She had nothing further to say, realizing that words would have no effect, but, with the quick wit of a woman, she had advanced an argument which was unanswerable. The executioners dropped their clubs and looked perplexedly towards the Werowance. The assembled warriors gazed expectantly in the same direction. The affair had reached an impasse. None there dared lay a hand on the girl save the Powhatan, and he had no thought of doing so. He gazed at her with proud satisfaction for a few moments, whilst a presentiment took possession of his mind that this slip of a girl had unwittingly saved her tribe from a world of possible troubles.
“Let be!” he said with an air of weariness. “The paleface shall be adopted into the tribe to make hatchets for me and beads for his little sister.”
With that Smith was unbound and taken to a wigwam where they brought him food and left him to wonder at the marvellous workings of Providence and pass a peaceful night.
The next morning our hero was led to one of the larger houses which was divided in the middle by a partition. Smith was instructed to seat himself and to await events. Presently, from the other side of the screen came the most hideous howls and shrieks he had ever heard, but Smith had got beyond the point of being disturbed by anything that might occur. For half an hour or more the strange sounds continued, when Powhatan and his chiefs entered, accompanied by Smith’s old friends the noisy medicine men. He was informed that the ceremony which had just taken place was that of his adoption into the tribe and Powhatan formally addressed him as “son.” From this time Smith was treated with the utmost consideration and those who had been the most eager for his death, with the exception of the implacable Opechancanough who departed to his village in high dudgeon, now vied with each other in efforts to secure his good-will. Powhatan and Smith held many conferences together in which each learned a great deal from the other and grew to regard his erstwhile enemy with feelings of respect and friendship.
The savages had entertained the hope that after the adoption Smith would remain with them and they even thought to induce him to lead them against Jamestown. It is needless to say that he firmly declined to do either. Powhatan being at length convinced of Smith’s friendly intentions agrees to his return but, in satisfaction of his own desire as well as to appease the disappointment of his people, he exacts a ransom to consist of two of the largest guns in the fort and the biggest grindstone.
[XVIII.]
FIRE AND STARVATION
Powhatan by excessive greed overreaches himself—Smith is allowed to return to the settlement—He finds the colonists, as usual, disturbed by dissensions—Arrives just in time to prevent Ratcliffe and others from deserting—Newport arrives with the “first supply”—The Indians continue to treat Smith as a tribal chief—Fire destroys Jamestown completely—Newport and Smith visit Powhatan—The purple beads “fit only for the use of Kings”—The astute Indian Chief meets his match in Captain John Smith—The settlers are smitten with the gold fever—Captain Newport sails for England with a wonderful cargo.
Had Powhatan been less specific in his demand, or less greedy in his desire, Captain Smith might have found it difficult to agree to his proposal. But, when the Werowance made a point of exacting the “two largest guns and the biggest grindstone” in the fort, Smith had no hesitation in saying that he would permit Powhatan’s messengers to carry away the articles mentioned. This point having been settled to their mutual satisfaction, the Chief detailed twelve men to guide and guard our hero on the road to Jamestown which, being but twelve miles from Werowocomico, they reached by easy marches. The Indian escort was treated with all the kindness Smith could command for them. Each was given a present and they were charged with the delivery of a package to Powhatan, containing a number of the things most highly prized by the savages. When the time for their departure came they asked for the guns and grindstone which they were to carry back to their Chief.