Yale University Librar\ 39002012837341 ll¥iifPI:??l^,,^ \ ,*» -ri- "Reading ma\eth a full man, conferente a readye man, and writing an exacte man" — Bacon The True Story of Captain John Smith ^~C]i£fe arc the Lind that Jhew thy TaCe.htttthoJe dliat/hew thy GraCe and ^lory hriyhter hec. 5 ii6 The True Story of Captain John Smith must have seemed unnecessarily circuitous. For not only had the modern method of great circle sailing been successfully practised by Americus Vespucius more than a hundred years before, but Gosnold, New port's second in command on this voyage, had in 1602 crossed almost directly from the English Channel to Cape Cod to which he gave its name. One hardly needs to be very deeply versed in mathematics to understand the advantages of great circle sailing, over that sailing by right angles, as we may term it, which we shall presently see practised by our colonies-to-be; a great circle being the intersection of a plane passed through the earth's centre with the surface ofthe sphere. On a flat or plane surface a straight line is the shortest distance between any two points; the shortest dis tance between any two points on a sphere is the arc ofthe great circle passing through them both. But the method in vogue in the time of Columbus, and still in 1607, practised by most navigators of the Atlantic, was to run down first to the latitude which they desired to find on the other side of the world, and then to sail due west. The latitude of the Canaries had the further advantage of giving the mariner the help of the trade- winds ; but this latitude was several degrees south of the extreme southern limits of the Virginia colony, so that the entire route cannot but appear somewhat out of the way. It is doubtful, per haps, whether in the more northern latitudes to which great circle-sailing would have limited the adventur ers, the voyage would have been as successful at that unfavorable season of the year as it pi^oved by the The True Story of Captain John Smith 117 longer route; but, be that as it may, we are not left to conjecture Captain John Smith's opinion on the sub ject. In his description, written in 1622,* ofthe voy age of Amidas and Barlow in 1584, he says: "The 27th of April they set sail from the Thames, the 10th of May passed the Canaries and the loth of June the West Indies; which unneedful southern course (but then no better was known) occasioned them at that season much sickness." Smith was an excellent navigator; and the map of Virginia which he drew, from the results of his own observations and explorations in 1612, as well as his map of New England, is figured with compasses, designed to promote what he considered the only true method of reaching these distant points. We do not know upon which ship he made the voyage; but whichever one it was, it contained also a person with whom our adventurer could have had few points of sympathy. This was Edward Maria Wing field, who, though honest despite the accusations afterwards brought against him, was narrow, timid and opinionated ; probably, also, selfish and dictatorial, as such natures usually are. Between this person and Smith differences of opinion arose almost from the first; while they lay in the Downs, indeed, there was little occupation but disputing, open to any of the party, and what the result would have been we do not quite know, but for the efforts of the Rev. Robert Hunt, who, though himself sick in body, and almost within sight of his home in Southern England, during ?Smith's Works, p. 305. ii8 The True Story of Captain John Smith this prevalence of head winds, would not take away his hand from the plough, or go home to recover of his sickness, but spent himself, and was spent, to pro mote peace between these contentious spirits. Meanwhile, the provisions, which should have been for the support of the colony upon Virginian shores, diminished daily while thus they lay in sight of land ; and as each morning decreased the probable percentage of financial profit, and increased the likelihood of total loss and entire failure. Smith, who had, he tells us, in vested five hundred pounds in the enterprise,* became each day more and more discontented and disgusted with the management of affairs. Wingfield, on the other hand, seems to have upheld constituted authority from preference as well as on principle; bitter words therefore passed between the two, for Smith was at no period of his life likely to be slack in expressing his opinion. He was not moreover the only discontented person aboard the three ships ; and the superstitious fears of the adventurers were excited by a "blazing Starre" or meteor, of which Master George Percy tells us,t which appeared on the night ofthe twelfth of February "and was presently followed by a storm." On March twenty-third they reached the West Indies; and on the twenty-fourth, when crews and colonists had gone ashore on the island of Dominica, Wingfield took the opportunity to accuse Smith of participation in a mutiny which seems to have been ?Smith's Works, p. 266-7. t Smith's Works, p. Ivii. The True Story of Captain John Smith 119 really projected* at some time during the voyage by one Galthrop. In the subsequent trial at Jamestown the exact nature ofthe charge comes out; namely, that he intended to "usurp the government, murder the council, and make himself king; that his confederates were dispersed in all the three ships." No doubt there was discontent and murmuring in all, but there is no shadow of proof that Smith knew of any mutiny, far less that he cherished the wild plans here indicated, which would have entailed upon him for the future the life of an outlaw if not of a pirate. Wingfield, however, had probably been reduced by the hardships and monotony of the voyage to a condition of hysteri cal credulity, which was shared by others aboard the flotilla; for during the six days that the expedition stayed at Nevis, the authorities seem to have amused themselves, while the men were hunting, fishing and generally taking their pleasure after long sea travel and sea food, in a fashion which Smith thus describes. " Such factions here we had . . . that a pair of gallows was made; but Captain Smith, for whom they were intended, could not be persuaded to use them."t One easily fancies the gallant captain standing off his accusers, perhaps with his sword in his hand and the thought of his three Turks' heads in his memory; and one excuses the slight glorification of the im portance of his position in the colony, with which he *ib. p. XC. tib. p. 910. 120 The True Story of Captain John Smith tells us that his stop on this occasion was "to wood and water, and refresh my men."* There is little doubt that Smith appeared to himself all through this adventure as that which he really was, the person in the colony of widest experience and greatest force of character; and in the relation of these happenings in the last years of his life (1629) he remembered his own share in the expedition very largely in the light of this conviction. But though his accusers at Nevis did not quite dare to put him to death, they succeeded, probably when they had him once more aboard ship, in holding him a prisoner ("and for nothing," as he very forcibly puts it) until after their arrival at Jamestown. Among the West India Islands they voyaged, from one to another, charmed, as all travelers thither have been, both before and after them, until they attained the tiny islet of Monica, lying almost upon the sixty- eighth meridian west of Greenwich. Here they turned their course northerly and on April 14th crossed the tropic of Cancer. At about this point they had ex pected to make their landfall; for it should be remem bered that almost the only portions of the coast whose longitude was positively known were Florida, Roa noke and "Norumbega," or Nova Scotia and New England. Being now in the approximate longitude of Cape Cod, why, pray, should they not make land? questioned our adventurers. But they had gone three days beyond their reckoning, or beyond the point where land should properly have appeared, according *ib. p. gog. The True Story of Captain John Smith 121 to their expectations, and still only the ocean waves hove in sight when Providence came to the rescue of their ignorance with a great storm. "God, the guider of all good actions, forcing them by an extreme storm to hull all night, did drive them by his providence to their desired port, beyond all their expectations ; for never any of them had seen that coast"* "The sixth and twentieth day of April (1607), about four o'clock in the morning, we descried the land of Virginia. "The same day we entered into the Bay of Chesu- pioc directly, without let or hindrance."! So says Master George Percy. The land thus seen was the southern cape, which the colonists called in honor of the eldest son of King James, that hopeful Prince Henry, whose reign, had he lived to succeed to the throne, would probably have changed the whole course of English and American history. For having inherited the intellect and the charm of the Stuarts without their narrow and bigoted obstinacy, he would have known, in all probability, how to avert, by wise concessions, the Great Rebellion; in which case there would have been no Puritan exodus, no Oliver Crom well; and Plymouth Rock would have remained un sung. Eager to see the land they had sought so long, a party of the colonists went ashore that day ; we can easily fancy what they beheld and how unlike it was to what they had for the most part expected. "Fair ?Smith's Works, p. 387. f Smith's Works, p. Ixi. 122 The True Story of Captain John Smith meadows and goodly tall trees,'' says George Percy; "with such fresh waters running through the woods, as 1 was almost ravished at the first sight thereof."* But no ivory palaces gleaming with gems, no gold mines; these, however, might be further in the interior, towards the "hills" or the rolling country that gave promise of them. When the party, consisting of some twenty or thirty, had thus recreated themselves, and "discovered a little way," they were returning towards the ships as night began to fall, when they espied five Indians creeping towards them like bears, with their bows in their mouths. These were proba bly the scouts of a strong party, who, finding them selves discovered, charged desperately upon the English, probably in the hope of cutting off stragglers. But Newport had been cautious enough to send only picked men. The twenty or thirty of whom we read contained among others, Newport himself, Wingfield and Gosnold, with Captains Gabriel Archer and Matthew Morton, who had seen Indian fighting in the neighborhood of the Amazon. The two last named were seriously hurt, the latter it was supposed mortally, though he subsequently recovered and did good ser vice in the East Indies, f Several others were wounded ; then the Indians, having spent their stock of arrows, retired, and the discoverers returned on board un molested. That night in the cabin of the Susan Constant, the ?Smith's Works, p. Ixi. t Smith's Works, p. 8g6. The True Story of Captain John Smith 123 box was opened that contained their instructions and the names ofthe CounciL The childishness of fitting out such an expedition as this, under men so skilful and experienced, and then endowing them with a box, which, like that of the princess in the fairy tale, must of necessity- be their chief centre of interest, yet must on penalties dire remain unopened until they should reach their jour ney's end, was very characteristic indeed of King James. Doubtless the reason for the proceeding which appeared valid to the king and the London Company was to concentrate all authority in the hands of Newport for the time of the voyage; but this could not only have been better accomplished in another way, but as a matter of fact the means chosen were self-defeating. For it was well known that only a certain few among them could aspire to be among the chosen ; and each of these was probably inwardly convinced that his was a right which the most pre judiced potentate could not overlook. Thus each would feel himself in authority during the entire voy age, and each would very likely scorn the pretensions, whether concealed or expressed, of every other. But now the names of the Council were found to be the seven following: Christopher Newport, Bartholo mew Gosnold, Edward Wingfield, John Smith, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George Kendal. These from among themselves were to choose a president to serve for one year, and. Captain Smith being still a prisoner, Wingfield, on May 13th, the expedition having then reached the place where they intended to establish 124 The True Story of Captain John Smith themselves, was chosen president, he and the Council were sworn into office, "and an oration was made why Captain Smith was not admitted of the Council as the rest."* It is doubtful whether this oration satisfied Smith's friends among the colonists; but Wingfield by his social position and wealth in England, as well as his clear, though narrow and obstinate integrity of character, was a person of importance in the enter prise and clearly had the ear of Newport and Gosnold. And one is driven to the conclusion that if there were no foundation for the charges against Smith, there must have been at least some ill-looking circum stances for them to find credence, even for a short time, with such men as these. Smith persistently speaks of "my men," "my soldiers," "I, with my party," etc. ; and we know that Robinson and Charle- ton were of his old command in Transylvania, and were the only two Englishmen who escaped alive from the battle of Rothenthurm. Others, as Anas Todkill and Richard Potts, express themselves as being bound to him by a special allegiance ;f what is more likely than that they joined the expedition under his influence, and probably even through his assistance in procuring an equipment ?J Such men as these would then be the confederates who were in all the ships as previously quoted; and it needs only a very ?Smith's Works, p. 386. tSmith's Works, p. 167. {Especially as we shall find him, later in our history, thus fitting out adventurers at his own expense for the projected New England Colony. The True Story of Captain John Smith 125 little imprudence of speech in them, a trifle of overzeal, an impatient word or two when things went wrong, to make a pretty case of conspiracy indeed, which Wingfield could not only believe himself, as we may be confident that he did, but could impose upon Newport and Gosnold. Whether Smith had a voice in the location chosen for the settlement we cannot be sure. It had some advantages as a defensible place against the savages, of whose enmity — though in the days succeeding they had been more friendly — the colonists had been so immediately made aware. Exploring in the shallop a few miles northward from Cape Henry, they had discovered a river flowing from the west, which by the Indians was called Pow hatan or Falling Waters, from the falls at its head. From this river the tribe took its name and the great war-chief his title; but the English called it by the name of their king, the James; and finding, after some disappointing soundings, water deep enough to float their ships, in a narrow channel close by a point of land at the north of the river, they named this pro montory Point Comfort. Near by was an Indian village called Kecoughtan ; a place to which was after ward given the name of Hampton. A river flowing from the west was, as we know (vide appendix) one of the chief points in their instruc tions ; westward, therefore, they fared cheerfully, here and there landing and being feasted and entertained in divers manners by the savages, who had been a little overawed by the firmness with which their initial 126 The True Story of Captain John Smith onset had been received, and were now trying the tactics of propitiation. The place selected on May 13th for the seat of the settlement was a peninsula on the north side of the river, connected with the mainland only by a very narrow neck of land, which could easily be cut through or fortified against attack, and thus formed a really good military position. But for a settlement it was by no means a desirable "seating place," being low, marshy and malarious; just such a location, in fact, as their instructions expressly warned them to avoid. There was a dispute. Smith tells us, between Wingfield and Gosnold as to the site; but Smith himself considers it " a very fit situation for the founding of a great city."* However, its selection cost the colony dear in the death of Captain Gosnold, who fell a victim to the climate on August 22, 1607; a very true and gallant gentleman. f The members ofthe Council seem to have considered it their earliest duty to provide for the defence of the settlers; they, therefore, took in hand to contrive the building of a fort while the majority of the party cut down trees, in order to make a place on the densely wooded peninsula for the many tents required by so many newcomers; others cut the felled trees into clapboard, with which to relade the ships; for these primeval forest trees contained many of which the Old World already knew the value. Others of the settlers prepared the ground for agriculture, yet others made nets for fishing; every one was busy and should ?Smith's Works, p. 6. tSmith's Works, p. ixxi. The True Stsry of Captain John Smith 127 have been contented; the savages often paid them visits with alleged friendly intent. But dissensions already prevailed in the Council. It would have seemed self-evident that the settlers should have been exer cised in the use of arms and trained to defend their fortifications; but Wingfield appears to have been completely deceived by the friendly demeanor of the Indians and would not permit anything that might have the appearance of distrust. He, therefore, forbade all military exercises, and permitted no fortifi cations except "the boughs of trees cast together in the form of a half-moon by the extraordinary diligence of Captain Kendal."* Meantime, though Smith was considered in dis grace, he was too experienced and valuable a person and was considered too dangerous to be left at large and idle. It was probably for the sake of keeping him out of mischief that he was sent with Newport and twenty others to explore the James River. They were about six weeks upon an expedition whose description we reserve for another chapter; upon their return, Smith, alleging that thirteen weeks was long enough to lie under an undeserved imputation, de manded an investigation. There seems, indeed, to have been a design to send him back to England to receive acquittal or condemnation at the hands of the London Company; but inasmuch as the local council possessed the right of trying local cases. Smith pleaded his right to appear first before them, reserving the London Council as a court of appeal. ?Smith's Works, p. 387. 128 The True Story of Captain John Smith The generous indignation of Smith's defenders* accused his accusers of suborning witnesses. Though there is no reason to believe so extreme a statement as this, it seems certain that the charge against our hero was not only dismissed as absurd and libelous, but that Wingfield, as scandalmonger-in-chief, was mulcted in two hundred pounds damages, about one thousand pounds in current value, or five thousand dollars. This was the whole amount of his property in America. From his own account of these proceedings, Wingfield considers himself to have had rather hard measure; undoubtedly there were violent and evil passions on all sides; but Smith with a high-handed generosity characteristic of him, and which doubtless increased his popularity, already tolerably great, turned over the amount ofthe fine, which was chiefly in stores of food and clothing, into the common stock of the settlers. It was doubtless easier for him to do this than to be just to Wingfield, whom he detested with a cordiality that placed upon all the President's actions the worst possible construction. But through the exhortations of their pastor, the Rev. Robert Hunt, some sort of a peace was patched up among all these discordant elements; Smith was sworn in as a member of the Council on the twentieth of June. The next day all received the communion and on June 22d Captain Newport set sail for England, leaving in Virginia, of colonists about one hundred and five, and of discord, enough for a kingdom. ?Smith's Works, p. 389. CHAPTER X. How They Discovered Up the River, and What Befell Thereafter. Leaving Captain Kendal, of whom we shall hear more a little later, sedulously laboring to build the fort, and Wingfield as diligently striving to hinder him from so doing. Captain Newport with, as when they landed on Cape Henry, a company of picked men, em barked in the shallop on May 20th to discover the "King's River." It is not wonderful that he should have set forth with a "perfect resolution" to find one of five things — the head of the river, the "lake" mentioned by others before (probably some confused rumor of the great lakes), the sea again, the mount ains Apalatsi (Appalachian), or some issue, by which was meant that strait corresponding to the Strait of Magellan, which, as we have already seen, was be lieved with some show of probability to exist in these parts. For it is constantly to be remembered that the Jamestown colonists were not mere settlers; they were employees of a great joint stock mercantile com pany; their business was to establish and defend themselves in order to live; but afterwards, to explore and make maps of their explorations, and to develop the resources of their new possessions for the benefit of the company and incidentally of themselves. In 129 130 The True Story of Captain John Smith return the company was to supply them with the necessaries of life until they were able to provide for themselves. It is only by keeping this view of the situation constantly before us that we are able to understand certain aspects of it which every now and then come to the front; in particular, the conflict of opinions among those who, like Wingfield, Gosnold, Smith and others, were stockholders as well as col onists, and consequently, not unreasonably, believed themselves entitled to a voice in the disposal of their money interests; and the peculiar authority exercised by the disinterested Newport, who was, we are dis tinctly told by Master Archer, perhaps with some ac rimony, merely "hired for their transportation." On his return voyage, Newport carried home to London a rough chart of the river, drawn from mate rials accumulated on this trip of discovery, and a " Relation " of the daily happenings, probably taken from the journal of this Master Recorder Gabriel Archer, whose name is still perpetuated by "Archer's Hope ; " where, rather than at Jamestown, he had favored the establishment of the colony. This map has perished, with many more documents equally priceless. A more elaborate chart was drawn in the next year by Robert Tindall, formerly gunner to Prince Henry;* and in 1612 was published in its first form. Smith's map of Virginia, which is still, with his writings, our only source of information as to the location and our best authority for the names of the Indian tribes in this vicinity. ?It is published in Brown's Genesis, Vol. i. No. xlvi. The True Story of Captain John Smith 131 They belonged, as we know, with one or two ex ceptions, to the Algonquin division of the red race, and formed a loose confederacy under the leadership of the Powhatans governed by their hereditary chief, Wahunsunakok, whose personal name was not known to the English until after his death. For it was con sidered unlucky to pronounce the name of a living person, and the red people were spoken of by their most intimate friends and relations only under pet names and sobriquets. Thus Pocahontas, of whom we shall hear more presently, and whose sobriquet means little wanton; her lawful name was Matoaca, but this was not made known to the settlers until it had been superseded by her baptismal name of Rebecca. One wonders whether in her own tribe the early death of the girl may not have been regarded as the consequence of this revelation.* Wahunsunakok, an elderly despot of unusual intel ligence and force of character, had increased during his long life both the extent and the weight of his authority until now he was feared and perhaps hated by every tributary werowance along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, over most of which territory his dominion extended. At the head of the bay there were, it is true, the Susquehannocks, a gigantic tribe of Indians belonging to the Iroquois division of the ?It is curious to find a sort of survival of what may have been a kindred superstition among the Hebrews, both of ancient times and our own; for the Rabbinical Jews of the present time have usually two names, in the very fashion of Simon Peter and John Mark, one for use among the Gentiles, the other kept holy for the lips of the faithful among the children of Abraham. 132 The True Story of Captain John Smith race, and sworn enemies to the Powhatan and all his house; and upon Cape Henry were the Chesapeakes, newcomers to the region, and as yet unsubdued, the successors of a tribe whom Powhatan had recently exterminated ; it is said, in consequenpe of an ancient prophecy which he considered adverse to himself and his dynasty. The precise historical value of the ancient traditions which have been preserved for us by our oldest chroniclers it is impossible to determine; but Strachey, who came to Virginia in 1612, records for us how it had been revealed to the Powhatan through his "priests" or medicine men, that a nation should arise from the Chesapeake Bay, which should dissolve and give end to his empire. In consequence of this he had annihilated the residents of that locality, and for the same reason, we are told, the Chesapeake Indians were quick to resent the landing of Newport and his party on Cape Henry. But the story has rather' the air of an oracle invented after the event and Powhatan himself, not to speak of his brother, the yet more astute Opechancanough, was quite clever enough to do this in a much shorter space of time than five years. Even if an actual augury derived from an acquaintance with the previous Spanish attempts at settlement in that locality, one scarcely sees how it can have affected the Chesapeake tribe, who would rather have welcomed the foes of their foe. Another tradition which has been charmingly used by Miss Mary Johnston, has it that Opechancanough was only a Powhatan by adoption and not by birth; that' he had made his way to Virginia from the far The True Story of Captain John Smith 133 Southwest, across the mountains (Mexico), and that he had a hereditary and personal hatred for the white man, which remained unsatisfied even by the massacre of 1622. With this, the current belief among the English, that he was the elder brother of Powhatan, accords fairly well ; but succession to the chieftainship was by no means strictly hereditary, so far as we are able to discover; and the military genius of Wahunsunakok would have been far more likely to win 'the suffrages of the tribe than the more statesmanlike qualities of Opechancanough, even though the latter may have been the earlier born. But elder or younger, the Powhatan had been for many years seated at Werowocomico, or the town of the chieftain, on York River, on Pamaunk fiuvius, as we find it on Smith's map. Here he reigned in state, with a body guard of fifty tall savages to enforce his authority, and hence he sent forth his tax collectors, who gathered in from every werowance eighty per cent, of all that each country afforded. He knew neither pity nor compassion to those who offended him ; and there is little wonder that a faithful report of these things being sent home to King James, he, with his theories of divine right should have regarded the septuagenarian war chief as a man and a brother, and have demanded his immediate coronation. But it would have been far more interesting to hear the com ments of the Powhatan on the peculiarities of gentle King Jamie, if these could have been made clear to his barbarian intellect. But we have all this while left Newport in his shal- 134 The True Story of Captain John Smith lop with his explorers, consisting of five "gentlemen," including Captains Smith, Archer and Percy; four skilled mariners, and fourteen sailors. By this selection not only were the colonists left to dig and fortify, but the authority of the voyage of exploration was indisputably centred in the hands of Newport. They began their journey about noon of the 21st, and by nightfall had reached a point about twenty miles up the river, where was situated the chief seat of the Wyanokes, a village which Smith calls Weanock, representing thus what was probably the proper pronunciation, allowing, for English inability to manage the Indian gutturals. The site of this village, including about one thousand acres, with a still larger tract of land belonging to the same tribe on the other side of the river, and by them called Tanx-or Little Wyanoke, was granted in 1619 to Sir George Yeardley, who gave to the former site of the Indian town the name Fleur-de-Dieu,* possibly from the passion flower, which, though a native of the West Indies, is still found growing wild in Virginia. At all. events, the title, as that of one of Virginia's first electoral divisions, was speedily corrupted into Flower de Hundred, which it still retains. The king of Wyanokef was at odds with the king of Paspahegh, in whose territories Jamestown was sit- ?Smith states that the passion flower, the fruit of which was called " maracock," was sown amid the com, with beans and pumpkins, but in Beverley's time (1722) it was no longer cultivated, either because it was less used or because the spontaneous growth was found to be sufficient. fThis Indian word means " ash-tree." The True Story of Captain John Smith 135 uated; this the natives there demonstrated by the exhibition of recent wounds, and entertained the voyagers with dances and much rejoicing, as though regarding them as powerful allies against a common enemy. Here, therefore, they anchored, and remained all night, proceeding the next day about sixteen miles further, to what they called Turkey Island. It was, however, probably a peninsula, now known as Presque Isle, or Turkey Island Bend. A subsequent owner of Turkey Island Plantation was William Ran dolph, among whose descendants are numbered William Stith, the historian, John Randolph of Roa noke, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall and Robert E. Lee. Its name was derived from the abundance of wild turkeys, upon which our voyagers, so long sea- tossed, were very glad to feast and make merry, but not to the neglect of their main object. For, spying eight savages in a boat, they hailed them with the greeting of peace which they had learned overnight perhaps, "Wingapoh!" And in the resulting con ference one of these eight confiding savages, apparently understanding the meaning of the ex pedition, began to trace with his naked foot in the sand the course of the river. Then Master Recorder furnished him with pen and paper, explaining their use, whereupon he cleverly sketched a rude chart, from the bay as far as the river was navigable, and beyond to the falls, and yet further to the mountains, which he called Quirank; "beyond which by his relation," says Master Recorder, "is that which we expected," namely, the South Sea. 136 The True Story of Captain John Smith Full of hope and exultation, therefore, they proceeded up the river, met everywhere by the Indians in the most friendly fashion. On his side, Newport seems to have acted with excellent wisdom, impressing upon the savages the irresistible power and might of the English, but avoiding all occasions of offence. At Arahatec or Arrohatec (a name still borne by a farm in the vicinity), just above Dutch Gap Canal, as they sat feasting with the werowance, word was brought of the sudden arrival of the Powhatan. "At whose presence they all rose off their mats (save the King Arahatec), separating themselves apart in fashion of a guard, and with a long shout they saluted him. Him we saluted with silence, sitting still on our mats, our captain in the midst, but presented, as before we did to King Arahatec, gifts of divers sorts, as penny knives, shears, bells, beads, glass toys, etc., more amply than before. Now this king appointed five men to guide us up the river, and sent posts before to provide us with victual." Among these guides was the "faithful fellow," or "kind consort," as Captain Archer, whose pleasure was to find quaint names for men and places, alter nately terms him ; and the word having been passed among these simple savages that the owners of fire- sticks and bestowers of fire-water were for the present too potent to be meddled with, and were rather to be relieved of their toys and glass beads through the medium of barter — both sides of the river were dotted with clusters of Indians bearing gifts like the Danaians. Their proffered venison, hominy, corn-cakes and The True Story of Captain John Smith 137 strawberries the English graciously accepted by the advice of the five guides, and requited with the trifles they had laid in for the purpose. Thus they rowed ten miles in such pleasure and joy of their kind enter tainment and such comfort of their happy and hope ful discovery (the gold-bearing^ mountains and the South Sea being, as they were assured, so close at hand), that it seemed to them scarce five, and so arrived over against the habitation of King Powhatan. Master Recorder calls it Powhatan's Tower; but it consisted of about a dozen communal houses seated upon a hill beside the river and surrounded by roughly cleared fields, "whereon he sows his wheat (maize), beans, peas, tobacco, pompions (pumpkins), gourds, hemp, flax, etc." This village of Powhatan was pur chased about a year later by Smith and called "Non such." It was located at about the present situation of Richmond; the old name is still retained by an estate in the neighborhood, long the home of the Mayo family. "The werowance of "Powhatan's Tower" was a son of the old chief, known as Tanx-Powhatan ; but the aged sinner was there in person on this occasion to make sure the English were properly handled; "a terrible old chief," says a recent writer, "over seventy years old. He bore his years well; was tall in stature and powerfully framed. His thin gray hair floated over his broad shoulders, and his countenance was furrowed and melancholy. He had a round face and some few hairs upon his chin and upper lip."* ?"The Cradle of the Republic," by Lyon G. Tyler, pages 13 and 14. To this work the present chapter is much indebted. 138 The True Story of Captain John Smith To the presence of this potentate Newport and his party were conducted up the hill; they found with him King Arahatec and another person whose position they could not determine, though he was evidently of importance, as he sat beside the two kings, an honor granted to no one elje. They were assured that he was no werowance, and it is quite probable that he was the chief conjurer or medicine man, either of the tribe or of that district. The religion of these barbar ians was perhaps as mysterious to the English as theirs to Powhatan; but it is remarkable to note, especially in Smith's own writings, the keenness with which they observed and recorded facts, which the ethnological investigations of later years now enable the historian to classify and account for. The English were by this time able to make them selves fairly well understood by their "kind consort," who had spared no pains, says Master Recorder, to learn their language and to teach them his own ; there fore, with him for their interpreter, the discourse or grand pow-wow, which followed the feast now spread before them by the Powhatan, was full of in terest. The aged chief explained to them the extent of his dominions, and his warlike relations with the Chesapeakes on the one hand, and the Monacans, who ^vere seated just beyond the falls, on the other. At Manakin, their chief town, a Huguenot colony was estabhshed in Nicholson's administration. After some parley a league of friendship was made and cemented by a gift to Newport of the royal mantl'e, which was probably of raccoon skins, as that fur seems to have The True Story of Captain John Smith 139 been the most highly prized peltry of the Virginia Indians. As evening approached the discoverers re-embarked and that night traveled as far as the falls, beyond which there was, as they found, no thoroughfare for boats; therefore, "between content and grief," they left the place for the night, determining to proceed by land the next day. But Powhatan seems to have been averse to their further exploration; perhaps, because he feared lest, meeting the Monacans, they should make a league with them and so overwhelm him and his people. At all events, he dined with them upon boiled pork and beans the next day, which was Whit Sunday; and his discourse was so plainly adverse to their project of proceeding afoot that Newport abandoned it, much to the disgust of Captain Smith, but, as it seems to the modern historian as well as to Master Recorder, with excellent judgment For there was to be considered not only the danger of invading the Monacan country in the character of friends and allies of the Powhatans, but the peril to those at the fort who were left exposed to the enmity of the red "emperor," in case the explorers so acted as to displease that wily old chief. Moved by these considerations they "trifled away a day," in erecting on an islet at the falls a cross bearing the name of "Jacobus Rex," with the date of the year and Newport's own name below as the discoverer. This was the second cross erected in Virginia, the first having been on Cape Henry; but on this occasion their feu de joie of musketry and their resounding English 140 The True Story of Captain John Smith hurrahs so awakened the suspicion of their kind consort that Newport was forced to invent an explanation. The two arms of the cross, said this ingenious symbolist, represented Powhatan and himself, their meeting point stood for the just-made league, and the hurrahs were homage to the Powhatan war chief. With all which, and especially the shouting, Naviraus was not a little delighted ; but he took care with true Indian cunning to call for an encore, when next they encountered the king; whereupon Newport and his company gave with a vim three cheers for Powhatan, to the satisfaction of all present. As they drew near to Jamestown on their return voy age the moral atmosphere became less balmy ; first, the awe which the voyagers inspired beginning to wear off, some of the bolder spirits indulged themselves in a little harmless purloining. Upon Newport's com plaints everything was at once restored; Fiske thinks with much reason because powder and bullets were looked upon as "bad medicine." No doubt they were, but that theory does not apply to the glass beads and toys which were also stolen, and which Newport permitted them to retain ; so that it seems as though a desire to keep on good terms with these strange people until they should hear how the Pas- paheghs had succeeded in a certain enterprise then on the tapis may have been an equally potent factor. King Arahatec sent them supplies when they reached " Arahatec's Joy," but was himself unable to sup with them, having partaken too freely on the day before of English fire-water; but the next morning the gentle The True Story of Captain John Smith 141 savage's health being again restored they all made merry in brotherly fashion, and the visitors were treated to an exhibition of many customs of the coun try. At Appomattox, afterwards Bermuda Hundred, they found a female werowance or queen, "a fat lusty, manly woman," extensively bedecked with copper; leaving whom, they were next introduced into the presence of " King Pamunkey," or Opechan canough, who was at that time at a village about five miles from "the queen's bower," as Master Recorder poetically terms their last-mentioned stopping place. The guileful Opechancanough impressed him other wise surely than as he intended; for "this king so set his countenance striving to be stately, as to our seem ing he became fool." He was not, perhaps, quite so great a fool as he looked, for he seems to have attempted to separate Newport from his companions; "but seeing ouf intention was to accompany our captain, he altered his purpose and waved us in kindness to our boat." By the time the party reached Wyanoke the cloudi ness ofthe moral atmosphere became unmistakable; Naviraus on some pretext declined to accompany them further, and the sullenness of the Indians of that neighborhood gave point and meaning to his defection. But though Newport felt anxious, he was also reluctant to leave his exploration unfinished on account of what might prove an unfounded alarm; and he, therefore, proposed to visit the Paspaheghs and Tappahannocks before returning. But a sudden change of wind was so favorable for the home voyage that he was induced 142 The True Story of Captain John Smith to alter what would assuredly have been a most unfor tunate determination. Wafted by this providential breeze they returned, therefore, with all speed to the fort, where they dis covered a state of affairs by no means all that might have been desired. CHAPTER XI. How They at the Fort Ate of the King of Paspahegh's Venison — with Sauce! One cannot but feel a strong sympathy with Wing field, who was set to control a set of stronger spirits than his own ; rude, unruly men, most of them, from whom he demanded tbe respect and submission to which he felt that his position at home and his rank in the colony entitled him, but which he had not the dignity or force of character to command. Always conscious, therefore, of an undercurrent of criticism and insubordination, ofthe limits of which he had not sufficient knowledge of men to be sure, he was pre disposed to suspect organized rebellion and perhaps to create it, not only by these suspicions themselves, but by the absence of that firm touch, that feeling of the master's hand upon the reins of government, the lack of which always predisposes a spirited team to boft. The upper or Northwestern portion of Jamestown Island, as it now is, had been selected for the planting of the settlement; there is now a stream of water fully three-quarters of a mile wide, where then between Powhatan creek and the back river intervened a narrow isthmus. The island is said to have lost about fifty acres of ground in this portion, but is otherwise prob- 143 144 The True Story of Captain John Smith ably little changed in its natural features; and its verd ure and fertility still seem to promise both plenty and security. The settlers, with so many tasks to choose from, had, as we know, merely cast together a few branches of the trees which they had cleared from their prospective fields as a rude barricade, to the very edge of which the rank wild grass, mingled with scrub oak and sassafras,* grew high as a man's shoul ders. The Indians, since the departure of the party of discovery, had for the most part refrained from visiting them either to help or hinder; occasionally a solitary red man would stalk solemnly out from the shelter of the forest would grunt out a sulky saluta tion and, being looked upon as harmless, would be allowed to go whither he would, Wingfield's suspi cions not extending to the numbers of sharp eyes, which were most likely watching him and his party night and day from the convenient shelter of the undergrowth. The king of Paspahegh, either just before or just after the departure of the exploring party, had sent them a deer, but, as Master George Percy grimly remarks, the sauce came later. For they had cleared the rising ground near the fort, which from its character or situation they con sidered most advantageous for their planting, and were there (May 26th) engaged in sowing the Eng lish wheat brought over by the ships, when the wild startling Indian war-whoop resounded suddenly from ? " Our easiest and richest commodity being sassafrix roots." Letter of the Council in Virginia to the Council in England. Brown's Genesis ; vol. i. No. xix. The True Story of Captain John Smith 145 the woods, and scores of dark, naked forms leaped through the long weeds towards the fort, hoping to carry it by surprise. The English were entirely un prepared and undrilled in military exercises; even their muskets were packed away in the cases used for transporting them from England ; but fortunately the "gentlemen " of the colony went always armed with pistols and small swords, and while the planters of corn made the best of their way behind the fortifica tions, these, headed by the Council and Wingfield in person, threw themselves between the fort and the attackers. But as the red men were at the least two hundred in number, there was but a spare chance of life for any of the party had not the ships' ordnance come to the rescue. The channel of the river ran close to'the bank and the ships were actually moored to the branches of the trees ; these, therefore, promptly joined in the affray "with saker and culverin; " eleven of the English were wounded, and on the ships a boy killed; the hurt included four of the Council; and Wingfield, who had fought like a very gallant gentle man and a veteran of the Netherland wars, had an arrow through his beard, but escaped without a scratch. After a skirmish of about an hour a shot from one of the ships, bringing down the branch of a tree in the midst of the savages, induced a panic and retreat. The whistle of an arrow so near his face was a potent argunfient and Wingfield offered no further opposition to fortifying their position. By June 1 5th the fort was built, triangle wise, with at each angle a 146 The True Story of Captain John Smith bulwark shaped like a crescent, whereon were mounted several pieces of artillery. It was surrounded by a strong palisade ; within it ran a street, on either side of which the dwelling houses or barracks were to be erected. For the time they dwelt in tents like the Israelites in the wilderness; tents, moreover, pretty thoroughly riddled by Indian arrows. The grain they had sown was by this time six feet high; and as their stock of food was even nominally only sufficient for fourteen weeks, Newport felt that he could best help them by returning to England, whither also he was summoned by his duty to the directors of the com pany. But it was probably with a heavy heart that he gave orders to depart; for he could not hope to return in less than five months' time, and the Indians' hostile position was witnessed by the loss almost daily of one or more of the English, who were picked off by arrows as they went about their labors outside the fort. It seems strange that old campaigners like Smith and Wingfield, with Archer, and others who had seen Indian warfare in New England and New Spain, should not have thought of cutting down the long grass and "Jamestown weed," with other under growth around the fort; but it does not seem to have occurred to them before June 14th, when there arrived two Indians with a message of peace from the wily Opechancanough. A superstitious fear of the new comers was, it seems, for the moment even stronger than hatred; and the messengers were therefore charged to disavow the King of Paspahegh and all his works in very civilized fashion. Their attackers, said The True Story of Captain John Smith 147 the red ambassadors, one of whom was the "kind consort," Naviraus, were the enemies of the King of Pamunkey, as well as »f the English; some of them indeed had been Chesapeakes. And moreover it would be as well if the settlers would cut their grass. Smith and Newport at least, were wise enough to let the strength of their fortifications impress the savage mind, so that a good report ofthe same might go to their chief; and the wisdom and timeliness of the advice to de stroy the convenient undergrowth are unquestionable. Smith had before this been admitted to the Council ; and now before he finally gave orders to depart, New port seems to have questioned Wingfield "how he felt himself settled in the government; whose answer was, that no disturbance could endanger him or the colony, but it must be wrought either by Captain Gosnold or Master Archer; for the one was strong with friends and followers and could if he would ; and the other was troubled with an ambitious spirit and would if he could." It would seem, therefore, as though the president's fear of Captain Smith had been foi» the present appeased by the disclosures of the trial just ended; and that his "jealousy," as one of the colonists terms it, had cen tred upon Archer, and even included Gosnold. New port thereupon proceeded to labor earnestly with each; "and moved them with many entreaties to be mindful of their duties to his majesty and the colony;" after which came the communion, and Newport's season of rest from strife and contention upon the troubled waves of the stormy Atlantic. 148 The True Story of Captain John Smith The one hundred and five persons left at Jamestown now found themselves in for rather a hard time. Their food had, as we know, been consumed out of all pro portion by their long stay off the coast of England, and the roundabout course ofthe voyage to America; these stores, moreover, had included besides wheat and barley, little else but oil, vinegar, and liquors of various descriptions. And this was now so nearly consumed that one man's rations for an entire day was simply a small can of barley, and another of wheat, made into porridge. While the ships remained in the harbor they had been able to improve this diet by trading with the sailors, for ship-biscuit against the commodities of the land, skins, pearls, etc., which the seamen were not so easily able to obtain ; but now even that ex pedient was at an end. It is true that they were in Virginia in the height of summer, and that woods and river were full of things to eat; but, as Smith tersely re marks on this point: "Though there be fish in the sea, fowls in the air, and beasts in the woods, their bounds are so large, they so wild, and we so ignorant, that we cannot much trouble them." And indeed the recent attack on the fort had given a wholesome warning against an extended hunting excursion, the chance of suddenly finding oneself game instead of hunter being one not to be desired ; while the sound of axe and hammer had by this time driven from their own little peninsula everything living but themselves and the song birds, and perhaps a few rabbits or squirrels. Fish there were in plenty, and on sturgeon in particular they had feasted to repletion while the The True Story of Captain John Smith 149 fine weather lasted; but there seems at just this time to have occurred a very untimely and unwelcome season of storm, so that their scanty breakfast of por ridge became their only diet. Their houses, also, were scarcely half built, and under these circumstances, in that malarial situation, agues and malarial and typhoid fever were the natural consequences. Almost every day witnessed a death from one of these causes; Gosnold was dead, the president, Martin, and Ratcliffe were down with the fever, and Kendal, for reasons which remain a mystery, was deposed from the Council. The whole weight of authority, therefore, fell upon Smith, who, himself newly recovered from fever, was obliged to act as Cape Merchant* and also to superintend the building of houses for the company; "who, notwithstanding our misery, little ceased their grudging, malice and muttering." Rather, one would say, the company would have been more than human had they not grumbled under such trying circumstances ; but it is very probable that Smith, though he keenly felt the unmerited disgrace which in his own opinion at least, and perhaps in that of some others, still clung to him, despite the acquittal of the Council — it is very probable that the gallant captain never was happier in his life. His only grudge seems to have been against Wingfield, whom he re garded as the sole author of the calumnies against his loyalty; hence when the stores of wine and brandy seemed to give out with suspicious suddenness. Smith ?From the Italian capo mercante, chief merchant. 150 The True Story of Captain John Smith concluded at once that they were reserved for the pri vate consumption of the president and his friends. It is certain, from Wingfield's own statement, that he kept the supply of stimulants in his own hands; but his version of the matter is, that the stock having been reduced to two gallons each of sack and aquavitee, he reserved the first for the communion table* and the latter for use in emergencies. This was done with the knowledge and approval of Gosnold, but the death of this person left Wingfield alone in this and other matters; so that he says with some pathos, "in his sickness time, the president did easily foretell his own deposing from his command; so much differed the president and the other councillors in managing the government of the colony." Neither side seems to have been able to believe in the honesty of purpose of the other; though when Smith and the rest of the Council were informed after Gosnold's death of the existence of the remnant of stimulants "and other preservatives of our health," they may have argued not unfairly that the emergency for which these were reserved was even then upon the colony, with forty dead between the end of June and the last of August and "so much sickness that there were scarcely five men able to go abroad." But, says Wingfield, " Lord, how they then longed to sup up that little remnant ! for they had now emptied all their own bottles, and all that they could smell out." ?As the communion was celebrated only once in three months, two gallons was certainly an ample supply, pending Newport's return. The True Story of Captain John Smith 151 This specimen must suffice; there was also a mighty pother about two glass bottles full of salad oil, which belonged to the private store of the president, and which he had wisely had buried in the ground, lest they should spoil from the intense heat. Likewise an over-confiding squirrel was presented to the poor man in his sickness, and by him was shared with Captain Ratcliffe, also an invalid, to the great offence of hungrier neighbors, who may have smelt the savory meat as it was preparing. Doubtless it would have been better policy had Wingfield made a point of faring like the rest from the common kettle; but aristocrat as he was to the fingertips, this probably did not even occur to him; his meals might be as frugal as theirs, but they must be "sodd" in his own private porridge-pot over his exclusive fire; and there were doubtless others besides Smith with whom he admitted in America an apparent equality for the sake of the cause in which they were engaged; but whose company, in England, he would think scorn his servant should be of. * It is little wonder such a man should be unpopular, but these childish quarrels became tedious; we can only excuse them by remembering the enormous im portance, to men sick and starving, of even "two glasses of sallet oyle." About the loth of September Wingfield was deposed from the presidency; and, as frequently happens in such cases, things began about the same time to mend, of their own accord, for which Rat cliffe, the new president, for a while got all the credit. ?Wingfield, " Discourse of Virginia," Smith's Works, p. Ixxx. 152 The True Story of Captain John Smith The Indians, whose corn was now in condition to be eaten, though Smith considered it only half ripe, began to bring it to the fort for the trade of the settlers, which was to them so attractive. "Our best commodity," says Smith, "was iron, of which we made little chisels," and the exchange of these for young roasting ears, and cakes of Indian meal, was equally grateful to both parties. "Fowles" now came into the river in great abundance; with this addition to their scanty diet, many of the sick began to mend ; there was not, however, above twenty days' rations of grain remaining and well aware that they could not trust to the caprice of their Indian visitors for the food of so many, it was resolved to send Smith to Hampton, or Kecoughtan, to obtain supplies. The Kicoughtan Indians considered this embassy an acknowledgment of weakness; and on his first arrival carelessly offered morsels of meat or bread, or a handful of grain, in exchange for copper or toys, as though to starving men; but Smith carried off the matter with so lordly an air that by the next morn ing they were as ready to trade as he himself; he and his party had their fill of fish, oysters, bread and venison, and he could have freighted a ship with corn if he had had one; he took from this point and another further up the river, nearly thirty bushels back to famine-struck Jamestown. But the winter was close at hand and there was pressing need for very much more food than this; therefore Ratcliffe and Martin now being able to take a share in the government and tolerable houses having The True Story of Captain John Smith 153 been prepared, it was resolved after much discussion to send the pinnace and barge to Powhatan to trade for corn. The headless state of the colony is strikingly visible in the fact that lots were cast for the command of the expedition ; but Providence guiding the matter, the lot fell to John Smith, who while the boats were being made ready made a trad ing voyage to the Toppahannock country. Finding no one in the village but a few women and children who fled at his approach — "truck they durst not, corn they had plenty and to spoil I had no com mission " — he was returning empty handed ; but touching at the Weraskoyack village he was able to obtain ten bushels. These Weraskoyacks were seated in the County of Isle of Wight with their chief town on Pagan River, near the present town of Smithfield; they had not been known to the English before this voyage, but seemed now disposed to be friendly. Captain Martin afterwards made two voyages to their country, return ing each time with eight or ten bushels of corn. But the Paspaheghs continued evidently hostile; dogging the voyagers' course along the banks of the river, and in every way showing themselves in such a dangerous mood that Smith considered it best to return at once to the fort. The pinnace now being ready, he embarked in her five mariners and two landsmen; he himself, with eight men being in the barge, in which he could more readily explore the smaller streams and treat with the Indians for provisions. He set forth on November 154 The True Story of Captain John Smith 9th, leaving the pinnace to follow the next morning when the tide should serve, and to await his coming at Point Wyanoke. His intention was to "discover" the Chickahominy River and its neighborhood. Pro ceeding that night as far as Sandy Point, he there met with a warrior of the "Chickahamanians," a tribe of about three hundred fighting men, paying tribute to the Powhatan, but not receiving a chief of his appoint ment, being governed by their priests and old men. Under the guidance of this warrior Smith visited several Indian towns and collected a good store of corn, wisely trading for only a small portion at each place lest the Indians should suspect the straits of the settlers. On his return down the river he was sur prised not to find the pinnace where he expected her; but on reaching the fort he discovered that she had run aground on an unexpected sandbar. After unload ing the corn he had bought, he set forth the next day, and found the people so ready to trade that they would make him a present of the food they had bought rather than take it back again. Hearing the muskets ofthe English re-echo from thewoods on either side, and seeing the birds and animals fall at their fire, impressed these untutored minds in a most whole some manner; so that after only a short absence Smith returned once more with again as much corn as his barge could carry ; in all he had now purveyed for the fort about fourteen or sixteen hogsheads. Yet once again he visited the Chickahominy, but found their plenty of corn decreased, yet was able to load his boat; but in the meantime an accident had led to the The True Story of Captain John Smith 155 discovery of a conspiracy, an inquiry into which — though its particulars remain a mystery to the present time — will afford us an occasion to set forth, more minutely than we have as yet found opportunity, some ofthe chief causes of the disuiiion that prevailed in this disunited colony. CHAPTER XII. How the Settlers Found Treason in Their Own Midst; and What Happened Thereafter. In order to understand thoroughly the position ofthe Jamestown settlers in regard to this conspiracy, it will be necessary to return for a few moments to England, and to the time just previous to the plant ing of this colony. Peace with Spain was concluded, as we know, in 1604, a peace which should rather be termed a cessation of open warfare, the better to bring to bear the arts of treachery, bribery and cor ruption. At this sort of thing, which was at that time far more than at present a recognized portion of diplomacy, Spain was much more skilful than her great rival, and the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro de Zuniga, Marques de Villa Flores et Avila, could have given lessons to Machiavelli himself Yet his prede cessor in the embassy could not have been a novice at the art; for when Zuniga landed at Dover, in the autumn of 1605, he is said to have found in that country seven chief pensioners of Spain, besides, un doubtedly, a multitude of lesser spies and traitors. The names ofthe distinguished seven are as follows: Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, Charles Blount Earl of Devonshire, Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset the Lady Suffolke, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Sir 157 158' The True Story of Captain John Smith William Monson and Mrs. Drummond, first lady of the bed-chamber to the queen.* In 1890 Mr. Alexander Brown, of Virginia, pub lished in his "Genesis of the United States" a long series of letters between Philip 111. and his ambassadors Zuniga and Gondomar, relating to American affairs at this period; the correspondence is still preserved in the Spanish archives of Madrid and Simancas, and was translated into any language for the first time by Mr. Brown, who thus rendered to American history a service which is, indeed, incalculable. . It is clear from these letters that the court of Madrid was in a decidedly hostile attitude from the first towards any attempt of the English to colonize Amer ica; not merely because these newly discovered lands were considered as the exclusive property of His Majesty of Spain, but because any colony in that quarter was likely, in Spanish opinion, to become a nest of pirates: i. e., privateers, whose power to injure Spanish commerce had been written by Drake upon their memories in letters of blood and fire. The imperative need to obviate this peril by wiping out the infant colony is indicated in no obscure terms by both ambassador and sovereign ; fortunately for Amer ica, Spain was in no condition to invite a renewal of hostilities, and it was also hoped that the colony in Southern Virginia, like so many previous English at tempts, might perish of hardship or at the hands of the savages. Meanwhile the resources of diplomacy were not neglected; and in September, 1607, Zuniga ?Brown's Genesis, Vol. II., " Brief Biographies," article "Zuiiiga." The True Story of Captain John Smith 159 writes that he has secured a "confidential person," i. e., a spy, in the London Council itself Who this person was must remain a mystery, but that the ambassador received intelligence from this or other sources is certain. In September, 1608, he sends Philip a report from a person who had been in Vir ginia, and charts of the James River region and of St. George's Fort, which had been built and abandoned by the Popham colony. Later, several Spanish spies made their way into Virginia; one of them, an Irishman, named Francisco Maguel (Brown suggests Francis Maguire as his probable title), was resident there for eight months, and his report, given in Volume I., page 393, is fairly accurate in its description of the place and the people.* And all this while the representative of Spain in England is urging massacre, recommending imme diate action before the English should become strong enough to defend themselves. It would be thus quite in keeping with Zufiiga's character if he, indeed, before the departure of the colonists from London, secured the services of some one among them able to keep him in touch with transatlantic proceedings; and it is a possibility that such a person was Captain Kendall, who was so zealous to build the fort and whose diligence gave Wingfield cause for suspicion which seems after all not so wholly unwarranted. But no details of the affair are given in any of the records; if any report of ?He seems later to have given information on the other side. See Brown, " Brief Biographies," art. " Maguel." i6o The True Story of Captain John Smith the trial was sent to the London Council it has per ished, like so many other priceless documents. The facts are as follows, so far as we have knowl edge of them. Wingfield had been deposed on the loth of September; and, shortly after, Ratcliffe, the new president, having occasion to "chide" James Read, the blacksmith (Wingfield says that Ratcliffe beat him and that it was a common thing for the Council to beat even to the point of serious injury, the rank and file of the settlers), the smith offered to return the compHment with some of his tools; where upon, the president being the king's representative, he was condemned to be hanged for high treason. But as he was mounting the scaffold he offered, if his life might be spared, to reveal a dangerous conspiracy; in consequence of which revelation Captain Kendall was shot. The brevity of this record and the secrecy involving all the proceedings render it remark able. Wingfield was at the time a prisoner on a pinnace, where he was, no doubt, particularly un comfortable. Wingfield's own Apologia, which he laid before the London Council after his return to England, is our best authority for the charges against him. With those frivolous ones which accuse him of deliberately starving the colony while he and his friends lived in luxury we have dealt already ; it remains only to be mentioned in this regard, that while he considered Smith to be the chief fomenter of discontent against him, he does not omit to record that the latter "had told the Council they were frivolous objections they The True Story of Captain John Smith i6i had gathered against me, and that they had not done well to depose me." It is probable that a man of Smith's intelligence did make some such protest, though he may have been thoroughly satisfied that Wingfield was unequal to the situation, and may have told him so to his face, with an incisiveness which Wingfield found it hard to forgive. But, however Smith forbears to accuse Wingfield, it is from the document prepared by his subordinates, R. Phettiplace and Anas Todkill, that we learn how, during Smfth's absence in the Chickahominy region, trading for corn, a plot was hatched between Wing field and Kendall to escape in the pinnace to England, and that it was for thia, which the two soldiers justly considered mutiny, that Kendall was shot.* But Tod kill and Phettiplace, not being members ofthe Council, were probably not fully acquainted with the matter; and Wingfield himself tells us that he was accused of conspiring with the Spaniards, and that his papers were searched for evidence of treason. This was nof forthcoming, but the most probable explanation of the Kendall mutiny is that Kendall, being a paid Spanish agent, had tired of the hardship and the constant danger of discovery; and that he had so worked upon Wingfield's discontent and indignation as nearly to have persuaded him to escape for England in the pin nace, where he seems to have still maintained his state and authority as president, by way of protest against the illegality of his deposition. ? " For he was obliged to tum the cannon of the fort against them, and so force them to stay or sink in the river ; which action cost the life of Captain Kendall" Stith, p. 50 (1S65). 1 62 The True Story of Captain John Smith The pinnace was leaky, but would have carried them most probably as far as the West India Islands ; further than which, if indeed a Spanish spy, Kendall had cer tainly no intention of going. Of this man's birth and education we know nothing positively ; Mr. Alexander Brown thinks he may have been a cousin of Sir Edwin Sandys. The particulars of the mutiny were apparently kept quiet, for fear of the effect on the settlers, who were always on the ragged edge of abandoning the colony ; a conclusiqn which appeared to Wingfield so inevitable and, since his own deposition, so desirable, that he had offered one hundred pounds towards de fraying the expenses of the return to England. That Wingfield was by inheritance and education a Romanist, we have already seen ; he tells us that he was accused of atheism because he had no Bible. But there was no Bible except the Vulgate which he could have been reasonably expected to own, if he were sfill a Roman Catholic; for though a translation of the New Testament had been made at Rheims in 1582, under Roman authority, that version of the Old Testament which with it makes up what we still call the Douay Bible was not completed until 1609. In England the authorized version was "the Bishops' Bible,"- set forth during the reign of Elizabeth ; but the Bible used by the colonists was in all probability that called the Geneva Bible from the city where it was trans lated, and the "Breeches Bible" from its use of that word instead of "coats of skins" in Gen. iii, 21, black-bound, and small enough to be conveniently carried. These Bibles became very popular in The True Story of Captain John Smith 163 England during the reigns of Elizabeth and James: when we remember that one of them was the "black book " for whose safety the White Lady of Avenel was so solicitous, we feel at once a thrill of intimate acquaintanceship. The prayer-book of the infant colony was of a cer tainty that of 1557, set forth for the purpose of ensur ing uniformity of worship; as it did not contain the psalter, but only a table for reading it day by day, it became necessary to find the psalms for responsive reading in the Bible. Morning and evening prayer were said according to the rubric every day; the church was at first merely "an awning, which is an old sail hung to three or four trees " ; the walls were rails of wood, the seats unhewed trees; the pulpit was a bar of wood nailed to two conveniently situated tree-trunks. Here also two sermons were preached on Sunday; but with all this maximum of worship and minimum of comfort we hear of no one who held the office of clerk. The duty of leading the responses would, therefore, fall upon the Council; and thus Wingfield's lack of a Bible would become conspicuous. And it was most unlikely to be readily condoned; for these services of the Church of England were, as we have seen, not so much for the satisfaction of the spiritual nature as they were acts of homage at once to the Divine Sovereign of the Universe, and to the Sovereign by Divine right of England and her dependencies; they were certificates of patriotism as well as of religion, and a standing protest against the Brownists or 164 The True Story of Captain John Smith Independents on the one hand, and the Romanists on the other. Wingfield, who had fought against Spain in the Netherlands, was present, therefore, as a patriot, and not as a Protestant; he may have been something of a free-thinker, as was Henri de Navarre; certainly he does not deny categorically the accusation of atheism. His defense is that he had duly provided himself with a Bible for the coming to Virginia, but that it with other books and "sweetmeats" had been stolen from his trunk before it left England. In regard to his having endeavored to prevent Master Hunt from preaching, he explains that this was only on one occasion, when the service had been delayed by a threatened attack of the Indians, and by the time the prayers were over the men were so weary, and the day so far advanced, that he thought the sermon could wait until another tirne. When we remember that sermons in those days endured for two or three mortal hours, we are inclined to consider Wingfield a merciful man ; but his radical indifference to the whole matter could not be hidden even by his habit of diligently taking "noates" of Master Hunt's sermons, "writing out of his doctrine so far as my capacity could comprehend, unless some rainy day hindered my endeavor." A curious paragraph in this defence of his conduct makes it certain that, although the names of the Coun cil were, as has been told, kept secret, and though they, when advised of their appointment, were left at apparent liberty to choose their president, yet The True Story of Captain John Smith 165 Wingfield's office was not only decided upon but made known to him before the expedition sailed. " If I may now at the last presume upon your favors, I am an honorable suitor that your own love of truth will vouchsafe to relieve me from all false aspersions since 1 embarked me into this affair in Vir ginia. For my first work, which was to make a right choice of a spiritual pastor, I appeal to the remem brance of my Lord of Canterbury,* his grace, who gave me very gracious audience in my request. And the world knoweth whom 1 took with me; truly, in my opinion, a man not to be in any way touched with the rebellious humors of a popish spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schis matic, whereof I had a special care. . . . "I rejoice that my travels and dangers have done somewhat for the behoof of Jerusalem in Virginia. If it be objected as my oversight to put myself among such men, I can say for myself there were not any other for our consort; and I could not forsake the enterprise of opening so glorious a kingdom unto the king, wherein 1 shall ever be ready to bestow the poor remainder of my days, as in any other, his highness's designs, according to my bounden duty, with the utmost of my poor talent." We fear the good man was right; his was but a poor talent; the quotation sets him forth more nearly as he was than any words of ours could do, haughty, narrow and loyal. And we have but to remember that no formal recantation was in those days demanded ?Richard Bancroft. i66 The True Story of Captain John Smith from an English Romanist that he had but to conform to be considered a member in good standing of the English Church as by law established, to understand Wingfield's status fairly well. He was not the only man of his age who considered doctrine the affair of the clergy, while it was the part of a loyal English man to go to the king's church. And there he took "noates" ofthe Rev. Robert Hunt's doctrine, possibly for the edification of the authorities at home, who might thus be certified that there was nothing amiss. Truly such a man as this and such another as Captain John Smith were not made to understand each other; and they accordingly misunderstood one another relig iously as well as politically to the end.* ?The Rev. Robert Hunt died before Smith's return to England, about October 4, 1609. Possibly the food expedients of the weeks following the destruction, by rats, of the stores were more than his health, already feeble, could endure. CHAPTER XIII. How Captain Smith, in the Discovery of the Chicka hominy, Was Himself Discovered by the Chickahamanians. The old chroniclers seem to be all of one mind that John Smith was now the only man in the colony who could make himself obeyed or had any degree of administrative ability. Authority was invested in three persons only, Ratcliffe, Smith and Martin ; Mas ter Archer had been solemnly appointed Recorder of Virginia, and according to Wingfield had also been admitted into the Council during one of Smith's voy ages, and contrary to the articles on which they had agreed among themselves at the time of the deposition of Wingfield. Of these three Martin, though Smith calls him "very honest," was in feeble health, and moreover does not seem to have been a person of very much force of character; he is on record, how ever, as the only man in the colony who protested in i6io, after the starving time, against that abandon ment of the enterprise which was only prevented by the arrival of Lord Delaware. Later, Captain Mar tin, then, despite his feeble health, the only survivor in Virginia of the original Council, patented the beautiful and famous estate of Brandon on the James, to which were attached manorial rights and privileges. These 167 1 68 The True Story of Captain John Smith rights, which were freely admitted to the manors of Maryland under Lord Baltimore's proprietory govern ment the Virginia House of Burgesses, in 1619, per emptorily refused to recognize; happily. Captain Mar tin, though at first inclined to stand out, on the plea of services rendered to the state, was finally induced to surrender his seigniorial claims, and "Martin's Brandon " was admitted to representation on the foot ing of any other "hundred." Ratcliffe, whose name was originally Sicklemore, was, in the view of the historian Burk, a person of no capacity whatever,* and his appointment as presi dent was due to a fear of what Smith might do if elected to that office. The Master Recorder's character has already in some degree been unveiled to us in his relation of the discovery of the river ; he had vanity and ambition, a facile pen, and some wit; as recorder of the colony he was probably in the right place, but he was by no means fitted to govern men. It was thus inevitable that Smith should be practi cally the ruler of Jamestown; and moreover, the strongest spirits among them were either^ his old followers or had been by this time won over to his side; it was therefore always in his absence that matters went wrong. But the more clearly this was perceived the more increased the jealousy of his colleagues, who seem, after the affair of Kendall had been satisfactorily disposed of, to have twitted Smith ?He seems to have been under some cloud in England as were many other " honest gentlemen "; but it is not quite fair to accuse him of going under a false name, as his usual signature was " Rat cliffe, commonly called Sicklemore." The True Story of Captain John Smith 169 with returning before he had completed the explora tion ofthe Chickahominy, and to have implied that he had been afraid to stay longer. Perhaps he had per ceived and reported the gathering clouds of hostility which were so soon to discharge themselves upon his devoted head; but if so, this would have been to the Council, as is evident from their conduct on his return, but an added reason for urging on the expedition. They had, of course, an excellent pretext ready, cut and dried; it was almost time to expect the return of Newport; and their report in the matter of home affairs was so full of disaster that they would be glad to balance it by some brilliant record of exploration. And why not a gold mine or two, or a passage to the Sea of Verrazano ? Under these circumstances Smith set forth, wonder ing, no doubt, what those left behind would manage to do to themselves during this time that he should be away. They were very tolerably provisioned with corn, "and the rivers became so covered with swans, geese, ducks and cranes, that we daily feasted with good bread, Virginia pease, pompions (pumpkins) and putchamins (persimmons) ; fish, fowl and diverse sorts of wild beasts as fat as we could eat them, so that none of our tuftaffety humorists desired to go for England,"* whither Ratcliffe and Archer had in the meantime endeavored to return, but had been pre vented by Captain Smith. There is really little won der that they desired to be rid of him. He -set forth in the barge on December loth; a Vir- ?Smith's Works, p. g7. 170 The True Story of Captain John Smith ginia December, clear and bracing, with a sun over head whose light and heat were still present in respect able quantities. The river, still open, afforded the viands of which we have just read; the dry, dead leaves lay thickly on the banks; the bare branches overhead were sharply outlined against a sky of clear and brilliant blue. Sometimes the passage of the barge was barred by fallen trunks or the thickly interlacing boughs. But our discoverer was this time resolved to proceed at all costs. There were hatchets in his party, though the "American axe had not yet been invented; he cleared away the obstructions and pushed onward. But now the river would not permit the passage of the barge; and Smith tells us distinctly that his further rather perilous course was determined by two things; first, the peculiarities of the river at that point, which fostered the hope that it might issue from some lake or broad ford; this, with the rurnor of a chain of lakes which had reached the colonists, raised, no doubt, dazzling expectations; and there remained moreover, his second incentive, the taunts of those who on his return from his last journey had told him he durst not seek the head ofthe river. He took all possible precautions for the success of his hazardous venture. The Indians had seemed so particularly friendly during this expedition that his suspicions, if his previous voyage had aroused any, were lulled to sleep ; he left the barge in a sort of bay in the river, where she was beyond arrow shot from the shore, with stringent orders that no one of the The True Story of Captain John Smith 171 party should land until his return. But the lack of discipline at the fort had prevented the cultivation of any true sense of subordination ; and even Captain Smith was obeyed only while he was present. He had scarcely left them, writes our chronicler, when the crew went ashore, where one of them, George Cas- son, having most likely strayed apart from the rest was immediately captured by the savages. Possibly Opechancanough was there in person; he was cer tainly the mover of the affair. Most historians consider this sudden hostility of the Indians an inexplicable mystery; there seems, say they, to be no cause for it. But Indian hostilities have rarely, in the nature of things, any cause at all, except their always present hatred to the whites. And it is more than probable that, with true Indian penetra tion into character, Opechancanough had learned long since that John Smith was the only man among these interlopers to be feared in his own person ; while the continued absence of the ships raised the hope that they never would return, and that it might be possi ble — though as yet they dared not attack the fort — if this big chief were out of the way, to starve out the remnant. But, after all, there is small need for so elaborate an explanation; we need simply refer all that followed to the well-known unappeasable hatred of the Pamunkey chief for the palefaced foreigners, and to that canon of Indian warfare which imperatively commands the cutting off of stragglers. Casson, having been forced to indicate the route taken by his captain, was incontinently put to death 172 The True Story of Captain John Smith with torture ; the rest of the boat's crew succeeded in making their way back to the barge, and, after wait ing we know not how long for Smith's return, carried the news of the too probable fate of himself and his companions back to Jamestown. Smith, however, was by no means slain; he had not passed safely through the perils of Asia, Europe and Africa, through war, famine and captivity, to perish by an Indian arrow or tomahawk. Hiring a canoe from the natives at Apocant, he had rowed on up the river, with two white men and two Indians, about twelve miles, when the stream, though retaining the same depth and breadth, became much more difficult to travel because of the trees. Here the party went ashore. Setting up their kettle. Smith left Robinson and Emery, the two white men, with one of the Indians; and while the meal was a-preparing, with the other Indian explored yet further, wishing no doubt to determine, by the nature of the soil and the windings of the river," the probability of finding the lake whose possible vicinity had lured him on. Again he left strict orders that those at the camp-fire should keep the fuses of their matchlocks all aglow, and at the first alarm should fire a single shot as the signal for his warning and return. This was in a neighborhood afterwards known as White Oak Swamp. It was less than a quarter of an hour before he heard the warwhoop, unaccompanied, alas, by any noise of matchlock. Understanding that some treach ery of the savages must be in question, Smfth seized his guide, whom he bound fast to his arm with a The True Story of Captain John Smith 173 garter, levelling at the same moment a loaded pistol at the copper-colored head. Naturally the fellow pro tested his innocence and advised flight; with true savage cunning contriving to direct the steps of his captor into a bog, in which both of them struck fast Ere this they had been besprinkled by a shower of arrows, one of which struck Smith on the thigh, but rebounded without hurt, from his stout "buff;" he then placed his "hind," as he calls him, in front as a shield and charged several times, firing his pistol; but the Indians, under Opechancanough in person, show ing themselves in the open to the number of two hundred, contributed more than the accident of the bog to procure his surrender. He resolved, he says, to try their mercies, and cast his arms from him; until which moment they had been careful to keep at a respectful distance. Made bold by his defenseless condition, the savages now rushed in and made him a prisoner, presenting him with some formality to the King of Pamunkey. Smith's presence of mind did not desert him ; it was among the original instructions to the colonists that none should go far from the seating place without a compass, and this recommendation he who had wandered pathlessly through the Circassian wilds was most unlikely to forget or disobey. In his bosom was a circular compass of ivory with a dial-face under glass on eifher side; this he presented to Opechan canough, and perceiving him to be in great wonder and admiration at the movement of the needle and at the quality of the glass which permitted him to see 174 The True Story of Captain John Smith without touching it, Smith accentuated the impres sion by explaining how it always pointed to the north, and how, by this means, the English were able to make their way over trackless waters and through pathless forests hitherto unknown. So much even an Indian might comprehend; but when the valiant captain again took up his parable and explained the roundness of the earth and the course of the sun, moon and planets, it is more than doubtful whether his hearers took in anything except an idea that this new and extraordinary "medicine" controlled, in some occult way, not only the earth, but the heavens; and that Captain Smith controlled the medicine and could make it lead him whither he would. Yet it had, for some reason or other, evi dently failed him; how, they could not understand; they were by no means prepared to release him, but it behooved them to exercise caution how they dealt with him. To use a noted .warrior with kindness, after they had made him captive, was according to their usual cus tom of getting him in the best condition to support the greatest amount of torture; and so we find that when Smith had been released from the swamp, and half-led, half-carried to his own camp-fire, where he beheld his two followers lying dead, the Indians rubbed his benumbed limbs until the circulation had been fully restored and he was quite Ws own man again. Then, within an hour afterwards, he was tied to a tree and about to be shot to death with arrows, says the general history, when Opechancanough held The True Story of Captain John Smith 175 up the compass; whereupon all laid down their weapons and Smith was released. We can only account for this attempt to put such a speedy end to him by comparing it with another event that occurred soon after; his pistols had probably killed more than the son of the old man who, after they reached Oropaks, would have slain him for the blood debt, and the friends of the killed were naturally impatient. Otherwise, the usual custom was to pro portion the publicity and the infernal ingenuity of the torture to the importance of the prisoner. But the argument of Opechancanough which procured the respite is perfectly simple; the possessor of such a powerful medicine had already shown himself imper vious to arrow-shot; to test him further would merely give him an occasion for triumph. Winfield, in his "Discourse," tells us that some three or four years previous to the coming of the Jamestown adventurers a party of white men had sailed up a rivter north of the James and had kidnapped five of the natives; and that Opechancanough now led Smith a prisoner about the country, from wero wance to werowance, to . see if any would recognize him as one of that party. If the story were true, it may be as Fiske suggests, that the kidnappers wene of the ill-fated expedition of Bartholomew Gilbert; but the fact that Opechancanough gave this as his motive is almost enough in itself to raise a doubt whether the occurrence ever took place. That he desired to exhibit his own greatness in captur ing so noted a warrior may be taken as certain. 176 The True Story of Captain John Smith and he may also have wished to demonstrate to his fellow-werowances that the English were not invinci ble, as had been supposed; to which demonstration the scalps of Robinson and Emery would have sup plied a strong corollary. And one may perhaps suggest, as a mere hypoth esis that the wily chief of the Pamunkeys was investigating the compass, turning his course hither and thither as though to bewilder the "medicine," or perhaps looking for a locality where it might be ineffective. Certainly there was at least one attempt to exorcise the paleface conjuror by means of a sacred dance; the performers "being strangely painted, every one his quiver of arrows, and at his back a club; on his arm a fox or an otter's skin, . . . their heads and shoulders painted red ... his bow in his hand and the skin of a bird with her wings abroad, dried, tied on his head, a piece of copper, a white shell, a long feather, with a small rattle growing at the tails of their snakes tied to it, or some such like toy." All this while Smith and the king stood in the midst guarded, as before is said; "and after three dances they all departed."* The tail of a rattlesnake was one of the strongest medicines known to the Indians; its use here is de cisive as to the nature of the ceremony. It is curious to note Smith's coolness and keenness of observa tion at such a time when, though in daily expectation of being killed and eaten, he nevertheless remarks that ?General History, p. 397. The True Story of Captain John Smith 177 the "scarlet-like color made an exceeding handsome shew." It was two days later that the father of the youthful warrior he had wounded made the attempt on his life; when this was hindered by the guards of the captive, Smith was led to the bedside of the dying man in order that "he might "recover him"; that is, that he might undo the charm of that other strong medi cine, powder and ball. Smith, who had had expe rience in plenty, of such wounds, and was too keen to promise a thing which he could not perform, prob ably saw that the man's one chance was stimulation ; he told them, therefore, that at Jamestown he had a water that would effect a cure, and kindly offered to fetch it. This offer was refused; but his captors were willing to allow him to send for whatever he would, wondering, like the Flying Islanders of Peter Wilkins, at his power of communicating his wishes by means of black marks upon white paper. And perceiving the impression made by so simple a matter. Smith took care to heighten, as far as possible, the dramatic effect He wrote upon a leaf of his "table-book," in which, like many others of his time, he probably noted down the events of each day, a letter to some trusty friend at Jamestown, to whom he related the attack which the savages were planning and preparing for upon the fort; and added instructions how to act for the better confusing of the savage mind, and where to place the matters of which he enclosed a list, that his messengers might find these as he had directed them. All this was far beyond the reach of the 178 The True Story of Captain John Smith cleverest Algonquin picture-writing. Had Smith's missive contained a single recognizable outline, they could have made a guess at his methods; but with mere black "marks the thing was quite beyond their compassing. And when their appearance at the fort was greeted with a volley and a sally of the defenders they fled precipitately, for this was what their captive had predicted, warning them also of the awful might and resistless power of the English. But Smith's letter they took care to leave where the palefaces could find it. It is characteristic of our hero that he had sent news, not only of the threatened attack, but of all that he had learned of the country, most of which was perfectly untrue. In regard to this matter, however, we must remember that the Indians themselves knew little beyond the bounds of their own hunting-grounds; dim notions of a chain of lakes to the north, and of a long river; more definite ideas of a "great water," somewhere in the south, near to which men were wearing coats and living in walled houses — such notions as these they had, and mentioned. A portion of these tales, however, was pure lying; as when the King of Paspahegh, a little later, offered to conduct a party to the residence of some men wearing clothes at a place called Panawicke, beyond Roanoke; but being set upon his way by the English, "played the villain, and deluding us for rewards, returned in three or four days after without going further." Smith's messengers returning with the articles for which he had sent and with full confirmation of all the The True Story of Captain John Smith 179 wonders he had related about the fort, his reputation as a conjuror was if possible increased, and his captors redoubled their efforts to please and to propitiate him ; he meanwhile taking care to maintain his dignity, bearing himself rather as their guest than as their prisoner, and constantly requesting to be led to the presence of the Powhatan, prior to that return to Jamestown, which he affected to consider beyond debate, and which he probably hoped to bring about by means of the head war-chiefs pledged friendship. Meanwhile he learned all that was possible of the religion, the laws, and the customs of these savage peoples, though frequently misunderstanding what he witnessed. It is a litfle curious that he should have been again beset to change his nationality and his religion ; this time with the offer of lands, skins and as many wives as he desired. Another conjuration was performed at Rasawrack, much more elaborate than the other; he had had restored to him his compass, tablet and other possessions, and as he was told that the object of the ceremony was to discover whether he would be friendly or no to the Powhatans, it was probably designed to settle his fate in some manner or other. It consisted in laying around a fire a circle of meal ; round that, at some distance, a semicircle of grains of corn ; then two or three more circles, a hand- breadth apart. After which they proceeded to lay down little sticks between every two, three or five grains, "so counting as an old woman her paternoster." The number of grains left over at the end of this crude i8o The True Story of Captain John Smith rosary probably constituted the oracle of which the medicine men were in search. Being arrived at Werowocomico on or about Jan uary 5th, the Powhatan received them in great state and majesty, welcoming Smith with good words and great platters of sundry victuals, and assuring him of friendship and of his liberty within four or five days. Whether all the consultation to which our hero refers took place on one day is a little uncertain; but when it was all ended, instead of being released, he found himself dragged to the feet of the Powhatan where his head was laid on a huge stone, while several stout clubs were in readiness to dash out his brains. This was not an unusual manner of disposing of a prisoner; we are surprised at it only in the case of a captive of Captain Smith's importance, who might have been considered worthy of the most exquisite torture they were able to invent. But whatever the explanation, the clubs never fell, to knock out, at one stroke. Smith's brains, the Jamestown settlement, and the corner-stone of the United States of America. It was an unquestioned privilege of the Indian women, upon whom, as we have seen, rested the whole bur den ofthe municipal as well as the domestic economy of a village, to choose from the prisoners brought home from battle any whom they wished to adopt as husbands, sons or brothers; and this adoption was never disputed by the warriors, however bitter a hatred they may have cherished beforehand for the new member of the tribe. Such a right was now exercised by Matoaca, or Pocahontas, the Powhatan's youngest and best-loved daughter, who, rushing for- i-"i;:i''-*':*.«»j^^f(t| ^^^¦m THE SULLY PORTRAIT OF POCAHONTAS The True Story of Captain John Smith 181 ward at this critical juncture, "when no entreaty could prevail," says the General History, "got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his, to save him from death." It is quite probable that she was obliged to enforce her claim by such a demonstration of earnestness, and that some remonstrance against the adoption of so noted a conjuror was offered on this occasion; it might very justly have been looked upon as safer for the tribe to have him dead than to trust him living to work on their behalf; and so, indeed, it proved; but Pocahontas was well within her rights, and held to them, and Smith's life was spared. This young princess, as the English persisted in considering her, was at this time about twelve or at the most thirteen years of age; Smith was twenty- eight; and whether her adoption of him was as a lover or a brother is a little uncertain. It is most probable that she had no definite intentions; she seems to have been a child in feeling as well as in years, and her name for him of father may well have represented her best-defined feeling. That Smith con sidered her simply as a child, and had no thought of her that approached the equality even of friendship, is witnessed by his friends and fellow-soldiers. Pots and Phettiplace; indeed. Smith's attitude towards women is through all his life that of a certain type of English soldier, of whom we may take Chinese Gordon and Lord Kitchener of Khartoum as excellent representatives. He seems not to have been insensible to the influence of women, and to have been invariably a hero with them; always in his worst straits it is 1 82 The True Story of Captain John Smith a woman who comes to the rescue; but if we except his beautiful Constantinopolitan mistress, he regards each and all with the same grave friendliness, un touched by emotion. For which, in the case of Pocahontas, we have need to be deeply grateful. All previous European colonies in America had set the example of intermarrying with the redskins, and the practice was recommended in England as a matter of policy, though John Rolfe incurred some peril of the royal displeasure at a later period for his temerity in wedding a princess. But the example of John- Rolfe did not carry the same weight as that of Captain Smith; had the latter espoused the daughter.of Powhatan, there would prob ably have been many imitators ; and there might have appeared a mixed race upon the shores of the Chesa peake, with all its accompanying characteristics, which after this lapse of years are too well known to require enumeration. To Smith such a thought as adoption was as strange as marriage. He looked upon the young barbarian as having saved his life from a sentiment of pure pity, and was grateful accordingly; it amused him very much to find that he was expected to manufacture hatchets for Powhatan, and for Pocahontas bells, beads and copper; for since each savage was versed in all the simple arts and manufactures of his race, it was natural they should expect a similar facility from Smith in regard to the productions of the white man. He was equally at sea as to their meaning, when, two days later, he was taken to a medicine house in the woods and there left on a mat alone. A fire The True Story of Captain John Smith 183 that burned in the middle of the house was probably not unwelcome, for there have been many references to a change of weather since Smith left the fort, and to the winter being now one of unusual severity. Not long after, from behind a mat at the end of the oblong edifice there came the dismallest howls and groans. This was Powhatan and his braves appeasing the tutelary spirits; and not long after they appeared before their new-made brother and signified to him that he was now become a Powhatan forever. Of all of which Smith understood absolutely nothing, except that he was free to return to the fort, and also that in return for the country of "Capohowosick" he was to give to Powhatan two great guns and a grindstone. It is to be feared his confidence in his newly acquired relations was not overstrong; for on their return to Jamestown, which was not, he says, more than twelve miles away, he expected every moment to be killed, even as he had done at every moment since his capture. However, the Indians were at last sincerely friendly for the time being, and after camping in the woods on the night of January 7th, they set for ward before day the next morning, and so reached the fort betimes, to the great joy, he says, of all but Captain Archer and two or three of his creatures.* ?It is proper that I should call attention to Alexander Brown's defence of Ratcliffe and Archer, whom he looks upon as patriots, and as opposing Captain Smith purely from motives of patriotism. It is quite possible that they were Puritans and opposed to the royal policy, while Smith's loyalty was rather that of a soldier than a poli tician. For Dr. Brown's views upon the subject see his " First Re public in America " and " English Politics in Early Virginia History." CHAPTER XIV. How Captain Smith Returned Again to the Fort; and of His Welcome There. It was rather a good thing that Smith and his escort had begun the day so early ; for it turned out to be so busy and exciting and so full of events that not a moment of it hung heavy on their hands. After the first greeting had passed the Indian guides claimed the fulfilment of his promise to Powhatan, which was, we remember, two great guns and a grindstone. The Powhatan himself had never seen Jamestown; and his request for these articles was based entirely upon the idea of their probable useful ness which he had obtained from the discourse of his prisoner. Smith had undertaken to deliver them as required with most obliging readiness, and now ex hibited to Rawhunt Powhatan's confidential emissary, a huge millstone, and two demi-culverins, which were probably the largest guns at the fort. From our author's "Accidence for Young Seamen," we get the exact weight of these pieces of ordnance; each weighed 4,500 pounds, and discharged balls of nine pounds weight, thirty-nine scores of paces at point- blank range. The other guns that are mentioned as being in use at the fort are sakers and falcons ; both of smaller calibre than the demi-culverins. 185 1 86 The True Story of Captain John Smith It is no wonder that Rawhunt looked upon a dead weight of 9,000 pounds, not counting the millstone, to be dragged through a pathless forest in the dead of winter as rather a large undertaking. By way of clinching the matter Smith loaded the two guns to the muzzle with stones and discharged them among the branches of a great tree loaded with icicles; where upon there ensued so huge a smoke, steam and com motion, that the Indians took to their heels in sheer terror. But the pacific overtures which followed on the part of the colonists removed their distrust and brought about a renewed conference; and, laden with more portable gifts they departed, with great content ment on both sides. But Smith's troubles were by no means ended ; for the next event was his discovery of the preparations that had been made by a party of "the strongest among them " to run away with the pinnace to Eng land, which project would indeed have been carried into effect before his return but for the ice-bound condition of the river. For this third attempt to abandon the settlement there seems to have been no excuse except sheer indisposition to endure hard ship. Smith had, as we know, on his last departure left them well provided with corn, and Newport's return, though delayed now about a month beyond the twenty weeks he had named, was for that very reason to be expected at any moment. Smith accord ingly stood upon no ceremony with the disaffected members, though they were headed by Ratcliffe and Archer; but considering them mutineers, pure and The True Story of Captain John Smith 187 simple, turned the guns of the fort upon them and gave them for the third time their choice to submit or go to the bottom. They chose the former alternative, but chiefly as affording an opportunity to clear away out of their path this redoubtable captain who so obstinately pre vented them from seeking the haven where they would be. For the next thing was Smith's arrest and indictment under the "Levitical law," for the murder of "his two men, Robinson and Emory. To hold a captain responsible for the death of any in his com mand who may be killed in warfare seems a trifle extreme even for the Levitical law; and in fact there is no provision of the sort that we have been able to discover in all the five books of Moses. It is, how ever, quite possible that the chapter referred to was the twelfth of Second Samuel, and that the microscopic acuteness of Master Archer discovered the desired precedent in the story of David and Uriah. The reasoning was not indeed, for those days, par ticularly far-fetched, or even overstrained; David, hav ing set Uriah the Hittite in the forefront of the battle, so that he perished miserably, was held guilty of his death by the prophet Nathan; "Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword," it was said to him; and though David's repentance averted his own death, the child that had been born to him died in his stead. Now Smith had no son to offer in place of his own life; and the inference was inevitable. Had Robinson and Emory kept good watch and obeyed orders, they might have been living at that 1 88 The True Story of Captain John Smith moment; but Smith had no witness that such orders had been given, and Archer and his party appealed to his own admission that he left them in the place where the Indians came upon them while he went further; and they pointed to the undeniable facts that the men were dead while their captain remained ahve and on good terms with his captors. How could any one tell on what conditions, or by what means, he had regained his liberty ? Certainly Smith' s vindication would have been the story of his rescue by Pocahontas; if he did not tell that story at this time, can we doubt that Archer, who was certainly at some pains to discredit as far as pos sible the General History when it was published in 1624, would have been more than eager to pounce upon and expose the imposture ? It seemed at the present moment that even Poca hontas could not deliver him from the hands of his own people; for he was adjudged guilty and his execution was fixed for the following day, January 9th, when the complexion of affairs was suddenly and happily altered by the cry, "Sail-ho!" and Captain Newport's ship was seen approaching the peninsula. It is worth noting at this point that, according to Wingfield's narration, only Newport's return saved either Smith's life or his own, which latter was endan gered, by his report, through the cold and damp to which he was exposed in the pinnace. From this durance vile Newport at once, and very justly, released him, giving him leave to sleep in the fort. But as regards Smith, his friends gave rather a different ver- The True Story of Captain John Smith 189 sion of the result ofthe trial; for, say they," he," i. e., Smith, "quickly took such order with such lawyers, that he laid them by the heels till he sent some of them to England." The two accounts are easily reconciled; we have already seen that in the opinion of these devoted followers at least and perhaps in actual fact. Smith did everything that was worth doing in the colony from first to last; he is certain to have had a strong party behind him on this occasion, and it is not likely that the hanging would have actually taken place without a fight, the issue of which his old war-dogs considered as predetermined. Newport's arrival prevented violence, and he seems to have acted with his usual promptness and excellent judgment in arbitrating the matter. As we have seen, he released Wingfield and quashed the absurd charge against Smith; and he also put a stop to Master Archer's declared purpose of summoning a parliament which would in all likelihood have been requested to vote an immediate return to England.* We gather from the " Proceedings and Accidents" that the Rev. Robert Hunt Master Anthony Gosnold and "about twenty-seven others " were opposed to such abandon ment, and that only about ten or twelve were ready to ?This proposed parliament Dr. Brown considers the prime evi dence of Archer's patriotism and republican principles. But to Newport and Smith the proposition, which was certainly in violation of the existing charter, must have looked very like the work of an agitator and revolutionary. And it is most likely that while his political ideas may have been in accordance with those of the larg est-minded patriots of those times, his methods were iU-timed and ill-chosen. 190 The True Story of Captain John Smith return with Ratcliffe and Archer. The numbers of the colonists were, therefore, reduced to about forty, but Newport was probably relieved to find any of them alive after so severe a winter; and he was further cheered by Smith's news of the treaty with Powhatan and the plenty that prevailed at Werowo comico; an abundance gathered in, as we know, from the tributary werowances. In a few days there was substantial proof afforded him of the truth of these accounts by the arrival of Pocahontas, with some of her companions, laden with supplies; she continued these visits during the hard weather at intervals of only four or five days. No commentator seems to have pointed out the significance of this undisputed fact, or to have considered that it absolutely confirms Smith's story of his rescue, which we moderns interpret as an adoption into the tribe at her hands. But it is quite evident that the women being the depositaries and the distributors of all supplies, it would be considered the distinct duty of Pocahontas to provide for Smith that nutriment to which, as the son of the Powhatans, he was now entitled ; that his proportion of the food which the women held in trust would be a large one we may conclude from the size of the rations assigned him as a prisoner, which were, he tells us, "as much as twenty men could have eaten," and from his present rank among them as a great chief and an unequaled conjuror. Hence we need not be sur prised that the supplies brought by these Indian maids should have "saved many of their lives that else for all this had starved with hunger." For fate had The True Story of Captain John Smith 191 other vicissitudes in store for our Jamestown colonists. Newport on his part, had not only to hear but to tell the news relating to the time of his absence. His arrival in England was fairly speedy, and his reports to king and council were supported by per sonal assurances of the great need of swift succor lest the infant settlement should be wiped out by starvation or the savages. Meanwhile, tidings of his return had been conveyed to the ambassador Zuniga, who as we learn from the inestimably valuable corre spondence in Brown's Genesis, made immediate report to his master and also requested an audience of King James, purposing to protest against this invasion of territory which he claimed for the crown of Spain. It is interesting and amusing to read how James, who was at his best when lying diplomatically, put him off on one plea or another while the preparations were pushing forward for Newport's return. The death of his infant daughter, the Princess Mary, occur ring at this time, afforded an authentic excuse, but we may fairly doubt whether the king's sickness which was next put forward were more than a pretense. However that may be, two ships were made ready and laden with supplies which Smith terms ample. "Two good ships they sent us," he or rather Anas Todkill says in the General History, "with near a hundred men, well furnished with all things could be imagined necessary both for them and us; the one commanded by Captain Newport, the other by Captain Francis Nelson, an honest man and an expert mariner. 192 The True Story of Captain John Smith Butsuchwas theleewardnessofhis ship (the Phcenix), that though he was in sight of Cape Henry, by stormy contrary winds was he forced so far to sea that the West Indies was the next land for the repair of his masts and the relief of wood and water." Newport, therefore, got in alone, and we may imagine that any observed deficit in the supplies he proceeded to unload would readily have been ac counted for by the superior quality and abundance of those on the absent Phoenix ; especially as Smith just then was not at all in a critical mood. Next came the Jamestown fire, which burned up nearly all the possessions of the colonists; and there were mal practices on the part of the sailors which Newport was either ignorant of or was powerless to prevent; so that the authors of the General Historj' seem to have seen no reason to ascribe their undoubted privations to any negligence on the part of the London council. Nevertheless, Stith tells us, on the authority of "several authentic papers, and especially from a representation of our general assembly among the records in the Capitol," that Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer, was at least open to the charge of scandal ous negligence, if not of corruption, in the matter of providing these suppHes from the company's funds.* However this may be, it did, as has been said, but little harm to the colonists, who were now, since Captain Smith's captivity, on such terms of brotherly love with the savages, that it must have appeared to Newport as directly presaging the arrival of ?Stith, p. 57; edition of 1861;. The True Story of Captain John Smith 193 the millennium. Anas Todkill's account is perfectly clear. "To whom," i. e.. Captain Smith, "the savages, as is said, every other day repaired with such provisions that sufficiently did serve th^m from hand to mouth ; part always they brought him as presents from their king or Pocahontas;" that is, as has already been explained, his portion as a chief among the Pow hatans, ofthe tribal provisions; " the rest he, as their market clerk, set the price himself how they should sell; so he had enchanted these poor souls, being their prisoner; and now Newport,- whom he called his father, arriving near as directly as he foretold, they esteemed him as an oracle, and he had them at that submission he might command them what he listed. That God that created all things they knew he adored for his God ; they would also in their discourses term (Him) the God of Captain Smith." It is quite evident that the Powhatans at least were now acting in perfectly good faith ; and it is probable that if they had been met in the same spirit and dealt with in the same sincerity, the results, both to Virginia and to the Indians, would have been very different from the things which actually took place. But Ratcliffe and the Council, which consisted, besides Smith him self, of Ratcliffe, Martin, Archer and Newport, becom ing jealous of the influence of his savage friends, deliberately tried to undermine it by giving, in trading with them, four times as much for their commodities as Smith was willing to do. So says Anas Todkill, and his statement is confirmed by Smith's" rude answer," 194 The True Story of Captain John Smith with which we shall presently have to do; Newport's dealings with the natives certainly underwent a material change about this time; and in fact one of the complaints which he carried home from this voy age seems to have been that Smith's dealings with the Indians were oversevere, and that, in especial, he took advantage of them in the matter of barter. In regard to which it is sufficient to say that unquestionably the commodities of the Indians would have been worth in an English market very much more than a little copper or a few glass beads ; but they were not worth more to the savages. Moreover, Smith's market rates were regulated, not only by this consideration, but by the necessity for keeping the savages in their present attitude of wholesome respect and deference; he pro tested from the first against the evil policy of flattering or toadying to them, and the ills that befel the English in the future bore out every one of his predictions in this respect. There seems to have been a truckling subservience practised towards Newport's sailors, to whom the council allowed free liberty of traffic with their red allies; and as a natural consequence of these economic blunders there followed an artificial rise in the prices of foodstuffs, so that in a short time that which beforehand had been valued at an ounce of copper could not be had for a pound. This cut the throat of the colonists' trade, but possessed the Indians with a high opinion of the wealth and importance of Cap tain Newport, who was looked upon by them, and largely through Smith's representations, as the chief The True Story of Captain John Smith 195 werowance of the English, second only in impor tance to Kingjames himself. To bear out this view Newport had already sent presents of some value to the Powhatan, and now prepared to go in the pinnace to visit him in person. This was early in February; it was about January 17th that the calamity of fire had fallen upon the fort, through the carelessness of some of the newly arrived in the " first supply," as it is rather quaintly termed. These having been quartered in the fort, by some mischance set their quarters afire, and all the buildings and even the fortifications being of wood, the flames spread too rapidly to allow a chance of extinguishing them. Fort, storehouse, and the newly begun church all were consumed; Master Hunt, the parson, lost his library "and all he had but the clothes on his back; yet none ever heard him repine at his loss. This happened ... in that extreme frost." Worst of all, the settlers in that bitter weather were left shelter less. But Newport, who seems always to have acted •with discretion as well as magnanimity when he was allowed to do so, ordered his sailors to assist in the rebuilding; he looked also into the charges against Wingfield and Archer, and finding the latter's election illegal, secured his deposition from the office of coun cilor. The breach between Wingfield and the colony was probably beyond healing; and though no charges could be substantiated against him, the former presi dent was not only the wrong man in the wrong place, but could hardly have been induced to remain in the colony unless by an abject apology from all concerned; 196 The True Story of Captain John Smith and it was therefore decided that these two persons were to return with the ship to England. But meanwhile came the visit to the heathen "emperor," and, says Master Todkill a little petulantly, "a great coil there was to set him forward." CHAPTER XV. Of the Visit to Powhatan, and What Happened Thereafter. It was, perhaps, with some remembrance of Cor tez and Montezuma, that the English gave to the Pow hatan the title of emperor; for though the Virginia Indians had not reached anything like the same eminence in arts or manufacture, their government was assuredly at this period more centralized, and their chiefs affected a higher degree of state and magnificence than was the case with any other tribe or confederation of tribes in Eastern North America. Captain Newport was accompanied upon his em bassy by Smith and also Master Scrivener, "a very wise and understanding gentleman," who had come out with Newport upon this voyage and had been immediately admitted to the Council. Some forty picked men escorted them, and they came to Wero wocomico without any adventure worthy of record. It was not, indeed, far from Jamestown, and the only difficulty was that of swamp and the pathless wood land; but though Smith was too keen a woodsman not to have been readily able to find his way again by the aid of his trusty compass to a place he had left so recently, the approaching spring added considerations '97 198 The True Story of Captain John Smith of marsh and mire to those of dignity, and determined the party to travel by water in the pinnace. Smith's four weeks' sojourn among the savages had helped him to a better understanding of their customs and modes of thought than any other of the English could pretend to; be believed thoroughly, despite their treachery to himself, in their present sincerity of friendly purpose; but Newport appears, when they had reached the York River, to have become alarmed at something in the demeanor of their savage enter tainers and to have hesitated about going further. It seems also that Werowocomico was situated somewhat inland and that their landing place was "amongst a many of creeks over which they were to pass by such poor bridges, only made of a few cratches thrust in the ooze and three or four poles laid on them, and at the end of them the like tied together only with the barks of trees, that it made them much suspect those bridges were but traps." Smith, to allay Newport's distrust, had offered to go first with twenty men well appointed so as to encounter the worst that could happen ; but it was no part of his soldierly training to be rash ; on reaching these bridges he obliged their Indian escort to go over first in order to test their security; then he sent across ten men of his twenty, retaining meanwhile, as hostages, some ofthe chiefs ofthe Indians, until the whole party had made the transit. One is inclined to believe that he could hardly have done less for his own safety and that of his compan ions ; and that his dealings with the natives, though The True Story of Captain John Smith 199 not, as has already been said, on the lofty spiritual plane characteristic of a- Marquette or a Las Casas, was nevertheless both wise and humane. Nevertheless, we shall see that he was accused of cruelty to them by Newport himself, on that mariner's next return to England; an accusation for which Smith's own immediate followers found the cause in that jealousy of the captain's ascendancy with the Indians which had begun at the fort, and was intensified by the events of this expedition. Having safely crossed the marshes about Wero wocomico, the English were escorted by two or three hundred savages into the presence of the Powhatan, who most likely received them in that very "long house" which had so nearly witnessed the death of Captain Smith. It wore on this occasion a very different favor, though the outward appearance of things was much the same. Powhatan sat upon the mat-covered frame which served him both as a bed and a throne; his pillow was of leather, em broidered with beads, his mantle of furs as large as the cloaks worn by the Irish chieftains (the compar ison reveals to us a veteran of the Irish wars in the historian) ; as he reclined in state, a fair Indian damsel sat at his head and one at his feet; and twenty others of his wives on each side of the house behind two rows of warriors. The proportions of the long house must thus have been really considerable; and all this company were in their gayest attire, the women with. their heads and bosoms painted red and chains of river pearl about their necks, the men also in their 200 The True Story of Captain John Smith brightest paint and wearing ornaments of peace. More than forty platters of fine bread marked, on either side, the aisle up which the guests were to advance towards the entrance of the house; and behind these stood about five hundred Indians, while a proclamation was made that no one, upon pain of death, was to do the visitors any discourtesy. These sojourned at the chieftain's town some four or five days, passing the days in trading and the nights in "feasting, dancing, singing and the like mirth." Captain Smith acted as interpreter; and now arose a definite "unkindness " between the two captains. It was a main object of their expedition to obtain food for the fort, which was never very many days' remove from starvation; and Smith, with this in view, was desirous to husband his resources of copper, glass beads, etc. , by keeping down the prices of the commod ities he wished to purchase. Newport however, was readily deceived by Powhatan's magnificent pose of su periority to the trivialities of barter; desiring Newport, in his capacity of a werowance almost as great as him self, to lay down all his commodities together, allowing the red chieftain to take whatever he liked and trusting to his justice and liberality to make a fitting return. Newport's compliance had the immediate effect of bulling the market of this primitive corn exchange; for Powhatan, says our authority valued his corn so highly that it would have been cheaper in Spain. The ¦fundamental difference between the two English leaders was that Newport sought to please the savage. Smith to cause the savage to please him, says the The True Story of Captain John Smith 201 same veracious chronicler; but the latter was too wise to suffer any dissension to appear; to gain his end he allowed Powhatan a casual glimpse of a few novelties sent out for trade with the Indians, among which a lot of blue beads immediately attracted the fancy of the savage emperor. With excellent judgment Smith now appeared unwilling to trade, assuring Powhatan that these beads were composed of a very rare substance, the color of the sky, and that they were not allowed to be worn by any but the mightiest kings. The natural result was a boom in blue beads ; for a pound or two of which he obtained between two and three hundred bushels of corn, and the like amount on the same terms from Opechancanough. The coveted ornaments were then included under the sumptuary laws, as ornaments reserved for great chiefs and their wives; Smith's ascendancy was in creased rather than lessened by the transaction and the peace with the English was made surer. Of the abstract morality of the action, there is little to be said, but of its worldly wisdom there is, manifestly, not a doubt. After an exchange of hostages, namely, a lad named Thomas Savage, for an Indian called Namontack, the party returned to Jamestown, where in the midst of rebuilding the fort and other necessary labors, a most unfortunate discovery was made. The account of it is somewhat confused, and we are left to surmise whether or no it took place during Newport's ab sence. But it was most likely soon after his return, that a little stream on what is still known as the Neck- 202 The True Story of Captain John Smith of- Land, i. e., the mainland north of the Back River between Archer's Creek and Mill Creek, attracted notice on account of a quantity of yellow dust which was washed down by its waters and lay shining at the bottom. This dust which was in reality a sort of mica, was mistaken for gold by the adventurers, who all at once and altogether lost their heads, and fell into the the wildest and most delirious dreams of the gold fever. "For they," says Mr. Robert Beverly,* "taking all to be gold that glittered, ran into the utmost distraction, neglecting both the necessary defence of their lives from the Indians and the support of their bodies by the securing of provisions." Smith seems to have been about the only one who kept a calm sough throughout the excitement; not that he had any objection to gold in itself, or to becoming enriched by its means; but that he con sidered that this "gilded dirt," even if genuine, which he was not quite convinced of, could hardly make amends for starvation. And starvation now became imminent. The fire had, as we know, consumed the stores brought from England, and the colony was again reduced to a diet of porridge and water; this time not even with the variety of wheat and barley to make a change from oatmeal; but plain corn-meal mush for breakfast, dinner and supper, all three of which were usually eaten at the same time. More over, the lingering of the ship on account of the gold find consumed what provision was left them; ?History of Virginia, p. 17. The True Story of Captain John Smith 203 for her own especial stores having been injured by leakage and ship-rats, the colonists were forced to share with the sailors their own meagre supplies, so that between a low diet and the bitter weather more than half the settlers died. And meanwhile, "there was no talk, no hope, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold ; such a bruit of gold that one mad fellow (a wag), desired to be buried in the sands, lest they should by their art make gold of his bones. . . . Were it that Captain Smith would not applaud all these golden inventions because they admitted him not to the sight of their trials nor golden consultations, 1 know not; but 1 have heard him oft question with Captain Martin, and tell him, except he could show him a more substantial trial, he was not enamored of their dirty skill breath ing out these and many other passions. Never did anything more torment him than to see all necessary business neglected to freight such a drunken ship with so much gilded dirt . . . Till then we had never counted Captain Newport a refiner." So says the author of this part of the General History, (p. 408,) who seems to have had a gift of sarcasm almost as notable as Captain Smith's own. More and more clearly do we understand why Smith was disliked by his fellow-settlers. But at last, on April 10, 1608, with a cargo of shin ing mica dust, Newport set sail for England; taking with him Wingfield and Archer, who had in Virginia, says Master Todkill, engrossed to themselves all titles and employments, "parliaments, pleas, petitions, ad- 204 The True Story of Captain John Smith mirals, recorders, interpreters, chronologers, courts of plea and justices of peace." As though the hardships of the colony were not severe enough, Martin and Ratcliffe, who was still president and still in poor health,* are charged with appropriating what scanty stores remained and with selling these to the colonists ; thus using what had been intended to be common property and for the nourishment of all, as "an inheritable revenue." The sailors also had made profit of their need in the same way; and it is possible that even Newport was concerned in this fraudulent dealing with a public trust. " Oh ! cursed gold, those hunger-starved movers, To what misfortunes lead'st thou all those lovers I For all the China wealth, nor Indies', can Sufiice the minde of an av'ritious man." The General History, most likely by the hand of Smith himself, is decorated with occasional gems of verse in the fashion of the times; and as some commentators have taken occasion to ridicule the laudatory poems which form a section of this work, there is no better opportunity than the present to refer this also to current custom, of which the sonnets of Mr. William Shakespeare himself, written to the honor and glory of Mr. W. H., constitute the most exquisite and distinguished example. We can hardly imagine at this distance of time how such things could have been at all tolerable, but probably no one living in 1624, when the History was published, felt any ?He had accidentally shot himself in the hand with a pistol. The True Story of Captain John Smith 205 inclination to dispute the taste of these poems, how ever inclined they might have been to question the sentiments which they express. The ship once fairly gone, the necessity of preserv ing their own lives became self-evident to the most ardent gold-seeker; and under the leadership of Smith and Scrivener, a number of matters were set afoot; the rebuilding ofthe fort, the repairing of the palisades, cut ting down trees, preparing the fields and planting corn therein, and finally the re-covering of the storehouse, which being of brick had lost only fts thatched roof; and the rebuilding ofthe church, which had been done by the sailors and gold-finders so skilfully, that says the History, the rains washed it away in fourteen days. While these things were a-doing, a pleasant surprise came suddenly upon them, in the arrival of the Phcenix, Captain Nelson; the ship which, as already seen, had sailed in company with Newport and had by this time been given over for lost. Nelson had, de spite his original misfortune and consequent delay, exercised such good husbandry towards his ship and cargo as to land both crew and stores undiminished ; to us it seems a matter of course that he should have afforded his men the change of food offered them by the game and fruits to be found in the West Indies, where he had put in to refit; but to the already abused confidence of the colonists his probity and good sense appeared little less than miraculous. "He had not anything but he freely imparted it; which honest dealing (being a mariner) caused us admire him ; we would not have wished more than he did for us." 2o6 The True Story of Captain John Smith But the question of how to relade the returning ship so as most to delight the hearts of the London Council, now became a burning one. Smith was altogether against another lading of so-called gold, and made the practical suggestion of a cargo of cedar, of which they had such abundance that it was not only the readiest commodity to hand, but also afforded a reUable sample ofthe colony's future line of exports. But this proposition, in the eyes of such a fanatical gold-finder and refiner as Captain Martin, lacked color; a compromise was finally made upon the basis of another expedition to discover the Monacan country beyond the falls, of which their own apparent find had made them hopeful of sending home gilded accounts. Even this was not altogether to the mind of Smith, who would willingly have postponed such a discovery to a period of less pressing need, when it could have been performed with greater certainty and thoroughness. He yielded this point however, and with such excellent grace that within six days he had trained the sixty men placed at his command for the expedition so thoroughly in their tactics and musket practice, " that they little feared whom they should encounter." It is not unlikely that word of these martial prepara tions was carried to Powhatan, and that the question of swords and turkeys was simply a convenient excuse for striking the first blow. Some little time before Newport's departure, he had exchanged at Powhatan's suggestion twenty swords for the same number of turkeys, and after the departure of the ship The True Story of Captain John Smith 207 an equal number of the fowls was sent to Captain Smith, expecting a like return. But Smith was far too wary to put weapons into the hands of the savages; at which the Indians taking umbrage endeavored to help themselves to what (though they would have had no hesitation in steahng it under any circum stances) they considered as justly their own property. The stringently pacific orders of the London Council, who stood in no personal danger, as our chronicler hints, prevented these thefts and thieves from receiv ing their due until some of them unfortunately grew so bold as to meddle with Captain Smith. But no order in council could have prevented the Captain from resenting a personal matter; and he accordingly retaliated with immediate and effectual severity ; some of them he hunted up and down the island, some he terrified with whipping, beating and imprisonment. Upon this the Indians, having captured a couple of stragglers, appeared in force before the fort, demand ing the release of those whom Smith had imprisoned, on pain of death to every Englishman. Smith went forth to them alone, and so dealt with theHi— proba bly in his character of big medicine-man — that within an hour they released their two prisoners and begged an unconditional peace. He next took his own pris oners in hand, to force from them the confession of the intended treachery; and causing them to be lieve that one of their number had perished by certain volleys which he had fired out of their sight, they vied with each other in relating all that he desired to know, how Powhatan's -purpose in obtaining 2o8 The True Story of Captain John Smith English weapons had been merely the future cutting of English throats. The red " emperor" was not behind his fellow-monarchs of Europe in readiness to disavow any emissaries whose mission chanced to miscarry; and there arrived at the fort in the following month a new ambassador in the person of Pocahontas, charged with gifts and excuses for the behavior of the " rash untoward captains," who had, of course, acted en tirely without his orders. Smith was not behind in diplomacy; he gave his prisoners a sound thrashing, kept them a day or two longer, during which he fed them up and treated them kindly; and then released them as a personal favor to the young princess to whom he owed his own life. But the Council, though unable to prevent a course of conduct which without the death of a single Indian had brought all the savages into such fear and submission that Smith's mere name was enough to terrify them, were nevertheless strong enough to accuse him freely of cruelty to these children of nature; and subsequent events make it likely that complaints, by no means moderate, went home to London on the Phoenix, the character of whose freight had meanwhile been settled by this little unpleasantness. A distant expedi tion had been out of the question, and gold digging on the mainland would have proved an occupation more exciting than wholesome. The ship was, there fore, laden with cedar, and set sail on June 2, 1608; Smith going in her as far as Cape Henry, where he left her, and with fourteen others, embarked in the barge to perform the • discovery of the Chesapeake. The True Story of Captain John Smith 209 His "true relation" was sent to the home Council at this time by the hands of Captain Nelson. It was in the form of a private letter, though not necessarily to a private person. Smith was on terms, which we may call intimate, with more than one member ofthe Council, notably with his namesake. Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer; so much so, that he has been accused of falsifying facts in order to shield that gentleman. The letter was in form an ordinary "news-letter" of those times, before the invention of the reporter or special correspondent; it has all the marks of being addressed to a person in some authority to whom the writer could speak confidentially of the affairs of the colony. Yet he avoided laying undue emphasis upon its lamentable dissensions. He omits, also, all refer ence to his own wish to postpone the discovery ofthe Chesapeake and its shores to a more convenient season, giving only the Indian disturbances which had occasioned the matter to be delayed until the departure of the Phcenix. The person to whom the letter was addressed, rather carelessly, perhaps, in the then condition of affairs, allowed it to pass out of his hands; and in August of that same year (the Phcenix made a quick trip and reached home before the following 7th of July), it fell into those of a person subscribing himself "I. H." His statement is that he fell upon the rela tion by chance, at the second or third hand, as he thinks; and believing it to contain matters interesting to the general public, and calculated if they were 2IO The True Story of Captain John Smith known to promote the welfare of the colony, he pub lished ft without the knowledge of the author, as he distinctly states. One is inclined to believe that he was right, and that it did tend to increase the public interest in Virginia; and it is difficult to imagine how it could have done harm. For Wingfield's deposition and return home were already matters of public notoriety ; and other points treated of are simply and moderately stated from the writer's standpoint, as being desirous that his correspondent should be made acquainted with all the facts. That Mr. " I. H." was sincere in his avowed object of interesting the public in the new colony is shown by his statement that he had drawn whatever in those days corresponded to a blue pencil through a portion of the manuscript. " Something more was by him written, which being as 1 thought fit to be private, I would not adventure to make it public."* We can hardly do better than to follow Dr. John Fiske in the opinion that this omitted portion related to the Poca hontas incident. There is an evident hiatus where this rescue should have been related; and, as Dr. Fiske well observes, the omission destroys the credi bility of the narrative; since the writer represents himself on one page as being assaulted by an angry father, whose son had been killed during the skirmish in the swamp, and directly after, describes his return to Jamestown, without any mention of the way in which the blood-debt to the tribe was atoned. The ?Smith's Works, p. 4. The True Story of Captain John Smith 2u whole question has been so fully argued by Dr. Fiske,* and also by Mr. W. W. Henry in the Proceedings of the Virginia Historical Society, 1882, that it is unnecessary here to develop it further. Another packet from Smith's facile pen was con veyed by the Phoenix to no less a person than the celebrated navigator. Captain Henry Hudson. His well-known name, like many others of the time, was spelled quite variously, but was probably origin ally Herdson; he was a nephew and namesake of that Henry Hudson, who was one of the founders of the Muscovy Company, in 1555. The earliest mention of the younger Hudson seems to date from 1607, when he commanded the Hopeful, sent out by the Muscovy Company in search of the greatly desired Northwest Passage. He explored the north coast of Greenland and Spitzbergen as far as eighty de grees, twenty-three minutes north latitude, but was obliged to return unsuccessful. The next year, 1608, under the same patronage, he repeated the attempts of others to find a Northeast, Passage by the Waigatz or Kara Strait; when upon doubling the "North Cape of Tartaria," he should, according to logic, have found himself within easy sailing distance ofthe Pacific. But this also proving impracticable he returned to London. Here he found Smith's packet, containing charts, and information that it was most probable the Northwest ?See " Old Virginia and Her Neighbors," pp. 102-rii. It had been especially directed that in writing home the colonists should refrain from any statements likely to discourage others. "I. H." considered a spice of danger to be attractive, but looked upon this incomprehen sible treatment of prisoners as discouraging. 212 The True Story of Captain John Smith Passage was to be found at the head of Chesapeake Bay or thereabouts. It is to be remembered, first, that these tidings of Smith's were based upon information derived from the Indians, not on observations of his own; secondly, that Hudson was at the time of writ ing in Enghsh employ, the members of the Muscovy Company being to some extent the same as those interested in Virginia ; and thirdly, that as the Phoenix left the Bay, Smith himself was actually bound upon an expedition to make the possible discovery of which he wrote to Hudson, and the glory of which, there fore, if his news were trustworthy, he would have secured for England before the navigator had had time to receive his letter. Nevertheless, he has been solemnly arraigned by the author of the "Genesis of the United States," for breach of confidence and be trayal of the London Company's secrets. Hudson, it is true, immediately afterwards entered into the employment of the Dutch East India Com pany, in whose service he sailed from Amsterdam, in the Half Moon, on March 25, 1609; but his first intention was to repeat the attempt of his former voyage; a Northeast Passage to the South Sea being in the opinion ofthe Dutch merchants more imme diately desirable than that by the Northwest. It was certainly more feasible, as was afterwards demon strated by the navigator who gave name to Bering Strait and Sea.* But Hudson's crew becoming dis satisfied on account of the cold and hardship they were compelled to endure, forced him to turn back; ?And also by Nordenskiold, who made the precise voyage con templated by Hudson early in the nineteenth century. The True Story of Captain John Smith 21^ and striking directly across the North Atlantic he reached the coast of Nova Scotia, whence he sailed south as far as latitude thirty-five degrees. Thence he sailed west, and north along the coast of the present United States, looking in at every bay, gulf or other promising body of water on the way. He was thus actually within the entrance of the Chesapeake ; that he did not explore it to its head must be assigned to one of three causes; either because he had no orders to do so, as from the conditions of the voyage we know that he had not; because he lacked the loyal support of his crew; or that he had had further tidings from Smith that there was no thoroughfare in that direction. For this there had been ample time and opportunity, though otherwise it is a mere hypothesis. Continuing northward, Hudson entered the river which bears his name, up which he sailed as far as the site of the present city of Albany ; and it is on this exploration of his that the Dutch founded their claim to that locality. There is no doubt, however, that Hudson considered all that region the property of the two Virginia companies. He reached Amsterdam on September 2d, 1609, and at once his connection with the Dutch merchants was dissolved. The transfer of his allegiance does not seem to have offended his English employers, since in 1610, April 17th, he sailed again under English patronage. His ship, the Discovery, was fitted out by several private individuals, among whom were Sir Thomas Smith, the Virginia treasurer. Sir Dudley Digges and John Wolstonholme. Captain John Smith was at that time in England ; and though his map of Virginia 214 The True Story of Captain John Smith was not given to the world until two years later, we can not doubt that it was accessible in the rough to the pro moters of this enterprise. Consequently, Hudson did not enter the Chesapeake at all during this voyage in search of a northwest passage, but explored the strait and bay which bear his name, in the latter of which he was, in 1611, set adrift in an open boat with eight faith ful friends, by a - crew again grown mutinous on account of cold, hunger and other hardships. No further tidings of him were ever received. But we should beg pardon of the reader for so lengthy a digression, which can be excused only by the aspersions that have been cast upon the character of the subject of this biography on account of his con nection with Hudson, of whose share in the explora tions of the time, and of the exact result of Smith's communication to him, it seemed therefore advisable to tell the story. We now return to the Phoenix, in which Captain Martin was a passenger to England, partly because his health still remained feeble, and very largely to look after his interests as a finder and refiner of gold. We may fancy the disappointment that awaited him in London, where his "gilded dirt" had already been pronounced by the wise mere mica or, as Beveriey terms it "dust isinglass." But undiscouraged and loyal to his colony, Martin returned in 1609 with Gates and Somers, and in their company was cast away upon the Bermudas, or Summer Islands, after wards coming safely to Virginia to do the infant col ony loyal yeoman's service. CHAPTER XVI. How They Discovered the Bay of Chesapeake; With Other Such Matters. The first land visited by the crew of Smith's barge, after they had watched, rather wistfully, perhaps, the disappearance of the Phcenix behind the curving waters of the Atlantic, is a place possessing a newly won romantic interest. On the outer edge of Cape Charles, washed by the waters of the great Atlantic itself, lie a cluster of sandy islands, still known by the name which was given them at the time our history has just attained. Smith's Islands. Upon the largest of these stands the Cape Charles lighthouse, and, says the author of a recent sketch of the place,* the beach, sand-dunes, scrub trees, marshes and myriads of gulls are just as they were in the old days, when Captain Ralph Percy with his bride, and his noble prisoner, with the versatile Master Sparrow, and his trusty, yet faithless servingman, were driven by a storm upon its inhospitable beach, as we read in the fascinating pages of Miss Johnston's "To Have and To Hold." The Island is about nine miles in length, and thus afforded ample room for the three duels with Red Gil, the Spaniard, and the ever-charming Captain Paradise, which Captain Percy fought and won successively, ? Thomas Dixon, Jr., in The Bookman for November, igoo. 215 2i6 The True Story of Captain John Smith quite in the style of Smith himself, at Regall. In fact, one cannot avoid the fancy that Miss Johnston based the character and adventures of her hero very largely on those of him whom the present writer has en deavored to illustrate ; supplying only the element of love-romance in which. Smith's life is so deficient. We remember that at the period we have now reached, the western shore of the Chesapeake had been fairly well explored, as far as the York River. Therefore, on leaving the ship. Smith and his com panions struck directly across the mouth of the bay to the island just mentioned, whence it was their pur pose to explore the eastern side, the present eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland. The king of Accomac they found to be the "come- liest, proper, civil savage we encountered." From him they heard of the latest marvel among the red skins ; namely, the deaths of two children, whose par ents, afterwards revisiting their bodies, whether moved thereto by dreams or visions or by simple parental affection our chronicler does not know, were soon after stricken with a mortal disease, which, spreading through the tribe, a great part of them died and but few escaped. The countenances of the children are said to have been delightful, "as though they had re gained their vital spirits," and the matter is interesting as a form of that hysterical disease or possession, to which ignorant and barbarous peoples appear pecu liarly liable. Northwards they sailed in their uncovered barge; it was still early June, when the bay and its shores are The True Story of Captain John Smith 217 at their best, the vegetation as yet unparched by the summer heats, and the waters moderating the fervor ofthe sun-rays by that which they retain ofthe winter cold. Exploring the eastern shore and the neighbor ing islands of the bay, probably as far as Dorchester County, Maryland, and finding it necessary to disci pline the Indians as they went along, before they could make friends of them, a scarcity of fresh water induced them to cross the bay again to the western shore, where they explored most of the imposing looking inlets, and set the example which is followed to the present day, of calling them rivers. Among others, the present Patapsco was examined as far, perhaps, as the site of Baltimore; and was called the Bolus, "for that the clay in many places under, the cliffs by the high-water mark did grow up in red and white mark's, as gum out of trees, and in some places participated together as though they were all of one nature, excepting the color, the rest of the earth on both sides being hard sandy gravel, which made us think it Bole Armoniac and Terra Sigillata." They had not been without experience of bad weather; to which a sea monster, rearing his head above the waves at about the point where the storm burst upon them, bears due witness on Smith's Map; and now, their voyage having lasted some twelve days, some of the "gallants" who had on their first setting forth, assumed, a little superciliously, that Captain Smith would not hold out long at discovering the bay in an open boat, were themselves full of com plaints and importunities for him to return. It is true, 21 8 The True Story of Captain John Smith says our chronicler, who must at this point have been Dr. Russell, that "they were oft tired at the oars," and their bread "spoiled with wet so that it was rotten (yet so good were their stomachs that they could digest it)" — observe the medical point of view! — and therefore there was no serious reason for abandon ing the enterprise, now that they were, perhaps, within a day's sail or so of the greatly desired inlet which should lead them to the South Sea. Smith, therefore, made them an oration on the spot reminding them of the reflections they had cast upon his "tenderness," and seeking to shame them out of their own by the example of Sir Ralph Lane's men, who had refused to give up the discovery of "Mo- ralico" while they had yet a dog left, which might be boiled for food, flavored with sassafras leaves. He alluded also to the ridicule that would justly fall to their share if they should return on account of such childish fears, alleging that in such return their dan gers were as great as in going on. "You cannot say but 1 have shared with you in the worst that is past; and for what is to come of lodging, diet or whatso ever, 1 am contented you allot the worst part to my self . . . . Regainthereforeyour old spirits; for return I will not (if God please), till 1 have seen the Massa- womeks, found Patawomek, or the head of this bay you conceit to be endless." That it should prove to be practically endless was doubtless Smith's secret hope; but they were still a long way from its head; and after two or three days, further rowing, against head winds and very bad The True Story of Captain John Smith 219 weather, so that two or three fell really ill, Smfth con sented to return, perhaps himself discouraged by the incivility of the bay (at this point some nine miles broad, with nine and ten fathoms water) in bending rudely towards the northeast, in which direction a strait would lead towards the North Sea (as it was often called) instead of the South. The Massawomeks were a tribe seated near the head of the bay, of whom they had heard from the pleasant king of Accomac, who had also informed them of the existence of the Potomac* But his descriptions of the bay, isles, and rivers, that did them exceeding pleasure, must have been more in teresting than accurate, since they had been led to expect this river much too far to the north; upon June 16, as they were returning, they discovered its mouth. By this time the sick were all recovered and the weather again was fine; and the northwestward trend of the stream being precisely what they had hoped to find, they sailed up its waters for thirty miles, and may have held a feast and a pow-wow where now stands the nation's capital, within whose limits exists the only memorial erected to the dis coverer, anywhere in the world over which he traveled so widely and adventurously. f ?The Potomac or Espiritu Santo, was known to them also through Spanish explorations, vide infra. tAs these pages are passing through the press I learn that in the old Church of Smithfield, Virginia, one of the oldest church build ings in America, and recently beautifully restored, the centre light of the east window is a memorial to Captain John Smith, the lights on either side being in memory respectively of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. 220 The True Story of Captain John Smith The Indians of those parts were, however, decidedly hostile; when, after his fashion he had overawed them with volleys of musketry, when the skipping of the bullets over the water and the echoes sent back from the thick woods impressed them as the very acme of the black art, they informed him that they had Pow hatan's orders for this unfriendly welcome; and that the red king had been incited to the plan by the dis contented at Jamestown, who believed that with the removal of Smith, the force which retained them in Virginia against their will would also vanish. It is most likely that the discontented were entirely right; we have already come upon several occasions when Smith alone prevented the abandonment of the enter prise; and the information thus imparted bears the stamp of truth. It could hardly have been invented even by Powhatan himself, whose talent for fictitious narrative was more than remarkable. And now their hopes of finding a mine* of one of the precious metals were suddenly raised to the highest pitch ; for indeed it was largely in search of this mine that they had come so far up the river. They had heard of it from many of the red men, as the place where might be procured a substance resembling silver, with which the savages were wont to powder their bodies on festal occasions. Having dug out the earth from the side of a great mountain "like antimony," with shells and stone hatchets, they were accustomed to wash ft in the waters of a "fair brook" that ran near by; the residuum was then put up for the market ?At the head of the River Qinyough the modem Acquia. The True Story of Captain John Smith 221 in little skin bags. When a savage had painted him self or his idol with this metal, he looked "Hke Blacka moors, dusted with silver." Smith supposed the metal to be antimony ; but certain bags of it sent to England on Newport's first return had proved on assay to be more than half silver. However, what they succeeded in procuring on this journey turned out worthless; whether they were conducted by their wily entertainers to the likeliest claim one is hardly prepared to say. It is rather the modern fashion to sneer at the metallic expectations ofthe English; but says a recent writer, " Gold and silver really exist in the general area so eagerly explored by the first colonists in the hope of discovering the precious metals. In 1849, lead and silver ores, intermixed, were brought to light in Nelson County, and so abundant were the deposits of gold in Fluvanna, that in the same year a mill for crushing the ore was erected in that county by Commodore Stockton. It is an interesting fact, that even at the present day, a very considerable quantity of gold which has been picked up in the streams by the inhabitants is brought to the stores in this part of the state, to be exchanged for articles of various kinds. In Buckingham County, lying immediately to the south, on the further side of James River, gold mines have been systematically worked for several generations, and at a sufficient rate of profit to compensate the owners for the expense which has been entailed."* ?Economic History of Virginia, by Phihp A. Bruce, Vol. I, pp. 81-82. 222 The True Story of' Captain John Smith Smith and his companions were no mineralogists, as he states; but in regard to furs he was more of an ex pert; and the small fish in the bay he reports as plenti ful in variety and quantity. But the prospect for a cod-fishery, such as those which already had become noted on the Newfoundland coast, he justly considers poor. But when they had left the Potomac, and intended next to visit the seat of his former friends and jailers, so to speak, the Rappahannocks orToppahannocks, an unhappy acccident interrupted the course of the dis covery and occasioned an untimely return to the fort. They had many times observed the method of spearing fish practised by the Indians, of which a full account with illustrations may be found in Beverley. And it is interesting to know that the pictures of Indians and their houses, sports and occupations used in this work may actually have been seen by Smith before his departure from England, and may have aided to inspire in him an interest in these inhabitants ofthe New World. They were made by the "skilful and ingenious painter, Mr. John Wythe," who was sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh to the first colony at Roanoke, by the special advice of Queen Elizabeth, and returned to England with Sir Francis Drake when the colony was abandoned. Not long after, Theodore de Bry being in England obtained a sight of these drawings^ and through Mr. Richard Hakluyt's intercession, was allowed by the painter to publish copper-plate en gravings of them with Latin explanations.* The book ?These Latin explanations, translated into English, are probably those that accompany the pictures as given by Beverley. The True Story of Captain John Smith 223 appeared at Frankfort, in 1590, and copies of it no doubt were brought to England, one of which may not unreasonably be supposed to have fallen into the hands of this elder Hakluyt. But Smith's acquaint ance with the special illustration in question, if he indeed had seen it, was on the present occasion productive of disaster; for seeking to rival the Indians in this spearing of fish, only using the sword instead of a spear, his dexterity was emulated by his crew; "thus we took more in one hour than we could eat in a day." But in the midst of the sport there chanced to come upon the captain's sword a fish, which he, not know ing it as well as he afterwards had occasion to do, handled so carelessly as to receive a severe sting ; there was neither blood nor wound to be seen further than a little blue mark; but this in a short time produced such swelling of the arm and hand that all in the party considered it fatally poisonous. Indeed, his end was thought to be so near that by his own directions, a grave was dug for him on the island ; but a certain oil applied by Dr. Russell, though at first it had seemed not to help the case, finally effected a cure, and Smith was able to " eat of the fish to his supper." And again our history shows the physician's hand; for it appears that, though immediate danger seemed over. Smith was not quite himself, so that it was thought best to return directly to Jamestown, where other medica ments were to be found than this precious and pre servative oil. Touching at Kecoughtan on the next day, the simple 224 THfi True Story of Captain John Smith savages, seeing the captain pallid and bandaged, and one of the crew bloody (from breaking his shin), could not be persuaded but that they had been to war; whereupon the wags of the party, find ing that the truth would not satisfy them, invented some genuine frontiersman's romances, which they confided to their interiocutors as a profound secret. And it was all about the Massowomeks, whom they had failed to discover, but with whom, in these narra tions, they had fought mightily and overcome them with great slaughter, and much spoil. This rumor went faster up the river than the barge, and when they had reached Warraskoyack the same humorists deco rated her in such fashion, with painted streamers and other devices, as to frighten those in the fort with the supposftion that she was the advance boat of a Spanish frigate. It would not have been at all undeserved had Jamestown indeed been gobbled by the Spaniards, for the discoverers found that matters had not been going at all well during their absence. There seems little doubt that Ratcliffe's head was turned by his brief authority as president, for, with Smith absent. Scrivener, who was ill "of a calenture,"* had been unable to keep him at all in check. Considering him self as the representative of royalty — which, in its way, was true enough — he had done his best to maintain royal state, living in what luxury he might, personally ?" Ship fever," as this species of typhus is called, was frequently contracted during the voyage out, and was a principal cause of the mortality among the colonists. The True Story of Captain John Smith 225 abusing and maltreating the settlers, and compeUing them to set aside works for the public well-being in order to put up a hunting lodge for him in the woods of the mainland. Thus the colony was again in a bad way, and, according to our chronicle, Ratcliffe was in danger of assassination, for the provisions had been wasted by his prodigality, and those who were not ill from the climate showed bruises given by the presi dent's hand.* The good news brought by the discoverers and the hope that on further investigation the passage to the Pacific might prove to be by the head of their bay, for the time allayed the discord; but to retain Ratcliffe in his misused authority was out ofthe question. Smith was urged to accept the presidency, but though he was not accustomed to stand upon ceremony when the existence of the colony was at stake, he had no idea of even appearing to seek his personal aggran dizement. It is not of the least importance whether or no Scrivener bore the title of president; probably Smith, not wishing to act too autocratically when the same end might be otherwise accomplished, would have called him either acting president or vice-presi dent or by some similar title. The matter is only worth mention because some historians in modern times have taken exception to the style and title of President Scrivener, and have asserted that Ratcliffe served honorably his full term of a year, from the de- ?Dr. Alex. Brown regards these charges against Ratcliffe as pure calumny. Quite possibly they were exaggerated ; but that they were cut out of whole cloth is, from Smith's personal character, very improbable. 226 The True Story of Captain John Smith position of Wingfield, September loth, 1607, to the corresponding date in 1608, when "the presidency was surrendered to Captain Smith," as runs the chap ter head. It is noteworthy that at the head of Chap ter VI. we have "The Government Surrendered to Master Scrivener" and not the presidency. Smith had been, as we have seen, willing to post pone voyages of discovery for a season, but now that the goal appeared so close at hand he was not insen sible to the possible glory of calling the Northwest Passage after his own name, or to the importance as a trading post and base of supplies for English ships that would accrue to Jamestown, if indeed the Pacific might be reached via the Chesapeake. He therefore began immediate preparation to finish the explora tion, first setting in order the affairs of the fort by re turning to the public store those provisions which Ratcliffe had misappropriated, either for his personal use or for the purpose of selling them again to the colonists, by appointing, or securing the appointment of. Master Scrivener to the executive authority, and by naming as his deputies and assistants during his illness certain persons whom he considered honest and efficient. It thus seems to be actually the case that Smith was the only person who could make these discoveries abroad or keep order at home. These matters being effected, and most of the col onists being unable to endure any hard work or ex posure, the summer heat being now upon them, and they newly come from England, he left them to live at their ease and become acclimated at their leisure. The True Story of Captain John Smith 227 and himself set forth on July 24th in the barge with twelve men to find the head of the bay and, if pos sible, a passage to the South Sea. CHAPTER XVII. Of the Accidents th.at Befell During the Second Voyage for the Discovery of the Bay. Having now a general idea of the conformation of its shores. Smith in his second voyage proceeded, as directly as might be, to the headwaters of the Chesa peake, where alone he might hope to find the desired inlet or river, which on being followed to its source should conduct him to the South Sea. Contrary winds detained the barge at Kecoughtan for two or three days. But the time was not wasted. The king, supposing them bound on a warlike expedition for the complete subjugation of his enemies the Massa womeks,* feasted them with much mirth; and a few rockets sent off by the English produced such an ex cellent moral effect that their entertainers believed them capable of accomplishing anything they might attempt; even the impossible, says our chronicler drily. Setting sail from Kecoughtan, they anchored the first night at Stingray Island,! still in the twentieth century called from the fish which had so nearly proved fatal to Captain Smith. The next day, pur- ? Or Maechachtinni, a name given to the Seneca Indians by their enemies the Lenni Lenape. t Or Stingray Point. 229 230 The True Story of Captain John Smith suing their course northward, they crossed the Poto mac and Patapsco, and exploring the head of the Bay, found it "divided in four, all which we searched so far as we could sail them." And here, sure enough, they found the Massawomeks in force, seven or eight canoes full of them. This tribe, of which the English had heard so much, seems to have migrated south wards from Canada, and to have been allied in blood to those who were afterwards known as Senecas, from their seat upon Seneca Lake. They were an un usually fierce and warlike race and strong in numbers, and were the deadly enemies of the Susquehannocks, who were at this time seated on the river of that name. The Indians making hostile demonstrations. Smith prepared for the encounter. Seven of his men had recently come from England, and had proved unable to endure the July heat and the exposure, so that there were but five, including the captain, who were able to stand. Placing all the sick together in the bottom of the barge, and covering them with a tarpaulin, he mounted their hats upon sticks and allowed them just to show over the side of the boat. Between each two empty hats showed another, covering a bona-fide head, on either side of which protruded the muzzle of a gun. This formidable armament so dismayed the Indians that they fled incontinent; halting, when they had got to shore, to watch "the sailing of our barge till we anchored right against them." After some coyness on the part of the savages, two of their number were persuaded aboard of this mysterious The True Story of Captain John Smith 231 vessel, which was apparently able to move through the waters unguided by human hands; the gift of a bell to each of them brought aboard the whole flotilla, with presents in return of venison, bears' meat fish, ,bows, arrows, clubs, 'targets and bears' skins. But though unable to converse with their new friends except by signs, the language being quite different from that of the Powhatans, they managed to comprehend, aided thereto by the recent wounds of several of the party, that the expedftion had been against the Tockwogh Indians. Night parted them, the English guilelessly expecting to meet again in the morning; but whether or no they had misunderstood the Massawomeks, or whether the latter considered discretion the better part of valor, and gave these white magicians a wide berth while it still was pos sible to them, certain it is that the morning light showed the English an empty landscape, save of themselves; and "after that we never saw them." The weapons with which they had been supplied served them well with the Tockwoghs, whom they next encountered, and on whom they "feigned the invention of Kecoughtan," that they had captured all in war. With these Indians they were able to hold converse, as one of their number was able to speak the language of Powhatan. The cause of the withdrawal of the Massawomeks became evident when the English were conducted to the Tockwogh village ; for it proved to be strongly fortified and surrounded with a palisade, in the fashion common to tribes of the Iroquois. Here, for 232 The True Story of Captain John Smith the first time among the savages, theji saw iron hatchets together with small pieces of iron and brass; and hearing upon inquiry that these had been pro cured from the Susquehannocks, they desired greatly to visit that tribe. But the Susquehannock town was far inland and the river of that name was difficult of navigation by reason of rocks; Smith, therefore, sent interpreters begging the Susquehannocks to come to the Tockwogh town, which at the end of a few days they did, in number about sixty. They were in size much taller and more formidable than any tribe of those regions; and they had not failed to bring along their biggest warrior, whose proportions, as given by Captain Smith himself* are somewhat startling, although, since in his own huge tribe he was regarded as a phenomenon, they are not incredible. ' 'The calf of his leg was three-quarters of a yard about; and all the rest of his hmbs so answerable to that propor tion that he seemed the goodliest man that ever we beheld. His hair on the one side was long, the other shore 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 wolx's skin for his quiver, his bow in the one hand and his club in the other, as is described." They learned from these gigantic savages that the hatchets which had inspired their wonder had been procured from the French settlements on the River St. ?Smith's Works, p. 54. The True Story of Captain John Smith 2}} Lawrence in trade; thus early did the French begin that policy which was to prove so deadly to the Eng lish, and which Smith himself so stubbornly opposed in Virginia, of allowing the Indians to procure Eu ropean weapons. A league with the Susquehannocks was to be had even wfthout the asking; for with great pomp, ceremony and howling they surrounded Smith, em bracing him and even offering what he, taking it for adoration, rejected and rebuked; they were not, however, to be checked until they had presented him with the apparel of a werowance, a great painted bear's skin, a chain of white beads six or seven pounds in weight, eighteen mantles, and many other toys; all which thev laid at his feet in token of choosing him to be "their governor and protector," and desir ing him to remain with them and lead them against the Massawomeks. It would have been, perhaps, a temptation had Smith been the man his enemies believed him; and there is little doubt that he could have subdued the Massawomeks and spread through all that region the terror of the English name; but the captain had had, from the outset of his connection with the Virginia enterprise, a particularly clear notion of the course to be pursued in order to render the colony most valua ble to its promoters and most advantageous to Eng land. And this course did not at all include foreign conquest; he therefore, when he had given names to all the prominent points of the newly discovered terri tory turned his prow southwards; leaving to their 234 The True Story of Captain John Smith entertainers, as a solace for their disappointment, the promise of another visft the next summer. On their way homeward, pausing to explore the Patuxent River, they encountered their old friend Mosco, whom they had met on their first voyage, and whom, from his bushy black beard, they suspected to have French blood in his veins. He seems to have been proud of his European relationship, and to have faith fully warned the English that the Rappahannocks were inclined to be hostile; but they, unjustly supposing him to be merely anxious to secure their friendship and their trade for his own people — he being a Wico- comico — disregarded his warnings and crossed the river to the Rappahannocks, whose territory lay be tween their own river and the Potomac. The Moraugh- tacunds, near neighbors of the Rappahannocks, had lately stolen some of their women, for which theft, as Smith had been entertained by the Moraughtacunds on his way south, the bereaved tribe proposed to hold him responsible. With true Indian treachery, they received him as though they meant all kindness and honest trading, even exchanging hostages, of whom one was our old friend Anas Todkill. By the advice of Mosco, the English had set up the Massawomek targets, or shields, as a breastwork round the barge; the targets were made of small sticks, interwoven among strings of hemp and silk-grass, and hence very light, but quite impenetrable to arrow shot; and they had good reason to rejoice in this protection, for Todkill, keeping his eyes open, as was his custom, discovered about two or three hundred men hidden behind trees. Justly sus- The True Story of Captain John Smith 235 pecting such an ambuscade, he turned to retrace his steps to the boat whereupon the Indians laying hold upon him, he called to the English that they were be trayed. The Indian hostage, who had hoped to escape in the first alarm of the attack, leaped in a twinkling over the side of the boat but was shot, in the water, by the soldier into whose charge he had been com mitted. Quickly disengaging the targets from the boat, and arming his crew with them. Smith ordered a sally to recover Todkill, dead or alive. He was happily regained unhurt, though covered with blood from the wounds of his captors. At least a thousand arrows had been discharged against the boat, but without harm to the English, and the targets having proved so useful, the rest of the day was spent in adjusting them as a permanent part ofthe barge's armament. The canoes and such weapons as had been cap tured were allotted to Mosco, as a reward for his faithfulness ; and the next morning they proceeded up the river, Mosco following along shore. Here they were ambushed by about thirty Rappahannocks; in which skirmish one of the English was wounded, or perhaps died on the next day from natural causes, for the chronicle is less clear than might be desired. His name was Featherstone, and since he had been in the colony his behavior is reported to have been honest, valiant and industrious; the English could ill afford to lose him, since not many of that sort were sent out to them. The next day they sailed up the river as high as it was navigable, at which point they set up a cross, 2)6 The True Story of Captain John Smith and graved their names upon the trees, as was their invariable custom, to mark the limits of their explora tions. These crosses are indicated on Smith's Map of Virginia; and he states, honestly enough, that beyond them the country is laid down from the tidings that he had from the natives. It would be interesting to find one of Smith's crosses, or a tree engraved with his name, or that ofthe sarcastic Master Todkill; but time and the elements would have destroyed these memo rials, in the years that have elapsed, though the coun try had remained a desert. The Map itself, however, is the best proof that we could desire of Smith's cour age, skill as a cartographer, and enormous industry; with all the advantages of modern instruments it still remains the foundation of every chart that can be drawn of the bay and its shores; and though con structed under difficulties which to the majority of men would have proved overwhelming, its accuracy has never been seriously impugned. These difficulties were not even yet at an end ; for, in the very midst of setting up their boundaries, the sentinel, whom as an old soldier Smith had not neglected to post suddenly was startled by the fall of an arrow beside him, seemingly from nowhere at all. The alarm being given, the explorers stood to their arms, and immediately there were around them about a hundred Indians, "skipping from tree to tree." But the colonists had now learned the method of In dian fighting, and themselves used the trees as barri cades, while Mosco skipped more lively than their foes, and when he had exhausted his quiverful of The True Story of Captain John Smith 237 arrows, skipped to the boat for a fresh supply. After about half-an-hour's skirmish, the attacking party vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, while to one of their number, who had been left behind for dead (he was wounded in the knee, and must have been shot during the retreat itself, as it was the invariable custom of the savages to carry away their dead and wounded as far as possible), they owed the subse quent peace established with these persistent and apparently inveterate enemies. Having been treated by their skilful surgeon, An thony Bagnall, who had accompanied the expedition chiefly to look after Smith's stingray wound, which his friends were apprehensive might break out in some new way, the Indian was able to sit up and eat his supper, and also to answer to a set of Mangnall's ques tions, which were put to him, concerning the earth, the sky, the sun, the Indian tribes in the vicinity, and the cause of this uncivil treatment of unoffending travelers. Their captive proved to be the brother of the king of Hassininga, and, on the following morning, when they had spent another night lying uj^er their shields, with a rain of arrows falling upon them from all quarters, he made an oration to his tribe, the Man- nahocks, in consequence of which a peace was con cluded, commodities were exchanged, both by way of gifts ahd in barter, and the explorers went on their way rejoicing, leaving "four or five hundred of our merry Mannahocks, singing, dancing and making merry," possibly more or less under the influence of firewater. 238 The True Story of Captain John Smith Upon revisiting the friendly tribes on this, their re turn voyage, they found that all internal unpleasant ness was for the time at an end, and that it was the universal desire that the English should conclude a peace with the Rappahannocks, the only tribe with which they were now on hostile terms. A general pow-wow being accordingly arranged, peace was quickly agreed upon, but when the only son of the king of Rappahannock was desired as a hostage, that red monarch, who had probably no idea of going fur ther in friendship than he could easily draw back from, professed his inability to live without his family, and suggested as a substitute the three women of the tribe whom the Moraughtacunds had stolen. Smfth ac cepted these terms, and upon their adjournment to the village in question the ladies were produced and placed in evidence. Smith thereupon, en Grand Seigneur, desired the Rappahannock to choose the one whom he loved best, and giving next choice to the king of Moraughtacund and the third to his friend Mosco, all were contented and perhaps impressed with the^^reatness and the magnanimity of the Eng lish werowance to a greater degree than would have been possible on any other terms. So they parted the best possible friends, Mosco, in remembrance of his connection with them, changing his name to Uttasantasough, or Stranger, which seems to have been the title by which the English were known. But even now they were not to get back to James town wfthout a little rtore fighting. Having only just The True Story of Captain John Smith 239 escaped shipwreck in a severe thunder-storm off Point Comfort, they persisted in completing their survey of the bay, all of which was now known to them except the country of the Chesapeakes, on Cape Henry, where on their first landing they had been so inhospitably assaulted. They found both Chesapeakes and Nandsamunds in exactly the same mind, for though at first their enter tainers greeted them wfth a show of apparent friend ship, it proved but a mask for treachery. In the fol lowing engagement, between the English barge and seven or eight canoes full of savages, the latter, to escape the volleys of musketry, leapt into the water and swam ashore. Upon this Smith seized the canoes, the threatened destruction of which at once brought the Indians to terms. Smith exacting a ransom for the boats of their king's bows and arrows, a chain of pearls, and, against their next coming, four hundred baskets of corn. The Indians eagerly accepted, and would even have brought all the corn immediately, but the barge was not able to hold it. With as much as it could carry, and parting good friends, they set sail for Jamestown, which they reached on September 7, 1608. In addition to the magnificent work of surveying the bay, accomplished during these two voyages, they pre sent two points worth noting. We have dwelt par ticularly upon Smith's dealings with the natives, be cause accusations of his cruelty to them were laid before the London Council, and based largely upon the occurrences of this summer. Whether he were, ac cording to the accounts of eye-witnesses, really cruel 240 The True Story of Captain John Smith or no, the reader can now determine for himself. This portion ofthe General History is subscribed by Anthony Bagnall, Nathaniel Powell, and Anas Todkill, all of whom were with him in the barge from departure to return. The first, as we know, was a surgeon; Na thaniel Powell is rated as a "gentleman," and Todkill was a private soldier, but a man of some education and much shrewd wit. It is also of interest to note that the point on their journey where they encountered the most persistent hostility, the Rappahannock country, had been the site, about a generation before, of a Spanish colony, sent out from Mexico, under the leadership of two Jesuit fathers, Segura and Quiros. In Beach's Indian Miscellany, pp. ))2-}4), may be found an account of "The Span ish Mission Colony of the Rappahannock" in 1566. Some years before the son of a chief of those parts had been carried away by the Spaniards, with their usual purpose of making a Christian of him, and then using him as an instrument for the conversion of the tribe. This object was apparently fully attained ; the captive was baptized, under the sponsorship of Don Luis de Velasco, by whose name he was afterwards known. The mission colony was founded near his native vil lage, but on the banks of the Potomac, or the Espiritu Santo, as the Spaniards termed it calling also the bay St. Mary's Bay, and the capes at its entrance St. Mary and St. John. Their settlement they named Axacan, and the author of our paper speaks of a locality on the Potomac, near the point where the river most nearly The True Story of Captain John Smith 241 approaches the Rappahannock, which is still called Occaquon. The well-known Menendez, whose name is still shadowed by the horror of the Florida massacre, having seen the fathers, as he supposed, securely seated and On the way to add to their crowns many savage souls by way of jewels, left them there and returned to Mex ico; but scarcely had he departed when Don Luis threw off the mask and relapsed into savagery and heathenism. We cannot say that he relapsed into treachery, since his whole course had probably been designedly treacherous. The fathers and all their fol lowing were massacred. We hardly need the assurance that Menendez exacted a bloody revenge on his return. But the incident is interestingly connected with the Jamestown settlement, not only by Smith's visit to the locality, but by a possible connection with the tribe of Powhatan. Ralph, or Rafe Hamor, who is one of our earliest authorities for Virginia matters, says that Pow hatan's tribe was driven from "the West Indies" by the Spaniards. But we know that the whole confed eracy of the Powhatans was Algonquin, and it is there fore certain that they had come from the northward part of eastern North America. Hamor probably had been misled by some tradition that the tribe had come from some territory held by the Spaniards, which in this locality might have been Axacan, or the sfte of Ayllon's earlier attempt on the James River itself in 1526.* It would be delightful to suppose Powhatan, ?" The West India " was then a general name for the Spanish possessions in America. 242 The True Story of Captain John Smith Opechancanough, and Pocahontas of the same blood as Don Luis de Velasco ; but the hypothesis is not re quired by the facts, though it is by no means excluded by them, and may therefore be left to the fancy of the reader.* Where the missionary zeal of the Jesuits had failed Smith's shields and volleys of musketry had proved effectual; but Smith had by no means neglected mat ters of religion during his discovery. "Our order was daily to have prayer with a psalm," we are told, "at which solemnitie the poor savages much won dered." The singing of psalms was at that time the recog nized mark of a good Protestant in England, France and Scotland; German Lutherans and Calvinists alike had a treasury of hymns unexcelled in the history of sacred song, but Huguenots sang Clement Marot's version ofthe Psalter; and in England, where as yet Dr. J. M. Neale, that prince of hymnologists and translators, was not to be born for a couple of hun dred years, men obeyed the scriptural injunction to sing psalms when they were merry by using chiefly the version of Sternhold and Hopkins. f Many other versions there were, but this was the best known and most popular; in Scotland its place was taken by the ?I commend to some future romancer the theory that the wily and revengeful Opechancanough was Don Louis de 'Velasco in person. There is not a shred of evidence for it, but that would not spoil the story. tA copy, in the Maryland Diocesan Library, of the Geneva or " Breeches " Bible, with the date of 1607, is bound up with this version of Sternhold and Hopkins accompanied by the tunes to which the psalms were sung. The True Story of Captain John Smith 243 various editions of the Assembly Psalm Book, but it held its own in England, in the hands of Cromwell and the Puritans, until it was superseded by the edi tion of Tate and Brady in 1695. Smith's use of it marks his status as a good Protestant, of the type just beginning to be called Puritan; and we may note also the close connection in the mind of the age between religion, discovery and fighting. CHAPTER XVlll. How They Crowned Powhatan; and of Captain Smith's "Rude Answer." On the tenth of September, Ratcliffe's year as presi dent expired, and as he. Smith and Scrivener con stituted the only remaining lawfully appointed mem bers of the Council, and as Scrivener had not been six months in the colony, the presidency naturally de volved upon Smith, who thus found himself not only permitted, but in a measure compelled to accept the "Letters Patents: which, till then, by no means he would accept, though he was often importuned there unto." * And now the narrative (as to which we still follow the General History, in that portion subscribed by the names of Wyffin, Abbot Phettiplace and Todkill) seems to take a spring forward, as though the narra tors, after a long period of mismanagement, felt at last the presence of one who knew how to rule. And indeed, Smith seems to have possessed in a high de gree that genius for detail and capacity for drudgery, combined with breadth of view and power to grasp at once the true inwardness of any given situation, which constitute administrative ability or statesman ship, according as they are applied to private or public affairs. ? Smith's Works, p. 433. 245 246 The True Story of Captain John Smith Poor Ratcliffe's hunting lodge had long ago been left uncompleted, but the ex-president seems to have made some attempt during Smith's absence to seize again upon the supreme authority, which our chron icler stigmatizes as mutiny. In consequence of this he was held as a prisoner until the return of the barge, and our narrator cannot help giving him a vicious little dig at this point on account of his " palace." The har vest by the "honest diligence" of Master Scrivener, had all been gathered, but the store-house was leaky, and the grain had been already greatly injured by rain. How ever, Smith was president, and there was a good time coming, thought the faithful ones. "The church was repaired, the storehouse re-covered ; buildings prepared for the supplies we expected" — no doubt our chronicler means dwelling-houses as well as barns — and "the fort reduced to a five-square form." It was at first triangular, and after the fire was probably restored more or less irregularly. It was now enlarged to contain the houses for the new settlers expected, and the form most convenient would naturally be that of a pentagon. During the Starving Time, it fell again into disrepair, and was rebuift under Lord Delaware in the original form, triangle wise, with its base rest ing on the river. The colonists seem now for the first time to have been brought under a thorough military organization, and to have mounted guard in regular order; every Saturday the whole company was exercised in a plain near the west bulwark, to which, in honor of their leader, the name of Smith- field was given; here "more than a hundred savages The True Story of Captain John Smith 247 would stand amazed" to see these Englishmen practise themselves in target shooting. Thus we see that Smith considered himself now in a position to carry out his own ideas as to the proper ways of planting and sustaining the colony; and as these were methods to which both colony and Council were driven by the Starving Time, they are worth just here a word of explanation. To us, at this dis tance of time, it seems a truism that the colony should have been made self-supporting before it was required to enrich by its exports the promoters of the enterprise. Its first business, according to Smith, was to establish itself on a sound economic and mili tary footing; when it was able to produce its own food supply and defend itself against the Indians, it would then be in a position to acquire the luxuries and elegancies of life by establishing a trade with the mother country which would be very greatly to her advantage as well as its own. It has already been stated that the stores had been injured by the rain ; as a better shelter for their grain had now been secured. Lieutenant Percy was sent with a sufficient supply of boats to contain it to claim the supply of four hundred bushels which had been promised by the Indians of Elizabeth River. On their way towards the mouth of the bay, the expedition rather unfortunately came full upon the second supply under Captain Newport, who, on learning their errand, at- once overrode their orders with those sent by him from the London Council, to discover the country of the Monacans ; and brought 248 The True Story of Captain John Smith them back with himself to Jamestown on the plea that the barges would be required for the voyage up the James. One would think that even this important discovery might have waited for a few days in order to secure ample food supplies, but the question of eating and drinking seems, one regrets to say, to have weighed but lightly on Newport's mind so long as he and his crew were provided for. Newport, indeed, was probably at this time in a mental condition not altogether happy, and the word ing of the three-fold commission with which he came armed is rather significant. He had been censured by the disaffected at Jamestown, as we have seen, for lingering beyond his time,* and consuming the provis ions of the colony while absorbed in the madness of his discovery of gold. And this discovery being only of gilded dirt had brought down upon him in London certainly ridicule and probably censure, from which he seems to have tried to shield him self by throwing as large a portion as possible of the blame upon Captain Smith. He had certainly succeeded in putting the Council in a very bad humor and he brought out with him a letter to the new president which from the latter's "rude answer," with which we shall deal presently, must have con tained a very severe rebuke and shown a thorough misunderstanding of the whole Virginian situation. And now for his personal guidance, as has been said, Newport had the very significant orders to remain ?See, however. Appendix A. for Newport's general instructions on this point. The True Story of Captain John Smith 249 in Virginia, no matter whose provisions he consumed, until he had found a lump of gold — no more dirt if you please! — the passage to the South Sea, or one of the lost Roanoke colony ! The South Sea passage, the Council had been led to think by the tidings already sent them, was most likely to be found on the other side of the Mountains Quirank; and they had accordingly supplied the navi gator with a practicable boat, in five pieces, which after being carried across the Blue Ridge, might be put together and used for the subsequent voyage. It is to be noted in this connection, that what Smith and others had heard from the Indians and transmitted to the Council, as to the existence of a great water southwest of the mountains on whose shores dwelt a people wearing coats with short sleeves, becomes at once credible when regarded as applying to the Gulf of Mexico.* Francis Maguel, the Spanish spy already mentioned, states that Powhatan was accus tomed to send messengers annually to the West India or Spanish America; and their route is said to have been to the head of the Powhatan, thence by a short over land journey to a river which emptied into the great sea. Such a route, by way of the Kanawha and Ohio and thence to the Mississippi, was no doubt perfectly feasible for savages unburdened and accustomed to hardship and exposure; but for the Jamestown colon ists with their fine five-pieced boat and "no means to carry victuals, munition, the hurt or the sick, but ?See Brace's " Economic History of Virginia," Vol. I, p. 36. 250 The True Story of Captain John Smith on their own backs," its impracticability was even absurdly evident. Who had devised the plan, says our chronicle, was not known, but Captain Newport had the credit of it, with the colonists; certainly he would have reaped from such a discovery a greater and more immediate profit than would have accrued to a single settler; both in the glory of finding and naming this long- desired passage, and in the impulse to commerce, and employment to seamen, which would be the first result. But a project so important as to take pre cedence both of this discovery and of the provisioning of the fort for the approaching winter was the coro nation of Powhatan; a project which had emanated from the brain of King James himself, and whose fan tastic character was due, as Dr. Fiske humorously surmises, to a mighty potation ofthe real Glenlivat. Its true origin is, however, to be found in that absence of all sense of proportion which formed the chief distinction between James and a wise man; leaving him, what Sully tersely called him, "the wisest fool in Christendom." Newport was probably not very much more eager about the matter than Smith himself; but the command came from the king, and there was no choice but to obey. But Smith's objections to the discovery being performed at this particular juncture were so very strenuous, that the question was referred to the Council, which, in order to secure a decision favorable to his own wishes, Newport judiciously augmented by two gentlemen out of the second supply. Captains Richard Waldo, The True Story of Captain John Smith 251 and Wynne, "ancient soldiers and valiant gentle men," says our chronicle, but newly arrived and ignorant of the necessities of the situation. Both these persons were afterwards numbered among Smith's most ardent supporters; and it is probable that on this occasion he might have won them to his way of thinking; but Newport was sustained by the deposed Ratcliffe, and by Scrivener, to whom the thought of dangerous adventure seems to have pos sessed a fatal attraction; so that in spite of Smith's position as president, the matter was decided adver sely to his advice and repeated forewarnings. His main objection was the impossibility of sustain ing the lives of the colonists, whose stock of pro visions was now well-nigh gone, and who were required, instead of supplying themselves, to relade the ship with pitch, tar, soap-ashes, wainscoting, and glass, besides drafting off a good part of their number to make the required discovery. The London Council had sent out in this supply eight Germans and Poles, skilled artisans, to make a beginning in the indicated industries; and doubtless on account of the represen tation of Newport as to the fertility of the country and the ample supplies to be obtained from the sav ages, had neglected to send stores, such as had been brought along with the first supply. Newport's response to Smith's objections was an undertaking to freight the pinnace (twenty tons) with corn during the course of the discovery, and, after his return, to fill her up again at Werowocomico. He promised, moreover, a supply of provisions from the 252 The True Story of Captain John Smith Susan Constant — his power of keeping which pro mise we shall presently examine, — and he more than hinted that Smfth's objections were merely devices to hinder Newport from making this discovery in order later on to effect it himself. Smith was undoubtedly far from insensible to the glory of first making or find ing a way to the Pacific by the northwest; but if either of these captains was kept awake at night by a fear that the other would forestall him in this matter. Smith was not the man. Finding himself outvoted, and that the undertakings which he had so strongly opposed had nevertheless become the order of the day, Smith, with greater wis dom and magnanimity than he has ever had credit for, yielded to the inevitable with a thorough good will, and decided to help heartily where he had not been able effectually to hinder. When he had urged the enmity of the savages as an obstacle to visiting at that time the South Sea, Newport had answered that the Indians had been friendly enough when he was last in Virginia, and if they were now hostile, it was in consequence of Smith's cruelties. Whereupon, Captain Smith, both to disprove this accusation and also to save time, since he, knowing the country, and the language and customs, could go and come more quickly than any one else, undertook an embassy to Powhatan, "to entreat him to come to Jamestown to receive his presents," and to undergo the ceremony of coronation as Emperor of Virginia, vassal of his Sacred Majesty James, by the grace of God King of Great Britain (a tftle denied him by Parliament in The True Story of Captain John Smith 253 rejecting the proposition of union with Scotland, but which James had assumed by authority of his royal will alone), of France (where he held not at the moment a rood of ground or maintained a single soldier), and of Ireland, then as always, rebellious to an extent which would have caused Powhatan at once to decree a general massacre, and to execute the order in person. Newport had professed to consider it dangerous to make the journey with a less force than a hundred and twenty men; Smith took with him only four; with these he traveled overland to the Pamunkey or York, which he crossed in an Indian canoe and so came to Werowocomico. Powhatan chancing to be absent, he was received with great rejoicing by the Indian maideQs, led by Pocahontas, who entertained him with feasting and dances. If our space permitted it would be interesting at this point to inquire into the nature of these Indian dances, which are still practised by the surviving tribes, and which in modern times have been exhaus tively investigated. It appears that they were of a mystical or religious character, which the English so misunderstood that grave historians speak rather slight ingly of having seen Pocahontas dancing naked in the streets of Jamestown ; a performance which was per haps intended to avert the vengeance of the evil spirits from the settlers. The present ceremony was performed by about thirty young women, wearing buck's horns on their heads, their bodies painted according to taste, and clad simply in a few green 254 The True Story of Captain John Smith leaves as a waist cloth or apron. Some were armed with bows and arrows, others with swords, clubs or culinary utensils; they "with most hellish shouts and cries rushing from among the trees cast them selves in a ring about the fire, singing and dancing with most excellent ill variety, oft falling into their in fernal passions and solemnly again to sing and dance." At the end of the dance Smith and his men had but reached the beginning of their woes, so sorely were they beset by these troublesome daughters, "crowding, pressing and hanging about him, most tediously crying, ' Love you not me ? Love you not me?'" It is to be remembered that Smith's official position was that of an adopted brave of the Powhatans; without doubt the purpose of the dance was to assist him to exercise his right of choosing a wife from the tribe. Smith, however, was as to morals a Puri tan; moreover, he had not come a-courting, as the damsels perhaps had hoped, but on business of state with the " emperor." Upon Powhatan's return the next day Smith de livered his message, to the effect that his Father New port desired to present the gifts sent to Powhatan by the King's Majesty of England; to this end, the red monarch was invited to pay a visit to Jamestown ; at which time an alliance, offensive and defensive, might also be concluded and an expedition planned against the Monacans. Powhatan, accustomed to the niceties of Indian diplomacy, considered the whole matter a trap at The True Story of Captain John Smith 255 which he openly mocked; in regard to the Monacans, he was, he said, perfectly able to do his own fighting ; he was magnanimously willing to receive any presents King James had sent him and would be graciously pleased to remain at Werowocomico eight days in order that Newport might there present them in person; but for any salt water beyond the mountains, dear me! who ever heard of such a thing! Wherewith, he began to draw upon the ground the map of this transmontane region as readily as ever more lettered romancer sketched his sea-bordered Bohemia. When this answer reached the fort, it was decided to send the royal presents by water, while the two captains made the journey by land, accompanied, as much for state as for protection, by fifty picked marksmen. The gifts consisted of a bason and ewer, a bed with its furniture, a scarlet cloak and other articles of apparel. The bed, if a genuine Elizabethan structure, with tester, feather mattress and curtains, must indeed have presented an imposing spectacle; but when it came to the reception of the crown, an unforeseen difficulty at once presented itself For his English Majesty had strictly enjoined that his vassal should kneel to receive it; but Powhatan, who had demurred even at having the royal mantle thrown about his shoulders, and only after some persuasion from Na montack, who had returned wfth Newport from Eng land, had been induced to believe that it was not after all meant to "conjure" him, now drew the line at the attitude of kneeling, which he had never practised 256 The True Story of Captain John Smith before God or man, and could not be expected to learn at his time of life. At last, the two captains leaning suddenly hard upon his shoulders, he stooped a little, when three others, who were ready with the crown, set it upon his head. Then at the signal of a pistol shot, a volley was fired from the boats, greatly terrifying the old king, until, seeing no attack ensue, he recovered him self and in requital of their kindness in the matter of the crown and the bedstead, he graciously endowed Newport with his 'coon skin mantle and half-worn moccasins. And one only hopes that Newport appre ciated the fact that courtesy obliged him to put them on immediately. A more acceptable reciprocity was about seven or eight bushels of unshelled corn ; as much more was bought from the Indians ; and with this unsatisfactory substitute for the twenty tons of the grain which Newport had offered to procure from this quarter, the embassage returned to Jamestown. Some seventy or eighty persons had come in this supply, including Mistress Forrest and her maid, Anne Burras, the first white women who had arrived in the colony. Anne Burras, in the following December, was married to John Laydon; the first English mar riage in Virginia. Leaving Smfth at the fort with between eighty and ninety men, Newport with a hundred and twenty, led by Captains Waldo, Wynne, West and Percy, and Master Scrivener, set forth to discover the Northwest Passage. They marched by land some forty miles The True Story of Captain John Smith 257 beyond the falls, without adventure or molestation from the Monacans ; nevertheless, Newport seized on one of the lesser werowances of these people, and took him along, bound, as a guide to show the way. When they had performed this great undertaking for the space of two days and a half, they turned about like the king of France in the rhyme, and marched back again. On their way they spent some time in assaying the ore procured from imaginary gold mines, having taken with them a refiner, called William Callicut, to assist in procuring the "lump of gold" already referred to. "He persuaded us to believe," says our chronicle, "he extracted some small quantity of silver;" wherewith Newport was forced to satisfy his golden hopes. Thus reaching the falls, the Indians there amused them with a pleasant tale of Spanish ships within the bay, threatening the fort; whither accordingly they repaired as speedily as might be, minus the grain they had pledged themselves to procure, for .... "Trade they would not, and find their corn we could not; for they had hid it in the woods ; and, being thus deluded, we arrived at Jamestown half sick, all complaining, and tired with toil, famine and discontent, to have only but discovered our gilded hopes, and such fruit less certainties as Captain Smith foretold us. " But those that hunger seek to slake. Which thus abounding wealth would rake ; Not all the gems of Ister shore. Nor all the gold of Lydia's store. Can fill their greedy appetite. It is a thing so infinite." 2s8 The True Story of Captain John Smith So says one of the verses interspersed through- this chronicle, which, by whomsoever written, represent very adequately Smith's attitude upon the various matters treated of by the independent contributors to the General History. He could not it is true, foresee the course of history, or suspect the strength of the weapon which the discovery of gold would have placed in the hands of the power opposed to free dom; but he did see that Newport was setting his own interests above the welfare of the colony; and that was quite enough for him, or for any honest patriot. CHAPTER XIX. How They Fared at Jamestown, Captain Smith Being President. During the progress of this unfortunate discovery which discovered nothing. Smith had been left at the fort with between eighty and ninety men, to forward as rapidly as was in his power the wishes ofthe Company. It is only to this period that we can ascribe the build ing of the "glass-house," on the other side of the isthmus, or neck of land, about half a mile from James town. Excellent clay for making bricks had been one ofthe first discoveries on the island, and it is probable that such chimney as they were able to build to this original glass-house was of this material, though the remainder was most probably of logs. The ruins of a brick chimney certainly stood in this locality for a number of years after, and beads and fragments of glass are still picked up near its site by the curious tourist. Immediately upon Newport's return to the fort, the hundred and twenty members of the expedition were drafted off, as promptly as possible, to their various duties; "some for glass," that is the manufacture of glass, under the direction of the skilled workers in that art already mentioned, "others for tar, pitch and soap-ashes." Tar and pitch pines were to be found 259 26o The True Story of Captain John Smith on the island or in its immediate vicinity; but the trees were scattered and less numerous than at present' in proportion to the extent of the wooded lands. Mr. Bruce in his Economic History (Vol. 1, p. 89), says: "The pine is principally a tree of secondary growth in this division of the State .... In a communi cation from the authorities in Virginia to the Company in London, written in 1622, the statement is made that pitch and tar could never become staple commodi ties of the colony, because the pines were so scattered that it would be unprofitable to bring them together." The ash, however, as we learn from the same author, " was very numerous in the vicinity of Jamestown, and was soon found to be unusually well adapted to the manufacture of soap-ashes." * It was doubtless well to know the resources of the colony; but Smith's objection to the present experi ments was that they were made at a wrong time, when all the strength of the settlers should have been directed to securing themselves against hunger and cold during the fast approaching winter. Their houses, so-called, within the fort, were merely the rudest of shelters; and we shall presently find evidence that some of them, certainly, and probably most of them, were destitute even of a chimney. But having determined to yield to necessity and obey the orders he had received, he obeyed thoroughly and heartily; and leaving some of the settlers engaged in the manner indicated and the rest to the direction of the Council at the fort, where no doubt was employment ? The Indian word Weyanoke, signifies ash-tree. The True Story of Captain John Smith 261 for double the number of workers remaining. Smith led a party of thirty down the river about five miles to the first American logging camp, where they were to learn to fell trees and make clapboard or wainscoting. The material used was probably chiefly cedar, of which the woods supplied a great abundance; so fine were the Virginia cedars that ' ' they could stand a com parison with those of Lebanon, the most famous in the world, without disadvantage." (Bruce, Vol. 1, p. 91-2.) In the party were the only two "gentle men" sent out in the last supply; as to whom our chronicler only fears we shall think them degraded by this occupation. He takes pains to assure us there fore, that after they were "inured" to it "it seemed, and some conceited it, only as a pleasure and recrea tion; yet thirty or forty of such voluntary gentlemen would do more in a day than a hundred of the rest that must be pressed to it by compulsion ; but twenty good workmen had been better than them all." The words show us pretty fairly both the material Smith had to work with and his methods of dealing with it; even his pressing by compulsion was chiefly the moral force of his own example, for "lodging, eating and drinking, working or playing" they did as the president did himself All these things were carried so pleasantly as within a week they became masters, making it their delight to hear the trees thunder as they fell; but the axes so often blistered their tender fingers that many times every third blow had a loud oath to drown the echo, for remedy of which sin the president devised how to have each 262 The True Story of Captain John Smith man's oaths numbered, and at night for every oath to have a can of water poured down his sleeve, with which every offender was so washed (himself and all) that a man should scarce hear an oath in a week. " For he who scorns and makes but jests of cursings and his oath. He doth contemn, not man, but God ; nor God, nor man, but both." Not even under the blandishments of the Indian maids does Smith more clearly show the Puritan. Meanwhile Scrivener, Wynne and Waldo, the act ing members of the Council, had been equally diligent in those matters left to their charge at the fort; but Smith,' returning from the woods, probably after he had gotten his men "inured" and pulling steadily in harness, and perceiving that Newport had in no wise attempted to keep his promise to attend to the provi sioning of the colony, embarked with eighteen men in the discovery barge and another boat, leaving orders with the Council to send after him Captain or Lieu tenant Percy with the next barge that arrived at the fbrt and set forth for the Chickahominy to trade for corn. ¦ The boats were dispersed at this time in aid of the various manufactures, but Smith's orders were faithfully fulfilled by the Council. Arriving at the Chickahominy, he found that nation averse to trade, and Smith perceived at once that Powhatan had become acquainted with their wants and had adopted the policy of starving out the unwel come white intruders. Assuming therefore an air of thorough indifference on the question of supplies, he told the savages that he had not come to visit them The True Story of Captain John Smith 263 for so small a matter, but to revenge his own im prisonment and the death of his two men, Robinson and Emory, whom they had murdered. Then he landed his party and prepared to charge. The Indians took to the woods, as was their custom, not, how ever, for the purpose of fighting thence, for soon after they sent messengers laden with corn, fish and fowl, or whatever sort of food they had, and also with in structions to make peace and excuses. They were not at all averse to trading with their dear friend Cap tain Smith — oh, no! biit the fact of the matter was that the harvest that year had been extremely poor, and they had scarcely corn for themselves. Never theless they were able to find somewhere or other a hundred bushels of the desired grain, and for Captain Percy as much as he could carry. So they parted good friends and Smith returned to Jamestown. But this was a bare mouthful for so many as there were now in the colony; therefore Master Scrivener was soon after sent with the barges and pinnace to Wero wocomico, where also he found the savages more ready to fight than trade ; but by his own vigilance, and the advocacy of Namontack, he succeeded in securing three or four, hogsheads of corn and as many of puccoon, the red dye root of which it was most desirable to send samples to England. In the meantime things had again been going badly at the fort for which our chronicler lays all the blame upon Newport and Ratcliffe. And it can hardly have been at any other instance that the absurd charge was made against the president of having violated his oath 264 The True Story of, Captain John Smith of office by leaving the fort during his term without the consent of the Council. There was precedent enough, doubtless, had he been gentle King Jamie and they his Parliament; but Smith's friends were in the immense majority by this time, and if the charges were not dismissed as frivolous and vexatious it was because his comrades ofthe logging camp and others were able to find stronger language which expressed their sentiments equally weU. "Their horns were so much too short to • effect it, as they themselves nar rowly escaped a greater mischief," says our chronicler. It seems as though the intrepid Newport had indeed by this time gone hopelessly to the bad, and was, with his crew, deliberately engaged in the lucrative business of fleecing the colonists. Our chronicler is so indignant upon the subject as to be a little obscure ; put in plain English, the fact seems to be something like this. Newport had certainly misrepresented to the London Council the situation of the colony as regarded pro visions, and in consequence as we have already noted, had brought out the second supply without the proper stores of food. At a later date it was urged by the Virginia Council that no settler should be received in the colony without an accompanying supply of grain to last him a year. (See Bruce, Vol. I, p. 27s.) This was immediately after the massacre of 1622, when the colony was at the lowest ebb that its fortunes had known since the Starving Time of 1609; a similar recommendation during Smith's administration would have been very much in place. It is most likely that Newport half believed his own The True Story of Captain John Smith 265 reports on this matter, since even his own ship was so poorly provisioned that he was obliged to procure supplies from the fort for his home voyage. How ever, it is also, possible that the sailors stole from the ship ; as the colonists did from the common store at the fort, so that within six or seven weeks they had made away with two or three hundred axes, chisels and hoes; purloining these, as well as pikeheads, gunpowder, or anything they could find, to trade with the Indians for furs, baskets, young animals, or other commodities, which in turn might be ex changed with the sailors for butter, cheese, beef, pork, brandy, beer and other such matters; all which they averred when questioned — and that hungry colonists did question does not admit a doubt — had been sent them by their friends in England. But Smith undertaking to remedy this abuse by the strong hand, gave orders to send the ship home and hold Captain Newport for a year in the colony, so that, if he had indeed misrepresented through ignor ance, he might acquire a larger experience. And had not Newport cried Peccavi, says our chronicler, this would certainly have been done. But it remains obscure whether his confession of sin related to the misrepresentation alone or whether he were the "Master," who, though Virginia afforded no furs for the common stock, yet had accumulated a supply in this indirect manner that he afterwards sold in Eng land for thirty pounds, about seven hundred and fifty dollars of our modern currency. Smith was resolved to bear all this no longer; and 266 The True Story of Captain John Smith loading the ship with the samples of colonial manu factures and products that he had had prepared after the orders of the London Council, he requested, in polite terms no doubt, the pleasure of Captain New port's absence, and beheld with joy the prow of the Susan Constant turned down stream. With her he sent a reply to the letter of rebuke that he had re ceived. Mr. Alexander Brown doubts his reception of a letter of reprimand, and especially chokes at the idea that Smith would venture to write such an episfle as the following to the high and well-born Council in England. He bases his objection chiefly upon the title ofthe document; but this formed no part as will be seen of the original epistle; and if "Treasurer and Council" were the proper super scription in 1612, when the History was first published, it would have been incredibly modern had the editor preserved the orginal address. The reader shall judge whether the letter is at all likely to be an ex post facto creation, the sort of thing which Smith would have liked to write had he dared; or whether it bears all the marks of contemporaneous issue from the events we have endeavored to describe, thoroughly genuine and like its author; fuming with a righteous indignation which could hardly have been worked up when its cause was sixteen years old. "The Copy of a Letter sent to the Treasurer and Council of Virginia from Captain Smith, then President in Virginia. "Right Honorable, &c "I have received your letter, wherein you write that The True Story of Captain John Smith 267 our minds are so set upon factions and idle conceits in dividing the country without your consents ; and that we feed you but with ifs and ands, hopes and some few proofs; as if we would keep the mystery of the business to ourselves : and that we must expressly fol low your instructions sent by Captain Newport: the charge of whose voyage is near two thousand pounds, the which if we cannot defray by the ship's return, we are like to remain as banished men. To these particu lars 1 humbly entreat your pardons if 1 offend you with my rude answer. "For our factions, unless you would have me run away and leave the country, 1 cannot prevent them : because I do make many stay that would else fly any- whither. For the idle letter sent " (Arber thinks this may have been by Newport's ship in April of this year) "to my Lord of Salisbury by the President (Ratcliffe) and his confederates, for dividing the country, &c . . . . what it was 1 know not, for you saw no hand of mine to it, nor ever dreamed 1 of any such matter. " 'That we feed you with hopes &c.' Though I be no scholar, 1 am past a schoolboy, and 1 desire to know what either you, or those here do know, but that (which) I have learned, to tell you, by the continual hazard of my life." (The Map of the Bay and Rivers, which was enclosed in this letter, was in itself a splen did refutation of the charge of making a mystery of Virginian affairs.) "I have not concealed from you anything that 1 know ; but 1 fear some cause you to believe much more than is true. 268 The True Story of Captain John Smith "'Expressly to follow your directions by Captain Newport.' "Though they be performed, I was directly against it; but according to our commission, 1 was content to be over-ruled l?y the major part of our Council, Ifear to the hazard of us all ; which now is generally confessed when it is too late. Only " (that is to say, the only commands performed successfully) "Captain Wynne and Captain Waldo I have sworn of the Council, and crowned Powhatan according to your orders. "'For the charge of this voyage of two or three thousand pounds,' we" (the colony) "have not re ceived the value of a hundred pounds. "And for the quartered boat to be borne by the sol diers over the falls: — Newport had 120 of the best men he could choose. If he had burned her to ashes, one might have carried her in a bag; but as she is, five hundred cannot (carry her) to a navigable place above the falls.* And for him at that time 'to find in the South Sea a mine of gold or any of them sent by Sir Wafter Raleigh : ' — at our consultation I told them was as likely as the rest. But during this great discovery of thirty miles, which might as well have been done " (might have been done as well) "by one man, for the value of a pound of copper, at a seasonable time — they had the pinnace and all the boats with them, save one that remained with me to serve the fort "In their absence I followed the new begun works ?Stanley carried the Lady Alice an immensely longer distance and through greater difliculties ; but he was far better equipped, and had no colony to maintain ; his one errand was exploration. The True Story of Captain John Smith 269 of pitch and tar, glass, soap-ashes and clap-board; whereof some small quantities we have sent you. But if you rightly consider what infinite toil it is in Russia and Swethland (Sweden), where the woods are proper for naught else, and (where) though there be the help both of man and beast, in those ancient common wealths, which many an hundred years have used it yet thousands of those poor people can scarce get neces saries to live, but from hand to mouth. And though your factors there can buy you as much in a week as will freight you a ship, or as much as you please, you must not expect from us any such matter, which are but a many of ignorant miserable souls, that are scarc.e able to get wherewith to live, and defend ourselves against the inconstant savages; finding but here and there a tree, and wanting (lacking) all things else the Russians have. "For the coronation of Powhatan, by whose advice you sent him such presents, I know not;" {i. e. am not officially informed); "but this give me leave to tell you, I fear they will be the confusion of us all ere we hear from you again. At your ship's arrival, the savages' corn was but newly gathered, and we going to buy it; our own not being half sufficient for so great a number. As for the two ships' loading of corn Newport promised to provide us from Powhatan, he brought us but fourteen bushels; and from the Monacans' (country), nothing; but the most of the men sick and near famished. From your ship we had not provision in victuals worth twenty pounds, and we are two hundred to live upon this; the one half 270 . The True Story of Captain John Smith sick, the other little better. For the sailors, I confess, they daily made good cheer; but our diet is a little meal and water and not sufficient of that. Though there be fish in the sea, fowls in the air, and beasts in the woods, their bounds are so large, they so wild, and we so weak and ignorant, we cannot much trouble them. Captain Newport we much suspect to be the author of these inventions. "Now that you should know (that) 1 have made you as great a discovery as he, (and) for less charge than he spendeth every meal — I have sent you this map of the bay and rivers, with an annexed relation of the countries and nations that inhabit them, as you may see at large. Also two barrels of stones, and such as 1 take to be good iron ore at the least; so divided, as by their notes you may see in what places I found them. "The soldiers say' (one rather regrets that Smith should "hit back again "in the following ^wo par agraphs, but he had certainly great provocation) "that many of your officers maintain their families out of that (which) you send us: and that Newport hath an hundred pounds a year for carrying news." (Does the captain mean tale-bearing?) "For every master you have yet sent can find the way as well as he; so that hundred pound might be spared, which is more than we have, all (together), that helps to pay him wages. "Captain Ratcliffe is now called Sicklemore, a poor counterfeited imposture. I have sent you him home, lest the company should cut his throat. What he is The True Story of Captain John Smith 271 now, every one can tell you; if he and Archer return again, they are sufficient to keep us always in fac tions. "When you send again, I entreat you rather send but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fisher men, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees, roots" (&c.), "well-provided, thana thousand of such as we have ; for except we be able both to lodge them and feed them, the most will consume with want of necessaries before they can be made good for anything. " Notwithstanding Captain Newport's boast to have left us victual for twelve months — though we had eighty-nine by this discovery " (beyond the falls) ' ' lame and sick, and but a pint of corn a day for a man, we were constrained to give him three hogsheads of that to victual him homeward ; thus, if you please to con sider this account, his wages were unnecessary, as also his ship's so long lingering and staying here, as well as the sending into Germany or Poland for glass- men and the rest, while we are not yet able to sustain ourselves, or to relieve them when they come." (This paragraph is slightly transposed and some of the pro positions, etc., modernized). "It were better," (/. e. cheaper) "to give five hundred pounds a ton for these gross commodities in Denmark than (to) send for them hither till more necessary things be provided. For in over-toiling our weak and unskilful bodies to satisfy this desire of present profit, we can scarce ever recover ourselves from one supply to another. "And 1 humbly entreat you hereafter, let us know what we should receive" {i. e., send a bill of lading to 272 The True Story of Captain John Smith the Cape Merchant), "and not stand to" (depend upon) "the sailors' courtesy to leave us what they please; else you may charge us with wl^t you will, but we not you with anything." (This hints at vi'holesale fraud on the part of either Newport or his purser.) "These are the causes that have kept us in Virginia from laying such a foundation that (as) ere this might have given much better content and satisfaction; but as yet you must not look for any profitable returns: so I humbly rest" • That the London Company should have looked for profitable returns so early is indeed inexplicable, when we consider that it was twenty years after the found ing ofthe Russia Company ere any profit was derived from the enterprise; and that the same persons were concerned in the management of the colony in Virginia. CHAPTER XX. How They Fared at Jamestown, Captain Smith Being President. (Continued.) It very soon became evident to the least observant among the settlers, that Smith had been perfectly right in predicting that ill was hkely to follow the im politic crowning of Powhatan. For what could that astute savage suppose, but that these costly gifts were meant to propitiate one of whom the English stood in dread ? and what was he likely to do, but overvalue himself in consequence ? The fort still being only half provisioned. Smith de cided to claim the four hundred bushels that had been exacted from the Indians of Nansemund; for, besides their actual need of it it would have been a grave error to allow this indemnity to remain unpaid. The president, therefore, set forth so promptly, as soon as the departure of the ship left him unhampered by Newport's contravening authority, that he seems to have encountered Scrivener, who had just parted with Newport at Point Comfort, and to have caused him and his barge to join the supply expedition. It proved well that the English had gone in such force; for the people of Nansemund were of the same mind as those of Werowocomico ; refusing to trade, denying 273 274 The True Story of Captain John Smith the pledged indemnity, alleging in excuse that most of their stores were already consumed, and that the orders of Powhatan were to reserve what was left for their own support and to keep the English out of their river. It was not, we must remember, a commercial mat ter, as had been the recent journey to Werowocomico; but one of indemnity for an unprovoked attack upon peaceful travelers, with whom their head war-chief, Powhatan, was then upon friendly terms; by all the laws of warfare, civilized and uncivilized. Smith was fully justified in considering that this answer renewed the suspended hostilities. Accordingly he sent a vol ley of musket-shot among them, whereupon they all fled to cover; and a judicious torch, apphed to an out lying wigwam, brought them to an immediate parley, and produced a supply of corn, which they solemnly averred to be half of their stock. Whether it were so or no. Smith contented himself with it and returned down the river, exacting first a promise from the Nansemunds to plant an extra field or so the next spring in order to pay the remainder of their ransom. It was now pretty cold weather, and to keep them selves warm at night, our adventurers, when they camped ashore, were accustomed to thaw out the frozen ground by a huge fire; then to sweep away the embers and lie on the warm spot between two mats of native manufacture; repeating the operation when the place on which they lay grew chilled. This seems to have agreed with all the party, for our chron- The True Story of Captain John Smith 275 icier remarks that those who went upon these expedi tions " were always in health, lusty and fat." On their return to the fort a very pleasant festivity broke the monotony of hardship. Mrs. Forrest's maid, Anne Burras, was married to John Leyden, an event already noted as the first English marriage in Virginia. It was hailed with delight as giving permanence to the settlement; and despite the ill augury that might have been supposed to follow the name, the first child of this fourteen-year-old bride was a year later christened Virginia. Her fate was happily very different from that other namesake, Virginia Dare; both parents and child survived the Starving Time, and were thriving and well-to-do in 1625. Whether any of their des- cendents are still hving is not known. Smith tarried sufficiently long at the fort to give the sanction of his official presence to the marriage ; then the paramount issue of the empty larder drove him forth again into the wilds. At Appomattox the natives themselves seemed to be really poor in food stuffs; they consented, however, to trade with the English for half of what they had, and Smith returned to the fort only partly consoled by the fact that this was another newly discovered river; the queen of Appomattox they had met at the court of King Pow hatan, but this was their first visit to her domains. After an ineffective effort of Scrivener and Percy to obtain supplies. Smith lost patience, and aware that Powhatan's exactions kept his tributaries at a low ebb in the matter of food, while the storehouses of Wero wocomico were full to bursting; knowing also that 276 The True Story of Captain John Smith that treacherous ally had resolved to starve out his white fathers, he proposed to Captain Waldo to sur prise the town and take what provisions they needed by force. But the project when it came before the Council was defeated by Wynne and Scrivener, the latter of whom seems to have joined Smith's oppo nents since the reception of certain letters from Eng land which could have been brought only by New port's ship. Our chronicler (Smith's Works, p. 460), says that these letters urged Scrivener "to make him self Caesar or nothing " ; it is quite probable that the comparatively humble birth of Smith was used to make his colleagues "think scorn" of his being in authority over them. But be this as it may, the oppo sition in Council to the proposed discipHning of Pow hatan had much show of reason in the very certain displeasure it would arouse in the peace party at home. At precisely this juncture there arrived an embassy from the red "emperor," desiring from his dear son. Captain Smith, workmen to build him a house to contain his bedstead, and also a grindstone, fifty swords, some muskets, a cock and a hen, with much copper and beads. In return for all this, if Captain Smith would come in person to visft him he would load his ship with corn. The trap was evident, and Smith perfectly aware of ft; but says our chronicle, "no persuasions could in duce him to starve," a contingency which was, never theless, so close upon all the colony, that he was even glad to provide for some of his people by quartering them on Powhatan. He sent therefore, by land with The True Story of Captain John Smith 277 the returning embassy, three Germans and two Eng lishmen, who were to build the desired palace for Powhatan, and likewise to find out as much as possi ble of his true temper and turn of mind toward the colony; Smith himself with forty-six men, all vol unteers, embarked in the pinnace and two barges, leaving directions with Captain Waldo to come to his aid with reinforcements, under certain contingent cir cumstances, and appointing Scrivener, whose disaffec tion he had not begun to suspect, his substitute in the presidency. The enterprise was recognized by all as a forlorn hope; and its hazardous character was not lessened by the fact, which also was universally accepted, that Smith would never return empty- handed. In consequence, many of those whom he had first appointed to go with him made excuses to remain at home; but no terrors could shake the fidelity of the gallant forty-six, which included Captain Percy, brother, as we know to the earl of Northum berland, and Francis West brother to Lord Delaware ; over whom was set "John Smith, this English genfle- man," the son of a simple. God-fearing English yeo man. At Warraskoyack the party, who were victualled but for two or three days, stopped to take in supplies, and here the werowance warned Smith openly against the wiles of Powhatan, cautioning him in especial not to allow the red emperor to lay hands on the weapons of the English. Smith thanked him, and to test his sincerity desired of him a guide to Chawwonock, from which quarter there seem to have come fresh 278 The True Story of Captain John Smith rumors in relation to the long-lost colonists of Roa noke. Warraskoyack complying, Michael Sickle more, a very valiant honest and painful soldier, was detailed for the quest, wfth directions if he could not find the Raleigh colonists at any rate to bring back some silk grass, which was much used by the mdians in weaving belts and other articles, and which it was supposed might give rise to a desirable line of colonial manufacture. It is thus quite apparent that Smith was by no means convinced that Powhatan would come off first best in case of hostilities. With a full supply of provisions, he set sail from Warraskoyack and the next day reached Kecoughtan ; here the extreme cold with a storm of wind and rain detained them for several days. It was now the 31st of December, which was still within the Christmas season. Smith and his party therefore "kept Christ mas among the savages, where we 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 in the dry, smoky houses of Kecoughtan." Departing thence as soon as the weather permitted, they reached Werowocomico on January 12th after plenty of hardship, but in good spirits and courage. The river was frozen about a half mile out from shore, but Smith led a party of waders through mud and ice and then, sending the barge for safety back to the pinnace, he with his few companions quartered them selves in some empty wigwams and coolly sent mes sengers to Powhatan for provisions. The True Story of Captain John Smith 279 In reply the wily chieftain sent plenty of bread, tur keys and venison; but when the question of trade came up the next day at the council fire it was dis covered that the astute old operatbr believed himself to have cornered the market so effectually that the price of corn had risen to one English sword per bushel basket. At the same time he asked when the English intended to return home; he had not sent for them, neither could he afford to feed them ; to trading at the price mentioned he was not averse, but bulk for bulk, he preferred corn to copper, since he could eat one and could not eat the other. Smith was quick to understand the situation; he pointed out to this forgetful gentleman the Indians who had brought the invitation which he so conveniently " disremembered " sending, and the partly built new house which Smith's own workmen had begun to put up; but when this had no effect except a renewed offer to trade for weapons, and for these only, he took a higher tone, and assured Powhatan that he had come to Werowocomico to seek food only because he had been particularly invited to do so ; that he had spared workmen from his own necessary building merely to oblige his ally; and that as for parting with anything in the shape of a weapon to procure provision, it would be very foolish indeed to do so when he could so readily use his guns and swords to get the corn, and have them also afterwards. This very plain hint was perfectly understood, and there ensued a trial of skill between the two diplomats, Powhatan seeking, with smooth words, to induce 28o The True Story of Captain John Smith Smith to dispense with weapons which were so very needless among such dear friends, and the latter assur ing his kind father Powhatan that such was not the English cu,stom ; as well might he expect them to go without their clothes as their muskets ; had the red men, on their visits to the fort, ever been requested to dispense with their bows and arrows ? Perhaps the cases were not entirely similar, but Pow hatan had no answer ready, though he was indeed more strongly entrenched in his position than the honest-hearted captain suspected. For the Germans whom he had sent to build for his treacherous host had found themselves so much more comfortable among the well-warmed houses of Werowocomico, with turkey, venison, and corn bread galore, than in the draughty, famine-stricken log cabins of the fort, that they looked upon the destruction of the colony, under these circumstances, as a foregone conclusion, and had resolved to make friends with the savages and save their own miserable lives by betraying their com rades. Hence Smith's affectation of not caring whether he made his trade or no, and of being in a position to obtain all the corn he wanted elsewhere, did not deceive his opponent in the least. Powhatan was in full possession, through the treachery of the Germans, of the exact situation at Jamestown. For a day or so the powwow continued, Powhatan affecting to wait until perhaps supplies might be brought in from the surrounding country, and Smith really try ing to gain time before coming to blows, so that the remainder of his party might come to his assistance, The True Story of Captain John Smith 281 for he had but eighteen with him ashore. It was also essential, if they were to obtain food, to have the pinnace at hand to receive it. He therefore set relays of savages at work to break up the ice in the river and tow her in, and sent orders for immediate reinforce ments; meanwhile, to keep Powhatan in play, he promised him that on the next day he would send away his guns and tritst to the red king's faith and friendship. Powhatan seems to have known, or suspected, that more Englishmen were about to land, and, leaving two or three women talking with Smith, he also sent for reinforcements, and himself and all his house took to the woods. Smith was alone in the wig wam, except for the company of Dr. Russell, but on finding it unexpectedly surrounded by savages, he made a sudden sortie, shooting and laying about him with such vigor that they gave ground immediately, and he regained his men without difficulty. Upon this there came a messenger from Powhatan with a gift of wampum, stating that his flight and the summoning of so many warriors had nothing to do with Captain Smith himself, but merely with his men, whom Powhatan feared Smith might not be able to prevent from injuring him and stealing his goods; now, therefore, that the river was open, would this excellent English captain kindly take his corn and go ? And the Indians would not only provide baskets, but would guard the guns while their dear friends loaded the boat! A hint from Smith's men, backed by the sight of their leveled guns and smoking matches, was sufficient to reverse the proposed order of things; and 282 The True Story of Captain John Smith it was the English who faithfully guarded the Indian bows and arrows, while the red men filed sullenly to the boat, each with a basket of corn on his back. It proved impossible, however, to get away that night, and so the Englishmen returned to their former quar ters, where the Indians supplied them with food, and made them all the merry sport they could devise. But when the sports were ended Pocahontas came stealthily through the darkness, and this time saved Captain Smith at very real and earnest peril to herself, for she warned him that Powhatan was plotting his death, supposing that, if he could kill him, the destruction of the rest at Jamestown would be an easy matter; that presently an ample sup per would be sent him, but those who would bring ft were charged to fall upon him if they could part him from his guns; if not Powhatan himself, wfth every warrior he could command, would presently surround the house and overwhelm the little band of English by sheer force of numbers. Smith, to show his gratitude, would have rewarded her with trinkets such as she had formerly shown a liking for; but, with the tears run ning down her face, she assured him that if she were in any way to betray that she had warned the English, her father would kill her with his own hand. "And so she ran away by herself, as she came." Within the hour came "eight or ten lusty fellows," with great platters of venison and very delicate stomachs, most unpleasantly affected by the smoking slow-matches of the English matchlocks. But Smith not only refused to extinguish these, in deference to The True Story of Captain John Smith 283 their qualms, but, to guard against poison, forced the messengers to partake of every dish; which done, he sent them back to their chief with the message that he might come as soon as he liked; Smith was ready for him. This message effectually prevented the threatened attack, but all through the night straggling parties of Indians would look in upon them at odd times "to see what news, and after them others." So they wore away the hours till highwater, when they em barked and parted, all apparently on the best of terms. So much so, indeed, that they left one of their num ber to shoot wild fowl for Powhatan, and the Germans to finish his house. They did not even yet suspect the treachery of the latter, and intended to pick up these members of the party on their return from Pamunkey, when, as they hoped, the frost would be gone and their own chances better in case they were forced into open hostilities. No sooner had the Powhatan seen Smith's back than he sent his German friends post haste to James town, where a lying message from the president pro cured them a new supply of weapons, change of apparel, tools and other matters, which were likely to be of considerable service to their new master. They hkewise, by representing the certain destruction which was about to fall upon the colony, obtained the assistance of six or seven of their countrymen as allies of the Indians within the fort, and themselves returned to Werowocomico with such ample supplies that the two Englishmen whom Smith had left there took the 284 The True Story of Captain John Smith alarm, and endeavored to escape and carry a warning both to him and to endangered Jamestown, a futile effort which only resulted in their being held close prisoners. Smith meanwhile had gone on to Pamunkey, where Opechancanough, the yet more astute brother of the sagacious Powhatan, entertained him for sev eral days with feasting and much mirth. But when it came to trading he proved to be of the same mind with his brother; for he held his corn so high that Smith told him to his face that he did it for mere deceit; whereupon he obtained a small supply on reasonable terms. But the old chief was postponing his attack until all his men should have come in; for on the next day. Smith with his faithful fifteen marched to the king's hut where they found several men with large baskets, and Opechancanough wreathed in smiles, pointing out the pains he had taken to satisfy his English friends. In the midst of the conversation, in rushed Dr. Russell, crying out that the house was surrounded by at least seven hun dred savages, and they were all betrayed. The king suspecting what news had arrived by this agitated messenger, allowed his disturbance to become visible on his countenance; whereupon, as some of the Eng- glish were dismayed at the idea of facing such odds. Smith made them an oration, asking their advice upon the best course to be pursued under the circumstances. He was not at all afraid, he said, of any number the savages could bring against him; what troubled him was the Council at home, who were simply wait- The True Story of Captain John Smith 285 ing an opportunity to call him to account for peace- breaking and breach of orders. He only wished they were there in his place, he should so much like to know what they themselves would do about it In the meantime, however, how were those present to manage to save themselves, punish this treacherous king, and secure a supply of provisions ? Any one of the three things would be easy enough by itself; but he wanted to do all of them together. If the worst came to the worst he was confident the very smoke from their muskets would clear away the whole band of Indians; but with their approval he would try negotiations before it came to that point. Then turning to the king, he defied him then and there to single combat; the lists to be an island in the river. Smith to lay aside his defensive armor ; and each Indian to bring with him a basket of corn, against which Smith would stake the value in copper; the conqueror in the duel to take everything in sight. Opechancanough smilingly put aside Smith's unkind suspicion of him, and as a proof of his fidelity, pointed to a "great present" at the door, which he was entreated to come out and receive. "The bait," says our chronicler, was guarded with at least two hundred . men, and thirty lying behind a huge felled tree, each with his arrow ready to let fly the moment Smith appeared. The president ordered a private soldier to go out and see what sort of a present they had made ready for him; on the man refusing — though such as he would have been perfectly safe when the Indians were 286 The True Story of Captain John Smith on a still hunt after big game — Smith grew decidedly warm. It would have been too great a risk to send one of his officers and certain death to go himself; there was only one thing possible. Smith obeyed the spirit ofthe unwritten frontier law, to " shoot straight, and shoot first'' With a sudden leap to where Opechancanough believed himself safe in the midst of about forty or more of his biggest warriors, he seized the old sinner by his scalp-lock and held a pistol to his heart. He had beforehand given each officer his station and his orders, and now " he led the trembhng king, near dead with fear, among his people " ; which potent argument easily procured him all the corn he needed. His troubles were, nevertheless, not at an end; for only a few hours after as he lay asleep, worn out with fatigue and watching, an attempt was made upon his life which was disconcerted by his sudden awaking. He had after all slept long enough; for there was heavy news awaiting him. Three or four days prev ious. Master Richard Wyffin had volunteered to bring tidings to the absent president of what had gone wrong at the fort, and after considerable wandering out of the way had reached Werowocomico, where he found Smfth gone, and such evident preparations for war that he suspected there was something amiss. He would have had even stronger reason to think so but for Pocahontas, who hid him, dispatched those who came to look for him on a wrong scent and when the coast was clear, sent him on his way to Pamunkey. Now, by his word it appeared that Scrivener, cor- The True Story of Captain John Smith 287 rupted by the letters received from England to which reference has been made, had persuaded Captain Waldo, in direct neglect of the president's orders, to go with him to visit Hog Island, as it was called, where the swine brought from the West Indies had already surprisingly multiplied. So he set out with Anthony Gosnold and eight others, most probably bent on a longer voyage than was given out. For our chronicler hints that Scrivener's intention was in some manner to cross Smith's plans; it is most probable that he persuaded first himself and then others, that Smith meant to carry out his first warlike proposition, in regard to Powhatan, and that it would be very wrong of them to allow the innocent, guileless old monarch to be taken by surprise. But if he were bound for Werowocomico on such a traitor's errand, the elements were again on the side of Smith, whose destruction, with that of the colony, would have been secured by his arrival there. He had set out in the teeth of a storm of wind and rain, and some days later the drowned bodies of himself and his com panions were found by the Indians, who were greatly encouraged thereby in the prosecution of their own evil designs. Smith on hearing this swore Wyffin to silence; his faithful fifteen had quite sufficient already to dispirit them. That night he embarked with all his men, leaving Opechancanough at liberty, lest his capture should scare away Powhatan, whom he meant to seize on his return, and in some manner make an example of Powhatan, on his side, was equally determined 288 The True Story of Captain John Smith to bag Captain Smfth; he had said to some of his braves, "His life or yours," by way of spurring them on to renewed efforts. These accordingly had ap pointed on the next day that all the country round should come and trade; hoping by this means to lure him on shore, yet fearing almost equally his keenness to detect their treachery, and the magic weapons wherewith he was able to punish them. When the president beheld the shore covered with such mul- tftudes of people, each with his basket of corn, all refusing to trade except with himself in person, and every one flying instanter from the sight of a gun, he was far too wise to walk open-eyed into a trap, yet, unwilling to lose the provision he so much needed, he planned a little ambuscade of his own. Then, going on shore with but three companions, he so cleverly led them on, as to draw the king himself under the muskets of the ambushed soldiers; whereupon, with out a shot fired. Smith was able to retire to the barge, carrying off his provision in triumph. He had them now so thoroughly frightened that the next day the king sent a "chain of pearl,'' with promises of all the corn he could carry if he would wait five or six days. It came in good earnest, some of it poisoned; happily no one was hurt seriously, though the president. Master West, and some others were made rather ill; but the inex pert poisoner rather unwisely boasting of the deed. Smith gave him a sound thrashing with a few kicks thrown in, but scorned to take a more serious ven geance. The True Story of Captain John Smith 289 There was really very little corn to be had, except at Werowocomico itself; for the winter had been severe, and Powhatan's exactions were heavy. In October, but for that unhappy discovery, which dis covered nothing, they could have freighted a ship of forty tons burden, and obtained twice as much more from other directions, says our chronicler bitterly. Reaching Werowocomico, they found that Pow hatan had fled with his Dutchmen and provisions, while those he had left behind were in such evil tem pers that Smith's party only thought how'to escape wfth their lives. Some days before they had sent a message to Cap tain Wynne, now in command at the fort; the barge had encountered, about half way between Powhatan's residence and Jamestown, another boat containing some of those whom the treacherous Germans had corrupted. These, to disarm suspicion, when thus intercepted on their treacherous errand, turned back to the fort, no doubt accounting for their presence in some convenient fashion. To the fort Smith himself now determined to repair. There was evidently nothing more to be gained by staying, and their revenge on Powhatan could await a more convenient season. In the voyage they had ex pended twenty-five pounds of copper and fifty of iron and beads, in exchange for which they had had all this while free rations for forty-six men for six weeks (/. e., from December 29th, 1608, to February 8th, 1609), each of the forty-six having for his reward another month's rations on the understanding that no 290 The True Story of Captain John Smith trade except with the common store would be per mitted. To this common store, under the direction of the Cape Merchant, they turned over 479 bushels of corn and nearly two hundredweight of deer suet. Moreover, not a single man was hurt or sick. Therefore the expedition can scarcely be said to have been a failure; but it is very apologetically that our chronicler closes his record, "these temporizing pro ceedings" being not at all to his taste. We, who read it at this distance of time, must wonder yet more than he at the contrast with the blood-stained Spanish records, at the doing and discovering so much, and bringing the Indians into such obedience, with such magnificent self-restraint and such entire absence of cruelty or unkindness. CHAPTER XXI. Of "the Justice of God on Those Dutchmen"; WITH Other Cheerful Matters. The "common kettle" at the fort during the presi dent's absence had been unusually ill-supplied, since all their grain, except that newly procured from the savages, was so rotten with the rains of the last sum mer and so injured by rats and worms that the very hogs, we are told, would have scorned it. On such a diet as this the garrison had naturally been able to do litfle but exist, but now, taking stock of all that they had, it appeared to be sufficient to last until the next harvest, whereupon their minds were free to think of other matters. The president's object was to get the greatest amount of work out of the greatest number, for it is quite evident that the fundamental mistake of the colony was its communistic organization. And it may be worth while for those interested in commu nistic experiments to note the obvious lesson that such an organization presupposes for its success, rather a high degree of moral and spiritual develop ment, and that if it were possible to destroy at a blow all rights of private property and all authority, and to trust to the sense of duty of each man to every other for the security and happiness of the community, the 291 292 The True Story of Captain John Smith result would be, at the state of development which at this present time we seem to have reached, not very unlike that which we find in the colony of Virginia. As an old soldier and a practical man of affairs Smith knew ver/ well that the one remedy which he was able to apply was stringent military discipline, and he applied it forthwith and wfth the strong hand. Occupations were apportioned and hours of work 'and of recreationjaid off — quite wisely, as it seems to one observer at a distance of nearly three centuries; idlers were warned that the ancient law, "He that will not work neither shall he eat," fitted their case to a dot; but for the encouragement of well-doers Smith ordered posted in a public place a bulletin each day "of every man's deserts. ... By this many became very in dustrious, yet more by punishment performed their business, for all were so tasked that there was no ex cuse could prevail to deceive him." But meanwhile the Dutchmen who had remained with Powhatan, and whose evil names are recorded as Adam, Francis, and Samuel, maintained intercourse with their confederates in the fort, through whom was kept up a vexatious petty thievery, which even Smith's vigilance was unable to detect. They were also occupied in teaching the warriors of Powhatan, who was then at Oropaks, about fifty miles away, the use ofthe English weapons; nor did their villainy stop even there, for, entering into a conspiracy to capture Smith, one of their number, disguised as a savage (and an astonishing figure he must have made!) was seen lurking near the glass-house, which served them The True Story of Captain John Smith 293 as a convenient rendezvous. Smith, hearing of this fellow, went with twenty men to the glass-house to apprehend him, but finding him fled, sent his men hot-foot after, to capture him if possible, himself re turning alone to the fort. The distance was about a mile, and what path there was lay through the thick woodland, in which our captain would have felt less easy than he did had he been aware that forty stout savages were hidden near by, in a convenient " ambus- cado," as a decoy duck from whom came presently the king of Paspahegh, politely requesting Smith to step aside with him for just a little minute, one knows not on what pretext; but finding the president too wary, Paspahegh, noting the absence of the dreaded "fire- stick," and that he was armed only with a sword, sud denly drew bow, upon which Smith grappled with him at once, in such a manner as to prevent the shot, though he himself was equally hindered from using his sword. A very pretty little wrestling match they had of it until the savage forced Smith into the water, where, after a further struggle. Smith got the better of him, and carried him a prisoner to Jamestown. Mean while the "twenty shot" had captured the Dutchman Francis, who, when examined by Captain Wynne, made such long excuses, all in one sentence, with the verbs as cleverly hidden as Paspahegh's ambuscado, that no one at the fort could make out his meaning. But from Paspahegh's testimony, the man's treachery appeared so clearly that he was held as a prisoner; Smith intending to obtain his fellow conspirators in exchange for Paspahegh. But the Germans, being far 294 The True Story of Captain John Smith too shrewd for this, stolidly refused to leave Oropaks; whence Powhatan's warriors professed with some truth to be unable to carry them on their backs through the woods; and while matters were at this deadlock, Paspahegh, through careless watching, made his escape, and so all fell to the ground. But this state of affairs was unbearable; Smith saw that the savages needed a lesson ; and after a vain at tempt to recapture Paspahegh, which resulted in the taking of two prisoners, (of whom more presently), he sent out a party of fifty under Captain Wynne and Lieutenant Percy to avenge his injuries on the tribe. Kemps and Tussore, the two prisoners, who would have betrayed "both king and kindred for a piece of copper," offered their assistance, but Smith scorning to take advantage by their treachery, and Wynne fail ing to obey the orders he had received, the only pun ishment inflicted was the burning ofthe king's house, wherewith the party returned to the fort. Smith now took the field in person, and attacked the Paspahegh village, killing six or seven, taking as many prisoners, and burning all their wigwams, cap turing all their boats and their fishing weirs, which latter he set at Jamestown for the benefit of the colony. The lesson was not over severe, as is readily seen by contrast with some expeditions of the New England settlers against the savages ; but it was effectual ; the Paspaheghs made peace and continued good friends until Smith left the colony. But it now appeared that the Chickahominy Indians needed medicine; all this while they had pretended The True Story of Captain John Smith 295 friendship, while maintaining a systematic thievery. Among other things a pistol had been stolen, and as the actual thief had vanished. Smith laid by the heels his two brothers as accomplices. One of these was sent after the pistol, which was to be returned within twelve hours on pain of hanging to the prisoner; during which time, as the weather was severe, the president ordered a pan of charcoal to be placed in the chimneyless hut which contained the captive. Alas! charcoal has properties of its own, which are accentuated by the absence of windows and chimneys! When the envoy returned, faithfully bringing the pistol, the unfortunate captive was found asphyxiated and badly burned into the bargain, having perhaps in haled too much of the fumes as he stooped over the charcoal for warmth. Smith, discovering that life was not extinct, managed with brandy and vinegar to revive him, and afterwards healed his burns, where upon there went a rumor among the Indians that this big medicine white man could even raise the dead. Another accident, which befell soon after, helped materially to strengthen his prestige. An Indian who had seen the settlers drying at the fire gunpowder that had become dampened, tried the process himself, with the result of an explosion fatal to himself and several others, to whom he had been exhibiting his extraordinary skill. After this occurrence a whole some terror of this English conjure-work came upon the savages; any werowance who detected this "bad medicine" in the hands of his people, both punished the offense himself, and sent the stolen goods back to 296 The True Story of Captain John Smith Jamestown; and the lesser men among them, if de tected by the soldiers in that peculation which they seemed unable to resist would beg to be beaten for it at once, rather than to be sent to their own chiefs for punishment. Thus Smith had done his work among the Indians; almost wholly without bloodshed he had made Virginia absolutely safe for the English; except, that, as we shall see, his work was speedily undone by those who followed him. But at present all went smoothly, with the fighting over and as was supposed plenty of provisions in store. In three months, counting from Smith's return from Werowocomico, there were made three or four " last," each, of tar, pitch and soap ashes; an excellent specimen of glass was produced by the perfidious Dutchmen; a much needed well of sweet water was dug within the fort, which till then could not have stood a long siege for lack of this necessary; some twenty houses were built; the church had a new roof; nets and weirs were provided for fishing; thirty or forty acres were cleared and ploughed; and the first American block-house was built on the isthmus connecting the little peninsula with the mainland. Here a garrison was maintained; and to stop the thievery of which he had become painfully aware. Smith ordered that all trading with the natives should take place at this point, and "that none should pass or repass, savage or Christian, without the president's order." The live stock of the colony was as flourish ing as the Christians; for from three sows, they had now more than sixty pigs, and nearly five hundred The True Story of Captain John Smith 297 chickens had "brought up themselves," and found their food in the woods. To get everything into order the pigs were sent to Hog Island ; after which. Smith, who was a good soldier and also believed in keeping his men employed, began to build another fort upon a high com manding hill, to which retreat might be made in case that at Jamestown became untenable. Before this, another block-house had been erected upon Hog Island to warn the garrison of any attack from the river quarter;* for it will be remembered that the colony had always the fear of the Spaniard before its eyes; knowing better the will of that nation than its ina bility to do them harm. Work on the third block-house was brought to a sudden close by a sad discovery. Rats seem to have made their first entrance into Virginia in the English ships; and during all these months they had so increased and multiplied that, as was now found, they had consumed nearly all the corn that had been brought in at such risk. The remainder was half- rotten ; for in that locality it would indeed have been a problem to keep it dry; so that the settlers were again at their wits' end and in immediate straits for food. Smith had not amid his other occupations neglected to provide for the future; on the contrary, the first corn planting had come to pass in English Virginia, under his auspices that very spring. Kemps and Tus sore, their Indian prisoners, whom he trusted only ?See Appendix A. 298 The True Story of Captain John Smith enough to allow them to work, somewhat, perhaps, after the fashion of a chain-gang, had been ordered to show the Indian methods of planting the maize; and that they did so faithfully is rather likely, since the same^rule, of four grains to a hill, is followed in Virginia unto this day. Now, when the colony itself lacked food, these prisoners were set at liberty and told to feed themselves ; but so well they liked their quar ters at Jamestown as to object to leaving it; and moved by them the neighboring Indians brought in, for sixteen days, at least a hundred a day of "squirrels, turkeys, deer and other wild beasts." But this provision was hardly, among so many, a mouthful apiece; while at this time of the year even Powhatan's supply of grain was too low to permit him to trade. Smith, therefore, divided up his mouths, sending some sixty or eighty down the river to live upon oysters; and another party of twenty, under Percy, to fish for themselves at Point Comfort. Percy had unfortunately, probably after leaving the fort, been hurt in an explosion of gunpowder; and his men utterly refused to do any fishing, though how they lived without it for the six weeks of their stay, our chronicle fails to record. West, with another party, was sent to the falls where he found no food but a few acorns ; Smith remained at the fort with the rest. There seems to have been all this while a nucleus among the colonists of honest, brave, trustworthy soldiers, in number about thirty-eight or forty, upon whom their gallant leader could implicitly rely. It is this body of ironclads to whom he refers in speaking The True Story of Captain John Smith 299 of the thirty-eight who with him kept the colony; some of their names are appended to the General His tory, others are lost to the gratitude of the nation which they thus founded. And it is probably to the same body of men that our chronicler now refers in saying that "until this present, by the hazard and en deavors of some thirty or forty, this whole colony had ever been fed." But for thirty or forty to go to Werowocomico after corn for the rest was one thing; for the same number to gather in the sorts of food to which they were now reduced was quite another, and Smith again applied the strong hand, prefacing it wfth one of those orations which seem to have pos sessed the essential quality of going right to the spot. Food of a sort there was in plenty ; sturgeon in the river, tockwogh roots in the marshes, wild fruits of all sorts in the woods, for it was now late spring, but some of these viands required considerable labor to prepare; in especial, the tockwogh, a kind of manioc, was poisonous unless treated very carefully. Smith reminded the recalcitrants that if they themselves pre ferred to starve rather than work they might in justice be compelled to labor for those who until then had fed them. There was no doubt, he said, that the "savage fruits" of which they complained as food would "disgest" all right if once it got into their stomachs; at all events he proposed to give it a fair trial. They could see for themselves that his was the only authority in the colony (Scrivener and Waldo ¦ having been drowned, as we have seen, and Wynne was dead, shortly before the beginning of the hard 300 The True Story of Captain John Smith times) ; therefore they could understand that he would carry out all that he threatened. He meant to set the example in gathering food for all in the colony, par ticularly the sick, and any man in health who gathered not in one day as much as himself should on the next be deported across the river, and not allowed to return to the fort unfil he should "amend his condi tion or starve." In the latter case the humane presi dent would probably have brought back the remains to give them Christian burial. This brisk way of talking, though some murmured against it as cruel, caused the colonists so to besfir themselves, says our chronicler, that out of two hun dred in the fort only about seven died, and these not from starvation, but possibly because the makeshift diet did not agree with their already delicate con dition.* Some of his men Smith billeted among the savages, who were now in such wholesome dread of the Eng lish that from this there rose a pleasant jest For those thus quartered fared so well in the matter of food that some of the disaffected, hoping thus to estab lish a claim on native Virginian hospitality for themselves, ran away from the fort and hunted up the former prisoners, Kemps and Tussore, to whom they offered an opportunity to revenge their captivity on the president. But those two unreliable Indians instead of jumping at this proposftion made sport of the runaways, improvising ?It has already been pointed out that one of the seven was prob ably the Rev. Robert Hunt. The True Story of Captain John Smith 301 an amateur chain-gang to show their friends how they themselves had been treated at Jamestown, and enforcing, with abundant beatings. Smith's law that those who would not work should not eat. And when by this rule the runaways were on the borders of starvation, those two honest heathen led them back to Jamestown. No wonder that our chron icler says there was more hope to make good Chris tians and good subjects of these than of half of those who counterfeited themselves both. Smith's anxiety to recover some trace of the lost colonists of Roanoke was only what was felt by all good Christian Englishmen at that time; but there is no doubt that his success in that matter would have materially affected his standing with the London Council. But it was not to be. Sicklemore, whom as the reader remembers, he had sent to North Caro lina, seems to have returned at about the period at which we have now arrived; and Nathaniel Powell and Anas Todkill, two of the faithful thirty-eight who visited the Mangoags on a similar quect, were equally unsuccessful. It had become a point of honor to regain the Dutch men who had turned traitor; and no one was louder in denouncing them or readier in offering his services to punish them than a countryman of theirs, at least in insular British estimation, for in reality he was a Swiss, whose name was William Waldo. But this person being permitted to go and come freely between Jamestown and Oropaks, and conveying to the traitors all that they desired to aid in their project of destroying 302 The True Story of Captain John Smith the colony, a plot was soon hatched among them to bring into the field the tribe of the Powhatans; and many of those in the fort, who were tired of Smfth's stern rule, joined the conspiracy. Happily, it was betrayed in good season by two called Mallard and Dowse ; but Smfth's desire to allow the thing to take its course and then take all the conspirators red- handed was frustrated. For a whisper of the matter having got abroad, Smfth's thirty-eight were neither to hold nor to bind, but every man of them was ready to go at once to Oropaks, and cut their Dutch throats under Powhatan's very eyes. Under this pressure. Smith gave permission to Richard Wyffin, and Ser geant Jeffrey Abbot since these Germans refused to appear before him and plead their cause like men, to go and execute justice on them as outlaws wherever found. It was an extreme measure, but scarcely an unusual one under the circamstances. But the Ger mans being found so protested their own innocence and accused Waldo, whom they supposed to have be trayed them, that Abbot refused to execute them, though Wyffin "perceived that it was but deceit." So again the Dutchmen were lucky enough to escape. While this business was in hand, there arrived a ship from England, under the command of one whose name was to be, from thenceforth, connected for good or ill, with the Jamestown colony. This name was that of Captain Argall, who came now with a stock of such things as it was supposed the colonists would require, to trade for whatever they might happen to The True Story of Captain John Smith 303 have on hand, preferably gold or jewels. It was a strictly private enterprise, fitted out by a certain Master Cornelius; and it brought news of an important altera tion in the plans and the very constitution of the London Company, into the details of which we shall go more fully in a subsequent chapter. There were also tidings of great preparations on foot for a relief expedition under Lord Delaware, or de la War, and last but not least, there were letters for Smith, severely condemn ing him for cruelty to the Indians, as well as for indolence, or a worse fault, in neglecting to freight the ships with those treasures with which Virginia was popularly believed to overflow. It is a little curious, certainly, to note Smith's reply, both by action and word. As calmly as though he had had the whole English nation at his back, with King James at its head, he requisitioned all that the ship contained for the use of the starving colony ; then he re-victualled her, to the best of his ability, for the return voyage, and sent Argall back (though not until after the arrival of the third supply), with letters ex planatory of the presence of starvation and the absence of gold and silver. But explanations instead of treas ure! The loss of a whole cargo, when he had ex pected a gain of many hundred per cent ! Master Cor nelius is most unlikely to have listened to anything like reason. As for the Dutchmen, Smith and his confidants still affected a full confidence in Waldo; hoping perhaps that at some future time he might do something unwary which would excuse a righteous vengeance. 304 The True Story of Captain John Smith Adam had been pardoned and allowed to return; but the other German, Samuel, remained with Pow hatan, it may be as an anchor to windward for the conspirators, who had begun to cherish a sort of belief in the possible survival of the colony but were very far from certain about it. Meanwhile, the London Company had as we have indicated been reorganized ; and the very commission under which Smith held his authority had been called in without the formality of a notice to him in his trans atlantic exile. The officers appointed under the new commission were fortunate enough to inspire the pub lic with confidence which freely untied its purse strings;* and the new expedition was started on a magnificent footing. There were nine ships fitted out, containing in all about five hundred people; the chief in command were Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers and our old friend Captain Newport newly appointed vice-admiral of Virginia. But the original cause of strife on the first voyage does not seem to have been absent from this one, though there was no Bluebeard's box aboard to excite their mutual jeal ousy; for these three captains, says our chronicler, unwilling that any one of them should have such pre eminence as might be conferred by a voyage on the flag-ship, while fjis colleages were transported on a vessel of less honor, went all together with all their three commissions on the Sea Venture. Out of ? See " English Politics " by Alex. Brown. There is no doubt that the " patriot " or Puritan party were coming to the front in Virginian affairs. The True Story of Captain John Smith 305 which the hand of Providence brought some good to the colony of Virginia. They set sail from England in May, and almost im mediately began the course of " bad luck" which was to follow this "third supply " to the end. For one of their small vessels perished at sea in a hurricane ; and by the same storm the remaining seven ships were separated from the well-commissioned flag-ship, which carried also their bills of lading, their orders — exceedingly minute ones, hints our chronicler — and the greater part of the stores for the colony. This fortunate seven, despite the absence of New port made the remainder of the voyage successfully, and arrived safely at Jamestown Island. In command of three of the vessels were Smith's old enemies Rat cliffe, Martin and Archer; Martin, however, was merely a tool ofthe other two, and seems to have usually agreed with his latest interlocutor; but they who had formerly so stirred up strife at the fort, when they now believed that the flag-ship, the three officials and the authority with which they had been returning in triumph to supersede Smith had all perished together, resolved to oust him at least by public opinion, and with this purpose so enflamed the minds of the third supply against him that "they mortally hated him ere ever they saw him." When the fleet was first perceived from the lookout on Hog Island it was reported to the fort as the arrival of the long-expected Spanish attack. Perhaps Smith had rather have seen the Spaniards after all than the crew of disorderly gold-finders and treasure seek- 3o6 The True Story of Captain John Smith ers who were presently landed with but one thought in the heads of the majorfty of them, to upset his restraining authority. His first impulse, we are told, was to resign his presidency and set sail for England in company with Argall, for the initial proceeding of the third supply was to endeavor to seize the fort and assassinate him; but he was too vigilant and the thirty-eight were too faithful to permit such an attempt to succeed. It was clearly his duty to retain the management of affairs until his presidential term should have expired, or until he should be officially informed that his authority had been superseded by that under which held the new officials; but there was every reason to suppose that commissions and commissioned slept together under the Atlantic waters. What would have happened had Archer and Ratcliffe been able to usurp the command, is not even a matter for dispute, since it came to pass during the following winter and is known to all history as the "Starving Time." But it was at the constant peril of his life that he thus preserved the colony for a little while ; for "it would be too tedious, too strange and altogether incredible, should I particularly relate the infinite dangers, plots and practices, he daily escaped among this factious crew ; the chief of which he quickly laid by the heels till his leisure better served to do them justice." One does not doubt that he acted with promptness and with sufficient severity ; nor that the severity was badly needed. To divide the forces of his enemies, he seated The True Story of Captain John Smith 307 Captain Martin with about a hundred of the new sup ply at Nansemund, and sent West with a hundred and twenty, who are said to have been the pick of the new supply (alas for the rest !) to found another settlement at the falls ; George Percy, being seriously out of health, had determined to return to England with Argall ; and about the same time,i Smith's year as president expired. Captain Martin was then the only member besides himself, in Virginia, who had held authority under the old commission ; upon him, there fore, though since his return as before his leaving he had openly opposed him. Smith very characteristically devolved the presidency. Martin was not, however, when left to himself, anything worse than limited in intellect, and apt to be led astray by golden dreams ; indeed, he was capable even of a sort of patriotism, as we have seen ; but he was, and felt himself, perfectly unequal to the existing situation, and within three hours after the rather comical election (for the Council consisting of himself and Smith, they naturally elected one another), he resigned the presidency once more into the hands of his colleague. This matter being settled. Smith proceeded to inspect the new settlement at the falls, on the way to which he encountered Master West the leader, returning to Jamestown. Smith wondered the less that his deputy had been so eager to take away his hand from this new colonial plough, when he found that the site of the settlement had been chosen so inconsiderately as to be subject to a flood at "every rise of the river, and hence was unhealthful to the very last degree. 3o8 The True Story of Captain John Smith Upon this, the president arranged with Powhatan for the purchase of the Indian town situated near where Richmond now stands ; " no place we knew so strong, so pleasant and delightful in Virginia, for which we called it Non-such." But West's company, chiefly it appears for the sake of defying Smith, stubbornly re fused to change their quarters ; and moreover, so maftreated the Indians in the vicinity, that these actually offered their services to Smith, to bring into order his rebellious warrjors. The president had with him only five men, and the mutineers were a hundred and twenty ; so when they thus openly revolted he had no choice but to retreat, surprising one of their boats, in which was a large part of the provisions they had brought with fhem. The crew of this boat, or pinnace, were fortunately willing to accept his authority ; but no sooner was the bark under sail, than the savages undertook to settle their own account with West's men, killing many and so thoroughly frightening the rest, that. Smith's boat having run aground on a sand bar, and so giving him an opportunity to hear of the matter, the mutineers humbly submitted to be seated at Powhatan or wherever else he might desire. Having appointed new officers in place of those who had proved themselves unfit or unworthy, Smith returned to Jamestown, the more anxiously as Captain Martin had by this time got into trouble with the Nansemund Indians, and had sent to Smith for reinforcements. But when these were received, says our chronicler, he did nothing, so that the "thirty shot " including probably, some of The True Story of Captain John Smith 309 those trained under Smith, returned to Jamestown, complaining of his "tenderness"; he himself came with .them, leaving his party to their fate. West seems to have returned to "West's Fort" as Smith was departing thence; and upon the state ment of the mutinous officers that whatever they had done had been to uphold his lawful authority against Smith the usurper and tyrant, he reinstated them, deposing those whom Smith had chosen, and pulling up the colony again by the roots, led them back to the falls. The president with his five, and with all provisions, munition of war, and so on, again, by his delay, in the hands of those ashore, had no choice but to return to Jamestown, this time for good and all. One cannot regret over much the accident which followed. The Sea Venture, as we know was by no means at the bottom of the ocean, but at the Bermudas, called for awhile, in honor of that re discovery, the Somers Isles, after one of the leaders of the expedition. And Providence had better things in store for John Smith, than to see his authority superseded, his foes triumphant, and himself sent home to England in disgrace, perhaps as a prison er, upon the arrival of the new commission. Smith was sleeping in the small open boat — the pinnace having been hastened away to the fort two days before, probably upon Martin's request for reinforcements — when a bag of gunpowder accidentally exploded, tearing the flesh from his body and thigh, and causing him such agony, that 310 The True Story of Captain John Smith he leaped overboard into the water to quench the smart, and came near drowning before he could be rescued. The wound was discovered ' upon ex amination to be about nine square inches in ex tent; yet in this condition in an open boat, and with neither physician nor remedies, he made the Journey of nearly a hundred miles to Jamestown. And, even then, he held to his purpose; he had set his face like a flint that the Virginia colony should survive, and would not cry craven because of his personal sufferings. From his sick bed he directed the military preparations which the atti tude of the Indians now had made necessary; took order for provisioning the fort, and for the bring ing to trial of Ratcliffe and Archer. But these gen tlemen, wishing to be beforehand with him, plot ted, says our chronicler, to murder him in his bed; "but his heart did fail him that should have given fire to that merciless pistol." This final dastardly attempt so inflamed the pas sions of the faithful thirty-eight, that they beset Smith with petitions to be allowed to punish the conspirators without the formality of a trial; but the president knew too well what would follow if these, the supporters hitherto of law and order, should thus inaugurate lynch law. The situation had become impossible; even his hfe was despaired of, from the extent of surface covered by the in jury, and the absence of surgeons and surgery; and his faithful soldiers, though willing enough, were not able to fill his place, to subdue conten- The True Story of Captain John Smith 311 tions abroad, and take order with the treacherous and disaffected at home. He sent for the masters of the ships, and arranged with them as to which ship should transport him to England. It was not his intention to resign his office, but to appoint deputies during his absence, for his new term was only about a month old. But so soon as he was discovered to be upon the point of leaving, the muti neers prevailed upon Percy, who had not yet sailed, to accept the presidency. Smith assuring them with bitter words that they might steal his authority, but that he would not by consenting thereto, become re sponsible for the confusions that must follow his departure. Thus he set sail, leaving the colony with about four hundred and ninety odd persons, three ships, seven boats, commodities ready to trade, the harvest newly gathered, ten weeks' provision in the store, twenty- four pieces of ordnance, three hundred muskets and other arms, with ammunition sufficient, and pikes, swords and defensive armor, more than enough for the men that were to wear them, a hundred trained soldiers, well acquainted with the country and the savages, nets and tools, six mares and a horse, swine, chickens, sheep and goats, and a government which, instead of husbanding and increasing this store, "lived from hand to mouth," and detained the ships some three weeks longer till they could draw up a set of formal complaints against Captain Smith. "The justice of God against" the Jamestown col ony will presently appear; with a description of its 312 The True Story of Captain John Smith manifestation against the German traitors, this section of the General History comes to an end. William Waldo, having managed to reach England, told such a plausible tale to the merchants there of the rich gold mines he had discovered, that he was per mitted to return with Lord Delaware; but the mines not materiahzing, he was proved a "mere impostor, and died most miserably." Adam and Francis fled again to Powhatan, with whom they sought to curry favor by promising him all sorts of wonders upon the arrival of Lord Delaware, but the wary old man re plied shrewdly: "You who would have betrayed Captain Smith to me will certainly betray me to this great lord for your peace ; so caused his men to beat out their brains." In the multiplicity of details needing to be recorded we have omitted to mention the arrival with the third supply of a lad who was afterwards of some impor tance to the colony. This was Henry Spelman, second son of the noted antiquary of the same name, who, being rather a wild youth, had quarreled with his family, and resolved to try his fortune in the colony. Smith took him on his visit of inspection to West's fort, and when Non-Such was bought from Powhatan, Spelman was given as a hostage for the English good faith, in the manner we have so often witnessed. In his relation of the occurrence, Spelman looks upon this as a selling of him into slavery ; and we are sorry to observe the same- view taken by Mr. Alexander Brown, who has every reason to know better; the true nature ofthe transaction is too evi- The True Story of Captain John Smith 313 dent to require demonstration. Spelman remained with the savages for about thirteen years, and has left invaluable records of their manners and customs; he became also a skilled interpreter, and served the colony in that way until after the massacre of 1622, when, in an expedition to the Potomac, he was killed by the Indians, though his companions escaped. It is probably to the period of Smith's return to England that we may ascribe the verses written by his old fellow-soldier Thomas Carlton, which it may be worth while, for the picture of our hero which they present here to transcribe : " Malignant times ! what can be said or done. But shall be censured and traduced by some ! This worthy work, which thou hast bought so dear, Ne thou, nor it, detractors need to fear. Thy words by deeds thou hast so long approved. Of thousands know thee not thou art beloved ; And this grpat plot will make thee ten times more Known and belov'd than ere thou wert before. I never knew a warrior yet, but thee. From wine, tobacco, debts, dice, oaths, so free. I call thee warrior ; and I make the bolder, For many a captain now was never soldier. Some such may swell at this, but (to their praise) When they have done like thee, my muse shall raise Their due deserts to worthies yet to come. To live like thine (admir'd) till day of doom." To which must be added the half despairing words of Potts and Phettiplace, in the chronicle from which we draw our material for the history of this period. "What shall I say ? but thus we lost him, that, in 314 The True Story of Captain John Smith 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 by any means get us ; that would rather want than borrow, or starve than not pay ; that loved actions more than words and hated falsehood and cozenage worse than death ; whose adventures were our lives, and whose loss our deaths." PART III. His Recompense. CHAPTER XXII. How Matters Went on Both in Virginia and in England, After Smith's Return to London. Even by his timely return to England, Smith was to save Virginia. The London Company, as we know, had been re modelled. For it had become evident to all that matters were progressing most unfavorably for the attainment of all the objects aimed at by the foundation of this, England's first colony. That it was the first, accounts for and excuses the mistakes that were made ; mistakes, moreover, whiqh, in all England's vast col onizing work since then, have never been repeated. The only fault we can find with the reforms under which Gates, Somers and Newport received their commission, is that they did not go far enough. At the end of two years the books of the London Company showed long columns of outgoes, which were balanced merely by a few poor ship-loads of pitch, tar, clap-board and soap ashes ; naturally more money was required, and an effort was made to get in more shareholders and secure at the same time a large supply of colonists. For the latter purpose, each emigrant was declared to be entitled to one share, the value of which in our modern currency was about $300, Against this provision of the charter, Smfth 317 3i8 The True Story of Captain John Smith would certainly have advised had he been consulted; for the setflers whom it attracted were by no means of the sort desirable, but were, as he calls them, "un ruly gallants, packed thfther by their friends to escape ill destinies." The communistic system, also, with this material, was still adhered to ; the proceeds ofthe enterprise, by which the new settlers, as we have seen, understood gold, were to be spent so far as needful upon the colony ; "and the surplus was either to be divided or funded for seven years. During that period the settlers were to be maintained at the expense of the company, while all the product of their labors was to be cast into the common stock. At the end of that time every shareholder was to receive a grant of land in proportion to his stock held." (Fiske's "Old Virginia," etc., quoted from Doyle's " Virginia.") We have seen the beginning of the resuft of thus requiring from "unruly gallants" a self-control and patient altruism to which many a ripe Christian would have found himself unequal. The new company, for new it practically was, was incorporated under the legal title of "The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony of Virginia." We ob serve that the second colony is not mentioned, so that by this charter the Plymouth Company, though potentially existent under its original charter, was cut loose from the London Company and left free to work out its own scheme of colonization. This is not the smallest result ofthe proceedings; we shall seethe influence exerted during the eleven years which inter- The True Story of Captain John Smith 319 vened before the sailing of the Mayflower, by Smith's writings, on the programme ofthe Pilgrim Fathers, and the subsequent settlement under Winthrop. It is the more remarkable that a communistic consti tution should have been persisted in, because many of the new settlers took with them their wives and fami lies, a proceeding which must have supplied to the problem the last factor necessary to its inextricable confusion. The government was still vested in a Supreme Council sitting in London, the members of which were at the beginning appointed by the king; but with power to fill any vacancy occurring thereafter by vote of the whole body of shareholders — six hun dred and fifty-nine persons and fifty-six trade-guilds of the City of London. This Council was to exercise full right of sovereignty over Virginia, to levy and collect custom-house duties, and even to wage war for defensive purposes. (Fiske's "Old Virginia," Vol. I, p. 145.) This latter power had been, as we have seen, exercised by Smith under the first law of nature. The local Council, which had proved so ludicrously ineffi cient, was abolished by the new charter; the direct rule with autocratic power was placed in the hands of a governor, appointed for life and responsible only to the Supreme Council, who thus occupied precisely the position towards those at home and in Virginia which had been forced by circumstances upon John Smith. The changes in the charter were thus a justi fication of Smith's practical wisdom and administra tive ability; whether they were so regarded by the new governor, Thomas West, Baron Delaware, 320 The True Story of Captain John Smith and by the home authorities generally, is open to question. Delaware was, however, a veteran of the Nether land wars and a man of open mind and magnanimous spirit; he was, moreover, sincerely and patriotically anxious to preserve the colony; his enthusiasm in the cause persisted to the end of his life; and it is not wfthout reason that his name is so closely associated with the great republic, to the tottering foundations of which his hand gave strength and security when that of John Smith had been unwillingly withdrawn. Smith undoubtedly understood that in returning to England he was facing a body of persons to whom in reason and justice he must give an account of his stewardship, and of those matters which had gone so very far out of their desired course ; it is extremely probable, therefore, that he was careful to obtain the testimony of others, eye-witnesses, to substantiate his own, and that in this manner he took home with him much of the material which was afterwards published as his vindication and that of the faithful thirty-eight His account of the wreck, as was supposed, of the Sea Venture, and the consequent loss of the officers and documents of the new regime was the first news of the matter that had reached England; his appre hensions, also, of the anarchy that was likely to fol low his departure, and of its most probable conse quences, so alarmed both Governor and Council that Lord Delaware resolved to go in person to the rescue of his new vice-royalty.* Accordingly three ships ? We say " his accounts," and " his apprehensions," because he was of a certainty the person first and most minutely questioned. The True Story of Captain John Smith 321 well-stocked with food and all other supplies were hurriedly but carefully fitted out. The relief expedi tion set sail about the first of April, reaching James town only just in the nick of time. For hardly had Smith's ships weighed anchor, when George Percy discovered the impossibility of maintain ing his authority against the rude and lawless spirits whom the former president had only just succeeded in holding in check. The settlers at Jamestown re mind one, at this juncture, of a wild animal, crouching terrorized before the eye of his accustomed keeper, but springing at the throat of him who tries to supply that keeper's place. Smith's last effort had been to seat a colony at Point Comfort, where, summer or winter, no fisherman needed to starve; since the bitter weather rarely lasted more than a few days, and when the river was open enough fish might be caught, and oysters provided in a day to supply them for weeks. But Martin and West by this time, having lost their boats and nearly half their men among the savages, had returned with the remnants left them to swell the number of hungry mouths at Jamestown; and the Point Comfort colony seem also to have returned thither almost immediately, neglecting the course by which Smith had brought the settlement safely through the last time of necessity, of scattering the number of eaters through the widest possible territory. Concen tration meant famine; though those left at the fort by Smith could possibly have managed to exist on the food in the storehouse, it supplied to the increased numbers rations that were scant from the first. 322 The True Story of Captain John Smith The new method of treating the Indians had by this time come to fruition, and the savages had everywhere rebelled as soon as Smith's departure became known to them. To add to the disorder at the fort, Percy became too ill to go abroad, and Ratcliffe, Martin, West and some dozen or so others, each maintained a following, and ruffled it some what after the style of a mediaeval robber baron. The one point in which they deigned to imitate Smith was in an attempt to procure food from Powhatan, who was again all smiles and smooth promises, until he had gotten Ratcliffe, with a small boat and thirty or forty well-armed men into his power. Then he threw off the mask, and the party were slain almost to a man; one Jeffrey Shortridge managed to escape, and Henry Spelman, of whom we heard in the last chapter, was hidden by the faithful Pocahontas, who of all her race, remained the friend of the English. Powhatan now put in force the policy which he would have been glad to practise against Smith, but which the latter's tact and vigilance had man aged to defeat; he cut off their boats, forbade his tributaries to trade with them for food, and hemmed them in, to perish of starvation within the fort. At this crisis one of the pinnaces was stolen and run out to sea, where her crew designed to turn pirates; and West, in one of the ships that Smith had left them, set sail to carry tidings of their straits to the Council in London. After his departure their condition worsened every day. The True Story of Captain John Smith 323 The savages ate their hogs, and lay in wait about the fort, making constant attacks upon every un guarded point. In a short time everything eat able within the walls had been consumed, even to the skins of their horses; the palisades had been torn down and burned, to abate the rigors of the winter, against which their slight cabins were a most inadequate protection. There are tales yet more grewsome; stories such as attend every nar rative of famine-cursed humanity; of the body of an Indian boiled for food, and yet worse, of a man who, in the madness of hunger, having quarreled with his wife and struck a little too hard, prepared her body as he had often, perhaps, prepared those of swine and oxen, and had eaten a large part of it before his crime was discovered. Even for these unruly spirits such a deed was a little too strong, and the cannibal was burned at the stake. When, in the spring. Gates, Somers, and New port who had passed the winter comfortably enough in the Bermudas, reached Virginia in the repaired Sea Veuture, they found of the five hun dred (nearly) whom Smfth had left there with the stores enumerated at the close of our last chapter, only about sixty gaunt, hollow-eyed, disease-smit ten wretches. With the long-lost ship were about one hundred and fifty persons who are not likely to have felt encouraged to the prosecution of their proposed enterprise by the spectacle before them, added to what they had already undergone; that miraculous preservation in a leaky ship which, as 324 The True Story of Captain John Smith says our chronicler, may be read at large in the history of the Somers Isles, but of which our space forbids us at this time to speak at greater length. The officials themselves were disheartened and con fused by the clamors of the survivors, of whom each one laid the blame of their disasters on some one else, whether living or dead. And thus it was decided, though with sore striv ings of heart and agony of mind, to abandon the colony, whose foundations had already been laid and should have been securely cemented at such cost of blood and suffering. On the seventh of June the fort was dismantled, and everything that could be carried away was loaded upon the ships to the roll of the muffled drums; and the remnant of the settlers embarked, and weighed anchor, resolved to direct their course first to Newfoundland, where by fishing they might live through the summer, and by carrying home good cargoes of fish, might assuage the wrath and lessen the losses of the directors and stockholders of this unfortunate enter prise. But Providence would not have it so. The fleet of despair made halt that night at Mulberry Island, and the next day proceeded towards Point Comfort which was once again to prove its right to that name. For as they approached Hampton Roads a cry from the lookout announced that a boat was in sight Thank God, an English long-boat. When it boarded them it was to announce that the governor himself with his three well-stocked ships, and this time a body of The True Story of Captain John Smith 325 picked men, mostly mechanics, for settlers, was oft the capes waiting till wind and tide should favor their entrance to the bay. It was as though the axe of the headsman had been turned aside on the very scaffold; amid joy and con gratulations every prow was turned up-stream and the little fleet made all sail for the abandoned fort where every effort was recklessly expended upon getting all things into condition to welcome the deliverer. The sixty survivors included many if not all of Smith's thirty-eight; for it was of course the worthless element of the community that had suffered the heaviest mortality. The rest had had their lesson, and the newcomers had as we have seen been chosen, if not under Smith's personal advice, at least in accord ance with the recommendation contained in his "rude answer." With Lord Delaware's coming, chaos was at an end; few of the vicissitudes that were afterwards to befall the colony arose from anything worse than natural and excusable mistakes. This was on Friday, June 8, 1610; the governor's arrival was delayed until the Sunday. On that day the colonists with thrilling hearts were drawn up under arms to receive their new commanders; Gates, Somers and Newport, stood at their head, while Dela ware approached the peninsula in the long boat that had brought their first message of hope and gladness. As it touched the shore the governor sprang on land, and immediately falling upon his knees, gave thanks to God that he had arrived in time to save Virginia. )26 The True Story of Captain John Smith Nor was it only Virginia that was saved. Had this slight English foothold on the American continent, with such difficulty gained, been lost again, had Lord Delaware's ships been delayed but a few hours longer, ¦who can tell how far-reaching the consequences might have been. Granting that the Pilgrims would not have been discouraged, by the failure of Jamestown, from attempting a settlement in America, if Virginia had been abandoned once more to the wilderness, if her resources and those of her offshoot colonies had not been available to throw into the balance of the eighteenth century struggles for New- World sup remacy, not only might the colonists have found themselves too feeble to oppose effectively the des potic policy of George III., but America might have been lost to the Anglo-Saxon race; and a Latin civil ization might today cover the northern as well as the southern continent of the Western World. CHAPTER XXIII. How Captain Smith Voyaged to New England ; and What Befell Thereafter. In the spring of 1611, the chmate of Virginia, or rather of Jamestown, proved too much for Lord Dela ware ; and his health failing he was obliged to return to England. Percy, rather on account of his rank as brother to Lord Northumberland, than from any proved fitness for the post, was left as his temporary substi tute. Delaware's first stop was at the Azores, as he had been driven from his coarse by contrary winds ; and here he found himself so much restored, that he thought of returning to his post, but was dissuaded by the physician who accompanied him. Reaching England, he encountered at Cowes the ships of Sir Thomas Dale, then on his way to Virginia as Dela ware's substitute; he had with him one hundred kine, and twice that number of hogs for the colony. It is mentioned in contemporary annals, that so thorough were the sanitary measures taken on this voyage, that not a single case of ship fever occurred on any of the ships; a point whose chief interest lies in the proof which it offers, that the true cause ofthe difference in this respect between this and former voyages was the added cost of sanftary construction and the extra ordinary cleanliness required, for which, on the present 327 328 The True Story of Captain John Smith occasion, ft is probable that the crew received extra pay. Human lives will continue for many years to be balanced against money values, and for nearly as long will be found in the lighter scale. Smith was at this time, so far as we know, still in England; though the dearth of material for this por tion of his biography is in marked contrast with the almost daily chronicle from which we have drawn during his life in Virginia. His wound seems to have healed without more ado, at least we hear nothing more about it; and he was probably waiting and hoping for his justification at the hands of Lord Dela ware, after that nobleman should have examined for himself the state of affairs in Virginia. Such justifica tion might very well have taken the form of returning him to the colony in the very position that was filled by Sir Thomas Dale, perhaps with knighthood added as a mark of special gratitude from King James. But even under Queen Elizabeth this would have been rather an unlikely result of all the circumstances taken together, however well deserved by Smith individ ually ; under James it was a conception perfectly beyond the reach of the imagination. The Elizabethan era, as is well pointed out by Prof J. R. Green, was fund amentally republican; the reigns of James and his successor were thoroughly reactionary ; and the tension tightened until the breaking point was reached in the execution of Charles. We have seen already the fictitious value assigned to weafth and yet more to rank, even in the new-born colony, where if anywhere personality should have been at a premium ; it was The True Story of Captain John Smith 329 therefore ludicrously impossible to place at the head of the Jamestown government the son of a mere yeoman to rule over colonists of noble birth. Sir Francis Drake was no more highly born, and the sur roundings of his infancy were even ruder than those amid which Smith was nourished; but Drake had never been forced by circumstances to fly directly in the faces of a whole stock-company, nor, worse still, to prove to them afterwards that he had been right and they wrong; and that if they wished their money back, their only course was to follow his example. We have seen already that just this had happened between Smith and the Treasurer and Company for Virginia; they had magnanimously forgiven him, they paid him the compliment as we shall see, of consulting him more than once about Virginia matters; but they were most unlikely to reward him. Smith offered his services to the company in 1622, immediately upon the reception of the news of the massacre under Opechancanough, to suppress the Indian insurrection; but they were declined.^ With his usual necessity for doing things in the right way, if he were to do them at all, he desired "a hundred soldiers and thirty sailors, with victual, munition, and necessary provision." Their answer was in effect that Virginia stock was below par, with no buyers; and that it was likely the remaining settlers would be able tc do for themselves, what Smith proposed to do for them. In 1624, Smfth was requested to answer from his experience seven questions, chiefly based upon a 330 The True Story^of Captain John Smith previous letter of his to His Majesty's Commission for the Reformation of Virginia. These questions relate to various economic and military matters; the replies are shrewd, far-seeing, and to the point; they^how a manly independence and truth, and in no single case has time proved any one of them to be erroneous. Whether or no he had expected any action from the London Company that would clear his name in the eyes of the world, we do not know; but it was just at the moment when the futility of such an expecta tion, if he had ever entertained it, had become evident that he gave to the world, not only his own vindica tion but that of the faithful thirty-eight who must in some measure have shared in the cloud which had fallen upon himself. It was in 1612 that the "Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Countries, &c.," was published under Smith's own name; the second part of the work being entitled "The Proceedings and Accidents of the English Colony in Virginia." This second por tion is stated in the preface to have been compiled by Richard Pots, possibly as corroborative of Smith's own account of himself on his return to England, as we have already indicated ; having passed in manu script under the eyes of numerous readers, it fell by chance into the hands of one T. Abbay, who says he "could do no less in charity than reveal" ft to the worid; by which he probably means that he paid the expenses of publicjition. Its final editing was at the hands of the Rev. W. Simmonds, a person of whom nothing else is known ; but it may have been by his c fc.C The True Story of Captain John Smith 331 means, as is suggested by Edward Arber, the minutely laborious editor of Smith's Collected Works, that it was published at the Oxford University Press, Joseph Barnes, printer, instead of in London. The present writer can do no better than to extract what Mr. Arber has to say on this subject. "That this book of travels, &c., should have been printed at the Oxford University Press is a most sin gular fact. "The earl of Leicester, then chancellor of the univer sity, gave in 1 585 that university a new printing press,, and Joseph Barnes was at the same time appointed university printer, which office he held until his death in 1617. "The hand printing presses in England were jeal ously registered and locked up every night to prevent surreptiflous printing, all through the life of our author; and the Company of Stationers of London especially watched with a keen jealousy the printing operations ofthe two universities of Cambridge and Oxford, who each possessed a single handpress. "This solitary hand-printing press at Oxford usually produced sermons, theological and learned works, &c. ; in the midst of which this book of travels crops up in a startling manner. " Why could not or would not Smith get it printed in London.?* Had the revision of its second part by the Rev. Dr. Simmonds anything to do with the ?Of the probability of Dr. Alexander Brown's hypothesis, that the book was written and printed in defence of the king's colonial policy, the reader is now in a position to judge for himseS. 332 The True Story of Captain John Smith printing at Oxford? Who was T. Abbay,* who risked the expense of publication? These nuts we must leave for others to crack. "Of course, being printed at Oxford, this book was not registered at Stationers' Hall, London." The purpose of the publication is distinctly stated in the preface; "For that nothing can so purge that famous action (the founding of Virginia) from the in famous scandal some ignorantly have conceited as the plain naked and simple truth. For defect whereof the business is still suspected, the truth unknown, and the best deservers discouraged and neglected." If this were the object, the same considerations which, in 1608, cut out the story of Smith's rescue by Poca hontas would still prevent any mention of the subject; moreover, as Smith is not among the authors of the second part, who relate only their immediate personal experiences, we should not expect that incident to be included. It seems likely that our hero was to a certain extent cleared in the minds of the judicious by the publica tion of this work; for in 1613 he was placed in com mand of an expedition fitted out by certain merchants of London. It consisted of two ships, and seems to have sailed with general directions to kill whales, and find a mine of gold or copper, somewhere within the jurisdiction of the Plymouth Company. "If these failed, fish and furs were then our refuge to make our selves savers howsoever." ? His name is recorded among those of the First Supply; but we know nothing further. The True Story of Captain John Smith ¦})) They made land at the island of Monahegan, but the voyage was successful only in what indirectly came of it; indeed. Smith, with his usual disdain of gold-seeking, accuses the master or navigator of the expedition of misrepresenting the probabilities in that respect that he might be engaged for the voyage. Whether or no, there was certainly neither gold nor copper to be found; whahng disappointed them, the whales proving beyond their skill and the means at their command, and they wasted so much time in this pursuit that both furs and fish were out of season ere they perceived it. They were able, however, to obtain a tolerable haul, and, while the sailors were busy at this work. Smith in a small boat with about eight or nine others, ranged the coast for beaver, otter and marten skins, of which they obtained a very fair supply, though their best gain was that knowl edge of the coast line, which first emerges in its true shape on Smith's subsequent map. Wfth the furs thus acquired, and a load of train oil and corfish. Smith returned to England, leaving the other ship to winter in New England and load with dried fish ; he arrived in the Downs after an absence of only six months. It was during this voyage that he gave to this portion of North America, until then included with Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and other portions of the coast under the general tifle of Norum bega, the name of New England, for the reason, as he naively states, that it is in the same latftude as its namesake island. The comparative success of this expedition led to 334 The True Story of Captain John Smith another in the following year. The name of Sir Fer dinando Gorges in connection with this enterprise and with that of John Smith opens to us a most inter esting section of New England's history, upon which it is hardly the place of this historian to dwell at length. Gorges' name had been connected with the Plymouth Company from the beginning, and it was he who in 1620 obtained for it the new patent by which it was made legally, as for a long while it had been virtually, independent of the London Company. It was, however, upon much the same lines as the former patent, and at the head of the home Council was James' corrupt and unpopular favorite, the Duke of Buckingham. But it was through sale or lease from this company that not the Mayflower pilgrims only, but all the eariier New England setflers held their lands; and numerous were the strifes and jeal ousies arising therefrom. Gorges was perhaps no worse, but was certainly not much better than his associates in this enterprise; he had saved his own fortunes at the downfall of his patron Essex by treachery and ingratitude (Fiske, "The Beginnings of New England," p. 88-9), but these were very com mon faults ofthe period. The trial of the fisheries of the New England coast had indeed turned out so well in the eyes of the Lon don merchants, though Smith thought poorly of what had been accomplished as compared with what might have been done, that in this same year, 161 5, four ships were fitted out by them, of which the command was offered to Smith. His refusal was based upon The True Story of Captain John Smith 335 the highest grounds, but it gave great offence to the Londoners, who seem to have blacklisted him forth with. But Smith's own magnanimity was always in his way when it became a question of dealing with petty commercial spites and jealousies. There ex isted a strong trade rivalry between London and the West of England, but Smfth, in addition to the fact that he was in a measure pledged to Gorges and would not break his word, favored very ardently the sending forth of all expeditions to America from Ply mouth and not from London. For this he was anxious to obtain the cooperation of the merchants of both sections, and his naif argument is that those of London had the money while Plymouth possessed the advantage of situation; the voyage from London thither "is near as much trouble, but much more danger," than that from Plymouth to New England; moreover the West of England men made better fishermen. Such considerations were most unlikely to prove stronger than the jealousies of rival seaports; but Smith had reason to regret that he had trusted to the flattering promises of the western men. He had, on his former return from New England, put in at Plymouth on his way to London ; and had at that time been promised the command of a colony, which the merchants of those parts proposed to send out, with a flotilla of four ships, the following year. However, the four ships of London, bent only on fishing, were ready first; and when Smith, with two hundred pounds in cash ($5,000 of mod- ^)6 The True Story of Captain John Smith ern currency), and "six gentlemen well furnished" presented himself in Plymouth ready for the voyage, he "found no such matter," but on the contrary, much of the enthusiasm had been quenched by the return of a ship that had been unsuccessful in find ing a promised gold mine. In 1608, an Indian called Epinow had been captured by Captain Ed ward Harlow, and brought to London, where, because of his great stature, he was paraded through the streets and made a show of until he learned enough of English speech and manners to announce his knowledge of a fictitious gold mine somewhere in the Cape Cod region. The bait took, and the ship was dispatched with Epinow aboard until he reached his own shores, when he suddenly took to the water and left the master and crew to wound one another in their frenzied efforts to shoot him through the glancing waves. Smith's own course toward the New England natives had been already markedly different from that of most captains, though he seems to have been afraid of sharing the blame of Master Hunt's conduct; who, expressly to prevent the project of a colony, says Smith, had carried away four and twenty savages after Smith had sailed for home, and had sold them as slaves. It is most unlikely that Hunt was far-seeing enough to connect his action with any projected colony; like his betters, his only thought was, most probably, to fill his own purse. His action becoming known, threw him out of em ployment, and from one cause and another the The True Story of Captain John Smith 337 colonization scheme had fallen quite into disfavor; but after a "labyrinth of trouble," as Smith pic turesquely calls it, and largely through his own means and those of his friends, he succeeded in fitting out a ship of two hundred tons, and another of fifty. But the larger ship losing all her masts in a storm, Smith, who was in command of her, was forced to put back into harbor; meanwhile, his consort knowing nothing of the disaster, con tinued her voyage, and after a successful fishing returned in August heavily laden. Smith's fortune had in the meantime been very different. Having transferred his stores, or what remained of them, and his thirty men to a small bark of thirty tons, he set sail again on June 24th. He seems to have taken the old route by the Can aries, but to have been driven from his intended course when his little craft was chased by a bark of a hundred and twenty tons, well manned and armed, under the command of an English pirate called Fry. In spite of the odds against him, both as to ship, men and guns. Smith was disposed to try conclusions with this pirate ; but coming to a parley, a state of affairs revealed itself that was at once picturesque and patheflc. For these were no ordinary hardened, blood-stained pirates, but English soldiers, who, having been slaves or perhaps simply stranded and penniless at Tunis, had stolen this ship and undertaken a career of piracy, as so many disbanded soldiers and unem ployed sailors had done, simply as a means of sup port. They were short of provisions and at logger- ¦338 The True Story of Captain John Smith heads among themselves; and to crown the whole, many of them had been under Smith's command in the Transylvanian wars. When they understood therefore that it was their former captain with whom they were speaking, they offered him their services on the spot to accompany him wherever he was bound or serve him as he should command. But Smith's whole soul was bent on his colonizing project, ana for this, or for the fisheries, these runaways offered rather unfavorable material. Moreover, they were not sup- phed for so long a voyage, and his own provisions were barely enough for his own crew; therefore, he refused their offer, but seems to have parted good friends. What became of Fry and his crew we do not know; it may be that Smith encouraged them to find their way to some Christian port, hoping for honester ways of living; but his own crew seem rather to have regretted his resolution on account of its consequences. For at Fayal they fell in with an other sort of pirates, French this time, two ship-lpads of them, against whom Smfth's crew rather reasonably protested the impossibility of contending; but reason in fighting had never been the captain's strong point, and the argument that he would rather blow up the ship than yield brought his men to their guns; by superior sailing, rather than fighting, he effected his escape. But only to fall into the hands of four French men-of-war from Rochelle, cruising against "Portugals, Spaniards and pirates," under an alleged commission from the king. Going aboard of the admiral's ship to show his papers, as he was summoned to do. Smith, The True Story of Captain John Smith 339 to his amazement, was detained as a prisoner, while his ship was sacked and his crew distributed among the French fleet, which within a few days had in creased to eight or nine sail. Shortly after, the bark was surrendered and her crew restored to her wfth a portion of her stores; but this did not, through the treachery of some of her men, involve Smith's release. The sailors were by this time thoroughly weary, and, perhaps from these repeated disasters, superstitiously afraid of this American expedition, and desired nothing so much as to return to England; while the fifteen landsmen whom Smith was taking out as colonists were prepared to stand by their leader and their purpose at all hazards. Two of the crew. Chambers and Minter, seem to have implanted in the minds ofthe French the suspicion that Smith, if he were released, would revenge his temporary de tention and the delay of his voyage upon the French fishers at the Newfoundland banks. That the inter ference of these king's ships was excused by a desire to protect these fisheries is certain; and when it proved that in spite of the lateness of the season and the loss of goods already sustained. Smith was as stubbornly bent as ever on proceeding on his voyage, further measures were resorted to. He was inveigled aboard the flag-ship, which then on some alarm given gave chase to a sail, real or imaginary; meanwhile the English mutineers, alleging it to be the captain's intention to turn pirate, made the best of their way to Plymouth, where they arrived in the glory of self- righteousness, and did their best to blacken his char- 340 The True Story of Captain John Smith acter, in the good hope that he would never return to clear it. The fifteen were all landsmen, and had not understood the proceedings aboard ship or had knowledge to take matters into their own hands. Sorely they grieved no doubt for their beloved cap tain, whose adventures were the while proceeding rapidly. Detained as a prisoner in the admiral's cabin, whose ship had become separated from the fleet, he was for some weeks in the neighborhood of the Azores. Time hung leaden-Hke on his hands, and his heart was heavy, as we may believe; nevertheless, he did more for New England in this enforced inaction than his proposed colony would have accomplished. For to keep his perplexed thoughts from too much medita-. tion on his miserable estate, he prepared the book which he published the following year — "A Des cription of New England." The accompanying map had been drawn during his stay in England; but he now, with, we may suppose, hardly any notes to assist his memory, drew up an account of the climate, productions, inhabitants and geographical features, the accuracy of which is simply surprising. It was his purpose to send this manuscript by some English ship, which the Frenchman, after ransacking, might allow to return, to " His Majesty's Council"; a resolve which shows that the usually hopeful man had, as to his own future, reached the brink of despair. After some conflicts with English pirates, and the practice of piracy on their own account towards a returning English fishing ship from Newfoundland; The True Story of Captain John Smith 341 after running from a Scot, and vainly chasing four Spanish treasure-ships from the West Indies; after capturing a poor caravel of Brazil, and a ship of Hol land, they encountered a Spanish galleon, richly laden, of which they made a satisfactory prize. Smith in these adventures, seems to have consented, perhaps for the sake of variety in his monotonous life, perhaps with a revival of his own spirit of adventure, to "manage their fights " against the Spaniard, while in case of an encounter with the English he remained a prisoner in the cabin. At this distance of time it seems to us an unusual course, but it contained noth ing inconsistent for those times with the career of an honorable soldier of fortune. His captors, whose sur face treatment of him was as to a gentleman in dis tress, a captain whose crew had mutinied and left him, meanwhile fed him with promises that he should be set ashore at some convenient point on one of the Azores or else transferred to a homeward bound ship; his share of the booty they had taken was politely estimated at ten thousand crowns ; but upon reaching French waters they came out at last in their true colors. The struggling little Jesuit colony of Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, had been during Dale's administration in Virginia wiped out under his orders, by Captain Argall; and Smith to his surprise now found himself accused of participation in this outrage. It seems indeed to have been a trumped-up charge for the purpose of forcing Smith to refrain from making any claims upon them for his ten thousand crowns, or any 342 The True Story of Captain John Smith complaints of unjust imprisonment. His own explan ation of the affair is the distracted condftion of France since the death of Henri IV. had removed the last barrier against anarchy ; for the charge was the work of those who had equipped and sent out these priva teers, and who did not propose to share their booty efther with him or the poor sailors. For these also were cheated, even of their pay, by a few officers on board and the owners on shore. Finding himself in this dilemma, either to make a false declaration before the French Admiralty Court or to remain in prison indefinitely. Smith, taking advantage of a severe storm that kept his captors close under hatches, seized a small boat v^hich he set adrift; but being blown out to sea, he spent twelve hours under a fearful tempest, sculling and bailing out his boat, which at last was driven on a mud-bank where "certain fowlers " found him, only half alive, between hunger, fatigue and exposure. Pawning his boat for means to reach Rochelle, the indomitable man made his complaint before the Admiralty Court; and his statement being confirmed by certain sailors, ship wrecked in the storm just past from one ofthe prizes taken by the "Admiral," he had their depositions taken in due legal form, and with them travelled to Bordeaux, where the English ambassador was at that time, Here he was just in time for the pageant ofthe royal marriage; and, which was far more important for himself, met with friends who relieved his necessities and supplied him with funds to return to Plymouth. Arriving in that town in December, he was lucky The True Story of Captain John Smith 343 enough to " lay by the heels " several of his mutineers, who had expected nothing less than his thus descend ing upon them ; and as his fifteen colonists seem to have still held together, he caused some of them to make affidavit to what had occurred before Sir Lewis Stukely, knight and vice-admiral of Devon shire. These vigorous proceedings in a measure cleared his name from the charge of piracy on the high seas, which the mutineers had laid against him to save themselves from an accusation of mutiny on their return to Plymouth; we cannot doubt however, that the affair added a heavier shadow to that cloud which already rested on his name. And still all his mind was bent upon planting a colony in New England ; and three good ships were made ready for the next year (1617) to convey thither himself and his fifteen friends, and to cover the cost of the voyage by a summer s fishing. But being delayed for two months by contrary winds, the plant ing of the colony was postponed, on account of the lateness ofthe season, for another year. Smith's expe rience having taught him the unwisdom of beginning a settlement too late to make satisfactory provision against the winter. The ships, however, went to Newfoundland, with very satisfactory results; and to recompense Captain Smith for the money loss he had sustained by these delays, the Plymouth Company promised him twenty ships against the next spring, and, over their hands and the seal of the colony that was yet to be born, created him admiral of New 344 The True Story of Captain John Smith England for life, with a liberal share of all profits to arise therefrom. This year, therefore, which Smith had expected to spend in the founding of the newer England across the waves, he passed in going up and down through the west country, distributing gratis his own books and maps relating to New England and Virginia. CHAPTER XXIV. Of the Last Meeting of Smith and Pocahontas, with Other Matters of Interest. Thus happily returned, and unhappily detained in England, our hero gave himself first with seri ous ardor to the work which was to fill his clos ing years : namely, the writing and compilation of works upon the subject which he thus made especially his own — Colonization. He had, as we have said, in his voyage of 1614, made a chart of the New England coast and given names, not merely to the country itself, but to many points on the coast; among others he had called that point of land now known as Cape Anne by the name of his dear lady Tragabigzanda; and the three islands not far away he called the Turks' Heads. Every author knows what it means to get hold of a really good and applicable name and have it unappre ciated by the worid; and it may be that Smith was right in insisting so fiercely upon the name of New England, which, with New France to the north and New Spain in the extreme south of that portion of the continent, stood for a great deal, politically as well as sentimentally. Finding that malicious minds, as he called them, who very likely grudged him the honor 345 346 The True Story of Captain John Smith of naming the new country, "drowned that name with the echo of Nusconcus, Canada, and Pemaquid," he boldly sent his book and map to "the High Hopeful Prince Charles," then, through the death of his brother, heir to the throne, some time after June i8th, 1616, with a letter requesting that his high ness would please to change the barbarous names bestowed by Smith, for such as might please his royal fancy, so that posterity might say "Prince Charles was their godfather." The names bestowed by the prince may be found at page 2)2 of Smith's Works, on the copy of a rare leaf, printed and inserted in the book* after its pubHcaflon; they are substantially the same as are found on our modern maps; and the connection is not unsuggestive of the irony of fate. The Puritans could cut off Charles' head, and did so ; but he called after his own name the river on which stands the chief Puritan city. The summer of this year, 1616, was spent by Smith in the propaganda of his colonization scheme. Wish ing to familiarize the minds of the west country nobility and gentry with the project, as well as to recommend it to the merchants of those parts, he visited the chief towns of that region, giving away his books and maps, both of Virginia and New England, and supplementing these wfth all the personal force and eloquence at his command, which was not a litfle. It was not a fad, though it has been represented as such by some of his detractors. The same motives, the same opinions in regard to the planting of English ? " New England's Trials." The True Story of Captain John Smith 347 colonies in America had been advanced by Hakluyt himself, and by many others ofthe host of writers and pamphleteers who had treated the subject; but Smith made it his own in the sense that his life had no other object; his own career, with every hope that he built upon the future, was involved in its success. He was not on this account, however, less truly patriotic; on the contrary, the very source of his ardor was his con viction of the inestimable value to the mother country of this greater England beyond the sea. While in the midst of this missionary circuit, he met at Brentford, in Devonshire, an old friend. Pocahon tas was now in a very different position from that in which he had last seen her, which had been, so far as we know, on the night when having once again warned him of his danger, she had fled away through the darkness weeping. After his departure from Jamestown, and her father's open assumption of a hostile attitude towards the English, her former friendly offices towards those at the fort had, even if she wished to continue them, become impossible. In April, 1613, while on a visit to the Potomac Indians, she was seen by Captain Argall, who treacherously made her a cap tive, buying her from her equally treacherous hosts at the price of a copper kettle. Nor was there, so far as we know, a man among the EngUsh to protest against the ignominy of the action, though Master Ralph Hamor, from whose narrative is derived our knowledge ofthe affair, speaks with pity of "betraying the poor innocent Pocahontas aboard" of Argall's ship; yet even he was probably willing enough to .profit by her 348 The True Story of Captain John Smith captivity. So they sent an embassy to Powhatan to en force peace, by the strong argument of possessing this valuable hostage; but before the old man had yielded, a marriage had been arranged for her wfth John Rolfe, an Englishman of good family who had arrived in the colony during Dale's administration. Hamor says that the two had been in love with one another " long before this," i. e.. Dale's expedition to Powhatan's town ; but certainly they had never seen each other before her cap ture. Yet, without doubt, they might have loved, even at first sight; length of acquaintance is not always nec essary to explain such cases. But Hamor also says that the matter was arranged with Dale through his means ; and it was so very beneficial in its results to the colony that one is tempted to inquire how far Hamor extended his mediation? Rolfe had buried his first -yv^ife and his infant child since his arrival in Virginia ; he married a third time after the death of Pocahontas — a fact which robs from Hamor's romance some of its bloom; and we can hardly avoid the suspicion that he was influenced fully as much by policy as by affec tion.* For Pocahontas, she would hold herself, as a captive, so entirely at the disposal of the victor that to marry him" would have seemed only her natural fate ; and yet for some purpose or other, they were forced to deceive her, by false news of Smith's death ; though ? This policy of marriage between the whites and Indians was urged upon the colonists by a number of well-meaning persons. Rolfe, who saw so clearly the apparent economic value of tobacco to Virginia, is likely to have acted in this matter with a similar vrise shortsightedness, perceiving the immediate benefits and overlooking the ultimate results which Smith saw so clearly. The True Story of Captain John Smith 349 why, except to ootain her consent to the marriage, it is difflcult to understand. Smith's description of his meeting with her is as follows: " Being about this time about to set sail for New England" (that is, he was engaged as has been said, in the preaching of his colonization crusade throughout the West of England, expecting to set sail the next year with twenty ships, and as many colonists as he could gather; but the expedition never came off), "I could not stay to do her that service I desired, and she well deserved ; but hearing she was at Brentford with divers of my friends, I went to see her. After a modest salutation, without a word she turned about, obscured her face, not seeming well contented; and in that humor her husband with divers others, we all left her two or three hours, repenting myself to have written she could speak English. But not long after, she began to talk, and remembered me well what courtesies she , had done, saying, ' You did promise Powhatan what was yours should be his, and he the like unto you ; you called him father, being in his land a stranger, and by the same reason so must 1 do you.' (Which, though 1 would have excused, I durst not allow of that title, because she was a king's daughter.) With a well-set countenance she said, 'Were you not afraid to come into my father's country, and caused fear in him and all his people, but me ; and fear you here I should call you father ? 1 tell you then I will, and you shall call me child, and so I will be for ever and ever your countryman. They did tell us always you were dead, and I knew no other till I came to Plymouth; yet The True Story of Captain John Smith 351 young Indian girl, and a good deal to risk by avowing his former indebtedness to her; but this consideration was not one which he was likely to entertain for a moment. He wrote accordingly a letter to Queen Anne, the wife of James, bespeaking her womanly interest in Pocahontas, now called Rebecca ; in which for the first time he describes her rescue of him, at the peril of her own life, as he believed, when he lay under sentence of death at the feet of Powhatan; recounted all the benefits she had heaped upon the Virginia colony; and explained her present relations with himself, in a plain, straightforward, manly fashion, that must have disarmed any slander that dared to raise its head against either of them. His care, however, was not wholly for Pocahontas ; she had been accompanied, upon her voyage to Eng land, not only by her husband, but by several girls of her nation, and by a special ambassador from Powhatan, the Uttamatomakin,Uttawacomack, or Tomocomo, as he is variously called, to whom she referred in her reproaches to Smith. This chieftain had married one of Powhatan's daughters and was charged by the aged werowance to observe, not merely as we may suppose, the welcome accorded to Pocahontas, but the number of the English. He was provided with a tally stick, "whereon by notches he did think to have kept the number of all the men he could see, but he was quickly weary of that task," says Captain Smfth dryly. It is not to be supposed, however, as has been done by some careless historians, that Powhatan or his envoy were so simple as to expect to keep this 352 The True Story of Captain John Smith tally by a notch for each separate individual; on the contrary, even the English in Jamestown would have been a little troublesome to number in that way, by this time. But numbering by tens or even by hun dreds, was quite within Tomocomo's ability; it was all the more overwhelming when on his return to Virginia he was obliged to report to Powhatan that these Eng lish were like the sands of the sea, out of any man's power to count or number. But what Tomocomo was perfectly competent to observe was any discourtesy towards Pocahontas; his report of which would have destroyed the newly formed entente cordiale between the high contracting parties to the recent alliance. This, Smith feared, and this he urged upon Queen Anne, with what effect ft is impossible to tell, except that his letter had certainly no evil results.* For shortly after, the Lady Rebecca was presented at court by Lady Delaware, and became the rage in London; but the gayeties in her honor could not make up to her for the absence of her old free life, and civilization proved to her as destructive as to most of her race; she developed consumption, and died at Gravesend, as she was about to return to Virginia. Her little son, Thomas Rolfe, was left to be brought up as an Enghshman; but coming to Virginia in later years he became the ancestor of many well- known persons and families in that State. The death of Pocahontas was viewed at the time, ? Whether her son, Thomas Rolfe, was bom before or after her interview with Smith, we do not know ; but it took place about this time. The True Story of Captain John Smith 353 and has been considered by some historians, as a mis fortune to the colony; but pathetic as are indeed her short life and her early death, it is doubtful whether the undoubted influence which she would have ex ercised for good among her own people, had she sur vived, would have balanced the enormous harm which the example of this marriage would have worked among the English. For we have seen already the mistaken policy of those in authority of promoting inter-marriage between the races, and few of us need to be convinced at this late day that the purity of our European blood was cheaply bought at the price of those Indian wars and massacres which inter-marriage would have prevented. A mixed race would have struck root and flourished more speedily and more un disturbed ; but it could never have accomplished the work among the nations which the providence of God has assigned to America, a work whose vast pro portions we are only beginning dimly to discern. CHAPTER XXV. Conclusion. It was very difficult for a man like John Smith to realize that his period of active service was over; that there was nothing remaining for him but the writing of books and the drawing of maps. Such, however, proves to have been the story of his remaining years. He is barely forty when we next come upon authentic knowledge of him in 1620; yet it may have been that his life of exposure and hardship had exhausted his vitality to an extent greater than he was himself aware of. His portrait, however, at thirty-seven shows certainly no signs of age or feebleness, but it was painted at just that brief period to which we have already referred when the brilliant promises of the Plymouth Company and their readiness in confer ring titles deceived him into the belief that now at last all his dreams were on the eve of realization, and that the position of power and influence which he felt to be the right of his deeds as well as of his abilities was now about to become his own — and for life. Instead there came ten years of hope deferred, and his death at fifty-one, worn out it may be more by this decade of disappointment than by starvation, shipwreck or slavery. The limfts of this volume scarcely permit a full dis- 355 356 The True Story of Captain John Smith cussion of the very interesting question which arises at this point, namely, what would have been the resuft to America had Smith's project of colonizing New England been carried out ? Certainly he had not in his mind the establishment of a Puritan Common wealth, though one of the points usually missed by his biographers is that his affiliations during the last years of his life were chiefly, if not entirely, with the Puritan party. For it must be remembered that there existed at the time of the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers a sharp distinction between Puritans, who desired to reform the Church of England from within, and the Separatists, Brownists or Independents, who consid ered Episcopacy another way of spelling the name of the Scarlet Woman, and rejoiced in rendering them selves amenable to the law by non-conformity to such Church regulations as regarded the baptisms of their children and their own communions in their parish church, with such worldly matters as the payment of tithes, etc. With such scruples as these. Smith's writings show that he had no sympathy whatever; but, despite his connection with Prince Charles and his letter to Queen Anne, he was no cavalier. Indeed, until the period of Charles' return from Spain, whither he had gone with apparent romantic haste to force on his marriage with the Infanta, the weakness and treachery of his character had never been fully under stood; until that time he had enjoyed the reversion of those hopes which had been built upon his brother, as well as the confidence inspired by the grave, graceful dignity of a manner doubly pleasing by its contrast to The True Story of Captain John Smith 357 the grossness and triviality of his father. Those ex pressions of loyalty and admiration for the Prince of Wales, which we find in Smith's letter to him and in his writings, are without doubt perfectly sincere; whether he would have said the like after 1625 is open to question. But for the Leyden Congregation there was no question in the matter; the king of England, in virtue of his position as the head of the English church, was anathema; the Church itself, in only a less degree than that of Rome, was anti-Christ, and they pro posed to keep no terms whatever with Satan. When therefore shortly before 1620 the matter of emigrating from Holland to America began to be can vassed, and when the territory under the jurisdiction ofthe Plymouth Company was decided upon as form ing the limits of their proposed settlement, the subject came immediately under Smith's notice as admiral of New England and excited his vivid interest. In just what capacity he offered to serve them it is difficult to understand, but quite possibly it was in the position afterwards filled by Miles Standish, as captain of Plymouth. But the Pilgrims declined from the start any interference by any outsider with any affair of theirs; even of the Plymouth Company they made themselves independent by leasing on stated terms such lands as they had need of. Accordingly they declined Smith's offer, somewhat brusquely perhaps. He says in relation to the affair: "About a hundred of your Brownists of England, Amsterdam and Ley den went to New Plymouth, whose humorous ignor- 358 The True Story of Captain John Smith ances caused them for more than a year to endure a wonderful deal of misery with an infinite patience, saying my books and maps were much better cheap to teach them than myself; many others have pursued the like good husbandry that have paid dearly in try ing their self-willed conclusions." It may be indeed that Smith could have prevented by his counsel some of the horrors of that first winter at Plymouth ; though there is little doubt that he and the Pilgrim Fathers were better friends apart; but they were not particularly good friends at any time or place; he considering them as religious cranks, while they returned the compHment by distrusting him as a malignant (though the term had hardly been invented at the time), and also by adopting a superstition that had got about since his escape from the French pirates, that he was unlucky, and likely to bring dis aster upon any expedition in which he should take part. But it was with reason that his books and maps were considered "better cheap" than his personal services; writing in 1630, he says: " Yet for all this, in all this time, though 1 had divulged to my great labor, cost and pains, more than seven thousand books and maps, and moved the particular companies in London, as also noblemen, gentlemen and mer chants for a plantation, all availed no more than to hew rocks with oyster shells; so fresh were the living abuses of Virginia and the Summer (Somers or Ber mudas) Isles in their memories." As regards the imputation of bringing bad luck, his The True Story of Captain John Smith 359 words are well worth quoting. "Now if you but truly consider how many strange accidents have be fallen these plantations and myself, you cannot but conceive God's infinite mercy both to them and me. Having been a slave to the Turks, prisoner among the most barbarous savages .... and yet to have lived near thirty-seven years in the midst of wars, pestilence and famine, by which many a hundred thousand have died about me, and scarce five living of them that went first with me to Virginia: and yet to see the fruits of my labors thus well begin to prosper: though 1 have but my labor for my pains, have I not much reason both privately and publicly to acknowledge it and give God thanks, whose omnipotent power only delivered me to do the utmost of my best, to make His name known in those remote parts of the world, and His loving mercy to such a miserable sinner." As concerning his lack of employment during these yeafs, with which he had been reproached, and which is still by his detractors used against him, he says this: " Had my designs been to have persuaded men to a mine of gold, as 1 know many have done that knew no such matter; .... or some new invention to pass to the South Sea, or some strange plot to invade some strange monastery, or some chargeable fleet to take some rich carracks, or letters of marque to rob some poor fisherman or honest merchant: what mul titudes of both people and money would contend to be first employed! " Times seem to have changed very little after all since 1630; and there is some reason to fear that John 360 The True Story of Captain John Smith Smith might have lacked employment equally in 1901, and for the same reason: — excess of honesty. We have spoken of the strained relations between himself and the Leyden Pilgrims; he was, however, in the fullest sympathy with Winthrop's expedition in 1629, for the better guidance of which he wrote his "Advertisements for the Inexperienced, or the Path way to Erect a Plantation," which was published in the year following, and from which the above passages are taken. It is probable that he would have been welcome among the members of this colony as a set tler ; but it was then too late ; he was about fifty years of age, and was in no condition physically to endure the hardships incident to pioneer life under the most favorable circumstances. But the ten years of trial and waiting in vain had not been wasted; they had pro duced the following volumes, in themselves a worthy life-work, and one to satisfy a man less greedy of use fulness to his day and generation than John Smith. Including those already mentioned, the full list of his writings is as fallows : A True Relation &c. or News from Virginia . . 1608 A Map of Virginia &c. Part I. J. Smith, editor Part II. Rev. W. Simmonds, editor 1612 A Description of New England 1616 New England's Trials (2. e. proofs of its value to England) 1620 New England's Trials (revised and enlarged) . . 1622 The General Historie 9f Virginia . . . 1624 Book I. The English Voyages to the Old Virginia. Book II. Of Virginia Now Planted. Book III. Of the Proceedings and Accidents of the English in Virginia. The True Story of Captain John Smith 361 Book IV. The Proceedings of the English after the Altera tion of the Government in Virginia. Book V. The General History of the Bermudas. Book VI. The General History of New England. (Being a reprint, revised and enlarged of the Description, and New England's Trials). An Accidence for Young Seamen 1626 (The first sea grammar ever written, thus marking a new departure in Enghsh scientific literature). The True Travels 1630 Part I. The Travels and Adventures of Captain Smith. Part II. The Travels and Observations of Captain Smith. Advertisements for the Inexperienced, or the Pathway to Erect a Plantation , . . , . . . 1630 He was projecting a history of the sea at the time of his death ; but if any portion of it had been written, the MS. has perished. He seems never in these later years to have had a house of his own, but to have traveled hither and thither, still bent, perhaps, on his colonial propaganda, and, no doubt, doing much to wards the encouragement of that great Puritan exodus of which John Winthrop was the Moses. It was a time in England of religious and social reaction; and thoughtful men, lacking as utterly as we ourselves the faculty of prophecy, were as strongly inclined as we, when our favorite reforms go wrong, to despair of the final triumph of right and justice. The only hope for the survival of the truth, the only refuge for liberty, was, in their eyes, the upbuilding of a newer England across the Atlantic; it was with this solemn and religious purpose that they invested their whole worldly wealth, in some cases, in the undertaking, and went fo,rth, like the Israelites of old, with their flocks )62 The True Story of Captain John Smith and herds, their wives and their litfle ones. And morally, at least if not physically, it could almost have been said of them, that there was not one feeble person among their tribes; they were the flower of England. It was such a colony as Smith had worked for, prayed for, and dreamed of; it issued from that part of England wherein, for all those ten weary years of disappointment he had preached his new gospel; those who went forth were in many cases his personal friends; they took with them his God-speed, and he writes of them directly after: "They have preachers erected among themselves, and God's true religion, they say, taught amongst them, the Sabbath Day observed, the Common Prayer (as I understand) and sermons performed, and diligent catechising, with strict and careful exercise; .... which done, in time may grow from both these Plantations a good addition to the Church of England." It may be that the Book of Common Prayer was in use less regulariy than Smith supposed, though Winthrop and his party separated from the Church of England rather by necessity than choice; but however that may be, one is glad of the joyful hope that came to brighten our hero's last days ; and glad as well that they were his last days ; that he passed away from a life that had been to him so eventful, before the storm of Revolution broke over England, and before his beloved New England finally cast off that Church to which he paid as devoted a loyalty as to the crown. The "Advertisements" were- written, as the text tells us, at the house of Sir Humphrey Mildmay in The True Story of Captain John Smith 363 Essex; his death took place in London, at the house of Sir Samuel Saltonstall, in St. Sepulchre's parish, on June 2 1st, 1631. This Sir Samuel Saltonstall was son to a former Lord Mayor of London, and was himself a person of wealth and consequence, and strongly Puritan in his religious convictions ; indeed, his nephew, Richard Saltonstall, was a member of Winthrop's colony, and moreover, in subsequent years was prominent in showing aid and comfort to the regicides who fled to New England after the accession of Charles 11. Smith's last will and testament is dated from Salton- stall's house on the very day of his death; it shows us chiefly that, though he had been lavish in the expend iture of the means won by his own perils and adven tures, he had not wasted the patrimony received from his father. What had become of the farm we do not know ; tenants of copyholds had at that time the right to bequeath, on their death, their tenancy, but not to alienate it, except by lease for a year at a time, while living; so that Smith's responsibility in regard to this property expired within twelve months after the death of his mother, from whom he held, as we have seen, the reversion. The tenements in the town of Louth, if they were the same that had been bequeathed to his brother Francis, came to him at that brother's death, since we note in the will the mention of his brother's widow; but none of nephews or nieces. These, together with those fields in Charfton Magna, where we have seen him (possibly) dreaming or actively studying old chronicles and the Art of War, were left 364 The True Story of Captain John Smith to a certain Thomas Packer, one of the clerks of His Majesty's Privy Seal, in consideration for which the said Packer was to pay his funeral expenses, not to exceed twenty pounds, and the various legacies mentioned in the will. The sum disbursed in this way was not to exceed eighty pounds, or about $2,000 of our modern money; no doubt the real estate was worth more than this amount; and the excess must have been sufficient to cover all outstanding debts and unsettled claims, if any, as well as to recompense the executor for his time and trouble, or he would scarcely have undertaken the charge. But the proportion of one-fourth the sum bequeathed to be spent on his funeral expenses appears a trifle lavish; we must remember, however, that Smith was not as a matter of fact an unimportant personage; and that, having been so set at naught during his life, it was at least a natural impulse to endeavor to secure for his death a proper amount of respect. But the effort failed. He was buried, indeed, and no doubt with some circumstance, in the Church of St. Sepulchre; in Munday and Dyson's enlarged edition of Stow's Survey of London, which appeared two years later, his monun:>ent on the south side of the choir is described, and the very florid epitaph is quoted; but the church, monument and epitaph perished together in the Great Fire; and there exists now, to the memory of John Smith, only one me morial, either in the country of his birth or the colo nies which he founded; it is that in which his name is coupled with those of Drake and Raleigh, upon the The True Story of Captain John Smith 365 wall of the National Library at Washington.* Smith's Isles, off the New England coast, which in the division ofthe country among a number of so-called patentees, were assigned as his share, are now the Isles of Shoals; of the Turks' Heads, one is Thatcher's Island, the others are nameless. Only Smith's Island at the mouth of the Chesapeake preserves a trace of his name or his personality. A man not without faults, one would say in the final summing up of his character; not a reactionary or a belated Elizabethan, as others have misunderstood him; but on the contrary too far in advance of his own time to win that recognition which it was his chief weakness to seek for and to claim at times, even aggressively; a man whose thorough modernity in thought and sympathy even startles one at moments; and withal, a man too honest for his own day, or, alas! for our own. A man, to sum up all, whose truest epitaph is found, not in the fulsome lines erected to his memory by Thomas Packer, but in the simple, manly charac terization of himself with which he signs the dedica tion to one of his books : To Christ and My Country, a True Soldier and Faithful Servant. In the sad verses written by him in 1630, only a few months before his death, he had hkened himself ? See Note to Chapter XVI. for the memorial in the Church in Smithfield, Va. )66 The True Story of Captain John Smith to an old abandoned wreck. These are, in truth, his appropriate dirge: THE sea MARKE Aloofe, aloofe, and come no neare, the dangers doe appeare ; Which if my mine had not beene you had not scene : I only lie upon this shelfe to be a marke to all which on the same might fall That none may perish but myselfe. If in or outward you be bound doe not forget to sound ; Neglect of that was cause of this to steare amisse. The Seas were calme, the wind was faire that made me so secure, that now I must indure All weathers, be they foule or faire. The Winters cold, the Summers heat alternatively beat Upon my bruised sides, that rue because too true That no releefe can ever come. But why should I despaire being promised so faire. That there shall be a day of Dome. APPENDIX A.* INSTRUCTIONS given by way of advice, by tis whom it hath pleased the King's Majesty to appoint of the Counsel for the intended voyage to Virginia, to be observed by those Captains and Company which are sent at this present to plant there. (1606.) " As we doubt not but you will have especial care to ob serve the ordinances set doun by the King's Majesty, and delivered to you under the Privy Seal ; so, for your better directions upon your first landing we have thought good to recommend unto your care these instructions and articles following. " When it shall please God to send you on the coa^t of Virginia, you shall do your best endeavor to find out a safe port in the entrance of some navigable river, making choice of such a one as runneth farthest into the land, and if you happen to discover divers portable rivers, and amongst them any one that hath two main branches, if the difference be not great, make choice of that which bendeth most towards the North-vyest for that way you shall sooner find the other sea. "When you have made choice of the river on which you mean to settle, be not hasty in landing your victuals and munitions ; but first let Captain Newport discover how far that river may be found navigable, that you (may) make election of the strongest, most wholesome and fertile place; for if you make many removes, besides the loss of time, you shall greatly spoil your victuals and your casks, and with great pain transport it in small boats. ?Smith's Collected Works, ed. Arber, p. xxxiii. 3S7 368 The True Story of Captain John Smith "But if you choose your place so far up as a bark of fifty tuns virill float, then you may lay all your provisions ashore with ease, and the better receive the trade of all the countries about you in the land; and such a place you may perchance find a hundred miles from the river's mouth, and the further up the better. For if you sit down near the entrance, except it be in some island that is strong by nature, an enemy that may approach you on even ground may easily pull you out; and if he be driven to seek you a hundred miles in the land in boats, you shall from both sides of the river where it is narrowest, so beat them with your muskpts as they shall never be able to prevail against you. " And to the end that you be not surprised as the French were in Florida by Melindus, and the Spaniard in the same place by the French, you shall do well to make this double provision. First erect a little stoure at the mouth of the river that may lodge some ten men ; with whom you shall leave a light boat, that when any fleet shall be in sight, they may come with speed to give you warning. Secondly you must in no case suffer any of the native people of tho country to inhabit between you and the sea coast ; for you cannot carry yourselves so towards them but they will grow discontented with your habitation, and be ready to guide and assist any nation that shall come to invade you ; and if you neglect this, you neglect your safety. "When you have discovered as far up the river as you mean to plant yourselves, and landed your victuals and munitions ; to the end that every man shall know his charge, you shall do well to divide your six-score men into three parts : whereof one party of them you may appoint to for- tifie and build, of which your first work must be your store house for victuals ; the other(s) you may imploy in preparing your ground, and sowing your corn and roots ; the other ten of those forty you must leave as centinel at the haven's mouth. '¦ The other forty you may imploy for two months in dis covery of the river above you, and on the country about The True Story of Captain John Smith 369 you ; which charge Captain Newport and Captain Gosnold may undertake of these forty discoverers. When they do espie any high lands or hills, Captain Gosnold may take twenty of the company to cross over the lands, and carry ing half a dozen pick axes to try if they can find any minerals. The other twenty may go on by river, and pitch up boughs upon the bank's side, by which the other boats shall follow them by the same turnings. You may also take with them a wherry, such as is used here upon the Thames ; by which you may send back to the President for supply of munition or any other want, that you may not be driven to return for every small defect. " You must observe if you can whether the river on which you plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes. If it be out of any lake, the passage to the other sea will be more easy, and (it) is like enough that out of the same lake you shall find some spring which runs the contrary way towards the East India Sea ; for the great and famous rivers of Volga, Tanais, and Dwina, have three heads near joyn(e)d ; and yet the one falleth in the Caspian Sea, the other into the Euxine Sea, and the third into the Paelonian Sea. "In aU your passages you must have great care not to offend the naturals, if you can eschew it ; and imploy some of your company to trade with them for com and all other lasting victuals if you (?they) have any : and this you must do before they perceive you mean to plant among them ; for not being sure how your own seed com will prosper the first year, to avoid the danger of famine, use and endeavor to store yourselves of the country corn. " Your discoverers that passes over land with hired guides must look well to them that they slip not from them : and for more assurance let them take a compass with them, and write down how far they go upon every point of the com pass ; for that country having no way nor path, if that your guides run from you in the great woods or desert, you shall hardly ever find a passage back. 370 The True Story of Captain John Smith "And how weary soever your soldiers be, let them never trust the country people with the carriage of their weap ons ; for if they run from you with your shott, which they only fear, they will easily kill them all with their arrows. And whensover any of yours shoots before them, be sure they may be chosen out of your best marksmen ; for if they see your learners miss what they aim at, they will think the weapon not so terrible, and thereby will be bould to assault you. " Above all, do not advertise the killing of any of your men that the country people may know it ; if they perceive that they are but common men, and that with the loss of many of theirs they can diminish any part of yours, they will make many adventures upon you. If the country be populous, you shall do well also, not to let them see or know of any of your sick men, if you have any ; which may also encourage them to many enterprises. " You must take especial care that you choose a seat for habitation that shall not be overburthened with woods near your town ; for all the men you have shall not be able to cleanse twenty acres a year ; besides that it may serve as a covert for your enemies round about. " Neither must you plant in a low or moist place, because it will prove unhealthful!. You shall judge of the good air by the people ; for some part of that coast where the lands are low have their people blear-eyed, and with swollen bel lies and legs ; but if the 'naturals be strong and clean made, it is a true sign of a wholesome soil. You must take order to draw up the pinnace that is left with you under the fort : and (to) take her sails and anchors ashore, all but a small kedge to ride by ; least som ill-disposed persons slip away with her. "You must take care that your' mariners that go for wages do not mar your trade ; for those that mind not to inhabite, for a little gain will debase the estimation of exchange, and hinder the trade for ever after ; and there fore you shall not admit or suffer any person whatever. The True Story of Captain John Smith 371 other than such as shall be appointed by the President and Counsel there, to buy any merchandizes, or other things whatsoever. " It were necessary that all your carpenters and other such like workmen about building do first build your storehouse and those other rooms of publick and necessary use before any house be set up for any private person; And though the workman may belong to any private persons yet let them all work together first for the company, and then for private men. " And seeing order is at the same price with confusion, it shall be adviseably done to set your houses even, and by a line, that your streets may have a good breadth, and be carried square about your market place, and every street's end opening into it ; that from thence, with a few field pieces, you may command every street throughout ; which market place you may also fortify if you think it needfuU. ' ' You shall do well to send a perfect relation by Captain Newport of all that is done, what height you are seated, how far into the land, what commodities you find, what soil, woods, and their several kinds and so of all ' other things else to advertise particularly ; and to suffer no man to return but by passport from the President and Counsel, not to write any letter of anything that may discourage others. " Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the giver of all Goodness for every plantation which our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out." APPENDIX B.* George Smith's Will. Furnished by Mr. John Swan, the present (1884) District Registrar of the Probate Court at Lincoln. " In the Name of God Amen In the thirtyth day of March a. thowsande five hundreth ninety-six I, George Smith of Willougbie juxta Alford on Marisco in the Countie of Lincolne being of good and perfect memorie I thanke God for itt though in bodie weake and paynde doe ordeyne and make this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme foUowinge. First I bequeathe my Soule into the mercifuU hands of th(e) almightie God in the mediation of Jesus Chryst myne alone and all sufficientt saviour, and my bodie to be buried within Willoughbie Church Item I give to Lincoln Minster vjd. Item to ye poore of ye foresaide Willoughbie iijs, iiijd. Item I give to ye Right Honorable my Lord Willoughbie under whome I have many yeares lived as his poore ten- nant as a token of my dewtifuU good will the best of my two yeares old colts Item I geve and bequeathe to Alice my Wyfe ye ferme which I now dwell in which I houlde by coppie of Court roule as ye grant of ye Right Honorable my foresaide good Lorde during her widdow hoode accordinge to ye custome of his Lordshippe manner of Willoughbie ; and if it shall please God that my saide Wyfe doe marry agayne and lake a second husband, then my Will is that my saide ferme shall come to John Smyth my eldest sonne whome I • Smith's Works, p. xix. The True Story of Captain John Smith 373 charge and command to honoure and love my foresaide good Lord Willoughbie duringe his lyfe Item I geve to Alice Smyth my Wyfe tenne pounds of good and lawfuU currant mony of England to be paid unto her att ye quarter off a yeares end next after my deathe Item I wiU and bequeathe unto ye said Alice my Wyfe a bedstead in ye first Chamber with a fetherbed a cover- inge a paire lynne (n) sheets one blanckett a bowlster with pillow and pillowe beare Item I geve to Alice Smyth my daughter tenn pov^nds of good and lawfuU currant monie of England, with a bed stead in the parler and a fetherbedd and coveringe and a blanckett a paire of Ijmne (n) sheets and a pare of hempen sheets with boulster pillow and pillow beares Item I give to the said Alice my doughter half of all my pewter and brasse. And if ye saide Alice my daughter doe dye before ye age of eighteene yeares, I will that all her parte and porcion as well of money as of other things be equally devided betweene myne executors Item I geve and bequeathe to Robert Smyth my Kynsman fourty shillings of good and lawfull currant monye of England to be given him -within one halfe yeare next after my death Item I geve to John Smyth mine eldest sonne and to ye heires of his bodie lawrfully begotten Seaven acres of pas ture lyenge within ye territoare of Charleton Magne Item I geve to Frauncis Smyth my younger sonne and to ye heires of his bodie lawfully begotten my two tenements and one Little Close in a certeyn Streete in Lowthe called West- gate And if ye saide Frauncis dye without issue of his bodie lawfully begotten I will that ye saide tenements and close remaine to my said sonne John Smyth and his issue of his bodie lawfully begotten All ye rest of my goods nott yett given nor bequeathed as well moveable" as unmoveable ; my debts paied and my bodie honestly brought to ye grounde I will shall equally be devided betwixt my saide two sonnes John Smyth and Frauncis Smyth whome I make the Coexecutors of this my 374 The True Story of Captain John Smith last Will and Testament : and I hartely and earnestly en- treate my goode Frende Master George Mattham to be ye supervisor of this my last Will and Testament to whome I give in consideration of his paynes xs. "\Vittnesses to this last Will and Testament Thomas Scarboroughe and Bartholomew Lawrence. APPENDIX C.^ CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S LAST WILL AND EPITAPH. (The Will is printed from the original Will in the Will Office of the Prerogative Court at Somerset House London). In the name of God Amen. The one and twentieth dale of June in the seaventh yeare of our soveraigne Lord Charles by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defendour of the faith &c. I Captain John Smith of the parish of St. Sepulchers' London Esquiour, beiuge sicke in body but of perfect mynde and memory, thankes be given vnto AUmightie God therefore, Revoking all former wills by me heretofore made, Doe make and ordeine this my last will and testament in manner foUovring. First, I commend my soule into the handes of AUmightie God my maker hoping through the merites of Christ Jesus, my Redeemer to receive full remis sion of all my sins, and to inherit a place in the euerlasting kingdome. My body I committ to the earth from whence it came, to be interred according to the discrecion of myne Executours hereunder named. And of such worldly goodes whereof it hath pleased God in his mercie to make me an vnworthie Receaver, I giue and bequeathe them as hereafter foUoweth.First I give and bequeathe vnto Thomas Packer Esquiour one of the Clerkes of his Majesties Privy Scale and to his heires for euer, all my houses landes tenementes and her editaments whatsoeuer scituate lyenge and beinge in the parishes of Lowthe and gfreater Carleton in the county of Lincolne together with my Coate of Armes. ? Smith's Works, p. 969. 376 The True Story of Captain John Smith Item my Will and meaninge is, that in consideracion thereof the sayd Thomas Packer shaU disburse and pay all such sommes of money and legacies as hereafter in this my Will are giuen bequeathed and reserued not exceeding the somme of fowerscore poundes of Lawfull mony of Eng land, That is to saie : First, I reserue vnto myself to be disposed as I shall thynke good in my life tyme, the somme of twentie pounds. Item he shall disburse about my funerall the somme of twentie poundes. Item I give and bequeath out' of the residue of the fourscore poundes as fol- loweth, viz. I give and bequeath unto my much honored and most worthie friend Sir Samuel Saltonstall Knight the somme of fyve poundes. Item to Mistris Tredway the somme of fyve poundes. Item to my sister Smith the Widowe of my brother the some of tenn poundes. Item to my cousin Steven Smith and his sister the somme (of\ six poundes thirteene shillinges fower pence betweene them. Item to the said Thomas Packer, Joan his wife and Eleanour his daughter the somme of Tenne poundes among them Item to Master Reynolds the Saymaster (Assay Master) of the Gouldsmiths Hall the somme of fortie shillinges. All which legacies my meaning and Will is shall be paid by the Said Thomas Packer his heires executours or administratours wdthin one yeare after my Discease. Item I give vnto Thomas Packer, sonne of the above sayd Thomas Packer, my trunck standing in my chamber at Sir Samuel Saltonstalls house in St. Sepulcher's parish, together with my best suite of apparrell, of a tavsmy color, viz., hose doublet ierkin and cloake. Item I g^ve unto him my trunke bound writh iron barres standing in the house of Richard Hinde in Lambeth, to- geather with halfe the bookes therein, to be chosen by the said Thomas Packer and aUowed by mine Executours ; and the other halfe of the bookes I giue unto Master John Tredeskyn (? Tradescant) and the said Richard Hynde to be divided betweene them. The True Story of Captain John Smith 377 Item, I nominate appointe and ordeine my said much honored friend Sir Samuel Saltonstall and the said Thomas Packer the elder, ioint executours of this my last WiU and testament. the marke of the sayd John Smith. Read acknowledged sealed and deliuered by the said Captain John Smith to be his last Will and testament, in the presence of us who have subscribed our names per me WiUelmum Keble, senior civitatus London. William Packer Elizabeth Sewster Marmaduke Walker his mark Wytnes. (Probate issued to Thomas Parker on i July, 1631). The Epitaph. To the living Memory of his deceased Friend, Captaine John Smith, who departed this mortaU life on the 21 day of June, 1631. With his Armes, and this Motto, Accordamus. Vincere est Vivere. Here lies one conquer'd that hath conquer'd Kings, Subdu'd large Territories, and done things Which to t'ne World impossible would seeme, But that the truth is held in more esteeme. ShaU I report his former service done In honor to his God and Christendome : How that he did divide from Pagans three. Their Heads and Lives, Types of his Chivalry ; For which great service in that Climate done. Brave Sigismundus (King of Hungarion) Did give him as a Coat of Armes to weare, Those conquer'd heads got by his Sword and Speare? Or shall I tell of his adventures since, Done in Virginia, that large Continence ; How that he subdu'd Kings tmto his yoke. 378 The True Story of Captain John Smith And made those Heathen flie, as wind doth smoke ; And made their land, being of so large a Station, A habitation for our Christian Nation, ¦Where God is glorified, their wants supplied, Which else for necessaries might have died? But what avails his Conquest, now he lies Inter'd in earth, a prey for Wormes and Flies? O may his soule in sweet Elizium sleepe, Vntill the Keeper that all soules doth keepe. Relume to ludgement, and that after thence. With Angels he may have his recompence. Captaine John Smith, sometime Govemour of Virginia, and Admirall of New England. APPENDIX D.* SIGISMUND'S PATENT AND LETTER OF SAFE CONDUCT. SIGISMUNDUS BATHORI.— Dei Gratia Dux Transil- vaniae, Wallachise et Vandalorum ; Comes Anchard, Salford, Growenda ; Cunctis his Uteris sigjnificamus qui eas lecturi aut audituri sunt, concessam licentiam aut facultatem lohanni Smith, natione Anglo Generoso, 250. militum capi- taneo sub lUustrissimi et Gravissimi Henrici Volda, Comitis de Meldri, Salmariae et Peldois primario, et 1000 equitibus et 1500 peditibus beUo Vngarico conductione in Provincias suprascriptas sub Authoritate nostra : cui servitute omni laude, perpetuaque memoria dignum praebuit sese erga nos, ut virum strenuum pugnantem pro aris et focis decit. Quare e favore nostro militario ipsum ordine condonavimus, et in SigiUum illius tria Turcia Capita designare et depri- mere concessimus, qusB ipse gladio suo ad Vrbem Regalem in singulari prseUo vincit, mactavit atque decoUavit in Transilvanise Provincia. Sed fortuna cum variabilis ancepsque sit idem forte for- tuito in Wallachia Provincia, Anno Domini 1602, die Men- sis Novembris i8f, cum multis aliis etiam Nobilibus et aUis quibusdam militibus captus est a Domino Bascha electo ex Gambia regionis Tartarise, cujus severitate adductus salutem quantam potuit quesivet, tantumque effecit, Deo omnipotente adjuvante, ut deliberavit se, et ad suos Com- militones revertit ; ex quibus ipsum liberavimus, et hsc nobis testimonia habuit ut majori licentia fnieretur qua dignus esset, jam tendet in patriam suam dulcissimam. Rogamus ergo onjnes nostros charissimos, confitimos. • Smith's Works, p. 842. t Augusti Svo. 380 The True Story of Captain John Smith Duces, Principes, Comites. Barones, Gubematores Vrbium et Navium in eadem Regione et coeterarum Provinciarum in quibus ille residere, conatus fuerit ut idem permittatur Capitaneus libere sine obstaculo omni versari. Haec facien- tes pergraium nobis feceritis. Signatum Lesprizia in Misnia die Mensis Decembris 9, Anno Domini 1603. Sigismundus Bathori. Cum Privilegio proprio Majestatis. UNIVERSIS, et singulis, cujuscunque loci, satus, gradus, ordinis, ac conditionis ad quos hoc prsesens scriptum pervenerit, Guilielmus Segar Eques auratus alius dictus * Garterus Principalis Rex Armorum Anglicorum, Salutem. Sciatis, quod Ego praedictus Garterus, notum, testatum- que facio, quod Patentem suprascriptum, cum manu pro pria prsedicti Ducis Transilvanise subsignatum, et Sigillo suo affixum, Vidi : et Copiam veram eisdem (in perpetuam rei memoriam) transcripsi, et recordavi in Archivis, et Regis- tris Officii Armorum. Datum Londini 19. die Augusti, Anno Domini 1625. An- noque Regni Domini nostri CAROLI Dei Gratia Magnse Britanniae, Franciae, et Hibemiae Regis, Fidei Defensoris, &c., Primo. GviLiELMvs Segar, Garterus. THE TRANSLATION. SIGISMUNDUS BATHOR, by the grace of God, Duke of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, Earl of An chard, Salford, and Growenda ; to whom this Writing may come or appeare. Know that We have given leave and licence to John Smith, an English Gentleman, Captain of 150. Souldiers, under the most Generous and Honourable * Dominus The True Story of Captain John Smith 381 Henry Volda, Earl of Meldritch, Salmaria and Peldoia Col onel of a thousand horse and fifteene hundred foot, in the warres of Hungary, and in the provinces aforesaid under our authority ; whose service doth deserve all praise and perpetuall memory towards us, as a man that did for God and his Country overcome his enemies : Wherefore, out of Our love and favour, according to the law of Armes, We have ordained and given him in his shield of Armes, the figure and description of three Turks heads, which with his sword, before the town of Regall, in single combat he did overcome, kill and cut off, in the province of Transylvania. But fortune as she is very variable, so it chanced and happened to him in the Province of Wallachia, in the yeare of our Lord 1502. the 18. day of November, (when he) with many others, as well Noble men as also divers other Soul diers, were taken prisoners by the Lord Bashaw of Gam bia, a country of Tartaria : whose cruelty brought him such good fortune, by the helpe and power of Almighty God, that hee delivered himselfe, and returned againe to his com pany and feUow souldiers ; of whom We doe discharge him, and this hee hath in witnesse thereof, being much more worthy of a better reward ; and now intends to return to his ovsm sweet Country. We desire therefore all our loving and kinde kinsmen, Dukes, Princes, Earles, Barons, Govemours of Townes, Cities or Ships, in this Kingdome, or any other Provinces he shall come in, that you freely let pass this the afore said Captaine, without any hinderance or molestation : and this doing, with all kindnesse we are alwayes ready to doe the like for you. Sealed at Lipswick in Misenland, the ninth of December, in the yeare of our Lord, 1603. Sigismundus Bathor. With the proper privilege of his Majesty. To aU and singular, in what place state degree and con- 382 The True Story of Captain John Smith dition whatsover, to whom this present writing shall come: I William Segar Knight, otherwise Garter, and principall King of Armes of England, with health. Know that I, the aforesaid Garter, do witnesse and approve, that this aforesaid Patent, I have scene, signed and sealed under the proper hand and Seale Manual of the said Duke of Transil vania ; and a true coppy of the same, as a thing for perpetuall memory, I have subscribed and recorded in the Register and office of the Heralds of Armes. Dated at London the nineteenth day of August, in the yeare of our Lord 1625, and in the First yeare of our Soueraigne Lord Charles by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. William Segar. ¦ UNIVERSITY LIBRARY