing had happened to him; once before in his life a woman had been his +gaoler, and he again made up his mind to bide his time. He answered the +numerous questions put to him as best he could, about the number of days +he had been with the Pamunkeys, his capture, and why he had separated +from his fellows. In turn he questioned them about their harvests, the +time and method of planting and the moon of the ripening of the maize; +but the Indians showed plainly that they liked better to ask than to +answer.</p> + +<p>As the day advanced the crowd began to dwindle. The captive would not +fail to be there whenever they desired to observe him and there was +hunting to be done and cooking, and already some of the boys had +strolled off to play their ever-fascinating game of tossing plumstones +into the air. At last only Pocahontas was left with the prisoner.</p> + +<p>Smith glanced about to see what the chances of escape might be should he +make a sudden dash, but the sight of some braves at a lodge not more +than a hundred feet away busied in sharpening arrowheads made him settle +down again.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, White Chief," said Pocahontas as she lighted a pipe she had +filled with tobacco and gave it now to Smith, "tell me about thyself and +thy people. Are ye in truth like unto us; do ye die as we do or can +your medicine preserve you forever like Okee? Canst thou change thyself +into an animal at will? If so, I fain would know how to do it, too."</p> + +<p>Smith looked critically at the girl who sat on a mat beside him. He had +never seen a maiden whose spirit was more eager for life. In her avidity +for the miraculous he recognized something akin to his own love of +adventure and desire to explore new lands and to sample new ways. She +could not sail across the ocean in search of them as he had done—<i>he</i> +was her great adventure, he realized, a personified book of strange +tales to fire her imagination, as his had been stirred as a boy by +stories of the kingdom of Prester John, of the El Dorado, of the Spanish +Main and of the lost Raleigh Colony. The tobacco, which he had learned +to smoke while with the Pamunkeys, soothed him; he was in no immediate +danger; the warm sun was pleasant and the bright-eyed girl beside him +was a sympathetic audience. He was always fond of talking, of living +over the picturesque happenings that had crowded his twenty-eight years, +and now he let himself run on, seeing again in his mind's eye the faces +and the scenes of many lands, none of them, however, more strange than +his present surroundings. The only difficulty was his insufficient +vocabulary; but his mind was a quick and retentive one and each new +word, once captured, came at his bidding. Also, Pocahontas was a bright +listener; she guessed at much he could not express and helped him with +gesture and phrase.</p> + +<p>"Princess," he began, when she interrupted:</p> + +<p>"Call me Pocahontas as do my people. Perchance some day I'll tell thee +my other name."</p> + +<p>"Pocahontas, then," he repeated slowly, impressing the name on his +memory, "I will obey thee. We are but men, as are thy kinsfolk, subject +to cold and hunger, ills and death. Yet, as God, our Okee, is greater +than your Okee, so our power and our medicine excel those of the mighty +Powhatan and of his shamans. Thou asketh for tales of the land whence I +come. They are so many that like the leaves of the forest I cannot count +them. If we sat here until thou wert a wrinkled old crone like her +yonder," and he pointed to old Wansutis who was hobbling by, "I could +not relate half of them. Therefore, if it pleaseth thee, I will tell +thee of some matters that have affected thy captive."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas nodded her approbation.</p> + +<p>"Our land, fair England, set in a stormy sea, is a mighty kingdom many, +many days' journey over the waters. There all men and women are as white +or whiter than I, now so weatherworn, as indeed are those of many other +kingdoms further towards the sunrise. Our land, now ruled by a king who +wields dominion over hundreds of tribes, was a few years ago under the +sway of a mighty princess."</p> + +<p>"Was she fair?" asked Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>Smith hesitated. The glamour which had once hovered about "Good Queen +Bess," obscuring the eyes of her loyal subjects, had since her death +been somewhat dispelled. He thought of the pinched face, the sandy hair, +the long nose, the small eyes—but then he had a vision of her as his +boyish eyes had first beheld her, the sovereign riding her white steed +before the host assembled to encounter the forces of the Armada Spain +was sending to crush her realm.</p> + +<p>"Not beautiful was she," he replied, "but a very king of men!"</p> + +<p>He puffed a moment reminiscently, then continued:</p> + +<p>"I was born some years ago in a part of our island called Lincolnshire, +where it is low and marshy in places like unto the morass where thine +uncle took me prisoner. Yet it is a land I love, though it grew too +small for me, and when I was old enough to be a brave my hands itched to +be fighting our enemies. So I went forth on the warpath against our foes +in France and in the Netherlands. Then when I had fought for many moons +and had gained fame as a warrior I felt a longing to return to mine own +home. I abode there for a time, then I set forth once more and travelled +long in a land called Italy and entered later the service of a great +werowance, the Emperor Rudolph, to fight for him against the tribes of +his foes, the Turks. I cannot explain to thee, Princess, how different +are their ways from our ways; perchance theirs were nearer to thine +understanding since they are not given to mercy and take to themselves +many squaws; but let that rest. I fought them hard and often, and one +day before the two armies, that ceased their combat to witness, I slew +three of their great fighters, for which the Emperor did allow me to +bear arms containing Three Turks' Heads—that is, as if one of thy +kinsmen should sew upon his robe three scalps of enemies he had killed. +But soon after that was I taken prisoner by these Turks and sold into +captivity as a slave."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" breathed Pocahontas deeply. For once in her life she was getting +her fill of adventures.</p> + +<p>"I was given as a slave to another princess—Tragabizzanda—in the City +of Constantinople; then I was sent to Tartary, where I was most cruelly +used. One day I fell upon the Bashaw of Nolbrits, who ill-treated me, +and I slew him. I clothed myself in his garments and escaped into the +desert and finally after many strange adventures I reached again a land +where I had friends. Then—"</p> + +<p>"Tell me of the princess," interrupted Pocahontas. "Did she ill-use thee +also?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, in truth, she was all kindness to me," replied Smith, his eye +kindling at the remembrance of the Turkish lady who had aided him. "She +was very beautiful, with lovely garments and rich jewels," he added, +thinking to interest the girl with descriptions of her finery, "and I +owe her many thanks."</p> + +<p>"Was she more beautiful than I?" asked Pocahontas, her brows knitting +angrily.</p> + +<p>"She was very different," the amused Englishman answered. It was +scarcely possible for him to consider these savages as being real human +creatures, to be compared even with the Turks; yet he did not wish to +hurt the feelings of one who had done so much for him. "She was a grown +woman," he added, "and therefore it boots not to compare her with the +child thou art."</p> + +<p>"I am no child. I am a woman!" cried Pocahontas, springing up in a fury +and rushed off like a whirlwind towards the forest.</p> + +<p>John Smith looked after her in dismay. If he had turned his only friend +against him then was he indeed in a sad plight!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"> +<img src="images/5de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h4>THE LODGE IN THE WOODS</h4> + + +<p>Neither the rest of that day nor the next had Smith any speech with +Pocahontas. True it was that she came accompanied by squaws and +children, all eager to serve as cupbearers in order to observe the +paleface closely. But she put down the food beside him and did not +linger.</p> + +<p>By the middle of the second day Smith found himself less an object of +interest. Everyone in Werowocomoco had been to gaze at him and the older +chiefs had sat and talked with him; but the Englishman could not +discover what their opinion in regard to his coming or his future might +be. Now there seemed to be something afoot which was engaging the +attention of the braves who congregated together before the long lodge. +Had it anything to do with his own fate, the captive wondered. The +children, too, had found other things to interest them. He saw them, +their little red bodies glistening in the sun, playing with the dogs or +pretending they were a war party creeping through a hostile country. +Smith missed them peering about the opening of his lodge, half amused, +half frightened, when he attempted to make friends.</p> + +<p>He leaned idly against the side of the wigwam, watching two squaws not +far away who were tanning a deerskin and cutting it in strips for +thread. Would the time ever come again, he wondered, when he would +behold a white woman sewing or spinning?</p> + +<p>He saw Pocahontas leave her lodge, but instead of coming in his +direction, she ran towards the wigwams that skirted the forest and was +soon out of sight. He could not see that a young Indian boy, astounded +to catch sight of her in that unaccustomed part of the village, went to +meet her.</p> + +<p>"Is Wansutis by her hearth?" asked Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>"She is," Claw-of-the-Eagle replied, and walked on beside her with no +further word.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas's heart was beating a little faster than usual. Wansutis +still excited a feeling of awe and discomfort in the courageous child; +she could not help experiencing a sort of terror when in her presence. +Nevertheless she had now come of her own accord to ask the old woman for +aid.</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle, though he would have bitten his tongue off rather +than acknowledge his curiosity, was most eager to learn what had brought +the daughter of Powhatan to his adopted mother's lodge. He entered it +with Pocahontas and pretended to be busying himself with stringing his +bows in order to have an excuse for staying.</p> + +<p>"Wansutis," began Pocahontas, standing in the sunshine of the entrance, +to the old woman who sat smoking in the darkest part of the lodge, "thou +hast the knowledge of all the herbs of the fields and of the forests, +those that harm and those that help. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>The wrinkled squaw looked up, a drawn smile upon her lips, and said:</p> + +<p>"And so Princess Pocahontas comes to old Wansutis for a love potion."</p> + +<p>"Nay," cried the girl angrily, coming closer, "not so; I desire of thee +something quite different—herbs that will make a man forget."</p> + +<p>"The same herb for both," snapped the squaw; "for whom wilt thou brew +it, for thine adopted son, thou who art no squaw and too young to have a +son? I have no such herb, maiden, and if I had, thinkest thou I had not +given it to Claw-of-the-Eagle to drink. Speak to her, son, and tell her +if a man ever forgets."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas turned a questioning glance on him and the young brave +answered it:</p> + +<p>"My thoughts are great and speedy travellers, Pocahontas; they take long +journeys backwards to my father's and mother's people. They wander among +old trails in the forests and they meet old friends by the side of +burned-out campfires. Yet, when like weary hunters who have been seeking +game all day, they return at night to their lodge, so mine return in +gratitude to Wansutis. For she hath not sought to hinder them from +travelling old trails, even as she hath not bound my feet to her lodge +pole to keep them from straying."</p> + +<p>"And if she had not left thee free," queried Pocahontas, "what wouldst +thou have done?" Somehow, captivity and the thought of captives had +suddenly become of extreme interest to the girl.</p> + +<p>"I know not, Princess," answered the boy after pondering a moment, "yet +had not my father and mother been dead I feel certain I should have +sought to escape to them, even had thy father set all his guards about +the village. But they were no more, and our wigwam afar off was empty; +and so my heart finds rest in a new home and I gladly obey a new +mother."</p> + +<p>"Is it then so hard to forget an old lodge and other ways?" pondered the +girl. "It seems to me that each day among strangers would be the +beginning of a new life, that it would be pleasant to know I could not +foresee what would come to pass before nightfall. Why," she queried, +looking eagerly at both the old woman and the boy, "why should this +paleface desire to return to the island where they sicken and starve +while here he hath food in plenty?"</p> + +<p>"Wait till thou thyself art among strangers away from thine own people," +cried Wansutis sternly, and then she turned her back upon the young +people and began to mutter.</p> + +<p>"So thou hast no drink of forgetfulness to give me?" asked Pocahontas, +hesitating at the entrance, to which she had retreated; but the old +woman did not answer; and Pocahontas walked off slowly, meditating as +she went, while Claw-of-the-Eagle, bow in hand, gazed after her.</p> + +<p>It had grown dark and John Smith, his legs cramped with long sitting, +stretched himself out by the side of the fire in his lodge into which he +had thrown some twigs, so that the embers which had smouldered all day +now blazed up brightly. The cheerful crackling was welcome, it seemed to +him to speak in English words of home and comfort, not the heathenish +jargon he had listened to perforce for several weeks. Not only was it a +companion but a protection. While it blazed he might be seized and put +to death, but at least he should see his enemies. He missed Pocahontas +for her own sake, not only because her staying away argued ill for his +safety. Gratitude was not the only reason for his interest in her: she +seemed to him the freest, brightest creature he had ever come across, as +much a part of the wilderness nature as a squirrel or a bird. Like all +cultured Englishmen of his day, he had read many books and poems about +shepherdesses in Arcadia and princesses of enchanted realms; but never +yet had any writer, not even the great Spenser or Sir Philip Sidney, +imagined in their words so free and wild and sylvan a creature as this +interesting Indian maiden.</p> + +<p>His thoughts were disturbed by the entrance of two Indians. "We are +come," they said, "at The Powhatan's bidding to take thee to his lodge +in the wood."</p> + +<p>He knew not what this order might mean, yet he was glad that come what +would, the monotony of his captivity was broken. He rose quickly and +followed them through the village, each lodge of which had its ghostly +curl of smoke ascending through the centre towards the dark sky. Within +some of the wigwams he could see the fire and sitting around it families +eating before lying down to sleep. Then they left the palisades of +Werowocomoco behind them and came out into the forest, to a lodge as +large as that in which he had first been led before Powhatan.</p> + +<p>This one, however, was differently arranged. It was divided into two +parts, separated by dark hanging mats that permitted no light to pass +through. Into the smaller apartment, to give it such a name. Smith was +ushered, and there the two Indians, after stirring up the fire and +throwing on fresh logs, left him alone.</p> + +<p>Not long, however, did Smith imagine himself the lodge's only +inhabitant. The sound of muffled feet, even though they moved softly, +betrayed the presence of a number of persons on the other side of the +mat. His ears, his only sentinels, reported that the unseen foes had +seated themselves and then, after a short silence, he heard a voice +begin a low, weird chant. He could not understand the words, but from +the monotonous shaking of a rattle and the steps that seemed to be +moving in some dance round and round from one part of the room to the +other, Smith was certain that it was a shaman beginning the chant for +some sacred ceremony. Then one by one the different voices joined in, +uttering hideous shrieks, and the ground shook with the shuffling of +many feet. The sounds were enough to terrify the stoutest heart, and +Smith had no doubt but that their song was a rejoicing over his coming +death. Perhaps Powhatan, he thought, had only pretended to grant his +daughter's request, having planned all along to put an end to him, and +when the boy, who had doubtless been sent by him, had not succeeded, he +had probably determined to kill him here. Or perhaps Pocahontas, now in +anger with him, had withdrawn her claims to his life and left him to her +father's vengeance.</p> + +<p>The noise grew louder and more fiendish in character and the Englishman +saw the corner of the mat begin to wave, to bulge as if a man were +butting his head against it to raise it. Then he saw it lifted and in +came a creature more hideous than Smith ever dreamed could exist. +Painted all in red pocone, with breast tattooed in black, wearing no +garment save a breech-clout and a gigantic headdress of feathers, +shells and beads, he straightened himself to his great height. A +horrible mask, distorting human lineaments, covered the face, and a +medicine-bag of otter skin hung from his back and dangling from one arm +as an ornament hung the dried hand of an enemy long since dead. On +account of his stature and in spite of the mask, Smith recognized The +Powhatan, and drew himself up proudly to meet his fate.</p> + +<p>Behind their werowance now swarmed the other braves and chieftains, two +hundred in all, and all with masks that made them as fearful, thought +John Smith, as a troop of devils from hell.</p> + +<p>To his astonishment, they did not fall upon him and in their shrieking +he thought he could even distinguish the word "friend." The Powhatan +alone of them all approached him, saying:</p> + +<p>"Have no fear, my son; we are not come to harm thee. The ceremony which +thou hast heard was to call Okee to witness to the friendship we have +sworn thee. Henceforth are we and thou as of one tribe. No longer art +thou a prisoner but free to come and go as thy brothers here, aye, even +to return to thy comrades on the island if thou so desirest. When thou +hast arrived there send unto me two of those great guns that spit forth +fire and death that my name may become a still greater terror to mine +enemies, and send to me also a grindstone such as thou hast told me of, +that my squaws may use it for crushing maize. I ask not these gifts for +naught. A great chief giveth ever gifts in return. Therefore I present +to thee for thine own the land called Capahosick, where thou mayst live +and <a name="pg_144" id="pg_144"></a>build thee a lodge and take a squaw to till thy fields for thee. +Moreover, I, The Powhatan, I, Wahunsunakuk, will esteem thee as mine own +son from this day forth."</p> + +<p>It was difficult for Smith during this discourse not to betray his +astonishment. First came the relief at learning that he was not to be +killed immediately and then the wonderful news that he was free to go to +Jamestown. And if The Powhatan and his people had sworn friendship to +him, would that not mean that through him the colony should be saved? He +longed to know what had brought about this sudden change in his fate, +but he could not ask. In as stately a manner as that of the +werowance—so at variance with his appearance—and with the best words +at his command, he spoke his thanks.</p> + +<p>"I thank thee, great Powhatan, for thy words of kindness and the good +news thou bringest me. In truth if thou wilt be to me a father, I will +be to thee a son, and there shall be peace between Werowocomoco and +Jamestown. If thou wilt send men with me to show me the way they shall +return with presents for thee."</p> + +<p>Powhatan gave certain orders and twelve men stepped forward and laid +aside their sacrificial masks and announced themselves ready to +accompany the paleface. Smith had not imagined that he could leave that +night, but he was so eager to be off that he lost no time in his +farewells.</p> + +<p>They set forth into the forest which at first was not dense, and along +its edge were clearings where the summer's maize had grown. Then the +trees grew closer together, and to Smith there appeared no path between +them, but his guides strode quickly along with no hesitation, though the +night was a dark one. Six of the Indians went in front of him and six +behind. There was no talking, only the faint sound from the Englishman's +boots and his stumbling against trunks or rocks broke the silence. There +was little chance of an enemy's coming so near to the camp of The +Powhatan, nevertheless the Indians observed the usual caution.</p> + +<p>To John Smith there was something ghostly about this excursion by night, +through an unknown country, with unknown men. He could not help +wondering whether he had understood correctly all that Powhatan had +said, or whether he dared believe he had meant what he said, or if he +had not planned to kill him in the wilderness away from any voice to +speak in his favor. Even though the werowance himself were acting in +good faith, might not others of the chiefs have plotted to put an end to +the white man whose coming and whose staying were so beyond their +fathoming? In spite of these thoughts he went on apparently as +unconcernedly as though he were strolling along the king's highway near +his Lincolnshire home.</p> + +<p>The call of some animal, a wildcat perhaps, brought the little company +to a hurried standstill, and a whispered consultation. The sound might +really come from some beast, Smith knew; on the other hand, it might be +either a signal made by foes of the Powhatans or the call of another +party of their tribe about to join them. In the latter case it boded ill +for him. He clasped a stone knife he had managed to secrete at +Werowocomoco. He could not overhear what the Indians were saying, but +they were evidently arguing. Then when they seemed to have come to some +decision, they started on once more.</p> + +<p>Though the forest was so sombre. Smith's eyes had grown more accustomed +to the blackness and he began to distinguish between the various shades +of darkness. Once or twice he thought he saw to the side of them another +figure, moving or halting as they halted, but when he looked fixedly he +could distinguish nothing but the trunk of some great tree.</p> + +<p>On and on they went, mocked at by owls and whippoorwills, crossing +streams over log bridges, wading through others when the cold water +splashed at a misstep up in his face. At last the blackness turned to +grey, in which he could make out the fingers of his hand. Dawn was near. +Why, thought the Englishman, did they delay striking so long? If they +meant to kill him, he hoped it might be done quickly. The phantom figure +which had accompanied them after the halt following the wildcat call +must soon act. Even a brave man must wish such a night as this to end.</p> + +<p>Then the world ahead of him seemed to grow wider and lighter. The trees +had larger spaces between them and the figures of the Indians were like +a blurred drawing. Was it a star shining before them, that light that +grew brighter and brighter?</p> + +<p>"Jamestown!" he cried out in his own tongue. "Jamestown! Yon is +Jamestown! God be praised!"</p> + +<p>The Indians gathered about him and began to question him eagerly. Would +he give presents to them all; would they have the guns to carry back +with them?</p> + +<p>As they stood in a little knot, each individual of which was growing +more distinct, a young man ran up behind them.</p> + +<p>"Claw-of-the-Eagle!" they exclaimed.</p> + +<p>The boy put into the hands of the astonished Smith a necklace of white +shells he remembered to have seen Pocahontas wear.</p> + +<p>"Princess Pocahontas sends greetings," he said, "and bids thee farewell +for to-day now that she hath seen thee safe again among thy people." His +own scowl belied the kindliness of the message.</p> + +<p>So John Smith knew that Pocahontas had accompanied him through the +forest and that if death had been near him that night, it was she who +had averted it from him.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"> +<img src="images/3de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h4>POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN</h4> + +<p>"We have brought the white werowance safely back to his tribe again," +said Copotone, one of the guides, as they approached the causeway +leading to Jamestown Island.</p> + +<p>"Of a surety," remarked Smith, "since thus it was that Powhatan +commanded."</p> + +<p>It was his policy—a policy which did credit to the head of one who, in +spite of his knowledge of the world, was still so young—never to show +any suspicion of Indian good-faith.</p> + +<p>"Now that we have led thee thither," continued Copotone, who on his side +had no intention of betraying any secrets of the past night, "wilt thou +not fulfil thy promise and give to us the guns and grindstone?"</p> + +<p>"Ye shall take to your master whatever ye can carry," answered Smith, +whose heart was beating fast at the sight of the huts and fort before +him, the outlines of which grew more distinct each moment with the +brightening day. He had answered the hail of the sentry who, when he had +convinced himself that his ears and eyes did not betray him, ran out and +clasped the hands of one he had never thought to behold alive again.</p> + +<p>"Captain!" he exclaimed, "but it is indeed a happy day that bringeth +thee back to us, not but that some of them yonder," and he pointed +significantly towards the government house, "will think otherwise."</p> + +<p>The Indians in the meantime were looking about them with eager curiosity +as they strode through the palisades into the fort. It was but a poor +affair, judged by European military standards, and absolutely worthless +if it should have to withstand a siege by artillery. But to the savages +it was an imposing fortress, the very laws of its construction unknown +to them, even the mortar between the logs, a substance of which they had +no comprehension. Over the bastion as they emerged on the other side +they beheld the English flag floating. This they took to be some kind of +an Okee, in which opinion Smith's action confirmed them, for taking off +his hat, he waved it in delight towards the symbol of all that was now +doubly dear to him.</p> + +<p>But it was the guns which claimed the chief attention of the savage +visitors. There were four of them, all pointing towards the forest, iron +culverins with the Tudor Rose and E.R. (Elizabeth Regina) moulded above +their breeches.</p> + +<p>"Are these the fire-tubes of which we have heard?" asked Copotone +eagerly, longing to feel them, but not daring for fear of unknown +magic.</p> + +<p>"Aye," answered Smith, "art thou strong enough to carry one to +Werowocomoco?"</p> + +<p>The Indians looked them over appraisingly, wondering if they could drag +them through the forest.</p> + +<p>"Set the match to this one, Dickon," commanded Smith with a grim smile. +"It behooves us to frighten well this escort of mine, or they would be +trying to carry off one of my iron pets here to a strange kennel."</p> + +<p>Dickon took up a tinder-box that lay on the bench beside him, and in a +moment under the fixed gaze of his audience struck a light and applied +it to the flax at the breech. There was a flash, then a loud report, and +the Indians, as if actually hit, fell to the ground, where they stayed +until they gradually convinced themselves that they were unhurt.</p> + +<p>"If ye had been in front instead of behind ye had been killed," Smith +said solemnly, desiring to impress them with the terrors of the white +man's magic.</p> + +<p>The Indians got to their feet and, though they said nothing, and did not +attempt to run, John Smith knew that they were more terrified than they +had ever been in their lives.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said, leading the way from the fort to the town. "Since ye +find our guns too heavy and too noisy I will seek more suitable presents +for Powhatan and for you."</p> + +<p>The colonists, roused by the cannon shot, had run out from their doors +to see what had happened. They could scarcely believe their eyes, and it +was not until Smith called to them by name and questioned them in regard +to the happenings at Jamestown since his departure, that they were +convinced he was himself. All were thin and gaunt, and they peered +<a name="pg_154" id="pg_154"></a>hungrily at the baskets of food the Indians bore. Most of them greeted +Smith with genuine pleasure; others there were who frowned at the sight +of him, who barely nodded a welcome, who answered him surlily and who +got together in twos and threes to talk quickly as he passed on.</p> + +<p>Smith led the way to the storehouse and bidding the Indians wait +outside, he went within and persuaded the man in charge to permit him to +take a number of articles. When he came out his arms were full of +colored cloths and beads, steel knives and trinkets of many sorts. The +Indians gave him their baskets to empty and he filled them with the +presents, going back for iron pots and kettles of glistening brass. +These he bade them carry to Powhatan. To each of his guides he gave +something for himself. Then speaking slowly, he said to Copotone:</p> + +<p>"Kehaten Pokahontas patiaquagh niugh tanks manotyens neer mowmowchick +rawrenock andowgh (bid Pocahontas bring hither two little baskets and I +will give her white beads to make her a necklace)."</p> + +<p>He would gladly have sent a message of thanks for her care of him that +night, but he thought it best not to do so, since she might not wish it +known that she had followed him.</p> + +<p>"Pray her to come and see us soon," he added as he bade farewell to his +guides whose eagerness to show their treasures at home was even greater +than their curiosity to see further marvels.</p> + +<p>After he had seen them safely outside of the palisades, Smith stopped to +enquire by name for such men as had not come out to greet him.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Ralph, he's dead and buried," they answered; and of another: +"Christopher? He wore away from very weakness. And Robin went a +sen'night ago with a quartain fever. This is no land for white men."</p> + +<p>"But thou lookest hale and hearty. Captain," remarked one of the +gentlemen, leaning against his door for support. "I'll wager the death +thou didst face was not by starvation."</p> + +<p>Then Smith learned in full the pitiful story of what the colony had +suffered during his absence: lack of food and illness had carried off +nearly half the colonists, and those that remained were weak and +discouraged. Death had taken both of his enemies and of his friends, but +some who had been opposed to him formerly had been brought to see during +his absence how with his departure the life and courage of Jamestown had +died down. Men there are—and most of them—who must ever be led by some +one, and in Smith these adventurers had come to see a real leader of +men.</p> + +<p>While Smith stood questioning and heartening the downhearted, President +Wingfield came out of his house on his way to the Government House. +Smith doffed his hat and made a brave bow to honour, if not the man, at +least the office he represented.</p> + +<p>"So thou art returned. Captain Smith," said the President, coldly. +"Methinks thou hast not fared so ill, better belike than most of us. +Hast thou brought the provisions thou didst promise? We have been +awaiting them somewhat anxiously. But first tell me where thou hast left +Robinson and Emery, for the lives of our comrades, however humble, are +of more value to us than even the sorely needed victuals."</p> + +<p>Now Smith was aware that President Wingfield knew, as every other man +in the colony knew, that Robinson and Emery were dead; the others had +already discussed their fate with him. Therefore he realized that the +President had some policy in putting such a question to him thus in +public.</p> + +<p>"Thou must have heard, sir, that they are dead," he replied. "Poor lads! +Disobedience was the end of them. Had they but followed my commands they +had returned alive to Jamestown many days ago; but they must needs land +on the shore, instead of keeping in the stream as I bade them, and they +were slain by the savages after I was captured."</p> + +<p>"That is easily answered, Captain Smith," Wingfield solemnly remarked, +and turning his head over his shoulder to speak as he walked off, he +added: "The Council will require their lives at thy hands this day. See +that thou art present in the Government House this afternoon at three by +the clock to answer their questions."</p> + +<p>"So that is what their next step is," Smith remarked to his friend Guy, +a youth of much promise, as they walked off together. "They will accuse +me of murder and try to hang me or to send me back to England in chains. +But I have not been saved from death by a young princess to come to any +such end, friend."</p> + +<p>And as they walked to his house he told the story of his captivity and +made plans for getting the better of those who sought to injure him.</p> + +<p>The councillors, on their side, were not unanimous as to the course to +adopt. Some were for putting him in safe-keeping—they did not mention +the word imprisonment—until a ship should arrive and return with him to +England. Others, who perhaps felt a doubt of their own ability to +manage the settlement, were willing to acknowledge that they had +misjudged him and suggested that at least he had better be given a +chance to help them; and other timorous members, having witnessed the +warmth of the greeting accorded him, advised that it would be wiser not +to rush into any course of action which would displease the majority of +the colonists. Thus it came to pass that Smith found the three o'clock +meeting like a tiger that has had its claws drawn.</p> + +<p>In the days that followed his spirit of encouragement, the willingness +with which he put his shoulder to the wheel everywhere that aid was +needed, his boldness in defying those leagued against him, completely +changed the aspect of Jamestown. The gentlemen who had refused to wield +axe or spade or bricklayer's trowel because of their gentility were +shamed by his example.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"When Adam delved and Eve span<br /></span> +<span>Who was then the gentleman?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>he demanded and swung the axe with lusty strokes against some hoary +walnut tree.</p> + +<p>But though he enjoyed the triumph over his enemies and the knowledge +that his return, the provisions he had brought and the inspiration of +his courage and activity were of great benefit to his fellows, +nevertheless at times he experienced a feeling of loneliness. He thought +of Pocahontas and wondered whether she would not come to Jamestown.</p> + +<p>It was on a wintry day that Pocahontas made her first visit to the +colony. Though they might lack most of the necessities of life, there +was no scarcity of fuel. A huge bonfire was blazing at an open space +where two streets were destined to meet in the future. Over some embers +pulled away from the centre of the flame a pitch-kettle was heating and +its owners, while waiting for its contents to melt, were warming a small +piece of dried sturgeon. Around the bonfire sat John Smith and several +gentlemen. He was pointing out to them on a rough chart the direction in +which he thought the town should spread out when a new influx of +colonists would need shelter. There were carpenters working on a house a +few feet away, but their hammer blows did not ring out lustily as they +should do when men are building with hope a new habitation; there was +but little strength left in their arms.</p> + +<p>When Smith looked up from his chart to indicate where a certain line +should run, he saw standing before him the young Indian who had brought +him Pocahontas's greeting after the night journey through the forest and +who, he now realized, was the same fierce youth who had attempted his +life at Werowocomoeo.</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle spoke:</p> + +<p>"Werowance of the white men, Princess Pocahontas sends me to inform thee +that she hath come to visit thee. E'en now she and her maidens await +thee at the fort."</p> + +<p>"She is most welcome," cried Smith, springing up. Then he called out in +English: "Come, friends, and help me receive the daughter of Powhatan, +who did save me at the risk of her own life. Give her a hearty English +welcome."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="four" id="four"> <img src="images/4.jpg" alt=""I WILL LEAD THE PRINCESS"" +title=""I WILL LEAD THE PRINCESS"" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">"I WILL LEAD THE PRINCESS"</span> +</div> + +<p>The colonists needed no urging. They were eager to see what an Indian +princess looked like. But Smith outran them all and at the sight of +the bright girlish face he stretched out his hands towards her as he +would have done to an English maiden he knew well.</p> + +<p>"Ah! little friend," he said coaxingly, "thou wilt not be angry with me +longer. How much dost thou desire to make me owe thee, Pocahontas, my +life, my freedom, my return home and now this pleasure?"</p> + +<p>Pocahontas only smiled. Smith then turned, waving his hand to the men +who had followed him.</p> + +<p>"These, my comrades, would thank thee too could they but speak thy +tongue."</p> + +<p>The hats of cavaliers and the caps of the workmen were all doffed, and +Pocahontas acknowledged their courtesy with great dignity.</p> + +<p>"Let us show our guests our town," suggested Smith, "even though it lack +as yet palaces and bazaars filled with gorgeous raiment. I will lead the +princess; do ye care for her maidens and the young brave." As they +walked along the path from the fort to Jamestown's one street he asked: +"Tell me, my little jailor, how came The Powhatan to set me free? I have +wondered every day since, and I cannot understand. Thou didst prevail +with him, was it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Aye," answered the girl. "First was I angry with thee, then my heart, +though I did not wish to hearken to it, made me pity thee away from thy +people, even as I pitied the wildcat I loosed from his trap. My father +would not list to me at first, but I plead and reasoned with him, +telling him that thy friendship for us would be even as a high tide that +covereth sharp rocks over which we could ride safely."</p> + +<p>"But what meant the songs and dances in the hut in the woods, Matoaka?"</p> + +<p>"That was the ceremony of adoption. Thou art now the son of Powhatan and +my brother. Thou wert taken into our tribe, and those were the ancient +rites of our people."</p> + +<p>"And the journey through the woods, didst thou fear for my safety then +that thou didst follow all the way?"</p> + +<p>But Pocahontas did not answer. She would not tell him that she had still +doubted her father, and that she was not sure what instructions he had +given the men ordered to guide the paleface.</p> + +<p>"Thou art like the Sun God," said Smith with genuine feeling, "powerful +to save and to bless, little sister—since I have been made thy brother. +And as man may not repay the Sun God for all his blessings, no more may +I repay thee for all thou hast done for me."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas was on the point of replying when she suddenly burst out +laughing at a sight before her. Two men who were rolling a barrel of +flour from the storehouse to their own home let it slip from their +weakened fingers. It rolled against one of the carpenters who was +standing with his back to it, and hitting against his shins, sent him +sprawling. It was undoubtedly a funny sight and she was not the only one +to be amused. But the man did not rise.</p> + +<p>"Why doth he not get up?" asked Pocahontas. "He cannot be badly hurt by +such a light blow from that queer-shaped thing."</p> + +<p>"I fear me he is too weakened by lack of food," answered Smith, +gravely.</p> + +<p>"Hath he naught to eat?" asked the girl in wide-eyed wonder. Then as if +a strange thought had just come to her: "Is there not food for all? Must +thou, too, my Brother, stint thyself?"</p> + +<p>"In truth, little Sister, our rations are but short ones and if the ship +cometh not soon from England with supplies, I fear me they must be +shorter still."</p> + +<p>"No!" she cried emphatically, shaking her head till her long braids +swung to and fro, "ye shall not starve while there is plenty at +Werowocomoco. This very night will I myself send provisions to thee. It +hurts me here," and she laid her hand on her heart, "to think that thou +shouldst suffer."</p> + +<p>Just then President Wingfield and several officers of the Council, +having heard the news of Pocahontas's visit, came toward them. They +realized that the presence among them of this child, the best-loved +daughter of the powerful Indian chieftain, was an important event. They +did not quite know what to expect. Vague ideas of some Eastern queenly +beauty, such as the Queen of Sheba or Semiramis, had led them to look +for a certain royal magnificence of bearing and of garments, and they +were taken aback to behold this slim young creature whose clothing in +the eyes of some of them was inadequate. Nevertheless, they soon +discovered that though she wore no royal purple nor jewels she bore +herself with a dignity that was both maidenly and regal. They had +hurriedly put on their own best collars and ruffs and to the eyes of the +unsophisticated Indian girl they made a brave, though strange, +appearance. She listened to their words of welcome and answered them +through Smith's interpretation. But all the while she was taking in +every detail of their costumes.</p> + +<p>"We must give her presents," suggested one of the councillors as if +discovering an idea that had come to no one else, and he sent a servant +to fetch some of the trinkets which they had brought for the purpose of +bartering with the savages.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas forgot her dignity at the sight of them and clapped her hands +in delight as Smith threw over her head a long chain of white and blue +beads. Her pleasure was even greater when he held up a little mirror and +she saw her face for the first time reflected in anything but a forest +pool.</p> + +<p>"Is that too for me?" she asked eagerly and clasped it to her breast +when it was put into her hand, and then she peered into it from one side +and the other, unwearied in making acquaintance with her own features.</p> + +<p>The other maidens and Claw-of-the-Eagle were given presents also, but +less showy ones. Smith went into his own little house and after hunting +through his sea-chest, brought out a silver bracelet which he slipped on +Pocahontas's arm, saying:</p> + +<p>"This is to remind Matoaka always that she is my sister and that I am +her brother."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Pocahontas that she was incapable of receiving any further +new impressions. It was as if her mind were a vessel filled to the brim +with water that could not take another drop. Like a squirrel given more +nuts than it can eat at once, who rushes to hide them away, her instinct +made her long to take her treasures off where she could look at them +alone.</p> + +<p>"I go back to my father's lodge," she said and did not speak again till +they reached the fort. Then when Smith had seen the little party beyond +the palisades, she called back to him:</p> + +<p>"Brother, I shall not forget. This night I will send thee food. I am +well pleased with thy strange town and I will come again."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"> +<img src="images/1de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h4>POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR</h4> + + +<p>Pocahontas was as good as her word. That same evening as soon as she had +exhibited her treasures to Powhatan and to his envious squaws and had +related her impressions of the town and wigwams of the palefaces, she +busied herself in getting together baskets of corn, haunches of dried +venison and bear-meat and sent them by swift runners to "her brother" at +Jamestown.</p> + +<p>In the days following, though she played with her sisters, though she +hunted with Nautauquas in the forest, though she listened at night, +crouched against her father's knees before the fire to tales of +achievements of her tribe in war, or to strange transformation of braves +into beasts and spirits, her thoughts would wander off to the white +man's island, to the many wonders it held which she had scarcely +sampled. The pressure of her bracelet on her arm would recall its giver, +and she saw again in her mind his eyes, so kind when they smiled on her, +so stern at other times.</p> + +<p>She thought too of the man she had seen rolled over by the barrel—of +how slowly he had risen. She knew that there was such a thing as +starvation, because sometimes allied tribes of the Powhatans, whose +harvests had not been successful or whose braves had been lazy hunters, +had come to beseech food from the great storehouse at Powhata. But she +herself had never before seen any one faint for food, and it hurt her +when she thought of the abundance at Werowocomoco, where not even the +dogs went hungry, to know that there were men not far away who must go +without. Her father made no objection when a day or two later she told +him that she wished to take another supply of provisions to the white +men.</p> + +<p>"So be it," nodded Powhatan. "Thy captive shall be fed until the big +canoe he said was on its way shall arrive. He saith—though this be +great foolishness, since he cannot see so far—that at the end of this +moon it will come safe over the waters. But until the day of its +arrival, whenever that may be, thou canst send or carry of our surplus +to them. And hearken, Matoaka," he whispered that the squaws might not +hear, "thou hast wits beyond thy years, therefore do thou seek to learn +some of the white man's magic. There be times when the cunning of the +fox is worth more than the claws of the bear."</p> + +<p>So every three or four days Pocahontas brought food to Smith, for his +own need and for that of his fellows. Sometimes, accompanied by her +sister or her maidens, she would go by night to Jamestown, and half +laughing, half frightened, they would set down the baskets before the +fort and run like timorous deer back to the forest before the sentinel +had opened the gate in the palisade in answer to their call. Sometimes, +with Claw-of-the-Eagle as her companion, she would walk through the +street of Jamestown, greeting, now with girlish dignity, now with +smiles, its inhabitants whose thin faces lighted up at sight of her. +She came to symbolize to them the hope in the new world they had all but +lost; they rejoiced to see her, not only for her gifts, but for herself.</p> + +<p>They taught her to say after them a few words such as "Good-day," +"food," and "the Captain," meaning Smith; and the possession of this new +and strange accomplishment was almost as dear to her as beads or +bracelet. The island for her was a place of enchantment. The sunset gun +from the fort awoke more thrills of marvel in her than the rages of a +thunderstorm; and the strangest medicine of all was the power the white +men had of communicating their wishes to others at a distance by means +of little marks upon scraps of paper.</p> + +<p>One afternoon when she had come, accompanied by Cleopatra, she found the +streets and houses of Jamestown deserted. As they wandered about, +wondering what had happened to the palefaces, they heard the sound of +voices issuing from a rough shed beyond. They seemed neither to be +talking nor shrieking but chanting in a kind of rhythm such as she had +never heard. Quietly the two maidens followed the sound to the shed. It +was made of wood, open at the sides and roofed over with a piece of +sail-cloth. Crouched behind some sumac bushes still bearing aloft their +crimson torches, the girls looked on in wonderment, themselves unseen. +The sun was sinking behind them, behind the backs too of the colonists +who all faced the east. Then Pocahontas whispered to her sister:</p> + +<p>"See, Cleopatra, they must be worshiping their Okee. Yon man all in +white before them must be a shaman."</p> + +<p>A keen curiosity kept her there, though Cleopatra pulled in fright at +her skirt, whispering entreaties to be gone before some dire medicine +should fall upon them. She saw them all, when the chanting had ceased, +kneel down on the bare ground and heard them repeat some incantation +which she felt sure must be of great strength, to judge by the firmness +of the tone in which they all recited it. Their Okee, she thought, must +be a very powerful one; and there came to her as she crouched there, the +hidden witness of this evening service, the conviction that her father, +if he would, and even with all his tribes, could never conquer this +handful of determined men.</p> + +<p>She was afraid that "her brother" might be angry with her for having +looked on at ceremonies that were perhaps forbidden to women or members +of other tribes; so, greatly to Cleopatra's relief, they slipped away, +leaving at the fort the provisions they had borne on their strong young +backs.</p> + +<p>A few days later news came from Opechanchanough that the big canoe, so +eagerly expected by the strangers, had been seen at Kecoughtan and was +now on its way up the river. Powhatan was astounded, for it was the very +day the white captain had foretold its arrival. Truly a man who could +see so far across the waves of the big water was one to be feared. And +from that day the werowance had deep respect for John Smith and his +powers.</p> + +<p>Now that the ship had brought provisions there was for a time no need of +aid from Werowocomoco. But only for a time. One day when Smith had +conducted Pocahontas over the ship to show her the wonders of this +monster canoe, he asked her to have her people bring food once more to +Jamestown.</p> + +<p><a name="five" id="five"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/5large.jpg"> +<img src="images/5.jpg" + alt="VIRGINIA IN 1606—FROM CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S MAP" + title="VIRGINIA IN 1606—FROM CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S MAP" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">VIRGINIA IN 1606—FROM CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S MAP</span> +</div> + +<p>"The sailors of Captain Newport," he explained, "are staying here too +long and are devouring much of the supplies designed for us. A strange +mania hath overtaken them, little Sister; they are mad for gold. They +believe that the streams about here are full of the dust they and our +men of Jamestown value more than life itself. It is more to them than +thy precious pocone, and as thou seest, they desert their ship and spend +their days sifting sand. If they are not soon gone there will be nothing +left for the mouths of any of us."</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt not want, Brother," promised Pocahontas, and the next day +came the Indians with large stores of provisions. These Smith now bought +from them with beads and utensils and colored cloths. But the President +and the Council, jealous of the growing importance of Smith's relations +with the savages, sought to increase their own by paying four times the +amount Smith had agreed upon.</p> + +<p>Discouragement met Smith with each morning's sun and kept him awake at +night. The colony seemed to take no root in this virgin soil; men who +would not work in the fields to raise grain toiled feverishly in search +of gold, forgetting that a full harvest would mean more for their +welfare than bags of money. Then, to add to the troubles, a fire started +one winter night at Jamestown and spread rapidly over most of the town, +burning down the warehouse in which the precious grain was stored. From +cold and starvation "more than halfe of us dyed," wrote Smith later in +his history.</p> + +<p>Both with his own strength and by his example John Smith strove to his +utmost to rebuild Jamestown and to encourage the downhearted and to make +friends for himself among those who had listened to suspicions of his +purposes.</p> + +<p>For a long time Powhatan had desired to secure weapons such as the white +men used, but the colonists had so far refused the Indians' request to +barter them. Now he determined to try other methods. He sent twenty fat +turkeys—each a heavy burden for the man who bore it across his +shoulders—to Captain Newport, asking that in return the Englishman +would send him twenty swords. Newport, whose orders from the authorities +in London had been not to offend the natives in any manner, had not +refused and had sent the swords in return. Then Powhatan, still eager to +secure a further store of weapons, had twenty more fine turkeys carried +to Smith, asking for twenty swords more. But Smith, who had been taught +by experience and insight many things about the relations which should +prevail between the colony and the Indians, knew how unwise it was to +give to an untried friend the means of turning against the giver. He +knew that the Indians respected his sternness with them more than they +did the evident desire of Newport and the Council to please them. +Therefore he refused. The disappointed savages showed their anger and +cried out insolent words against Smith.</p> + +<p>Finding they could not weaken his decision, they sought to steal the +swords. They were discovered and Smith, realizing that the time had come +when a decided stand must be taken, had them whipped and imprisoned. +Some of the Council protested, declaring that this was the wrong way to +treat the Indians and urged that Powhatan was sure to resent their +action. How did Smith know, they asked, that these savages were acting +at the command of their chief? Was it not merely <a name="pg_173" id="pg_173"></a>a sudden impulse of +anger that had led them to take what ought to have been given them?</p> + +<p>But the prisoners, who believed in Smith's power to read the past as +well as the future, thinking it useless to try to hide the truth from +him, confessed that Powhatan had commanded them to secure the swords by +any method. Powhatan was now aware that his plan had failed and that it +was necessary for him to disavow the deed of his messengers. To convince +the palefaces of his good faith he must send some one to talk with them +whom they would trust. And so it was that Pocahontas went to Jamestown +as ambassadress.</p> + +<p>Accompanied by slaves bearing presents of food, seed corn for the spring +planting and pelts of deer and bear and wildcat, Pocahontas was received +at Jamestown with much ceremonial.</p> + +<p>"I bear these gifts from The Powhatan," she said to Smith, who always +acted as interpreter. "He begs thee to excuse him of the injuries done +by some rash ontoward captains his subjects, desiring their liberties +for this time with the assurance of his love forever."</p> + +<p>The manner in which she delivered this little speech was so frank that +Smith knew she was ignorant of her father's real part in the theft. The +men had had their lesson, and Powhatan his warning, therefore clemency +might be effectively dispensed.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou desire, Matoaka, that these men should be freed?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, my Brother," she replied eagerly. "Thou knowest thyself how +the trapped man or beast pines to escape. My heart is sad at the thought +of any creature kept in durance."</p> + +<p>"And yet, little Sister," answered Smith gravely, while he watched her +quick change of expression, "I needs must deliver up these prisoners of +mine to another gaoler, to one who will treat them as sternly as thou +didst treat me at Werowocomoco."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas's drawn brows indicated her endeavor to understand his +meaning.</p> + +<p>"Wilt <i>thou</i> be their gaoler, Matoaka?" he asked; and she, suddenly +comprehending his joke, laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>The men were given into her custody and on her return home Powhatan was +much pleased with his daughter's embassy.</p> + +<p>In September of that year Smith at last was made in name, what he had +long been in fact, the head of the colony. As President he could now +carry out his plans with less opposition. The building of new houses and +the church went on briskly; the training of men in military exercises, +the exploration of the shores of Chesapeake Bay—all these received his +attention. Master Hunt, the clergyman, whose library had been burned in +the fire, spent his time in encouraging the colonists, and twice each +day he held his services in the church for whose altar he melted candles +and gathered wild flowers.</p> + +<p>In London the governors of the Colony had decided it would be a wise +thing to attach Powhatan still closer to the English settlement. Their +ideas of the position and character of an Indian potentate were very +vague indeed. They had been told that all savages were fond as children +are of bright colored dress and ornaments. So they reasoned that of +course this Indian chieftain of thirty tribes would be delighted with +the regal pomp of a coronation. They sent orders by the <i>Phoenix</i>—a +ship laden with stores which arrived that summer—that Powhatan should +be brought to Jamestown and crowned there with the crown they shipped +over for that purpose.</p> + +<p>Smith, knowing Powhatan as none of the other colonists did, was not in +favor of this plan. It did not seem to him that a crown instead of a +feather headdress would make any difference to the werowance, whose +power among his own people needed no external decoration to strengthen +it. But he had no choice but to obey, so he and Captain Waldo and three +other gentlemen, went to Werowocomoco to bring Powhatan back with them.</p> + +<p>On their arrival they found the werowance absent, whether by chance or +by policy. By this time Powhatan had lost some of his first awe of the +white men's wits and had concluded it was worth while to try and meet +strangers' wiles with wiles of his own.</p> + +<p>"Where thinkest thou he can have gone?" asked Waldo. "I like it not. +Smith; mayhap he is e'en now preparing some mischief against us."</p> + +<p>"I wish we had not harkened to thee. Captain Smith," said one of the +gentlemen, glancing nervously over his shoulder; "it was a fool's wisdom +to come thus without good yeomen with match-locks to frighten away their +arrows."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," replied Smith, showing his vexation in his tone, "I tell ye +ye are in no danger if ye do not yourselves bring it about with your +looks of suspicion. Remember that all Werowocomoco is feasting its eyes +upon us, and bear yourselves as Englishmen should."</p> + +<p>"Where was it they nearly brained thee, Captain?" queried the fourth. +"And not even thy friend, the little princess, is here to welcome thee. +Doth not her absence cause thee some anxiety?"</p> + +<p>It did in truth set John Smith to wondering. He did not fear that any +harm was planned, but Pocahontas's absence was unexpected and he +wondered what its significance might be. He had been looking forward to +seeing his little sister again in her own home and had expected to enjoy +a talk with her which would not be interrupted as their conversations in +Jamestown always were by the many demands upon his time and attention. +Now that he was so much more familiar with her language, it was a +pleasure to discover what a maiden of the forests thought of her own +world and that strange world he had brought to touch hers.</p> + +<p>The Indians who had come forward to welcome the white men now pointed to +a small meadow at the edge of the trees. They did not reply to Smith's +questions as to what he was to do there, but knowing that this spot was +sometimes used for special purposes. Smith led the way.</p> + +<p>"Whither are we bound. Captain?" asked Andrew Buckler querulously. "It +doth not seem wise to go further off from our boat. If they mean harm to +us we shall have all the longer way to fight through."</p> + +<p>"There will be no fighting to be done," declared Smith, not deigning +even to slacken his gait.</p> + +<p>But just then loud shrieks came from the woods, and between the trees +dashed out a score or more creatures directly upon them.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"> +<img src="images/6de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h4>POWHATAN'S CORONATION</h4> + + +<p>The trees grew so close together that it was difficult for the +Englishmen to distinguish in the shadows they cast the figures whirling +between the trunks. Half naked they were: here a mass of something +painted red; there flashed a white arm, of a whiteness such as nature +never dyed, and there issued shoulders of a brilliant blue, as they +advanced dancing and shrieking.</p> + +<p>"All their war paint on!" ejaculated Captain Waldo.</p> + +<p>And in that moment John Smith lost his faith in the friendship Powhatan +had sworn to him, and he drew his sword, ready to pierce the first +oncomer.</p> + +<p>Then he looked again ... and hastily thrust his sword back into its +scabbard, shouting to his comrades who had also drawn their blades, +"Hold!"</p> + +<p>For there before him, the first of the dancers who had run out of the +forest, advanced Pocahontas! On her head she wore branching antlers, an +otter skin at her waist and one across her arm, a quiver at her back, +and she carried a bow and arrow in her hand. In a flash she realized +what the Englishmen were thinking—that they were caught in an ambush.</p> + +<p>"My Brother!" she cried out in a tone that rang with disappointment, +"didst thou too doubt me? Tell them, thy companions, that I lay my life +in their hands if any harm was intended."</p> + +<p>Seldom in his life had John Smith felt so at a loss as to what he should +reply. He hurriedly explained to the others that Pocahontas was +evidently intending to do them special honour in welcoming them with +some kind of sylvan masque. Then facing her, he cried:</p> + +<p>"Forgive us, Matoaka, and be not angry that we mistook thy kindness. +See, we seat ourselves here upon the ground and we beseech thee that +thou and thy maidens will continue thy songs and thy dancing, which will +greatly divert us."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas's disappointment vanished at once and she sped back with her +comrades to the woods, where they repeated their masque, this time to +the amusement of the Englishmen, who were somewhat ashamed to think that +they had been so frightened by a troop of girls. All of the dancers were +horned like their leader and the upper parts of their bodies and their +arms were painted red, white or blue. There was a fire blazing in the +centre of the field and around this they formed a ring, dancing and +singing a song which, while unlike anything Smith's companions had ever +heard, affected their pulses like drumbeats. Some of the words they sang +Smith was able to catch words of welcome, songs of young maidens in +which they told of the joys of childhood and of the days when +sweet-hearts would seek them and when they would follow some brave to +his wigwam.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, he thought, was as graceful as a young roe; her feet were as +quick as the flames of the fire, and every now and then, from the very +exuberance of her happiness, she shot an arrow over their heads into the +trees beyond. Smith could not help wondering what kind of a husband she +would follow home some day.</p> + +<p>The masque lasted an hour; all the different motions were symbolic, as +Smith had learned all Indian dances were, and much of it he was able to +comprehend. In any case he would have enjoyed the masque, knowing that +Pocahontas had performed it to honour her father's guests. When it was +over, suddenly as they had come, the maidens vanished into the dark +forest.</p> + +<p>The Englishmen were not left alone, however, for during the dancing a +number of braves and squaws had come to look on at the ceremony and even +more at the audience. Now Nautauquas came forward and greeted Smith.</p> + +<p>"My father hath just returned. He hurried back when he learned that ye +were to visit him. He hath had the guest lodge prepared and awaits your +coming there."</p> + +<p>Powhatan greeted them when they entered the lodge, which Smith +recognized at once as the one where his life had been in such jeopardy.</p> + +<p>"Tell them they are welcome, thy comrades," he said to Smith, "and thou, +my son, art always as one of mine own people."</p> + +<p>They seated themselves on the mats spread for them, and the usual +feasting began, the Englishmen doing more than justice to the Indian +dishes.</p> + +<p>"'Tis a strange beast and of a rare flavor withal, this raccoon," said +Waldo, "and methinks the King at Westminster hath no better trencher +meat. Hath the old savage asked of thee yet our errand, Smith?"</p> + +<p>"An Indian never asks the errand of his guest," he replied; "but now we +have eaten it is not meet that I delay longer to tell him."</p> + +<p>He rose to his feet and began to speak. Pocahontas, who had stood at the +entrance looking in, now entered and sat down at her father's feet.</p> + +<p>"Ruler of many tribes, Werowance of the Powhatans, Wahunsunakuk, we have +come to bring the greetings sent thee from across the sea by our own +great werowance, James. With the English, the Spaniards, the French and +other great peoples beyond the seas, their greatest chief who rules many +tribes is called a 'king.' He is mightier than all other werowances, +hath always much riches and honour, and when the time comes that, by the +death of an old king or by conquest, a new king takes his place, he is +crowned. They put a circlet upon his head and in his hand they place a +staff of honour and upon his shoulders they throw royal robes, so that +all who see shall know that this is the King and that all must do him +fealty. Our own King James, who hath heard of thee, and of the many +tribes that are subject to thee, hath desired that thou, too, shouldst +be crowned as another king, his friend, so that the English may know +that he calls thee 'brother,' and that thine own people shall hold thee +in yet greater awe."</p> + +<p>Powhatan manifested no sign of interest in these words; but from the +eager look on Pocahontas's face Smith was aware that his Indian speech +had at least been comprehended.</p> + +<p>"Therefore," Smith continued, "it is planned to hold thy coronation at +Jamestown upon as near a day as thou shalt see fit to appoint. Our King +hath sent presents for thee which await thy coming to us."</p> + +<p>Then he ceased and looked to Powhatan for an answer. The werowance +thought a moment in silence, then he spoke:</p> + +<p>"If your king hath sent me presents, I also am a king, and this is my +land; eight days I will stay to receive them. Your Father is to come to +me, not I to him, nor yet to your fort."</p> + +<p>He spoke with so kingly a dignity that the Englishmen did not seek to +dissuade him. They promised to do as he wished and to persuade Newport, +whom he called their "father," to go to Werowocomoco, which might be +considered as Powhatan's capital. Then they departed for Jamestown, +after having thanked Powhatan and Pocahontas for their entertainment.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas awaited their return with eagerness. She talked the matter +over with Nautauquas. Perhaps, she said, there was some strange medicine +in this ceremony which would make their father invulnerable and +perchance safe even from death itself.</p> + +<p>"I have more faith in the white men's guns than in their medicine," +declared Claw-of-the-Eagle. "Ever since one of those fat housebuilders +whom they call Dutchmen let me try to fire off one of them, I know now +that they are not worked by magic. If we could manage to get enough of +them we should be ten times as strong as their starving company and +could destroy all of them before another shipload of newcomers arrived."</p> + +<p>"Nay," cried Pocahontas, "not as long as our brother, the captain, +lives. Thou couldst not even face his eyes when he is angry."</p> + +<p>She did not imagine that she was stating an actual fact. +Claw-of-the-Eagle had never been able to look Smith in the eye since he +crawled away from the lodge where he had meant to kill the white man. It +was only Smith himself who awed him so; but he dreamed that some day he +might be able to deal a blow in the dark when those terrible eyes could +not stop him. In the meantime he felt equal to meeting the other +palefaces day or night.</p> + +<p>"But," asked Nautauquas slowly and gravely, as if weighing the matter, +"why should we wish to destroy these white men? I once had different +thoughts, and I have gone alone into the forest and fasted and prayed to +Okee that I might know whether to greet them as foe or friend. In some +way the white tribes that live across the great waters have found their +way westward. Many have come, the rumor is, to the south of us, men of +different race and different tongue from these on the island. These +others are cruel to the Indians among whom they have settled and have +destroyed many villages and made captive their braves and squaws. Now I +have talked with our father, Wahunsunakuk, of what I now speak, since we +can no longer hope to hide our trail again to these wanderers from the +rising sun, that it is better to make friends of these who have come and +who seem well-disposed towards us, and to have them for allies rather +than enemies."</p> + +<p>In spite of himself, Claw-of-the-Eagle was impressed with this +reasoning.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou then like these paleface strangers and their ways?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"There is much about them I do not understand," replied Nautauquas; "how +they can wear so many garments; why they build them houses that let in +no air; why they come here when they have villages beyond the seas; yet +I know that they are brave and that their medicine is mighty."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas spoke little. She had never told anyone how much interest she +found in all that concerned the white men and their ways.</p> + +<p>It was some days later that Smith, Captain Newport and fifty men started +to march to Werowocomoco for the coronation of Powhatan. The presents +which the King and the governors of the Colony in London had chosen for +him were sent by boat up the river. When the company of Englishmen in +their farthingale-breeches, slashed sleeves and white ruffs, their +swords and buckles glistening, accompanied by a few soldiers bearing +halberds and long muskets, arrived, the entire population of the village +and those of other villages for leagues about were awaiting them. Braves +and squaws had decked themselves out also in their choicest +finery—necklaces and beads and embroidered robes.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful picture that the dark surrounding forest looked +upon—the group of gaily colored Indians facing the more soberly dressed +Europeans. Round them circled children, pushing, peering between their +elders that they might miss nothing. And through it all, running from +one group to the other, welcoming, explaining, smiling and laughing, +flitted the white-clad Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>After their greeting, when Powhatan and Captain Newport eyed each other +appraisingly, the gifts were brought into the field where Pocahontas had +danced her masque and spread out before the curious gaze of the savages. +Pocahontas, in her white doeskin skirt and wearing many strings of white +and blue beads, went about among her new friends, and laid her hand into +that of Captain Newport, as Smith had told her was the manner in which +the English greeted one another. Some of the chieftains scowled at the +sight and did not relish the friendliness shown by her to the strangers. +Several even remonstrated with Powhatan who, however, would not restrain +her. After a few words with Smith, she rejoined Cleopatra and others of +her sisters at one side of the field.</p> + +<p>"What is yon curious thing, Pocahontas?" they questioned of her superior +knowledge, as the wrappings were taken off a bedstead that Captain +Newport by means of signs presented solemnly to Powhatan.</p> + +<p>"That," she answered, having had a glimpse of such furniture at +Jamestown, "that is a couch on which they sleep."</p> + +<p>"Is it more comfortable than our mats?" asked Cleopatra. "I should fear +to fall out of it into the fire."</p> + +<p>Plainly Powhatan, too, was at a loss to know what to do with it. The +next gifts, a basin and ewer, met with more enthusiasm. The squaws were +particularly interested in them when Pocahontas told them that they were +made of a substance which would not break as did their own vessels of +sun-baked pottery. But it was the red mantle of soft English cloth, in +shape like to the one, he was told. King James had worn at his +coronation at Westminster, that made Powhatan's grim features relax a +little with pleasure. Captain Newport placed it on the werowance's +shoulders and held a mirror that he might behold himself thus handsomely +apparelled.</p> + +<p>Then they proceeded to the crowning. Newport would have liked to have +some words of ritual read, even though the principal of the ceremony had +not been able to understand them; but the chaplain pointed out that +neither the law nor the Prayer-Book made any provision for the crowning +of a heathen, and that after all it was the act, not the words, which +would impress the savages.</p> + +<p>The drummer beat a loud tattoo and the trumpeter blew a call that +startled the squaws and the children into shrieks; the braves were +quicker in hiding their astonishment. Then Smith and Newport walked +forward, Newport holding the crown. Smith said:</p> + +<p>"Kneel, Wahunsunakuk, that we may crown thee."</p> + +<p>But Powhatan, whose understanding of these strange proceedings was not +clear, though he comprehended Smith's words, continued to stand stiff +and straight as a pine tree.</p> + +<p>"Kneel down, oh, Powhatan," urged Smith. "Mistake not, this act is a +kingly one; so do all the kings of Europe."</p> + +<p>But Powhatan would not. To him the posture was one unfitting to the +dignity of a mighty werowance, ruler over thirty tribes and lord of +sixty villages. He would accept presents sent him, and he had no +objection to wearing a glittering ring upon his head if the white men +chose to give him one; but he would not kneel; that was going too far in +his acquiescence to strange ways. Such a position was for suppliants +and squaws and children.</p> + +<p>Smith was uncertain what to do. The officers of the Colony in London had +laid great stress upon a proper crowning, believing, as he did not, that +it would impress the Indians as the symbol of an alliance between their +people and the English. He thought a moment, then whispered a word to +Newport. The two quickly laid their hands on Powhatan's shoulders and +pressed down gently but firmly, a pressure which bowed his knees +slightly. Then, before he had time to recover himself, Newport had +placed the crown upon his grizzled head.</p> + +<p>According to orders, two soldiers, seeing that the ceremony was +accomplished, fired a salute with their muskets. Powhatan started +suddenly; Nautauquas raised his head like a deer scenting danger, and +some of the braves started to run towards the knot of white men. But the +calm demeanor of Smith showed them their error.</p> + +<p>"We are quits," said Captain Waldo to Buckler; "the maids frightened us +with their masks and we have frightened their braves with our muskets."</p> + +<p>Powhatan in the red robe and crown seated himself upon the mats that +were brought out to him, and Smith whispered to one of the gentlemen who +had accompanied him:</p> + +<p>"In faith, Radcliffe, is he not more kingly looking than our royal +James?"</p> + +<p>The idea of a coronation had seemed absurd to him, and he had believed +that the old chief would appear ridiculous decked out in mock finery, +but he admitted to himself that such was far from being the case.</p> + +<p>Then the feast was brought on and the Englishmen again did full justice +to the Indian dishes. Pocahontas came and sat beside Smith.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, little Sister," he said, "and how dost thou like thy father's +new robes?"</p> + +<p>"He appeareth strange to me," she answered, "but he will not wear them +long. It is beautiful, that cloak, but he can paint his flesh as fine a +color with pocone, and it will not be so warm nor so heavy."</p> + +<p>Smith laughed.</p> + +<p>"Wouldst thou not like to try to wear clothes such as our women wear? +Perchance thou mayst try what they are like before long, for soon we +shall be seeing white squaws come over on the ships."</p> + +<p>"Do white men have squaws, too?" asked Pocahontas in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"For a surety. Didst thou think Englishmen could live forever without +wife or chick at their hearths?"</p> + +<p>"And thou, my Brother," she queried eagerly, "will thy squaw and thy +children come soon?"</p> + +<p>"I have none, Matoaka; my trails have led through so many dangers that I +have not taken a squaw."</p> + +<p>"But a squaw would not fear danger if thou couldst take her with thee, +or if not, she would wait in thy lodge ready to welcome thee on thy +return. She would have soft skins ready for thy leggings, new mats for +thee to sleep upon; she would point out all the stores of dried venison +she had hung on her tent-pole while thou wert gone, and fresh sturgeon +would she cook for thee and prepare walnut-milk for thy thirst."</p> + +<p>"'Tis a pretty picture thou drawest, Matoaka," he answered, yet he did +not laugh at it. "Often I feel lonely in my wigwam and I wonder if some +day I shall not bring a wife into it."</p> + +<p>"There would be none who would refuse thee," answered the girl simply.</p> + +<p>Smith did not take in the significance of her words, yet his thoughts +were of her. Suppose he should throw in his lot altogether with this new +country and take for wife this happy, free child of the aboriginal +forest? It was only a passing thought. He had not time to consider it +further, for Newport had risen and gave the signal for them to start on +the return march to Jamestown. He rose, too, and bade farewell to +Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>During the feasting Powhatan had been thinking over what he meant to do. +Gravely he presented to Captain Newport a bundle of wheat ears for +spring planting; then with the utmost dignity, he handed him the +moccasins and the fur mantle he had laid aside when they placed his +coronation robe upon him. Newport received them in amazement, not +knowing what he was to do with them; but Smith made a speech of thanks +for him.</p> + +<p>"What did the old savage mean?" asked Newport as they were on their +homeward way. "Was it because he wanted to give a present in return?"</p> + +<p>"Methinks," answered Smith, "that Powhatan hath a sense of humor and +doth wish to show us that his coronation hath so increased his +importance that his cast-off garments have perforce won new value in our +eyes."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"> +<img src="images/2de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h4>A DANGEROUS SUPPER</h4> + + +<p>Some months later, the first of the year 1609, there was again grave +danger of starvation at Jamestown, and Smith, remembering the full +storehouses at Werowocomoco, determined to go and purchase from Powhatan +what was needed. Taking with him twelve men, they set out by boat up the +river.</p> + +<p>"I doubt not," said John Russell as they sailed along the James, now no +longer muddy as in the summer but coated with bluish ice in the +shallows, "I doubt not that those fat Dutchmen the Council sent over to +build a house for Powhatan—what need hath he of a Christian +house?—have grown fatter than ever upon his good victuals while we be +wasting thinner day by day."</p> + +<p>"I have no liking for those foreigners," exclaimed Ratcliffe, watching +with greedy eyes a flock of redhead ducks that flew up from one of the +little bays as the boat approached, wishing he could shoot them for his +dinner. "Were there not enough carpenters and builders in Cheapside and +Hampstead that the lords of the Colony must needs hunt out these +ja-speaking lubbers from Zuider-Zee? They have no love for us, no more +than we for them. If they thought 'twould vantage them, they would not +scruple to betray us to the savages."</p> + +<p>As they proceeded up the James, away from tidewater, the ice extended +farther out into the river, until when they neared Werowocomoco there +was a sheet of it that stretched half a mile out from shore. Smith had +determined, so desperate was the plight of the colonists, that he would +not go back to Jamestown without a good supply of corn and other food. +He hoped that Powhatan would consent to his buying it; but he meant to +take it by force if necessary. For some time there had been little +intercourse between the English and the Indians; the latter had seemed +more unwilling to barter stores, and there was a rumor that Powhatan had +new grievances against the white men.</p> + +<p>The four Dutchmen who for some weeks had been building the house for +Powhatan, had discussed amongst themselves the relative advantages of +friendship with the werowance or with the English. They decided that to +weaken the latter would be their best policy, since they would be +content to see the struggling settlement of Europeans destroyed and to +entrust their own fate to the savages. There was much in the Indian +method of living which pleased them; plenty of good food and full pipes +of tobacco and squaws to serve them. So they laid their plans and +imparted to Powhatan in confidence that Smith, who they knew must soon +appear in search of supplies, was in reality using this need as a +pretext and that he meant to fire upon the Indians and do great damage +to Werowocomoco.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas did not overhear this talk, but she had watched the four +strangers together and her sharp ears had frequently <a name="pg_195" id="pg_195"></a>caught the word +"Smith" repeated. Now when the news was shouted through the lodges that +the boat bearing Smith and his companions was approaching slowly through +the broken ice, Pocahontas hurried eagerly to the river and waved her +hand to her friends. She watched them come ashore but checked herself as +she started to run to meet them. She had a feeling that this was not the +moment for pretty speeches, and feared that Powhatan's enmity to the +English had been fanned by the Dutchmen until it was ready to burst +forth. She determined, instead of showing any interest in the strangers, +to appear indifferent to them and to let her people think she had grown +hostile to them. She would stay close to her father in order to learn +what he intended to do.</p> + +<p>The werowance as he came towards them did not wear his red mantle nor +his crown of English make, but a headdress of eagle feathers and +leggings and a cape of brown bear fur. Perhaps he wished to show that he +had no need to wear a crown to look a king. He strode slowly to the +river and called out in greeting to the white men:</p> + +<p>"Ye are welcome to Werowocomoco, my son, but why comest thou thus with +guns when thou visiteth thy father?"</p> + +<p>"We be come to buy food from thee, oh Powhatan," answered Smith, "to +fill thy hands and those of thy people with precious beads and knives +and cloths of many colors for thy squaws in exchange for food for to-day +and to last till comes nepinough (the earing of the corn), when we shall +harvest the fruit of the seed we plant."</p> + +<p>"But lay aside first your arms. What need have ye of arms who come upon +such a peaceful purpose? Have ye thought to try to frighten my people +to sell thee of their stores? What will it avail you to take by force +what you may quickly have by love, or destroy them that provide you +food? Every year our friendly trade will furnish you with corn, and now +also, if you will come in friendly manner to see us, and not thus with +your guns and swords as to invade your foes."</p> + +<p>Many of the English, when Smith had translated word after word of the +chief's discourse, felt shamed at the show of force their weapons +manifested, and would have been willing to lay them by while they were +upon the land of this friendly chieftain, whom, they felt, they had +misjudged. But Smith was not deceived. He was learning to read the signs +of Indian ways, and he knew that the chief had reasons for desiring to +see them unarmed. So he called out in answer:</p> + +<p>"Your people coming to Jamestown are entertained with their bows and +arrows without any exceptions, we esteeming it proper with you as it is +with us, to wear our arms as part of our apparel."</p> + +<p>There followed more words between the two and much talk of "father" and +"son"; but Pocahontas, who listened to it all, was not easy. She had +given her affection to Smith since the day she saved his life, and now +she was sure that her father planned to harm him. Nautauquas was away +with Claw-of-the-Eagle on a foray against the Massawomekes, the latter +having sworn to her that he would now accomplish deeds to make the +chiefs of his tribe declare him worthy to be called a real Powhatan +brave. Had her brother been at Werowocomoco, she might have confided her +fear to him; as it was, she realized that she alone must discover her +father's intentions.</p> + +<p>She saw that Powhatan had withdrawn on some pretext she did not overhear +and that Smith, standing at the entrance of the lodge which Powhatan had +assigned to the English, was chatting with some of the squaws he +remembered from the time of his captivity, while the rest of the white +men were busy in carrying the objects they had brought for bartering +from the boat to the lodge.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a number of Indian braves rushed towards him, arrows notched in +the bowstrings. The foremost savage let his arrow fly; it was aimed a +few feet too high and, grazing Smith's steel morion, hit the bark of the +lodge-covering above his head. The squaws, shrieking loudly, took to +their heels. Smith, before another arrow left its bow, whipped out his +pistol and pointed it at the advancing crowd. Then John Russell, hearing +the commotion, rushed from the lodge. Pressing the snaphance of his +musket, he fired into the oncoming savages, but failed to hit one.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the Indians, seeing that the Englishmen were still armed, +turned and fled, disappearing into the forest. Pocahontas, trembling +with anger, ran through the trees to find her father to ask him what was +the meaning of this treacherous treatment of his guests.</p> + +<p>After she had run some little distance she caught sight of Powhatan +approaching and, hiding behind a rock, she waited to see whither he was +bound. To her amazement, she saw that he was turning to the strangers' +lodge and that behind him followed slaves bearing great baskets of food +and seed-corn. What could he mean, she wondered, by first trying to kill +and then to feast the white men? She followed, herself unseen, while +Powhatan approached Smith without the slightest hesitation.</p> + +<p>"It rejoiceth my heart, my son," she heard him call out when he was +within one hundred feet of where Smith was standing, watching him with +puzzled eyes, "to know that thou art unharmed. While I was gone to see +that provisions were provided for thee, even according to my word, my +young men who were crazed with religious zeal and fasting they have +undergone in preparation for a great ceremonial planned by our priests, +knew not what they were doing. See, my son, think no evil of us; would +we at one moment seek to harm and to help thee? Behold the supplies I, +thy father, have here for thee."</p> + +<p>And Smith, though he doubted somewhat, did not feel certain that +Powhatan was not speaking the truth. But Pocahontas, still in hiding, +knew well that no man in Werowocomoco would have dared shoot at the +white men except by direct order of their werowance.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, however, all was now well; perhaps her father had at least +realized that the Englishmen were not to be caught napping. She looked +on while Powhatan and Smith superintended the placing of the great piles +of stores in the boat and the refilling of the baskets with the goods +with which the Englishmen paid for them.</p> + +<p>Then, their work over, the Indians began to deck themselves out in the +beads and cloths. While they were thus occupied a man came running and +dropped down exhausted before Powhatan, able to gasp out a couple of +words only. Though the messenger had not breath enough to cry them out, +they were heard by the Indians standing nearby and shouted aloud. +Immediately the crowd jumped to their feet and uttering loud shrieks, +danced up and down and around in circles, to the sound of rattles and +drums.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of all this, Smith?" asked Russell, who with the +other white men stood watching the strange performance.</p> + +<p>"Tell them, my son," said Powhatan, understanding from the tone of the +Englishman's voice that his words were a question, "that two score of my +braves, among them Nautauquas and Claw-of-the-Eagle, have won a great +victory over one hundred of our enemies, and that this is our song of +triumph."</p> + +<p>The old chief's eye shone more brightly than ever, and his back was as +firm and straight as that of one of his sons.</p> + +<p>"I shall soon have witnessed all their different dances," John Smith +confided to Russell, when he had repeated Powhatan's explanation. "There +lacks now only the war dance."</p> + +<p>There was a pause in the dance; then Powhatan gave a signal. Drums and +rattles started up once more. The rhythm was a different one, even the +white men could tell this; and they noticed that the savages moved more +swiftly as if animated by the greatest excitement. Fresh dancers, their +faces and bodies painted in red and black, took the places of those who +fell from fatigue, and the woods resounded with their loud song.</p> + +<p>"It must have been a great victory," suggested Ratcliffe, "to have +excited them in this manner."</p> + +<p>But Pocahontas's heart beat as if it were the war drum itself, for she +knew what the white men did not know, that this last was a war dance; +but she was not yet certain against whom her tribe was to take the +war-path. She must wait and see.</p> + +<p>At last the dancing ceased and the feasting began, and the Englishmen +still watched with interest the "queer antics" of the savages, as they +called them. All was now so peaceful that they laid aside their weapons, +setting a guard to watch them, and sitting about the great fire they had +built in the lodge, waited for the morning's high tide to lift their +boat out of the half-frozen ooze in which the ebb had left it. Powhatan +and the Indians had withdrawn, but the werowance had sent a messenger +with a necklace and bracelet of freshwater pearls with words of +affection for "his son" and to say that he would shortly send them +supper from his own pots, that they might want for nothing that night.</p> + +<p>The darkness had come quickly and the woods that stretched between the +lodge and the centre of Werowocomoco were thick and sombre. Through them +Pocahontas sped more swiftly than she had ever run a race with her +brothers. She did not trip over the roots slippery with frost nor, +though she had not taken time to put a mantle over her bare shoulders, +did she feel the cold. For she knew now that the war dance had been +danced against the English.</p> + +<p>She was all but breathless when she reached the lodge near the river's +edge, but rushing inside, she seized a musket from the pile on the +ground, to the astonishment of the guard, who recognized her in time not +to hurt her, and thrust it into Smith's hands, crying:</p> + +<p>"Arm yourselves, my friends. Make ready quickly," and as Smith would +have questioned, she panted: "When your weapons are in readiness then +will I speak."</p> + +<p>Smith gave hurried orders, reproaching himself for his false confidence. +The men sprang up from the fire, seized their long-barrelled muskets and +their halberts; and a few who had laid aside their steel corselets +hastily fastened them on again, and threw their bandoliers, filled with +charges, over their shoulders. The merry, careless party was now quickly +converted into a troop of cautious soldiers. Then Smith turned to +Pocahontas, whose breath was coming more quietly as she beheld the +precautions taken for defence. She answered his unspoken query:</p> + +<p>"I overheard the words of the treacherous Dutchmen to my father even +now. I feared when I heard the war song and saw them dancing the war +dance. Woe is me! my Brother, that I should speak against my own father, +but I listened to the plans he hath made to take you here unawares, your +weapons out of your hands. For this moment he hath waited all day and he +hath sought to deceive you with fair words. They are now on their way +with the supper he promised thee; then when you are all eating he hath +given orders to his men that they fall upon you and slay all, that none +may escape. And so as soon as I learned this, that thou to whom he had +sworn friendship and thine were in dire peril, I hastened through the +dark forest to warn thee."</p> + +<p>Smith was deeply touched by this manifestation of her loyalty. He knew +the danger she ran if Powhatan should learn of what she had done.</p> + +<p>"Matoaka," he cried, clasping her hand, "thou hast this night put all +England in thy debt. As long as this Virginia is a name men remember, so +long will men recall how thou didst save her from destruction. In +truth, thy father had lulled my suspicions to sleep, and hadst thou not +come to warn us we had surely perished. The thanks of all of us to thee. +Princess," he continued, when he had turned and told his astonished men +the gist of her words, "and to my little Sister my own deep gratitude +again."</p> + +<p>He loosened a thick gold chain from about his neck, one that he had +brought back from the country of the Turks, and put it about her bare +neck.</p> + +<p>"Take this chain in remembrance," he said. Then his comrades pressed +forward, each with some gift they emptied into the maiden's hands.</p> + +<p>She gazed at them all lovingly, but she shook her head slowly, the tears +falling as she said:</p> + +<p>"I dare not, my friends; if my father should behold these gifts he would +kill me, since he would know that it was I who had brought ye warning."</p> + +<p>Slowly she took off the chain and reluctantly placed in it Smith's hand, +and let gently fall the other treasures she longed to keep. Smith bent +and kissed her hand as reverently as he had once kissed that of Good +Queen Bess.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas started. "I hear them coming," she cried, and with one bound +she had sprung forth again into the night, skirting the river until she +was sure of reaching her lodge without running into the troop of Indians +advancing with dishes and baskets of food, who, however, were not slaves +but braves and armed.</p> + +<p>When these reached the stranger-lodge they brought in the supper and +laid it down with apparent great heartiness that is the few who +actually bore the baskets. The others found themselves somehow halted by +Smith at the entrance and engaged in ceremonious conversation. When they +suggested that the white men lay aside their weapons and seat themselves +the better to enjoy their food, Smith replied that it was the custom of +the English at night always to eat standing, food in one hand and musket +in the other. For a long time this parleying went on; Smith would not +show that he had discovered their perfidy.</p> + +<p>Then the baffled Indians retired to the forest, to await the moment when +they could catch the white men off guard. But though all night they +spied about the lodge, not once did they find the sentinels away from +their posts, and they had too much fear of the "death tubes" to attempt +an onslaught on men so well defended.</p> + +<p>So, thanks to Pocahontas, the morning dawned on an undiminished number +of English, and at high tide they embarked in their boat and returned to +Jamestown with their provisions so precariously won.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"> +<img src="images/1de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h4>A FAREWELL</h4> + + +<p>The late summer sun was beating down pitilessly upon the lodges and open +spaces of Werowocomoco. Even the children were quiet in the shade, +covering their heads with the long green blades of the maize, plaiting +the tassels idly and humming the chant of the Green Corn Festival they +had celebrated some weeks before. The old braves smoked or dozed in +their wigwams, and the squaws left their pounding of corn and their +cooking until a cooler hour. The young braves only, too proud to appear +affected by any condition of the weather, made parade of their industry +and sat fashioning arrow-heads or ran races in the full sunshine, till a +wise old chief called out to them that they were young fools with no +more sense than blue jays.</p> + +<p>Off in the woods, near a hollow in a little stream where the trout and +crawfish disported themselves over a bright sandy bottom, Pocahontas lay +at full length, her brown arms stretched out, the color of the pine +needles beneath them. The leafage of a gigantic red oak shaded her; +through its greenery she could see the heavy white clouds, and once an +eagle flying as it seemed straight up into the sun. Away from its direct +rays, cooled by her bath in the stream and clad in an Indian maiden's +light garb, she was rejoicing in the summer heat. She enjoyed the sleepy +feeling that dulled the woodland sights and sounds: the tapping of a +woodpecker on a distant tree, the occasional call of a catbird, the soft +scurrying of a rabbit or a squirrel, the buzzing of a laden bee—all +mingled into one melody of summer of which she did not consciously +distinguish the individual notes. Just as pleasantly confused were her +thoughts, pictures of which her drowsiness blurred the outlines, so that +she passed with no effort from the flecked stream she had just left to +the moonlit field she and her maidens had encircled a few nights before, +chanting harvest songs. She saw, too, the supple bend of +Claw-of-the-Eagle's body as he had waited for the signal to bound +forward in the race at Powhata when he outran the others; and then she +seemed again to see him run the day Wansutis saved him from being +clubbed to death.</p> + +<p>As if the many deeds of violence done that day called up others of their +kind, she saw, and did not shrink from seeing, the fate of the Dutchmen +at Werowocomoco who had sought to betray Smith to Powhatan. Her father, +angered at them, had had them brained upon the threshold of the house +they had built for him.</p> + +<p>Then the thoughts of Pocahontas found themselves at Jamestown, whither +they now often wandered. She smiled as she remembered her own amazement +at the sight of the two Englishwomen who had lately arrived there: +Mistress Forrest and her maid, Anne Burroughs. With what curiosity the +white women and the Indian girl had measured each other, their hair, +their eyes, their curious garments! Then she beheld in her fancy her +friend, her "brother," so earnest, so brave, who out of opposition +always captured victory. She had witnessed how he forced the colonists +to labor, had seen the punishment he meted out to those who disobeyed +his commands against swearing—that strange offence she could not +comprehend—the pouring of cold water in the sleeve of those who uttered +oaths, amid the jeers and laughter of their companions. Her lips +continued to smile while she thought of Smith, of the gentle words he +had ever ready for her, of the interest he ever manifested at all she +had to tell him. He had talked to her as she knew he talked to few, of +his hopes for this little handful of men who must live and grow, and +how, if they two, he and his "little Sister," could bring it about, the +English and the Powhatans should forget any grievances against one +another and be friends as long as the sky and earth should last. +Perhaps, he had said one day, marriages between the English and the +Indians might cement this friendship. "Perhaps thou thyself, Matoaka," +he had begun, and then had ceased. Now she wondered again, as she had +wondered then, if he had perhaps meant himself.</p> + +<p>Such a possibility was an exciting one, and she would have been glad to +let her mind explore it fully; but her eyes were heavy and the pine +needles soft and fragrant, and soon the beaver, who from a hollow +beneath the exposed roots of the oak over the stream had been watching +her bright eyes, seeing them closed, slipped forth to begin again his +work on the dam her feet had flattened out.</p> + +<p>Though Nautauquas, returning an hour later from a peaceful mission to a +confederated tribe, made scarcely more noise than the beaver, Pocahontas +awoke and raised her head and loosening the needles from her hair, +sprang up.</p> + +<p>"Greetings, Matoaka!" called out her brother. "Thou wert as snugly +hidden here as a deer."</p> + +<p>"What news, my Brother?" she asked as he sat down and, taking off his +moccasins, let his heated feet hang into the stream.</p> + +<p>"Evil news it is," he answered gravely, "for the friends of the great +Captain."</p> + +<p>"What hath befallen my white Brother?" she cried out; "tell me +speedily."</p> + +<p>"He was sleeping in his boat, I heard, far off from their island. A big +bag of the powder they put into their guns lay in the bottom of his +canoe, and when by chance a spark from his pipe fell upon it it grew +angry and began to spit and burned his flesh till it waked him, and in +his agony, he sprang into the river to quench the blaze."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, who had not winced at the thought of the brained Dutchmen, +shivered.</p> + +<p>"Where is he now?" she asked. "I wish to go to him."</p> + +<p>Nautauquas looked at her earnestly as if he would question her, but did +not. "They say he is on his way to Jamestown and should reach there on +the morrow."</p> + +<p>As Pocahontas and Nautauquas returned at sunset to Werowocomoco, the +girl stopped at Wansutis's lodge.</p> + +<p>"Thou comest for healing herbs for thy white man," exclaimed the old +woman before Pocahontas had spoken a word. "I have them here ready for +thee," and she thrust a bundle into the astonished maiden's hands. +"But," continued the hag, "though they would cure any of our people, +they will not have power with the white man's malady save he have faith +in them."</p> + +<p>Then she went back into the gloom of her lodge and Pocahontas walked +away in silence.</p> + +<p>It was not Pocahontas whom Wansutis wished to aid, but the white +Captain. The old woman had never spoken to him, or of him to others; but +she had listened eagerly to all the tales told of his powers. She was +sure that he possessed magic knowledge beyond that of her own people, +and she waited for the day when she might persuade him to impart some of +his medicine to herself. The fact that he was now injured and in danger +did not change her opinion. Some medicine was better for certain +troubles than for others. Perhaps her herbs in this case would be +stronger than his own magic.</p> + +<p>Before the night was over Pocahontas had started on her way to +Jamestown. She went alone, since somehow she did not wish to chatter +with a companion. The thunder storms had cooled the air and softened the +earth. It was still early in the morning when she reached the town, now +grown to be a settlement of fifty houses. On the wharf she saw men +hurrying back and forth to the ship, fastened by stout hawsers to the +posts, bearing bundles of bear and fox skins, such as she had seen them +purchase from her people, and boxes and trunks up to the deck. One of +the latter looked to her strangely like one she had seen in Smith's +house, of Cordova leather with a richly wrought iron lock. "Doubtless," +she thought, "he is sending it back filled with gifts for the king he +speaks so much of."</p> + +<p>She hastened towards his house and before she reached it she saw that +his bed had been carried outside the door and that he lay upon it, +propped up by pillows. She recognized, too, the doctor in the man who +was just leaving him. Now in her eagerness she ran the rest of the way +and Smith, catching sight of her, waved his hand feebly.</p> + +<p>"Alas! my Brother," she cried as she took his hand in hers, and saw how +thin it had grown, "alas! how hast thou harmed thyself?"</p> + +<p>"Thou hast heard, Matoaka?" he answered, smiling bravely in spite of the +pain, "and art come, as thou hast ever come to Jamestown, to bring aid +and comfort."</p> + +<p>"I have herbs here for thy wound," she replied, taking them out of her +pouch. "They will heal it speedily. They are great medicine."</p> + +<p>How could he help believe in their power, she had asked herself on her +way that morning. What had Wansutis meant?</p> + +<p>"I thank thee, little Sister," he answered gently, "for thy loving +thought and for the journey thou hast taken. Before thou earnest my +heart was low, for I said to myself: how can I go without bidding +farewell to Matoaka; yet how can I send a message that will bring her +here in time?"</p> + +<p>"Go!" she exclaimed. "Where wilt thou go?"</p> + +<p>"Home to England. The chirurgeon who hath just left me hath decided only +this morn that his skill is not great enough to save my wound, that I +must return to the wise men in London to heal me."</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas; "thou must not go. Our wise women and our +shamans have secrets and wonders thou knowest not of. I will send to +them and thy wound shall soon be as clean as the palm of my hand."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="six" id="six"> <img src="images/6.jpg" alt=""NAY, NAY," CRIED POCAHONTAS, "THOU MUST NOT GO"" +title=""NAY, NAY," CRIED POCAHONTAS, "THOU MUST NOT GO"" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">"NAY, NAY," CRIED POCAHONTAS, "THOU MUST NOT GO"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Would that it might be so, little Sister. I have seen in truth strange +cures among thy people; and were my ill a fever such as might come to +them or the result of an arrow's bite, I would gladly let thy shamans +have their will with me. But gunpowder is to them a thing unknown, nor +would their remedies avail me aught."</p> + +<p>"Then thou wilt go?" she asked in a voice low with despair.</p> + +<p>"Aye, Matoaka, I must or else take up my abode speedily yonder," and he +pointed to the graveyard. "It is a bitter thing to go now and leave my +work unfinished, to know that mine enemies will rejoice—"</p> + +<p>"I shall die when thou art gone," she interrupted, kneeling down beside +him; "thou hast become like a god to Matoaka, a god strong and +wonderful."</p> + +<p>"Little Sister! Little Sister!" he repeated as he stroked her hair. Once +again there came to him the thought he had harbored before—that perhaps +when this child was grown he might claim her as a wife. Now this would +never come to pass.</p> + +<p>She knelt there still in silence, then she asked, hope and eagerness in +her voice: "Thou wilt come back to us?"</p> + +<p>"If I may, Matoaka; if I live we shall see each other again."</p> + +<p>He did not tell her what was in his mind, that no English Dorothy or +Cicely, golden-haired and rosy-cheeked, would ever be as dear to him as +he now realized this child of the forest had grown to be.</p> + +<p>And then with perfect faith that her "Brother" would bring to pass what +he had promised, Pocahontas's spirits rose. She did not try to calculate +the weeks and months that should go by before she was to see him again. +She seated herself beside him on the ground and listened while he +talked to her of all that he was leaving behind and his love and concern +for the Colony.</p> + +<p>"See, Matoaka," he said, his voice growing stronger in his eagerness, +"this town is like unto a child of mine own, so dear is it to me. I have +spent sleepless nights and weary days, I have suffered cold and hunger +and the contumely of jealous men in its behalf; nay perchance, even +death itself. And thou, too, hast shown it great favors till in truth it +hath become partly thine own and dear to thee. Now that I must depart, I +leave Jamestown to thy care. Wilt thou continue to watch over it, to do +all within thy power for its welfare?"</p> + +<p>"That will I gladly, my Brother, when thou leavest it like a squaw +without her brave. Not a day shall pass that I will not peer through the +forests hitherward to see that all be well; mine ears shall harken each +night lest harm approach it. 'Jamestown is Pocahontas's friend,' I shall +whisper to the north wind, and it will not blow too hard. 'Pocahontas is +the friend of Jamestown,' I shall call to the sun that it beat not too +fiercely upon it. 'Pocahontas loves Jamestown,' I shall whisper to the +river that it eat not too deep into the island's banks, and"—here the +half-playful tone changed into one of real earnestness—"I who sit close +to Powhatan's heart shall whisper every day in his ear: 'Harm not +Jamestown, if thou lovest Matoaka.'"</p> + +<p>A look of great relief passed over the wounded man's face. Truly it was +a wondrous thing that the expression of a girl's friendship was able to +soothe thus his anxieties.</p> + +<p>"I thank thee again, little Sister," he said. "And now bid me farewell, +for yon come the sailors to bear me to the ship."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas sprang up and bending over him, poured forth words of tender +Indian farewells. Then, as the bearers approached, she fled towards the +gates and into the forest.</p> + +<p>John Smith, lying at the prow of the ship, placed there to be nearer the +sea as he desired, thought as the ship sailed slowly past the next bend +in the river, that he caught sight of a white buckskin skirt between the +trees.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"> +<img src="images/2de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h4>CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER</h4> + +<p>And in the three years that had passed since Smith's return to England +Pocahontas did not forget the trust he had given her. Many a time had +she sent or brought aid to the colonists during the terrible "starving +time," and warded off evil from them. When she was powerless to prevent +the massacre by Powhatan of Ratcliffe and thirty of his men, she +succeeded at least in saving the life of one of his men, a young boy. +Henry Spilman, whom she sent to her kindred tribe, the Patowomekes. With +them he lived for many years.</p> + +<p>But her relations with Jamestown and its people, though most friendly, +were no longer as intimate as they had been when Smith was President, +and she went there less and less.</p> + +<p>One who rejoiced at her home-keeping was Claw-of-the-Eagle. He had hated +the white men from the beginning and had done his share to destroy them +in the Ratcliffe massacre, though he had never told Pocahontas that he +had taken part in it. He was now a brave, tested in courage and +endurance in numerous war parties against enemies of his adopted tribe +whose honor and advancement he had made his own. The Powhatan himself +had praised his deeds in council.</p> + +<p>One day Wansutis said to him:</p> + +<p>"Son, it is time now that thou shouldst take a squaw into thy wigwam. My +hands grow weak and a young squaw will serve thee more swiftly than I. +Look about thee, my son, and choose."</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle had been thinking many moons that the time <i>had</i> come +to bring home a squaw, but he had no need to look about and choose. He +had made his choice, and even though she were the daughter of the great +Powhatan, he did not doubt that the werowance would give her to one of +his best braves. And so, one evening in taquitock (autumn), when the red +glow of the forests was half veiled in the bluish mist that came with +the return of soft languid days after frost had painted the trees and +ripened the bristly chinquapins and luscious persimmons, +Claw-of-the-Eagle took his flute and set forth alone.</p> + +<p>Not far from the lodge of Pocahontas he seated himself upon a stone and +began to play the plaintive notes with which the Indian lover tells of +his longing for the maiden he would make his squaw.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou hear that, Pocahontas?" queried Cleopatra, who had peeped +out. "It is Claw-of-the-Eagle who pipes for thee. Go forth, Sister, and +make glad his heart, for there is none of our braves who can compare +with him."</p> + +<p>"I will not be his squaw. Go thou thyself if he pleaseth thee so," and +Pocahontas would not stir from her tent that evening, though the gentle +piping continued until the moon rose.</p> + +<p>Yet Claw-of-the-Eagle did not despair. Not only had he won fame as a +fighter but as a successful hunter as well. Never did he come back to +Wansutis's lodge empty-handed. Though the deer he pursued be never so +swift, or the quail never so wary, he always tracked down his quarry. +And he meant to succeed in his wooing.</p> + +<p>So even when Pocahontas left Werowocomoco to visit her kinsfolk, the +Patowomekes, he bided his time and spent his days building a new lodge +nearby that of Wansutis, that it might be in readiness for the day when +he should bring his squaw to light their first fire beneath the opening +under the sky.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile affairs in Jamestown had been going from bad to worse. Famine +had become an almost permanent visitor there. Sir Thomas Gale had not +yet arrived from England and no one was there to govern the Colony with +the firm hand of John Smith. At length, however, it was decided in the +Council that Captain Argall should set forth towards the Patowomekes +tribe and bargain with them for grain.</p> + +<p>Japezaws, the chief, received him in a friendly manner.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we will sell to thee corn as I sold it to thy great Captain when +he first came among us. What news hast thou of him? Will he come again +to us? He was a great brave."</p> + +<p>Captain Argall answered:</p> + +<p>"We have no word from him. Perchance he hath succumbed of his wound;" +and then, because he was jealous of Smith's fame among the savages, he +added, "England hath so many great braves that we waste little thought +on those that are gone. Jamestown hath all but forgot him already."</p> + +<p>"There is one amongst us who forgets him not," Japezaws pointed to the +valley behind him, "one there is who hath him and his deeds ever on the +tongue."</p> + +<p>"Who may that be?" asked the Englishman, wondering if the Indian village +held captive some countryman of his own long since thought dead.</p> + +<p>"It is Pocahontas, his friend, who looks eagerly every moon for his +return. She abideth gladly amongst us, for she groweth restless as a +young brave, and Werowocomoco hems her in."</p> + +<p>Even while Japezaws was speaking a thought flashed through Argall's +brain; and while the slaves at Japezaws's command poured forth measure +after measure of corn and dried meat, the Englishman was adding to his +first vague idea, until when the great load of yellow grain lay heaped +before him, his plan was fully laid.</p> + +<p>"I wish, Japezaws," he began, as if the idea had just struck him, "that +Powhatan, her father, had as great a love for Jamestown as his daughter. +He will not even sell to us provisions now, though his storehouse is +full to o'erflowing. If we could but make him see that, his gains would +be greater than ours. 'Tis a matter of but a few more harvests before we +have food and to spare, but where shall he find such copper kettles, +such mirrors, such knives of bright steel as we would pay him in +exchange for that he hath no need of?"</p> + +<p>The old chief's eyes glistened with covetousness.</p> + +<p>"I want some shining knives; I want to see a vessel that will not break +when my squaws let it fall on a rock. I want some of the marvels ye keep +in your lodges."</p> + +<p>Argall smiled; the fly had caught the fish for which he angled.</p> + +<p>"As soon as a man may hurry to Jamestown and back they shall be thine +if—thou wilt do what I ask of thee."</p> + +<p>"And what is thy will?" Suspicion had now awakened in the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Hearken!" continued Argall. "Thou knowest that Powhatan hath stolen +from us sundry arms and keeps in captivity some of our men. If he will +make peace with us we need not take our war party through the forests to +Werowocomoco, and the lives of many Indians will be spared."</p> + +<p>Here Japezaws grunted, but Argall did not appear to notice it.</p> + +<p>"If we held a hostage of Powhatan, someone who was dear to him, we could +force him to do as we would."</p> + +<p>He paused and glanced at the Indian who, whatever he may have thought, +betrayed nothing.</p> + +<p>"If thou wilt entrust the Princess Pocahontas to us," continued Argall, +"she shall be taken to Jamestown and there detained in all gentleness, +in the house of a worthy lady, until Powhatan agreeth to our terms and +she will be conveyed in safety to her father. And for thee, for thy help +in this matter, such presents shall be sent thee as thou hast never +seen, such as no one, not even Powhatan, hath yet received."</p> + +<p>Japezaws was silent a little. The maiden was his guest, and his people +had always upheld the sacred duties of hospitality. But he knew that no +harm would befall her. The friendship of the English for her was known +to all his tribe and the great affection of her father to this, his +favorite daughter. In a day or two she would be ransomed by Powhatan, +and for his part in the matter, he, Japezaws, would gain what he so +greatly longed to possess. He wasted neither time nor words:</p> + +<p>"Meet me here at sunset, and I will bring her to thee."</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle had not thought to stir away from Wansutis's lodge for +many days to come. Food in plenty was stored there and he had need to +busy himself with the making of a new bow and arrows. But Wansutis, +letting fall the stone with which she was grinding maize, looked up +suddenly as if she heard distant voices. The youth, however, heard +nothing. Then she said:</p> + +<p>"Son, if in truth thy mind is set upon a certain maiden for thy squaw, +go seek her at once in the village of the Patowomekes. She hath been +there over long."</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle did not ask for any explanation of his mother's words. +He had learned that she seemed to possess some strange knowledge he +could not fathom, but which he respected. Therefore, without any +discussion, with only a word of farewell, he took his bow and quiver and +his wooing pipe and set forth.</p> + +<p>As he approached the village of Japezaws at the end of several days' +journey, he said to himself:</p> + +<p>"Before three days are past I shall return this way with my squaw. No +longer will I wait for her to feign deafness to my piping. She shall +listen to it and follow me to my lodge."</p> + +<p>Knowing that he was among a friendly allied tribe, Claw-of-the-Eagle +strode along as openly and as carelessly as he would have done at +Werowocomoco or Powhata. Yet suddenly, like a deer that scents a bear, +he stood still, his nostrils quivering; then, slipping behind a tree, +he notched an arrow to his bow.</p> + +<p>"A white man," he thought, long before his eyes caught sight of him.</p> + +<p>Concealed by the tree, he waited and watched pass the man he knew was +the new English captain, and to his astonishment found that the women +who accompanied him were Pocahontas and a squaw of the Patowomekes. It +was the squaw of Japezaws; and it was at his bidding that she was now +acting.</p> + +<p>"Because thou hast seen as often as thou wilt the lodges of the +palefaces," Claw-of-the-Eagle heard her say to Pocahontas, "is it right +for thee to marvel that I am eager to witness with mine own eyes such +strange ways as are theirs and the marvels the white chief hath stored +in the canoe?"</p> + +<p>"I do not wonder," laughed Pocahontas; "and in truth I rejoice to go +with thee, and with the few words of their tongue that I have not +forgotten to ask for thee the questions thou wouldst put to him. I, too, +have questions to ask him."</p> + +<p>When they had passed the young brave followed them, far off enough that +Pocahontas's quick ear might not hear his step that would have been +noiseless to the Englishman.</p> + +<p>At the bank to which the pinnace was moored he sought cover back of a +large boulder, his eyes never moving from the women before him. He +watched them go on board, saw the English sailors rise to receive them, +and heard the eager outcries of the squaw as she felt of their garments +and went about the deck of the little craft, while Pocahontas explained +as far as her own knowledge went, the meaning of anchor and sail, of +cooking utensils and muskets. He saw Captain Argall open a small chest +and hand out presents to the two women, Japezaws's squaw uttering loud +cries of delight as beads and gaudy handkerchiefs were placed in her +hands.</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle waited to see what would happen next. After an hour's +watching he beheld the two women approach the side of the pinnace +nearest the shore, the squaw in front. She sprang to the bank and ran +lightly into the forest. Pocahontas had her foot on the gunwale to +follow her when Captain Argall took hold of her arm.</p> + +<p>"Come with us to Jamestown, Princess," he said; "we will welcome you for +a visit."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas's anger flared up. Never in her life had she been restrained +by force. She wasted no time nor strength in entreaty, but sought to +wrench herself away from him. But the Englishman held her firmly but +gently, and while she struggled the sailors shoved the boat out into the +stream.</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle rose that he might take better aim and shot an arrow +at the Englishman. It hit the astounded captain on his leathern doublet, +but did no more than knock the wind out of him.</p> + +<p>"Shoot into the trees there," he commanded, still holding on to +Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>One of the sailors started to aim into the thicket at an unseen enemy, +when Claw-of-the-Eagle, realizing that the boat was rapidly swinging out +of his range, ran out on to an exposed bluff and notched a second arrow. +Before it left the string, however, the bullet from the soldier's musket +had hit him in the shoulder. As he fell Pocahontas uttered a cry of +horror, for she had seen who her stricken defender was.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"> +<img src="images/4de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h4>POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND</h4> + + +<p>It was the second night of Pocahontas's captivity. She had suffered no +restraint further than that necessary to keep her from jumping +overboard. Argall and the sailors treated her with all deference, both +from policy and inclination. Yet she was very unhappy and lonely: she +had always been so free to go and come that it was almost a physical +pain to be imprisoned within the narrow limits of the pinnace. Several +times she had tried to evade the vigilance of the sailors; but her +cunning, which on shore would have shown her a way to escape, was +useless on the unfamiliar boat. Her anger at Japezaws and his squaws +flamed up anew every time she dwelt on their treachery. She went over in +her mind the punishment she would beg her father to inflict upon them.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" she called out; and the sailors wondered what she was saying as +she stood there looking over the stern in the direction of the +Patowomeke village, her eyes flashing, "wait until Nautauquas brings ye +to my father to be tortured!"</p> + +<p>Then before she had grown tired planning their fate, her thoughts flew +to Claw-of-the-Eagle. Was he lying dead there in the forest? What a +playmate and companion he had always been, she thought; how brave, how +strong! Yet now he must be dead or surely he had managed to follow her.</p> + +<p>By nightfall the boat was anchored in the centre of the stream, which +here widened out into a small bay. Captain Argall, who had not known +what to make of Claw-of-the-Eagle's attack, did not feel certain that +Japezaws had not played him false. He had therefore made all speed +possible the first night and the following day. Now his wearied men +needed rest and, as no sign of pursuit appeared, he had granted them +leave to sleep. Only one sailor in the bow was left on watch, but he, +too, drowsed, to wake up with a start, when finding all well, he dropped +off to sleep again.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas lay alone in the stem, her head pillowed on a roll of sail +cloth that brought it up to the level of the gunwale. Argall had done +everything he could to make her comfortable and never even spoke to her +except hat in hand and bowing low. Now she, too, had fallen asleep, her +eyes wet with the tears she would not shed during the daylight. She +dreamed she was again at Werowocomoco and that she had just risen from +her sleeping-mat to run out into the moonlight as she so often did.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a faint, faint sound half wakened her, a sound scarcely louder +than the lapping of the water against the sides which had lulled her to +sleep. She opened her eyes but did not move, and waited, tense with +excitement. A fish flopped out of the water, then all was silent again +and she closed her heavy eyes once more. Then it came again, not louder +than the wind in the aspen trees on shore:</p> + +<p>"Pocahontas!"</p> + +<p>Raising herself to her elbow with a motion as quiet as a cat's, she +peered into the dark water over the stern. A hand came up from the +darkness and clasped her wrist. She needed no great light upon the +features of the face below to know whose it was.</p> + +<p>"Claw-of-the-Eagle," she whispered, "is it thou? I thought the white +man's gun had killed thee, and I have been mourning for thee."</p> + +<p>"I lay dead for an hour," he answered as he lifted himself up in the +water and hung with both hands to the sides of the boat. "But it was +well that I was wounded on the shoulder and not on the leg. The +stiffness made me slow, like a bear that has been hurt in a trap. But I +bound mud on the wound with my leggings and I have followed close behind +thee along the shore all the way."</p> + +<p>"I knew thou wouldst come after me if thou wert not killed," she +whispered.</p> + +<p>"Yea, I have come for thee, Pocahontas," and there was manly decision +now in the youth's voice. "Waste no time. Drop down here beside me as +quietly as if thou wert stalking a deer. We will swim under water until +we are beyond reach of the white men's dull ears and before three days +are passed we shall be at Powhata, where thy father now abideth."</p> + +<p>The thought of all home meant made Pocahontas pause: the kindly interest +of all her tribe in everything she did; the affection of her father and +brothers; the haunts in the forest and on the river; the freedom of her +daily existence. Here was her chance to return to them. If she did not +take it, what lay ahead of her? A terror of the unknown overcame her for +the first time. The knowledge that an old and tried friend was near was +as grateful as a light shining before one on a dark night. Yet she +answered:</p> + +<p>"I can not go with thee, Claw-of-the-Eagle."</p> + +<p>The young brave uttered a low murmur of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou not know," he asked, "that Japezaws hath betrayed thee; that +thou art to be kept captive in Jamestown in order to force The Powhatan +to do whatever the English desire of him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. Captain Argall hath told me all."</p> + +<p>"And yet thou dost hesitate? Art thou, the daughter of a mighty +werowance, <i>afraid</i> to try to escape?"</p> + +<p>She did not deign to reply to such a charge, but whispered instead:</p> + +<p>"Hadst thou come last night I should have harkened to thee only too +gladly. In truth, I had determined to escape myself this night, no +matter what the difficulties might be. Pocahontas beareth a knife and +knoweth how to use it. But to-day I have come to think otherwise, for +there have been long hours in which to think. Thou knowest that +captivity is as wearisome to me as to a wild dove; yet as I sat here +alone with naught to do, I followed a trail in my mind that led to +Jamestown, and so I am minded to go thither."</p> + +<p>"But why?" asked Claw-of-the-Eagle.</p> + +<p>"Because by going I believe I can serve both our nation and the English. +My Brother, John Smith, said we must be friends, and I promised him e'er +he left to watch ever over the welfare of his people. My father loveth +me so much that in order to free me I think he will do as the English +wish, and so I will go with Captain Argall that the strife may cease +between them and us. But," and here her voice rose so that +Claw-of-the-Eagle had to remind her of their danger by a pressure on the +hand, "but I will not intercede for that traitor Japezaws and his crafty +squaw. My father may wreak vengeance on them when he will."</p> + +<p>Her voice, low as it was, had risen in her emotion, and the boy's keen +hearing had caught the movement of a man's foot on the wooden deck. They +kept still, breathless, for a moment; then as all was still again, +Claw-of-the-Eagle asked sadly, in a tone that mourned as wind through +the pine trees:</p> + +<p>"Then thou wilt not come with me? I had built a lodge for thee, Matoaka, +with a smoke hole wide enough to let in the whole moon thou lovest. My +arrows had killed young deer and turkeys and I had smoked and hung meat +for thee to last through all popanow (winter). A young maid is lonely +till she follows her brave—all this I came to the village of Japezaws +to pipe to thee. Now I have run wounded through the forests and swum the +black stream to tell it to thee, and thou bidst me turn back alone. But +if thou hast no wish to enter Claw-of-the-Eagle's lodge let him at least +escort thee safely to the wigwam of thy father."</p> + +<p>"I thank thee, Claw-of-the-Eagle, for all thou hast done," she +whispered, "and all thou wouldst do for me. There is no braver warrior +in the thirty tribes and no better hunter since Michabo. But I have +listened to my manitou and he hath said to me, 'Remember the word thou +gavest to thy white Brother.'"</p> + +<p>Claw-of-the-Eagle knew that it was useless to plead and yet he pleaded: +"Come back with me, Matoaka; what are the white men to thee and me?"</p> + +<p>But she whispered: "Go, Claw-of-the-Eagle, go quickly ere the sailors +awake. Hasten back to old Wansutis that she may bind up thy wound, and +to Powhatan and tell him that he must buy Pocahontas's freedom from the +English by returning their men he holdeth prisoners."</p> + +<p>While she was still speaking the young brave's mind was working rapidly. +At first the respect he owed her as the daughter of the great werowance +was uppermost and he thought he must needs do her bidding and leave her. +Little by little, however, he began to think of her as a young maiden, +strong and courageous, but not so strong as a man, who now stood in need +of the help of a brave. He hated the English more than ever, and +Pocahontas's promise to aid them seemed to him only a girlish +foolishness. Let them all perish on their island or return across the +sea whence they had come. Why should she go with them? Why should he let +her go? Who knew what treatment she would receive away from her own +people? If he should rescue her and bring her back to her father, would +he not thus win great favor in the eyes of Powhatan, who would not +refuse her to him as his squaw? If she would not come willingly, he +would carry her off against her will for her good.</p> + +<p>Rescue Pocahontas! And in addition—kill the hated white men! Had they +not wounded him and carried her off? There were not many of them and +they were all asleep. While he and Pocahontas had talked he had pulled +himself out of the water and thrown his legs over the stern. Now he +rose and whispered:</p> + +<p>"Before I go I would know what their canoe is like. Be not afeared for +me; there is no danger, only do not stir."</p> + +<p>She wished to remonstrate with him, but he was already a few paces ahead +of her, treading as lightly as if the deck were gravel that would roll +about and betray him with its noise, and she did not dare call out to +him. She saw him draw near to a sleeping sailor and stoop; but it was +too dark for her to see that he had placed his hand over the man's mouth +and with the knife in his other hand, had stabbed him to the heart.</p> + +<p>The sailor's dying struggles were noiseless and when they were over +Claw-of-the-Eagle moved softly on to the next.</p> + +<p>There was something sinister to Pocahontas in the silence; she began to +divine that it was not mere curiosity which was keeping +Claw-of-the-Eagle, and yet she dared not go in search of him.</p> + +<p>The second victim was despatched as easily as the first, and the third, +though he awoke before the blow was struck, was unable to avert it. The +young brave, whose lust for slaughter increased as he went on, felt +about for Captain Argall. Already the dawn was coming, and he could +distinguish the forms of the four other men. He bent over one of them; +his hand, burning with the fever from his wound and excitement, touched +the cheek of the man instead of the mouth. The sailor cried out +instantaneously even before he was awake; and Claw-of-the-Eagle, +realizing in a second that his game was up, slashed out with his knife +at him in passing as he ran for the stern.</p> + +<p>He could have leapt overboard more easily, but though he had failed to +kill all his enemies, he meant to rescue Pocahontas. He dashed towards +her, followed by the sailor. Argall and the two others of the crew, +roused at the outcry, were at their heels. Claw-of-the-Eagle caught +Pocahontas in his arms and before she knew what was happening, he had +sprung with her into the river.</p> + +<p>The sailor, who had been but slightly wounded by the young brave's +knife, had seized his musket as he ran. His forebears had been outlaws +with Robin Hood, skilful archers, and bowmen with Henry V at Agincourt, +whose arrows never failed to find French marks. The same keen eye and +strong arm were his with a musket.</p> + +<p>"Do not shoot. Mark!" called out Argall breathlessly. He did not know +what had happened prior to his own awakening, though his feet had +stumbled over the dead bodies of his men. "The Indian princess is there +in the water. Shoot not, for the love of heaven, or we'll have all the +red hordes of America on top of Jamestown!"</p> + +<p>Mark, however, had already made out the two figures in the water so +close together that Argall's older eyes thought them but one. And just +as Claw-of-the-Eagle, hampered by his wounded shoulder, was about to +sink below the surface of the river to swim under water, Mark took aim. +The bullet hit the top of the head, gashing the skin about the +scalp-lock, but did not penetrate very deeply.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="seven" id="seven"> <img src="images/7.jpg" alt=""DO NOT SHOOT, MARK!"" +title=""DO NOT SHOOT, MARK!"" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">"DO NOT SHOOT, MARK!"</span> +</div> + +<p>Pocahontas saw that he was not badly wounded; but the blood running down +his face and into his mouth and nose made it impossible for him to +breathe deeply enough to swim under water. His weakness from his +other wound, too, made his motions slower. Before he would be able to +put a safe distance between him and the pinnace the sailor would have +fired again.</p> + +<p>But he would not fire at her—the thought flashed through her brain!</p> + +<p>With a few rapid strokes she had reached the brave and flung her arm +under his wounded shoulder, bearing him up.</p> + +<p>"Now, Claw-of-the-Eagle," she cried, "let us make for the shore. They +will not dare fire at me."</p> + +<p>And Argall and his men watched their hostage and the murderer of their +companions making their escape, while they seemed powerless to prevent +it. Though Claw-of-the-Eagle's strokes grew slower and slower, +Pocahontas's strength was aiding him. Once on shore, the Englishmen knew +that even though delayed by his wound, the two could hide so that no +white man could find them. Besides, it was likely that other Indians +might be lurking in the forest.</p> + +<p>"Fooled! Fooled!" cried out Argall, hitting one fist against the other +in his disappointment.</p> + +<p>But Mark was not one who willingly gave up a chase he had begun. He saw +that the two had reached a willow tree with roots that lay twisted about +each other across the surface of the river. For one second the youth and +maiden, close together, hung on to this natural shelf, gaining strength +to pull themselves up on to the ground. He realized how disastrous it +would be to injure the daughter of the Powhatan. Nevertheless, he +determined to take a chance.</p> + +<p>To the horror of his captain, he took careful aim and fired. This time +the bullet found its mark—it hit the young brave in the back of his +head and penetrated the brain.</p> + +<p>In horror Pocahontas tried to catch him in her arms before he sank +heavily, with no sound, out of sight. Gone! so quickly! Dead! The boy +who had been her friend, who had tried to save her!</p> + +<p>She could not weep as she floated along with no conscious movement. Then +slowly she turned and swam back towards the pinnace, the sailors +wondering if she was in truth returning to them. She let herself be +helped over the side by Captain Argall.</p> + +<p>"I will go with thee to Jamestown, now," was all that she said. She gave +no explanation of what had happened and refused to answer their +questions, or to tell them why she had chosen to go with them when she +might have regained her freedom.</p> + +<p>They had hoisted the anchor and started off after laying their dead +comrades together. The sun was rising but the air was still chill and +the sailors brought their dry coats to Pocahontas to throw over her and +placed food before her. She would not touch it nor turn her face away +from the river behind her.</p> + +<p>As they began to sail slowly down the stream she leaned back over the +gunwale and beheld, borne by a swift eddy, the body of Claw-of-the-Eagle +float by her. She rose to her feet, the sunbeams falling upon her face +and her uplifted arms, and she sang aloud a song of death as her tribe +sang it while the river hurried with its burden seawards.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"> +<img src="images/5de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h4>A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN</h4> + + +<p>Very unhappy was Pocahontas the rest of the voyage to Jamestown. +Claw-of-the-Eagle had been dear to her as a brother, and she sorrowed +for him greatly. It was forlorn to be away thus from her own people and +among those whose ways and tongue were strange to her; and she longed +for Nautauquas, whom she had not seen for several moons.</p> + +<p>News of their coming had outrun them, and all of Jamestown was at the +wharf to greet them. Captain Argall stepped ashore and explained that he +had brought generous stores and what was of far greater value, the +daughter of Powhatan. Sir Thomas Dale, in all the bravery of his best +purple doublet and new bright Cordova leather boots, came forward and +doffing his plumed hat, said:</p> + +<p>"Welcome, Princess, and be not angry with us if we in all courtesy +constrain thee to abide with us awhile. Let it not irk thee to visit us +again, to stay for a few days with those who have been thy debtors since +the time thou didst save the life of Captain Smith."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, whose anger had been rising at the treachery practised on +her by Japezaws and Argall, had intended to show in her manner how she +resented it; but the name of Captain Smith disarmed her. She recalled +her white Brother's parting words to her.</p> + +<p>She would befriend his colony, as she had ever done. So she smiled at +Sir Thomas and spoke to those about whom she knew and let them show her +the way to the house that they chose for her use, a few paces from the +Governor's. Mistress Lettice, the wife of one of the gentlemen, who was +to occupy it with her, laid out some of her own garments in case the +Indian maiden should care to change; and Pocahontas, forgetting the +dangers and sadness of the past days, laughed with amusement as she +tried on farthingale and wide skirt.</p> + +<p>"They are sending messengers to thy father. King Powhatan," the +Englishwoman said as she showed Pocahontas how to adjust a starched ruff +that scratched her neck so that she made a grimace. "They will tell him +that thou art here, and then surely in his anxiety to see thee again, he +will grant what Sir Thomas desires: that he deliver up our men and the +arms he hath taken and give us three hundred quarters of corn. Perchance +thou wouldst like to send some word of thine own to thy father. If so +be, there is an Indian boy who hath brought fish to trade, and he can +bear it for thee."</p> + +<p>"Bring him to me, I pray thee," said Pocahontas, speaking slowly the +unaccustomed English words.</p> + +<p>She was looking at herself in the ebony-framed mirror that hung opposite +the door, much interested in her strange appearance, when the Indian boy +entered, following Mistress Lettice. She saw his face in the glass and +recognized him as the son of a Powhatan chief. She turned and faced him, +but knew that he did not recognize her. He looked no further than her +clothes and so believed her an Englishwoman. It was a rare amusement, +she thought, and she watched him eagerly to see his surprise when he +should find out his mistake. She was well rewarded by his puzzled and +astonished expression when she called out to him:</p> + +<p>"Little Squirrel!" When she herself had stopped laughing, she added: +"Take this sad message to old Wansutis. Tell her that her son, +Claw-of-the-Eagle, hath met his death bravely and that Pocahontas mourns +him with her."</p> + +<p>Then she dismissed the boy. As he walked away she remembered that she +desired him to bear also a special word to Nautauquas, so she started to +run and call him back. But the unaccustomed weight of her clothes and +shoes prevented her and she began to pull them off her even before she +reached the house, crying out:</p> + +<p>"Nay, I will not prison myself thus; give me back mine own garments," +and she breathed deep breaths of satisfaction when she had resumed them.</p> + +<p>Had the manner of her coming to Jamestown been otherwise, with no +treachery and no compulsion which hurt her pride, Pocahontas would have +much enjoyed her stay and a closer view of the ways of the English. As +it was, she was restlessly awaiting the message her father would return +to the demands of the colonists. The next day the messengers came back, +bringing with them the Englishmen who had been held captive by Powhatan +and some of the arms. The werowance promised, they reported, that when +his daughter was restored to him he would give the corn which the white +men asked for.</p> + +<p>This answer did not satisfy the Council, and day by day there were +parleyings in which the white men and the red men sought to constrain or +evade each other. Each side recognized the value of Pocahontas as a +hostage. She was not now unhappy. Even if the colonists had not done +their best to requite with kindness all the care she had manifested for +their welfare, policy would have led them to treat her with every +consideration. She was made welcome everywhere, and she went from the +guard house to that of the Governor, asking questions, eager to learn +all details, from the way to fire off a musket to the heating of the +sealing wax and the making of a great red seal which Master John Rolfe, +Secretary and Recorder General of the Colony, affixed to all the +documents sent to the Company in London.</p> + +<p>He explained everything to her, taking pains to choose the simplest +words, because he found a keen pleasure in watching her dark eyes +brighten when she began to comprehend something which had puzzled her, +and because her laughter and quick coming and going in the masculine +atmosphere of the council room was a most agreeable change from its +usual dull calm. He was a widower and, though he had got over the +sadness of the loss of his wife, he still missed a woman's +companionship. So he was nothing loath to follow when Pocahontas +commanded one day:</p> + +<p>"Come with me about the town and answer more of my questions. I have +stored away as many as a squirrel stores nuts for popanow—what keeps +the ship from floating with the tide down to the great water? Why doth +that man sit with his legs before him?"—and she pointed to a carpenter +who had been imprisoned in the stocks in punishment for theft—"And +why?"—...</p> + +<p>And Rolfe found himself kept as busy as Mr. Squirrel himself in cracking +her questions for her.</p> + +<p>She soon got over her awe of the white men, judging, now that she had a +closer view of them, that they were in many ways like her own people. +And seeing that her lightheartedness was pleasant to them, she teased +and joked with them.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou eat a persimmon?" she asked Rolfe, smiling at the trap she +was laying as she stood on tiptoe to pick one from a branch above her. +And Rolfe bit into the golden fruit, not knowing that the persimmon till +ripened by frost is for the eye only. She laughed with glee as she saw +his mouth all puckered up until he believed it would never unpucker +again.</p> + +<p>"I'll pay thee for this some day," he threatened in mock anger as soon +as he could speak; but she only laughed the more.</p> + +<p>One of the reasons that Pocahontas was content to remain in Jamestown +was that she hoped to get news of Captain Smith's return. Every day she +would ask, sometimes Mistress Lettice, sometimes Sir Thomas Dale, or +anyone with whom she spoke:</p> + +<p>"When cometh back the Captain? I am longing to see my Brother."</p> + +<p>And one told her one thing, one another, some lying because it was +easier; some from sheer ignorance said they had heard that John Smith +had gone back to fight the Turks; that he grew fat and lazy in his +English home; that he was exploring further up the coast; that he might +be expected at Jamestown with the next ship. And Pocahontas, believing +those who said the last because she wished this to be the truth, was not +unhappy to wait among strangers that she might be the first to welcome +him.</p> + +<p>The spot in the town which most excited her curiosity was the church. +The colonists had now replaced the first rude hut by a substantial +building with a tower. The bells that called Jamestown to daily prayers +had a weird fascination for the Indian girl. They seemed to speak a +language she could not understand. Nor could she understand the ceremony +which she observed, wide-eyed, of the kneeling men and women and the +white-robed clergyman who stretched out his arms over them.</p> + +<p>"What doth it signify?" she queried; and Rolfe, remembering that the +conversion of the heathen was one of the reasons given by Europe for +sending colonies to the New World, tried to explain the mysteries of his +faith to her. But he found it too difficult a task, and besought the +Reverend Thomas Alexander Whitaker to undertake it in his stead.</p> + +<p>This the zealous and gentle minister of the Gospel gladly consented to +do. Here was the great opportunity he had desired since his coming to +Virginia—to make an Indian convert so notable that this conversion +might bring others in its train. Moreover the maiden herself interested +him. But it was not so easy to go about it. Pocahontas's knowledge of +English did not extend beyond the simplest expressions; and he found it +necessary to translate the long and abstruse theological dogmas into +familiar terms. He had almost despaired of making her comprehend until +he recalled how his Master had taught in parables. So he retold the +incidents of His life in stories which held the Indian maiden +spellbound. He showed her pictures in heavy leathern-bound volumes, and +tried with less success to explain the meaning of the daily religious +services he conducted in the church.</p> + +<p>"Why do ye put always flowers on that table?" she asked, pointing to the +vases on the altar which the Governor bade keep always filled with fresh +blossoms as long as the forests and river bank could supply them. "What +good hath thy god of them?"</p> + +<p>"Dost thou not take delight in the sunshine. Princess?" replied the +priest as they sat in the cool shade of the darkened church looking out +through the open door at waving green branches and the river beyond. "I +have beheld thee lift up thine arms on a fair day when the swift white +clouds moved across the blue heavens as if thou wouldst embrace the +whole wide earth. Why dost thou take pleasure in such things?"</p> + +<p>"Because," hesitated the maiden, seeking for a reason, "because they +make me happy."</p> + +<p>"Because," he added, "they are beautiful. And God who created all this +beauty rejoiceth too in it—in green fields and noble trees, in lovely +maidens, strong men and happy children. Therefore, in token thereof, we +place beautiful flowers upon His table."</p> + +<p>"And delighteth he not in incantations of shamans and jossakeed +(inspired prophets) and in self-torture?" she queried.</p> + +<p>"Nay," he answered; "such things are of the Devil; our God is love. +Ponder upon the difference."</p> + +<p>And Pocahontas did think much of what he told her. Her spirit was +maturing in this new atmosphere like a quick-growing vine climbing +higher each day. Dr. Whitaker's own fatherly kindness to her and to all +the colony became for her the symbol of the tenderness of the God of +whom he taught her. Then, too, this strange new deity was the god of her +Brother, John Smith; and whatever in any way was dear to him she wanted +to make her own.</p> + +<p>For weeks the instruction continued and at last Dr. Whitaker told Sir +Thomas Dale that he believed the Indian princess was now sufficiently +impressed with the teachings of Christianity to be baptized. So Sir +Thomas, meeting her one afternoon as she stood by the wharf watching men +unload a ship but newly arrived from England, began:</p> + +<p>"Good even, Princess, I rejoice at the news Dr. Whitaker hath even now +imparted to me, that he hath instructed thee fully in the teachings of +our blessed faith, and that thou hast shown wisdom and comprehension. +The time hath therefore arrived for thee to bear witness before man to +the truth and to accept the blessed sacrament of baptism at his hands +and to swear publicly that thou wilt have naught more to do with the +heathen gods whom thy people ignorantly worship."</p> + +<p>"I will not give them up," Pocahontas cried out in anger such as she had +not shown for many a day; and to Sir Thomas's amazement, she turned her +back upon his presence and sped, swift as a fawn, into the thicket which +still covered a portion of the island.</p> + +<p>There she lay upon the ground, panting with emotion and passionately +going over her arguments: "Why should I forsake the Okee of my fathers? +Why should I hate what my brothers serve? Why should I prefer this god +of the strangers?"</p> + +<p>She did not know that a sudden attack of homesickness was the principal +cause of this outburst. She was longing to sit at her father's knee, to +hunt with Nautauquas; and she wondered if they had ceased to care for +her that they left her to stay among the strangers.</p> + +<p>Here, at sunset, Dr. Whitaker, set upon her track by the startled Sir +Thomas, found her and seating himself beside her, he talked to her +gently, not finding fault with her loyalty to her people and their +beliefs, but explaining how they had never had the chance to hear what +she was being taught, and how by acknowledging the Christians' God, she +might lead those she loved to do the same and to benefit by His great +gifts.</p> + +<p>Not in one day did the clergyman convince her; but by the time April had +come Pocahontas eagerly consented to her baptism. Clothed by Mistress +Lettice in a simple white gown free from ruff and farthingale, with her +long black hair hanging down her back, Pocahontas walked to the little +church filled with all the inhabitants and a few Indians from the +mainland who wondered what it all meant; and while the bells rang softly +in the soft spring air, Pocahontas, the first of her race, was baptized +into the Christian faith, with the new name of Rebecca.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"> +<img src="images/3de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h4>JOHN ROLFE</h4> + + +<p>To John Rolfe and to all who observed closely the Lady Rebecca—as she +was now called—it seemed as if the little Indian maiden had put on a +new womanly dignity since her baptism. And to John Rolfe in special she +grew more lovely every day. He spent much time with her, strolling all +over Jamestown island and even the mainland. In the woods she taught him +as much as he taught her in the town: to observe the habits of the wild +animals and to find his way through a trackless forest. Often they would +go in a boat to catch fish or to dig for oysters in the Indian fashion.</p> + +<p>At times Rolfe was very happy, and at other moments perplexed and cast +down. It was joy for him to be in the company of one who made him feel +how splendid a thing was life and how full of interest and beauty the +woods, fields and river. Yet when the thought of marriage came to him he +remembered the difficulties in the way. First, she was, though called a +princess, only the child of a cruel savage chief and one accustomed to +savage ways. Why should he, an English gentleman, choose her instead of +a woman of his own race brought up in the manner of his people?</p> + +<p>Then, even if he were willing, it was unlikely that Powhatan would +consent to let his daughter wed a white man or the Governor on his side +allow it. So he pondered; but no matter what the obstacles in his way, +he came back again and again to his determination to win Pocahontas's +love and to marry her. Now that she had become a Christian, there was +one less barrier between them.</p> + +<p>Rolfe believed that his feelings for Pocahontas had gone unnoticed by +anyone, but Mistress Lettice, who had grown very fond of the Indian +maiden confided to her especial care, was far from blind in anything +that concerned her charge. Moreover, she had heard enough of the +discussions which went on in the Council to know that such a marriage +would be approved, since it would secure to the Colony the valuable +friendship of Powhatan. But she was also aware of an obstacle which +might prevent its coming to pass. This knowledge of hers she was +determined to share.</p> + +<p>One day she invited certain members of the Council to her house to drink +a cask of sack her brother in London had sent her by the last ship. She +had baked cake, also, and so excellent was its taste after the weariness +of plain baker's bread, that many of her guests sighed at the +remembrance of their womanless households; and those who had wives +behind in England determined to send for them without further delay.</p> + +<p>"But what I have to say, your Worships," she continued when she had +ceased serving and had settled down in a highbacked chair to rest, "is +that the Lady Rebecca will never wed another while she harboureth the +thought of Captain Smith's return."</p> + +<p>"What! did he teach her to love him?" exclaimed one who would gladly +have listened to any ill of Smith.</p> + +<p>"Nay, if ye should even question her thus she would not know how to +reply. She thinketh and speaketh of him constantly and in her thoughts +he standeth midway between a god and an elder brother, even as she doth +call him. All the knowledge she acquireth is learned because she +believeth he would wish it and will be glad to know that she is no +longer the ignorant child of the woods as he first saw her. She wished +even to delay her baptism because she expecteth him by every ship, and +this I know full well—she will marry no man until she hath speech with +Captain Smith or," here she paused significantly, "she believeth him to +be dead."</p> + +<p>She paused again to let her words sink in. Mistress Lettice wished no +harm to Pocahontas. Indeed she loved her dearly and desired above all +things to see her happy. And she believed that Rolfe as her husband +would make her happy. Smith, if not indeed dead, was not likely to +return to Jamestown, and therefore he might better be dead as far as +Pocahontas was concerned, she thought. The worthy dame had picked her +audience, which was composed chiefly of men who were well known to be +enemies of Smith, who would not hold back from a slight untruth when +they felt sure that it would help to secure safety from Indian attacks, +which were proving so disastrous to their small community.</p> + +<p>"We are mightily amazed at thy words. Mistress Lettice," said one of +her guests at last; "and in truth it hath taken thy woman's eyes to see +what was going on under our very noses and thy woman's tongue to show us +the importance of Master Rolfe's courtship to the welfare of the Colony. +If so small a thing as what thou hast suggested is all that stands +between us and the confirmation of this marriage, why, that is as easily +disposed of as this flagon of thy brother's sack which I drink to thy +health."</p> + +<p>He put the emptied cup upon the table and the company rose to go, now +that both business and pleasure were finished. They did not need much +talk about what they intended to do.</p> + +<p>As they were bidding Mistress Lettice farewell, with many compliments on +her housewifery and her zeal for the settlement, Pocahontas appeared at +the door. She had been, as Mistress Lettice well knew, away with Rolfe, +showing him how her people planted tobacco, since he had become much +interested in this weed—being the first in the Colony to grow it—and +had expressed what seemed to his neighbors ridiculous hopes of future +wealth to be derived from the sale of tobacco in England.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas looked about her with eagerness, and while the men doffed +their hats, she asked:</p> + +<p>"What hath happened, sirs, that so many come to visit us at one time? It +is like our councils when the old chiefs debate about the council +fires."</p> + +<p>No one was anxious to be the first to answer, but since some reply was +necessary, the councilor who had testified to Mistress Lettice's insight +said slowly and solemnly:</p> + +<p>"We have come. Princess, to condole with thee at the death of thy +friend, Captain John Smith."</p> + +<p>"Dead!" cried Pocahontas. "He is dead?"</p> + +<p>And the men, who wished not to burden their consciences with a spoken +lie, all nodded assent. They thought to see the girl burst into tears or +run away, as they had more than once seen her do when she was +displeased; but instead she stood still, her face as motionless as a +statue's. They were glad to slip away with muttered words of sympathy.</p> + +<p>Nor when they were gone did Mistress Lettice's curious and affectionate +eyes witness any sign of sorrow.</p> + +<p>"I own myself wrong," she said that night to her husband; "she careth +naught for the Captain. I wept all day last Michaelmas when my old dog +died."</p> + +<p>But Mistress Lettice did not hear the door unlatched that night, nor the +moccasined feet of Pocahontas as they sped through the street down to a +quiet spot on the river bank whither she often went. The maiden's heart +was so full that under a roof she felt it would burst. And until dawn +she stood on the shore, her face turned eastward towards the sea across +which he had sailed away, bewailing her "Brother" in the manner of her +people, now calling to Okee to guide him to the happy hunting grounds, +and now praying God to bear his soul to the Christian heaven.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>John Rolfe found nothing amiss with Pocahontas when he saw her next day, +nor did any of the conspirators tell him of the false news that they had +communicated to Lady Rebecca or their interest in his wooing.</p> + +<p>And his wooing was very gentle and wonderful to Pocahontas. No Indian +lover, she knew, ever won his squaw in this way. She listened to his +words with amazement when he told her that he wanted her to be his wife, +to make a home for him in this new land. When she gave him her word she +felt much as if she were the very heroine of one of the tales she had +listened to so often about the lodge fire, a deer perhaps that was to be +magically transformed into human shape, or a bird on whom the spirits +had bestowed speech—so immeasurably superior did the English still +appear to her.</p> + +<p>It was some weeks later that Sir Thomas Dale, grown impatient for a +settlement of their differences with Powhatan, decided to go to +Werowocomoco and take Pocahontas with him to act as peacemaker. With +them, on Argall's ship, went John Rolfe and Master Sparkes and one +hundred and fifty men.</p> + +<p>When they tried to land at a village near Werowocomoco the Indians were +very arrogant and opposed their passage. In return the English fired +upon them and when the terrified savages ran into the forest to escape +the white men's weapons, the victors burned all the lodges of the town +and wantonly spoiled the corn stacked up in a storehouse.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas, who was sorrowful at the enmity between those she loved, +besought Sir Thomas:</p> + +<p>"Let me go among my people. They will harken to me and I will hasten to +my father, and when he beholdeth me once more he will deny me nothing. +And it is a long time since I have looked upon his face," she pleaded.</p> + +<p>But Sir Thomas refused. He was not minded to lose this valuable hostage; +even though Pocahontas might be eager to return, he was sure that the +old chieftain would never let her leave him.</p> + +<p>"Prithee, then," she suggested sadly, "send messengers in my name, +saying that ye will abstain from further fighting for a night and day. +If the messengers bear this feather of mine," here she took a white +eagle's feather from her headband, "they may pass in safety where they +will." As they were leaving she charged them: "And beg of my father to +send my brothers to see me, since I may not go to them."</p> + +<p>Now that she was so near home again she was homesick for the sight of +some member of her family that she had not seen for many moons. Her +father would not come, she felt sure, because he would not wish to treat +with the white men in person. She waited anxiously, her eyes and ears +strained for the sound of the messengers returning.</p> + +<p>An hour or so later she beheld in the distance two tall figures +approaching, and she sprang ashore from the boat, crying:</p> + +<p>"Nautauquas! Catanaugh!" as her two brothers hurried to meet her.</p> + +<p>"Is it indeed our little Matoaka?" asked Nautauquas, "and unharmed and +well?"</p> + +<p>He looked at her critically, as if seeking to discover some great change +in her.</p> + +<p>"We feared we knew not what evil medicine they might have used against +thee, little Snow Feather. How have they dealt with thee in thy +captivity?"</p> + +<p>"But fear no longer," cried Catanaugh, whose glance was fixed upon the +canoe of the palefaces; "we shall rescue thee now <a name="pg_260" id="pg_260"></a>if we have to kill +every one of them yonder to get thee free."</p> + +<p>"Nay, my brothers," said Pocahontas, laying her hand gently on his +sinewy arm, "they are my friends, and they have treated me well. Look! +am I wasted with starvation or broken with torture? Harm them not. I am +come to plead with our father to make peace with them. It is as if yon +tree should plead with the sky and the earth not to quarrel, since both +are dear to it. The English are a great nation. Let us be friends with +them."</p> + +<p>"Have they bewitched thee, Matoaka?" asked Catanaugh sternly. "Hast thou +forgot thy father's lodge now that thou hast dwelt among these +strangers?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Brother, but...."</p> + +<p>Nautauquas was quick to notice Pocahontas's confusion and the blush that +stole over her soft dark cheek.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said, smiling at her, "that our little Sister hath a story +to tell us. Let us sit here beneath the trees, as we so often sat when +we were wearied hunting, and listen to her words."</p> + +<p>It was not easy at first for Pocahontas to explain how it had come +about. But as she sat there on the warm brown pine needles, snuggled +closely against Nautauquas's shoulder, she found courage to tell of the +strong, fine Englishman who had taught her so much, and how one day he +had asked her to become his squaw after the manner of the white people. +She told them also how Sir Thomas Dale, the Governor, had willingly +given his consent.</p> + +<p>"Believe ye not," she concluded, looking eagerly first at one and then +the other of her brothers, "that our father will make peace for my sake +with the nation to which my brave belongeth?"</p> + +<p>Catanaugh said nothing, but Nautauquas laid his hand on his sister's arm +and looked her in the eyes searchingly:</p> + +<p>"Art thou happy?"</p> + +<p>"Yea, Brother, very happy. He is dear to me because I know him and +because I know him not. Thou surely hast not forgotten how Matoaka ever +longed for what lay unknown beyond her."</p> + +<p>"Hath thy manitou spoken?" questioned Nautauquas again.</p> + +<p>"The God of the Christians is my god now," she answered.</p> + +<p>"So should it be," said Nautauquas, although Catanaugh scowled; "a woman +must worship the spirits to which her brave prayeth. Then all is well +with thee?"</p> + +<p>"All if my father will but make peace. I would I might go to see him. +Doth he love me still?" she asked wistfully.</p> + +<p>"He saith," answered Nautauquas, "that he loveth thee as his life and, +though he hath many children, that he delighteth in none so much as in +thee."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas sighed half sadly, half happily. "Bear to him my loving +greetings. Brother," she said, "and say to him that Matoaka's thoughts +go to him each day, even as the tide cometh up the river from the sea."</p> + +<p>"He hath agreed," said Catanaugh, "to a truce until taquitock (fall of +the leaf) if the English will send important hostages to him, whom he +may hold as they hold thee."</p> + +<p>"And Cleopatra and our other sisters and old Wansutis, how is it with +them all, and...." and Pocahontas strung the names of most of the +inhabitants of Werowocomoco together <a name="pg_262" id="pg_262"></a>in her enquiries. She listened to +all the news they had to tell her of the great deeds accomplished by the +young braves and the wise speeches made by the old chiefs in council, of +the harvest dances, of the losses on the warpath, and of old Wansutis, +who had grown more strange and more silent since Claw-of-the-Eagle's +death. Then Pocahontas told them of the manner of his going; and +Catanaugh's eyes flashed as he heard of the three palefaces his friend +had slain.</p> + +<p>They had not noticed how long they had sat there chatting until they saw +Sir Thomas himself coming down from the ship, accompanied by Rolfe and +Master Sparkes.</p> + +<p>"These two, Princess," he said, "will be the hostages we send to thy +father; and thy brothers will remain with us."</p> + +<p>The two Indians looked at the white men keenly. From the glance their +sister gave Rolfe they knew he must be her affianced husband. And Rolfe +looked with the same curiosity at his future brothers-in-law. They were +tall like their father, strong and well-built, men such as other men +liked to look at, no matter what their color might be. But it was +Nautauquas in particular that pleased him. He recalled that John Smith +had said of him that he was "the most manliest, comliest, boldest spirit +I ever saw in a savage."</p> + +<p>After they had conversed for a little, Rolfe and Sparkes, accompanied by +certain Indians to whom Nautauquas confided them, set out on their way +to Werowocomoco. They did not fear that harm would come to them, but +they begrudged the time they must spend away from the colony. On their +arrival Powhatan, who was still angry with the English, refused to see +them, so Opechanchanough entertained them and promised to intercede +with his brother for them. Nautauquas's messenger had brought him the +news of Rolfe's relation to his niece.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the truce was extended until the autumn and the +Englishmen were sent back to Jamestown. Nautauquas and Catanaugh had +enjoyed their time on the island among the palefaces, Catanaugh being +interested only in the fort and its guns and in the ship, and +Nautauquas, not only in these, but in talking as well as he could with +the colonists. He and Pocahontas again went hunting together on the +mainland, for the Governor allowed them full liberty to come and go as +they pleased, feeling sure that Nautauquas would keep his word not to +leave Jamestown until the Powhatan sent back Rolfe and Sparkes.</p> + +<p>And the day that these returned the two braves set off to join their +father at Orapaks.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"> +<img src="images/1de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h4>THE WEDDING</h4> + + +<p>Everyone in Jamestown was astir early one April morning in 1614. The +soldiers and the few children of the settlement, impressed with the +importance of their errand, had gone into the woods to cut large sprays +of wild azalea and magnolia to deck the church.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas Dale, and in truth all the cavaliers of the town, had seen +that their best costumes were in order, sighing at the moth holes in +precious cloth doublets and the rents in Flemish lace collars and cuffs, +yet satisfied on the whole with their holiday appearance. The few women +of the Colony, Mistress Easton, Mistress Horton, Elizabeth Parsons and +others, had of course prepared their garments many days before. It was +not often they had an excuse for decking themselves in the finery they +had packed with such care and misgivings back in their English homes; +and this was an occasion such as no one in the world had ever before +participated in. Here was an English gentleman of old lineage who was to +wed the daughter of a great heathen ruler, one in whose power it lay to +help or hinder the progress of this first permanent English colony in +the New World. In addition to making themselves as gay as possible, +they had prepared a wedding breakfast to be served to the gentry at the +Governor's house, and the Governor had provided that meat and other +viands and ale should be distributed from the general store to the +soldiers and laborers and the Indians, their guests.</p> + +<p>The guard at the fort was kept busy admitting the Indians and bidding +them lay aside their bows, hatchets or knives; though in truth no one +that day looked for any hostile act, since Powhatan's consent to his +daughter's marriage had put an end to the enmity between them.</p> + +<p>He himself had not come to the ceremony. He was not minded to set his +foot upon any land other than his own, but he had sent as his +representative Pocahontas's uncle, Opechisco, and many messages of +affection to "his dearest daughter." The elderly werowance wore all the +ceremonial robes of his tribe: a headdress of feathers, leggings and +girdle and a long deerskin mantle heavily embroidered in beads of shell. +With him came Nautauquaus and Catanaugh. The two wandered as they +pleased through the town, and Nautauquaus, seeing Rolfe arrive in his +boat from his plantation Varina, where he had built a house for +Pocahontas, stepped forward to greet him. His love for Pocahontas made +him desire to know her future husband better. Though this man was of +another world than his, though his thoughts and ways were different, he +was a man as he was; therefore the Indian brave tried to appraise him by +the same methods he used in judging the men of his own race—and he was +satisfied. Rolfe, recognizing him, shook hands heartily and talked for a +while, enquiring about those of his family he had known while a hostage +at Werowocomoco.</p> + +<p>After Rolfe had left him to enter the Governor's house, Nautauquas +turned to find out what Catanaugh was doing, but could see nothing of +him.</p> + +<p>Catanaugh had not felt the same interest in Rolfe as did his brother and +had strolled away towards Pocahontas's house. He had a question he was +eager to put to her while Nautauquas was not by. He found his sister in +her white gown, with brightly embroidered moccasins on her feet and a +circlet of beads and feathers about her head.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou not adorn thyself," he asked, "with the bright chains of the +white men?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Brother," she answered; "it may be that I shall wear the strange +robes some day, and the bright chains and jewels I will don to-morrow +when I am the squaw of an Englishman; but to-day I am still only the +daughter of Powhatan."</p> + +<p>Catanaugh said nothing further, yet he still stood in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"Enter," invited Pocahontas, "and behold how I live."</p> + +<p>"I see enough," he answered, turning his head from side to side; "but +where dwelleth the white man's Okee?"</p> + +<p>"The God of the Christians?" she asked, puzzled at his question; "in the +sky above."</p> + +<p>"But where do the shamans call to him?" he continued.</p> + +<p>"Yonder in the church, that building with the peak to it," she pointed +out.</p> + +<p>"I will walk some more," announced Catanaugh and left her. When he +thought Pocahontas was no longer observing him, he hastened in the +direction of the church. During his former short stay in Jamestown he +had never been inside and had thought of it—if he paid any attention +to it at all—as some kind of a storehouse.</p> + +<p>He found the door open and entered quietly, glancing cautiously about +until he had assured himself that it was empty. Then he pushed the door +to and fastened it with the bolt. This done, he set about examining the +building curiously. At the end, towards the rising sun, was an elevation +of three steps which made him think of the raised dais that ran across +the end of Powhatan's ceremonial lodge. This was lined with the reddish +wood of the cedar, and there was a dark wooden table covered with a +white cloth standing in it, and the sun shining through the windows +above made the vases filled with flowers glisten brightly. In the part +where he stood there were many benches and chairs, and everywhere that +it was possible to stand or hang them, was a profusion of fragrant +flowering branches.</p> + +<p>The very simplicity of the church awed him; had there been a +multiplicity of furnishings, of strange objects whose use he could not +comprehend, he would have felt he had something definite to watch and +fear. His impulse was to flee out into the sunshine, and he turned +towards the door. Then he remembered his object in coming and stood +still again.</p> + +<p>He listened intently, but there was no sound; then taking from the pouch +that hung at his side a lump of deer's suet, he smeared it about the +sides of the benches and the backs of the chairs. Then with a handful of +tobacco taken from the same receptacle he began to sprinkle a small +circle in the centre aisle. When this was complete he seated himself +crosslegged inside of it. Slowly and deliberately he drew from the +larger pouch slung at his back and covered by his long mantle, a mask, +somewhat out of shape from its confinement in a small space, and a +rattle made of a gourd filled with pebbles. He attached the mask to his +face as carefully as if he were to be observed by all his tribe, and +laid the rattle across his knees. All these preparations had taken place +so quietly that no one who might have been in the church could have +discovered the Indian's presence by the aid of his ears alone.</p> + +<p>Catanaugh had not come to Jamestown with the sole idea of witnessing his +sister's wedding. It was not altogether of his own will that he was now +about to undertake a dangerous experiment. He was by no manner of means +a coward: his long row of scalps attested to his prowess as a brave; +but, unlike Nautauquas, he was one who followed where others led, who +obeyed when others commanded. He was fierce in fight, relentless to an +enemy, could not even dream as did his father and brother that the white +men might become valuable allies and friends. He would gladly have +killed them all, and he had grown more and more unwilling that +Pocahontas should unite herself to one of these interlopers, as he +called them, because he realized that her marriage would make a bond of +peace between the two peoples. He had hoped to discover that Pocahontas +was being forced into this marriage, in which case he had been prepared +to carry her off by some desperate deed at the last moment; but he could +not help seeing that she was happy and free in her choice, and would +never follow him willingly or go quietly if he tried to make her.</p> + +<p>Catanaugh was a member of the secret society of Mediwiwin and he was one +who had great faith in medicine men and shamans. He never undertook +even a hunting expedition unless he had had a shaman consult his Okee to +decide if the day would be a lucky one. In every religious ceremony he +would take an active part, would fast if the shamans said it was +pleasing to Okee, would kill his enemies or save them for slaves, +whichever the shamans suggested. He was himself little of a talker +except when after victory he was loud and long in his boasting; but he +loved nothing better than to listen when the shamans told tales, as they +sat on winter evenings around a lodge fire, or as they lay during the +long summer twilights on the soft dried grass, of the transformations of +human beings into otter, bear or deer forms, of the pursuit of evil +demons, of magic incantations. And the shamans, sure always of an +audience in Catanaugh, made much of him, and in many ways without his +knowing it, used him as a tool.</p> + +<p>Now, it was at their bidding that he sat there motionless, except for +his lips, which recited in a tone as regular and as loud as a +tree-toad's the words of an incantation they had taught him. And all the +time he, who had never trembled before an enemy, was trembling from fear +of the unknown. Of course, it was wise for the shamans to make this +trial, but he wished it had been possible for one of them to have taken +his place. But they knew they would never have got the chance to slip +unnoticed as he had done into the lodge of the white man's Okee.</p> + +<p>He wondered how this strange Okee would answer his call, for answer he +knew he must. The incantation was such strong medicine that no spirit +could resist it, especially when he shook the rattle as he did now, +rising to his feet and lifting his foot higher and higher, as bending +over, he went round and round on his tiptoes, always within the confines +of the tobacco circle. The shamans had been determined to find out what +kind of an Okee protected the white men, and it was only in this spot +they could do so. The palefaces knew so many things the Indian had never +learned and which he must learn if he was to hold his own against the +terrible medicine of the strangers.</p> + +<p>Catanaugh was afraid he might forget some of the magic words the Okee +would speak, which the shamans had told him he must hold fast in his +mind as he would hold a slippery eel in his hand. Even if he didn't +understand them he must just remember them, because they would be wise +enough to interpret them. He meant, too, if he only had the courage, to +try to make the Okee prevent the wedding.</p> + +<p>He had been shaking the rattle gently for fear it might be heard outside +the church; but now, anxious to bring this dreadful task to an end, he +began to shake it with all his might in one last challenge to the +strange spirit.</p> + +<p>Bim! Bam! Boum! BOUM! Bim!</p> + +<p>Catanaugh jumped like a deer that hears the crackle of a twig behind it. +Here in the deep brazen voice of the marriage bells ringing out in the +belfry above him he thought he heard the answer his incantation had +forced from the white man's Okee. But the voice was so terrible, so +loud, that, forgetting the shaman's injunctions, forgetting everything +but his need to escape, he rushed to the door, unbolted it frantically +and ran, still pursued by the "him, barn, boum" till he reached the +fort, where the frightened sentries, who had no orders to keep any +Indian from <i>leaving</i> the town, let the masked figure through the gates.</p> + +<p>Dr. James Buck, who with Dr. Whitaker, was to perform the ceremony, +arrived at the church just as the wedding party was starting from the +other end of the town. His foot hit against something. He stooped and +picked up a rattle and his fingers were covered with brown dust. Hastily +seizing a broom which stood in the vestry-room, he swept the tobacco +down the aisle and into a corner. The curious rattle he hid with the +replaced broom, to be investigated later. Then he took his stand in the +chancel, where Dr. Whitaker soon joined him, and through the open door +the two clergymen watched their flock approach. Most of them were men, +cavaliers as finely dressed, if their garments were somewhat faded, as +though they were to sit in Westminster Abbey; soldiers in leathern +jerkins; bakers, masons, carpenters, with freshly washed face and hands, +in their Sunday garments of fustian and minus workaday aprons; and the +few women were in figured tabbies and damasks.</p> + +<p>Now when the congregation had filled every seat and were lined up +against the walls, a number of Indians, all relatives of Pocahontas, +slipped in and stood silently with faces that seemed not alive except +for the keenness of their curious eyes. Them through the doorway came +Pocahontas and old Opechisco and Nautauquas.</p> + +<p>A sudden feeling of the wonder of this marriage overcame Alexander +Whitaker. This Indian maiden who was a creature of the woods, shy and +proud as a wild animal, was to be married by him to an Englishman with +centuries of civilization behind him. What boded it for them both and +for their races?</p> + +<p>Then with love for the maiden whom he had baptized and with faith in his +heart, he listened while Dr. Buck began, until he himself asked in a +loud, clear voice:</p> + +<p>"Rebecca, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?"</p> + +<p>After the feast was over the bride said to her husband, using his +Christian name shyly for the first time:</p> + +<p>"John, wilt thou walk with me into the forest a little?"</p> + +<p>And Rolfe, nothing loath to escape the noisy crowd, rose to go with her.</p> + +<p>"Why dost thou care to come here?" he asked when they found themselves +beyond the causeway in the woods flecked with the white of the +innumerable dogwood trees.</p> + +<p>"Because I feel Jamestown too small to-day, John; because I have ever +sought the forest when I was happy or sad; because it seemeth to me that +the trees and beasts would be hurt if I did not let them see me this +great day."</p> + +<p>"'Tis a pretty fancy, but a pagan one, my child," said Rolfe, frowning +slightly.</p> + +<p>But Pocahontas did not notice. She had caught a glimpse across the leafy +branches of the spotted sides of a deer, and she saw a striped chipmunk +peer at her from overhead.</p> + +<p>"Hey! little friends," she called out gaily to them, "here's Pocahontas +come to greet ye. Wish her happiness, that her nest may be filled with +nuts. Little Dancer, and cool shade, Bright Eyes, in hot noondays." Then +as two wood pigeons flew by she clapped her hands gently together and +cried:</p> + +<p>"Here's <i>my</i> mate, Swift Wings, wish us happiness."</p> + +<p>And John Rolfe, sober Englishman that he was, felt uprise in him a new +kinship with all the breathing things of the world, and he wondered +whether this Indian maiden he had made his wife did not know more of the +secrets of the earth than the wise men of Europe.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"> +<img src="images/4de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h4>ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF</h4> + + +<p>Pocahontas, clothed in European garb, was returning to her home at +Varina from the river, whither she had accompanied John Rolfe half a +day's journey towards Jamestown. The boatmen had escorted her from the +skiff and now doffed their hats as she bade them come no further.</p> + +<p>In the two years which had passed since her marriage, the little Indian +maiden had learned many things: to speak fluently the language of her +husband's people, to wear in public the clothes of his countrywomen, and +to use the manners of those of high estate. She had always been +accustomed to the deference paid her as the daughter of the great +werowance, ruler over thirty tribes, and now she received that of the +English, who treated her as the daughter of a powerful ally. For +Powhatan had seen the wisdom of keeping peace between Werowocomoco and +Jamestown and its settlement up the river of Henrici, of which Rolfe's +estate, Varina, was a portion.</p> + +<p>Indeed, so stately was the manner of the Lady Rebecca that it was with +difficulty that many could recall the wide-eyed maiden who used to come +and go at Jamestown.</p> + +<p>Now as she ascended the hill her eyes rested upon the home Rolfe had +built for her. It was to the eyes of Englishmen, accustomed to the +spacious manor houses of their own country, little more than a cabin. +But to one who had seen nothing finer than the lodges of her father's +towns, it was a very grand structure indeed, with its solid framework of +oak, its four rooms, its chimney of brick and its furnishings sent over +from London. Her husband had promised her that they should bring back +many other wonderful arrangements when they returned from England.</p> + +<p>She was a little warm from her climb and was looking forward to the +moment when she could discard her clothes for her loose buckskin robe +and moccasins. Rolfe, though he did not forbid them altogether, was not +pleased at the sight of them; and Pocahontas this day was conscious of a +slight feeling of relief that there were to be several days of his +absence in which she could forget to be an Englishwoman.</p> + +<p>She might forget for a while but only for a while for she was a happy +and dutiful wife; but she could never forget that she was a mother, that +her wonderful little Thomas, not so white as his father, nor so dark as +herself, was waiting for her at the house. She hurried on, thinking of +the fun she would have with him: how she would take him down to a stream +and let him lie naked on the warm rocks, and how she would sing Indian +songs to him and tell him stories of the beasts in the woods, even if he +were too little to understand them.</p> + +<p>She had left him in his cradle where, protected by its high sides, he +was safe for hours at a time, and the workmen who were helping her +husband start a tobacco plantation at Varina looked in often to see if +he were all right.</p> + +<p>She entered the house and hurrying to the cradle, called out:</p> + +<p>"Little Rabbit, here I am."</p> + +<p>But when she bent over the side, behold! the cradle was empty.</p> + +<p>She looked in every room, but found no sign of him. Then she rushed to +the door and called. Three of the men came running, and they told her, +speaking one on top of the other, how half an hour after she and their +master had left one of them had gone to look at the child and found the +cradle empty. Since then they had been searching the place over, but +with no success.</p> + +<p>It was quite impossible for the child to have got away alone; yet who +would take him away? Indians or white folk, there was none in all +Virginia who would dare injure the grandchild of Powhatan.</p> + +<p>When she had listened to what they had to say, Pocahontas bade them go +and continue their search. When she was alone she sat down, not on the +carven chair a carpenter had made her in Jamestown, but on the floor, as +she had so often sat about the lodge fire when she wished to think hard.</p> + +<p>After a long period of absolute silence and motionlessness she rose, +took off her hat, gown and shoes and clothed herself in her Indian +garments. Now she knelt by the cradle and examined the floor carefully, +then the sill of the door and the ground in front of it. Something she +must have discovered, for she sniffed the air eagerly like a hound that +had found the scent. She weighed her decision a moment—should she turn +in the direction of Powhata, where she knew Powhatan was staying, or +should it be in the direction of Werowocomoco? She turned towards the +latter, and stooping every few minutes to examine the ground, proceeded +quickly on her quest.</p> + +<p>It was the slightest imprint here and there on the earth of a moccasined +foot which was the clue. Her brothers and sisters came to see her +occasionally; but what purpose could one of them have in stealing her +child? No hostile Indians any longer, thanks to the fear Powhatan's +might and the English guns had spread among them, were ever seen in this +part of the country; so while she hurried on she wondered whence this +Indian kidnapper could have come. That it was an Indian she was certain, +and that he bore the child she knew, because lying on a rock in the +trail she had found a piece of the chain of chinquapins she had amused +herself stringing together to place about little Thomas's neck.</p> + +<p>Now that she was on the right trail it did not enter her mind to return +to her husband's men for help or to send a messenger to Jamestown to +fetch him back. She knew well that she was far better fitted than any +white man to follow swiftly and surely the way her child had gone. It +might be, since the thief had several hours' advantage, that it would be +days before she could catch up with him; but if it took years and she +had to journey to the end of the world she would not falter nor turn +back for help.</p> + +<p>As she travelled through the forest in the quick step that was almost a +trot, the polish of her English life fell away from her as the leaves +fell from the trees above her. She forgot the happenings of the two +years since she had been the "Lady Rebecca," forgot her husband; and her +baby was no longer the heir of the Rolfes about to be taken across the +sea to be shown to his kinsmen; he was her papoose, and as she ran she +called out to him all the pet names the Indian mothers loved. When she +thought that he might be crying with terror or hunger she began to pray, +prayers that came from the depth of her heart that she might reach him +before he really suffered. But these prayers were not to the God of the +Christians, but to the Okee her fathers had worshipped.</p> + +<p>Many times the trail was almost invisible. There was little passing of +feet this way and in no place was there anything like a path. But +Pocahontas's eyes, keener than even in the days when they had rivalled +her brother's in following in play the trail the pursued did his best to +cover up, were never long at fault. The ground, the bushes from which +raindrops had been shaken, a broken twig—all helped her read the way +she was to go. If she could only tell whether she were gaining!</p> + +<p>What she would do when she came face to face with the thief she did not +know. If he were a strong man who defied her command to give up the +grandson of Powhatan, how should she compel him? She had started off so +hastily that she had not armed herself with any weapon. But she did not +doubt that in some way or other she would wrest her child from him.</p> + +<p>The sun was sinking; its beams, she saw, struck now the lower part of +the tree trunks. Seeing this, she quickened her step; once the night +fell she would have to lie down and wait for morning for fear of missing +the trail.</p> + +<p>It was almost dark when she reached a sort of open space the size of +three lodges width, where doubtless the coming of many wild beasts to +drink of a spring that bubbled up in the centre had worn down the +growth of young trees. On one side of the ground where moss and creeping +crowfoot grew, there were overhanging rocks which formed a small cave +not much deeper than a man's height.</p> + +<p>No longer could she see a footprint in the dusk, so Pocahontas sadly +prepared to spend the night in this shelter. She leaned down and drank +long from the spring, and taking off her moccasins, bathed her tired +feet in it. Then because she wanted a fire more for its companionship +than for the warmth, she gathered twigs, and twirling one in a bit of +rotten wood, soon produced a spark that lighted a cheerful blaze.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to be gained by staying awake. There was no one from +whom she had anything to fear except possibly the thief, and the sooner +they met the better pleased she would be. She was drowsy from the warmth +of the fire and tired from the long pursuit, so Pocahontas lay down at +the entrance of the cave, half within and half without, and in a moment +was fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Several times during the night she was half awakened by the sound of +some young animal crying—perhaps a bear cub, she thought sleepily, but +even were the mother bear nearby she had no fear of her.</p> + +<p>Later on she dreamed that the mother bear had come into the cave and was +sniffing her all over. She opened her eyes and saw the glow from the +embers reflected in a pair of eyes above her.</p> + +<p>"Go away, old Furry One!" she commanded drowsily. "I'm not afraid of +thee. Be off and let me sleep."</p> + +<p>But the sound of her own voice wakened her and she raised herself to a +sitting position to see whether the bear were obeying her. Against the +almost extinguished embers she saw the dim outlines—not of the beast +she expected, but of a human being! She sprang up, seized hold of it +with her right hand before the other had time to escape, and with her +left hand caught up some dried twigs and threw them on the remains of +the fire. The wood already heated, ignited at once; the blaze lighted up +the little forest room and Pocahontas beheld—Wansutis!</p> + +<p>"Where is my child?" cried Pocahontas. "What hast thou done with him? +And so it was thou who alone in all the world didst dare steal him from +me. What hast thou done with my son? Speak!"</p> + +<p>The old woman did not struggle under the firm grasp of the young strong +hands. She stood still as if alone, staring into the flames that +reddened the circle of trees as if they had been stained with blood.</p> + +<p>"What hast thou done with my son?" cried Pocahontas again.</p> + +<p>"What hast thou done with <i>my</i> son?" asked the old woman, without +turning her head to look at Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>"Thy son! Claw-of-the-Eagle? Why! I sent thee word many moons ago, +Wansutis, that he was dead."</p> + +<p>"Hadst thou loved him he had not died."</p> + +<p>"I loved him as a sister, Wansutis; my fate lay not in my hands. But +Claw-of-the-Eagle is dead, and we mourn him, thou and I"—here she +loosened her grasp on the old woman's shoulder, "but my son is alive +unless—"</p> + +<p>Here a dreadful possibility made her shake like an aspen.</p> + +<p>"What hast thou done with my son, Wansutis? What didst thou want with +him?"</p> + +<p>Wansutis, who was now crouched down looking at the heart of the fire, +began to chant as if alone:</p> + +<p>"Wansutis's son died in battle. No stronger, fiercer brave was there in +all the thirty tribes, and Wansutis's lodge was empty and there was none +to hunt for her, to slay deer that she might feed upon fresh meat. Then +Wansutis saw a prisoner with strong body, though it was yet small, and +Wansutis had a new son, a swift hunter, whose face was ruddy by the +firelight, whose presence in her lodge made Wansutis's slumbers quiet. +And this son wanted a maiden for his squaw and went forth to play upon +his pipes before her. But the maiden would not listen and the river and +the maiden killed the brave son of Wansutis, and again her lodge was +lonely."</p> + +<p>She ceased for a moment, then as if she were reading the words in the +flames, she sang more slowly:</p> + +<p>"I am old, saith old Wansutis, yet I'll live for many harvests. I will +seek another son now; I will bring him to my wigwam. He shall watch me +and protect me; he will cheer me in the winters."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas interrupted her:</p> + +<p>"That then is the reason thou didst steal my child. Thou shalt not keep +him; he is not for thy lodge. He goeth with his father and with me to be +brought up in the houses of the English."</p> + +<p>There came a cry from the forest, the same cry she had heard in her +dreams. Without an instant's doubt, Pocahontas sprang into the blackness +and in a few moments came back with the baby in her arms. She squatted +down by the fire, and felt it over feverishly until she had convinced +herself that it was unharmed.</p> + +<p>Wansutis now rose.</p> + +<p>"Farewell, Princess," she said. "Wansutis will now be returning to her +lodge."</p> + +<p>Now that she had her child safe again, Pocahontas's kind heart began to +speak:</p> + +<p>"Wansutis, thou knowest I cannot let thee have my son; but if thou wilt +I will pray my father to give thee the next young brave he captures that +thou mayst no longer be lonely."</p> + +<p>"I will seek no more sons," answered the old woman; "perchance he might +set off for a far land and leave me even as thy father's daughter +leaveth him."</p> + +<p>"But I will return to him," protested Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou know that?" the old woman asked, leaning down and peering +directly into Pocahontas's face. Her gaze was so full of hatred that +Pocahontas drew back in terror.</p> + +<p>"I see a ship"—Wansutis began to chant again—"a ship that sails for +many days towards the rising sun; but I never see a ship that sails to +the sunset. I see a deer from the free forests and it is fettered and +its neck is hung with wampum and flowers; but the deer seeks in vain to +escape to its bed of ferns in the woodland. I see a bird that is caught +where the lodges are closer together than the pebbles on the seashore; +but I never see the bird fly free above their lodge tops. I hear the +crying of an orphan child; but the mother lieth where she cannot still +it."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas gazed in horrible fascination at the old woman who, with +another harsh laugh, vanished into the darkness.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"> +<img src="images/5de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /></a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h4>POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND</h4> + + +<p>It was an eager, happy Pocahontas that set sail with her husband. Master +Rolfe, her child and last—but not in his own estimation—Sir Thomas +Dale. With them, too, went Uttamatomakkin, a chief whom Powhatan sent +expressly to observe the English and their ways in their own land.</p> + +<p>Everything interested Pocahontas on the voyage: the ship herself, the +hoisting and furling of sails in calms and tempests, the chanteys of the +sailors as they worked, the sight of spouting whales and, as they neared +the English coast, the magnificence of a large ship-of-war, a veteran, +so declared the captain, of the fleet which went so bravely forth to +meet the Spanish Armada. During the long evenings on deck Rolfe told her +stories of real deeds of English history and fancied romances of poets; +and all were equally wonderful to her.</p> + +<p>She could scarcely believe after she had sailed so many weeks over the +unchanging ocean, where there were not even the signs to go by that she +could read in the trackless forest, that there was land again beyond all +the water. It was a marvel which no amount of explanations could +simplify that men should be able to guide ships back and forth across +this waste. Perhaps this more than any of the wonders she was to see +later was what made her esteem the white men's genius most.</p> + +<p>And then one day a grey cloud rested on the eastern horizon. Pocahontas +saw a new look in her husband's face as he caught sight of it.</p> + +<p>"England!" he cried, and then he lifted little Thomas to his shoulder +and bade him, "Look at thy father's England."</p> + +<p>Even before they stepped ashore at Plymouth Pocahontas's impressions of +the country began. On board the ship came officers from the Virginia +Company to greet her and put themselves and the exchequer of the Company +at her disposal. Was she not the daughter of their Indian ally, a +monarch of whose kingdom and power they possessed but the most confused +idea. They had arranged, they said, suitable lodgings for Lady Rebecca, +Master Rolfe and their infant in London and—with much waving of plumed +hats and bowing—they would attend in every manner to her comfort and +amusement.</p> + +<p>These men were different from any Pocahontas had ever seen; the +colonists were all, willy nilly, workers, or at least adventure lovers. +These comfortable citizens were of a type as new to her as she to them.</p> + +<p>As they rode slowly on their way to London at every mile of the road she +cried out with delighted interest and questioned Rolfe without ceasing +about the timbered and stuccoed cottages, the beautiful hedges, the rich +farms and paddocks filled with horses and cattle. At midday and at night +when they stopped at the inns, she was eager to examine everything, from +the still-room to the fragrant attics where bunches of herbs hung from +the rafters. Yet even in her girlish eagerness she bore herself with a +dignity that never allowed the simplest to doubt that, in spite of her +dark skin, she was a lady of high birth.</p> + +<p>"Ah! John," she said, "this is so fair a land; I know not how thou +couldst leave it. I can scarcely wait when I lie abed at night for the +morn to come. There is ever something new, and new things, thou knowest, +have ever been delightful to my spirit."</p> + +<p>"And to mine also, Rebecca," he answered; "for that reason did I seek +Wingandacoa and rejoiced in its strangeness, even as thou dost rejoice +in the strangeness of my country."</p> + +<p>The nearer they drew to London the more there was to see. The highway +was filled with those coming and going from town; merchants, farmers +with their wares, butchers, travelling artisans, tinkers, peddlers, +gypsies, great ladies on horseback or in coaches, who stared at +Pocahontas, and gentlemen who questioned the servants about her. And +Pocahontas asked Rolfe about all of them, of their condition, their +manner of living and what their homes were like within.</p> + +<p>When they reached the outskirts of London the crowds increased so that +Pocahontas turned to Rolfe and asked:</p> + +<p>"Why do all the folk run hither and thither? Is there news of the return +of a war party or will they celebrate some great festival?" And she +could hardly believe that it was only a gathering such as was to be seen +every day. However, as soon as those in the crowd caught sight of her +they began to press more closely to gaze at her and at Uttamatomakkin, +who looked down at them as unconcernedly as if he had been accustomed +to such a sight all his life. Officers of the Virginia Company appeared +just then with a coach, into which they conducted Pocahontas, Rolfe and +little Thomas, so that they escaped from the curiosity of the crowd.</p> + +<p>The days that followed were filled with strange and new enjoyments. +Mantuamakers and milliners brought their wares, and Lady Rebecca soon +began to distinguish what was best in what they had to offer. She drove +in the parks, was rowed down the river in gorgeous barges, had her +portrait painted in a gold-trimmed red robe with white collar and cuffs +and a hat with a gold band upon it, received the great ladies who came +out of curiosity to see for themselves what an Indian princess might be +like. All of them had only kind things to say about "the gentle Lady +Rebecca."</p> + +<p>The Bishop of London was in especial interested in this heathen +noblewoman who had become a Christian. He was her escort on many +occasions and decided to give a great ball in her honour.</p> + +<p>"What will they do, Master Bishop?" she asked of the dignitary who had +grown as fond of this new lamb in his flock as if she were his own +daughter. "What will all the ladies do at a ball?"</p> + +<p>"They will dance."</p> + +<p>"Dance!" exclaimed Pocahontas in amazement, who had never seen any other +kind of dancing than that which she herself, clad in scant garments, had +been wont to practice before she became the wife of an Englishman. This, +she now knew, was not of a character suited for English ladies. So, some +days later, watching the stately measures and the low reverences of +ladies and their cavaliers, Pocahontas wondered what pleasure they could +find in such an amusement.</p> + +<p>"Perchance, though," she suggested to the good Bishop, "it is some +religious ceremony which I know not."</p> + +<p>The Bishop laughed so at this idea that Pocahontas could not help +laughing, too, though she did not understand what was funny in her +speech.</p> + +<p>After the dance was over the ladies came to be presented to Lady +Rebecca. They did not know what they ought to talk to the stranger +about; but one of them in a dull mouse-colored tabby, with sad-colored +ribbons, remarked languidly:</p> + +<p>"What a fine day we are having."</p> + +<p>"Fine!" exclaimed Pocahontas, looking up at the grey sky through the +window, which to be sure had not dropped any rain for twenty-four hours, +"but the sun is not shining. I should think here in England ye would +wear your gayest garments to brighten up the landscape."</p> + +<p>"Then the Lady Rebecca doth not like our country?" queried the dame in +grey.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but yea. In truth it pleaseth me mightily, all but the dark skies. +And they tell me that is because of the smoke of the city."</p> + +<p>Then Pocahontas's eyes caught sight of an older woman whom Rolfe was +escorting towards her. There was something about her appearance that was +very pleasing. She was a little above medium height, with hair silvered +in front and with cheeks as full of color as the roses she carried in +her hands. Pocahontas felt at once that here was a woman whom she could +love. Her manner was as dignified as that of any lady in the +assemblage, but there was a heartiness in her voice and in her glance +which made Pocahontas feel at home as she had not before felt in +England.</p> + +<p>"This is Lady De La Ware, whose husband, thou knowest, Rebecca, was +Governor of our Colony," said Rolfe, "and she hath brought these English +roses to thee." Then he strolled off, leaving the two women together.</p> + +<p>"They are very beautiful, thy flowers," said Pocahontas, smiling at them +and at their giver, "and sweeter than the blossoms that grow in my +land."</p> + +<p>"Yet those are wonderful, too. I have heard of many glorious trees and +vines which grow there and I would that I might see them."</p> + +<p>"If thou wilt cross the ocean with us when we return, I will show thee +many things that would be as strange to thee as thy land is to me. I +would take thee to my father, Powhatan, and he would give dances in +thine honour that would not be"—and she laughed again at the +thought—"like the ball my Lord Bishop giveth me."</p> + +<p>Lady De La Ware smiled, too. She had been told something about the +Indian customs.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps some day thou shalt take me to thy father's court; but now I am +come to take thee to that of our Queen. She hath expressed her desire to +see thee shortly. A letter which was written her by Captain John Smith +about thee hath made her all the more eager to do honour to one who hath +ever befriended the English."</p> + +<p>"Captain John Smith hath written to the Queen about me?" said +Pocahontas, marvelling.</p> + +<p>"In truth, and since his words seemed to me worthy of remembrance, I +have kept them in my mind." He begins:</p> + +<p>"'If ingratitude be a deadly poyson to all honest vertues, I must be +guiltie of that crime if I should omit any meanes to be thankfull. So it +is that some ten years ago being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the +power of Powhatan, their chief King, I received from this great savage +exceeding great courtesy, especially from his son, Nautauquas, the most +manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit I ever saw in a savage, and his +sister, Pocahontas, the King's most dear and well beloved daughter, +being but a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, whose +compassionate pitiful heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause +to respect her—she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save +mine ... the most and least I can do is to tell you this, because none +so oft tried it as myself, and the rather being of so great a spirit, +however her stature, if she should not be well received, seeing this +Kingdom may rightly have a Kingdom by her means—' And much more there +was, Lady Rebecca, which I cannot now recall."</p> + +<p>Lady De La Ware did not know that Pocahontas believed Smith dead, and +Pocahontas, not imagining anything else, thought Smith must have written +this letter from Jamestown before he died; and her heart grew warm +thinking how, even dying, he had done what he could for her happiness on +the mere chance of her going to England. The truth of the matter was +that Smith was then at Plymouth, making ready to start on an expedition +to New England; and though he did not expect to see Pocahontas, he +wished England, and first of all England's Queen, to know what they owed +this Indian girl.</p> + +<p>It happened not long after that "La Belle Sauvage," as the Londoners +sometimes called Pocahontas, and Rolfe were being entertained at a fair +country seat. An English girl, much of the age of her guest, whose +curiosity about the ways of the Indians was restrained only by her +courtesy, had been showing her through the beautiful old garden. They +had talked of Virginia, and Mistress Alicia coaxed:</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou not take me with thee. Lady Rebecca, when thou returnest +thither?</p> + +<p>"But see," and she peered through an opening in the high yew hedge, +"yonder cometh Master Rolfe with a party of gentlemen. Oh! one of them +is a brave figure of a man, though he weareth not such fine clothes as +some of the others. By my troth! 'tis Captain John Smith, and of course +he cometh to greet thee. I would I might stay to hear what ye two old +friends have to say to each other."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Pocahontas that hours elapsed during the few minutes she +was alone after Mistress Alicia left her, while her husband was guiding +her guests to her through the garden's winding mazes. How could Smith be +alive when she knew that he was dead? Even as she caught in the distance +the sound of his voice, she asked herself if in truth she had ever heard +of his death from anyone but the councillors in Jamestown.</p> + +<p>The well-known voice was no longer weak as when she had last heard it +bid her farewell. There they were, the gentlemen all bowing to her but +remaining in the background, while Rolfe came forward with Smith.</p> + +<p>"I have brought thee an old friend, Rebecca," he said.</p> + +<p>Pocahontas saluted him, but words were impossible.</p> + +<p>John Smith afterwards wrote concerning this interview:</p> + +<p>"After a modest salutation, without any word, she turned about, obscured +her face, as not seeming well contented, and in that humor her husband +with divers others, we all left her two or three hours."</p> + +<p>Seeing that she preferred to be alone, the men departed to talk over the +affairs of the Virginia Colony since Smith had left Jamestown. +Pocahontas, sitting quietly on a garden bench near the carp pond, went +over in her thought all that had taken place in her own life since then.</p> + +<p>Then she saw him coming towards her again, alone, and she stretched out +her hand to him.</p> + +<p>"My father," she cried, "dost thou remember the old days in Wingandacoa +when thou earnest first to Werowocomoco and wert my prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"I remember well. Lady Rebecca," he said, leaning down to kiss her hand, +"and I am ever thy most grateful debtor."</p> + +<p>"Call me not by that strange name. Matoaka am I for thee as always. Dost +thou remember when I came at night through the forest to warn thee?"</p> + +<p>"I remember, Matoaka; how could I forget it?"</p> + +<p>"Dost thou remember the day when, lying wounded before thy door, thou +didst make me promise to be ever a friend to Jamestown and the English?"</p> + +<p>"I have thought of it many a day."</p> + +<p>"I have kept my promise, Father, have I not?"</p> + +<p>"Nobly, Matoaka; but it is not meet that thou shouldst call me father."</p> + +<p><a name="pg_300" id="pg_300"></a>Then Pocahontas tossed her head emphatically, and this gesture brought +back to Smith the bright young Indian maiden who, for a moment, had +seemed to him disguised by the stately clothes of an English matron.</p> + +<p>"Thou didst promise Powhatan," she cried, "what was thine should be his, +and he the like to thee; thou calledst him father, being in his land a +stranger, and by the same reason so must I do thee."</p> + +<p>"But, Princess," he objected, "it is different here. The King would like +it not if I allowed it here; he might say it was indeed truth what mine +enemies say of me, that I plan to raise myself above them."</p> + +<p>"Wert thou afraid to come into my father's country and caused fear in +him and all his people but me, and fearest thou here I should call thee +father? I tell thee then I will and thou shalt call me child, and so +will I be for ever and ever thy countryman."</p> + +<p>Smith smiled at her eagerness, yet was deeply touched by it.</p> + +<p>"Call me then what thou wilt; I can fear no evil that might come to me +from thee."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas then spoke a few words to him in the Powhatan tongue, anxious +to see if he still remembered it. And he answered her in her language. +She was silent, but Smith could see that something was disturbing her.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Matoaka; what words wait to cross the ford of thy lips?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"They did tell me always," she replied, "that thou wert dead and I knew +no more till I came to Plymouth, yet Powhatan did command +Uttamatomakkin to seek thee and know the truth, because thy countrymen +will lie much."</p> + +<p>"Think of it no more. Little Sister, if thou still let me call thee +that. I am not dead yet and I have many journeys to make. I thank fate I +had not yet sailed for that coast to the north of Jamestown they call +'New England,' so that I might greet thee once again. When I return we +shall have many more talks together."</p> + +<p>"I shall not be here, Father; we too shall set sail ere long. I have +been happy here in thy land, but I am now suffering from an illness they +tell me is called homesickness."</p> + +<p>"That is an illness which may be easily remedied, Matoaka. But when thou +art come again to Wingandacoa forget not the England and the friends +which can never forget thee."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the days that followed Lady De La Ware, touched by the affection +Pocahontas manifested towards her, accompanied her everywhere, to the +wonderful masque written by the poet, Ben Jonson, which was performed at +the Twelfth Night festival, and to the play written by Master Will +Shakespeare that he called "The Tempest," which represented court folk +cast ashore on an island in the western ocean.</p> + +<p>Everything was so full of interest that her new life seemed to be +leading her further and further away from the old simple existence of +forest and river. Then came the presentation to the Queen, Anne of +Denmark, consort of James First of England and Sixth of Scotland. Lady +De La Ware had seen that Lady Rebecca's costume suited her dark skin and +hair.</p> + +<p>Before coming to the presence chamber there were many halls and +anterooms filled with courtiers and ladies, whose curious glances might +have dismayed any woman who had not grown accustomed to a life at court; +but Pocahontas passed on unconscious of them all.</p> + +<p>In the large hall which they entered last, hung with rich tapestries and +furnished with dark oaken chairs and settles covered with royal purple +velvet, a few pages and the Queen's ladies alone kept her company. As +Pocahontas and Lady De La Ware advanced, the Queen motioned every one +else to withdraw to the farther end of the chamber. She curtsied in +return to the obeisances made by Pocahontas and her sponsor, but did not +stretch forth her hand to be kissed as she would have done had she not +considered this stranger before her as a princess of royal blood.</p> + +<p>"I thank thee for coming," she said graciously. "I have much desired to +see thee. Captain Smith was right when he reminded me of what our people +owe thee, he most of all."</p> + +<p>"He was dear to my people also," answered Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>"Hath Your Majesty heard how men speak of Captain Smith in the Colony?" +asked Lady De La Ware. "My brother who is still at Jamestown wrote me +that one of the colonists regretting the great Captain's departure said +of him:</p> + +<p>"What shall I say of him but thus we lost him, that in all his +proceedings made justice his first guide, and experience his second, +ever hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity more than any dangers; +that never allowed more for himself than his soldiers with him; that +upon no danger would send them where he would not lead them himself; +that would never see us want what he either had or could get us; that +would rather want than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved +action more than words, and hated falsehood and covetousness more than +death; whose adventures were our lives, and whose loss our death.'"</p> + +<p>"Tell me of thy long voyage," then questioned her majesty; and seating +herself, made room for Pocahontas beside her, while Lady De La Ware +moved off to talk with one of the ladies. "I do not see how men, and +more especially women, dare trust themselves for so long on the sea. +When I had been married by proxy to my lord, the King, I tried to go by +ship from Denmark to Scotland, but the tempests were so fierce that we +had to put in to Norway, scarce saving our lives; and thither came my +gracious lord, against the prayers of his councillors who tried to +dissuade him from venturing his precious safety in winter storms. Oh! I +have no love of the sea."</p> + +<p>"I did not fear it," said Pocahontas, "but I thought it would never end. +Had I been alone, though, without my husband and my child"—then, not +knowing that court etiquette did not sanction the changing the subject +of conversation by any one but the sovereign, she asked: "And how many +children hast thou?"</p> + +<p>Queen Anne was pleased with her naturalness and told her of her son and +daughter and of the wonderful Prince Henry whom she had lost.</p> + +<p>While they sat talking about their children as quietly as two plain +housewives, there was a commotion at the end of the hall. The pages +seemed very excited and uncertain what they ought to do. However, they +could not have prevented if they would, and into the hall, clad in his +long mantle, moccasins and with his headdress of feathers, strode +Uttamatomakkin. Pocahontas, looking up, saw that he was examining +eagerly all the furnishings of the hall and then his gaze was bent upon +the Queen.</p> + +<p>"Is yon the squaw of the great white werowance?" he asked, "and is this +their ceremonial lodge? I have already beheld the King and he is a weak +little creature whom any child at Werowocomoco could knock down."</p> + +<p>"Who is he, and what doth he say?" asked the Queen, who was delighted at +his strange appearance.</p> + +<p>"It is one of my people, Madame, and he wishes to know if thou art +indeed the Queen that he may tell of thee when he returneth to +Wingandacoa." She did not think it wise to repeat the rest of his +remarks.</p> + +<p>The Queen, whose curiosity was great in regard to this strange race from +overseas of whom she had heard so many tales, beckoned to Uttamatomakkin +to come closer. The Indian walked stolidly to the dais where she stood.</p> + +<p>"What is this mantle made of?" asked the sovereign, taking up an end of +the painted and embroidered deerskin robe and rubbing it critically +between her fingers.</p> + +<p>Uttamatomakkin, thinking this was the English form of salutation and not +intending to be outdone in politeness, caught hold of Queen Anne's +velvet skirt, and to the accompaniment of little shrieks of dismay from +the ladies-in-waiting, fingered it in the same manner.</p> + +<p>"That must thou not do," remonstrated Pocahontas, trying not to laugh; +but Uttamatomakkin grunted:</p> + +<p>"Why should I not do what a squaw doth?"</p> + +<p>The Queen recovered her equanimity and in sign of her good will +unfastened a golden brooch and pinned it on the Indian's broad shoulder. +Then the chief broke off from his girdle a string of wampum, and before +any one realized what he intended doing, he had fastened it to a pearl +pin on the Queen's bodice.</p> + +<p>"I see I cannot get the better of him. Lady Rebecca," laughed her +Majesty; "but ask him what he doth with yon long stick."</p> + +<p>The pages, whose interest in this savage overcame for the moment their +habit of etiquette, had approached little by little towards the end of +the hall where he stood. They watched eagerly and with a certain dread +of the unknown while he took from his pouch a white stick and his knife +from his girdle. The stick, they saw, was covered with tiny nicks; and +the Indian, looking from one person to another, made many more marks on +the wand.</p> + +<p>"What is it thou dost, Uttamatomakkin?" asked Pocahontas.</p> + +<p>"The werowance, thy father, told me to mark and let him know when I +return how many white folk there were in this land. I made a cut for +each one I counted at first, but my stick is all but covered now and the +Powhatan will not know how the palefaces swarm here like bees in a +hollow tree."</p> + +<p>Pocahontas repeated to the Queen what he had said, and her Majesty was +greatly amused.</p> + +<p>"But thou dost not plan to return to Virginia for a long; time yet?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>"Much I like thy land, and its pleasant folk," answered Pocahontas as +she rose to go. "But the time draweth near for us to set sail westward +again. Farewell."</p> + +<p>Then, accompanied by Lady De La Ware and Uttamatomakkin, she left the +audience chamber.</p> + +<p>"The Lady Rebecca," said the Queen to her ladies when the curtains had +fallen behind Pocahontas, "is one of the gentlest ladies England hath +ever welcomed."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/1de.jpg" + alt="decorative" + title="decorative" /> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Princess Pocahontas, by Virginia Watson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS *** + +***** This file should be named 16458-h.htm or 16458-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/5/16458/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Princess Pocahontas + +Author: Virginia Watson + +Illustrator: George Wharton Edwards + +Release Date: August 6, 2005 [EBook #16458] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: THE WHITE FIGURE MOVED RAPIDLY] + +THE PRINCESS +POCAHONTAS + +BY + +VIRGINIA WATSON + +Author of "WITH CORTES THE CONQUEROR" + + +WITH DRAWINGS AND DECORATIONS BY +GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS + + + +THE HAMPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY +NEW YORK + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + +INTRODUCTION + + +To most of us who have read of the early history of Virginia only in our +school histories, Pocahontas is merely a figure in one dramatic +scene--her rescue of John Smith. We see her in one mental picture only, +kneeling beside the prostrate Englishman, her uplifted hands warding off +the descending tomahawk. + +By chance I began to read more about the settlement of the English at +Jamestown and Pocahontas' connection with it, and the more I read the +more interesting and real she grew to me. The old chronicles gave me the +facts, and guided by these, my imagination began to follow the Indian +maiden as she went about the forests or through the villages of the +Powhatans. + +We are growing up in this new country of ours. And just as when children +get older they begin to feel curious about the childhood of their own +parents, so we have gained a new curiosity about the early history of +our country. The earlier histories and stories dealing with the Indians +and the wars between them and the colonists made the red man a devil +incarnate, with no redeeming virtue but that of courage. Now, however, +there is a new spirit of understanding. We are finding out how often it +was the Indian who was wronged and the white man who wronged him. Many +records there are of treaties faithfully kept by the Indians and +faithlessly broken by the colonists. Virginia was the first permanent +English settlement on this continent, and if not the _most_ important, +at least equally as important to our future development as that of New +England. From how small a seed, sown on that island of Jamestown in +1607, has sprung the mighty State, that herself has scattered seeds of +other states and famous men and women to multiply and enrich America. +And amid what dangers did this seed take root! But for one girl's +aid--as far as man may judge--it would have been uprooted and destroyed. + +In truth, when I look over the whole world history, I can find no other +child of thirteen, boy or girl, who wielded such a far-reaching +influence over the future of a nation. But for the protection and aid +which Pocahontas coaxed from Powhatan for her English friends at +Jamestown, the Colony would have perished from starvation or by the +arrows of the hostile Indians. And the importance of this Colony to the +future United States was so great that we owe to Pocahontas somewhat the +same gratitude, though in a lesser degree, that France owes to her Joan +of Arc. + +Pocahontas's greatest service to the colonists lay not in the saving of +Captain Smith's life, but in her continued succour to the starving +settlement. Indeed, there are historians who have claimed that the story +of her rescue of Smith is an invention without foundation. But in +opposition to this view let me quote from "The American Nation: A +History." Lyon Gardiner Tyler, author of the volume "England in America" +says: + + "The credibility of this story has been attacked.... Smith was + often inaccurate and prejudiced in his statements, but that is far + from saying that he deliberately mistook plain objects of sense or + concocted a story having no foundation." + +and from "The New International Encyclopaedia": + + "Until Charles Deane attacked it (the story of Pocahontas's rescue + of Smith) in 1859, it was seldom questioned, but, owing largely to + his criticisms, it soon became generally discredited. In recent + years, however, there has been a tendency to retain it." + +It is in Smith's own writings, "General Historie of Virginia" and "A +True Relation," that we find the best and fullest accounts of these +first days at Jamestown. He tells us not only what happened, but how the +new country looked; what kinds of game abounded; how the Indians lived, +and what his impressions of their customs were. Smith was ignorant of +certain facts about the Indians with which we are now familiar. The +curious ceremony which took place in the hut in the forest, just before +Powhatan freed Smith and allowed him to return to Jamestown, was one he +could not comprehend. Modern historians believe that it was probably the +ceremony of adoption by which Smith was made one of the tribe. + +In many places in this story I have not only followed closely Smith's +own narrative of what occurred, but have made use of the very words in +which he recorded the conversations. For instance the incident related +on page 101 was set down by Smith himself; on pages 144, 154, 262 the +words are those of Smith as given in his history; on pages 173, 195, +260, 300 the words of Powhatan or Pocahontas as Smith relates them. + +There may be readers of this story who will want to know what became of +Pocahontas. She fell ill of a fever just as she was about to sail home +for Virginia and died in Gravesend, where she was buried. Her son Thomas +Rolfe was educated in England and went to Virginia when he was grown. +His daughter Jane married John Bolling, and among their descendants +have been many famous men and women, including Edith Bolling (Mrs. Galt) +who married President Woodrow Wilson. + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I THE RETURN Of THE WARRIORS + + II POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN + + III MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST + + IV RUNNING THE GAUNTLET + + V THE GREAT BIRDS + + VI JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION + + VII A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP + + VIII POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN + + IX SMITH'S GAOLER + + X THE LODGE IN THE WOOD + + XI POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN + + XII POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR + + XIII POWHATAN'S CORONATION + + XIV A DANGEROUS SUPPER + + XV A FAREWELL + + XVI CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER + + XVII POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND + + XVIII A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN + + XIX JOHN ROLFE + + XX THE WEDDING + + XXI ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF + + XXII POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + The white figure moved rapidly + + "We choose to-day," he cried + + "Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan" + + "I will lead the princess" + + Virginia in 1606--from Captain John Smith's Map + + "Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas, "thou must not go" + + "Do not shoot, Mark!" + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE RETURN OF THE WARRIORS + + +Through the white forest came Opechanchanough and his braves, treading +as silently as the flakes that fell about them. From their girdles hung +fresh scalp locks which their silent Monachan owners did not miss. + +But Opechanchanough, on his way to Werowocomoco to tell The Powhatan of +the victory he had won over his enemies, did not feel quite sure that he +had slain all the war party against which he and his Pamunkey braves had +gone forth. The unexpected snow, coming late in the winter, had been +blown into their eyes by the wind so that they could not tell whether +some of the Monachans had not succeeded in escaping their vengeance. +Perhaps, even yet, so near to the wigwams of his brother's town, the +enemy might have laid an ambush. Therefore, it behooved them to be on +their guard, to look behind each tree for crouching figures and to +harken with all their ears that not even a famished squirrel might crack +a nut unless they could point out the bough on which it perched. + +Opechanchanough led the long thin line that threaded its way through the +broad cutting between huge oaks, still bronze with last year's leaves. +He held his head high and to himself he framed the words of the song of +triumph he meant to sing to The Powhatan, as the chief of the Powhatans +was called. Then, suddenly before his face shot an arrow. + +At a shout from their leader, the long line swung itself to the right, +and fifty arrows flew to the northward, the direction from which danger +might be expected. Still there was silence, no outcry from an ambushed +enemy, no sign of other human creatures. + +Opechanchanough consulted with his braves whence had the arrow come; and +even while they talked, another arrow from the right whizzed before his +face. + +"A bad archer," he grunted, "who cannot hit me with two shots." Then +pointing to a huge oak that forked half way up, he commanded: + +"Bring him to me." + +Two braves rushed forward to the tree, on which all eyes were now fixed. +It was difficult to distinguish anything through the falling snow and +the mass of its flakes that had gathered in the crotch. All was white +there, yet there was something white which moved, and the two braves on +reaching the tree trunk yelled in delight and disdain. + +The white figure moved rapidly now. Swinging itself out on a branch and +catching hold of a higher one, it seemed determined to retreat from its +pursuers to the very summit of the tree. But the braves did not waste +time in climbing after it; they leapt up in the air like panthers, +caught the branch and swung it vigorously back and forth so that the +creature's feet slipped from under it and it fell into their +outstretched arms. + +Not waiting even to investigate the white bundle of fur, the warriors, +surrounded by their curious fellows, bore it to Opechanchanough, and +laid it on the ground before him. He knelt and lifted up the cap of +rabbit skin with flapping ears that hid the face, then cried out in +angry astonishment: + +"Pocahontas! What meaneth this trick?" + +And the white fur bundle, rising to her feet, laughed and laughed till +the oldest and staidest warrior could not help smiling. But +Opechanchanough did not smile; he was too angry. His dignity suffered at +thus being made the sport of a child. He shook his niece, saying: + +"What meaneth this, I ask? What meaneth this?" + +Pocahontas then ceased laughing and answered: + +"I wanted to see for myself how brave thou wert. Uncle, and to know just +how great warriors such as ye are act when an enemy is upon them. I am +not so bad an archer, Uncle; I would not shoot thee, so I aimed beyond +thee. But it was such fun to sit up there in the tree and watch all of +you halt so suddenly." + +Her explanation set most of the party laughing again. + +"In truth, is she well named," they cried--"Pocahontas, Little Wanton." + +"I have yet another name," she said to an old brave who stood nearest +her. "Knowest thou it not?--Matoaka, Little Snow Feather. Always when +the moons of popanow (winter) bring us snow it calls me out to play. +'Come, Snow Feather,' it cries, 'come out and run with me and toss me up +into the air.'" + +Her uncle had now recovered his calm and was about to start forward +again. Turning to the two who had captured Pocahontas, he commanded: + +"Since we have taken a prisoner we will bear her to Powhatan for +judgment and safekeeping. Had we shot back into the tree she might have +been killed. See that she doth not escape you." + +Then he stalked ahead through the forest, paying no further attention to +Pocahontas. + +The young braves looked sheepishly at each other and at their captive, +not at all relishing their duty. Opechanchanough was not to be +disobeyed, yet it was no easy thing to hold a young maid against her +will, and no force or even show of force might be used against a +daughter of the mighty werowance (chieftain). + +Seeing their uncertainty, Pocahontas started to run to the left and they +to pursue her. They came up with her before she had gone as far as three +bows' lengths and led her back gently to their place in the line. Then +she walked sedately along as if unconscious of their presence, until +they were off their guard, believing she had resigned herself to the +situation, when she sprang off to the right and was again captured and +led back. She knew that they dared not bind her, and she took advantage +of this to lead them in truth a dance, first to one side and then to the +other. Behind them their comrades jeered and laughed each time the +maiden ran away. + +The regular order of the warpath was now no longer preserved. They had +advanced to a point where there was no longer any possibility of danger +from hostile attack. Werowocomoco lay now but a short distance away; +already the smoke from its lodges could be seen across the cleared +fields that surrounded the village of Powhatan. The older warriors were +walking in groups, talking over their deeds of valor performed that day, +and praising those of several of the young braves who had fought for the +first time. Pocahontas and her captors had now fallen further behind. + +Though well satisfied with the results of her enterprise and amusement, +Pocahontas had no mind to be brought into her home as a captive, even +though it be half in jest. Her father might not consider it so amusing +and, moreover, she did not like to be outwitted. She was so busy +thinking that she forgot to continue her game and walked quietly ahead, +keeping up with the longer strides of the warriors by occasional little +runs forward. The braves, their own heads full of their first campaign, +kept fingering lovingly the scalps at their girdles, and paid little +attention to her. + +She stooped as if to fasten her moccasin, then, as their impetus carried +them a few feet ahead of her before they stopped for her to come up, she +darted like a flash to the left and had slid down into a little hollow +before they thought of starting after her. + +It was now almost dark and her white fur was indistinguishable against +the snow below. Before they had reached the bottom, Pocahontas, who knew +every inch of the ground that was less familiar to men from her uncle's +village, had slipped back into the forest which skirted the fields the +pursuers were now speeding across, and was lost at once in the darkness. + +Opechanchanough knew nothing of this escape. He meant to explain to his +royal brother how much mischief a child might do who was not kept at +home performing squaw duties in her wigwam. And Powhatan's favorite +daughter or not, Pocahontas should be kept waiting outside her father's +lodge until he had related his important business and had recounted all +the glorious deeds done by his Pamunkeys. + +Now they had come to Werowocomoco itself, and the noise of their +shoutings and of their war drums brought the inhabitants running out of +their wigwams. As the Pamunkeys were an allied tribe, their cause +against a common enemy was the same, yet the rejoicings at the victory +against the Monachans was somewhat less than it would have been had the +conquerors been Powhatans themselves. However, Opechanchanough and his +braves could not complain of their reception, and runners sped ahead to +advise Powhatan of their coming, while all the population of their +village crowded about them, the men questioning, the boys fingering the +scalps and each boasting how many he would have at his girdle when he +was grown. + +The great Werowance was not in his ceremonial lodge but in the one in +which he ordinarily slept and ate when at Werowocomoco. Opechanchanough +paused at the opening of the lodge and ordered: + +"When I call out then bring ye in Pocahontas, and we shall see what +Powhatan thinks of a squaw child that shoots at warriors." + +The lodge was almost dark when he entered it. Before the fire in the +centre he could see his brother Powhatan seated, and on each side of him +one of his wives. Then he made out the features of his nephew Nautauquas +and Pocahontas' younger sister, Cleopatra (for so it was the English +later understood the girl's strange Indian name). They had evidently +just been eating supper and the dogs behind them were gnawing the wild +turkey bones that had been thrown to them. At Powhatan's feet crouched a +child in a dark robe, with face in the shadow. + +Powhatan greeted his brother gravely and bade him be seated. The lodge +soon filled with braves packed closely together, and about the opening +crowded all who could, and these repeated to the men and squaws left +outside the words that were spoken within. + +Proudly Opechanchanough began to tell how he had tracked the Monachans +to a hill above the river, and how he and his war party had fallen upon +them, driving them down the steep banks, slaying and scalping, even +swimming into the icy water to seize those who sought to escape. And The +Powhatan nodded in approval, uttering now and again a word of praise. +When Opechanchanough had finished his recital the shaman, or +medicine-man, rose and sang a song of praise about the brave Pamunkeys, +brothers of the Powhatans. + +Then, one after another, Opechanchanough's braves told of their personal +exploits. + +"I," sang one, "I, the Forest Wolf, have devoured mine enemy. Many suns +shall set red between the forest trees, but none so red as the blood +that flowed when my sharp knife severed his scalp lock." + +And as each recited his deeds his words were received with clappings of +hands and grunts of approval. + +Powhatan gave orders to open the guest lodge and to prepare a feast for +the victors. Then Opechanchanough rose again to speak. After he had +finished another song of triumph, he turned to Powhatan and asked: + +"Brother, how long hath it been that thy warriors keep within their +lodges, leaving to young squaws the duty of sentinels who cannot +distinguish friends from foes?" + +Powhatan gazed at the speaker in astonishment. + +"What dost thou mean by such strange words?" asked the chief. + +"As we returned through the forest," explained Opechanchanough, "before +we reached the boundary of thy fields, while we still believed that a +part of the Monachans might lie in ambush for us there, an arrow, shot +from the westward, flew before my face. Then came a second arrow out of +the branches of an oak tree. We took the bowman prisoner, and what +thinkest thou we found?--a squaw child!" + +"A squaw child!" repeated Powhatan in astonishment. "Was it one of this +village?" + +"Even so. Brother. I have her captive outside that thou mayst pronounce +judgment upon one who endangers thus the life of thy brother and who +forgetteth she is not a boy. Bring in the prisoner," he commanded. + +But no one came forward. The young braves to whom Pocahontas had been +entrusted kept wisely on the outskirts of the crowd. + +Then the little sombre figure at Powhatan's feet rose and stood with +the firelight shining on her face and dark hair and asked in a gentle +voice: + +"Didst thou want me, mine uncle?" + +"Pocahontas," exclaimed Opechanchanough, "how camest thou here ahead of +us, and in that dark robe?" + +"Pocahontas can run even better than she can shoot. Uncle, and the +changing of a robe is the matter but of a moment." + +"What meaneth this, Matoaka?" asked Powhatan, making use of her special +intimate name, which signified Little Snow Feather. He spoke in a low +tone, but one so stern that Cleopatra shivered and rejoiced that she was +not the culprit. + +"It was but a joke, my father," answered Pocahontas. "I meant no harm." +She hung her head and waited until he should speak again. + +"I will have no such jokes in my land," he said angrily, "remember +that." + +With a gesture of his hand and a whispered word of command he sent the +Pamunkey braves to the guest lodge. Opechanchanough, still angry at the +ridicule that a child had brought upon him, lingered to ask; + +"Wilt thou not punish her?" + +"Surely I will," Powhatan answered. "Go ye all to the guest lodge and I +will follow. Away, Nautauquas, and carry my pipe thither." + +They were now alone in the lodge, the great chief over thirty tribes and +his daughter, who still stood with downcast head. The Powhatan gazed at +her curiously. She waited for him to speak, then as he kept silent, she +turned and looked straight into his face and asked: + +"Father, dost thou know how hard it is to be a girl? Nautauquas, my +brother, is a swift runner, yet I am fleeter than he. I can shoot as +straight as he, though not so far. I can go without food and drink as +long as he. I can dance without fatigue when he is panting. Yet +Nautauquas is to be a great brave and I--thou bidst remember to be a +squaw. Is it not hard, my father? Why then didst thou give me strong +arms and legs and a spirit that will not be still? Do not blame me. +Father, because I must laugh and run and play." + +As she spoke she slipped to her knees and embraced his feet and when she +had ceased speaking, she smiled up fearless into his face. + +Powhatan tried not to be moved by the child's pleading. Yet he was a +chief who always harkened to the excuses made by offenders brought +before him and judged them justly, if sometimes harshly. This child of +his was as dear to him as a running stream to summer heat. If at times +its spray dashed too high, could he be angry? + +And Pocahontas, seeing that his anger had gone from him, stood up and +laid her head against his arm. She did not have to be told that the +mighty Powhatan loved no wife nor child of his as he loved her. Then his +hand stroked her soft hair and cheek, and she knew that she was +forgiven. + +"Thine uncle is very angry," he said. + +"If thou couldst but have seen him. Father, when the arrow whizzed," and +she laughed gaily in memory of the picture. + +"I have promised to punish thee." + +"Yea, as thou wilt." But she did not speak as if afraid. + +"Hear what I charge thee," he said in mock solemnity. "Thou shalt +embroider for me with thine own hands--thou that carest not for squaw's +needles--a robe of raccoon skin in quills and bits of precious shells." + +Pocahontas laughed. + +"That is no punishment. 'Tis a strange thing, but when I do things I +like not for those I love, why, then I pleasure in doing them. I will +fashion for thee such a robe as thou hast never seen. Oh! I know how +beautiful it will be. I will make new patterns such as no squaw hath +ever dreamed of before. But thou wilt never be really angry with me. +Father, wilt thou?" she questioned pleadingly. "And if I should at any +time do what displeaseth thee, and thou wearest this robe I make thee, +then let it be a token between us and when I touch it thou wilt forgive +me and grant what I ask of thee?" + +And Powhatan promised and smiled on her before he set forth for the +guest lodge. + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER II + +POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN + + +Some months later on there came a hot day such as sometimes appears in +the early spring. The sun shone with almost as much power as if the corn +were high above the ground in which it had only just been planted with +song and the observance of ancient sacred rites and dances. Little +leaves glistened like fish scales, as they gently unfurled themselves on +the walnut and persimmon trees about Werowocomoco, and in the forest the +ground was covered with flowers. The children tied them together and +tossed them as balls to and fro or wound them into chaplets for their +hair; the old squaws searched among them for certain roots and leaves +for dyes to stain the grass cloth they spun, called pemmenaw. + +The boys played hunters, pretending their dogs were wild beasts, but the +bears and wolves did not always understand the parts assigned them and +frolicked and leaped up in delight upon their little masters instead of +turning upon them ferociously. The elder braves lay before their lodges, +many of them idling in the sunshine, others busied themselves making +arrows, fitting handles to stone knives or knotting crab nets. Two +slaves, brought home prisoners by a war party, were hollowing out a +dugout, which the Powhatans used instead of the birchbark canoes +preferred by other tribes. They had cut down an oak tree that, judging +from its rings, must have been an acorn when Powhatan was a papoose, +seventy years before. They had burned out a portion of the outer and +inner bark and were now hacking at the heart of the wood with sharp +obsidian axes. + +The squaws were also all busy out of doors, though they chatted in +groups as eagerly as if their energy were being expended by their +tongues only. Many were at work scraping deerskin to soften it before +they cut it into robes for themselves or into moccasins for the men. +Here and there little puffs of smoke that seemed to come from beneath +the earth testified to the dinners that were being cooked under heated +stones. + +Pocahontas was seated upon a small hill overlooking the village. As the +chief's daughter, it was only on special occasions and as an honored +guest, that she joined the knots of squaws or maidens chatting before +the wigwams. But she was not alone now in solitary grandeur. She was +accustomed to surround herself, when she desired company, with a number +of younger girls of the tribe who obeyed her, less because she was the +daughter of the feared werowance, than because she had a way with her +that made it pleasant to do as she willed and difficult to oppose her. +Cleopatra, her youngest sister, sat beside her, trying to coax a +squirrel on the branch above them to come down and eat some parched corn +from her hands. + +Over Pocahontas's knees was spread a robe of raccoon skin, smooth, +painted in a wide border. Along the edge of this she was embroidering a +deep pattern of white beads made from sea shells. A basket of reeds +beside her was full of other beads, large and small, white, red, yellow +and blue. + +"What doth thy pattern mean, Pocahontas?" asked the girl nearest her. +"As it is not one any of our mothers hath ever wrought before, thou must +have a meaning for it in thy mind." "Yes," assented the worker, "it +differeth from all other patterns because my father differeth from all +other werowances. It meaneth this that I sing: + + "Powhatan is a mighty chief, + As long as the river floweth, + As long as the sky upholdeth, + As long as the oak tree groweth, + So long shall his name be known. + +"See, this line is for the river, this one that goeth up straight is the +oak tree and this long line all wavy is the heavens. I make this for my +father because I am so proud of him." + +"But why, Pocahontas," asked another of her companions, "dost thou not +use more of these red beads? They are so like fire, like the blood of an +enemy; why dost thou refer the white?" + +Pocahontas held her bone needle still for a moment and her face wore a +puzzled expression. + +"I cannot answer thee exactly, Deer-Eye, since I do not know myself. I +love the white beads as I love best to wear a white robe myself, or a +white rabbit hood in winter. In the woods I always pick the white +flowers, and I love the white wild pigeon best of all the birds except +the white seagull. And the white soft clouds high in the heavens I love +better than the red and yellow ones when the sun goeth down to sleep in +the west. Yet I cannot say why it is so." + +As noon approached the day grew hotter, and the fingers wearied of the +work. Down in the village the men had ceased their activities and lay +stretched out on the shady side of the lodges; only the squaws preparing +dinner were still busy. + +"Let us go to the waterfall," cried Pocahontas, jumping up suddenly. +"Each of you go and beg some food from her mother and hurry back here. I +will put my work away and await ye here." + +The maidens flew down the hill while Pocahontas and Cleopatra carried +the robe and the basket to their lodge. Then, a few minutes later, they +were rejoined by their companions and all started off laughing as they +ran through the woods. + +The stream that flowed into the great river below was now still wide +with its spring fulness. A mile away from Werowocomoco it fell over high +rocks, then rushing down a gentle incline bubbled over smooth rocky +slabs, and made a deep pool below them. + +The maidens tossed off their skirts and stood for a moment hesitatingly +on the shore. Mocking-birds sang in the oaks above them, startled by +their shrill young voices, and on the bare branches of a sycamore tree +that had been killed by a lightning bolt a score of raccoons lay curled +up in the sunshine. + +Pocahontas was the first to spring into the stream, but her comrades +quickly followed her, laughing, pushing, crying out the first chill of +the water. Only Cleopatra remained standing on the shore. + +"Come," called Pocahontas to her; "why dost thou tarry, lazy one?" + +"I will not come. The water is too cold." + +Cleopatra was about to slip on her skirt again when her sister splashed +through the stream to her and half pushed, half pulled her into the pool +and then to the rocks partly submerged in the water. There was much +screaming and calling, slipping from the rocks into the pool and +clambering from the pool back on to the rocks. The water was now +pleasantly warm and the dinner awaiting them was forgotten in the +pleasure of the first bath of the season. + +Deer-Eye, in trying to pull herself back on the rock, caught hold of +Cleopatra's foot, who slipped on the mossy surface and fell backwards +into the water, hitting her head against a sharp edge. She lost +consciousness and sank down into the pool. + +Almost before she had disappeared beneath the water Pocahontas had +sprung after her, and groping about on the fine smooth sand of the +bottom, she caught hold of her sister and brought her to the surface. + +Then, with the aid of the terrified maidens, she lifted her up on the +bank, the blood flowing freely from a cut on her head. After vainly +trying to staunch the wound with damp moss, Pocahontas commanded: + +"Hasten as though the Iroquois were coming, and cut me some strong +branches." + +They obeyed her, hurriedly throwing their skirts about them, and then +with their stone knives severed branches and tied them together with +deer thongs which they tore from the fringe of their girdles. On top of +these they placed leafy branches and lifted the unconscious Cleopatra on +to this improvised stretcher. In spite of their remonstrances, +Pocahontas insisted upon taking one end of it, while the strongest two +of her playmates bore the other. + +Through the woods they walked, as silent now as they had been noisy +before, but Pocahontas thought her heart-beats sounded as loud as the +war drums of the Pamunkeys. + +They were still distant many minutes' walk to the village when they +caught sight of Pochins, a medicine man famous among many tribes for his +powerful manitou, his guardian spirit, which enabled him to communicate +with the manitous of the spirit world. + +"Pochins, oh Pochins," cried out Pocahontas, "come and help us. I fear +my sister is dying, and that I have killed her. She did not wish to go +into the water, Pochins, and I pulled her in and now she hath cut her +head and the blood floweth from it so that I can not stop it." + +The shaman made no answer, but bent down from his great height and +looked carefully at the wound, then he took the end of the stretcher +from Pocahontas, saying: + +"I will bear her to my prayer lodge here nearby." + +Even then through the trees they caught sight of the bark covering of +the lodge, which few persons had ever entered. The maidens shuddered at +the sight of it, for none of them knew what mysterious terrors might lie +in wait for them there. Nevertheless they followed Pochins as he bore +Cleopatra inside and laid her on the ground. From an earthen bowl he +took certain herbs and bound the leaves, after he had moistened them, +over the wound. Soon Pocahontas, crouching at her sister's side, could +see that the blood had ceased to flow. But no sign of life could be +detected in the little body lying there. The hands and feet were clammy +and though Pocahontas rubbed them vigorously, she could feel no warmth +stirring in them. + +The shaman paid, however, no further heed to her. From another bowl he +took out a rattle of gourd, and from a peg on one of the rounded +supports of the roof he lifted down a horrible mask painted in scarlet, +and this he fastened over his face. Then, waving the children out of the +way, he began to dance about the two sisters and to chant in a loud +voice, shaking the rattle till it seemed as if the din must waken a dead +person. + +"My medicine is a mighty medicine," he exclaimed in his natural voice to +Pocahontas. "Wait a little and thou shalt see what wonders it can do." + +And indeed in a few moments Pocahontas felt the pulse start in her +sister's arm, saw her eyelids quiver and her feet grow warm. And when +the shouting and the shaking of the rattle grew even louder and more +hideous, Cleopatra opened her eyes and looked about her in astonishment. + +"Mighty indeed is the medicine (the magic) of Pochins," cried the shaman +proudly as he laid aside mask and rattle; "it hath brought this maiden +back from the dead." + +Pocahontas now had to soothe the child, terrified by the sights she had +seen and the sounds she had heard. She patted her arms and spoke to her +as if she were a papoose on her back: + +"Fear not, little one, no evil shall come to thee. Pocahontas watcheth +over thee. She will not close her eyes while danger prowleth about. Fear +naught, little one." + +And Cleopatra clung to her, feeling a sense of security in her sister's +fearlessness. + +By this time the news of the accident had spread through the village and +several squaws, led by Cleopatra's mother, came running to Pochins's +lodge. Finding Cleopatra was able to rise, they carried her back with +them. The other maidens, now the excitement was over, remembered their +empty stomachs and hurried off to recover the dinner they had left +behind at the waterfall. + +Pocahontas did not go with them. She still sat on the ground beside the +medicine man while he busied himself painting the mask where the color +had worn off. + +"Shaman," she asked, "tell me where went the manitou of my sister while +she lay there dead?" + +"On a distant journey," he answered; "therefore I had to call so loudly +to make it hear me and return." + +"Who taught thee thy medicine?" she questioned again. + +"The Beaver, my manitou, daughter of Powhatan," he answered. + +"And who then will teach me; how shall I learn?" + +"Thou needest not such knowledge, since thou art neither a medicine man +nor a brave. I, Pochins, will call to Okee, the Great Spirit, for thee +when thou hast need of anything, food or raiment or a chief to take thee +to his lodge." + +"But I should like to do that myself, Pochins," she remonstrated. "Thou +dost not know how many things I long to do myself. Let me put on thy +mask and take thy rattle, just to see how they feel." + +"Nay, nay, touch them not," he cried, stretching out his hand. "The +Beaver would be angry with us and would work evil medicine on us." + +Pochins was not fond of children. His dignity was so great that he never +even noticed them as he strode through the village. But the eager look +in Pocahontas's eyes seemed to draw words out of him. He began to talk +to her of the many days and nights he had spent alone, fasting, in the +prayer lodge until some message came to him from Okee, some message +about the harvest or the success of a hunting party. Pocahontas was so +interested that she asked him many questions. + +"Tell me of Michabo, Michabo, the Great Hare," she coaxed, as she moved +over on a mat Pochins had spread for her. + +"Hearken, then, daughter of The Powhatan," he began, his voice changing +its natural tone to one of chanting, "to the story of Michabo as it is +told in the lodges of the Powhatans, the Delawares and of those tribes +who dwell far away beyond our forests, away where abideth the West Wind +and where the Sun strideth towards the darkness. + +"Michabo dived down into the water when there was no land and no beast +and no man or woman and he was lonely. From the bottom took he a grain +of fine white sand and bore it safely in his hand in his journey upward +through the dark waters. This he cast upon the waves and it sank not but +floated like a tiny leaf. Then it spread out, circling round and round, +wider and wider as the rings widen when thou casteth a stone into a +still lake, till it had grown so large that a swift young wolf, though +he ran till he dropped of old age, could not come to its ending. This +earth rose all covered with trees and hills and beasts and men and +women, and Michabo, the Great Hare, the Spirit of Light, the Great White +One, hunted through earth's forests and he fashioned strong nets for +fishing and he taught the stupid men, who knew naught, how to hunt also +and to catch fish that they might not die of hunger. + +"But Michabo had mightier deeds to do than the slaying of the fat deer +or the netting of the salmon. His father was the mighty West Wind, +Ningabiun, and he had slain his wife, the mother of Michabo. So when +Michabo's grandmother had told him of the misdeeds of his father, +Michabo rose up and called out to the four corners of the world: 'Now go +I forth to slay the West Wind to avenge the death of my mother.' + +"At last he found Ningabiun on the top of a high mountain, his cheeks +puffed out and his headdress waving back and forth. At first they talked +peacefully together and the West Wind told Michabo that only one thing +in all the world could bring harm to him, and that was the black rock. + +"'Wert thou the cause of my mother's death?' questioned Michabo, his +eyes flashing, and Ningabiun calmly answered 'Yes.' + +"So Michabo in his fury picked up a piece of black rock and struck at +Ningabiun with all his might. A terrible conflict was this, such as hath +never been seen since; the earth shook and the lightnings flashed down +the sides of the mountain. So great was Michabo's strength that the West +Wind was driven backwards. Over mountains and lakes Michabo drove him +and across wide rivers, till they two came to the very brink of the +world. Ningabiun feared that his son was going to push him off and cried +out: + +"Hold, my son, thou knowest not my power and that it is impossible to +kill me. Desist and I will portion out to thee as much power as I have +given to thy brothers. The four quarters of the globe are theirs, but +thou canst do more than they, if thou wilt help the people of the earth. +Go and do good, and thy fame will last forever.' + +"So Michabo ceased from the battle and went down to help our fathers in +the hunt and in the council and in the prayer-lodge; but to this day +great cliffs of black rock show where Michabo strove with his father, +the West Wind." + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER III + +MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST + + +Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was returning at night through the forest +towards his lodge at Werowocomoco. Over his shoulder hung the deer he +had gone forth to slay. His mother had said to him: + +"Thy leggings are old and worn, and thou knowest that good luck cometh +to the hunter wearing moccasins and leggings made from skins of his own +slaying. Go thou forth and kill a deer that I may soften its hide and +make a covering of it for thy feet." + +So Nautauquas had taken his bow and a quiver of arrows, and while +Pocahontas and Cleopatra were sporting at the waterfall he had sought a +pond whose surface was all but covered with fragrant water lilies, and +he had hidden behind a sumac, bush, waiting patiently till a buck came +down alone to drink. Only one arrow did he spend, which found its place +between the wide branched antlers; then the hunter had waded into the +pond, pushing aside the lily pads, and with one cut of his knife he had +put an end to the struggling deer. Now he was bearing it home and he +thought with eagerness of the savory meat it would yield him on the +morrow. There was no doubt that he would have appetite ready for it, as +all day long he had eaten nothing. It had been easy enough for him to +have killed a squirrel and roasted it, but Nautauquas, knowing it was +part of a brave's training to accustom himself to hunger, often fasted a +long time voluntarily. + +The night was a dark one, but now that the moon had risen, long vistas +of light shone down the forest avenues, generally at that time so free +from underbrush. Nautauquas, looking up through the branches at the +moon, thought how it was the squaw of the sun and remembered the queer +tales the old women were fond of relating about it. + +Suddenly before him he saw a creature dancing down the moon-path, +whirling and springing about while a pair of rabbits, that were startled +in crossing the path, scurried off into a clump of sassafras bushes +nearby. Then, as if reassured, they sat there calmly, even when the +dancing figure came closer to them. And Nautauquas heard singing, though +the words of the song did not come to his ears. He slipped behind an oak +tree and watched the dancer advance. Now that it was nearer he +discovered that it was a young girl; her only garment, a skirt of white +buckskin, napped against her firm bare brown legs and a necklace of +white shells clicked as she spun about. In the branches above some +squirrels, awakened from their slumber, straightened their furry tails +and began to chatter and a screech-owl tuwitted and tuwhoed. There was +something familiar in the outlines, and Nautauquas was therefore not +completely astonished when, turning about, she showed the face of +Pocahontas. + +"Matoaka," he cried, stepping from the shadow; "what dost thou here +alone at night?" + +His sister did not scream nor jump at this sudden interruption. She +seized her brother's hand and pressed it gently. + +"It was such a beautiful night, Nautauquas," she replied, "that I could +not lie sleeping in the lodge. I come often here." + +"And hast thou no fear, little sister?" he asked affectionately; "no +fear of wild animals or of our enemies?" + +"Wild animals will not hurt me. I patted a mother bear with cubs one +night, and she did not even growl." + +Nautauquas did not doubt her word. He knew that there were certain human +beings whom beasts will not hurt. + +"And enemies," she continued, "would not venture so near the village of +the mighty Powhatan." + +"I heard thee singing, little White Feather; what was thy song?" + +"I made it many moons ago," she answered, "and I sing it always when I +dance here at night. Listen then, thou shalt hear the song Matoaka, +daughter of Powhatan, made to sing in the woods by Werowocomoco." + +And she danced slowly, imitating with head and hands, body and feet, the +words of her song. + + I am the sister of the Morning Wind, + And he and I awake the lazy Sun. + We ruffle up the down of sleeping birds, + And blow our laughter in the rabbits' ears, + And bend the saplings till they kiss my feet, + And the long grass till it obeisance makes. + + I am the sister of the wan Moonbeam + Who calls to me when I have fallen asleep: + Come, see how I have witched the world in white.-- + So faint his voice no other ear can hear. + And I steal forth from out my father's lodge, + And of the world there only waketh I + And bears and wildcats and the sly raccoon + And deer from out whose eyes there look the souls + Of maidens who have died ere they knew love. + And then the world we shorten with our feet + That wake no echoes, but the horned owl + Sigheth to think that thus our wingless speed + All but outdoes that of the tree-dwellers. + +When she had finished she threw herself down at his feet, asking: + +"Dost thou like my song, my brother?" + +"Yes, it is a new song, Matoaka, and some day thou must sing it for our +father. But it seemeth to me that thou art different from other maids. +They do not care to rise from their sleeping mats and go forth alone +into the forest." + +"Perhaps they have not an arrow inside of them as have I." + +Nautauquas had seated himself in the crotch of a dogwood-tree and looked +with interest at his sister below him. + +"An arrow?" he queried; "what dost thou mean?" + +"I think," she answered, speaking slowly, "that within me is an +arrow--not of wood and stone, but one of manitou--how shall I explain it +to thee? I must go forth to distances, to deeds. I am shot forward by +some bow and I may not hang idle in a quiver. I know," she continued, +fingering the quiver on his back, "how thine own arrow feels after thou +hast fashioned it carefully of strong wood and bound its head upon it +with thongs. It says to itself; 'I am happy here, hanging in my warm bed +on Nautauquas's back.' And then when thou takest it in thy hand and +fittest its notch to the bowstring, it crieth out: 'Now I shall speed +forth; now shall I cut the wind; now shall I journey where no arrow ever +journeyed before; now shall I achieve what I was fashioned for!'" + +"Strange thoughts are these, little sister, for a maid to think," and +Nautauquas stroked the long braid against his knee. + +"I am so happy, Nautauquas," she went on. "I love the warm lodge, the +fire embers in the centre, the smoke curling up towards the stars I can +see through the opening above me. I love to feel little Cleopatra's feet +touching my head as we lie there together. But then I feel the arrow +within me and I rise to my feet silently and creep out, and if the dogs +hear me I whisper to them and they lie down quietly again. I love +Werowocomoco, yet I long too to go beyond the village to where the sky +touches the earth. I love the tales of the beasts the old squaws tell, +but I want to hear the braves when they speak of war and ambushes. +Springtime and the sowing of the corn are full of delight, yet I look +forward eagerly to the earing of the corn and the fall of the leaf." + +The maiden spoke passionately. So had she never spoken to anyone. She +ceased for a moment and there was no sound save the call of the owl. +Then she turned around and knelt, her elbows on her brother's knees, and +asked: + +"Tell me, Nautauquas, tell me the truth, since thou canst speak naught +else; what manitou is in me that I am like to rushing water, to a stream +that hurries forward? What shall I become?" + +"Something great, Matoaka," he answered; "I know not whether a +warrior--such there have been--a princess who shall hold many tribes in +her hand, or a prophetess; but I am certain that the arrow of thy +manitou shall bring down some fair game." + +"Ah!" she breathed deeply. "I thank thee for thy words, Nautauquas, my +brother, and that thou hast not made sport of me." + +"Why should anyone make sport of thee? It is not strange that the aspen +should quiver when the wind blows, nor that thou shouldst be swayed by +the spirit that is within thee, Matoaka. Some day--" + +He was interrupted by a piercing scream from the depth of the forest. He +sprang to his feet; all the dreaminess of his attitude and mood had +vanished; he pulled an arrow from his quiver fitted it to the string in +readiness to shoot. Was it possible, he wondered, for any war party of +their enemies to have ventured so near Powhatan's stronghold without +having been halted at other villages belonging to his people? Pocahontas +too was on her feet, her head on one side, listening intently. + +Again came the scream, then Nautauquas loosened his bow, saying: + +"That is no human cry. It is a wildcat in agony. Let us go and see what +aileth it." + +They ran swiftly towards the point from which the sound had come. Again +came the cry to guide them, and then there was silence as they ran +through the moonlight checkered by the shadows of the trees. + +Nautauquas stood still suddenly, so suddenly that Pocahontas behind him +could not stop quickly enough and fell against him and almost down into +a ravine that lay beneath, but Nautauquas caught her on the very brink. + +"It is down there," he pointed; "there must be a trap, I think. Let us +descend very carefully." + +They clambered down through the darkness made by the overhanging bushes +and rocks. At the bottom the light was not obscured, and they beheld the +striped body of a large wildcat caught in a trap. + +"Look," cried Pocahontas excitedly, "there is another beast just there +in those bushes. Our coming must have frightened it. He has been trying +to kill the one in the trap, that cannot defend himself." + +"That is so," assented Nautauquas, making ready to shoot the beast that +was at liberty in case it should spring towards them. But the animal +evidently had no taste that night for an encounter with human beings, +and slouched off and up the side of the ravine. The imprisoned animal, +they could see, was bleeding from a large wound on its back, and in the +moonlight its eyes shone like fire. + +"Poor beast!" exclaimed Nautauquas compassionately. "I would free him if +he would let me touch him. As it is he will have to starve to death +unless his enemy comes back to finish him." + +"No," said Pocahontas, "that need not be. I will loose him and bind up +his wound if thou wilt cut a strip off thy leggings." + +"Silly child," he laughed. "A wild beast needs no balsam nor cloths for +his wounds. If he were free to drag himself to safety he would lick his +hurt till it healed. But he would bite thy hand off shouldst thou +attempt to touch him." + +"Nay, Nautauquas, he would not harm me. See how quiet he will grow." + +She knelt down just beyond the reach of the wildcat and began to whisper +to it. Nautauquas could not make out what she said, but to his amazement +he beheld how the beast ceased to lash its tail and how its muscles +seemed to relax. Nevertheless the young brave caught Pocahontas by the +arm and tried to pull her away. + +"There is no danger, my brother," she remonstrated. "Fear not. Hast thou +not seen old Father Noughmass when the bees swarm over his neck and +hands? They never sting him. He cannot tell thee why, nor do I know why +wild beasts will not harm me." + +So Nautauquas, knife in hand and breathing deeply, looked on while +Pocahontas, speaking words in a low voice, moved nearer and nearer the +wildcat. Taking her knife from her girdle, she began to cut through the +thongs that held him. One paw was now loose and yet the beast did not +move to touch his rescuer. Then when the other thongs were loose and it +was free, it moved off slowly and painfully into the woods as if no +human beings were there. + +Nautauquas breathed a sigh of relief. + +"It is wonderful, Matoaka, yet I pray thee test thy strange power not +too far. I am glad though the poor beast got away. I like not to see +them suffer. I shoot and kill for food and for skins, but I kill at +once." + +They now climbed up the ravine again and started off in the direction of +Werowocomoco. + +The night was already far advanced and Pocahontas was growing drowsier +and drowsier. Nautauquas, seeing that she was almost asleep, took hold +of her arm and made her lean on him. As they approached the spot where +he had first come across her dancing, they noticed a human figure +crouched on the ground. Even in the moonlight, grown dimmer as dawn +approached, he could see that it was an old squaw. Pocahontas recognized +old Wansutis, a gatherer of herbs and roots. + +"What dost thou here, Wansutis?" she questioned. + +"He! the little princess," cried the old woman, scowling up at them, +"and the young brave Nautauquas. I seek roots and leaves by the light of +the Sun's squaw. So is it meet for me and so will the drinks be stronger +when brewed by old Wansutis. I have found many rare plants this night; +it hath been a lucky one, perchance because the young princess was also +abroad in the forest." + +All the children of the tribe were afraid of the old woman. They told +each other tales of how she could turn those she disliked into dogs, +bats or turtles. And now even Nautauquas remembered how he had run from +her when he was a little fellow. Her expression was so ugly and so +malign that Pocahontas, though she did not fear her exactly, had no +desire to stay longer, and so started forward. + +"And what doth Pocahontas in the woods at night?" asked Wansutis. +"Knoweth The Powhatan that she hath left his lodge?" + +Pocahontas, though she often willingly allowed those about her to forget +her rank, could yet be very conscious of it when she desired. Now it did +not please her to be questioned in this manner by the old squaw and she +did not answer. + +"Oh hey," cried Wansutis, "thou wilt not answer me. Thou art proud of +thy rank and thy youth. Yet one day thou wilt be an old squaw like me, +without teeth, with weak legs, and life a burden to thee. Then thou wilt +not be so proud." + +Pocahontas stopped and turned around again. + +"Nay, I will not grow old. I will not let the day come when life shall +be a burden. Thou canst not read the future, Wansutis. I shall always be +as fleet as now." + +"Thinketh thou to ward off old age by some of my potions made from these +roots I carry here, a bundle too heavy for an ancient crone like me to +bear on her back? Thou shalt have none of them." + +At these words Pocahontas's manner changed. Stooping, she picked up the +bundle and pressed it into the net that lay on the ground and swung it +on to her strong shoulders. + +"Come, Wansutis," she cried. "Seek not to anger me with words and I will +bear thy bundle to thy wigwam. It is in truth too heavy for thy old +bones." + +The old woman grunted ungraciously as she rose to her feet, then the +three, one following the other, moved forward. They were obliged to go +slowly, as Wansutis could only hobble along, and Nautauquas was sorry to +see that dawn was approaching. He feared now that Pocahontas would not +be able to steal unobserved back to her place beside Cleopatra and that +she would be scolded. They went with Wansutis to her wigwam and +Pocahontas let fall her bundle. Nautauquas took out his knife and cut +off a hind quarter of the deer and laid it on the squaw's hearth. + +"She hath no son to hunt for her," he said in explanation as he and +Pocahontas went off unthanked. + +Wansutis's wigwam was on the edge of the village. As they came nearer to +the lodges they heard yelling and shouting from every side, and they saw +small boys and young braves rush forth, glancing eagerly about them. + +"Let us hasten," cried Pocahontas. "I wonder what hath befallen, +Nautauquas." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER IV + +RUNNING THE GAUNTLET + + +"What hath happened?" Nautauquas called out to Parahunt, his brother, +when he caught up with him hastening to the river. + +"Word hath come by a runner that one of the tribes from the Chickahominy +villages hath fallen upon a party of Massawomekes and hath vanquished +them. Even now they are approaching with the prisoners." + +In passing the front of his wigwam Nautauquas threw down the carcass of +the deer, then ran on to join the ever increasing crowd of braves and +children on the river bank. + +Pocahontas too had mingled in the throng, and so Cleopatra and the +squaws in the lodge had not noticed her absence, thinking when they saw +her that she had been roused from sleep in the early dawn as they had +been. + +It was now almost light. Far down the river six large dugouts were +approaching. But even that sight was not sufficient to make the +onlookers forget the fact that the sun was rising and must be greeted +with the customary ceremony. Two chiefs, whose duty it was, took from +their pouches handfuls of dried uppowoc (tobacco), and each turning away +from the other, walked in a large half-circle, scattering the uppowoc +upon the ground, until when they met a brown ring had been formed. +Within this braves and squaws hurried to seat themselves. With uplifted +eyes and outstretched hands they greeted the Sun who had come back to +them to warm their fields and to draw their young corn upright. + +By the time this morning ceremony was over the dugouts were almost at +the beach. There was now a great shouting and yelling from shore to +boats and from boats to shore, and Pocahontas slipped into a thicket of +bushes on to a higher point of the bank where she could be alone to +watch the landing. She clapped her hands as their friends, the stalwart +Chickahominies, leaped ashore, twenty to each huge dugout; and though +her dignity would not permit her to call out derisively, as did the +crowd, to the three prisoners each boat contained, she looked eagerly to +see what kind of monsters these enemies of her tribe might be. + +The eighteen Massawomekes were not bound; they stepped from the dugouts +as firmly as if they were going to a feast instead of to torture. They +were of the Iroquois nation; and Pocahontas, who had heard many stories +of this race, always at enmity with her own, noticed certain differences +in the way they were tattooed and in the shape of their headdresses. + +Victors and prisoners, followed by the crowd, marched forward to the +ceremonial lodge where The Powhatan was awaiting them. Pocahontas +slipped into the already crowded space, though one of Powhatan's squaws +tried to stay her. She made her way without further opposition between +Chickahominies and Massawomekes, up to the dais where her father sat, +and crouched down on a mat spread on raised hurdles at his feet, where +she could observe all that went on. + +One of the Chickahominy chiefs, whose face she remembered to have seen +at the great autumn festivals, was the first to speak: + +"Powhatan, ruler of two hundred villages and lord of thirty tribes, who +rulest from the salt water to the western forests, we come to tell thee +how we have pursued thine enemies, the Massawomekes, who two months ago +did slay in ambush a party of our young men out hunting deer. By the +Great Swamp (the Dismal Swamp of Virginia) we came upon them, and though +they sought like bears to hide themselves in its secret places, lo! I, +Water Snake, did track them and I and my braves fell upon them, and now +they are no more." + +Murmurs of assent and of approval were heard throughout the lodge. The +prisoners alone were apparently as unconscious of Water Snake's recital +as if they were still hidden in the fastnesses of the Great Swamp. + +"There where we fought," continued the orator, waving his hand towards +the southwest, "the white blossoms of the creeping plants turned +crimson, and the hungry buzzards circled overhead. Many a Massawomeke +squaw sits to-night in a lonely wigwam; many a man child among them hath +lost the father to teach him how to bend a bow. We slew them all, Great +Werowance, all but these captives we have brought before thee." + +This time louder shouts of approval rewarded Water Snake's speech, +which did not cease until it was seen that Powhatan meant to acknowledge +it. He did not rise nor change his position in any way, and his voice +was low and measured. + +"A tree hath many branches, but one trunk only. Deep into the earth +stretch its roots to suck up nourishment for every twig and leaf. I, +Wahunsunakuk, Chief of the Powhatans and many tribes, am the trunk, and +one of my many branches is that of the Chickahominies and one that is +very close to my heart. My children have done well and the Powhatan +thanks them for their brave deeds. Now can your young braves go forth +upon the hunt unharmed and bring back meat for feastings and hides for +their squaws to fashion." + +He paused and all the eyes of his people in the lodge were bent on him +with the same question. + +"My children ask of me 'What shall we do with these captives?' and I +make answer, feast them first, that they may not say that the Powhatans +are greedy and give not to strangers. Then when they have feasted let +them run the gauntlet." + +He waved his hand in token that he had finished speaking, and the glad +news was shouted from the lodge to the eager crowd without. Pocahontas +knew as well as if she could see them that the squaws were hurrying +about to prepare the food, and from her low seat she could see between +the legs of the braves before her how a number of boys were lying on +their stomachs, trying to wriggle into the lodge that they might hear +for themselves the interesting things going on and observe for +themselves whether the captives showed any sign of fear. + +Now Powhatan gave an order and all seated themselves on the ground or on +mats in lines facing him. Then in came the squaws bearing large wooden +and grass-woven dishes of food. There were hot cakes of maize and wild +turkeys and fat raccoons. The captives were served first and none of +them refused. They would not let their enemies believe that fear of +their coming fate could spoil their appetites. So, after throwing the +first piece of meat into the fire as an offering to Okee, they ate +eagerly. + +One of them who sat nearest the front, Pocahontas noticed, was but +little older than herself. He was too young to be a brave; perhaps, she +thought, he had run off from home and had followed the war party, as she +had heard of boys in her own tribe doing. She wondered if now he was +regretting that his eagerness for adventure had made his first warpath +his last one. + +When they had feasted the squaws passed around bunches of turkey +feathers for them to wipe their greasy fingers on, and in every way the +captives were treated with that exaggerated courtesy that was customary +towards those about to be tortured. + +Then Powhatan rose, and, preceded and followed by several of his fifty +armed guards chosen from the tallest men of his thirty tribes, he strode +down the centre of the lodge and out into the sunshine. Pocahontas +walked next behind him, and once outside, ran to tell the curious +Cleopatra all she had witnessed. + +"Why shouldst thou have seen it all?" asked her jealous sister of +Pocahontas, "while I had naught of it all but the shouting?" + +"Because," laughed Pocahontas, pulling her sister's long hair, "because +my two feet took me in. Thine are too fearful, little mouse." + +An open space stretched before the ceremonial lodge, used for games and +feats of running and shooting at a mark. Now Powhatan and his guard and +his sons seated themselves upon the firm red ground that rose in a +little hillock to a height of several feet at one side of the lodge. +Then other chieftains took up their places behind them, standing or +sitting; the squaws crowded in among them and the boys sought the +branches of a single walnut-tree, the only tree within the limits of +Werowocomoco. They looked with longing eyes at the slanting roof of the +great lodge. That was undoubtedly the point of vantage, but The Powhatan +was a much dreaded werowance and they dared not risk his ire. + +Pocahontas, who had been wondering where to bestow herself, noticed the +envying glances they cast in its direction. She was not withheld by +their restraining fear, so running to the opposite side of the lodge, +she climbed its sides, finding foothold in its bark covering, and soon +was curled up comfortably, her hands about her knees, where she would +miss nothing of the spectacle. + +Now she beheld two long rows of young braves, one of them composed of +Powhatans, the other of Chickahominies, stride down the open space below +her and form a lane of naked, painted human walls. In their hands they +held bunches of fresh green reeds, sharp as knives, or heavy bludgeons +of oak, or stone tomahawks. For a moment they stood there motionless as +if they were merely spectators of some drama to be enacted by others. + +Pocahontas recognized most of them: Black Arrow, whose ear had been +clawed off by a bear; Leaping Sturgeon, who had hung two scalps at his +girdle before the chiefs had pronounced him old enough to be a brave; +her own cousin, White Owl, the most wonderfully tattooed of them all; +and the Nansamond young chieftain who wore a live snake as an earring in +the slit of his ear. + +Then Powhatan gave the signal and the captives were led forward. They +knew what awaited them; probably each of them, except the young boy, had +himself meted out the same fate to others that was now to befall them. +They did not repine; it was the fortune of war. Singing songs of +triumph, of derision of all their enemies, they started to run down the +awful lane of death. Blows rained upon them, on neck, on head, on arms, +even on their legs from stooping adversaries. So swift came the blows +from both sides that sometimes two fell upon the same spot almost at +once. + +Pocahontas marked with interest that the boy was last of the line, and +that he bore himself as bravely as the others. + +When they reached the end of the row there was no escape--no escape +anywhere more for them. Back they darted, so swiftly that it seemed as +if each escaped the blow aimed at himself, only to receive the one meant +for his comrade ahead. + +Pocahontas had a queer feeling as she looked down on them and saw the +blood spurting from a hundred wounds. She thought perhaps it was the hot +sun that made her feel a little sick. Her eyes followed the boy and as +he came nearer she noticed that he was almost at the end of his +strength. A few more blows would finish him. Already some of his elders +had fallen to the ground, and if, when beaten unmercifully, they were +still unable to rise, the tomahawk dashed out their brains. + +To her astonishment, Pocahontas found herself wishing the boy might not +fall, might escape in some miraculous manner. What a wrong thought! she +said to herself: was he not an enemy of her tribe? Yet she could not +help closing her eyes when she saw Black Arrow aiming a terrible blow at +his head. She did not know what to make of herself. She suddenly began +to think of the hurt wild-cat she and Nautauquas had pitied during the +night. But no one ought ever to pity an enemy. What was she made of? + +As she opened her eyes again she heard a woman's outcry and beheld a +squaw rushing towards the end of the line where Black Arrow's blow had +felled the boy. It was old Wansutis. + +"I claim the boy," she panted; "I claim him by our ancient right. Cease, +braves, and let me have him." + +The astounded braves let their arms drop at their sides, and the +panting, bleeding captives who had not already fallen, breathed for a +moment long breaths. + +"I claim the boy," the old woman cried again in a loud voice, turning +towards Powhatan, "to adopt as a son. Many popanows (winters) and seed +times have passed since my sons were slain. Now is Wansutis old and +feeble and hath need of a young son to hunt for her. By our ancient +custom this captive is mine." + +There was an outcry of opposition from the younger braves at being +robbed of one of their victims, but the older chiefs on the hill debated +for a few moments, and then gave their decision: there was no doubt of +the old woman's right to claim the boy. So Powhatan sent two of his +guards to fetch him and to carry him to Wansutis's lodge. + +Pocahontas suddenly felt at ease again. Yes, she couldn't help it, she +said to herself, but she was glad the boy had not been beaten to pieces. +As soon as he was carried off the running of the gauntlet began again. +But Pocahontas had now had enough of it. It would continue, she knew, +until all of the captives were dead. She slid down from the back of the +lodge and led by curiosity, set off for Wansutis's wigwam. It was at the +edge of the village, and before the slow procession of the two guards, +the old woman and the boy had arrived, Pocahontas had hidden herself +behind a mossy rock, from which hiding place she had a view right into +the opening of the wigwam. + +She watched the guards lay the unconscious boy gently down and Wansutis +as she knelt and blew upon the embers under the smoke hole till they +blazed up. Then she saw the old woman take a pot of water and heat it +and throw herbs into it. With this infusion she bathed the wounds, +anointing them afterwards with oil made from acorns. And while she +worked she prayed, invoking Okee to heal her son, to make him strong +that he might care for her old age. + +Pocahontas was so eager to know whether the boy were alive that she +crept closer to the wigwam, and when at last he opened his eyes they +looked beyond the hearth and the crouching Wansutis, straight into those +of Pocahontas. She saw that he had regained his senses, so she put her +fingers to her lips. She did not want Wansutis to know that she had been +watched. Already the touch of the wrinkled fingers was as tender as +that of a mother, and Pocahontas felt sure that she would resent any +intrusion. Now that she had seen all there was to see, she stole away. + +After wandering through the woods to gather honeysuckle to make a +wreath, she returned to the village. There was no longer a crowd in the +open space; the captives were all dead and the spectators had gone to +their various lodges. Only a number of boys were playing run the +gauntlet, some with willow twigs beating those chosen by lot to run +between them. A girl, imitating old Wansutis, rushed forward and claimed +one of the runners for a son. + +A few days later when the young Massawomeke lad had recovered there were +ceremonies to celebrate his adoption as a member of the Powhatan tribe, +of the great nation of the Algonquins. The other boys of his age looked +up to him with envy. Had he not proved his valor on the warpath and +under torture while they were only gaming with plumpits? They followed +him about, eager to do his bidding, each trying to outdo his comrades in +sports when his eye was on them. And all the elders had good words to +say about Claw-of-the-Eagle, and Wansutis was so proud that she now +often forgot to speak evil medicine. + +Pocahontas wondered how Claw-of-the-Eagle liked his new life, and one +day when she was running through the forest she came upon him. He had +knelt to look through a thicket at a flock of turkeys he meant to shoot +into, but his bow lay idle beside his feet, and she saw that his eyes +seemed to be looking at something in the distance. + +"What dost thou behold, son of Wansutis?" she asked. + +He started but did not reply. + +"Speak, Claw-of-the-Eagle," she said impatiently. "Powhatan's daughter +is not wont to wait for a reply." + +He saw that it was the same face he had beheld peering into the lodge at +the moment he regained consciousness. + +"I see the sinking sun. Princess of many tribes, the sun that journeys +towards the mountains to the village whence I came." + +"But thou art of us now," she rejoined. + +"Yes, I am son of old Wansutis and I am loyal to my new mother and to my +new people. And yet. Princess, I send each day a message by the sun to +the lodge where they mourn Claw-of-the-Eagle. Perhaps it will reach +them." + +"Tell me of the mountains and of the ways of thy father's people. I long +to learn of strange folk and different customs." + +"Nay, Princess, I will not speak of them. Thou hast never bidden +farewell to thy kindred forever. I would forget, not remember." + +And Pocahontas, although it was almost the first time that any one had +refused to obey her, was not angry. She was too occupied as she walked +homeward wondering how it would seem if she were never to see +Werowocomoco and her own people again. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GREAT BIRDS + + +Opechanchanough, brother of Wahunsunakuk, The Powhatan, had sent to +Werowocomoco a boat full of the finest deep sea oysters and crabs. The +great werowance had returned his thanks to his brother and the bearers +of his gifts were just leaving when Pocahontas rushed in to her father's +lodge half breathless with eagerness. + +"Father," she cried, "I pray thee grant me this pleasure. It hath grown +warm, and I and my maidens long for the cool air that abideth by the +salty water. Therefore, I beseech thee, let us go to mine uncle for a +few days' visit." + +Powhatan did not answer at once. He did not like to have his favorite +child leave him. But she, seeing that he was undecided, began to plead, +to whisper in his ears words of affection and to stroke his hair till he +gave his consent. Then Pocahontas ran off to get her long mantle and her +finest string of beads and to summon the maidens who were to accompany +her. They embarked in the dugout with her uncle's people and were rowed +swiftly down the river. + +At Kecoughtan they were received with much ceremony, for Pocahontas knew +what was due her and how, when it was necessary, to put aside her +childish manner for one more dignified. Opechanchanough greeted her +kindly. + +"Hast thou forgiven me, my uncle?" she asked as they sat down to a feast +of the delicious little fish she always begged for when she visited him, +and to steaks of bear meat; "hast thou forgiven the arrow I shot at thee +last popanow?" + +"I will remember naught unpleasant against thee, little kinswoman," he +replied as he drank his cup of walnut milk. + +"Indeed I am ashamed of my foolishness," continued his niece. "I was but +a child then." + +"And now?--it is but a few moons ago." + +"But see how I grow, as the maize after a rain storm. Soon they will say +I am ready for suitors." + +"And whom wilt thou choose, Pocahontas?" + +"I do not know. I have no thoughts for that yet." + +"What then are thy thoughts of?" + +"Of everything, of flowers and beasts, dancing and playing, of wars and +ceremonies, of the new son of old Wansutis, of Nautauquas's new bow, of +necklaces and earrings, of old stories and new songs--and of to-morrow's +bathing." + +"Fear not that thou hast yet left thy childhood behind thee," said her +uncle. + +Then when the fire died down and the storyteller's voice had grown +drowsy, Pocahontas fell asleep, her arm resting on a baby bear that had +been taken away from its dead mother and that would cuddle close to the +person who lay nearest the fire. + +Opechanchanough had not the same deep affection for children as that +which Powhatan showed to his sons and daughters. He was as brave a +fighter but not as great a leader in peace as Wahunsunakuk. It irked +him that he had to give way to his brother and that he must obey his +commands; yet he knew that only by unity between the different tribes of +the seacoast could they be safe from their common enemies, the Iroquois. +His vanity was very great and he had felt hurt at the ridicule which +Pocahontas had caused to fall upon him. Had she come on her visit sooner +he had surely not received her so kindly. But now there were other +strange happenings and more important matters to consider, and he was +too wise a chief to worry long over a child's pranks. Besides, he had +learned, from his own observance and from the tongues of others, how his +brother cherished her more than any of his squaws or children. So policy +as well as his native hospitality dictated a kindly reception. + +In the morning after they had eaten, Opechanchanough offered to send +Pocahontas and her maidens in a canoe down to where a cape jutted out +into the ocean that they might see the breakers at their highest, but +Pocahontas declined. + +"Nay, Uncle," she said, "but my maidens have never seen the sea. They be +stay-at-homes and I would not affright them too sorely by the sight of +mountains of water. Have no care for us save to bid some one supply us +with food to take along. I know the way down to a smooth beach where we +can disport ourselves." + +So Opechanchanough, relieved to have them off his hands, let her have +her will. + +The town was within a mile of open water, and the maidens started off +with a large supply of dried flesh slung in osier baskets on their +backs. Some of the young braves looked after them as they went and +disputed as to which of them they would like to choose as squaw when +they were older. + +Pocahontas led the way through wild rose bushes and sumac, with here and +there an occasional tall pine tree, its lowest branches high above their +heads. They were all of them in the gayest humor: it was a day made for +pleasure, and they had not a care in the world. They sang as they walked +and joked each other, Pocahontas herself not escaping. + +"Did the bear, thy bedfellow, scratch thee?" asked one, "and didst thou +outdo him, for this morning he was not to be found near the lodge." + +"Perhaps," suggested another, "it was not a real bear cub but some evil +manitou." + +The maidens shuddered deliciously at this possibility. + +"Nonsense," called back Pocahontas, "he was real enough; here is the +mark of one claw on my foot. Besides, I do not believe the evil manitou +can have such power on such a beautiful day as this. Okee must have bid +them fly away." + +Now suddenly the path turned and before them shone the silver mirror of +the sea. + +"Behold!" cried Pocahontas, and then Red Wing, her nearest companion, +fell flat upon the ground, burying her face in the sand. The others +stood and stared at the new watery world in front of them, hushed in an +awed silence. Gradually their curiosity got the better of their fear and +they began to question: + +"How many leagues does it stretch, Pocahontas?"--"Can war canoes find +their way on it?"--"Come the good oysters from its depths?" asked +Deer-Eye, whose appetite was always made fun of. + +Pocahontas answered as well as she was able, but to her who had seen +several times before the great water, it was almost as much of a mystery +as to her comrades. But to-day she greeted it as an old friend. She +could scarcely wait to throw herself into the little rippling waves at +her feet. + +"Come on," she cried, "let us hasten. How wonderful to our heated bodies +will its freshness be." And as she ran towards it she threw off her +skirt, her moccasins and her necklace and dashed into the sea. + +Though her companions were used to swimming from the day their mothers +had thrown them as babies into the river to harden them, they had never +been where there were not protecting banks on each side of them, and +they were afraid to follow Pocahontas into this unknown. But gradually +her evident safety and delight were too much for their caution, and they +were soon at home in the gentle waves. + +For nearly an hour they played their water games, chasing and ducking +each other, racing and swimming underneath the surface. Then they grew +hungry and bethought themselves of their food waiting to be cooked. But +when they were on the shore again and about to start a fire to heat +their meat, Pocahontas bade them wait. + +"Here," she said, "is fresher food. See what the tide has left for us." + +To their great astonishment the maidens, who did not know the sea +retreated, saw how while they were bathing the water had bared the sand, +leaving it full of little pools. Standing in one of them, Pocahontas +stooped down and ran her hand through the mud, bringing up a +soft-shelled crab. + +"See," she cried, "there are hundreds of them for our dinner, but be +careful to hold them just so, that they may not nip you." + +And her maidens, laughing and shrieking, soon had a larger supply of +crabs than they could eat. They found bits of wood on the beach and +dried sea weed which they set on fire by twirling a pointed stick in a +wooden groove they had brought along with their food. After they had +eaten, they stretched out lazily on the sand and talked until they began +to doze off, one by one. + +Pocahontas had strolled a little further down the beach, picking up the +fine thin shells of transparent gold and silver which she liked to make +into necklaces. She had found a number of them and as they were more +than she could hold in her hands, she sat down to string them on a piece +of eel grass until she could transfer them to a thread of sinew. When +she had finished she lay back against a ridge of sand and watched the +gulls as they flew above her, dipping down into the waves every now and +then to bring up a fish. Far away a school of porpoises was circling the +waves, their black fins sinking out of sight and reappearing as +regularly as if they moved to some marine music. Pocahontas wondered +whence they came and whither they and the gulls were bound. How +delightful it was to move so rapidly and so easily through water or air. +But she did not think of envying them. Was she not as fleet as they in +her element? She pressed her hand against the warm sand how she loved +the feel of it; she stretched her naked foot to where the little waves +could wet it. How she loved the lapping of the water! Within her was a +welling up of feeling, a love for all things living. + +It was a very quiet world just now; the sun was only a little over the +zenith. Only the cries of the sea gulls and the soft swish of the waves +broke the silence. It would be pleasant to sleep here as her comrades +were sleeping, but if she slept then she would miss the consciousness of +her enjoyment. + +Yet, though she intended to keep awake, when she looked seaward, she +felt sure that she must have fallen asleep and was dreaming the +strangest of dreams. For nowhere save in dreamland had anyone ever +beheld such a sight as seemed to stand out against the horizon. Three +great birds, that some shaman had doubtless created with powerful +medicine, so large that they almost touched the heavens, were skimming +the waves, their white wings blown forward. One, much larger than the +others, moved more swiftly than they. + +Yet never, in a dream or in life, were such birds, and little +Pocahontas, who had sprung to her feet, stood gaping in terrified +wonder. + +"Then must I be bewitched!" she cried aloud; "some evil medicine hath +befallen me." + +She called out, and there was a tone in her voice that roused the +sleeping maidens as a war drum roused their fathers. + +"What see ye?" she asked anxiously. + +"Oh! Pocahontas, we know not," they answered in terror, huddling about +her; "answer _thou_ us. What are those strange things that speed over +the waves? Whence come they--from the rim of the world?" + +Pocahontas, the fearless, was frightened. She gave one more glance +seaward, and then turning, took to her heels in terror. Her maidens, who +had never seen her thus, added her fright to they own, and none stopped +until they had reached the lodge at Kecoughtan. + +The squaws rushed out when they caught sight of the frightened children +and tried to soothe them, but they could get no explanation of what had +startled them. Finally Opechanchanough strode out, and when Pocahontas +had tried to tell him what she had seen his face grew stern. + +"It is as I feared," he said to another chief. "And so the word which +came from the upper cape was true. It is a marvel that bodeth no good." + +He began to give orders hurriedly; the dugout was brought up to the +landing, and he waved Pocahontas and her maidens in with scant ceremony. + +"I will send a runner to Werowocomoco with news to my brother," he +called out to her as the boat was swung out into the river; "he will +reach the village by land more quickly than by river. Farewell, +Matoaka." + +And Pocahontas, though she longed to have questioned him in regard to +what he had heard and feared, yet rejoiced that she was on her way to +her people, to her home where such strange sights as she had just beheld +never came. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER VI + +JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION + + +The _Discovery_, the _Godspeed_ and the _Susan Constant_, after nearly +five months of tossing about upon the seas, were now swinging at anchor +in the broad mouth of the River James, which the loyal English +adventurers had named after their king. The white sails that had so +terrified the Indian maidens now flapped against the masts, having fully +earned their idleness. On board the discussion still continued as to the +best situation for the town they designed to be the first permanent +English settlement in America--in Wingandacoa, as the land was called +before the name Virginia was given to it in honour of Queen Elizabeth, +"The Virgin Queen." + +The expedition had set out from England in December of the year before +(1606). Among those who filled the three ships were men already veteran +explorers and others who had never been a day's voyage away from their +island home. + +Among the former were Bartholomew Gosnold, who had first sailed for the +strange new world some five years before. He had landed far to the north +of the river where the ships now rested--on a colder, sterner shore. +There he had discovered and named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. +Christopher Newport too had sailed before in Western waters, but +further to the southward. He was an enemy of the Spaniard wherever he +found him, and had left a name of terror through the Spanish Main, for +had he not sacked four of their towns in the Indies and sunk twenty +Spanish galleons? And there was John Smith, who had fought so many +battles in his twenty-seven years that many a graybeard soldier could +not cap his tales of sieges, sword-play, imprisonment and marvelous +escapes. And many other men were there whom hope of gain or love of +adventure had brought across the Atlantic. They had listened to the +strange story of the lost colony on Roanoke Island, English men and +women killed doubtless by the Indians, though no sure word of their fate +was ever to be known, but fear of a like destiny had not deterred them +from coming. + +There were many points to be considered: The settlement must be near the +coast, so that the ships from home would be able to reach it with as +little delay as possible, yet away from the coast in case of raids by +the Spaniards. + +Again, the location must be healthful, and quite easily defended, for +the attack by the natives upon the colonists when they first landed at +the cape they called Henry after the young Prince of Wales, had given +them a taste of what they might have to expect. It was the rumor of this +fight which had reached Opechanchanough at Kecoughtan. + +At the prow of the _Discovery_ stood a man who paid no attention to the +disputes going on behind him. He was not tall, but was powerfully built, +and even the sight of his back would have been sufficient to prove him a +man accustomed to a life of action. It was not so easy, however, to +guess at his age. His long beard and mustache hid his mouth, and there +were deep lines from his nose downward that might have been marked by +years. Yet his brow was high and wide and unfurrowed, and his hair was +abundant and his eyebrows dark and high. An intelligent, eager +countenance it was, of a man who had seen more of the world in his short +twenty-eight years than any white-haired octogenarian of his native +Lincolnshire. He held a spy glass and, standing by the rail, moved it +slowly until he had pointed it in every direction. He had swept the +river and both shores as far as his eye could reach and now it rested on +an island some little distance above, near the right-hand bank of the +newly named river. + +A sailor, pushing through the crowd about the cabin door, approached the +man at the prow. + +"Captain Smith," he said, "Captain Newport bids me say that the Council +is about to be sworn in in the cabin and that he desires thy presence +there." + +John Smith turned and walked slowly aft, wondering what would be decided +in the next hour. Was he, who felt within himself an unusual power to +organize and to command men, to be given this wonderful chance, such as +never yet had come to an Englishman, to plant firmly in a new land the +seed of a great colony? From his early youth his days had been devoted +to adventure. He was of that race of Englishmen who first discovered how +small were the confines of their little island and who sallied gaily +forth to seek new worlds for their ambition and energy. Raleigh, Drake, +Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir Humphry Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville and +John Smith were the scouts sent out by England's genius to discover the +pathways along which she was to send her sons. Bold, fearless, +untiring, cruel often, at other times kind and firm, they went into new +seas and lands, seeking a Northwest Passage, or to "singe the beard of +the King of Spain," or to find the legendary treasures of the New +Indies--yet all of them were serving unconsciously the genius of their +race in laying the foundations of new worlds. Perhaps of them all Smith +saw most clearly the value of the settlement in Virginia, and just as +clearly was he aware that the jealousies and avarice of many of his +fellow colonists would threaten seriously its growth and indeed its very +existence. + +Though not one among the curious eyes turned on him, as he walked slowly +towards the stem, beheld any trace of emotion on his grave face, he was +consumed with the hope that he might be chosen to lead the great work. +Yet he feared, knowing that all the long voyage, almost from the time +they had sailed from England, his enemies, jealous of his fame and of +his power over men, had sought to undermine it and to slander his good +name. What lies they had spread through the three ships of a mutiny he +was said to be instigating, until orders were passed which made him +virtually a prisoner for the rest of the journey. But he would soon find +out if they intended to disregard and pass him by. + +[Illustration: "WE CHOOSE TODAY," HE CRIED] + +When he entered the little cabin he saw seated along the transom and in +the wide-armed chairs Captain Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, +Edward Wingfield, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George Kendall. They +greeted Smith as he entered, as did the other gentlemen leaning against +the bulkheads, but with no cordiality, and he knew well that they had +been talking of him before he entered. He took his seat in silence. + +These men composed the Council which had been designated in the secret +instructions given them when they sailed and opened after they had +passed between Capes Charles and Henry. And this Council now it was +which, according to its right, was to elect their president for the year +to come. Smith now felt certain that owing to their hostility to him +they had already determined among themselves what their votes should be +while he was without the cabin. The form, however, was gone through with +and the result solemnly announced: Wingfield was to be the first +president of the Colony, and Smith found himself not even mentioned for +the smallest office. The others for the most part smiled with pleasure +as they looked to see his disappointment, but he showed none. Instead he +rose to his feet and said: + +"Captain Newport and gentlemen of the Council, will ye let me suggest +for the name of this new colony that of our gracious sovereign, King +James." + +Here at last they must follow his lead, and all sprang to their feet and +shouted "Jamestown let it be!" + +Then began again the discussion of the spot to be chosen for their +settlement. There were those who desired a site nearer the bay; one +advocated exploring the other rivers in the vicinity, the Apamatuc, the +Nansamond, the Chickahominy, the Pamunkey, as the Indians called them, +before deciding; but Newport, eager to return to England, would not +consent. + +"We choose to-day," he cried, bringing his fist down on the table with a +bang. + +The island that Smith had been examining with his glass was considered. +It was large and level and not too far from the sea, said one in its +favor. The majority were for it and the others were at last brought +round to their point of view. Smith had not put forward any suggestions. +He knew whatever he advocated would have been voted down. When asked +what he thought of the island his answer, "It hath much to commend it," +left his hearers still in doubt as to his real choice. + +"Now that we have christened the babe before it is born," said Captain +Newport, rising, "let us ashore and get to work to mark out the site of +our Jamestown." + +All left the ship with the exception of a few sailors who remained on +guard. After more discussion the Council picked out the spots for the +government house, for the church, for the storehouse, while the artisans +busied themselves with no loss of time in cutting down trees and +clearing spaces for the temporary tents. The matter of a fort had not +been broached, yet Smith, whose military knowledge showed him how +vulnerable the island was, made no suggestion for its fortification. + +He had strolled alone through the tangle of undergrowth, of flowering +vines in which frightened mocking-birds and catbirds were darting, to +the side of the island nearest the bank of the mainland. + +"Here," he said, speaking aloud as he had learned to do when he was a +captive among the Tartars that he might not forget the sound of his own +tongue, "here, on this side should be a bastioned wall with some strong +culverins. A lookout tower at this corner and, extending around north +and south, a strong palisade--that with vigilant sentries would ensure +against attack except by water. If I--" + +Then he stopped, his brow knitting. His disappointment had been a keen +one, his pride was smitten to the quick. Never had he left England, +never thrown in his lot with the new colony, had he known how he was to +be made to suffer from jealousy, intrigue and neglect. As he stood +gazing across into the deeper tangle on the opposite shore his thoughts +were occupied with decisions for his future. + +"Why should I remain here," he cried aloud, "to be disregarded, when +there is many an English ship that would be fain to have me stand on her +poop, many a company of yeomen that would be main glad to have me +command them? I am not of those men who are wont always to follow +orders. I am made to _give_ them. The world's wide and this island need +not be my prison. I will sail back on the _Discovery_ and e'en be on the +lookout for some new adventures." + +A rustling in the bushes behind him made him turn quickly. There stood +Dickon and Hugh and Hob, three of the men who had come from his own part +of the country, with whom during the long voyage he had often been glad +to chat of their homes and the folk they all knew. + +"Captain," spake Dickon, "we have followed to have a word wi' thee in +secret. 'Tis said they have not given thee a place in the Council. Is't +true?" + +"Aye," answered Smith calmly. + +"'Tis a dirty trick," cried Hugh, and his comrades echoed him. "A dirty +trick, but what wilt thou do now?" + +"What would ye have me do, men?" asked Smith curiously. + +Dickon was again spokesman, the others nodding approval of his words. + +"We be thy friends, Captain, and thy wellwishers. We came to this +strange land to make our fortunes because of thy coming. We felt safe +with one who had already travelled far and knew all about the outlandish +ways of queer folks, blackamoors and these red men here. Now if so be +thou art not to have a voice in the managing we be cheated and know not +what may befall us. There be many of the others who think as we do, not +only laborers such as we, but many of the gentlemen who have little +faith in them as have been set in the high places. Now I say to thee, +let us three go amongst them we knows as are friendly to thee and we +will speak in secret with them and we will draw together to-morrow at +one end of this island, and there we will all stay until they agree to +make thee President. And if fightin' comes o' it why all the better. +What sayst thou, Captain?" + +Smith did not answer at once. The friendliness of these men touched him +deeply just at the moment when he was smarting under the treatment +accorded him. He knew they spoke truth; there were a number of the +colonists who had shown themselves friendly to him and who would be +willing to stand by him. Moreover, he felt within himself the power to +use them, to make them follow his bidding as Wingfield could never +succeed in doing. It was less for personal gratification he was tempted +to consent than for the knowledge that his leadership would benefit the +colony as would that of none of his fellow adventurers. He was not a +vain man, but one conscious of unusual powers. + +"If we were strong enough to gain and hold part of the stores and one of +the vessels, would ye let me lead ye away to some other island of our +own, men?" he asked, and immediately saw in his imagination the +possibilities of such a step. + +"Aye, aye. Captain," cried all three, "and we'd be strong enough too, +never fear," added Hugh. + +The temptation to John Smith was a strong one, and he walked up and down +weighing the matter. What consideration after all did he owe to those +who had not considered him? He had no fear of failure; he had come +safely through too many dangers not to be confident. It was only the +first step that he doubted. The men, he could see, were growing +impatient, yet he did not speak. Suddenly an arrow whizzed close to his +ear and fell at his feet. + +"The savages!" cried Dickon. + +Smith peered towards the woods beyond the water and imagined he could +see half hidden behind a birch tree a naked figure. + +"Let us go back and warn the Council," he said, turning towards the way +he had come. "I scarcely think that they will attack us, particularly if +we stay together." + +He stood still a moment lost in thought. Then he said: + +"That's the word, Dickon, _if we stay together_! Nay, frown not, Hugh. +Put out of thy mind all that we have spoken of this last half-hour, as I +shall put it out of mine. We must stand together, men, here in this new +world. Ye three stand by me because we're all neighbors and +Lincolnshire-born; but here in this wilderness we're all neighbors, +English-born, just like a bigger shire. It's no time now when savages +are about us all, to be thinking of our own little troubles. We must +e'en forget them and stick together for the good of us all. Will ye +promise, men?" + +"Since 'tis so thou hast decided, Captain," answered Dickon. + +"I'm for or against, as thou wilt," said Hugh, "but I'd been glad hadst +thou chosen to fight instead o' to kiss." + +And Hob, who had not spoken a word of his own invention up to now, spake +solemnly: + +"I'll not blab. Captain, how near thou wast to the fightin'." + +When they got back to the site of the future Jamestown Smith, who had +made up his mind to do what seemed to him right no matter what reception +his advice received, told President Wingfield of the hidden bowman and +warned him of the danger to those who might straggle away from their +companions. But the members of the Council, whether they would be +beholden to Smith not even for advice, or whether the friendly attitude +of the Indians at first which was now just beginning to change, +influenced them, refused to believe that the savages intended to molest +them and refused to admit the necessity of putting up a palisade or +taking other precautions against them. + +Each day the work of clearing the ground and of setting up the tents +proceeded apparently more rapidly than the day before, as the results +were more visible. Every one was so wearied with the cramped life aboard +ship for so many weeks that he was glad to stretch himself on the earth +or on improvised beds. Smith, to give an example to some of the +gentlemen who stood with folded arms looking on while the mechanics +worked, swung axe and wielded hammer lustily. Yet he was very unhappy at +the manner in which he was still treated and he eagerly seized an +opportunity to leave the island. + +With Captain Newport and twenty others, he set out in one of the ships' +boats to explore the upper part of the river. They were absent a number +of days, after having ascended the James as far as the great falls near +the Powhata, a Powhatan village near the site of the present city of +Richmond. Then they returned to Jamestown. + +On their arrival they were greeted with the grave news that during their +absence the Indians had killed a boy and wounded seventeen of the +colonists. A shot fired from one of the ships had luckily so terrified +the savages that they made off for the woods. Now the Council was forced +to recognize the need of some protection and ordered every one to stop +work on everything else until a strong palisade and a rough fort had +been built. + +It was now June. Suddenly, to the astonishment of all, the Indians +approached and made signs that they desired to enter into amicable +relations with the white men. They jumped out from their boats and +fingered the clothes of the colonists, their guns and their food, +showing great curiosity at everything. The next day, perhaps because the +Council had seen the folly of their suspicions or had realized the value +of Smith's military experience and knowledge, the state of his +semi-imprisonment, which had lasted since the early part of the voyage, +was put an end to. Now that all seemed peaceful, from without and +within, as a sign of gratitude and of their brotherly feelings towards +each other, all the colonists partook of the Communion together, +kneeling in the temporary shed covered with a piece of sail-cloth which +served as a church. + +Then on the seventh of June they stood on the river bank, looking +gravely, with many doubts and fears in their hearts, at the _Discovery_ +as she sailed for England, bearing Captain Newport away, and leaving +them alone in Virginia. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER VII + +A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP + + +Not a day passed without new rumors at Werowocomoco of the white +strangers and their curious habits. + +Pamunkeys from the tops of swaying trees on either bank watched eagerly +the doings of the colonists, and runners bore the word of every movement +to both Opechanchanough at Kecoughtan and to The Powhatan at his +village. Curiosity and consternation were equally balanced in the minds +of the red men. What meant this coming from the rising sun of beings +whose ways no man could fathom? Were they gods enjoying a charmed life, +against whom neither bow nor shaman's medicine might avail? About the +council fires in every village this was debated. The old chiefs, wise in +the traditions of their people, spake of prophecies which foretold the +coming of heroes with faces pale as water at dawn who should teach to +the tribes good medicine and bring plentiful harvests and rich hunting. +Others recalled the vague rumors which had come from far, far away in +the Southland, from tribes whose very names were unknown, of other +palefaces (the Spanish colonists in the West Indies), who had brought +fire and fighting into peaceful, happy islands of the summer seas, who +like terrible, powerful demons, spread about them death and strange +diseases. + +Then came to the councils the comforting word of the death of a white +boy slain by a Pamunkey arrow. So they were mortal after all, said the +chiefs, and they smoked their pipes more placidly as they sat around the +fire. Against gods man could not know what action was right; but since +these were but men who could hunger and thirst and be wounded, it +behooved them to plan what measures should be adopted against them. + +Many of the chiefs urged immediate steps. + +"It is easy," said one, "to pull up a young oak sapling, whereas who may +uproot a full-grown tree?" + +Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was among the most eager for action. He had +won for himself the name of a great brave and a mighty hunter though +still so young. Many a scalp hung to the ridgepole of his lodge and many +a bear and wildcat had he slain at great risk to his life. Now here was +a new way to distinguish himself--to go forth against dangers he could +not even foresee. What magic these pale-faced strangers used to protect +themselves was unknown; therefore if he and his band should overcome +them and wipe away all traces of their short stay, it would be a tale +for winter firesides and a song for singers of brave deeds as long as +his nation endured. + +"Let me go, my father," he pleaded. "Thou, who thyself hast conquered +thirty tribes, grudge not this fame to thy son." + +"Wait!" was Powhatan's only answer. + +The shamans and priests had advised the werowance thus. Not yet had they +fathomed Okee's intentions in regard to these newcomers, though they had +climbed to the top of the red sandy hills at Uttamussack where stood the +three great holy lodges filled with images, and they had fasted and +prayed that Okee would reveal to them what he desired. Powhatan, in +spite of his years, felt the urge of action, and his heart leaped up +when his favorite son gave voice to his own wishes. He longed to take +the warpath, to glide through the forest, to spy upon the strangers who +had dared make a place for themselves in his dominion, and then to fall +upon them, terrifying them with his awful war-cry as he had terrified so +many of his enemies. Yet he dared not do this yet: he was not only a +great war chief, but a leader of his people in peace. Okee had not yet +spoken. Perchance the men with strange faces and strange tongues would +of their own accord acknowledge his sovereignty, and there might be no +need of sacrificing against them the lives of his young men. + +All this he was thinking when he bade Nautauquas wait; but there was no +one who read his mind, yet no one who dared to disobey him. + +When Nautauquas came out from his father's lodge he took his bow and +quiver and went into the forest to hunt. In his disappointment he had a +hatred of more words and a longing for deeds. He ran swiftly and had +reached a spot where he felt sure that he would find a flock of wild +turkeys, when he saw Pocahontas ahead of him. She too was hurrying, bent +evidently on some errand that absorbed her, for she did not stop to peer +up at the birds or to pull the flowers as she was wont to do. + +"Matoaka," he called, "whither goest thou?" + +"To see the strangers and their great white birds again which I beheld +from Kecoughtan, Brother. I cannot rest for my eagerness to know what +they are like nearby." + +"Hast thou not heard our father's word that no one shall go near the +island where the strangers be?" he asked. + +"My father meaneth not me," she answered proudly. "As thou knowest, he +permitteth me much that is forbidden to others." + +"But not this, little Sister. Only just this moment did he forbid me to +go thither. His mind is set thereon; tempt not his anger. Even though he +loves thee well, if thou disobeyest his command in this matter he will +deal harshly with thee. Turn back with me, Matoaka, and thou shalt help +me shoot." + +Pocahontas was reluctant to give up her long-planned expedition, but she +let herself be persuaded. She remembered that Powhatan that very day had +ordered one of his squaws beaten until she lay at death's door. +Moreover, it was a great joy to hunt with Nautauquas and to see which of +them would bring down the most turkeys. They were needed by the squaws +who had been complaining that the braves were growing lazy and did not +keep them supplied with meat. + +While Powhatan's two children were adding to the well-filled larder of +Werowocomoco, there was real dearth of food at Jamestown. The stores, +many of them musty and almost inedible after the long voyage, were +growing daily scarcer. There was fish in the river, but the colonists +grew weary of keeping what they called "a Lenten diet," and in their +dreams munched juicy sirloins of fat English beef. At first their nearby +Indian neighbors had been glad to trade maize and venison for wonderful +objects, dazzling and strange; but now, whether owing to word sent by +Powhatan or for other reasons, they came no more with provisions to +barter. John Smith, seeing that supplies were the first necessity of +the colony, had gone forth on several expeditions up the different +rivers in search of them. By bargaining, by cajolery, by force, he had +managed each time to renew the storehouse. Yet again it was almost empty +and starvation threatened. + +Something must be done at once, and the Council sat in debate upon the +serious matter. Captain John Smith waited until the others had had their +say, and nothing practical had been suggested, then he rose and began: + +"Gentlemen of the Council, there is but one thing to do. Since our +larder will not fill itself, needs must someone go forth again to seek +for food. Give me two men and one of the ship's boats and I will set off +to the northward, up that river the Indians call the Chickahominy and, +God helping me, I will bring back provisions for us all and make some +permanent treaty with the savages to supply us till our crops be grown." + +President Wingfield agreed to Smith's demand. The barge was got ready +with a supply of beads and other glittering articles from Cheapside +booths, and Smith set off with the good wishes of the wan-faced +colonists. + +After they had reached what seemed to Smith a likely spot for trading, +he took two men, Robinson and Emery, and two friendly natives in a canoe +and set off to explore the river further, bidding the others to wait for +him where he left them and on no account to venture nearer shore. + +He was glad to be away from the noise of complaining men at Jamestown, +many of whom were ill and fretful from lack of proper nourishment and +some, who because they were gentlemen, would not labor yet repined that +they could not live as gentlefolk at home. On this expedition he was +with friends, even though he knew not what enemies might be lurking on +the shore; and he realized that the natives were growing less friendly +as time went on and they began to lose their first awe of the white men. +But he had no fear for himself; he had faced too many dangers in his +adventurous life to conjure up those to come. + +As they paddled up the Chickahominy the men began to talk of old days in +England before they had dreamed of trying their fortunes in a new world, +but Smith bade them be silent so that he could listen for the slightest +sound to indicate the vicinity of a human habitation. + +"Make friends as soon as thou canst with the copper men, Captain," +whispered Robinson, "for I be main hungry and can scarce wait till thou +hast bartered this rubbish 'gainst good victuals." + +"Pull thy belt in a bit tighter, men," suggested the Captain grimly; "if +I understand all they tell me, the Indians can beat the most devout +Christians in fasting. 'Tis one virtue we may learn from them." + +They kept in the middle of the stream to be safe from any arrows that +might be shot at them from shore; but after many hours of this caution. +Smith determined to explore a little on land. To his practiced eye a +certain little inlet seemed so suitable a landing for canoes that he +felt sure an Indian village could not be far off. + +"Push out into the stream again," he commanded as he stepped ashore, +"and wait for me there." + +John Smith strode into the forest, ready for friendship or war, since +he knew not the temper of the natives of that region. Suddenly, as he +came out upon an open space where a morass stretched from a hill to the +river, two hundred shrieking savages rushed upon him, shooting their +arrows wildly at all angles. + +"War then!" cried Smith aloud, and as one young brave in advance of the +others stopped to take aim, he leaped forward and caught him. Ripping +off his own belt. Smith bound the astonished Indian to his left arm so +that he could use him as a living buckler. Thus protected, he fired his +pistol and the ball, entering the breast of an older chief, killed him +instantly. For a moment the strange fate which had overtaken their +leader checked the onslaught, while his companions stooped down, one +behind the other, to examine the wound made by the demon weapon. This +respite gave Smith time to whip out his sword, and whirling it about +him, he kept his enemies at a distance. He might have succeeded in +defending himself thus for some time longer, for the savages had ceased +to shoot, not certain whether their arrows would not be ineffectual upon +an invulnerable body, but all at once he became aware of a new danger. +The marshy ground on which he stood had softened with his weight and +that of his living shield and he now felt himself sinking deeper and +deeper into the morass until he was submerged up to his waist. Still the +Indians, doubtless fearing he had some other strange weapons or evil +medicines in his power, did not rush forward to attack him. + +The day was bitterly cold, and the stagnant water struck a chill to his +very bones. His teeth began to chatter with cold, not fright. It was +almost with a sense of relief that he saw the Indians start towards +him. Carefully treading in their light moccasined feet, they gradually +surrounded him and two, taking hold of him, while others loosened the +bound brave, they drew him up from the slushy earth by the arms. + +He was now a captive, and not for the first time in his life. There was +nothing to be gained, he knew, by struggling, and he faced them with no +sign of fear. They led him to a fire which was blazing not far off on +firmer ground where sat a chief, who, he learned, was the werowance +Opechanchanough. + +At a word of command from him, the guards moved aside and the huge +warrior walked slowly around Smith, examining him from head to foot. + +There was a pause which, the Englishman knew, might be broken by an +order to torture and kill him. He did not understand their hesitancy, +but he meant at any rate to take advantage of it. He must engage the +attention of the giant chief before him. Slowly he pulled from his +pocket his heavy silver watch and held it up to his own ear. + +Never had Opechanchanough and his men experienced such an awe of the +unknown. For all they could tell, this small ball in the white man's +hand might contain a medicine more deadly than that of his pistol. They +stood like children in a thunderstorm, not knowing when or where the +bolt might strike. + +But nothing terrible came to pass. Then Opechanchanough's curiosity was +aroused and he put out his hand for the watch. Smith, smiling, held it +towards him in his palm and then laid it against the chief's ear, saying +in the Pamunkey tongue: "Listen." Opechanchanough jumped with +astonishment and cried out: + +"A spirit! A spirit! He hath a spirit imprisoned!" + +Then one by one the captors crowded forward to look at the +"turtle-of-metal-that-hath-a-spirit," and many were the exclamations of +astonishment. + +In order to increase this feeling of awe and to lengthen the delay, +though he did not know what he could even hope to happen. Smith felt in +his pocket again and brought out his travelling compass. It was of ivory +and the quivering needle was pronounced by Opechanchanough to be another +spirit. + +But suddenly, without warning, two of the younger warriors, who had +evidently determined once for all to discover if this stranger were +vulnerable or not, seized Smith and dragging him swiftly to a tree, +threw a cord of deer thong about him, drawing it fast. Then they notched +their arrows and took aim at his heart. "In one second it will be over," +thought Smith, "life, adventures, my ambitions and my troubles." + +Then Opechanchanough called out to the braves, holding up the compass. +Frowning with disappointment, the young men loosed their captive and +Smith realized that it was again the chief's curiosity which had saved +his life. By means of such Indian words as he knew and by the further +aid of signs he endeavored to explain its usage. + +"See," he said, pointing, "yon is the north whence comes popanow, the +winter; and there behind us lies cohattayough, the summer. I turn thus +and lo, the spirit in the needle loves the north and will not be kept +from it." + +When all had looked at the compass, Opechanchanough took it again in his +hand, holding it gingerly as he would have held a papoose if a squaw had +given one to his care. This was something precious and he meant to keep +it, yet he did not know what it might do to him. At any rate, it would +be a good thing to take with him the man who did understand it. + +"Come," he said, "since thou canst understand our words, come and eat in +the lodge of the Pamunkeys." + +And Smith, ignorant of when death might fall upon him, followed. That +day they feasted him, and the half-starved Englishman ate heartily for +the first time since he set foot in the new world. At least he had +gained strength now to bear bravely whatever might await him. The next +day he was bidden accompany them, and they marched swiftly and steadily +for many hours through the forest to Orapeeko. It may be that +Opechanchanough's messengers had informed him mistakenly that Powhatan +was at that village which, after Werowocomoco, he most frequented; but +on their arrival there they found the lodges empty except the great +treasure-house full of wampum, skins and pocone, the precious red paint +used for painting the body. This was guarded by priests, and while +Opechanchanough talked with them. Smith marvelled at the images of a +dragon, a bear, a leopard and a giant in human form that ornamented the +four corners of the treasure-house. + +Evidently the priests were giving the werowance some advice. Smith +wondered whether the savages offered human sacrifices to their Okee and +if such were to be his fate. But the night was passed quietly there; the +next day was spent in marching, and the following night in another +village. Everywhere he was the object of the greatest interest: braves, +squaws and children crowded about him, fingered his clothes, pulled at +his beard and asked him questions. The Englishman observed them with the +same interest. He noticed how the men wore but one garment leggings and +moccasins made in one piece, and how they were painted in bright colors, +many wearing symbols or rude representations of some animal which he +learned was their "medicine." He watched the women as they embroidered +and cooked, tanned hides and dyed skins, scolded and petted their +children. Their lodges were lightly built, he saw, yet strong and +well-suited for their occupants. Many of the young men and maidens made +him think of deer in the swiftness of their movements and in the +suppleness of their bodies. + +After many days of travelling, in which Smith believed that they often +retraced their steps, they found themselves one afternoon at the +outskirts of a larger village than any they had yet entered. Dogs barked +and children shouted as they neared the palisade, and men and women came +running from every side. + +"Certainly," thought Smith, "we are expected. Never in an English +village have I seen a Savoyard with a trained bear make more excitement +than doth here Captain John Smith." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER VIII + +POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN + +"Princess, Pocahontas!" cried Claw-of-the-Eagle, as he pointed excitedly +to the outskirts of the village, "look, yonder come thy uncle and his +men bringing the white prisoner with them." + +Pocahontas, who a few moments before had jumped down from the grapevine +swing, where she had been idling, to peep into Claw-of-the-Eagle's pouch +at the luck his hunting had brought him, now started off running after +the son of old Wansutis, who was speeding towards the gathering crowd. +Never in all her life had she desired anything as much as she now +desired to gain a sight of this stranger. + +"What doth he look like?" she called out, panting, to the boy ahead; but +her own swiftness answered the question, for she was soon abreast of the +procession. There, walking behind her uncle, unbound and apparently +unconcerned, she beheld the white man. Her eyes devoured every detail of +his appearance. She was almost disappointed to find that he had only +one head and two eyes like all the rest of her world. But his +beardedness, so unknown among her people, his youth, which showed itself +more in his figure and in his step than in his weatherworn features, his +cloth jerkin and his leather boots, but above all, the strange hue of +his face and hands offered enough novelty to satisfy her. + +Smith noticed the Indian maiden, already in her thirteenth year, tall +above the average. In his wanderings through the Pamunkey villages he +had seen many young girls and squaws, but none of them had seemed to him +so well built or with such clean-cut features as this damsel who gazed +at him so fixedly. When Opechanchanough, catching sight of her, made a +gesture of recognition, Smith knew that she must have some special claim +to distinction, since it was unusual, he had observed, for a chief to +notice anyone about him while occupied in what might be called official +duty. He felt sure too that he had now come to the end of his +journeyings. In the other towns through which he had travelled he had +heard men speak of Werowocomoco and of the great werowance who held sway +there, the dreaded ruler over thirty tribes. This large village he knew +must be the seat of the head of the Powhatan Confederacy and he was +about to be led before him. What would happen then, he wondered, as he +walked calmly through the crowd who eyed him curiously. + +And this, too, was what Pocahontas was thinking: what would her father +do with this man? Would his strange medicine, which those who had +ventured to Jamestown had much discussed, assist him in his peril? She +had listened to much talk lately about the necessity of getting rid of +all the white faces who had dared come and build them houses on land +which had belonged to her people since the beginning of the world. Here +was the first chance her father had had to deal with the interlopers. +She determined to see and hear all that should take place, so she +hurried ahead to the ceremonial lodge, where she was sure to find her +father, and entered it unchallenged by the guards. + +Once inside, she realized that the stranger's coming had been expected; +probably Opechanchanough had sent runners ahead whom she had not chanced +to see. All the chiefs were gathered there waiting and there also sat +the Queen of Appamatuck, the ruler of an allied tribe. She noticed that +her father, in the centre of a raised platform at the other end of the +lodge, had on his costliest robe of raccoon skin, the one she had +embroidered for him. All the chiefs were painted, as were the squaws, +their shoulders and faces streaked with the precious pocone red. She +regretted that she had not had time to put on her new white buckskin +skirt and her finest white bead necklace, since this was such a gala +occasion. On the other side of Powhatan sat one of his squaws, and her +brothers and her uncles Opitchapan and Catanaugh squatted directly +before him. She herself stood against the wall nearest to the mother of +her sister Cleopatra. She wished she had tried to bring in +Claw-of-the-Eagle with her. How interested he would have been; but it +was not likely that he would manage to get past the guards now, since +there were so many of his elders who must be excluded for lack of room. + +While she was still looking around to see who the lucky spectators +were, the entrance to the lodge was darkened and a great shouting went +up from all the braves as Opechanchanough strode in, followed by his +prisoner. + +Powhatan sat in silence until Smith stood directly before him, and then +he spoke: + +"We have waited many days and nights to behold thee, wayfarer from +across the sea." + +Smith, looking up at him, saw a finely built man of about sixty years, +with grizzled hair and an air of command. He smiled to himself at the +strangeness of his fancy's play, but the air of this savage chieftain, +this inborn dignity of one conscious of his power, he had seen in but +one other person--Good Queen Bess! + +"I too have listened to many voices which have told of thy might, great +chief," he answered, speaking the unfamiliar words slowly and +distinctly. + +Then in the pause that followed the Queen of Appamatuck came forward and +held out to Smith a bowl of water for him to wash his hands in. +Pocahontas leaned eagerly forward to see whether the water would not +wash off some paint from his hands, leaving them the color of her own, +for might it not be, she had questioned Claw-of-the-Eagle, that these +strangers were only _painted_ white? But even after Smith had wiped his +fingers upon the turkey feathers the Queen handed to him, they remained +the same tint as his face. + +At the command of Nautauquas, the slaves began to bring in food for the +feast which preceded any discussion of moment. An enemy, be he the +bitterest of an individual or of the tribe, must never be denied +hospitality. Baskets and gourds there were filled with sturgeon, +turkey, venison, maize bread, berries and roots of various kinds, and +earthern cups of pawcohiccora milk made from walnuts. Powhatan had +motioned Smith to be seated on a mat beside the fire, and taking the +first piece of venison, the werowance threw it into the flames as the +customary sacrifice to Okee. Then he was served again, and after him +each dish was offered to the prisoner. + +There was little talk while the feasting continued. Pocahontas, who did +not eat, lost no motion of the stranger's. + +"At least," she thought, "he lives by food as we do." And she watched to +see whether he would entangle his meat in his beard. + +At last every one had eaten his fill and the dogs snarled and fought +over the scraps until they were driven from the lodge. Then Powhatan +began to question his prisoner. + +"Art thou a king?" + +"Nay, lord," replied the Englishman when he had comprehended the +question; "I but serve one who ruleth over many thousand braves." + +"Why didst thou leave him?" + +Smith was about to answer that they sought new land to increase his +sovereign's dominions, but he realized that this was not a favorable +moment for such a statement. + +"We set forth to humble the enemies of our king, the Spaniards," he +replied, and in this he was not telling an untruth, because the +colonization in Virginia had for one of its aims the destruction of +Spanish settlements in the New World. + +"And why did ye come ashore on my land and build yourselves lodges on my +island?" + +"Because we were weary of much buffeting by the waves and in need of +fresh food." + +For a moment at least Powhatan seemed content with this explanation. His +curiosity in regard to the habits of these strangers was almost as keen +as that of his daughter. + +"Tell me of thy ways," he commanded. "Why dost thou wear such garments? +Why hast thou hair upon thy mouth? Worship ye an Okee? How mighty are +thy medicine-men? And how canst thou build such great canoes with +wings?" + +Smith endeavored to satisfy him. He dilated upon the power of King +James, though in his mind that sovereign could not be compared for regal +dignity to this savage; the bravery of the colonists, the wonder of +silken garments and jewels worn by the men and women of his land. And +remembering his duty as a Christian, he tried to explain the mysteries +of the Christian faith to this heathen, but he found his vocabulary +unequal to this demand. He could see that he was making an impression on +his listeners; the greater their awe for his powers, the more chance +that they might be afraid to injure him. Opechanchanough spoke to his +brother, telling him of the watch and compass. Powhatan seized them +eagerly, turned them over and over and held them to his ear, listening +while Smith explained their use. + +"I would fain know of those strange reeds ye carry that bear death +within them," commanded the werowance again. "By what magic are ye +served? Could not one of our shamans or our braves make it obey him +also?" + +[Illustration: "LET US BE FRIENDS AND ALLIES, OH POWHATAN"] + +Smith was aware that the Indians' fear of the white man's guns was the +colony's greatest protection. So he answered: + +"If my lord will come to Jamestown, as we call the island, since we +know not by what name ye call it, he himself shall see guns as much +greater than this one at my side," and he pointed to his pistol, "as +thou art greater than lesser werowances." + +This answer moved Powhatan strangely. He spoke rapidly, in words Smith +could not understand, to some of the chiefs before him. Then turning to +Smith again, and speaking in a tone no longer curious but cold and +stern, he asked: + +"How soon will ye set forth in your canoes again for your own land?" + +The question Smith had dreaded must now be answered. There was danger in +what he must say, yet perchance there was also the hope of soothing the +fears of the savages. At all events, a lie were useless even if he had +been able to tell one. + +"The land is wide, oh mighty king, this land of thine, and a fair land +with food enough and space aplenty for many tribes. Bethink thee of +thine enemies who dwell to the north and west of thee who envy thy corn +fields and thy hunting grounds. Will it not advantage thee when we, to +whom thou wilt present, or perchance if it please thee better, _sell_ a +little island and a few fields on the mainland, shall join with thee and +thy braves on the warpath against thy foes, and when we destroy them for +thee with our guns? Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan. I will +speak frankly, as it behooveth one to speak to a great chief, this land +pleaseth us and we would gladly abide in it." + +The Englishman could not read in the expressionless face of the +werowance what he was thinking of this proposition--the first attempt of +the colonists to explain their presence in the Indians' domain. But the +shouting from all sides of the lodge which followed showed him that the +other chiefs were strongly roused by his words. There was a long +consultation: Powhatan spoke first, then a priest of many years who was +listened to with great consideration, then one of the older squaws +expressed her opinion, which seemed to voice that of the braves as well. +Smith, knowing that his fate was being decided, tried to catch their +meaning, but they spoke so rapidly that he comprehended only a phrase +here and there. At last, however, Powhatan waved his hand for silence +and issued a command. + +It was the death sentence. Every eye was turned upon Smith. Well, they +should see how an Englishman met death. He smiled as if they had brought +him good news. If only his death could save the colony, it had been +indeed a welcome message. Not that he did not love life, but he was one +of those souls to whom an ambition, a cause, a quest, is dearer than +life. And because of its very weakness, its dependence upon him, the +colony had come to be like a child he must protect. + +Pocahontas, when she listened to her father's verdict, felt within her +heart the same queer faintness she had experienced when +Claw-of-the-Eagle was running the gauntlet. And seeing the Englishman +smile, she knew him to be a brave man, and somehow felt sorry for him. +She was sorry for herself also. He could have told her many new tales of +lands and people, far more interesting that those of Michabo, the Great +Hare. How eagerly she would have listened to him! Her father was a wise +leader and he did well to fear, as she had heard him tell his chiefs, +the presence in his land of these white men with their wonderful +medicine; but why must he kill this leader of them, why not keep him +always a prisoner? + +She saw that the slaves had lost no time in obeying the command given +them--they were dragging in the two great stones that had not been used +for many moons. These were set in the open space before Powhatan and she +knew exactly what was to follow. + +Was there any possible way of escape? John Smith asked himself. If there +had been but one loading in his pistol he would have fired at the +werowance and trusted to the confusion to rush through the crowd and out +of the lodge. But it was empty. No use struggling, he thought; he had +seen men who met death thus discourteously and he was not minded to be +one of them. So, when at a quick word from Powhatan two young braves +seized him, he made no resistance. They threw him down on the ground, +then lifted his head up on the stones, while another savage, a stone +hatchet in his hand, strode forward and took his stand beside him. + +"Well," thought John Smith, "life is over; I have travelled many a mile +to come to this end. What will befall Jamestown? At least I didn't fail +them. I'm glad of that now." + +He saw Powhatan lean forward and give a sign; then the red-painted face +of his executioner leered at him and he watched the tomahawk descending +and instinctively closed his eyes. + + * * * * * + +But it did _not_ descend. After what seemed an hour of suspense he +opened his eyes again to see why it delayed. The man who held it still +poised in the air was gazing impatiently towards the werowance, at +whose feet knelt the young girl Smith had noticed by the palisade. The +child was pleading for his life, he could see that. Were these savages +then acquainted with pity, and what cause had she to feel it for him? + +But the werowance would not listen to her pleadings and ordered her +angrily away. His voice was terrifying and the other squaws, fearing his +rage might be vented on the child, tried to pull her up to the seat +beside them. Powhatan nodded to the executioner to obey his command. + +With a bound Pocahontas flung herself down across Smith's body, got his +head in her arms and laid down her own head against his. The tomahawk +had stopped but a feather's breadth from her black hair, so close that +the Indian who held it could scarcely breathe for fear it might have +injured the daughter of The Powhatan. + +For a moment it seemed to all the anxious onlookers as if the werowance, +furious at such disobedience, were about to order the blow to fall upon +both heads. There was silence, and those at the back of the lodge +crowded forward in order not to miss what was to come. Then Powhatan +spoke: + +"Rise, Matoaka! and dare not to interfere with my justice!" + +"Nay, father," cried Pocahontas, lifting her head while her arms still +lay protectingly about Smith's neck, "I claim this man from thee. Even +as Wansutis did adopt Claw-of-the-Eagle, so will I adopt this paleface +into our tribe." + +Every one began to talk at once: "She desires a vain thing!"--"She hath +the right."--"If he live how shall we be safe?"--"Since first our +forefathers dwelt in this land hath this been permitted to our women!" + +Powhatan spoke sternly: + +"Dost thou claim him in earnestness, Matoaka?" + +"Aye, my father. I claim him. Slay him not. Let him live amongst us and +he shall make thee hatchets, and bells and beads and copper things shall +he fashion for me. See, by this robe I wrought to remind thee of thy +love for me, I ask this of thee." + +"So be it," answered The Powhatan. + +Pocahontas rose to her feet and, taking Smith by the hand, raised him +up, dazed at his sudden deliverance and not understanding how it had +come about. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER IX + +SMITH'S GAOLER + + +The following morning Claw-of-the-Eagle, passing before the lodge +assigned to the prisoner, beheld Pocahontas seated on the ground in +front of it. + +"What dost thou here?" he asked, "and where be the guards?" + +"I sent them off to sleep as soon as the Sun came back to us," she +answered, looking up at the tall youth beside her. "I can take care of +him myself during the day." + +"Hast thou seen him yet? Tell me what is he like. I saw him but for the +minute yesterday." + +"He sleeps still. I peeped between the openings of the bark covering +here and beheld him lying there with all those queer garments. I am +eager for his awakening; there are so many questions I would ask him." + +"Let me have a look, too," pleaded the boy. + +Pocahontas nodded and motioned graciously to the opening of the lodge. +It pleased her to grant favors, and Powhatan sometimes smiled when he +marked how like his own manner of bestowing them was that of his +daughter. + +With the same caution with which he crept after a deer in a thicket, +Claw-of-the-Eagle moved on hands and knees along the ground within the +lodge. Lying flat on his stomach, he gazed at the Englishman. He had +heard repeated about the village the night before the details of his +rescue as they had taken place within the ceremonial wigwam. Those who +told him were divided in their opinions; some looked upon Powhatan's +decision as a danger to them all, and others scouted the idea that those +palefaces were to be feared by warriors such as the Powhatans. +Claw-of-the-Eagle, however, did not waver in his belief: each of the +white strangers should be killed off as quickly as might be. His loyalty +to his adopted tribe was as great as if his forefathers had sat about +its council fires always. He was sorry that Pocahontas, much as she +pleased him, had persuaded her father to save the life of the first of +the palefaces that had fallen into his power. He believed The Powhatan +himself now regretted that he had yielded to affection and to an ancient +custom, and that he would gladly see his enemy dead, in order that the +news carried to his interloping countrymen might serve as a warning of +the fate that awaited them all. + +Suppose then--the thought flashed through his brain--that he, +Claw-of-the-Eagle, should make this wish a fact! Powhatan would never +punish the doer of the deed. + +He crept nearer still to the sleeping man, loosening the knife in his +girdle. There was no sound within the lodge, only the faint crooning of +Pocahontas without; yet something, some feeling of danger, aroused the +Englishman. Through his half-closed lids he scarce distinguished the +slowly advancing red body from the red earth over which it was moving. +But when the boy was close enough to touch him with the outstretched +hand. Smith opened his eyes wide. He did not move, did not cry out, +though he saw the knife in the long thin fingers; all he did was to fix +his gaze sternly upon the boy's face. Claw-of-the-Eagle tried to strike, +but with those fearless eyes upon him he could not move his arm. + +Slowly, as he had come, he crawled back to the entrance, unable to turn +his head from the man who watched him. It was only when he was out in +the air again that he felt he could take a long breath. + +"He is a good sleeper," was all he remarked. + +"And doubtless he is as good an eater and will be hungry when he wakes. +Wilt thou not stop at our lodge, Claw-of-the-Eagle, and bid them bring +me food for him?" + +He did as she asked, and shortly after the squaws arrived with earthen +dishes filled with bread and meat. They peered eagerly through the +crevices till Pocahontas commanded them to be off. Hearing a noise +within the lodge, she was about to bear the food inside when Smith +stepped to the entrance. + +He was astonished to see the kind of sentinel they had set to guard him. +He had expected to find that his unexpected guest would be waiting +outside for another chance at his life, and he preferred to hasten the +moment. He realized that this maiden, however, would be as efficient a +gaoler as a score of braves. Should he dream of escaping, of finding his +way without guides or even his compass, back to Jamestown, her outcry +would bring the entire village to her aid. He recognized his saviour of +the day before and bowed low, a bow meant for the princess and for his +protector. Pocahontas, though a European salutation was as strange to +her as Indian ways were to him, felt sure his ceremonious manner was +intended to do her honor, and received it gravely and graciously. + +"Here is food for thee, White Chief," she said, placing it on a mat she +had spread on the ground; "sit and eat." + +"It is welcome," he answered, "yet first harken to me. I have not words +of thy tongue, little Princess, to pay thee for thy great gift, and +though my words were as plentiful as the grains of sand by the waters, +they were still too few to offer thee." + +"Gifts made to chiefs," she answered with a dignity copied from her +father's, "can never pay for princely benefits." + +Smith could not help smiling at the grandiloquence of the child's +language, for in spite of her height, he realized that her years were +but few. + +"Yet," she continued, seating herself, "it pleaseth me to receive thy +thanks." + +Now she put aside her grown-up air and her curious glances were those of +the child she was. She fingered gently the sleeve of his doublet stained +by the morass in which he had been captured and torn by the briars of +the forests through which he had been led. + +"'Tis good English cloth," he remarked, "to have withstood such storm, +and I bless the sheep on whose backs it grew." + +"What beasts are those?" she queried, and Smith endeavored to explain +the various uses and the looks of Southdown flocks. + +"Did thy squaws make thy coat for thee when thou hadst slain that--that +new beast?" + +"I have no squaw, little Princess." + +"I am glad," she sighed. + +"And why?" + +"I do not know", her brow wrinkling as she tried to fathom her own +feelings. "Perhaps it is because now thou wilt not pine for her and to +be gone from amongst us." + +"But I must leave here soon, little maid; my people at Jamestown are +waiting for me." + +He said this in order to try and discern what was the intention of +Powhatan towards him. Now that his life was saved, his thought was for +his liberty. + +"Thou shalt not go," she cried, springing up. "Thou belongest to me and +it is my will to keep thee that thou mayst tell me tales of the world +beyond the sunrise and make new medicine for us. Thou shalt not go." + +"So be it," said Smith in a tone he tried to render as unemotional as +possible. He sighed inwardly as he thought of his fellows at Jamestown, +ill, starving, and now doubtless believing him dead. Perhaps if he bided +his time he would find some way of communicating with them. In the +meantime, policy, as well as inclination, urged his making friends with +this eager little savage maiden. + +Now that he did not attempt to oppose her, Pocahontas sank down again +beside him. Already there was an audience: braves, squaws and children +were crowding about, watching the paleface eat. Smith had learned since +his captivity the value the Indians set upon an impassive manner, so he +continued cutting off bits of venison and chewing them with as little +attention to those about him as King James himself might show when he +dined in state alone at Guildhall. But for Pocahontas's presence, whose +claim to the captive every one respected, they would have come even +nearer. As it was, one boy slipped behind her and jerked at Smith's +beard. Pocahontas ordered him away and said in excuse: + +"Do not be angry, he wanted only to find out if it were fast." + +She shared the child's curiosity in regard to the beard. Might it not +be, she wondered, some kind of adornment put on when he set out on the +warpath, as her people decked themselves on special occasions with +painted masks? + +Smith tugged at his beard with both hands, smiling, and his audience +burst out laughing. They could appreciate a joke, it seemed, and he was +glad to see that their temper to him was friendly, for the moment at +least. One of the older men pointed to the pocket in his jerkin and +asked what he had in it. Compass and watch were gone, but Smith delved +into its depths in hopes of finding something he had forgotten which +might interest them. He brought out a pencil and a small note-book. He +wrote a few words and handed them to Pocahontas, saying: + +"These are medicine marks. If one should carry them to Jamestown they +would speak to my people there and they would hear what I say at +Werowocomoco." + +Pocahontas shook her head as did those to whom she passed the leaf. The +stranger might do many wonderful things, but this claim passed the +bounds of even the greatest shaman's power. + +Smith, however, determined to keep her thinking of the possibility of +his return to Jamestown, continued: + +"It is possible for me, in truth. Princess, and if thou would'st +accompany me thither I could show thee stranger marvels still." + +"Nay," she cried angrily, "thou shalt never go there. Thou art mine to +do as I will. Is it not so?" she appealed to those about her. + +They all shouted affirmation, confirming Smith's belief that his fate +had been placed in a girl's hands. It was not the first time such a +thing had happened to him; once before in his life a woman had been his +gaoler, and he again made up his mind to bide his time. He answered the +numerous questions put to him as best he could, about the number of days +he had been with the Pamunkeys, his capture, and why he had separated +from his fellows. In turn he questioned them about their harvests, the +time and method of planting and the moon of the ripening of the maize; +but the Indians showed plainly that they liked better to ask than to +answer. + +As the day advanced the crowd began to dwindle. The captive would not +fail to be there whenever they desired to observe him and there was +hunting to be done and cooking, and already some of the boys had +strolled off to play their ever-fascinating game of tossing plumstones +into the air. At last only Pocahontas was left with the prisoner. + +Smith glanced about to see what the chances of escape might be should he +make a sudden dash, but the sight of some braves at a lodge not more +than a hundred feet away busied in sharpening arrowheads made him settle +down again. + +"Tell me, White Chief," said Pocahontas as she lighted a pipe she had +filled with tobacco and gave it now to Smith, "tell me about thyself and +thy people. Are ye in truth like unto us; do ye die as we do or can +your medicine preserve you forever like Okee? Canst thou change thyself +into an animal at will? If so, I fain would know how to do it, too." + +Smith looked critically at the girl who sat on a mat beside him. He had +never seen a maiden whose spirit was more eager for life. In her avidity +for the miraculous he recognized something akin to his own love of +adventure and desire to explore new lands and to sample new ways. She +could not sail across the ocean in search of them as he had done--_he_ +was her great adventure, he realized, a personified book of strange +tales to fire her imagination, as his had been stirred as a boy by +stories of the kingdom of Prester John, of the El Dorado, of the Spanish +Main and of the lost Raleigh Colony. The tobacco, which he had learned +to smoke while with the Pamunkeys, soothed him; he was in no immediate +danger; the warm sun was pleasant and the bright-eyed girl beside him +was a sympathetic audience. He was always fond of talking, of living +over the picturesque happenings that had crowded his twenty-eight years, +and now he let himself run on, seeing again in his mind's eye the faces +and the scenes of many lands, none of them, however, more strange than +his present surroundings. The only difficulty was his insufficient +vocabulary; but his mind was a quick and retentive one and each new +word, once captured, came at his bidding. Also, Pocahontas was a bright +listener; she guessed at much he could not express and helped him with +gesture and phrase. + +"Princess," he began, when she interrupted: + +"Call me Pocahontas as do my people. Perchance some day I'll tell thee +my other name." + +"Pocahontas, then," he repeated slowly, impressing the name on his +memory, "I will obey thee. We are but men, as are thy kinsfolk, subject +to cold and hunger, ills and death. Yet, as God, our Okee, is greater +than your Okee, so our power and our medicine excel those of the mighty +Powhatan and of his shamans. Thou asketh for tales of the land whence I +come. They are so many that like the leaves of the forest I cannot count +them. If we sat here until thou wert a wrinkled old crone like her +yonder," and he pointed to old Wansutis who was hobbling by, "I could +not relate half of them. Therefore, if it pleaseth thee, I will tell +thee of some matters that have affected thy captive." + +Pocahontas nodded her approbation. + +"Our land, fair England, set in a stormy sea, is a mighty kingdom many, +many days' journey over the waters. There all men and women are as white +or whiter than I, now so weatherworn, as indeed are those of many other +kingdoms further towards the sunrise. Our land, now ruled by a king who +wields dominion over hundreds of tribes, was a few years ago under the +sway of a mighty princess." + +"Was she fair?" asked Pocahontas. + +Smith hesitated. The glamour which had once hovered about "Good Queen +Bess," obscuring the eyes of her loyal subjects, had since her death +been somewhat dispelled. He thought of the pinched face, the sandy hair, +the long nose, the small eyes--but then he had a vision of her as his +boyish eyes had first beheld her, the sovereign riding her white steed +before the host assembled to encounter the forces of the Armada Spain +was sending to crush her realm. + +"Not beautiful was she," he replied, "but a very king of men!" + +He puffed a moment reminiscently, then continued: + +"I was born some years ago in a part of our island called Lincolnshire, +where it is low and marshy in places like unto the morass where thine +uncle took me prisoner. Yet it is a land I love, though it grew too +small for me, and when I was old enough to be a brave my hands itched to +be fighting our enemies. So I went forth on the warpath against our foes +in France and in the Netherlands. Then when I had fought for many moons +and had gained fame as a warrior I felt a longing to return to mine own +home. I abode there for a time, then I set forth once more and travelled +long in a land called Italy and entered later the service of a great +werowance, the Emperor Rudolph, to fight for him against the tribes of +his foes, the Turks. I cannot explain to thee, Princess, how different +are their ways from our ways; perchance theirs were nearer to thine +understanding since they are not given to mercy and take to themselves +many squaws; but let that rest. I fought them hard and often, and one +day before the two armies, that ceased their combat to witness, I slew +three of their great fighters, for which the Emperor did allow me to +bear arms containing Three Turks' Heads--that is, as if one of thy +kinsmen should sew upon his robe three scalps of enemies he had killed. +But soon after that was I taken prisoner by these Turks and sold into +captivity as a slave." + +"Ah!" breathed Pocahontas deeply. For once in her life she was getting +her fill of adventures. + +"I was given as a slave to another princess--Tragabizzanda--in the City +of Constantinople; then I was sent to Tartary, where I was most cruelly +used. One day I fell upon the Bashaw of Nolbrits, who ill-treated me, +and I slew him. I clothed myself in his garments and escaped into the +desert and finally after many strange adventures I reached again a land +where I had friends. Then--" + +"Tell me of the princess," interrupted Pocahontas. "Did she ill-use thee +also?" + +"Nay, in truth, she was all kindness to me," replied Smith, his eye +kindling at the remembrance of the Turkish lady who had aided him. "She +was very beautiful, with lovely garments and rich jewels," he added, +thinking to interest the girl with descriptions of her finery, "and I +owe her many thanks." + +"Was she more beautiful than I?" asked Pocahontas, her brows knitting +angrily. + +"She was very different," the amused Englishman answered. It was +scarcely possible for him to consider these savages as being real human +creatures, to be compared even with the Turks; yet he did not wish to +hurt the feelings of one who had done so much for him. "She was a grown +woman," he added, "and therefore it boots not to compare her with the +child thou art." + +"I am no child. I am a woman!" cried Pocahontas, springing up in a fury +and rushed off like a whirlwind towards the forest. + +John Smith looked after her in dismay. If he had turned his only friend +against him then was he indeed in a sad plight! + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LODGE IN THE WOODS + + +Neither the rest of that day nor the next had Smith any speech with +Pocahontas. True it was that she came accompanied by squaws and +children, all eager to serve as cupbearers in order to observe the +paleface closely. But she put down the food beside him and did not +linger. + +By the middle of the second day Smith found himself less an object of +interest. Everyone in Werowocomoco had been to gaze at him and the older +chiefs had sat and talked with him; but the Englishman could not +discover what their opinion in regard to his coming or his future might +be. Now there seemed to be something afoot which was engaging the +attention of the braves who congregated together before the long lodge. +Had it anything to do with his own fate, the captive wondered. The +children, too, had found other things to interest them. He saw them, +their little red bodies glistening in the sun, playing with the dogs or +pretending they were a war party creeping through a hostile country. +Smith missed them peering about the opening of his lodge, half amused, +half frightened, when he attempted to make friends. + +He leaned idly against the side of the wigwam, watching two squaws not +far away who were tanning a deerskin and cutting it in strips for +thread. Would the time ever come again, he wondered, when he would +behold a white woman sewing or spinning? + +He saw Pocahontas leave her lodge, but instead of coming in his +direction, she ran towards the wigwams that skirted the forest and was +soon out of sight. He could not see that a young Indian boy, astounded +to catch sight of her in that unaccustomed part of the village, went to +meet her. + +"Is Wansutis by her hearth?" asked Pocahontas. + +"She is," Claw-of-the-Eagle replied, and walked on beside her with no +further word. + +Pocahontas's heart was beating a little faster than usual. Wansutis +still excited a feeling of awe and discomfort in the courageous child; +she could not help experiencing a sort of terror when in her presence. +Nevertheless she had now come of her own accord to ask the old woman for +aid. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle, though he would have bitten his tongue off rather +than acknowledge his curiosity, was most eager to learn what had brought +the daughter of Powhatan to his adopted mother's lodge. He entered it +with Pocahontas and pretended to be busying himself with stringing his +bows in order to have an excuse for staying. + +"Wansutis," began Pocahontas, standing in the sunshine of the entrance, +to the old woman who sat smoking in the darkest part of the lodge, "thou +hast the knowledge of all the herbs of the fields and of the forests, +those that harm and those that help. Is it not so?" + +The wrinkled squaw looked up, a drawn smile upon her lips, and said: + +"And so Princess Pocahontas comes to old Wansutis for a love potion." + +"Nay," cried the girl angrily, coming closer, "not so; I desire of thee +something quite different--herbs that will make a man forget." + +"The same herb for both," snapped the squaw; "for whom wilt thou brew +it, for thine adopted son, thou who art no squaw and too young to have a +son? I have no such herb, maiden, and if I had, thinkest thou I had not +given it to Claw-of-the-Eagle to drink. Speak to her, son, and tell her +if a man ever forgets." + +Pocahontas turned a questioning glance on him and the young brave +answered it: + +"My thoughts are great and speedy travellers, Pocahontas; they take long +journeys backwards to my father's and mother's people. They wander among +old trails in the forests and they meet old friends by the side of +burned-out campfires. Yet, when like weary hunters who have been seeking +game all day, they return at night to their lodge, so mine return in +gratitude to Wansutis. For she hath not sought to hinder them from +travelling old trails, even as she hath not bound my feet to her lodge +pole to keep them from straying." + +"And if she had not left thee free," queried Pocahontas, "what wouldst +thou have done?" Somehow, captivity and the thought of captives had +suddenly become of extreme interest to the girl. + +"I know not, Princess," answered the boy after pondering a moment, "yet +had not my father and mother been dead I feel certain I should have +sought to escape to them, even had thy father set all his guards about +the village. But they were no more, and our wigwam afar off was empty; +and so my heart finds rest in a new home and I gladly obey a new +mother." + +"Is it then so hard to forget an old lodge and other ways?" pondered the +girl. "It seems to me that each day among strangers would be the +beginning of a new life, that it would be pleasant to know I could not +foresee what would come to pass before nightfall. Why," she queried, +looking eagerly at both the old woman and the boy, "why should this +paleface desire to return to the island where they sicken and starve +while here he hath food in plenty?" + +"Wait till thou thyself art among strangers away from thine own people," +cried Wansutis sternly, and then she turned her back upon the young +people and began to mutter. + +"So thou hast no drink of forgetfulness to give me?" asked Pocahontas, +hesitating at the entrance, to which she had retreated; but the old +woman did not answer; and Pocahontas walked off slowly, meditating as +she went, while Claw-of-the-Eagle, bow in hand, gazed after her. + +It had grown dark and John Smith, his legs cramped with long sitting, +stretched himself out by the side of the fire in his lodge into which he +had thrown some twigs, so that the embers which had smouldered all day +now blazed up brightly. The cheerful crackling was welcome, it seemed to +him to speak in English words of home and comfort, not the heathenish +jargon he had listened to perforce for several weeks. Not only was it a +companion but a protection. While it blazed he might be seized and put +to death, but at least he should see his enemies. He missed Pocahontas +for her own sake, not only because her staying away argued ill for his +safety. Gratitude was not the only reason for his interest in her: she +seemed to him the freest, brightest creature he had ever come across, as +much a part of the wilderness nature as a squirrel or a bird. Like all +cultured Englishmen of his day, he had read many books and poems about +shepherdesses in Arcadia and princesses of enchanted realms; but never +yet had any writer, not even the great Spenser or Sir Philip Sidney, +imagined in their words so free and wild and sylvan a creature as this +interesting Indian maiden. + +His thoughts were disturbed by the entrance of two Indians. "We are +come," they said, "at The Powhatan's bidding to take thee to his lodge +in the wood." + +He knew not what this order might mean, yet he was glad that come what +would, the monotony of his captivity was broken. He rose quickly and +followed them through the village, each lodge of which had its ghostly +curl of smoke ascending through the centre towards the dark sky. Within +some of the wigwams he could see the fire and sitting around it families +eating before lying down to sleep. Then they left the palisades of +Werowocomoco behind them and came out into the forest, to a lodge as +large as that in which he had first been led before Powhatan. + +This one, however, was differently arranged. It was divided into two +parts, separated by dark hanging mats that permitted no light to pass +through. Into the smaller apartment, to give it such a name. Smith was +ushered, and there the two Indians, after stirring up the fire and +throwing on fresh logs, left him alone. + +Not long, however, did Smith imagine himself the lodge's only +inhabitant. The sound of muffled feet, even though they moved softly, +betrayed the presence of a number of persons on the other side of the +mat. His ears, his only sentinels, reported that the unseen foes had +seated themselves and then, after a short silence, he heard a voice +begin a low, weird chant. He could not understand the words, but from +the monotonous shaking of a rattle and the steps that seemed to be +moving in some dance round and round from one part of the room to the +other, Smith was certain that it was a shaman beginning the chant for +some sacred ceremony. Then one by one the different voices joined in, +uttering hideous shrieks, and the ground shook with the shuffling of +many feet. The sounds were enough to terrify the stoutest heart, and +Smith had no doubt but that their song was a rejoicing over his coming +death. Perhaps Powhatan, he thought, had only pretended to grant his +daughter's request, having planned all along to put an end to him, and +when the boy, who had doubtless been sent by him, had not succeeded, he +had probably determined to kill him here. Or perhaps Pocahontas, now in +anger with him, had withdrawn her claims to his life and left him to her +father's vengeance. + +The noise grew louder and more fiendish in character and the Englishman +saw the corner of the mat begin to wave, to bulge as if a man were +butting his head against it to raise it. Then he saw it lifted and in +came a creature more hideous than Smith ever dreamed could exist. +Painted all in red pocone, with breast tattooed in black, wearing no +garment save a breech-clout and a gigantic headdress of feathers, +shells and beads, he straightened himself to his great height. A +horrible mask, distorting human lineaments, covered the face, and a +medicine-bag of otter skin hung from his back and dangling from one arm +as an ornament hung the dried hand of an enemy long since dead. On +account of his stature and in spite of the mask, Smith recognized The +Powhatan, and drew himself up proudly to meet his fate. + +Behind their werowance now swarmed the other braves and chieftains, two +hundred in all, and all with masks that made them as fearful, thought +John Smith, as a troop of devils from hell. + +To his astonishment, they did not fall upon him and in their shrieking +he thought he could even distinguish the word "friend." The Powhatan +alone of them all approached him, saying: + +"Have no fear, my son; we are not come to harm thee. The ceremony which +thou hast heard was to call Okee to witness to the friendship we have +sworn thee. Henceforth are we and thou as of one tribe. No longer art +thou a prisoner but free to come and go as thy brothers here, aye, even +to return to thy comrades on the island if thou so desirest. When thou +hast arrived there send unto me two of those great guns that spit forth +fire and death that my name may become a still greater terror to mine +enemies, and send to me also a grindstone such as thou hast told me of, +that my squaws may use it for crushing maize. I ask not these gifts for +naught. A great chief giveth ever gifts in return. Therefore I present +to thee for thine own the land called Capahosick, where thou mayst live +and build thee a lodge and take a squaw to till thy fields for thee. +Moreover, I, The Powhatan, I, Wahunsunakuk, will esteem thee as mine own +son from this day forth." + +It was difficult for Smith during this discourse not to betray his +astonishment. First came the relief at learning that he was not to be +killed immediately and then the wonderful news that he was free to go to +Jamestown. And if The Powhatan and his people had sworn friendship to +him, would that not mean that through him the colony should be saved? He +longed to know what had brought about this sudden change in his fate, +but he could not ask. In as stately a manner as that of the +werowance--so at variance with his appearance--and with the best words +at his command, he spoke his thanks. + +"I thank thee, great Powhatan, for thy words of kindness and the good +news thou bringest me. In truth if thou wilt be to me a father, I will +be to thee a son, and there shall be peace between Werowocomoco and +Jamestown. If thou wilt send men with me to show me the way they shall +return with presents for thee." + +Powhatan gave certain orders and twelve men stepped forward and laid +aside their sacrificial masks and announced themselves ready to +accompany the paleface. Smith had not imagined that he could leave that +night, but he was so eager to be off that he lost no time in his +farewells. + +They set forth into the forest which at first was not dense, and along +its edge were clearings where the summer's maize had grown. Then the +trees grew closer together, and to Smith there appeared no path between +them, but his guides strode quickly along with no hesitation, though the +night was a dark one. Six of the Indians went in front of him and six +behind. There was no talking, only the faint sound from the Englishman's +boots and his stumbling against trunks or rocks broke the silence. There +was little chance of an enemy's coming so near to the camp of The +Powhatan, nevertheless the Indians observed the usual caution. + +To John Smith there was something ghostly about this excursion by night, +through an unknown country, with unknown men. He could not help +wondering whether he had understood correctly all that Powhatan had +said, or whether he dared believe he had meant what he said, or if he +had not planned to kill him in the wilderness away from any voice to +speak in his favor. Even though the werowance himself were acting in +good faith, might not others of the chiefs have plotted to put an end to +the white man whose coming and whose staying were so beyond their +fathoming? In spite of these thoughts he went on apparently as +unconcernedly as though he were strolling along the king's highway near +his Lincolnshire home. + +The call of some animal, a wildcat perhaps, brought the little company +to a hurried standstill, and a whispered consultation. The sound might +really come from some beast, Smith knew; on the other hand, it might be +either a signal made by foes of the Powhatans or the call of another +party of their tribe about to join them. In the latter case it boded ill +for him. He clasped a stone knife he had managed to secrete at +Werowocomoco. He could not overhear what the Indians were saying, but +they were evidently arguing. Then when they seemed to have come to some +decision, they started on once more. + +Though the forest was so sombre. Smith's eyes had grown more accustomed +to the blackness and he began to distinguish between the various shades +of darkness. Once or twice he thought he saw to the side of them another +figure, moving or halting as they halted, but when he looked fixedly he +could distinguish nothing but the trunk of some great tree. + +On and on they went, mocked at by owls and whippoorwills, crossing +streams over log bridges, wading through others when the cold water +splashed at a misstep up in his face. At last the blackness turned to +grey, in which he could make out the fingers of his hand. Dawn was near. +Why, thought the Englishman, did they delay striking so long? If they +meant to kill him, he hoped it might be done quickly. The phantom figure +which had accompanied them after the halt following the wildcat call +must soon act. Even a brave man must wish such a night as this to end. + +Then the world ahead of him seemed to grow wider and lighter. The trees +had larger spaces between them and the figures of the Indians were like +a blurred drawing. Was it a star shining before them, that light that +grew brighter and brighter? + +"Jamestown!" he cried out in his own tongue. "Jamestown! Yon is +Jamestown! God be praised!" + +The Indians gathered about him and began to question him eagerly. Would +he give presents to them all; would they have the guns to carry back +with them? + +As they stood in a little knot, each individual of which was growing +more distinct, a young man ran up behind them. + +"Claw-of-the-Eagle!" they exclaimed. + +The boy put into the hands of the astonished Smith a necklace of white +shells he remembered to have seen Pocahontas wear. + +"Princess Pocahontas sends greetings," he said, "and bids thee farewell +for to-day now that she hath seen thee safe again among thy people." His +own scowl belied the kindliness of the message. + +So John Smith knew that Pocahontas had accompanied him through the +forest and that if death had been near him that night, it was she who +had averted it from him. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XI + +POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN + +"We have brought the white werowance safely back to his tribe again," +said Copotone, one of the guides, as they approached the causeway +leading to Jamestown Island. + +"Of a surety," remarked Smith, "since thus it was that Powhatan +commanded." + +It was his policy--a policy which did credit to the head of one who, in +spite of his knowledge of the world, was still so young--never to show +any suspicion of Indian good-faith. + +"Now that we have led thee thither," continued Copotone, who on his side +had no intention of betraying any secrets of the past night, "wilt thou +not fulfil thy promise and give to us the guns and grindstone?" + +"Ye shall take to your master whatever ye can carry," answered Smith, +whose heart was beating fast at the sight of the huts and fort before +him, the outlines of which grew more distinct each moment with the +brightening day. He had answered the hail of the sentry who, when he had +convinced himself that his ears and eyes did not betray him, ran out and +clasped the hands of one he had never thought to behold alive again. + +"Captain!" he exclaimed, "but it is indeed a happy day that bringeth +thee back to us, not but that some of them yonder," and he pointed +significantly towards the government house, "will think otherwise." + +The Indians in the meantime were looking about them with eager curiosity +as they strode through the palisades into the fort. It was but a poor +affair, judged by European military standards, and absolutely worthless +if it should have to withstand a siege by artillery. But to the savages +it was an imposing fortress, the very laws of its construction unknown +to them, even the mortar between the logs, a substance of which they had +no comprehension. Over the bastion as they emerged on the other side +they beheld the English flag floating. This they took to be some kind of +an Okee, in which opinion Smith's action confirmed them, for taking off +his hat, he waved it in delight towards the symbol of all that was now +doubly dear to him. + +But it was the guns which claimed the chief attention of the savage +visitors. There were four of them, all pointing towards the forest, iron +culverins with the Tudor Rose and E.R. (Elizabeth Regina) moulded above +their breeches. + +"Are these the fire-tubes of which we have heard?" asked Copotone +eagerly, longing to feel them, but not daring for fear of unknown +magic. + +"Aye," answered Smith, "art thou strong enough to carry one to +Werowocomoco?" + +The Indians looked them over appraisingly, wondering if they could drag +them through the forest. + +"Set the match to this one, Dickon," commanded Smith with a grim smile. +"It behooves us to frighten well this escort of mine, or they would be +trying to carry off one of my iron pets here to a strange kennel." + +Dickon took up a tinder-box that lay on the bench beside him, and in a +moment under the fixed gaze of his audience struck a light and applied +it to the flax at the breech. There was a flash, then a loud report, and +the Indians, as if actually hit, fell to the ground, where they stayed +until they gradually convinced themselves that they were unhurt. + +"If ye had been in front instead of behind ye had been killed," Smith +said solemnly, desiring to impress them with the terrors of the white +man's magic. + +The Indians got to their feet and, though they said nothing, and did not +attempt to run, John Smith knew that they were more terrified than they +had ever been in their lives. + +"Come," he said, leading the way from the fort to the town. "Since ye +find our guns too heavy and too noisy I will seek more suitable presents +for Powhatan and for you." + +The colonists, roused by the cannon shot, had run out from their doors +to see what had happened. They could scarcely believe their eyes, and it +was not until Smith called to them by name and questioned them in regard +to the happenings at Jamestown since his departure, that they were +convinced he was himself. All were thin and gaunt, and they peered +hungrily at the baskets of food the Indians bore. Most of them greeted +Smith with genuine pleasure; others there were who frowned at the sight +of him, who barely nodded a welcome, who answered him surlily and who +got together in twos and threes to talk quickly as he passed on. + +Smith led the way to the storehouse and bidding the Indians wait +outside, he went within and persuaded the man in charge to permit him to +take a number of articles. When he came out his arms were full of +colored cloths and beads, steel knives and trinkets of many sorts. The +Indians gave him their baskets to empty and he filled them with the +presents, going back for iron pots and kettles of glistening brass. +These he bade them carry to Powhatan. To each of his guides he gave +something for himself. Then speaking slowly, he said to Copotone: + +"Kehaten Pokahontas patiaquagh niugh tanks manotyens neer mowmowchick +rawrenock andowgh (bid Pocahontas bring hither two little baskets and I +will give her white beads to make her a necklace)." + +He would gladly have sent a message of thanks for her care of him that +night, but he thought it best not to do so, since she might not wish it +known that she had followed him. + +"Pray her to come and see us soon," he added as he bade farewell to his +guides whose eagerness to show their treasures at home was even greater +than their curiosity to see further marvels. + +After he had seen them safely outside of the palisades, Smith stopped to +enquire by name for such men as had not come out to greet him. + +"Oh! Ralph, he's dead and buried," they answered; and of another: +"Christopher? He wore away from very weakness. And Robin went a +sen'night ago with a quartain fever. This is no land for white men." + +"But thou lookest hale and hearty. Captain," remarked one of the +gentlemen, leaning against his door for support. "I'll wager the death +thou didst face was not by starvation." + +Then Smith learned in full the pitiful story of what the colony had +suffered during his absence: lack of food and illness had carried off +nearly half the colonists, and those that remained were weak and +discouraged. Death had taken both of his enemies and of his friends, but +some who had been opposed to him formerly had been brought to see during +his absence how with his departure the life and courage of Jamestown had +died down. Men there are--and most of them--who must ever be led by some +one, and in Smith these adventurers had come to see a real leader of +men. + +While Smith stood questioning and heartening the downhearted, President +Wingfield came out of his house on his way to the Government House. +Smith doffed his hat and made a brave bow to honour, if not the man, at +least the office he represented. + +"So thou art returned. Captain Smith," said the President, coldly. +"Methinks thou hast not fared so ill, better belike than most of us. +Hast thou brought the provisions thou didst promise? We have been +awaiting them somewhat anxiously. But first tell me where thou hast left +Robinson and Emery, for the lives of our comrades, however humble, are +of more value to us than even the sorely needed victuals." + +Now Smith was aware that President Wingfield knew, as every other man +in the colony knew, that Robinson and Emery were dead; the others had +already discussed their fate with him. Therefore he realized that the +President had some policy in putting such a question to him thus in +public. + +"Thou must have heard, sir, that they are dead," he replied. "Poor lads! +Disobedience was the end of them. Had they but followed my commands they +had returned alive to Jamestown many days ago; but they must needs land +on the shore, instead of keeping in the stream as I bade them, and they +were slain by the savages after I was captured." + +"That is easily answered, Captain Smith," Wingfield solemnly remarked, +and turning his head over his shoulder to speak as he walked off, he +added: "The Council will require their lives at thy hands this day. See +that thou art present in the Government House this afternoon at three by +the clock to answer their questions." + +"So that is what their next step is," Smith remarked to his friend Guy, +a youth of much promise, as they walked off together. "They will accuse +me of murder and try to hang me or to send me back to England in chains. +But I have not been saved from death by a young princess to come to any +such end, friend." + +And as they walked to his house he told the story of his captivity and +made plans for getting the better of those who sought to injure him. + +The councillors, on their side, were not unanimous as to the course to +adopt. Some were for putting him in safe-keeping--they did not mention +the word imprisonment--until a ship should arrive and return with him to +England. Others, who perhaps felt a doubt of their own ability to +manage the settlement, were willing to acknowledge that they had +misjudged him and suggested that at least he had better be given a +chance to help them; and other timorous members, having witnessed the +warmth of the greeting accorded him, advised that it would be wiser not +to rush into any course of action which would displease the majority of +the colonists. Thus it came to pass that Smith found the three o'clock +meeting like a tiger that has had its claws drawn. + +In the days that followed his spirit of encouragement, the willingness +with which he put his shoulder to the wheel everywhere that aid was +needed, his boldness in defying those leagued against him, completely +changed the aspect of Jamestown. The gentlemen who had refused to wield +axe or spade or bricklayer's trowel because of their gentility were +shamed by his example. + + "When Adam delved and Eve span + Who was then the gentleman?" + +he demanded and swung the axe with lusty strokes against some hoary +walnut tree. + +But though he enjoyed the triumph over his enemies and the knowledge +that his return, the provisions he had brought and the inspiration of +his courage and activity were of great benefit to his fellows, +nevertheless at times he experienced a feeling of loneliness. He thought +of Pocahontas and wondered whether she would not come to Jamestown. + +It was on a wintry day that Pocahontas made her first visit to the +colony. Though they might lack most of the necessities of life, there +was no scarcity of fuel. A huge bonfire was blazing at an open space +where two streets were destined to meet in the future. Over some embers +pulled away from the centre of the flame a pitch-kettle was heating and +its owners, while waiting for its contents to melt, were warming a small +piece of dried sturgeon. Around the bonfire sat John Smith and several +gentlemen. He was pointing out to them on a rough chart the direction in +which he thought the town should spread out when a new influx of +colonists would need shelter. There were carpenters working on a house a +few feet away, but their hammer blows did not ring out lustily as they +should do when men are building with hope a new habitation; there was +but little strength left in their arms. + +When Smith looked up from his chart to indicate where a certain line +should run, he saw standing before him the young Indian who had brought +him Pocahontas's greeting after the night journey through the forest and +who, he now realized, was the same fierce youth who had attempted his +life at Werowocomoeo. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle spoke: + +"Werowance of the white men, Princess Pocahontas sends me to inform thee +that she hath come to visit thee. E'en now she and her maidens await +thee at the fort." + +"She is most welcome," cried Smith, springing up. Then he called out in +English: "Come, friends, and help me receive the daughter of Powhatan, +who did save me at the risk of her own life. Give her a hearty English +welcome." + +[Illustration: "I WILL LEAD THE PRINCESS"] + +The colonists needed no urging. They were eager to see what an Indian +princess looked like. But Smith outran them all and at the sight of +the bright girlish face he stretched out his hands towards her as he +would have done to an English maiden he knew well. + +"Ah! little friend," he said coaxingly, "thou wilt not be angry with me +longer. How much dost thou desire to make me owe thee, Pocahontas, my +life, my freedom, my return home and now this pleasure?" + +Pocahontas only smiled. Smith then turned, waving his hand to the men +who had followed him. + +"These, my comrades, would thank thee too could they but speak thy +tongue." + +The hats of cavaliers and the caps of the workmen were all doffed, and +Pocahontas acknowledged their courtesy with great dignity. + +"Let us show our guests our town," suggested Smith, "even though it lack +as yet palaces and bazaars filled with gorgeous raiment. I will lead the +princess; do ye care for her maidens and the young brave." As they +walked along the path from the fort to Jamestown's one street he asked: +"Tell me, my little jailor, how came The Powhatan to set me free? I have +wondered every day since, and I cannot understand. Thou didst prevail +with him, was it not so?" + +"Aye," answered the girl. "First was I angry with thee, then my heart, +though I did not wish to hearken to it, made me pity thee away from thy +people, even as I pitied the wildcat I loosed from his trap. My father +would not list to me at first, but I plead and reasoned with him, +telling him that thy friendship for us would be even as a high tide that +covereth sharp rocks over which we could ride safely." + +"But what meant the songs and dances in the hut in the woods, Matoaka?" + +"That was the ceremony of adoption. Thou art now the son of Powhatan and +my brother. Thou wert taken into our tribe, and those were the ancient +rites of our people." + +"And the journey through the woods, didst thou fear for my safety then +that thou didst follow all the way?" + +But Pocahontas did not answer. She would not tell him that she had still +doubted her father, and that she was not sure what instructions he had +given the men ordered to guide the paleface. + +"Thou art like the Sun God," said Smith with genuine feeling, "powerful +to save and to bless, little sister--since I have been made thy brother. +And as man may not repay the Sun God for all his blessings, no more may +I repay thee for all thou hast done for me." + +Pocahontas was on the point of replying when she suddenly burst out +laughing at a sight before her. Two men who were rolling a barrel of +flour from the storehouse to their own home let it slip from their +weakened fingers. It rolled against one of the carpenters who was +standing with his back to it, and hitting against his shins, sent him +sprawling. It was undoubtedly a funny sight and she was not the only one +to be amused. But the man did not rise. + +"Why doth he not get up?" asked Pocahontas. "He cannot be badly hurt by +such a light blow from that queer-shaped thing." + +"I fear me he is too weakened by lack of food," answered Smith, +gravely. + +"Hath he naught to eat?" asked the girl in wide-eyed wonder. Then as if +a strange thought had just come to her: "Is there not food for all? Must +thou, too, my Brother, stint thyself?" + +"In truth, little Sister, our rations are but short ones and if the ship +cometh not soon from England with supplies, I fear me they must be +shorter still." + +"No!" she cried emphatically, shaking her head till her long braids +swung to and fro, "ye shall not starve while there is plenty at +Werowocomoco. This very night will I myself send provisions to thee. It +hurts me here," and she laid her hand on her heart, "to think that thou +shouldst suffer." + +Just then President Wingfield and several officers of the Council, +having heard the news of Pocahontas's visit, came toward them. They +realized that the presence among them of this child, the best-loved +daughter of the powerful Indian chieftain, was an important event. They +did not quite know what to expect. Vague ideas of some Eastern queenly +beauty, such as the Queen of Sheba or Semiramis, had led them to look +for a certain royal magnificence of bearing and of garments, and they +were taken aback to behold this slim young creature whose clothing in +the eyes of some of them was inadequate. Nevertheless, they soon +discovered that though she wore no royal purple nor jewels she bore +herself with a dignity that was both maidenly and regal. They had +hurriedly put on their own best collars and ruffs and to the eyes of the +unsophisticated Indian girl they made a brave, though strange, +appearance. She listened to their words of welcome and answered them +through Smith's interpretation. But all the while she was taking in +every detail of their costumes. + +"We must give her presents," suggested one of the councillors as if +discovering an idea that had come to no one else, and he sent a servant +to fetch some of the trinkets which they had brought for the purpose of +bartering with the savages. + +Pocahontas forgot her dignity at the sight of them and clapped her hands +in delight as Smith threw over her head a long chain of white and blue +beads. Her pleasure was even greater when he held up a little mirror and +she saw her face for the first time reflected in anything but a forest +pool. + +"Is that too for me?" she asked eagerly and clasped it to her breast +when it was put into her hand, and then she peered into it from one side +and the other, unwearied in making acquaintance with her own features. + +The other maidens and Claw-of-the-Eagle were given presents also, but +less showy ones. Smith went into his own little house and after hunting +through his sea-chest, brought out a silver bracelet which he slipped on +Pocahontas's arm, saying: + +"This is to remind Matoaka always that she is my sister and that I am +her brother." + +It seemed to Pocahontas that she was incapable of receiving any further +new impressions. It was as if her mind were a vessel filled to the brim +with water that could not take another drop. Like a squirrel given more +nuts than it can eat at once, who rushes to hide them away, her instinct +made her long to take her treasures off where she could look at them +alone. + +"I go back to my father's lodge," she said and did not speak again till +they reached the fort. Then when Smith had seen the little party beyond +the palisades, she called back to him: + +"Brother, I shall not forget. This night I will send thee food. I am +well pleased with thy strange town and I will come again." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XII + +POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR + + +Pocahontas was as good as her word. That same evening as soon as she had +exhibited her treasures to Powhatan and to his envious squaws and had +related her impressions of the town and wigwams of the palefaces, she +busied herself in getting together baskets of corn, haunches of dried +venison and bear-meat and sent them by swift runners to "her brother" at +Jamestown. + +In the days following, though she played with her sisters, though she +hunted with Nautauquas in the forest, though she listened at night, +crouched against her father's knees before the fire to tales of +achievements of her tribe in war, or to strange transformation of braves +into beasts and spirits, her thoughts would wander off to the white +man's island, to the many wonders it held which she had scarcely +sampled. The pressure of her bracelet on her arm would recall its giver, +and she saw again in her mind his eyes, so kind when they smiled on her, +so stern at other times. + +She thought too of the man she had seen rolled over by the barrel--of +how slowly he had risen. She knew that there was such a thing as +starvation, because sometimes allied tribes of the Powhatans, whose +harvests had not been successful or whose braves had been lazy hunters, +had come to beseech food from the great storehouse at Powhata. But she +herself had never before seen any one faint for food, and it hurt her +when she thought of the abundance at Werowocomoco, where not even the +dogs went hungry, to know that there were men not far away who must go +without. Her father made no objection when a day or two later she told +him that she wished to take another supply of provisions to the white +men. + +"So be it," nodded Powhatan. "Thy captive shall be fed until the big +canoe he said was on its way shall arrive. He saith--though this be +great foolishness, since he cannot see so far--that at the end of this +moon it will come safe over the waters. But until the day of its +arrival, whenever that may be, thou canst send or carry of our surplus +to them. And hearken, Matoaka," he whispered that the squaws might not +hear, "thou hast wits beyond thy years, therefore do thou seek to learn +some of the white man's magic. There be times when the cunning of the +fox is worth more than the claws of the bear." + +So every three or four days Pocahontas brought food to Smith, for his +own need and for that of his fellows. Sometimes, accompanied by her +sister or her maidens, she would go by night to Jamestown, and half +laughing, half frightened, they would set down the baskets before the +fort and run like timorous deer back to the forest before the sentinel +had opened the gate in the palisade in answer to their call. Sometimes, +with Claw-of-the-Eagle as her companion, she would walk through the +street of Jamestown, greeting, now with girlish dignity, now with +smiles, its inhabitants whose thin faces lighted up at sight of her. +She came to symbolize to them the hope in the new world they had all but +lost; they rejoiced to see her, not only for her gifts, but for herself. + +They taught her to say after them a few words such as "Good-day," +"food," and "the Captain," meaning Smith; and the possession of this new +and strange accomplishment was almost as dear to her as beads or +bracelet. The island for her was a place of enchantment. The sunset gun +from the fort awoke more thrills of marvel in her than the rages of a +thunderstorm; and the strangest medicine of all was the power the white +men had of communicating their wishes to others at a distance by means +of little marks upon scraps of paper. + +One afternoon when she had come, accompanied by Cleopatra, she found the +streets and houses of Jamestown deserted. As they wandered about, +wondering what had happened to the palefaces, they heard the sound of +voices issuing from a rough shed beyond. They seemed neither to be +talking nor shrieking but chanting in a kind of rhythm such as she had +never heard. Quietly the two maidens followed the sound to the shed. It +was made of wood, open at the sides and roofed over with a piece of +sail-cloth. Crouched behind some sumac bushes still bearing aloft their +crimson torches, the girls looked on in wonderment, themselves unseen. +The sun was sinking behind them, behind the backs too of the colonists +who all faced the east. Then Pocahontas whispered to her sister: + +"See, Cleopatra, they must be worshiping their Okee. Yon man all in +white before them must be a shaman." + +A keen curiosity kept her there, though Cleopatra pulled in fright at +her skirt, whispering entreaties to be gone before some dire medicine +should fall upon them. She saw them all, when the chanting had ceased, +kneel down on the bare ground and heard them repeat some incantation +which she felt sure must be of great strength, to judge by the firmness +of the tone in which they all recited it. Their Okee, she thought, must +be a very powerful one; and there came to her as she crouched there, the +hidden witness of this evening service, the conviction that her father, +if he would, and even with all his tribes, could never conquer this +handful of determined men. + +She was afraid that "her brother" might be angry with her for having +looked on at ceremonies that were perhaps forbidden to women or members +of other tribes; so, greatly to Cleopatra's relief, they slipped away, +leaving at the fort the provisions they had borne on their strong young +backs. + +A few days later news came from Opechanchanough that the big canoe, so +eagerly expected by the strangers, had been seen at Kecoughtan and was +now on its way up the river. Powhatan was astounded, for it was the very +day the white captain had foretold its arrival. Truly a man who could +see so far across the waves of the big water was one to be feared. And +from that day the werowance had deep respect for John Smith and his +powers. + +Now that the ship had brought provisions there was for a time no need of +aid from Werowocomoco. But only for a time. One day when Smith had +conducted Pocahontas over the ship to show her the wonders of this +monster canoe, he asked her to have her people bring food once more to +Jamestown. + +[Illustration: VIRGINIA IN 1606--FROM CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S MAP] + +"The sailors of Captain Newport," he explained, "are staying here too +long and are devouring much of the supplies designed for us. A strange +mania hath overtaken them, little Sister; they are mad for gold. They +believe that the streams about here are full of the dust they and our +men of Jamestown value more than life itself. It is more to them than +thy precious pocone, and as thou seest, they desert their ship and spend +their days sifting sand. If they are not soon gone there will be nothing +left for the mouths of any of us." + +"Thou shalt not want, Brother," promised Pocahontas, and the next day +came the Indians with large stores of provisions. These Smith now bought +from them with beads and utensils and colored cloths. But the President +and the Council, jealous of the growing importance of Smith's relations +with the savages, sought to increase their own by paying four times the +amount Smith had agreed upon. + +Discouragement met Smith with each morning's sun and kept him awake at +night. The colony seemed to take no root in this virgin soil; men who +would not work in the fields to raise grain toiled feverishly in search +of gold, forgetting that a full harvest would mean more for their +welfare than bags of money. Then, to add to the troubles, a fire started +one winter night at Jamestown and spread rapidly over most of the town, +burning down the warehouse in which the precious grain was stored. From +cold and starvation "more than halfe of us dyed," wrote Smith later in +his history. + +Both with his own strength and by his example John Smith strove to his +utmost to rebuild Jamestown and to encourage the downhearted and to make +friends for himself among those who had listened to suspicions of his +purposes. + +For a long time Powhatan had desired to secure weapons such as the white +men used, but the colonists had so far refused the Indians' request to +barter them. Now he determined to try other methods. He sent twenty fat +turkeys--each a heavy burden for the man who bore it across his +shoulders--to Captain Newport, asking that in return the Englishman +would send him twenty swords. Newport, whose orders from the authorities +in London had been not to offend the natives in any manner, had not +refused and had sent the swords in return. Then Powhatan, still eager to +secure a further store of weapons, had twenty more fine turkeys carried +to Smith, asking for twenty swords more. But Smith, who had been taught +by experience and insight many things about the relations which should +prevail between the colony and the Indians, knew how unwise it was to +give to an untried friend the means of turning against the giver. He +knew that the Indians respected his sternness with them more than they +did the evident desire of Newport and the Council to please them. +Therefore he refused. The disappointed savages showed their anger and +cried out insolent words against Smith. + +Finding they could not weaken his decision, they sought to steal the +swords. They were discovered and Smith, realizing that the time had come +when a decided stand must be taken, had them whipped and imprisoned. +Some of the Council protested, declaring that this was the wrong way to +treat the Indians and urged that Powhatan was sure to resent their +action. How did Smith know, they asked, that these savages were acting +at the command of their chief? Was it not merely a sudden impulse of +anger that had led them to take what ought to have been given them? + +But the prisoners, who believed in Smith's power to read the past as +well as the future, thinking it useless to try to hide the truth from +him, confessed that Powhatan had commanded them to secure the swords by +any method. Powhatan was now aware that his plan had failed and that it +was necessary for him to disavow the deed of his messengers. To convince +the palefaces of his good faith he must send some one to talk with them +whom they would trust. And so it was that Pocahontas went to Jamestown +as ambassadress. + +Accompanied by slaves bearing presents of food, seed corn for the spring +planting and pelts of deer and bear and wildcat, Pocahontas was received +at Jamestown with much ceremonial. + +"I bear these gifts from The Powhatan," she said to Smith, who always +acted as interpreter. "He begs thee to excuse him of the injuries done +by some rash ontoward captains his subjects, desiring their liberties +for this time with the assurance of his love forever." + +The manner in which she delivered this little speech was so frank that +Smith knew she was ignorant of her father's real part in the theft. The +men had had their lesson, and Powhatan his warning, therefore clemency +might be effectively dispensed. + +"Dost thou desire, Matoaka, that these men should be freed?" + +"Oh, yes, my Brother," she replied eagerly. "Thou knowest thyself how +the trapped man or beast pines to escape. My heart is sad at the thought +of any creature kept in durance." + +"And yet, little Sister," answered Smith gravely, while he watched her +quick change of expression, "I needs must deliver up these prisoners of +mine to another gaoler, to one who will treat them as sternly as thou +didst treat me at Werowocomoco." + +Pocahontas's drawn brows indicated her endeavor to understand his +meaning. + +"Wilt _thou_ be their gaoler, Matoaka?" he asked; and she, suddenly +comprehending his joke, laughed aloud. + +The men were given into her custody and on her return home Powhatan was +much pleased with his daughter's embassy. + +In September of that year Smith at last was made in name, what he had +long been in fact, the head of the colony. As President he could now +carry out his plans with less opposition. The building of new houses and +the church went on briskly; the training of men in military exercises, +the exploration of the shores of Chesapeake Bay--all these received his +attention. Master Hunt, the clergyman, whose library had been burned in +the fire, spent his time in encouraging the colonists, and twice each +day he held his services in the church for whose altar he melted candles +and gathered wild flowers. + +In London the governors of the Colony had decided it would be a wise +thing to attach Powhatan still closer to the English settlement. Their +ideas of the position and character of an Indian potentate were very +vague indeed. They had been told that all savages were fond as children +are of bright colored dress and ornaments. So they reasoned that of +course this Indian chieftain of thirty tribes would be delighted with +the regal pomp of a coronation. They sent orders by the _Phoenix_--a +ship laden with stores which arrived that summer--that Powhatan should +be brought to Jamestown and crowned there with the crown they shipped +over for that purpose. + +Smith, knowing Powhatan as none of the other colonists did, was not in +favor of this plan. It did not seem to him that a crown instead of a +feather headdress would make any difference to the werowance, whose +power among his own people needed no external decoration to strengthen +it. But he had no choice but to obey, so he and Captain Waldo and three +other gentlemen, went to Werowocomoco to bring Powhatan back with them. + +On their arrival they found the werowance absent, whether by chance or +by policy. By this time Powhatan had lost some of his first awe of the +white men's wits and had concluded it was worth while to try and meet +strangers' wiles with wiles of his own. + +"Where thinkest thou he can have gone?" asked Waldo. "I like it not. +Smith; mayhap he is e'en now preparing some mischief against us." + +"I wish we had not harkened to thee. Captain Smith," said one of the +gentlemen, glancing nervously over his shoulder; "it was a fool's wisdom +to come thus without good yeomen with match-locks to frighten away their +arrows." + +"Gentlemen," replied Smith, showing his vexation in his tone, "I tell ye +ye are in no danger if ye do not yourselves bring it about with your +looks of suspicion. Remember that all Werowocomoco is feasting its eyes +upon us, and bear yourselves as Englishmen should." + +"Where was it they nearly brained thee, Captain?" queried the fourth. +"And not even thy friend, the little princess, is here to welcome thee. +Doth not her absence cause thee some anxiety?" + +It did in truth set John Smith to wondering. He did not fear that any +harm was planned, but Pocahontas's absence was unexpected and he +wondered what its significance might be. He had been looking forward to +seeing his little sister again in her own home and had expected to enjoy +a talk with her which would not be interrupted as their conversations in +Jamestown always were by the many demands upon his time and attention. +Now that he was so much more familiar with her language, it was a +pleasure to discover what a maiden of the forests thought of her own +world and that strange world he had brought to touch hers. + +The Indians who had come forward to welcome the white men now pointed to +a small meadow at the edge of the trees. They did not reply to Smith's +questions as to what he was to do there, but knowing that this spot was +sometimes used for special purposes. Smith led the way. + +"Whither are we bound. Captain?" asked Andrew Buckler querulously. "It +doth not seem wise to go further off from our boat. If they mean harm to +us we shall have all the longer way to fight through." + +"There will be no fighting to be done," declared Smith, not deigning +even to slacken his gait. + +But just then loud shrieks came from the woods, and between the trees +dashed out a score or more creatures directly upon them. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XIII + +POWHATAN'S CORONATION + + +The trees grew so close together that it was difficult for the +Englishmen to distinguish in the shadows they cast the figures whirling +between the trunks. Half naked they were: here a mass of something +painted red; there flashed a white arm, of a whiteness such as nature +never dyed, and there issued shoulders of a brilliant blue, as they +advanced dancing and shrieking. + +"All their war paint on!" ejaculated Captain Waldo. + +And in that moment John Smith lost his faith in the friendship Powhatan +had sworn to him, and he drew his sword, ready to pierce the first +oncomer. + +Then he looked again ... and hastily thrust his sword back into its +scabbard, shouting to his comrades who had also drawn their blades, +"Hold!" + +For there before him, the first of the dancers who had run out of the +forest, advanced Pocahontas! On her head she wore branching antlers, an +otter skin at her waist and one across her arm, a quiver at her back, +and she carried a bow and arrow in her hand. In a flash she realized +what the Englishmen were thinking--that they were caught in an ambush. + +"My Brother!" she cried out in a tone that rang with disappointment, +"didst thou too doubt me? Tell them, thy companions, that I lay my life +in their hands if any harm was intended." + +Seldom in his life had John Smith felt so at a loss as to what he should +reply. He hurriedly explained to the others that Pocahontas was +evidently intending to do them special honour in welcoming them with +some kind of sylvan masque. Then facing her, he cried: + +"Forgive us, Matoaka, and be not angry that we mistook thy kindness. +See, we seat ourselves here upon the ground and we beseech thee that +thou and thy maidens will continue thy songs and thy dancing, which will +greatly divert us." + +Pocahontas's disappointment vanished at once and she sped back with her +comrades to the woods, where they repeated their masque, this time to +the amusement of the Englishmen, who were somewhat ashamed to think that +they had been so frightened by a troop of girls. All of the dancers were +horned like their leader and the upper parts of their bodies and their +arms were painted red, white or blue. There was a fire blazing in the +centre of the field and around this they formed a ring, dancing and +singing a song which, while unlike anything Smith's companions had ever +heard, affected their pulses like drumbeats. Some of the words they sang +Smith was able to catch words of welcome, songs of young maidens in +which they told of the joys of childhood and of the days when +sweet-hearts would seek them and when they would follow some brave to +his wigwam. + +Pocahontas, he thought, was as graceful as a young roe; her feet were as +quick as the flames of the fire, and every now and then, from the very +exuberance of her happiness, she shot an arrow over their heads into the +trees beyond. Smith could not help wondering what kind of a husband she +would follow home some day. + +The masque lasted an hour; all the different motions were symbolic, as +Smith had learned all Indian dances were, and much of it he was able to +comprehend. In any case he would have enjoyed the masque, knowing that +Pocahontas had performed it to honour her father's guests. When it was +over, suddenly as they had come, the maidens vanished into the dark +forest. + +The Englishmen were not left alone, however, for during the dancing a +number of braves and squaws had come to look on at the ceremony and even +more at the audience. Now Nautauquas came forward and greeted Smith. + +"My father hath just returned. He hurried back when he learned that ye +were to visit him. He hath had the guest lodge prepared and awaits your +coming there." + +Powhatan greeted them when they entered the lodge, which Smith +recognized at once as the one where his life had been in such jeopardy. + +"Tell them they are welcome, thy comrades," he said to Smith, "and thou, +my son, art always as one of mine own people." + +They seated themselves on the mats spread for them, and the usual +feasting began, the Englishmen doing more than justice to the Indian +dishes. + +"'Tis a strange beast and of a rare flavor withal, this raccoon," said +Waldo, "and methinks the King at Westminster hath no better trencher +meat. Hath the old savage asked of thee yet our errand, Smith?" + +"An Indian never asks the errand of his guest," he replied; "but now we +have eaten it is not meet that I delay longer to tell him." + +He rose to his feet and began to speak. Pocahontas, who had stood at the +entrance looking in, now entered and sat down at her father's feet. + +"Ruler of many tribes, Werowance of the Powhatans, Wahunsunakuk, we have +come to bring the greetings sent thee from across the sea by our own +great werowance, James. With the English, the Spaniards, the French and +other great peoples beyond the seas, their greatest chief who rules many +tribes is called a 'king.' He is mightier than all other werowances, +hath always much riches and honour, and when the time comes that, by the +death of an old king or by conquest, a new king takes his place, he is +crowned. They put a circlet upon his head and in his hand they place a +staff of honour and upon his shoulders they throw royal robes, so that +all who see shall know that this is the King and that all must do him +fealty. Our own King James, who hath heard of thee, and of the many +tribes that are subject to thee, hath desired that thou, too, shouldst +be crowned as another king, his friend, so that the English may know +that he calls thee 'brother,' and that thine own people shall hold thee +in yet greater awe." + +Powhatan manifested no sign of interest in these words; but from the +eager look on Pocahontas's face Smith was aware that his Indian speech +had at least been comprehended. + +"Therefore," Smith continued, "it is planned to hold thy coronation at +Jamestown upon as near a day as thou shalt see fit to appoint. Our King +hath sent presents for thee which await thy coming to us." + +Then he ceased and looked to Powhatan for an answer. The werowance +thought a moment in silence, then he spoke: + +"If your king hath sent me presents, I also am a king, and this is my +land; eight days I will stay to receive them. Your Father is to come to +me, not I to him, nor yet to your fort." + +He spoke with so kingly a dignity that the Englishmen did not seek to +dissuade him. They promised to do as he wished and to persuade Newport, +whom he called their "father," to go to Werowocomoco, which might be +considered as Powhatan's capital. Then they departed for Jamestown, +after having thanked Powhatan and Pocahontas for their entertainment. + +Pocahontas awaited their return with eagerness. She talked the matter +over with Nautauquas. Perhaps, she said, there was some strange medicine +in this ceremony which would make their father invulnerable and +perchance safe even from death itself. + +"I have more faith in the white men's guns than in their medicine," +declared Claw-of-the-Eagle. "Ever since one of those fat housebuilders +whom they call Dutchmen let me try to fire off one of them, I know now +that they are not worked by magic. If we could manage to get enough of +them we should be ten times as strong as their starving company and +could destroy all of them before another shipload of newcomers arrived." + +"Nay," cried Pocahontas, "not as long as our brother, the captain, +lives. Thou couldst not even face his eyes when he is angry." + +She did not imagine that she was stating an actual fact. +Claw-of-the-Eagle had never been able to look Smith in the eye since he +crawled away from the lodge where he had meant to kill the white man. It +was only Smith himself who awed him so; but he dreamed that some day he +might be able to deal a blow in the dark when those terrible eyes could +not stop him. In the meantime he felt equal to meeting the other +palefaces day or night. + +"But," asked Nautauquas slowly and gravely, as if weighing the matter, +"why should we wish to destroy these white men? I once had different +thoughts, and I have gone alone into the forest and fasted and prayed to +Okee that I might know whether to greet them as foe or friend. In some +way the white tribes that live across the great waters have found their +way westward. Many have come, the rumor is, to the south of us, men of +different race and different tongue from these on the island. These +others are cruel to the Indians among whom they have settled and have +destroyed many villages and made captive their braves and squaws. Now I +have talked with our father, Wahunsunakuk, of what I now speak, since we +can no longer hope to hide our trail again to these wanderers from the +rising sun, that it is better to make friends of these who have come and +who seem well-disposed towards us, and to have them for allies rather +than enemies." + +In spite of himself, Claw-of-the-Eagle was impressed with this +reasoning. + +"Dost thou then like these paleface strangers and their ways?" he asked. + +"There is much about them I do not understand," replied Nautauquas; "how +they can wear so many garments; why they build them houses that let in +no air; why they come here when they have villages beyond the seas; yet +I know that they are brave and that their medicine is mighty." + +Pocahontas spoke little. She had never told anyone how much interest she +found in all that concerned the white men and their ways. + +It was some days later that Smith, Captain Newport and fifty men started +to march to Werowocomoco for the coronation of Powhatan. The presents +which the King and the governors of the Colony in London had chosen for +him were sent by boat up the river. When the company of Englishmen in +their farthingale-breeches, slashed sleeves and white ruffs, their +swords and buckles glistening, accompanied by a few soldiers bearing +halberds and long muskets, arrived, the entire population of the village +and those of other villages for leagues about were awaiting them. Braves +and squaws had decked themselves out also in their choicest +finery--necklaces and beads and embroidered robes. + +It was a wonderful picture that the dark surrounding forest looked +upon--the group of gaily colored Indians facing the more soberly dressed +Europeans. Round them circled children, pushing, peering between their +elders that they might miss nothing. And through it all, running from +one group to the other, welcoming, explaining, smiling and laughing, +flitted the white-clad Pocahontas. + +After their greeting, when Powhatan and Captain Newport eyed each other +appraisingly, the gifts were brought into the field where Pocahontas had +danced her masque and spread out before the curious gaze of the savages. +Pocahontas, in her white doeskin skirt and wearing many strings of white +and blue beads, went about among her new friends, and laid her hand into +that of Captain Newport, as Smith had told her was the manner in which +the English greeted one another. Some of the chieftains scowled at the +sight and did not relish the friendliness shown by her to the strangers. +Several even remonstrated with Powhatan who, however, would not restrain +her. After a few words with Smith, she rejoined Cleopatra and others of +her sisters at one side of the field. + +"What is yon curious thing, Pocahontas?" they questioned of her superior +knowledge, as the wrappings were taken off a bedstead that Captain +Newport by means of signs presented solemnly to Powhatan. + +"That," she answered, having had a glimpse of such furniture at +Jamestown, "that is a couch on which they sleep." + +"Is it more comfortable than our mats?" asked Cleopatra. "I should fear +to fall out of it into the fire." + +Plainly Powhatan, too, was at a loss to know what to do with it. The +next gifts, a basin and ewer, met with more enthusiasm. The squaws were +particularly interested in them when Pocahontas told them that they were +made of a substance which would not break as did their own vessels of +sun-baked pottery. But it was the red mantle of soft English cloth, in +shape like to the one, he was told. King James had worn at his +coronation at Westminster, that made Powhatan's grim features relax a +little with pleasure. Captain Newport placed it on the werowance's +shoulders and held a mirror that he might behold himself thus handsomely +apparelled. + +Then they proceeded to the crowning. Newport would have liked to have +some words of ritual read, even though the principal of the ceremony had +not been able to understand them; but the chaplain pointed out that +neither the law nor the Prayer-Book made any provision for the crowning +of a heathen, and that after all it was the act, not the words, which +would impress the savages. + +The drummer beat a loud tattoo and the trumpeter blew a call that +startled the squaws and the children into shrieks; the braves were +quicker in hiding their astonishment. Then Smith and Newport walked +forward, Newport holding the crown. Smith said: + +"Kneel, Wahunsunakuk, that we may crown thee." + +But Powhatan, whose understanding of these strange proceedings was not +clear, though he comprehended Smith's words, continued to stand stiff +and straight as a pine tree. + +"Kneel down, oh, Powhatan," urged Smith. "Mistake not, this act is a +kingly one; so do all the kings of Europe." + +But Powhatan would not. To him the posture was one unfitting to the +dignity of a mighty werowance, ruler over thirty tribes and lord of +sixty villages. He would accept presents sent him, and he had no +objection to wearing a glittering ring upon his head if the white men +chose to give him one; but he would not kneel; that was going too far in +his acquiescence to strange ways. Such a position was for suppliants +and squaws and children. + +Smith was uncertain what to do. The officers of the Colony in London had +laid great stress upon a proper crowning, believing, as he did not, that +it would impress the Indians as the symbol of an alliance between their +people and the English. He thought a moment, then whispered a word to +Newport. The two quickly laid their hands on Powhatan's shoulders and +pressed down gently but firmly, a pressure which bowed his knees +slightly. Then, before he had time to recover himself, Newport had +placed the crown upon his grizzled head. + +According to orders, two soldiers, seeing that the ceremony was +accomplished, fired a salute with their muskets. Powhatan started +suddenly; Nautauquas raised his head like a deer scenting danger, and +some of the braves started to run towards the knot of white men. But the +calm demeanor of Smith showed them their error. + +"We are quits," said Captain Waldo to Buckler; "the maids frightened us +with their masks and we have frightened their braves with our muskets." + +Powhatan in the red robe and crown seated himself upon the mats that +were brought out to him, and Smith whispered to one of the gentlemen who +had accompanied him: + +"In faith, Radcliffe, is he not more kingly looking than our royal +James?" + +The idea of a coronation had seemed absurd to him, and he had believed +that the old chief would appear ridiculous decked out in mock finery, +but he admitted to himself that such was far from being the case. + +Then the feast was brought on and the Englishmen again did full justice +to the Indian dishes. Pocahontas came and sat beside Smith. + +"Welcome, little Sister," he said, "and how dost thou like thy father's +new robes?" + +"He appeareth strange to me," she answered, "but he will not wear them +long. It is beautiful, that cloak, but he can paint his flesh as fine a +color with pocone, and it will not be so warm nor so heavy." + +Smith laughed. + +"Wouldst thou not like to try to wear clothes such as our women wear? +Perchance thou mayst try what they are like before long, for soon we +shall be seeing white squaws come over on the ships." + +"Do white men have squaws, too?" asked Pocahontas in astonishment. + +"For a surety. Didst thou think Englishmen could live forever without +wife or chick at their hearths?" + +"And thou, my Brother," she queried eagerly, "will thy squaw and thy +children come soon?" + +"I have none, Matoaka; my trails have led through so many dangers that I +have not taken a squaw." + +"But a squaw would not fear danger if thou couldst take her with thee, +or if not, she would wait in thy lodge ready to welcome thee on thy +return. She would have soft skins ready for thy leggings, new mats for +thee to sleep upon; she would point out all the stores of dried venison +she had hung on her tent-pole while thou wert gone, and fresh sturgeon +would she cook for thee and prepare walnut-milk for thy thirst." + +"'Tis a pretty picture thou drawest, Matoaka," he answered, yet he did +not laugh at it. "Often I feel lonely in my wigwam and I wonder if some +day I shall not bring a wife into it." + +"There would be none who would refuse thee," answered the girl simply. + +Smith did not take in the significance of her words, yet his thoughts +were of her. Suppose he should throw in his lot altogether with this new +country and take for wife this happy, free child of the aboriginal +forest? It was only a passing thought. He had not time to consider it +further, for Newport had risen and gave the signal for them to start on +the return march to Jamestown. He rose, too, and bade farewell to +Pocahontas. + +During the feasting Powhatan had been thinking over what he meant to do. +Gravely he presented to Captain Newport a bundle of wheat ears for +spring planting; then with the utmost dignity, he handed him the +moccasins and the fur mantle he had laid aside when they placed his +coronation robe upon him. Newport received them in amazement, not +knowing what he was to do with them; but Smith made a speech of thanks +for him. + +"What did the old savage mean?" asked Newport as they were on their +homeward way. "Was it because he wanted to give a present in return?" + +"Methinks," answered Smith, "that Powhatan hath a sense of humor and +doth wish to show us that his coronation hath so increased his +importance that his cast-off garments have perforce won new value in our +eyes." + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DANGEROUS SUPPER + + +Some months later, the first of the year 1609, there was again grave +danger of starvation at Jamestown, and Smith, remembering the full +storehouses at Werowocomoco, determined to go and purchase from Powhatan +what was needed. Taking with him twelve men, they set out by boat up the +river. + +"I doubt not," said John Russell as they sailed along the James, now no +longer muddy as in the summer but coated with bluish ice in the +shallows, "I doubt not that those fat Dutchmen the Council sent over to +build a house for Powhatan--what need hath he of a Christian +house?--have grown fatter than ever upon his good victuals while we be +wasting thinner day by day." + +"I have no liking for those foreigners," exclaimed Ratcliffe, watching +with greedy eyes a flock of redhead ducks that flew up from one of the +little bays as the boat approached, wishing he could shoot them for his +dinner. "Were there not enough carpenters and builders in Cheapside and +Hampstead that the lords of the Colony must needs hunt out these +ja-speaking lubbers from Zuider-Zee? They have no love for us, no more +than we for them. If they thought 'twould vantage them, they would not +scruple to betray us to the savages." + +As they proceeded up the James, away from tidewater, the ice extended +farther out into the river, until when they neared Werowocomoco there +was a sheet of it that stretched half a mile out from shore. Smith had +determined, so desperate was the plight of the colonists, that he would +not go back to Jamestown without a good supply of corn and other food. +He hoped that Powhatan would consent to his buying it; but he meant to +take it by force if necessary. For some time there had been little +intercourse between the English and the Indians; the latter had seemed +more unwilling to barter stores, and there was a rumor that Powhatan had +new grievances against the white men. + +The four Dutchmen who for some weeks had been building the house for +Powhatan, had discussed amongst themselves the relative advantages of +friendship with the werowance or with the English. They decided that to +weaken the latter would be their best policy, since they would be +content to see the struggling settlement of Europeans destroyed and to +entrust their own fate to the savages. There was much in the Indian +method of living which pleased them; plenty of good food and full pipes +of tobacco and squaws to serve them. So they laid their plans and +imparted to Powhatan in confidence that Smith, who they knew must soon +appear in search of supplies, was in reality using this need as a +pretext and that he meant to fire upon the Indians and do great damage +to Werowocomoco. + +Pocahontas did not overhear this talk, but she had watched the four +strangers together and her sharp ears had frequently caught the word +"Smith" repeated. Now when the news was shouted through the lodges that +the boat bearing Smith and his companions was approaching slowly through +the broken ice, Pocahontas hurried eagerly to the river and waved her +hand to her friends. She watched them come ashore but checked herself as +she started to run to meet them. She had a feeling that this was not the +moment for pretty speeches, and feared that Powhatan's enmity to the +English had been fanned by the Dutchmen until it was ready to burst +forth. She determined, instead of showing any interest in the strangers, +to appear indifferent to them and to let her people think she had grown +hostile to them. She would stay close to her father in order to learn +what he intended to do. + +The werowance as he came towards them did not wear his red mantle nor +his crown of English make, but a headdress of eagle feathers and +leggings and a cape of brown bear fur. Perhaps he wished to show that he +had no need to wear a crown to look a king. He strode slowly to the +river and called out in greeting to the white men: + +"Ye are welcome to Werowocomoco, my son, but why comest thou thus with +guns when thou visiteth thy father?" + +"We be come to buy food from thee, oh Powhatan," answered Smith, "to +fill thy hands and those of thy people with precious beads and knives +and cloths of many colors for thy squaws in exchange for food for to-day +and to last till comes nepinough (the earing of the corn), when we shall +harvest the fruit of the seed we plant." + +"But lay aside first your arms. What need have ye of arms who come upon +such a peaceful purpose? Have ye thought to try to frighten my people +to sell thee of their stores? What will it avail you to take by force +what you may quickly have by love, or destroy them that provide you +food? Every year our friendly trade will furnish you with corn, and now +also, if you will come in friendly manner to see us, and not thus with +your guns and swords as to invade your foes." + +Many of the English, when Smith had translated word after word of the +chief's discourse, felt shamed at the show of force their weapons +manifested, and would have been willing to lay them by while they were +upon the land of this friendly chieftain, whom, they felt, they had +misjudged. But Smith was not deceived. He was learning to read the signs +of Indian ways, and he knew that the chief had reasons for desiring to +see them unarmed. So he called out in answer: + +"Your people coming to Jamestown are entertained with their bows and +arrows without any exceptions, we esteeming it proper with you as it is +with us, to wear our arms as part of our apparel." + +There followed more words between the two and much talk of "father" and +"son"; but Pocahontas, who listened to it all, was not easy. She had +given her affection to Smith since the day she saved his life, and now +she was sure that her father planned to harm him. Nautauquas was away +with Claw-of-the-Eagle on a foray against the Massawomekes, the latter +having sworn to her that he would now accomplish deeds to make the +chiefs of his tribe declare him worthy to be called a real Powhatan +brave. Had her brother been at Werowocomoco, she might have confided her +fear to him; as it was, she realized that she alone must discover her +father's intentions. + +She saw that Powhatan had withdrawn on some pretext she did not overhear +and that Smith, standing at the entrance of the lodge which Powhatan had +assigned to the English, was chatting with some of the squaws he +remembered from the time of his captivity, while the rest of the white +men were busy in carrying the objects they had brought for bartering +from the boat to the lodge. + +Suddenly a number of Indian braves rushed towards him, arrows notched in +the bowstrings. The foremost savage let his arrow fly; it was aimed a +few feet too high and, grazing Smith's steel morion, hit the bark of the +lodge-covering above his head. The squaws, shrieking loudly, took to +their heels. Smith, before another arrow left its bow, whipped out his +pistol and pointed it at the advancing crowd. Then John Russell, hearing +the commotion, rushed from the lodge. Pressing the snaphance of his +musket, he fired into the oncoming savages, but failed to hit one. + +Nevertheless, the Indians, seeing that the Englishmen were still armed, +turned and fled, disappearing into the forest. Pocahontas, trembling +with anger, ran through the trees to find her father to ask him what was +the meaning of this treacherous treatment of his guests. + +After she had run some little distance she caught sight of Powhatan +approaching and, hiding behind a rock, she waited to see whither he was +bound. To her amazement, she saw that he was turning to the strangers' +lodge and that behind him followed slaves bearing great baskets of food +and seed-corn. What could he mean, she wondered, by first trying to kill +and then to feast the white men? She followed, herself unseen, while +Powhatan approached Smith without the slightest hesitation. + +"It rejoiceth my heart, my son," she heard him call out when he was +within one hundred feet of where Smith was standing, watching him with +puzzled eyes, "to know that thou art unharmed. While I was gone to see +that provisions were provided for thee, even according to my word, my +young men who were crazed with religious zeal and fasting they have +undergone in preparation for a great ceremonial planned by our priests, +knew not what they were doing. See, my son, think no evil of us; would +we at one moment seek to harm and to help thee? Behold the supplies I, +thy father, have here for thee." + +And Smith, though he doubted somewhat, did not feel certain that +Powhatan was not speaking the truth. But Pocahontas, still in hiding, +knew well that no man in Werowocomoco would have dared shoot at the +white men except by direct order of their werowance. + +Perhaps, however, all was now well; perhaps her father had at least +realized that the Englishmen were not to be caught napping. She looked +on while Powhatan and Smith superintended the placing of the great piles +of stores in the boat and the refilling of the baskets with the goods +with which the Englishmen paid for them. + +Then, their work over, the Indians began to deck themselves out in the +beads and cloths. While they were thus occupied a man came running and +dropped down exhausted before Powhatan, able to gasp out a couple of +words only. Though the messenger had not breath enough to cry them out, +they were heard by the Indians standing nearby and shouted aloud. +Immediately the crowd jumped to their feet and uttering loud shrieks, +danced up and down and around in circles, to the sound of rattles and +drums. + +"What is the meaning of all this, Smith?" asked Russell, who with the +other white men stood watching the strange performance. + +"Tell them, my son," said Powhatan, understanding from the tone of the +Englishman's voice that his words were a question, "that two score of my +braves, among them Nautauquas and Claw-of-the-Eagle, have won a great +victory over one hundred of our enemies, and that this is our song of +triumph." + +The old chief's eye shone more brightly than ever, and his back was as +firm and straight as that of one of his sons. + +"I shall soon have witnessed all their different dances," John Smith +confided to Russell, when he had repeated Powhatan's explanation. "There +lacks now only the war dance." + +There was a pause in the dance; then Powhatan gave a signal. Drums and +rattles started up once more. The rhythm was a different one, even the +white men could tell this; and they noticed that the savages moved more +swiftly as if animated by the greatest excitement. Fresh dancers, their +faces and bodies painted in red and black, took the places of those who +fell from fatigue, and the woods resounded with their loud song. + +"It must have been a great victory," suggested Ratcliffe, "to have +excited them in this manner." + +But Pocahontas's heart beat as if it were the war drum itself, for she +knew what the white men did not know, that this last was a war dance; +but she was not yet certain against whom her tribe was to take the +war-path. She must wait and see. + +At last the dancing ceased and the feasting began, and the Englishmen +still watched with interest the "queer antics" of the savages, as they +called them. All was now so peaceful that they laid aside their weapons, +setting a guard to watch them, and sitting about the great fire they had +built in the lodge, waited for the morning's high tide to lift their +boat out of the half-frozen ooze in which the ebb had left it. Powhatan +and the Indians had withdrawn, but the werowance had sent a messenger +with a necklace and bracelet of freshwater pearls with words of +affection for "his son" and to say that he would shortly send them +supper from his own pots, that they might want for nothing that night. + +The darkness had come quickly and the woods that stretched between the +lodge and the centre of Werowocomoco were thick and sombre. Through them +Pocahontas sped more swiftly than she had ever run a race with her +brothers. She did not trip over the roots slippery with frost nor, +though she had not taken time to put a mantle over her bare shoulders, +did she feel the cold. For she knew now that the war dance had been +danced against the English. + +She was all but breathless when she reached the lodge near the river's +edge, but rushing inside, she seized a musket from the pile on the +ground, to the astonishment of the guard, who recognized her in time not +to hurt her, and thrust it into Smith's hands, crying: + +"Arm yourselves, my friends. Make ready quickly," and as Smith would +have questioned, she panted: "When your weapons are in readiness then +will I speak." + +Smith gave hurried orders, reproaching himself for his false confidence. +The men sprang up from the fire, seized their long-barrelled muskets and +their halberts; and a few who had laid aside their steel corselets +hastily fastened them on again, and threw their bandoliers, filled with +charges, over their shoulders. The merry, careless party was now quickly +converted into a troop of cautious soldiers. Then Smith turned to +Pocahontas, whose breath was coming more quietly as she beheld the +precautions taken for defence. She answered his unspoken query: + +"I overheard the words of the treacherous Dutchmen to my father even +now. I feared when I heard the war song and saw them dancing the war +dance. Woe is me! my Brother, that I should speak against my own father, +but I listened to the plans he hath made to take you here unawares, your +weapons out of your hands. For this moment he hath waited all day and he +hath sought to deceive you with fair words. They are now on their way +with the supper he promised thee; then when you are all eating he hath +given orders to his men that they fall upon you and slay all, that none +may escape. And so as soon as I learned this, that thou to whom he had +sworn friendship and thine were in dire peril, I hastened through the +dark forest to warn thee." + +Smith was deeply touched by this manifestation of her loyalty. He knew +the danger she ran if Powhatan should learn of what she had done. + +"Matoaka," he cried, clasping her hand, "thou hast this night put all +England in thy debt. As long as this Virginia is a name men remember, so +long will men recall how thou didst save her from destruction. In +truth, thy father had lulled my suspicions to sleep, and hadst thou not +come to warn us we had surely perished. The thanks of all of us to thee. +Princess," he continued, when he had turned and told his astonished men +the gist of her words, "and to my little Sister my own deep gratitude +again." + +He loosened a thick gold chain from about his neck, one that he had +brought back from the country of the Turks, and put it about her bare +neck. + +"Take this chain in remembrance," he said. Then his comrades pressed +forward, each with some gift they emptied into the maiden's hands. + +She gazed at them all lovingly, but she shook her head slowly, the tears +falling as she said: + +"I dare not, my friends; if my father should behold these gifts he would +kill me, since he would know that it was I who had brought ye warning." + +Slowly she took off the chain and reluctantly placed in it Smith's hand, +and let gently fall the other treasures she longed to keep. Smith bent +and kissed her hand as reverently as he had once kissed that of Good +Queen Bess. + +Pocahontas started. "I hear them coming," she cried, and with one bound +she had sprung forth again into the night, skirting the river until she +was sure of reaching her lodge without running into the troop of Indians +advancing with dishes and baskets of food, who, however, were not slaves +but braves and armed. + +When these reached the stranger-lodge they brought in the supper and +laid it down with apparent great heartiness that is the few who +actually bore the baskets. The others found themselves somehow halted by +Smith at the entrance and engaged in ceremonious conversation. When they +suggested that the white men lay aside their weapons and seat themselves +the better to enjoy their food, Smith replied that it was the custom of +the English at night always to eat standing, food in one hand and musket +in the other. For a long time this parleying went on; Smith would not +show that he had discovered their perfidy. + +Then the baffled Indians retired to the forest, to await the moment when +they could catch the white men off guard. But though all night they +spied about the lodge, not once did they find the sentinels away from +their posts, and they had too much fear of the "death tubes" to attempt +an onslaught on men so well defended. + +So, thanks to Pocahontas, the morning dawned on an undiminished number +of English, and at high tide they embarked in their boat and returned to +Jamestown with their provisions so precariously won. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XV + +A FAREWELL + + +The late summer sun was beating down pitilessly upon the lodges and open +spaces of Werowocomoco. Even the children were quiet in the shade, +covering their heads with the long green blades of the maize, plaiting +the tassels idly and humming the chant of the Green Corn Festival they +had celebrated some weeks before. The old braves smoked or dozed in +their wigwams, and the squaws left their pounding of corn and their +cooking until a cooler hour. The young braves only, too proud to appear +affected by any condition of the weather, made parade of their industry +and sat fashioning arrow-heads or ran races in the full sunshine, till a +wise old chief called out to them that they were young fools with no +more sense than blue jays. + +Off in the woods, near a hollow in a little stream where the trout and +crawfish disported themselves over a bright sandy bottom, Pocahontas lay +at full length, her brown arms stretched out, the color of the pine +needles beneath them. The leafage of a gigantic red oak shaded her; +through its greenery she could see the heavy white clouds, and once an +eagle flying as it seemed straight up into the sun. Away from its direct +rays, cooled by her bath in the stream and clad in an Indian maiden's +light garb, she was rejoicing in the summer heat. She enjoyed the sleepy +feeling that dulled the woodland sights and sounds: the tapping of a +woodpecker on a distant tree, the occasional call of a catbird, the soft +scurrying of a rabbit or a squirrel, the buzzing of a laden bee--all +mingled into one melody of summer of which she did not consciously +distinguish the individual notes. Just as pleasantly confused were her +thoughts, pictures of which her drowsiness blurred the outlines, so that +she passed with no effort from the flecked stream she had just left to +the moonlit field she and her maidens had encircled a few nights before, +chanting harvest songs. She saw, too, the supple bend of +Claw-of-the-Eagle's body as he had waited for the signal to bound +forward in the race at Powhata when he outran the others; and then she +seemed again to see him run the day Wansutis saved him from being +clubbed to death. + +As if the many deeds of violence done that day called up others of their +kind, she saw, and did not shrink from seeing, the fate of the Dutchmen +at Werowocomoco who had sought to betray Smith to Powhatan. Her father, +angered at them, had had them brained upon the threshold of the house +they had built for him. + +Then the thoughts of Pocahontas found themselves at Jamestown, whither +they now often wandered. She smiled as she remembered her own amazement +at the sight of the two Englishwomen who had lately arrived there: +Mistress Forrest and her maid, Anne Burroughs. With what curiosity the +white women and the Indian girl had measured each other, their hair, +their eyes, their curious garments! Then she beheld in her fancy her +friend, her "brother," so earnest, so brave, who out of opposition +always captured victory. She had witnessed how he forced the colonists +to labor, had seen the punishment he meted out to those who disobeyed +his commands against swearing--that strange offence she could not +comprehend--the pouring of cold water in the sleeve of those who uttered +oaths, amid the jeers and laughter of their companions. Her lips +continued to smile while she thought of Smith, of the gentle words he +had ever ready for her, of the interest he ever manifested at all she +had to tell him. He had talked to her as she knew he talked to few, of +his hopes for this little handful of men who must live and grow, and +how, if they two, he and his "little Sister," could bring it about, the +English and the Powhatans should forget any grievances against one +another and be friends as long as the sky and earth should last. +Perhaps, he had said one day, marriages between the English and the +Indians might cement this friendship. "Perhaps thou thyself, Matoaka," +he had begun, and then had ceased. Now she wondered again, as she had +wondered then, if he had perhaps meant himself. + +Such a possibility was an exciting one, and she would have been glad to +let her mind explore it fully; but her eyes were heavy and the pine +needles soft and fragrant, and soon the beaver, who from a hollow +beneath the exposed roots of the oak over the stream had been watching +her bright eyes, seeing them closed, slipped forth to begin again his +work on the dam her feet had flattened out. + +Though Nautauquas, returning an hour later from a peaceful mission to a +confederated tribe, made scarcely more noise than the beaver, Pocahontas +awoke and raised her head and loosening the needles from her hair, +sprang up. + +"Greetings, Matoaka!" called out her brother. "Thou wert as snugly +hidden here as a deer." + +"What news, my Brother?" she asked as he sat down and, taking off his +moccasins, let his heated feet hang into the stream. + +"Evil news it is," he answered gravely, "for the friends of the great +Captain." + +"What hath befallen my white Brother?" she cried out; "tell me +speedily." + +"He was sleeping in his boat, I heard, far off from their island. A big +bag of the powder they put into their guns lay in the bottom of his +canoe, and when by chance a spark from his pipe fell upon it it grew +angry and began to spit and burned his flesh till it waked him, and in +his agony, he sprang into the river to quench the blaze." + +Pocahontas, who had not winced at the thought of the brained Dutchmen, +shivered. + +"Where is he now?" she asked. "I wish to go to him." + +Nautauquas looked at her earnestly as if he would question her, but did +not. "They say he is on his way to Jamestown and should reach there on +the morrow." + +As Pocahontas and Nautauquas returned at sunset to Werowocomoco, the +girl stopped at Wansutis's lodge. + +"Thou comest for healing herbs for thy white man," exclaimed the old +woman before Pocahontas had spoken a word. "I have them here ready for +thee," and she thrust a bundle into the astonished maiden's hands. +"But," continued the hag, "though they would cure any of our people, +they will not have power with the white man's malady save he have faith +in them." + +Then she went back into the gloom of her lodge and Pocahontas walked +away in silence. + +It was not Pocahontas whom Wansutis wished to aid, but the white +Captain. The old woman had never spoken to him, or of him to others; but +she had listened eagerly to all the tales told of his powers. She was +sure that he possessed magic knowledge beyond that of her own people, +and she waited for the day when she might persuade him to impart some of +his medicine to herself. The fact that he was now injured and in danger +did not change her opinion. Some medicine was better for certain +troubles than for others. Perhaps her herbs in this case would be +stronger than his own magic. + +Before the night was over Pocahontas had started on her way to +Jamestown. She went alone, since somehow she did not wish to chatter +with a companion. The thunder storms had cooled the air and softened the +earth. It was still early in the morning when she reached the town, now +grown to be a settlement of fifty houses. On the wharf she saw men +hurrying back and forth to the ship, fastened by stout hawsers to the +posts, bearing bundles of bear and fox skins, such as she had seen them +purchase from her people, and boxes and trunks up to the deck. One of +the latter looked to her strangely like one she had seen in Smith's +house, of Cordova leather with a richly wrought iron lock. "Doubtless," +she thought, "he is sending it back filled with gifts for the king he +speaks so much of." + +She hastened towards his house and before she reached it she saw that +his bed had been carried outside the door and that he lay upon it, +propped up by pillows. She recognized, too, the doctor in the man who +was just leaving him. Now in her eagerness she ran the rest of the way +and Smith, catching sight of her, waved his hand feebly. + +"Alas! my Brother," she cried as she took his hand in hers, and saw how +thin it had grown, "alas! how hast thou harmed thyself?" + +"Thou hast heard, Matoaka?" he answered, smiling bravely in spite of the +pain, "and art come, as thou hast ever come to Jamestown, to bring aid +and comfort." + +"I have herbs here for thy wound," she replied, taking them out of her +pouch. "They will heal it speedily. They are great medicine." + +How could he help believe in their power, she had asked herself on her +way that morning. What had Wansutis meant? + +"I thank thee, little Sister," he answered gently, "for thy loving +thought and for the journey thou hast taken. Before thou earnest my +heart was low, for I said to myself: how can I go without bidding +farewell to Matoaka; yet how can I send a message that will bring her +here in time?" + +"Go!" she exclaimed. "Where wilt thou go?" + +"Home to England. The chirurgeon who hath just left me hath decided only +this morn that his skill is not great enough to save my wound, that I +must return to the wise men in London to heal me." + +"Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas; "thou must not go. Our wise women and our +shamans have secrets and wonders thou knowest not of. I will send to +them and thy wound shall soon be as clean as the palm of my hand." + +[Illustration: "NAY, NAY," CRIED POCAHONTAS, "THOU MUST NOT GO"] + +"Would that it might be so, little Sister. I have seen in truth strange +cures among thy people; and were my ill a fever such as might come to +them or the result of an arrow's bite, I would gladly let thy shamans +have their will with me. But gunpowder is to them a thing unknown, nor +would their remedies avail me aught." + +"Then thou wilt go?" she asked in a voice low with despair. + +"Aye, Matoaka, I must or else take up my abode speedily yonder," and he +pointed to the graveyard. "It is a bitter thing to go now and leave my +work unfinished, to know that mine enemies will rejoice--" + +"I shall die when thou art gone," she interrupted, kneeling down beside +him; "thou hast become like a god to Matoaka, a god strong and +wonderful." + +"Little Sister! Little Sister!" he repeated as he stroked her hair. Once +again there came to him the thought he had harbored before--that perhaps +when this child was grown he might claim her as a wife. Now this would +never come to pass. + +She knelt there still in silence, then she asked, hope and eagerness in +her voice: "Thou wilt come back to us?" + +"If I may, Matoaka; if I live we shall see each other again." + +He did not tell her what was in his mind, that no English Dorothy or +Cicely, golden-haired and rosy-cheeked, would ever be as dear to him as +he now realized this child of the forest had grown to be. + +And then with perfect faith that her "Brother" would bring to pass what +he had promised, Pocahontas's spirits rose. She did not try to calculate +the weeks and months that should go by before she was to see him again. +She seated herself beside him on the ground and listened while he +talked to her of all that he was leaving behind and his love and concern +for the Colony. + +"See, Matoaka," he said, his voice growing stronger in his eagerness, +"this town is like unto a child of mine own, so dear is it to me. I have +spent sleepless nights and weary days, I have suffered cold and hunger +and the contumely of jealous men in its behalf; nay perchance, even +death itself. And thou, too, hast shown it great favors till in truth it +hath become partly thine own and dear to thee. Now that I must depart, I +leave Jamestown to thy care. Wilt thou continue to watch over it, to do +all within thy power for its welfare?" + +"That will I gladly, my Brother, when thou leavest it like a squaw +without her brave. Not a day shall pass that I will not peer through the +forests hitherward to see that all be well; mine ears shall harken each +night lest harm approach it. 'Jamestown is Pocahontas's friend,' I shall +whisper to the north wind, and it will not blow too hard. 'Pocahontas is +the friend of Jamestown,' I shall call to the sun that it beat not too +fiercely upon it. 'Pocahontas loves Jamestown,' I shall whisper to the +river that it eat not too deep into the island's banks, and"--here the +half-playful tone changed into one of real earnestness--"I who sit close +to Powhatan's heart shall whisper every day in his ear: 'Harm not +Jamestown, if thou lovest Matoaka.'" + +A look of great relief passed over the wounded man's face. Truly it was +a wondrous thing that the expression of a girl's friendship was able to +soothe thus his anxieties. + +"I thank thee again, little Sister," he said. "And now bid me farewell, +for yon come the sailors to bear me to the ship." + +Pocahontas sprang up and bending over him, poured forth words of tender +Indian farewells. Then, as the bearers approached, she fled towards the +gates and into the forest. + +John Smith, lying at the prow of the ship, placed there to be nearer the +sea as he desired, thought as the ship sailed slowly past the next bend +in the river, that he caught sight of a white buckskin skirt between the +trees. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER + +And in the three years that had passed since Smith's return to England +Pocahontas did not forget the trust he had given her. Many a time had +she sent or brought aid to the colonists during the terrible "starving +time," and warded off evil from them. When she was powerless to prevent +the massacre by Powhatan of Ratcliffe and thirty of his men, she +succeeded at least in saving the life of one of his men, a young boy. +Henry Spilman, whom she sent to her kindred tribe, the Patowomekes. With +them he lived for many years. + +But her relations with Jamestown and its people, though most friendly, +were no longer as intimate as they had been when Smith was President, +and she went there less and less. + +One who rejoiced at her home-keeping was Claw-of-the-Eagle. He had hated +the white men from the beginning and had done his share to destroy them +in the Ratcliffe massacre, though he had never told Pocahontas that he +had taken part in it. He was now a brave, tested in courage and +endurance in numerous war parties against enemies of his adopted tribe +whose honor and advancement he had made his own. The Powhatan himself +had praised his deeds in council. + +One day Wansutis said to him: + +"Son, it is time now that thou shouldst take a squaw into thy wigwam. My +hands grow weak and a young squaw will serve thee more swiftly than I. +Look about thee, my son, and choose." + +Claw-of-the-Eagle had been thinking many moons that the time _had_ come +to bring home a squaw, but he had no need to look about and choose. He +had made his choice, and even though she were the daughter of the great +Powhatan, he did not doubt that the werowance would give her to one of +his best braves. And so, one evening in taquitock (autumn), when the red +glow of the forests was half veiled in the bluish mist that came with +the return of soft languid days after frost had painted the trees and +ripened the bristly chinquapins and luscious persimmons, +Claw-of-the-Eagle took his flute and set forth alone. + +Not far from the lodge of Pocahontas he seated himself upon a stone and +began to play the plaintive notes with which the Indian lover tells of +his longing for the maiden he would make his squaw. + +"Dost thou hear that, Pocahontas?" queried Cleopatra, who had peeped +out. "It is Claw-of-the-Eagle who pipes for thee. Go forth, Sister, and +make glad his heart, for there is none of our braves who can compare +with him." + +"I will not be his squaw. Go thou thyself if he pleaseth thee so," and +Pocahontas would not stir from her tent that evening, though the gentle +piping continued until the moon rose. + +Yet Claw-of-the-Eagle did not despair. Not only had he won fame as a +fighter but as a successful hunter as well. Never did he come back to +Wansutis's lodge empty-handed. Though the deer he pursued be never so +swift, or the quail never so wary, he always tracked down his quarry. +And he meant to succeed in his wooing. + +So even when Pocahontas left Werowocomoco to visit her kinsfolk, the +Patowomekes, he bided his time and spent his days building a new lodge +nearby that of Wansutis, that it might be in readiness for the day when +he should bring his squaw to light their first fire beneath the opening +under the sky. + +Meanwhile affairs in Jamestown had been going from bad to worse. Famine +had become an almost permanent visitor there. Sir Thomas Gale had not +yet arrived from England and no one was there to govern the Colony with +the firm hand of John Smith. At length, however, it was decided in the +Council that Captain Argall should set forth towards the Patowomekes +tribe and bargain with them for grain. + +Japezaws, the chief, received him in a friendly manner. + +"Yes, we will sell to thee corn as I sold it to thy great Captain when +he first came among us. What news hast thou of him? Will he come again +to us? He was a great brave." + +Captain Argall answered: + +"We have no word from him. Perchance he hath succumbed of his wound;" +and then, because he was jealous of Smith's fame among the savages, he +added, "England hath so many great braves that we waste little thought +on those that are gone. Jamestown hath all but forgot him already." + +"There is one amongst us who forgets him not," Japezaws pointed to the +valley behind him, "one there is who hath him and his deeds ever on the +tongue." + +"Who may that be?" asked the Englishman, wondering if the Indian village +held captive some countryman of his own long since thought dead. + +"It is Pocahontas, his friend, who looks eagerly every moon for his +return. She abideth gladly amongst us, for she groweth restless as a +young brave, and Werowocomoco hems her in." + +Even while Japezaws was speaking a thought flashed through Argall's +brain; and while the slaves at Japezaws's command poured forth measure +after measure of corn and dried meat, the Englishman was adding to his +first vague idea, until when the great load of yellow grain lay heaped +before him, his plan was fully laid. + +"I wish, Japezaws," he began, as if the idea had just struck him, "that +Powhatan, her father, had as great a love for Jamestown as his daughter. +He will not even sell to us provisions now, though his storehouse is +full to o'erflowing. If we could but make him see that, his gains would +be greater than ours. 'Tis a matter of but a few more harvests before we +have food and to spare, but where shall he find such copper kettles, +such mirrors, such knives of bright steel as we would pay him in +exchange for that he hath no need of?" + +The old chief's eyes glistened with covetousness. + +"I want some shining knives; I want to see a vessel that will not break +when my squaws let it fall on a rock. I want some of the marvels ye keep +in your lodges." + +Argall smiled; the fly had caught the fish for which he angled. + +"As soon as a man may hurry to Jamestown and back they shall be thine +if--thou wilt do what I ask of thee." + +"And what is thy will?" Suspicion had now awakened in the Indian. + +"Hearken!" continued Argall. "Thou knowest that Powhatan hath stolen +from us sundry arms and keeps in captivity some of our men. If he will +make peace with us we need not take our war party through the forests to +Werowocomoco, and the lives of many Indians will be spared." + +Here Japezaws grunted, but Argall did not appear to notice it. + +"If we held a hostage of Powhatan, someone who was dear to him, we could +force him to do as we would." + +He paused and glanced at the Indian who, whatever he may have thought, +betrayed nothing. + +"If thou wilt entrust the Princess Pocahontas to us," continued Argall, +"she shall be taken to Jamestown and there detained in all gentleness, +in the house of a worthy lady, until Powhatan agreeth to our terms and +she will be conveyed in safety to her father. And for thee, for thy help +in this matter, such presents shall be sent thee as thou hast never +seen, such as no one, not even Powhatan, hath yet received." + +Japezaws was silent a little. The maiden was his guest, and his people +had always upheld the sacred duties of hospitality. But he knew that no +harm would befall her. The friendship of the English for her was known +to all his tribe and the great affection of her father to this, his +favorite daughter. In a day or two she would be ransomed by Powhatan, +and for his part in the matter, he, Japezaws, would gain what he so +greatly longed to possess. He wasted neither time nor words: + +"Meet me here at sunset, and I will bring her to thee." + +Claw-of-the-Eagle had not thought to stir away from Wansutis's lodge for +many days to come. Food in plenty was stored there and he had need to +busy himself with the making of a new bow and arrows. But Wansutis, +letting fall the stone with which she was grinding maize, looked up +suddenly as if she heard distant voices. The youth, however, heard +nothing. Then she said: + +"Son, if in truth thy mind is set upon a certain maiden for thy squaw, +go seek her at once in the village of the Patowomekes. She hath been +there over long." + +Claw-of-the-Eagle did not ask for any explanation of his mother's words. +He had learned that she seemed to possess some strange knowledge he +could not fathom, but which he respected. Therefore, without any +discussion, with only a word of farewell, he took his bow and quiver and +his wooing pipe and set forth. + +As he approached the village of Japezaws at the end of several days' +journey, he said to himself: + +"Before three days are past I shall return this way with my squaw. No +longer will I wait for her to feign deafness to my piping. She shall +listen to it and follow me to my lodge." + +Knowing that he was among a friendly allied tribe, Claw-of-the-Eagle +strode along as openly and as carelessly as he would have done at +Werowocomoco or Powhata. Yet suddenly, like a deer that scents a bear, +he stood still, his nostrils quivering; then, slipping behind a tree, +he notched an arrow to his bow. + +"A white man," he thought, long before his eyes caught sight of him. + +Concealed by the tree, he waited and watched pass the man he knew was +the new English captain, and to his astonishment found that the women +who accompanied him were Pocahontas and a squaw of the Patowomekes. It +was the squaw of Japezaws; and it was at his bidding that she was now +acting. + +"Because thou hast seen as often as thou wilt the lodges of the +palefaces," Claw-of-the-Eagle heard her say to Pocahontas, "is it right +for thee to marvel that I am eager to witness with mine own eyes such +strange ways as are theirs and the marvels the white chief hath stored +in the canoe?" + +"I do not wonder," laughed Pocahontas; "and in truth I rejoice to go +with thee, and with the few words of their tongue that I have not +forgotten to ask for thee the questions thou wouldst put to him. I, too, +have questions to ask him." + +When they had passed the young brave followed them, far off enough that +Pocahontas's quick ear might not hear his step that would have been +noiseless to the Englishman. + +At the bank to which the pinnace was moored he sought cover back of a +large boulder, his eyes never moving from the women before him. He +watched them go on board, saw the English sailors rise to receive them, +and heard the eager outcries of the squaw as she felt of their garments +and went about the deck of the little craft, while Pocahontas explained +as far as her own knowledge went, the meaning of anchor and sail, of +cooking utensils and muskets. He saw Captain Argall open a small chest +and hand out presents to the two women, Japezaws's squaw uttering loud +cries of delight as beads and gaudy handkerchiefs were placed in her +hands. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle waited to see what would happen next. After an hour's +watching he beheld the two women approach the side of the pinnace +nearest the shore, the squaw in front. She sprang to the bank and ran +lightly into the forest. Pocahontas had her foot on the gunwale to +follow her when Captain Argall took hold of her arm. + +"Come with us to Jamestown, Princess," he said; "we will welcome you for +a visit." + +Pocahontas's anger flared up. Never in her life had she been restrained +by force. She wasted no time nor strength in entreaty, but sought to +wrench herself away from him. But the Englishman held her firmly but +gently, and while she struggled the sailors shoved the boat out into the +stream. + +Claw-of-the-Eagle rose that he might take better aim and shot an arrow +at the Englishman. It hit the astounded captain on his leathern doublet, +but did no more than knock the wind out of him. + +"Shoot into the trees there," he commanded, still holding on to +Pocahontas. + +One of the sailors started to aim into the thicket at an unseen enemy, +when Claw-of-the-Eagle, realizing that the boat was rapidly swinging out +of his range, ran out on to an exposed bluff and notched a second arrow. +Before it left the string, however, the bullet from the soldier's musket +had hit him in the shoulder. As he fell Pocahontas uttered a cry of +horror, for she had seen who her stricken defender was. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XVII + +POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND + + +It was the second night of Pocahontas's captivity. She had suffered no +restraint further than that necessary to keep her from jumping +overboard. Argall and the sailors treated her with all deference, both +from policy and inclination. Yet she was very unhappy and lonely: she +had always been so free to go and come that it was almost a physical +pain to be imprisoned within the narrow limits of the pinnace. Several +times she had tried to evade the vigilance of the sailors; but her +cunning, which on shore would have shown her a way to escape, was +useless on the unfamiliar boat. Her anger at Japezaws and his squaws +flamed up anew every time she dwelt on their treachery. She went over in +her mind the punishment she would beg her father to inflict upon them. + +"Wait!" she called out; and the sailors wondered what she was saying as +she stood there looking over the stern in the direction of the +Patowomeke village, her eyes flashing, "wait until Nautauquas brings ye +to my father to be tortured!" + +Then before she had grown tired planning their fate, her thoughts flew +to Claw-of-the-Eagle. Was he lying dead there in the forest? What a +playmate and companion he had always been, she thought; how brave, how +strong! Yet now he must be dead or surely he had managed to follow her. + +By nightfall the boat was anchored in the centre of the stream, which +here widened out into a small bay. Captain Argall, who had not known +what to make of Claw-of-the-Eagle's attack, did not feel certain that +Japezaws had not played him false. He had therefore made all speed +possible the first night and the following day. Now his wearied men +needed rest and, as no sign of pursuit appeared, he had granted them +leave to sleep. Only one sailor in the bow was left on watch, but he, +too, drowsed, to wake up with a start, when finding all well, he dropped +off to sleep again. + +Pocahontas lay alone in the stem, her head pillowed on a roll of sail +cloth that brought it up to the level of the gunwale. Argall had done +everything he could to make her comfortable and never even spoke to her +except hat in hand and bowing low. Now she, too, had fallen asleep, her +eyes wet with the tears she would not shed during the daylight. She +dreamed she was again at Werowocomoco and that she had just risen from +her sleeping-mat to run out into the moonlight as she so often did. + +Suddenly a faint, faint sound half wakened her, a sound scarcely louder +than the lapping of the water against the sides which had lulled her to +sleep. She opened her eyes but did not move, and waited, tense with +excitement. A fish flopped out of the water, then all was silent again +and she closed her heavy eyes once more. Then it came again, not louder +than the wind in the aspen trees on shore: + +"Pocahontas!" + +Raising herself to her elbow with a motion as quiet as a cat's, she +peered into the dark water over the stern. A hand came up from the +darkness and clasped her wrist. She needed no great light upon the +features of the face below to know whose it was. + +"Claw-of-the-Eagle," she whispered, "is it thou? I thought the white +man's gun had killed thee, and I have been mourning for thee." + +"I lay dead for an hour," he answered as he lifted himself up in the +water and hung with both hands to the sides of the boat. "But it was +well that I was wounded on the shoulder and not on the leg. The +stiffness made me slow, like a bear that has been hurt in a trap. But I +bound mud on the wound with my leggings and I have followed close behind +thee along the shore all the way." + +"I knew thou wouldst come after me if thou wert not killed," she +whispered. + +"Yea, I have come for thee, Pocahontas," and there was manly decision +now in the youth's voice. "Waste no time. Drop down here beside me as +quietly as if thou wert stalking a deer. We will swim under water until +we are beyond reach of the white men's dull ears and before three days +are passed we shall be at Powhata, where thy father now abideth." + +The thought of all home meant made Pocahontas pause: the kindly interest +of all her tribe in everything she did; the affection of her father and +brothers; the haunts in the forest and on the river; the freedom of her +daily existence. Here was her chance to return to them. If she did not +take it, what lay ahead of her? A terror of the unknown overcame her for +the first time. The knowledge that an old and tried friend was near was +as grateful as a light shining before one on a dark night. Yet she +answered: + +"I can not go with thee, Claw-of-the-Eagle." + +The young brave uttered a low murmur of astonishment. + +"Dost thou not know," he asked, "that Japezaws hath betrayed thee; that +thou art to be kept captive in Jamestown in order to force The Powhatan +to do whatever the English desire of him?" + +"Yes, I know. Captain Argall hath told me all." + +"And yet thou dost hesitate? Art thou, the daughter of a mighty +werowance, _afraid_ to try to escape?" + +She did not deign to reply to such a charge, but whispered instead: + +"Hadst thou come last night I should have harkened to thee only too +gladly. In truth, I had determined to escape myself this night, no +matter what the difficulties might be. Pocahontas beareth a knife and +knoweth how to use it. But to-day I have come to think otherwise, for +there have been long hours in which to think. Thou knowest that +captivity is as wearisome to me as to a wild dove; yet as I sat here +alone with naught to do, I followed a trail in my mind that led to +Jamestown, and so I am minded to go thither." + +"But why?" asked Claw-of-the-Eagle. + +"Because by going I believe I can serve both our nation and the English. +My Brother, John Smith, said we must be friends, and I promised him e'er +he left to watch ever over the welfare of his people. My father loveth +me so much that in order to free me I think he will do as the English +wish, and so I will go with Captain Argall that the strife may cease +between them and us. But," and here her voice rose so that +Claw-of-the-Eagle had to remind her of their danger by a pressure on the +hand, "but I will not intercede for that traitor Japezaws and his crafty +squaw. My father may wreak vengeance on them when he will." + +Her voice, low as it was, had risen in her emotion, and the boy's keen +hearing had caught the movement of a man's foot on the wooden deck. They +kept still, breathless, for a moment; then as all was still again, +Claw-of-the-Eagle asked sadly, in a tone that mourned as wind through +the pine trees: + +"Then thou wilt not come with me? I had built a lodge for thee, Matoaka, +with a smoke hole wide enough to let in the whole moon thou lovest. My +arrows had killed young deer and turkeys and I had smoked and hung meat +for thee to last through all popanow (winter). A young maid is lonely +till she follows her brave--all this I came to the village of Japezaws +to pipe to thee. Now I have run wounded through the forests and swum the +black stream to tell it to thee, and thou bidst me turn back alone. But +if thou hast no wish to enter Claw-of-the-Eagle's lodge let him at least +escort thee safely to the wigwam of thy father." + +"I thank thee, Claw-of-the-Eagle, for all thou hast done," she +whispered, "and all thou wouldst do for me. There is no braver warrior +in the thirty tribes and no better hunter since Michabo. But I have +listened to my manitou and he hath said to me, 'Remember the word thou +gavest to thy white Brother.'" + +Claw-of-the-Eagle knew that it was useless to plead and yet he pleaded: +"Come back with me, Matoaka; what are the white men to thee and me?" + +But she whispered: "Go, Claw-of-the-Eagle, go quickly ere the sailors +awake. Hasten back to old Wansutis that she may bind up thy wound, and +to Powhatan and tell him that he must buy Pocahontas's freedom from the +English by returning their men he holdeth prisoners." + +While she was still speaking the young brave's mind was working rapidly. +At first the respect he owed her as the daughter of the great werowance +was uppermost and he thought he must needs do her bidding and leave her. +Little by little, however, he began to think of her as a young maiden, +strong and courageous, but not so strong as a man, who now stood in need +of the help of a brave. He hated the English more than ever, and +Pocahontas's promise to aid them seemed to him only a girlish +foolishness. Let them all perish on their island or return across the +sea whence they had come. Why should she go with them? Why should he let +her go? Who knew what treatment she would receive away from her own +people? If he should rescue her and bring her back to her father, would +he not thus win great favor in the eyes of Powhatan, who would not +refuse her to him as his squaw? If she would not come willingly, he +would carry her off against her will for her good. + +Rescue Pocahontas! And in addition--kill the hated white men! Had they +not wounded him and carried her off? There were not many of them and +they were all asleep. While he and Pocahontas had talked he had pulled +himself out of the water and thrown his legs over the stern. Now he +rose and whispered: + +"Before I go I would know what their canoe is like. Be not afeared for +me; there is no danger, only do not stir." + +She wished to remonstrate with him, but he was already a few paces ahead +of her, treading as lightly as if the deck were gravel that would roll +about and betray him with its noise, and she did not dare call out to +him. She saw him draw near to a sleeping sailor and stoop; but it was +too dark for her to see that he had placed his hand over the man's mouth +and with the knife in his other hand, had stabbed him to the heart. + +The sailor's dying struggles were noiseless and when they were over +Claw-of-the-Eagle moved softly on to the next. + +There was something sinister to Pocahontas in the silence; she began to +divine that it was not mere curiosity which was keeping +Claw-of-the-Eagle, and yet she dared not go in search of him. + +The second victim was despatched as easily as the first, and the third, +though he awoke before the blow was struck, was unable to avert it. The +young brave, whose lust for slaughter increased as he went on, felt +about for Captain Argall. Already the dawn was coming, and he could +distinguish the forms of the four other men. He bent over one of them; +his hand, burning with the fever from his wound and excitement, touched +the cheek of the man instead of the mouth. The sailor cried out +instantaneously even before he was awake; and Claw-of-the-Eagle, +realizing in a second that his game was up, slashed out with his knife +at him in passing as he ran for the stern. + +He could have leapt overboard more easily, but though he had failed to +kill all his enemies, he meant to rescue Pocahontas. He dashed towards +her, followed by the sailor. Argall and the two others of the crew, +roused at the outcry, were at their heels. Claw-of-the-Eagle caught +Pocahontas in his arms and before she knew what was happening, he had +sprung with her into the river. + +The sailor, who had been but slightly wounded by the young brave's +knife, had seized his musket as he ran. His forebears had been outlaws +with Robin Hood, skilful archers, and bowmen with Henry V at Agincourt, +whose arrows never failed to find French marks. The same keen eye and +strong arm were his with a musket. + +"Do not shoot. Mark!" called out Argall breathlessly. He did not know +what had happened prior to his own awakening, though his feet had +stumbled over the dead bodies of his men. "The Indian princess is there +in the water. Shoot not, for the love of heaven, or we'll have all the +red hordes of America on top of Jamestown!" + +Mark, however, had already made out the two figures in the water so +close together that Argall's older eyes thought them but one. And just +as Claw-of-the-Eagle, hampered by his wounded shoulder, was about to +sink below the surface of the river to swim under water, Mark took aim. +The bullet hit the top of the head, gashing the skin about the +scalp-lock, but did not penetrate very deeply. + +[Illustration: "DO NOT SHOOT, MARK!"] + +Pocahontas saw that he was not badly wounded; but the blood running down +his face and into his mouth and nose made it impossible for him to +breathe deeply enough to swim under water. His weakness from his +other wound, too, made his motions slower. Before he would be able to +put a safe distance between him and the pinnace the sailor would have +fired again. + +But he would not fire at her--the thought flashed through her brain! + +With a few rapid strokes she had reached the brave and flung her arm +under his wounded shoulder, bearing him up. + +"Now, Claw-of-the-Eagle," she cried, "let us make for the shore. They +will not dare fire at me." + +And Argall and his men watched their hostage and the murderer of their +companions making their escape, while they seemed powerless to prevent +it. Though Claw-of-the-Eagle's strokes grew slower and slower, +Pocahontas's strength was aiding him. Once on shore, the Englishmen knew +that even though delayed by his wound, the two could hide so that no +white man could find them. Besides, it was likely that other Indians +might be lurking in the forest. + +"Fooled! Fooled!" cried out Argall, hitting one fist against the other +in his disappointment. + +But Mark was not one who willingly gave up a chase he had begun. He saw +that the two had reached a willow tree with roots that lay twisted about +each other across the surface of the river. For one second the youth and +maiden, close together, hung on to this natural shelf, gaining strength +to pull themselves up on to the ground. He realized how disastrous it +would be to injure the daughter of the Powhatan. Nevertheless, he +determined to take a chance. + +To the horror of his captain, he took careful aim and fired. This time +the bullet found its mark--it hit the young brave in the back of his +head and penetrated the brain. + +In horror Pocahontas tried to catch him in her arms before he sank +heavily, with no sound, out of sight. Gone! so quickly! Dead! The boy +who had been her friend, who had tried to save her! + +She could not weep as she floated along with no conscious movement. Then +slowly she turned and swam back towards the pinnace, the sailors +wondering if she was in truth returning to them. She let herself be +helped over the side by Captain Argall. + +"I will go with thee to Jamestown, now," was all that she said. She gave +no explanation of what had happened and refused to answer their +questions, or to tell them why she had chosen to go with them when she +might have regained her freedom. + +They had hoisted the anchor and started off after laying their dead +comrades together. The sun was rising but the air was still chill and +the sailors brought their dry coats to Pocahontas to throw over her and +placed food before her. She would not touch it nor turn her face away +from the river behind her. + +As they began to sail slowly down the stream she leaned back over the +gunwale and beheld, borne by a swift eddy, the body of Claw-of-the-Eagle +float by her. She rose to her feet, the sunbeams falling upon her face +and her uplifted arms, and she sang aloud a song of death as her tribe +sang it while the river hurried with its burden seawards. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN + + +Very unhappy was Pocahontas the rest of the voyage to Jamestown. +Claw-of-the-Eagle had been dear to her as a brother, and she sorrowed +for him greatly. It was forlorn to be away thus from her own people and +among those whose ways and tongue were strange to her; and she longed +for Nautauquas, whom she had not seen for several moons. + +News of their coming had outrun them, and all of Jamestown was at the +wharf to greet them. Captain Argall stepped ashore and explained that he +had brought generous stores and what was of far greater value, the +daughter of Powhatan. Sir Thomas Dale, in all the bravery of his best +purple doublet and new bright Cordova leather boots, came forward and +doffing his plumed hat, said: + +"Welcome, Princess, and be not angry with us if we in all courtesy +constrain thee to abide with us awhile. Let it not irk thee to visit us +again, to stay for a few days with those who have been thy debtors since +the time thou didst save the life of Captain Smith." + +Pocahontas, whose anger had been rising at the treachery practised on +her by Japezaws and Argall, had intended to show in her manner how she +resented it; but the name of Captain Smith disarmed her. She recalled +her white Brother's parting words to her. + +She would befriend his colony, as she had ever done. So she smiled at +Sir Thomas and spoke to those about whom she knew and let them show her +the way to the house that they chose for her use, a few paces from the +Governor's. Mistress Lettice, the wife of one of the gentlemen, who was +to occupy it with her, laid out some of her own garments in case the +Indian maiden should care to change; and Pocahontas, forgetting the +dangers and sadness of the past days, laughed with amusement as she +tried on farthingale and wide skirt. + +"They are sending messengers to thy father. King Powhatan," the +Englishwoman said as she showed Pocahontas how to adjust a starched ruff +that scratched her neck so that she made a grimace. "They will tell him +that thou art here, and then surely in his anxiety to see thee again, he +will grant what Sir Thomas desires: that he deliver up our men and the +arms he hath taken and give us three hundred quarters of corn. Perchance +thou wouldst like to send some word of thine own to thy father. If so +be, there is an Indian boy who hath brought fish to trade, and he can +bear it for thee." + +"Bring him to me, I pray thee," said Pocahontas, speaking slowly the +unaccustomed English words. + +She was looking at herself in the ebony-framed mirror that hung opposite +the door, much interested in her strange appearance, when the Indian boy +entered, following Mistress Lettice. She saw his face in the glass and +recognized him as the son of a Powhatan chief. She turned and faced him, +but knew that he did not recognize her. He looked no further than her +clothes and so believed her an Englishwoman. It was a rare amusement, +she thought, and she watched him eagerly to see his surprise when he +should find out his mistake. She was well rewarded by his puzzled and +astonished expression when she called out to him: + +"Little Squirrel!" When she herself had stopped laughing, she added: +"Take this sad message to old Wansutis. Tell her that her son, +Claw-of-the-Eagle, hath met his death bravely and that Pocahontas mourns +him with her." + +Then she dismissed the boy. As he walked away she remembered that she +desired him to bear also a special word to Nautauquas, so she started to +run and call him back. But the unaccustomed weight of her clothes and +shoes prevented her and she began to pull them off her even before she +reached the house, crying out: + +"Nay, I will not prison myself thus; give me back mine own garments," +and she breathed deep breaths of satisfaction when she had resumed them. + +Had the manner of her coming to Jamestown been otherwise, with no +treachery and no compulsion which hurt her pride, Pocahontas would have +much enjoyed her stay and a closer view of the ways of the English. As +it was, she was restlessly awaiting the message her father would return +to the demands of the colonists. The next day the messengers came back, +bringing with them the Englishmen who had been held captive by Powhatan +and some of the arms. The werowance promised, they reported, that when +his daughter was restored to him he would give the corn which the white +men asked for. + +This answer did not satisfy the Council, and day by day there were +parleyings in which the white men and the red men sought to constrain or +evade each other. Each side recognized the value of Pocahontas as a +hostage. She was not now unhappy. Even if the colonists had not done +their best to requite with kindness all the care she had manifested for +their welfare, policy would have led them to treat her with every +consideration. She was made welcome everywhere, and she went from the +guard house to that of the Governor, asking questions, eager to learn +all details, from the way to fire off a musket to the heating of the +sealing wax and the making of a great red seal which Master John Rolfe, +Secretary and Recorder General of the Colony, affixed to all the +documents sent to the Company in London. + +He explained everything to her, taking pains to choose the simplest +words, because he found a keen pleasure in watching her dark eyes +brighten when she began to comprehend something which had puzzled her, +and because her laughter and quick coming and going in the masculine +atmosphere of the council room was a most agreeable change from its +usual dull calm. He was a widower and, though he had got over the +sadness of the loss of his wife, he still missed a woman's +companionship. So he was nothing loath to follow when Pocahontas +commanded one day: + +"Come with me about the town and answer more of my questions. I have +stored away as many as a squirrel stores nuts for popanow--what keeps +the ship from floating with the tide down to the great water? Why doth +that man sit with his legs before him?"--and she pointed to a carpenter +who had been imprisoned in the stocks in punishment for theft--"And +why?"--... + +And Rolfe found himself kept as busy as Mr. Squirrel himself in cracking +her questions for her. + +She soon got over her awe of the white men, judging, now that she had a +closer view of them, that they were in many ways like her own people. +And seeing that her lightheartedness was pleasant to them, she teased +and joked with them. + +"Wilt thou eat a persimmon?" she asked Rolfe, smiling at the trap she +was laying as she stood on tiptoe to pick one from a branch above her. +And Rolfe bit into the golden fruit, not knowing that the persimmon till +ripened by frost is for the eye only. She laughed with glee as she saw +his mouth all puckered up until he believed it would never unpucker +again. + +"I'll pay thee for this some day," he threatened in mock anger as soon +as he could speak; but she only laughed the more. + +One of the reasons that Pocahontas was content to remain in Jamestown +was that she hoped to get news of Captain Smith's return. Every day she +would ask, sometimes Mistress Lettice, sometimes Sir Thomas Dale, or +anyone with whom she spoke: + +"When cometh back the Captain? I am longing to see my Brother." + +And one told her one thing, one another, some lying because it was +easier; some from sheer ignorance said they had heard that John Smith +had gone back to fight the Turks; that he grew fat and lazy in his +English home; that he was exploring further up the coast; that he might +be expected at Jamestown with the next ship. And Pocahontas, believing +those who said the last because she wished this to be the truth, was not +unhappy to wait among strangers that she might be the first to welcome +him. + +The spot in the town which most excited her curiosity was the church. +The colonists had now replaced the first rude hut by a substantial +building with a tower. The bells that called Jamestown to daily prayers +had a weird fascination for the Indian girl. They seemed to speak a +language she could not understand. Nor could she understand the ceremony +which she observed, wide-eyed, of the kneeling men and women and the +white-robed clergyman who stretched out his arms over them. + +"What doth it signify?" she queried; and Rolfe, remembering that the +conversion of the heathen was one of the reasons given by Europe for +sending colonies to the New World, tried to explain the mysteries of his +faith to her. But he found it too difficult a task, and besought the +Reverend Thomas Alexander Whitaker to undertake it in his stead. + +This the zealous and gentle minister of the Gospel gladly consented to +do. Here was the great opportunity he had desired since his coming to +Virginia--to make an Indian convert so notable that this conversion +might bring others in its train. Moreover the maiden herself interested +him. But it was not so easy to go about it. Pocahontas's knowledge of +English did not extend beyond the simplest expressions; and he found it +necessary to translate the long and abstruse theological dogmas into +familiar terms. He had almost despaired of making her comprehend until +he recalled how his Master had taught in parables. So he retold the +incidents of His life in stories which held the Indian maiden +spellbound. He showed her pictures in heavy leathern-bound volumes, and +tried with less success to explain the meaning of the daily religious +services he conducted in the church. + +"Why do ye put always flowers on that table?" she asked, pointing to the +vases on the altar which the Governor bade keep always filled with fresh +blossoms as long as the forests and river bank could supply them. "What +good hath thy god of them?" + +"Dost thou not take delight in the sunshine. Princess?" replied the +priest as they sat in the cool shade of the darkened church looking out +through the open door at waving green branches and the river beyond. "I +have beheld thee lift up thine arms on a fair day when the swift white +clouds moved across the blue heavens as if thou wouldst embrace the +whole wide earth. Why dost thou take pleasure in such things?" + +"Because," hesitated the maiden, seeking for a reason, "because they +make me happy." + +"Because," he added, "they are beautiful. And God who created all this +beauty rejoiceth too in it--in green fields and noble trees, in lovely +maidens, strong men and happy children. Therefore, in token thereof, we +place beautiful flowers upon His table." + +"And delighteth he not in incantations of shamans and jossakeed +(inspired prophets) and in self-torture?" she queried. + +"Nay," he answered; "such things are of the Devil; our God is love. +Ponder upon the difference." + +And Pocahontas did think much of what he told her. Her spirit was +maturing in this new atmosphere like a quick-growing vine climbing +higher each day. Dr. Whitaker's own fatherly kindness to her and to all +the colony became for her the symbol of the tenderness of the God of +whom he taught her. Then, too, this strange new deity was the god of her +Brother, John Smith; and whatever in any way was dear to him she wanted +to make her own. + +For weeks the instruction continued and at last Dr. Whitaker told Sir +Thomas Dale that he believed the Indian princess was now sufficiently +impressed with the teachings of Christianity to be baptized. So Sir +Thomas, meeting her one afternoon as she stood by the wharf watching men +unload a ship but newly arrived from England, began: + +"Good even, Princess, I rejoice at the news Dr. Whitaker hath even now +imparted to me, that he hath instructed thee fully in the teachings of +our blessed faith, and that thou hast shown wisdom and comprehension. +The time hath therefore arrived for thee to bear witness before man to +the truth and to accept the blessed sacrament of baptism at his hands +and to swear publicly that thou wilt have naught more to do with the +heathen gods whom thy people ignorantly worship." + +"I will not give them up," Pocahontas cried out in anger such as she had +not shown for many a day; and to Sir Thomas's amazement, she turned her +back upon his presence and sped, swift as a fawn, into the thicket which +still covered a portion of the island. + +There she lay upon the ground, panting with emotion and passionately +going over her arguments: "Why should I forsake the Okee of my fathers? +Why should I hate what my brothers serve? Why should I prefer this god +of the strangers?" + +She did not know that a sudden attack of homesickness was the principal +cause of this outburst. She was longing to sit at her father's knee, to +hunt with Nautauquas; and she wondered if they had ceased to care for +her that they left her to stay among the strangers. + +Here, at sunset, Dr. Whitaker, set upon her track by the startled Sir +Thomas, found her and seating himself beside her, he talked to her +gently, not finding fault with her loyalty to her people and their +beliefs, but explaining how they had never had the chance to hear what +she was being taught, and how by acknowledging the Christians' God, she +might lead those she loved to do the same and to benefit by His great +gifts. + +Not in one day did the clergyman convince her; but by the time April had +come Pocahontas eagerly consented to her baptism. Clothed by Mistress +Lettice in a simple white gown free from ruff and farthingale, with her +long black hair hanging down her back, Pocahontas walked to the little +church filled with all the inhabitants and a few Indians from the +mainland who wondered what it all meant; and while the bells rang softly +in the soft spring air, Pocahontas, the first of her race, was baptized +into the Christian faith, with the new name of Rebecca. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JOHN ROLFE + + +To John Rolfe and to all who observed closely the Lady Rebecca--as she +was now called--it seemed as if the little Indian maiden had put on a +new womanly dignity since her baptism. And to John Rolfe in special she +grew more lovely every day. He spent much time with her, strolling all +over Jamestown island and even the mainland. In the woods she taught him +as much as he taught her in the town: to observe the habits of the wild +animals and to find his way through a trackless forest. Often they would +go in a boat to catch fish or to dig for oysters in the Indian fashion. + +At times Rolfe was very happy, and at other moments perplexed and cast +down. It was joy for him to be in the company of one who made him feel +how splendid a thing was life and how full of interest and beauty the +woods, fields and river. Yet when the thought of marriage came to him he +remembered the difficulties in the way. First, she was, though called a +princess, only the child of a cruel savage chief and one accustomed to +savage ways. Why should he, an English gentleman, choose her instead of +a woman of his own race brought up in the manner of his people? + +Then, even if he were willing, it was unlikely that Powhatan would +consent to let his daughter wed a white man or the Governor on his side +allow it. So he pondered; but no matter what the obstacles in his way, +he came back again and again to his determination to win Pocahontas's +love and to marry her. Now that she had become a Christian, there was +one less barrier between them. + +Rolfe believed that his feelings for Pocahontas had gone unnoticed by +anyone, but Mistress Lettice, who had grown very fond of the Indian +maiden confided to her especial care, was far from blind in anything +that concerned her charge. Moreover, she had heard enough of the +discussions which went on in the Council to know that such a marriage +would be approved, since it would secure to the Colony the valuable +friendship of Powhatan. But she was also aware of an obstacle which +might prevent its coming to pass. This knowledge of hers she was +determined to share. + +One day she invited certain members of the Council to her house to drink +a cask of sack her brother in London had sent her by the last ship. She +had baked cake, also, and so excellent was its taste after the weariness +of plain baker's bread, that many of her guests sighed at the +remembrance of their womanless households; and those who had wives +behind in England determined to send for them without further delay. + +"But what I have to say, your Worships," she continued when she had +ceased serving and had settled down in a highbacked chair to rest, "is +that the Lady Rebecca will never wed another while she harboureth the +thought of Captain Smith's return." + +"What! did he teach her to love him?" exclaimed one who would gladly +have listened to any ill of Smith. + +"Nay, if ye should even question her thus she would not know how to +reply. She thinketh and speaketh of him constantly and in her thoughts +he standeth midway between a god and an elder brother, even as she doth +call him. All the knowledge she acquireth is learned because she +believeth he would wish it and will be glad to know that she is no +longer the ignorant child of the woods as he first saw her. She wished +even to delay her baptism because she expecteth him by every ship, and +this I know full well--she will marry no man until she hath speech with +Captain Smith or," here she paused significantly, "she believeth him to +be dead." + +She paused again to let her words sink in. Mistress Lettice wished no +harm to Pocahontas. Indeed she loved her dearly and desired above all +things to see her happy. And she believed that Rolfe as her husband +would make her happy. Smith, if not indeed dead, was not likely to +return to Jamestown, and therefore he might better be dead as far as +Pocahontas was concerned, she thought. The worthy dame had picked her +audience, which was composed chiefly of men who were well known to be +enemies of Smith, who would not hold back from a slight untruth when +they felt sure that it would help to secure safety from Indian attacks, +which were proving so disastrous to their small community. + +"We are mightily amazed at thy words. Mistress Lettice," said one of +her guests at last; "and in truth it hath taken thy woman's eyes to see +what was going on under our very noses and thy woman's tongue to show us +the importance of Master Rolfe's courtship to the welfare of the Colony. +If so small a thing as what thou hast suggested is all that stands +between us and the confirmation of this marriage, why, that is as easily +disposed of as this flagon of thy brother's sack which I drink to thy +health." + +He put the emptied cup upon the table and the company rose to go, now +that both business and pleasure were finished. They did not need much +talk about what they intended to do. + +As they were bidding Mistress Lettice farewell, with many compliments on +her housewifery and her zeal for the settlement, Pocahontas appeared at +the door. She had been, as Mistress Lettice well knew, away with Rolfe, +showing him how her people planted tobacco, since he had become much +interested in this weed--being the first in the Colony to grow it--and +had expressed what seemed to his neighbors ridiculous hopes of future +wealth to be derived from the sale of tobacco in England. + +Pocahontas looked about her with eagerness, and while the men doffed +their hats, she asked: + +"What hath happened, sirs, that so many come to visit us at one time? It +is like our councils when the old chiefs debate about the council +fires." + +No one was anxious to be the first to answer, but since some reply was +necessary, the councilor who had testified to Mistress Lettice's insight +said slowly and solemnly: + +"We have come. Princess, to condole with thee at the death of thy +friend, Captain John Smith." + +"Dead!" cried Pocahontas. "He is dead?" + +And the men, who wished not to burden their consciences with a spoken +lie, all nodded assent. They thought to see the girl burst into tears or +run away, as they had more than once seen her do when she was +displeased; but instead she stood still, her face as motionless as a +statue's. They were glad to slip away with muttered words of sympathy. + +Nor when they were gone did Mistress Lettice's curious and affectionate +eyes witness any sign of sorrow. + +"I own myself wrong," she said that night to her husband; "she careth +naught for the Captain. I wept all day last Michaelmas when my old dog +died." + +But Mistress Lettice did not hear the door unlatched that night, nor the +moccasined feet of Pocahontas as they sped through the street down to a +quiet spot on the river bank whither she often went. The maiden's heart +was so full that under a roof she felt it would burst. And until dawn +she stood on the shore, her face turned eastward towards the sea across +which he had sailed away, bewailing her "Brother" in the manner of her +people, now calling to Okee to guide him to the happy hunting grounds, +and now praying God to bear his soul to the Christian heaven. + + * * * * * + +John Rolfe found nothing amiss with Pocahontas when he saw her next day, +nor did any of the conspirators tell him of the false news that they had +communicated to Lady Rebecca or their interest in his wooing. + +And his wooing was very gentle and wonderful to Pocahontas. No Indian +lover, she knew, ever won his squaw in this way. She listened to his +words with amazement when he told her that he wanted her to be his wife, +to make a home for him in this new land. When she gave him her word she +felt much as if she were the very heroine of one of the tales she had +listened to so often about the lodge fire, a deer perhaps that was to be +magically transformed into human shape, or a bird on whom the spirits +had bestowed speech--so immeasurably superior did the English still +appear to her. + +It was some weeks later that Sir Thomas Dale, grown impatient for a +settlement of their differences with Powhatan, decided to go to +Werowocomoco and take Pocahontas with him to act as peacemaker. With +them, on Argall's ship, went John Rolfe and Master Sparkes and one +hundred and fifty men. + +When they tried to land at a village near Werowocomoco the Indians were +very arrogant and opposed their passage. In return the English fired +upon them and when the terrified savages ran into the forest to escape +the white men's weapons, the victors burned all the lodges of the town +and wantonly spoiled the corn stacked up in a storehouse. + +Pocahontas, who was sorrowful at the enmity between those she loved, +besought Sir Thomas: + +"Let me go among my people. They will harken to me and I will hasten to +my father, and when he beholdeth me once more he will deny me nothing. +And it is a long time since I have looked upon his face," she pleaded. + +But Sir Thomas refused. He was not minded to lose this valuable hostage; +even though Pocahontas might be eager to return, he was sure that the +old chieftain would never let her leave him. + +"Prithee, then," she suggested sadly, "send messengers in my name, +saying that ye will abstain from further fighting for a night and day. +If the messengers bear this feather of mine," here she took a white +eagle's feather from her headband, "they may pass in safety where they +will." As they were leaving she charged them: "And beg of my father to +send my brothers to see me, since I may not go to them." + +Now that she was so near home again she was homesick for the sight of +some member of her family that she had not seen for many moons. Her +father would not come, she felt sure, because he would not wish to treat +with the white men in person. She waited anxiously, her eyes and ears +strained for the sound of the messengers returning. + +An hour or so later she beheld in the distance two tall figures +approaching, and she sprang ashore from the boat, crying: + +"Nautauquas! Catanaugh!" as her two brothers hurried to meet her. + +"Is it indeed our little Matoaka?" asked Nautauquas, "and unharmed and +well?" + +He looked at her critically, as if seeking to discover some great change +in her. + +"We feared we knew not what evil medicine they might have used against +thee, little Snow Feather. How have they dealt with thee in thy +captivity?" + +"But fear no longer," cried Catanaugh, whose glance was fixed upon the +canoe of the palefaces; "we shall rescue thee now if we have to kill +every one of them yonder to get thee free." + +"Nay, my brothers," said Pocahontas, laying her hand gently on his +sinewy arm, "they are my friends, and they have treated me well. Look! +am I wasted with starvation or broken with torture? Harm them not. I am +come to plead with our father to make peace with them. It is as if yon +tree should plead with the sky and the earth not to quarrel, since both +are dear to it. The English are a great nation. Let us be friends with +them." + +"Have they bewitched thee, Matoaka?" asked Catanaugh sternly. "Hast thou +forgot thy father's lodge now that thou hast dwelt among these +strangers?" + +"Nay, Brother, but...." + +Nautauquas was quick to notice Pocahontas's confusion and the blush that +stole over her soft dark cheek. + +"I think," he said, smiling at her, "that our little Sister hath a story +to tell us. Let us sit here beneath the trees, as we so often sat when +we were wearied hunting, and listen to her words." + +It was not easy at first for Pocahontas to explain how it had come +about. But as she sat there on the warm brown pine needles, snuggled +closely against Nautauquas's shoulder, she found courage to tell of the +strong, fine Englishman who had taught her so much, and how one day he +had asked her to become his squaw after the manner of the white people. +She told them also how Sir Thomas Dale, the Governor, had willingly +given his consent. + +"Believe ye not," she concluded, looking eagerly first at one and then +the other of her brothers, "that our father will make peace for my sake +with the nation to which my brave belongeth?" + +Catanaugh said nothing, but Nautauquas laid his hand on his sister's arm +and looked her in the eyes searchingly: + +"Art thou happy?" + +"Yea, Brother, very happy. He is dear to me because I know him and +because I know him not. Thou surely hast not forgotten how Matoaka ever +longed for what lay unknown beyond her." + +"Hath thy manitou spoken?" questioned Nautauquas again. + +"The God of the Christians is my god now," she answered. + +"So should it be," said Nautauquas, although Catanaugh scowled; "a woman +must worship the spirits to which her brave prayeth. Then all is well +with thee?" + +"All if my father will but make peace. I would I might go to see him. +Doth he love me still?" she asked wistfully. + +"He saith," answered Nautauquas, "that he loveth thee as his life and, +though he hath many children, that he delighteth in none so much as in +thee." + +Pocahontas sighed half sadly, half happily. "Bear to him my loving +greetings. Brother," she said, "and say to him that Matoaka's thoughts +go to him each day, even as the tide cometh up the river from the sea." + +"He hath agreed," said Catanaugh, "to a truce until taquitock (fall of +the leaf) if the English will send important hostages to him, whom he +may hold as they hold thee." + +"And Cleopatra and our other sisters and old Wansutis, how is it with +them all, and...." and Pocahontas strung the names of most of the +inhabitants of Werowocomoco together in her enquiries. She listened to +all the news they had to tell her of the great deeds accomplished by the +young braves and the wise speeches made by the old chiefs in council, of +the harvest dances, of the losses on the warpath, and of old Wansutis, +who had grown more strange and more silent since Claw-of-the-Eagle's +death. Then Pocahontas told them of the manner of his going; and +Catanaugh's eyes flashed as he heard of the three palefaces his friend +had slain. + +They had not noticed how long they had sat there chatting until they saw +Sir Thomas himself coming down from the ship, accompanied by Rolfe and +Master Sparkes. + +"These two, Princess," he said, "will be the hostages we send to thy +father; and thy brothers will remain with us." + +The two Indians looked at the white men keenly. From the glance their +sister gave Rolfe they knew he must be her affianced husband. And Rolfe +looked with the same curiosity at his future brothers-in-law. They were +tall like their father, strong and well-built, men such as other men +liked to look at, no matter what their color might be. But it was +Nautauquas in particular that pleased him. He recalled that John Smith +had said of him that he was "the most manliest, comliest, boldest spirit +I ever saw in a savage." + +After they had conversed for a little, Rolfe and Sparkes, accompanied by +certain Indians to whom Nautauquas confided them, set out on their way +to Werowocomoco. They did not fear that harm would come to them, but +they begrudged the time they must spend away from the colony. On their +arrival Powhatan, who was still angry with the English, refused to see +them, so Opechanchanough entertained them and promised to intercede +with his brother for them. Nautauquas's messenger had brought him the +news of Rolfe's relation to his niece. + +In the meantime the truce was extended until the autumn and the +Englishmen were sent back to Jamestown. Nautauquas and Catanaugh had +enjoyed their time on the island among the palefaces, Catanaugh being +interested only in the fort and its guns and in the ship, and +Nautauquas, not only in these, but in talking as well as he could with +the colonists. He and Pocahontas again went hunting together on the +mainland, for the Governor allowed them full liberty to come and go as +they pleased, feeling sure that Nautauquas would keep his word not to +leave Jamestown until the Powhatan sent back Rolfe and Sparkes. + +And the day that these returned the two braves set off to join their +father at Orapaks. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WEDDING + + +Everyone in Jamestown was astir early one April morning in 1614. The +soldiers and the few children of the settlement, impressed with the +importance of their errand, had gone into the woods to cut large sprays +of wild azalea and magnolia to deck the church. + +Sir Thomas Dale, and in truth all the cavaliers of the town, had seen +that their best costumes were in order, sighing at the moth holes in +precious cloth doublets and the rents in Flemish lace collars and cuffs, +yet satisfied on the whole with their holiday appearance. The few women +of the Colony, Mistress Easton, Mistress Horton, Elizabeth Parsons and +others, had of course prepared their garments many days before. It was +not often they had an excuse for decking themselves in the finery they +had packed with such care and misgivings back in their English homes; +and this was an occasion such as no one in the world had ever before +participated in. Here was an English gentleman of old lineage who was to +wed the daughter of a great heathen ruler, one in whose power it lay to +help or hinder the progress of this first permanent English colony in +the New World. In addition to making themselves as gay as possible, +they had prepared a wedding breakfast to be served to the gentry at the +Governor's house, and the Governor had provided that meat and other +viands and ale should be distributed from the general store to the +soldiers and laborers and the Indians, their guests. + +The guard at the fort was kept busy admitting the Indians and bidding +them lay aside their bows, hatchets or knives; though in truth no one +that day looked for any hostile act, since Powhatan's consent to his +daughter's marriage had put an end to the enmity between them. + +He himself had not come to the ceremony. He was not minded to set his +foot upon any land other than his own, but he had sent as his +representative Pocahontas's uncle, Opechisco, and many messages of +affection to "his dearest daughter." The elderly werowance wore all the +ceremonial robes of his tribe: a headdress of feathers, leggings and +girdle and a long deerskin mantle heavily embroidered in beads of shell. +With him came Nautauquaus and Catanaugh. The two wandered as they +pleased through the town, and Nautauquaus, seeing Rolfe arrive in his +boat from his plantation Varina, where he had built a house for +Pocahontas, stepped forward to greet him. His love for Pocahontas made +him desire to know her future husband better. Though this man was of +another world than his, though his thoughts and ways were different, he +was a man as he was; therefore the Indian brave tried to appraise him by +the same methods he used in judging the men of his own race--and he was +satisfied. Rolfe, recognizing him, shook hands heartily and talked for a +while, enquiring about those of his family he had known while a hostage +at Werowocomoco. + +After Rolfe had left him to enter the Governor's house, Nautauquas +turned to find out what Catanaugh was doing, but could see nothing of +him. + +Catanaugh had not felt the same interest in Rolfe as did his brother and +had strolled away towards Pocahontas's house. He had a question he was +eager to put to her while Nautauquas was not by. He found his sister in +her white gown, with brightly embroidered moccasins on her feet and a +circlet of beads and feathers about her head. + +"Wilt thou not adorn thyself," he asked, "with the bright chains of the +white men?" + +"Nay, Brother," she answered; "it may be that I shall wear the strange +robes some day, and the bright chains and jewels I will don to-morrow +when I am the squaw of an Englishman; but to-day I am still only the +daughter of Powhatan." + +Catanaugh said nothing further, yet he still stood in the doorway. + +"Enter," invited Pocahontas, "and behold how I live." + +"I see enough," he answered, turning his head from side to side; "but +where dwelleth the white man's Okee?" + +"The God of the Christians?" she asked, puzzled at his question; "in the +sky above." + +"But where do the shamans call to him?" he continued. + +"Yonder in the church, that building with the peak to it," she pointed +out. + +"I will walk some more," announced Catanaugh and left her. When he +thought Pocahontas was no longer observing him, he hastened in the +direction of the church. During his former short stay in Jamestown he +had never been inside and had thought of it--if he paid any attention +to it at all--as some kind of a storehouse. + +He found the door open and entered quietly, glancing cautiously about +until he had assured himself that it was empty. Then he pushed the door +to and fastened it with the bolt. This done, he set about examining the +building curiously. At the end, towards the rising sun, was an elevation +of three steps which made him think of the raised dais that ran across +the end of Powhatan's ceremonial lodge. This was lined with the reddish +wood of the cedar, and there was a dark wooden table covered with a +white cloth standing in it, and the sun shining through the windows +above made the vases filled with flowers glisten brightly. In the part +where he stood there were many benches and chairs, and everywhere that +it was possible to stand or hang them, was a profusion of fragrant +flowering branches. + +The very simplicity of the church awed him; had there been a +multiplicity of furnishings, of strange objects whose use he could not +comprehend, he would have felt he had something definite to watch and +fear. His impulse was to flee out into the sunshine, and he turned +towards the door. Then he remembered his object in coming and stood +still again. + +He listened intently, but there was no sound; then taking from the pouch +that hung at his side a lump of deer's suet, he smeared it about the +sides of the benches and the backs of the chairs. Then with a handful of +tobacco taken from the same receptacle he began to sprinkle a small +circle in the centre aisle. When this was complete he seated himself +crosslegged inside of it. Slowly and deliberately he drew from the +larger pouch slung at his back and covered by his long mantle, a mask, +somewhat out of shape from its confinement in a small space, and a +rattle made of a gourd filled with pebbles. He attached the mask to his +face as carefully as if he were to be observed by all his tribe, and +laid the rattle across his knees. All these preparations had taken place +so quietly that no one who might have been in the church could have +discovered the Indian's presence by the aid of his ears alone. + +Catanaugh had not come to Jamestown with the sole idea of witnessing his +sister's wedding. It was not altogether of his own will that he was now +about to undertake a dangerous experiment. He was by no manner of means +a coward: his long row of scalps attested to his prowess as a brave; +but, unlike Nautauquas, he was one who followed where others led, who +obeyed when others commanded. He was fierce in fight, relentless to an +enemy, could not even dream as did his father and brother that the white +men might become valuable allies and friends. He would gladly have +killed them all, and he had grown more and more unwilling that +Pocahontas should unite herself to one of these interlopers, as he +called them, because he realized that her marriage would make a bond of +peace between the two peoples. He had hoped to discover that Pocahontas +was being forced into this marriage, in which case he had been prepared +to carry her off by some desperate deed at the last moment; but he could +not help seeing that she was happy and free in her choice, and would +never follow him willingly or go quietly if he tried to make her. + +Catanaugh was a member of the secret society of Mediwiwin and he was one +who had great faith in medicine men and shamans. He never undertook +even a hunting expedition unless he had had a shaman consult his Okee to +decide if the day would be a lucky one. In every religious ceremony he +would take an active part, would fast if the shamans said it was +pleasing to Okee, would kill his enemies or save them for slaves, +whichever the shamans suggested. He was himself little of a talker +except when after victory he was loud and long in his boasting; but he +loved nothing better than to listen when the shamans told tales, as they +sat on winter evenings around a lodge fire, or as they lay during the +long summer twilights on the soft dried grass, of the transformations of +human beings into otter, bear or deer forms, of the pursuit of evil +demons, of magic incantations. And the shamans, sure always of an +audience in Catanaugh, made much of him, and in many ways without his +knowing it, used him as a tool. + +Now, it was at their bidding that he sat there motionless, except for +his lips, which recited in a tone as regular and as loud as a +tree-toad's the words of an incantation they had taught him. And all the +time he, who had never trembled before an enemy, was trembling from fear +of the unknown. Of course, it was wise for the shamans to make this +trial, but he wished it had been possible for one of them to have taken +his place. But they knew they would never have got the chance to slip +unnoticed as he had done into the lodge of the white man's Okee. + +He wondered how this strange Okee would answer his call, for answer he +knew he must. The incantation was such strong medicine that no spirit +could resist it, especially when he shook the rattle as he did now, +rising to his feet and lifting his foot higher and higher, as bending +over, he went round and round on his tiptoes, always within the confines +of the tobacco circle. The shamans had been determined to find out what +kind of an Okee protected the white men, and it was only in this spot +they could do so. The palefaces knew so many things the Indian had never +learned and which he must learn if he was to hold his own against the +terrible medicine of the strangers. + +Catanaugh was afraid he might forget some of the magic words the Okee +would speak, which the shamans had told him he must hold fast in his +mind as he would hold a slippery eel in his hand. Even if he didn't +understand them he must just remember them, because they would be wise +enough to interpret them. He meant, too, if he only had the courage, to +try to make the Okee prevent the wedding. + +He had been shaking the rattle gently for fear it might be heard outside +the church; but now, anxious to bring this dreadful task to an end, he +began to shake it with all his might in one last challenge to the +strange spirit. + +Bim! Bam! Boum! BOUM! Bim! + +Catanaugh jumped like a deer that hears the crackle of a twig behind it. +Here in the deep brazen voice of the marriage bells ringing out in the +belfry above him he thought he heard the answer his incantation had +forced from the white man's Okee. But the voice was so terrible, so +loud, that, forgetting the shaman's injunctions, forgetting everything +but his need to escape, he rushed to the door, unbolted it frantically +and ran, still pursued by the "him, barn, boum" till he reached the +fort, where the frightened sentries, who had no orders to keep any +Indian from _leaving_ the town, let the masked figure through the gates. + +Dr. James Buck, who with Dr. Whitaker, was to perform the ceremony, +arrived at the church just as the wedding party was starting from the +other end of the town. His foot hit against something. He stooped and +picked up a rattle and his fingers were covered with brown dust. Hastily +seizing a broom which stood in the vestry-room, he swept the tobacco +down the aisle and into a corner. The curious rattle he hid with the +replaced broom, to be investigated later. Then he took his stand in the +chancel, where Dr. Whitaker soon joined him, and through the open door +the two clergymen watched their flock approach. Most of them were men, +cavaliers as finely dressed, if their garments were somewhat faded, as +though they were to sit in Westminster Abbey; soldiers in leathern +jerkins; bakers, masons, carpenters, with freshly washed face and hands, +in their Sunday garments of fustian and minus workaday aprons; and the +few women were in figured tabbies and damasks. + +Now when the congregation had filled every seat and were lined up +against the walls, a number of Indians, all relatives of Pocahontas, +slipped in and stood silently with faces that seemed not alive except +for the keenness of their curious eyes. Them through the doorway came +Pocahontas and old Opechisco and Nautauquas. + +A sudden feeling of the wonder of this marriage overcame Alexander +Whitaker. This Indian maiden who was a creature of the woods, shy and +proud as a wild animal, was to be married by him to an Englishman with +centuries of civilization behind him. What boded it for them both and +for their races? + +Then with love for the maiden whom he had baptized and with faith in his +heart, he listened while Dr. Buck began, until he himself asked in a +loud, clear voice: + +"Rebecca, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?" + +After the feast was over the bride said to her husband, using his +Christian name shyly for the first time: + +"John, wilt thou walk with me into the forest a little?" + +And Rolfe, nothing loath to escape the noisy crowd, rose to go with her. + +"Why dost thou care to come here?" he asked when they found themselves +beyond the causeway in the woods flecked with the white of the +innumerable dogwood trees. + +"Because I feel Jamestown too small to-day, John; because I have ever +sought the forest when I was happy or sad; because it seemeth to me that +the trees and beasts would be hurt if I did not let them see me this +great day." + +"'Tis a pretty fancy, but a pagan one, my child," said Rolfe, frowning +slightly. + +But Pocahontas did not notice. She had caught a glimpse across the leafy +branches of the spotted sides of a deer, and she saw a striped chipmunk +peer at her from overhead. + +"Hey! little friends," she called out gaily to them, "here's Pocahontas +come to greet ye. Wish her happiness, that her nest may be filled with +nuts. Little Dancer, and cool shade, Bright Eyes, in hot noondays." Then +as two wood pigeons flew by she clapped her hands gently together and +cried: + +"Here's _my_ mate, Swift Wings, wish us happiness." + +And John Rolfe, sober Englishman that he was, felt uprise in him a new +kinship with all the breathing things of the world, and he wondered +whether this Indian maiden he had made his wife did not know more of the +secrets of the earth than the wise men of Europe. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF + + +Pocahontas, clothed in European garb, was returning to her home at +Varina from the river, whither she had accompanied John Rolfe half a +day's journey towards Jamestown. The boatmen had escorted her from the +skiff and now doffed their hats as she bade them come no further. + +In the two years which had passed since her marriage, the little Indian +maiden had learned many things: to speak fluently the language of her +husband's people, to wear in public the clothes of his countrywomen, and +to use the manners of those of high estate. She had always been +accustomed to the deference paid her as the daughter of the great +werowance, ruler over thirty tribes, and now she received that of the +English, who treated her as the daughter of a powerful ally. For +Powhatan had seen the wisdom of keeping peace between Werowocomoco and +Jamestown and its settlement up the river of Henrici, of which Rolfe's +estate, Varina, was a portion. + +Indeed, so stately was the manner of the Lady Rebecca that it was with +difficulty that many could recall the wide-eyed maiden who used to come +and go at Jamestown. + +Now as she ascended the hill her eyes rested upon the home Rolfe had +built for her. It was to the eyes of Englishmen, accustomed to the +spacious manor houses of their own country, little more than a cabin. +But to one who had seen nothing finer than the lodges of her father's +towns, it was a very grand structure indeed, with its solid framework of +oak, its four rooms, its chimney of brick and its furnishings sent over +from London. Her husband had promised her that they should bring back +many other wonderful arrangements when they returned from England. + +She was a little warm from her climb and was looking forward to the +moment when she could discard her clothes for her loose buckskin robe +and moccasins. Rolfe, though he did not forbid them altogether, was not +pleased at the sight of them; and Pocahontas this day was conscious of a +slight feeling of relief that there were to be several days of his +absence in which she could forget to be an Englishwoman. + +She might forget for a while but only for a while for she was a happy +and dutiful wife; but she could never forget that she was a mother, that +her wonderful little Thomas, not so white as his father, nor so dark as +herself, was waiting for her at the house. She hurried on, thinking of +the fun she would have with him: how she would take him down to a stream +and let him lie naked on the warm rocks, and how she would sing Indian +songs to him and tell him stories of the beasts in the woods, even if he +were too little to understand them. + +She had left him in his cradle where, protected by its high sides, he +was safe for hours at a time, and the workmen who were helping her +husband start a tobacco plantation at Varina looked in often to see if +he were all right. + +She entered the house and hurrying to the cradle, called out: + +"Little Rabbit, here I am." + +But when she bent over the side, behold! the cradle was empty. + +She looked in every room, but found no sign of him. Then she rushed to +the door and called. Three of the men came running, and they told her, +speaking one on top of the other, how half an hour after she and their +master had left one of them had gone to look at the child and found the +cradle empty. Since then they had been searching the place over, but +with no success. + +It was quite impossible for the child to have got away alone; yet who +would take him away? Indians or white folk, there was none in all +Virginia who would dare injure the grandchild of Powhatan. + +When she had listened to what they had to say, Pocahontas bade them go +and continue their search. When she was alone she sat down, not on the +carven chair a carpenter had made her in Jamestown, but on the floor, as +she had so often sat about the lodge fire when she wished to think hard. + +After a long period of absolute silence and motionlessness she rose, +took off her hat, gown and shoes and clothed herself in her Indian +garments. Now she knelt by the cradle and examined the floor carefully, +then the sill of the door and the ground in front of it. Something she +must have discovered, for she sniffed the air eagerly like a hound that +had found the scent. She weighed her decision a moment--should she turn +in the direction of Powhata, where she knew Powhatan was staying, or +should it be in the direction of Werowocomoco? She turned towards the +latter, and stooping every few minutes to examine the ground, proceeded +quickly on her quest. + +It was the slightest imprint here and there on the earth of a moccasined +foot which was the clue. Her brothers and sisters came to see her +occasionally; but what purpose could one of them have in stealing her +child? No hostile Indians any longer, thanks to the fear Powhatan's +might and the English guns had spread among them, were ever seen in this +part of the country; so while she hurried on she wondered whence this +Indian kidnapper could have come. That it was an Indian she was certain, +and that he bore the child she knew, because lying on a rock in the +trail she had found a piece of the chain of chinquapins she had amused +herself stringing together to place about little Thomas's neck. + +Now that she was on the right trail it did not enter her mind to return +to her husband's men for help or to send a messenger to Jamestown to +fetch him back. She knew well that she was far better fitted than any +white man to follow swiftly and surely the way her child had gone. It +might be, since the thief had several hours' advantage, that it would be +days before she could catch up with him; but if it took years and she +had to journey to the end of the world she would not falter nor turn +back for help. + +As she travelled through the forest in the quick step that was almost a +trot, the polish of her English life fell away from her as the leaves +fell from the trees above her. She forgot the happenings of the two +years since she had been the "Lady Rebecca," forgot her husband; and her +baby was no longer the heir of the Rolfes about to be taken across the +sea to be shown to his kinsmen; he was her papoose, and as she ran she +called out to him all the pet names the Indian mothers loved. When she +thought that he might be crying with terror or hunger she began to pray, +prayers that came from the depth of her heart that she might reach him +before he really suffered. But these prayers were not to the God of the +Christians, but to the Okee her fathers had worshipped. + +Many times the trail was almost invisible. There was little passing of +feet this way and in no place was there anything like a path. But +Pocahontas's eyes, keener than even in the days when they had rivalled +her brother's in following in play the trail the pursued did his best to +cover up, were never long at fault. The ground, the bushes from which +raindrops had been shaken, a broken twig--all helped her read the way +she was to go. If she could only tell whether she were gaining! + +What she would do when she came face to face with the thief she did not +know. If he were a strong man who defied her command to give up the +grandson of Powhatan, how should she compel him? She had started off so +hastily that she had not armed herself with any weapon. But she did not +doubt that in some way or other she would wrest her child from him. + +The sun was sinking; its beams, she saw, struck now the lower part of +the tree trunks. Seeing this, she quickened her step; once the night +fell she would have to lie down and wait for morning for fear of missing +the trail. + +It was almost dark when she reached a sort of open space the size of +three lodges width, where doubtless the coming of many wild beasts to +drink of a spring that bubbled up in the centre had worn down the +growth of young trees. On one side of the ground where moss and creeping +crowfoot grew, there were overhanging rocks which formed a small cave +not much deeper than a man's height. + +No longer could she see a footprint in the dusk, so Pocahontas sadly +prepared to spend the night in this shelter. She leaned down and drank +long from the spring, and taking off her moccasins, bathed her tired +feet in it. Then because she wanted a fire more for its companionship +than for the warmth, she gathered twigs, and twirling one in a bit of +rotten wood, soon produced a spark that lighted a cheerful blaze. + +There was nothing to be gained by staying awake. There was no one from +whom she had anything to fear except possibly the thief, and the sooner +they met the better pleased she would be. She was drowsy from the warmth +of the fire and tired from the long pursuit, so Pocahontas lay down at +the entrance of the cave, half within and half without, and in a moment +was fast asleep. + +Several times during the night she was half awakened by the sound of +some young animal crying--perhaps a bear cub, she thought sleepily, but +even were the mother bear nearby she had no fear of her. + +Later on she dreamed that the mother bear had come into the cave and was +sniffing her all over. She opened her eyes and saw the glow from the +embers reflected in a pair of eyes above her. + +"Go away, old Furry One!" she commanded drowsily. "I'm not afraid of +thee. Be off and let me sleep." + +But the sound of her own voice wakened her and she raised herself to a +sitting position to see whether the bear were obeying her. Against the +almost extinguished embers she saw the dim outlines--not of the beast +she expected, but of a human being! She sprang up, seized hold of it +with her right hand before the other had time to escape, and with her +left hand caught up some dried twigs and threw them on the remains of +the fire. The wood already heated, ignited at once; the blaze lighted up +the little forest room and Pocahontas beheld--Wansutis! + +"Where is my child?" cried Pocahontas. "What hast thou done with him? +And so it was thou who alone in all the world didst dare steal him from +me. What hast thou done with my son? Speak!" + +The old woman did not struggle under the firm grasp of the young strong +hands. She stood still as if alone, staring into the flames that +reddened the circle of trees as if they had been stained with blood. + +"What hast thou done with my son?" cried Pocahontas again. + +"What hast thou done with _my_ son?" asked the old woman, without +turning her head to look at Pocahontas. + +"Thy son! Claw-of-the-Eagle? Why! I sent thee word many moons ago, +Wansutis, that he was dead." + +"Hadst thou loved him he had not died." + +"I loved him as a sister, Wansutis; my fate lay not in my hands. But +Claw-of-the-Eagle is dead, and we mourn him, thou and I"--here she +loosened her grasp on the old woman's shoulder, "but my son is alive +unless--" + +Here a dreadful possibility made her shake like an aspen. + +"What hast thou done with my son, Wansutis? What didst thou want with +him?" + +Wansutis, who was now crouched down looking at the heart of the fire, +began to chant as if alone: + +"Wansutis's son died in battle. No stronger, fiercer brave was there in +all the thirty tribes, and Wansutis's lodge was empty and there was none +to hunt for her, to slay deer that she might feed upon fresh meat. Then +Wansutis saw a prisoner with strong body, though it was yet small, and +Wansutis had a new son, a swift hunter, whose face was ruddy by the +firelight, whose presence in her lodge made Wansutis's slumbers quiet. +And this son wanted a maiden for his squaw and went forth to play upon +his pipes before her. But the maiden would not listen and the river and +the maiden killed the brave son of Wansutis, and again her lodge was +lonely." + +She ceased for a moment, then as if she were reading the words in the +flames, she sang more slowly: + +"I am old, saith old Wansutis, yet I'll live for many harvests. I will +seek another son now; I will bring him to my wigwam. He shall watch me +and protect me; he will cheer me in the winters." + +Pocahontas interrupted her: + +"That then is the reason thou didst steal my child. Thou shalt not keep +him; he is not for thy lodge. He goeth with his father and with me to be +brought up in the houses of the English." + +There came a cry from the forest, the same cry she had heard in her +dreams. Without an instant's doubt, Pocahontas sprang into the blackness +and in a few moments came back with the baby in her arms. She squatted +down by the fire, and felt it over feverishly until she had convinced +herself that it was unharmed. + +Wansutis now rose. + +"Farewell, Princess," she said. "Wansutis will now be returning to her +lodge." + +Now that she had her child safe again, Pocahontas's kind heart began to +speak: + +"Wansutis, thou knowest I cannot let thee have my son; but if thou wilt +I will pray my father to give thee the next young brave he captures that +thou mayst no longer be lonely." + +"I will seek no more sons," answered the old woman; "perchance he might +set off for a far land and leave me even as thy father's daughter +leaveth him." + +"But I will return to him," protested Pocahontas. + +"Dost thou know that?" the old woman asked, leaning down and peering +directly into Pocahontas's face. Her gaze was so full of hatred that +Pocahontas drew back in terror. + +"I see a ship"--Wansutis began to chant again--"a ship that sails for +many days towards the rising sun; but I never see a ship that sails to +the sunset. I see a deer from the free forests and it is fettered and +its neck is hung with wampum and flowers; but the deer seeks in vain to +escape to its bed of ferns in the woodland. I see a bird that is caught +where the lodges are closer together than the pebbles on the seashore; +but I never see the bird fly free above their lodge tops. I hear the +crying of an orphan child; but the mother lieth where she cannot still +it." + +Pocahontas gazed in horrible fascination at the old woman who, with +another harsh laugh, vanished into the darkness. + + + + + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + +CHAPTER XXII + +POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND + + +It was an eager, happy Pocahontas that set sail with her husband. Master +Rolfe, her child and last--but not in his own estimation--Sir Thomas +Dale. With them, too, went Uttamatomakkin, a chief whom Powhatan sent +expressly to observe the English and their ways in their own land. + +Everything interested Pocahontas on the voyage: the ship herself, the +hoisting and furling of sails in calms and tempests, the chanteys of the +sailors as they worked, the sight of spouting whales and, as they neared +the English coast, the magnificence of a large ship-of-war, a veteran, +so declared the captain, of the fleet which went so bravely forth to +meet the Spanish Armada. During the long evenings on deck Rolfe told her +stories of real deeds of English history and fancied romances of poets; +and all were equally wonderful to her. + +She could scarcely believe after she had sailed so many weeks over the +unchanging ocean, where there were not even the signs to go by that she +could read in the trackless forest, that there was land again beyond all +the water. It was a marvel which no amount of explanations could +simplify that men should be able to guide ships back and forth across +this waste. Perhaps this more than any of the wonders she was to see +later was what made her esteem the white men's genius most. + +And then one day a grey cloud rested on the eastern horizon. Pocahontas +saw a new look in her husband's face as he caught sight of it. + +"England!" he cried, and then he lifted little Thomas to his shoulder +and bade him, "Look at thy father's England." + +Even before they stepped ashore at Plymouth Pocahontas's impressions of +the country began. On board the ship came officers from the Virginia +Company to greet her and put themselves and the exchequer of the Company +at her disposal. Was she not the daughter of their Indian ally, a +monarch of whose kingdom and power they possessed but the most confused +idea. They had arranged, they said, suitable lodgings for Lady Rebecca, +Master Rolfe and their infant in London and--with much waving of plumed +hats and bowing--they would attend in every manner to her comfort and +amusement. + +These men were different from any Pocahontas had ever seen; the +colonists were all, willy nilly, workers, or at least adventure lovers. +These comfortable citizens were of a type as new to her as she to them. + +As they rode slowly on their way to London at every mile of the road she +cried out with delighted interest and questioned Rolfe without ceasing +about the timbered and stuccoed cottages, the beautiful hedges, the rich +farms and paddocks filled with horses and cattle. At midday and at night +when they stopped at the inns, she was eager to examine everything, from +the still-room to the fragrant attics where bunches of herbs hung from +the rafters. Yet even in her girlish eagerness she bore herself with a +dignity that never allowed the simplest to doubt that, in spite of her +dark skin, she was a lady of high birth. + +"Ah! John," she said, "this is so fair a land; I know not how thou +couldst leave it. I can scarcely wait when I lie abed at night for the +morn to come. There is ever something new, and new things, thou knowest, +have ever been delightful to my spirit." + +"And to mine also, Rebecca," he answered; "for that reason did I seek +Wingandacoa and rejoiced in its strangeness, even as thou dost rejoice +in the strangeness of my country." + +The nearer they drew to London the more there was to see. The highway +was filled with those coming and going from town; merchants, farmers +with their wares, butchers, travelling artisans, tinkers, peddlers, +gypsies, great ladies on horseback or in coaches, who stared at +Pocahontas, and gentlemen who questioned the servants about her. And +Pocahontas asked Rolfe about all of them, of their condition, their +manner of living and what their homes were like within. + +When they reached the outskirts of London the crowds increased so that +Pocahontas turned to Rolfe and asked: + +"Why do all the folk run hither and thither? Is there news of the return +of a war party or will they celebrate some great festival?" And she +could hardly believe that it was only a gathering such as was to be seen +every day. However, as soon as those in the crowd caught sight of her +they began to press more closely to gaze at her and at Uttamatomakkin, +who looked down at them as unconcernedly as if he had been accustomed +to such a sight all his life. Officers of the Virginia Company appeared +just then with a coach, into which they conducted Pocahontas, Rolfe and +little Thomas, so that they escaped from the curiosity of the crowd. + +The days that followed were filled with strange and new enjoyments. +Mantuamakers and milliners brought their wares, and Lady Rebecca soon +began to distinguish what was best in what they had to offer. She drove +in the parks, was rowed down the river in gorgeous barges, had her +portrait painted in a gold-trimmed red robe with white collar and cuffs +and a hat with a gold band upon it, received the great ladies who came +out of curiosity to see for themselves what an Indian princess might be +like. All of them had only kind things to say about "the gentle Lady +Rebecca." + +The Bishop of London was in especial interested in this heathen +noblewoman who had become a Christian. He was her escort on many +occasions and decided to give a great ball in her honour. + +"What will they do, Master Bishop?" she asked of the dignitary who had +grown as fond of this new lamb in his flock as if she were his own +daughter. "What will all the ladies do at a ball?" + +"They will dance." + +"Dance!" exclaimed Pocahontas in amazement, who had never seen any other +kind of dancing than that which she herself, clad in scant garments, had +been wont to practice before she became the wife of an Englishman. This, +she now knew, was not of a character suited for English ladies. So, some +days later, watching the stately measures and the low reverences of +ladies and their cavaliers, Pocahontas wondered what pleasure they could +find in such an amusement. + +"Perchance, though," she suggested to the good Bishop, "it is some +religious ceremony which I know not." + +The Bishop laughed so at this idea that Pocahontas could not help +laughing, too, though she did not understand what was funny in her +speech. + +After the dance was over the ladies came to be presented to Lady +Rebecca. They did not know what they ought to talk to the stranger +about; but one of them in a dull mouse-colored tabby, with sad-colored +ribbons, remarked languidly: + +"What a fine day we are having." + +"Fine!" exclaimed Pocahontas, looking up at the grey sky through the +window, which to be sure had not dropped any rain for twenty-four hours, +"but the sun is not shining. I should think here in England ye would +wear your gayest garments to brighten up the landscape." + +"Then the Lady Rebecca doth not like our country?" queried the dame in +grey. + +"Ah, but yea. In truth it pleaseth me mightily, all but the dark skies. +And they tell me that is because of the smoke of the city." + +Then Pocahontas's eyes caught sight of an older woman whom Rolfe was +escorting towards her. There was something about her appearance that was +very pleasing. She was a little above medium height, with hair silvered +in front and with cheeks as full of color as the roses she carried in +her hands. Pocahontas felt at once that here was a woman whom she could +love. Her manner was as dignified as that of any lady in the +assemblage, but there was a heartiness in her voice and in her glance +which made Pocahontas feel at home as she had not before felt in +England. + +"This is Lady De La Ware, whose husband, thou knowest, Rebecca, was +Governor of our Colony," said Rolfe, "and she hath brought these English +roses to thee." Then he strolled off, leaving the two women together. + +"They are very beautiful, thy flowers," said Pocahontas, smiling at them +and at their giver, "and sweeter than the blossoms that grow in my +land." + +"Yet those are wonderful, too. I have heard of many glorious trees and +vines which grow there and I would that I might see them." + +"If thou wilt cross the ocean with us when we return, I will show thee +many things that would be as strange to thee as thy land is to me. I +would take thee to my father, Powhatan, and he would give dances in +thine honour that would not be"--and she laughed again at the +thought--"like the ball my Lord Bishop giveth me." + +Lady De La Ware smiled, too. She had been told something about the +Indian customs. + +"Perhaps some day thou shalt take me to thy father's court; but now I am +come to take thee to that of our Queen. She hath expressed her desire to +see thee shortly. A letter which was written her by Captain John Smith +about thee hath made her all the more eager to do honour to one who hath +ever befriended the English." + +"Captain John Smith hath written to the Queen about me?" said +Pocahontas, marvelling. + +"In truth, and since his words seemed to me worthy of remembrance, I +have kept them in my mind." He begins: + +"'If ingratitude be a deadly poyson to all honest vertues, I must be +guiltie of that crime if I should omit any meanes to be thankfull. So it +is that some ten years ago being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the +power of Powhatan, their chief King, I received from this great savage +exceeding great courtesy, especially from his son, Nautauquas, the most +manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit I ever saw in a savage, and his +sister, Pocahontas, the King's most dear and well beloved daughter, +being but a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, whose +compassionate pitiful heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause +to respect her--she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save +mine ... the most and least I can do is to tell you this, because none +so oft tried it as myself, and the rather being of so great a spirit, +however her stature, if she should not be well received, seeing this +Kingdom may rightly have a Kingdom by her means--' And much more there +was, Lady Rebecca, which I cannot now recall." + +Lady De La Ware did not know that Pocahontas believed Smith dead, and +Pocahontas, not imagining anything else, thought Smith must have written +this letter from Jamestown before he died; and her heart grew warm +thinking how, even dying, he had done what he could for her happiness on +the mere chance of her going to England. The truth of the matter was +that Smith was then at Plymouth, making ready to start on an expedition +to New England; and though he did not expect to see Pocahontas, he +wished England, and first of all England's Queen, to know what they owed +this Indian girl. + +It happened not long after that "La Belle Sauvage," as the Londoners +sometimes called Pocahontas, and Rolfe were being entertained at a fair +country seat. An English girl, much of the age of her guest, whose +curiosity about the ways of the Indians was restrained only by her +courtesy, had been showing her through the beautiful old garden. They +had talked of Virginia, and Mistress Alicia coaxed: + +"Wilt thou not take me with thee. Lady Rebecca, when thou returnest +thither? + +"But see," and she peered through an opening in the high yew hedge, +"yonder cometh Master Rolfe with a party of gentlemen. Oh! one of them +is a brave figure of a man, though he weareth not such fine clothes as +some of the others. By my troth! 'tis Captain John Smith, and of course +he cometh to greet thee. I would I might stay to hear what ye two old +friends have to say to each other." + +It seemed to Pocahontas that hours elapsed during the few minutes she +was alone after Mistress Alicia left her, while her husband was guiding +her guests to her through the garden's winding mazes. How could Smith be +alive when she knew that he was dead? Even as she caught in the distance +the sound of his voice, she asked herself if in truth she had ever heard +of his death from anyone but the councillors in Jamestown. + +The well-known voice was no longer weak as when she had last heard it +bid her farewell. There they were, the gentlemen all bowing to her but +remaining in the background, while Rolfe came forward with Smith. + +"I have brought thee an old friend, Rebecca," he said. + +Pocahontas saluted him, but words were impossible. + +John Smith afterwards wrote concerning this interview: + +"After a modest salutation, without any word, she turned about, obscured +her face, as not seeming well contented, and in that humor her husband +with divers others, we all left her two or three hours." + +Seeing that she preferred to be alone, the men departed to talk over the +affairs of the Virginia Colony since Smith had left Jamestown. +Pocahontas, sitting quietly on a garden bench near the carp pond, went +over in her thought all that had taken place in her own life since then. + +Then she saw him coming towards her again, alone, and she stretched out +her hand to him. + +"My father," she cried, "dost thou remember the old days in Wingandacoa +when thou earnest first to Werowocomoco and wert my prisoner?" + +"I remember well. Lady Rebecca," he said, leaning down to kiss her hand, +"and I am ever thy most grateful debtor." + +"Call me not by that strange name. Matoaka am I for thee as always. Dost +thou remember when I came at night through the forest to warn thee?" + +"I remember, Matoaka; how could I forget it?" + +"Dost thou remember the day when, lying wounded before thy door, thou +didst make me promise to be ever a friend to Jamestown and the English?" + +"I have thought of it many a day." + +"I have kept my promise, Father, have I not?" + +"Nobly, Matoaka; but it is not meet that thou shouldst call me father." + +Then Pocahontas tossed her head emphatically, and this gesture brought +back to Smith the bright young Indian maiden who, for a moment, had +seemed to him disguised by the stately clothes of an English matron. + +"Thou didst promise Powhatan," she cried, "what was thine should be his, +and he the like to thee; thou calledst him father, being in his land a +stranger, and by the same reason so must I do thee." + +"But, Princess," he objected, "it is different here. The King would like +it not if I allowed it here; he might say it was indeed truth what mine +enemies say of me, that I plan to raise myself above them." + +"Wert thou afraid to come into my father's country and caused fear in +him and all his people but me, and fearest thou here I should call thee +father? I tell thee then I will and thou shalt call me child, and so +will I be for ever and ever thy countryman." + +Smith smiled at her eagerness, yet was deeply touched by it. + +"Call me then what thou wilt; I can fear no evil that might come to me +from thee." + +Pocahontas then spoke a few words to him in the Powhatan tongue, anxious +to see if he still remembered it. And he answered her in her language. +She was silent, but Smith could see that something was disturbing her. + +"What is it, Matoaka; what words wait to cross the ford of thy lips?" he +asked. + +"They did tell me always," she replied, "that thou wert dead and I knew +no more till I came to Plymouth, yet Powhatan did command +Uttamatomakkin to seek thee and know the truth, because thy countrymen +will lie much." + +"Think of it no more. Little Sister, if thou still let me call thee +that. I am not dead yet and I have many journeys to make. I thank fate I +had not yet sailed for that coast to the north of Jamestown they call +'New England,' so that I might greet thee once again. When I return we +shall have many more talks together." + +"I shall not be here, Father; we too shall set sail ere long. I have +been happy here in thy land, but I am now suffering from an illness they +tell me is called homesickness." + +"That is an illness which may be easily remedied, Matoaka. But when thou +art come again to Wingandacoa forget not the England and the friends +which can never forget thee." + + * * * * * + +In the days that followed Lady De La Ware, touched by the affection +Pocahontas manifested towards her, accompanied her everywhere, to the +wonderful masque written by the poet, Ben Jonson, which was performed at +the Twelfth Night festival, and to the play written by Master Will +Shakespeare that he called "The Tempest," which represented court folk +cast ashore on an island in the western ocean. + +Everything was so full of interest that her new life seemed to be +leading her further and further away from the old simple existence of +forest and river. Then came the presentation to the Queen, Anne of +Denmark, consort of James First of England and Sixth of Scotland. Lady +De La Ware had seen that Lady Rebecca's costume suited her dark skin and +hair. + +Before coming to the presence chamber there were many halls and +anterooms filled with courtiers and ladies, whose curious glances might +have dismayed any woman who had not grown accustomed to a life at court; +but Pocahontas passed on unconscious of them all. + +In the large hall which they entered last, hung with rich tapestries and +furnished with dark oaken chairs and settles covered with royal purple +velvet, a few pages and the Queen's ladies alone kept her company. As +Pocahontas and Lady De La Ware advanced, the Queen motioned every one +else to withdraw to the farther end of the chamber. She curtsied in +return to the obeisances made by Pocahontas and her sponsor, but did not +stretch forth her hand to be kissed as she would have done had she not +considered this stranger before her as a princess of royal blood. + +"I thank thee for coming," she said graciously. "I have much desired to +see thee. Captain Smith was right when he reminded me of what our people +owe thee, he most of all." + +"He was dear to my people also," answered Pocahontas. + +"Hath Your Majesty heard how men speak of Captain Smith in the Colony?" +asked Lady De La Ware. "My brother who is still at Jamestown wrote me +that one of the colonists regretting the great Captain's departure said +of him: + +"What shall I say of him but thus we lost him, that in all his +proceedings made justice his first guide, and experience his second, +ever hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity more than any dangers; +that never allowed more for himself than his soldiers with him; that +upon no danger would send them where he would not lead them himself; +that would never see us want what he either had or could get us; that +would rather want than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved +action more than words, and hated falsehood and covetousness more than +death; whose adventures were our lives, and whose loss our death.'" + +"Tell me of thy long voyage," then questioned her majesty; and seating +herself, made room for Pocahontas beside her, while Lady De La Ware +moved off to talk with one of the ladies. "I do not see how men, and +more especially women, dare trust themselves for so long on the sea. +When I had been married by proxy to my lord, the King, I tried to go by +ship from Denmark to Scotland, but the tempests were so fierce that we +had to put in to Norway, scarce saving our lives; and thither came my +gracious lord, against the prayers of his councillors who tried to +dissuade him from venturing his precious safety in winter storms. Oh! I +have no love of the sea." + +"I did not fear it," said Pocahontas, "but I thought it would never end. +Had I been alone, though, without my husband and my child"--then, not +knowing that court etiquette did not sanction the changing the subject +of conversation by any one but the sovereign, she asked: "And how many +children hast thou?" + +Queen Anne was pleased with her naturalness and told her of her son and +daughter and of the wonderful Prince Henry whom she had lost. + +While they sat talking about their children as quietly as two plain +housewives, there was a commotion at the end of the hall. The pages +seemed very excited and uncertain what they ought to do. However, they +could not have prevented if they would, and into the hall, clad in his +long mantle, moccasins and with his headdress of feathers, strode +Uttamatomakkin. Pocahontas, looking up, saw that he was examining +eagerly all the furnishings of the hall and then his gaze was bent upon +the Queen. + +"Is yon the squaw of the great white werowance?" he asked, "and is this +their ceremonial lodge? I have already beheld the King and he is a weak +little creature whom any child at Werowocomoco could knock down." + +"Who is he, and what doth he say?" asked the Queen, who was delighted at +his strange appearance. + +"It is one of my people, Madame, and he wishes to know if thou art +indeed the Queen that he may tell of thee when he returneth to +Wingandacoa." She did not think it wise to repeat the rest of his +remarks. + +The Queen, whose curiosity was great in regard to this strange race from +overseas of whom she had heard so many tales, beckoned to Uttamatomakkin +to come closer. The Indian walked stolidly to the dais where she stood. + +"What is this mantle made of?" asked the sovereign, taking up an end of +the painted and embroidered deerskin robe and rubbing it critically +between her fingers. + +Uttamatomakkin, thinking this was the English form of salutation and not +intending to be outdone in politeness, caught hold of Queen Anne's +velvet skirt, and to the accompaniment of little shrieks of dismay from +the ladies-in-waiting, fingered it in the same manner. + +"That must thou not do," remonstrated Pocahontas, trying not to laugh; +but Uttamatomakkin grunted: + +"Why should I not do what a squaw doth?" + +The Queen recovered her equanimity and in sign of her good will +unfastened a golden brooch and pinned it on the Indian's broad shoulder. +Then the chief broke off from his girdle a string of wampum, and before +any one realized what he intended doing, he had fastened it to a pearl +pin on the Queen's bodice. + +"I see I cannot get the better of him. Lady Rebecca," laughed her +Majesty; "but ask him what he doth with yon long stick." + +The pages, whose interest in this savage overcame for the moment their +habit of etiquette, had approached little by little towards the end of +the hall where he stood. They watched eagerly and with a certain dread +of the unknown while he took from his pouch a white stick and his knife +from his girdle. The stick, they saw, was covered with tiny nicks; and +the Indian, looking from one person to another, made many more marks on +the wand. + +"What is it thou dost, Uttamatomakkin?" asked Pocahontas. + +"The werowance, thy father, told me to mark and let him know when I +return how many white folk there were in this land. I made a cut for +each one I counted at first, but my stick is all but covered now and the +Powhatan will not know how the palefaces swarm here like bees in a +hollow tree." + +Pocahontas repeated to the Queen what he had said, and her Majesty was +greatly amused. + +"But thou dost not plan to return to Virginia for a long; time yet?" she +asked. + +"Much I like thy land, and its pleasant folk," answered Pocahontas as +she rose to go. "But the time draweth near for us to set sail westward +again. Farewell." + +Then, accompanied by Lady De La Ware and Uttamatomakkin, she left the +audience chamber. + +"The Lady Rebecca," said the Queen to her ladies when the curtains had +fallen behind Pocahontas, "is one of the gentlest ladies England hath +ever welcomed." + +[Illustration: Decorative] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Princess Pocahontas, by Virginia Watson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS *** + +***** This file should be named 16458.txt or 16458.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/5/16458/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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