Part 14

There had been a great deal of discussion about the freighting of the _Phœnix_. Ratcliffe, Martin, and, in fact, the majority were for loading the vessel with the delusive dust which had formed Newport’s cargo. Smith and Scrivener protested against another shipment of what they strongly suspected to be no more than “glittering dirt.” Captain Nelson took the same view of the matter and in the end the _Phœnix_ sailed out of the James with an honest lading of good Virginia cedar. This was on June the second, 1608. The same day Smith left the settlement in an open barge of three tons’ burden, accompanied by fifteen men. Most of these were newcomers, who were not a little set up on account of an experience they had gained with Newport during his recent visit. That able seaman generally contrived to make himself ridiculous when he transferred the scene of his activities to dry land. He had brought out a large boat in five sections designed to be carried across the mountains in his projected journey to the South Sea. The expedition started with a great flourish of trumpets and after being gone two and a half days returned to Jamestown and abandoned the enterprise. Now those of Smith’s force who had been in Newport’s company thought that the latter’s expedition was a fair sample of exploration. They were eager for adventure and very much feared that Smith, in an open boat committed to the sea, would not journey far enough to satisfy their appetite. The leader heard these doubts expressed and promised himself some amusement at the expense of his eager adventurers.

Smith’s determination was to thoroughly explore Chesapeake Bay. It was no light undertaking. The region was quite unknown to him and peopled by Indian tribes with which he had not yet come in contact. The mere matter of navigation involved grave dangers, for the Bay being wide and open, is subject to almost the full force of wind and tide. But in the face of all these difficulties, and many more that arose with the progress of the exploration, Smith accomplished his purpose and that so effectually that his map of the Bay was the best in existence until recent times, and is still acknowledged to be an excellent one. The work was at that time of course of the utmost importance and, although it took the authorities at home some time to see it, information of the country and inhabitants of Virginia was of much greater value than fanciful stories of gold mines and short cuts to the South Sea.

Our adventurers soon found that exploring with Captain Smith was a very different thing from a picnic expedition with Captain Newport. They encountered rough weather from the outset. Their hands blistered and their backs ached with rowing against a strong wind. The briny waves drenched their clothes and soaked their bread. Their water keg was broached by some accident and before they could replenish it they came so near to being famished that they “would have refused two barrels of gold for one of puddle water.” This was their condition when a terrible storm struck them, carrying away their masts and sails. By good fortune, rather than any effort of their own, they contrived to gain the shelter of an uninhabited island where they went ashore.

The men who had been fearful lest Captain Smith should not venture far enough, were now all for returning to Jamestown, but their leader had no mind to turn back. Opposition and difficulty ever increased his determination and nerved him to greater effort.

“Gentlemen,” said Smith to the disheartened company, “remember the example of Sir Ralph Lane’s company in worse straits, how they begged him to proceed in the discovery of Moratico, saying that they had yet a dog that would sustain them for a while. Then what shame would it be to us to return, having ample provision of a sort, and scarce able to say where we have been, nor yet heard of that we were sent to seek. You can not say but I have shared with you in the worst that is past; and for what is to come, of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am content you allot the worst part to me. As to your apprehensions that I will lose myself in these unknown large waters, or be swallowed up in some stormy gust, abandon these childish fears, for worse than is past is not likely to happen, and to return would be as dangerous as to proceed. Regain, therefore, your old spirits, for return I will not--if God please--till I have seen the Massawomekes, found Patawomek, or the head of this bay which you imagine to be endless.”

They remained two days upon the island, and when the storm abated resumed their journey with fresh sails fashioned from their shirts.

The exploring party had been out just two weeks when they came across the mouth of the Potomac--or Patawomek, as Smith called it. They sailed thirty miles up the river without sight of human being, when two Indians appeared from nowhere, after their mysterious manner, and offered to serve them as guides. Pretending to take them to a village at the head of a creek, the wily savages neatly led them into an ambuscade. Suddenly the English found themselves in the centre of three or four hundred Indians, “strangely painted, grimed and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying, as so many spirits from hell could not have showed more terrible.” Had they discharged their arrows at once, instead of wasting time in capering about, the explorers must have been killed to a man. But these Indians, who had not yet become acquainted with the dreadful “spit-fires” of the strangers, thought that they had them entirely at their mercy and doubtless proposed to reserve them for the torture. Smith ordered his men to fire a volley in the air and the effect of the discharge of fifteen muskets at once was all that could be wished. Many of the savages fled into the forest, others threw themselves prone upon the ground and all cast aside their weapons in sign of surrender. Smith learned that messengers from Powhatan had instigated these people to attack the expedition and had urged upon them, above all, to secure the white men’s weapons. Had they known the terrible nature of those weapons they certainly would not have indulged in any such foolishness and they did not think kindly of their brothers, the Powhatans, for having egged them on to it. Smith established friendly relations with these people who never occasioned further trouble.

In their progress the voyagers found the Indians almost everywhere in arms and ready to attack them, having been prompted thereto by the emissaries from Werowocomico. In most cases, however, the natives were converted to peaceful good-will without bloodshed, the flash and report of the fire-arm proving to be a powerful pacifier. Wherever they went, the explorers heard of the Massawomekes. They seem to have been a particularly warlike tribe, situated near the head of the bay, who were dreaded and hated by all their neighbors. Smith was very anxious to see these people and proceeded up the bay with the intention of visiting their country. But his men were succumbing so fast to the fatigue and exposure that, when at length there were but five left fit for active service, he deemed it wise to defer the exploration of the head of the bay. Before turning homeward, however, he sent a messenger inland to the country of the Susquehannocks who had the reputation of being a tribe of giants.

After a delay of a few days a deputation of sixty warriors from the Susquehannocks visited the camp of the Englishmen. They were bigger and more warlike than any Indians that the settlers had encountered up to that time, and it was agreeable to Smith to find that they had come prepared to make an alliance with him and, indeed, to adopt him into the tribe as a chief. In token of their good-will they presented him with a bear’s skin cloak, such as was only worn by great Werowances, eighteen mantles, a chain of beads weighing six or seven pounds and a number of other gewgaws. Their chief was a man of extraordinary size, even for a Susquehannock. Smith thus describes him:

“The calf of his leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed the goodliest man we had ever beheld. His hair on one side was long, the other shorn close with a ridge over his crown like a cock’s comb. His arrows were five quarters of a yard long, headed with flints or splinters of stone in form like a heart, an inch broad and an inch and a half or more long. These he wore at his back in a wolf’s skin for his quiver, his bow in the one hand and his club in the other.”

These people proposed that Smith should assume the headship of the tribe and lead them in war against the Massawomekes and other enemies. Had our hero entertained any such ambition as that with which he was charged by Wingfield and his supporters, here was an excellent opportunity to set up a kingdom. The Susquehannocks were not only exceptionally warlike, but also one of the most numerous tribes in that part of America. No doubt, with a man like Smith at their head, they could soon have established sovereignty over hundreds of miles of territory. It is needless to say, however, that the offer was declined as tactfully as possible and the expedition turned homeward.

Smith arrived in Jamestown just as another crisis in the affairs of the colony had been reached. Ratcliffe, the President, had shamefully abused his office for some time past. He had taken for his private use the best things in the public stores, he had beaten several of the settlers, with little or no provocation, and had diverted a number of laborers from useful employment to the task of building him a pleasure-house in the woods. Smith appeared on the scene when the wrath of the colonists had almost risen beyond bounds. Had he not arrived when he did they would probably have taken Ratcliffe’s life. As it was, they would hear of nothing short of his deposition and invited Smith to take his place at the head of the government. Smith, however, who was the active instrument in disposing of the obnoxious officer, hardly thought that he could accept the proposal with a good grace and so persuaded them to allow him to substitute Scrivener for himself. So, with this change, the summer passed in peace, and satisfactory progress was made in the rebuilding of the settlement.

The colony had never been in a better condition than now to make good progress. The settlers were well content with the rule of Smith and Scrivener, who always knew just what they wanted to do and how to do it. Work and rations were fairly apportioned. Gentlemen were required to take their turn at labor with the rest. A military company was formed and drilled, and the Indians were kept in check by the practice of diplomacy and a show of force. This happy state of things was completely upset by the return of Newport with instructions from his employers to discover the South Sea, to bring back gold, and to search for the survivors of the lost Roanoke colony. But this was not the sum of Newport’s mad mission. He was also charged with the coronation of Powhatan, to whom King James sent a present of a wash-basin and pitcher and an Elizabethan bed with its furnishings. Newport failed to bring the food and other things of which the settlers stood in such constant need, but instead landed seventy Dutchmen and Poles for the purpose of establishing manufactories of “pitch, tar, glass and soap-ashes.” By this time, Smith had been regularly elected President. He was thoroughly disgusted with the foolish instructions of the London company, and when Newport undertook to undo much of the good work that had been accomplished with so great trouble, even going so far as to restore Ratcliffe to the presidency, Smith bluntly gave him his choice of immediately taking himself and his ship off, or of being detained for a year that he might gain the experience that he was sadly in need of. Newport wisely chose the former alternative and sailed away, having, as before, sown the seeds of trouble from which the colonists were to reap a bitter crop before long.

XX.

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND

Smith goes on a foraging expedition and engages in a contest of wits with Powhatan--Doctor Russell and Captain Smith get into a tight place--And get out again--Powhatan plans to murder his adopted son--Pocahontas warns the Captain of the intended treachery--The feast and the disappointed waiters--How eight designing Indians afford goodly entertainment to three Englishmen--And how they are neatly laid by the heels by their intended victims--“The English sleep like the village dog, with one eye cocked”--How the ambushers were ambushed and the captors captured--“If there be one among you bold enough to essay a single combat, let him come out!”

With the approach of winter the colony of Jamestown found itself in hardly better condition than at the same time in the previous year. It is true that their health was now better but they had many more mouths to feed and rather less chance of obtaining provisions from the Indians. These, as we know, had been unfriendly for some months past, due to Newport’s reckless generosity towards them and particularly to his foolish gift of swords, which Smith refused to duplicate. The more experienced among the settlers had protested strongly against the crowning of Powhatan, fearing that the savage would interpret the ceremony as a measure of propitiation and a sign of dread on the part of the English. And this proved to be the case. It was soon evident that the great Werowance had risen mightily in self-esteem in consequence of the silly coronation and that his respect for the settlers had fallen in proportion. The neighboring bands, acting on his orders, refused to furnish corn on any terms, and messengers sent to Werowocomico returned empty handed, telling of having been treated with a high-handed contempt. After Scrivener and Percy had made futile expeditions, it became clear that, as usual, Smith must attend to the matter in person if the colony was to be saved from starvation.

Smith immediately began preparations for a visit to the capital of Powhatan, whose spies doubtless gave him early information of the fact, for, just at this time, an embassy arrived from the newly-crowned “emperor” demanding workmen to build him an English house to contain the gorgeous bedstead that his brother, the King of England, had sent to him. He also asked for fifty swords, as many muskets, a cock and hen, a large quantity of copper and a bushel of beads. This modest requisition he expected would be filled forthwith, and in return for his compliance he promised to give Captain Smith a shipload of corn, provided he came for it in person. Here was a very palpable trap and something like a veiled defiance. Smith was as little prone to shirk danger as he was to decline a challenge, and he returned answer that he should presently be at Werowocomico. In the meanwhile he was sending three Germans and two Englishmen to build the projected palace, but, for the rest of the request, he thought that he had better bring the things mentioned by the Chief himself, for he feared that the messengers might hurt themselves with the swords and muskets.

Leaving Scrivener in charge of the settlement, Smith, with forty-six volunteers, embarked in the pinnace and two barges. George Percy commanded one of the latter and Francis West, brother of Lord Delaware, the other. The journey by water was a tolerably long one for open boats, and they broke it by a stay of two or three days at Kecoughten, a village occupying the site of the present town of Hampton. The Chief received them with genuine friendliness and warned Smith that Powhatan contemplated treachery. Here the party “kept Christmas among the savages, where they were never more merry, nor fed on more plenty of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowl and good bread; nor never had better fires in England than the dry, smoky houses of Kecoughten.” The enthusiasm with which the chroniclers among the colonists expatiate upon such simple comforts as these when it happens to be their good fortune to experience them, gives us a very good idea of the miserable condition that generally prevailed at Jamestown.

When at length the party arrived at Werowocomico, they found the river frozen over to a distance of half a mile from shore. Smith overcame this obstruction by leaving his boats and wading to land with a squad of men. The entire absence of welcome was a sinister indication, but Smith, unabashed, took possession of a deserted wigwam on the bank and sent messengers to Powhatan for provisions. These were forthcoming, and the chieftain agreed to meet the English captain the next morning in a formal pow-wow.

Before noon the following day, Captain Smith and his handful of men went up to the town, putting a bold face on what they all believed to be a very bad matter. Once more the two chiefs met in the famous “king’s house.” Powhatan received Smith with the utmost coolness, and it was noticeable that he did not address him by his tribal name. When the matter of food supplies came up, he declared that he had so little to spare that he was loath to exchange it for copper which his people could not eat. As a special favor to the English and in consideration of their great need he would stretch a point to let them have thirty bushels in exchange for as many swords, but he was really not at all anxious to make the trade. Indeed, so short was the food supply at Werowocomico that he hoped that the English would speedily depart for he could ill afford to entertain so many hungry stomachs.

“As to that,” replied Smith, “we have come at your invitation, and will delay no longer than is necessary to effect our purpose, which is to secure, at a fair price, so much corn and venison as you can readily spare from the well-filled stores of Werowocomico.”

Each had intimated that he was well acquainted with the actual conditions at the headquarters of the other, but Smith was at a loss to determine whether Powhatan had merely guessed at the urgent needs of the colonists, or whether he was really informed of the state of things at Jamestown. As yet he had no suspicion of the truth, which was that the Dutchmen sent to build the Chief’s house had betrayed the colony. Tempted by the abundant food and comfortable lodgings at the capital of the Powhatans, they had secretly sold their allegiance to the Chief, intending to remain with the Indians and marry into their tribe.

Powhatan continued the negotiations in the same independent tone, declaring that he would exchange corn for swords and muskets and for nothing else. At length this persistent attitude provoked Smith to a decisive reply.

“Let me speak the Werowance plain as I would that he should speak to me. We will part with our swords and muskets no sooner than we will with our clothes. Why, indeed, should we do so, when by a use of these same we can readily get all the corn we want and still retain them? We came here as honest and well-meaning men to get provisions and get them we will, if not by fair means then by foul. If blood be shed in this matter, upon your head be it, for I am, and ever have been, willing, in good faith, to uphold the friendship which we plighted to one another.”

This language was too plain to be misunderstood and Powhatan proceeded upon another tack. He assured his dear son that his intention in the matter had been misunderstood. There were, it was true, no spare supplies in Werowocomico, but messengers should at once be sent into the surrounding country to collect foodstuff and the English Werowance would in good time be furnished with as much as he desired. Of course this was only a ruse to gain time, and as such Smith recognized it, but he was not himself averse to postponing conclusions, since his boats and men could not join him for some days. He immediately set gangs of Indians to work in breaking up the ice, explaining that he would need the pinnace to load his supplies upon when they arrived. Powhatan was not in the least deceived by this explanation and himself sent to the various chiefs under his dominion for reinforcements. In the meantime, wishing to establish an alibi in connection with the murder of Captain Smith, which he had planned, he withdrew to a neighboring village.

The next day, there were few Indians in evidence, although several hundreds of them lay concealed within arrow shot. Smith’s men were engaged on the bank of the river, whilst he and Doctor Russell were consulting together in a wigwam at some distance. Suddenly they became aware of the approach of scores of silent savages from every direction. They were armed, and a glance was sufficient to perceive that their intentions were evil. Two or three carried torches with which they proposed to fire the wigwam and then brain the white men as they should run out. Russell was for instantly rushing upon the foe, but Smith, who never lost his head in any emergency, checked him.

“Nay,” he said, laying his hand upon the other’s arm. “Rest we here until they be close upon the house when they durst not shoot their arrows for fear of slaying one the other. Then will we sally against them and fend ourselves from their tomahawks as best we can.”

The advice was excellent, for had they exposed themselves otherwise they must have been killed at the first discharge. Each had his pistols with him, and these they quietly primed and with composure awaited the oncoming savages. At length they were within a few yards of the house, and at the word from Smith, Doctor Russell sprang out at his side. Four Indians fell at the discharge of the pistols which were fired in their very faces. Those in front hastily leaped out of the line of the smoking weapons, making a lane into which the Englishmen dashed, swinging their swords right and left. The sortie was so sudden and unexpected that Smith and his companion were clear through the circle of savages and speeding towards the river before the Indians could recover from their surprise. They might easily have overtaken the Englishmen, being much more fleet of foot, but the appearance of Smith’s men, who had been warned by the pistol reports, checked all thought of pursuit.

This episode made it evident that Powhatan had determined upon desperate measures, and it also satisfied Smith that he could no longer look for any immunity on account of his membership in the tribe. The next morning Powhatan, his plot having failed, returned to the town and sent a messenger to Smith with a strip of wampum in token of peace. He was exceedingly sorry that some of his people had rashly taken advantage of his temporary absence on the business of the captain’s supplies to attack their brother chief. The culprits, fearing his wrath, had taken to the woods, but on their return they should be severely punished. Tomorrow Powhatan would load the ship of the English Werowance with corn and he hoped that they would part good friends. To all of this Smith contented himself by replying that he should be ready to receive the corn when it arrived and to pay a fair price for it in any commodity but weapons.