Captain John Smith

by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

“Certes! They be yours if you can carry them,” replied Smith, pointing, with a quizzical smile, at two demi-culverins each weighing more than four tons and a huge grindstone which four men could hardly raise on edge. The baffled savages looked on these ponderous things with dismay and had to admit that they could not be carried to Werowocomico though the whole tribe came after them. Smith was not willing that his visitors should leave without gaining some impression of the power as well as the size of the ordnance and so he loaded one of the guns with small stones and discharged it into the trees where the icicle-laden boughs were thickest. The smoke and racket that followed filled the Indians with terror and they took their leave hurriedly, doubtless glad that the roaring, fire-spitting monster was not to accompany them.

The great majority of the settlers welcomed Captain Smith, whom they had never expected to see again, with genuine joy. Once more he had arrived just in the nick of time, for the affairs of the colony had been going from bad to worse during his absence and were now on the point of a crisis that, had it not been averted, would have probably effected the ruin of the colony. There had been no improvement in the government. Ratcliffe had become justly unpopular in the presidency and Archer, a pettifogging lawyer and mischief-maker, had been admitted to the Council. Martin, feeble in health and mind, had fallen under the complete domination of the other two and with them and other malcontents had entered into a conspiracy which the return of Captain Smith was just in time to frustrate. He no sooner heard of their plot to sail to England in the pinnace and desert the settlement than he bearded them in the Council room.

“So,” he cried, indignation and contempt showing in every tone and gesture. “So! These be the gallant gentlemen who contended among themselves for leadership of our enterprise! By my halidame! A fine pack of leaders—tufftaffaty humorists rather! Ye mind me of one Falstaffe—a cowardly, gluttonous braggart he—I once saw depicted at the Globe playhouse. Not one of you has hazarded his skin beyond musket-shot of the fort but now, having fattened and reposed yourselves through the winter, ye would return to England and brag of your brave deeds and feats of arms. But—and I mistake not—we shall find a different conclusion for your plot. I hold the King’s commission to maintain the flag of England in this country and whilst my arm and brain serve me that will I do in good faith and count all such as oppose the commands of His Most Gracious Majesty, enemies of the realm and traitors to their country. Take heed then how ye proceed in this matter, for I will see to it that the guns are manned day and night by good and true men with instructions to sink the pinnace at the first show of sinister design.”

With that Smith clapped his hat upon his head and strode out of the Council room.

If the conspirators had entertained any thought of pursuing their project in the face of Captain Smith’s opposition, the ringing shout with which he was greeted by the waiting crowd outside was sufficient to banish it. Word of what was going forward had drawn the settlers to the Council House and much of Smith’s harangue, delivered in a voice strong with anger, had penetrated to them. They were almost to a man in sympathy with him, for the cowardly plotters belonged exclusively to the “gentleman” class among the colonists, men who arrogated to themselves superior privileges and rights whilst unwilling to bear even their share of hardship and toil. These poor creatures should not be considered representative of the gentlemen of England, who in those stirring times produced many of the bravest and most self-sacrificing leaders in the chronicles of Christendom.

The settlers had almost begun to despair of Newport’s return when one day, in early January, he sailed into the river with a well-laden ship and upwards of one hundred new colonists. His appearance put an end to a pretty scheme which the attorney Archer had concocted to encompass Smith’s downfall. Direct from England, with authority superior to that of any man in Jamestown, Newport instituted an inquiry into the government of the colony during his absence and determined that Wingfield and Archer should return with him, to answer to the Company. Scrivener he appointed to the Council and thus assured Smith of one firm ally in that body. Newport had started for America with two vessels. These became separated in mid-ocean and the Phœnix, commanded by Captain Francis Nelson, did not arrive until considerably later.

The relations between the Indians and the colonists now became very friendly, owing to the adoption of Smith by the tribe. After his return to Jamestown, Pocahontas and some of the other women of Werowocomico came to the settlement twice or three times a week laden with provisions, these being Smith’s share, as a chief, of the tribal stores. On these occasions, men would also bring foodstuff to be disposed of in trade. These supplies were very timely, for the settlement had again approached the verge of starvation when Smith returned after his seven weeks of captivity, and Captain Newport’s arrival did not greatly mend that matter, for the larger part of the edible supplies sent from England were upon the tardy vessel. In the barter with the savages, Smith established a scale of exchange based upon the values set by the Indians themselves upon the wares of the foreigners. This was of course fair enough, but his enemies, more than ever jealous of the great influence he evidently enjoyed with the Indians, sought to undermine it by giving them very much more than they asked for their grain and venison. The result was that in a short while a pound of copper would scarce purchase as much as an ounce had secured under Smith’s regulation. The schemers had the satisfaction of seeing Smith fall in the regard of the Indians, who naturally thought that he had been cheating them.

The newcomers were of course a welcome accession to the depleted colony, but they brought misfortune upon it at the outset. They had been little more than a week within the stockade when one of them through carelessness set fire to the house in which he was lodged. The flames spread and in a few short hours all the buildings and even the fortifications were consumed. Nothing could be saved but the clothes upon the men’s backs, and the supplies which Newport had landed went with the rest. In this extremity the settlers must have perished of cold and starvation, or fallen under the arrows of the savages, but for the amicable relations which had been brought about by Captain Smith. As it was, the Indians hastened to bring furs and food to the relief of the miserable white men who were prostrated body and soul by the sudden misfortune. They sat about the ruins of Jamestown, bewailing their lot and praying Captain Newport to carry them home to England. This would have been impossible at the time, even had he a mind to do so, for there was not enough food on the ship to serve such a numerous company as far as the West Indies.

Smith was ashamed at the cowardice of his countrymen and fearful lest their puerile exhibition of weakness should lower them in the estimation of the Indians, many of whom were on hand, for the flames of Jamestown had been plainly visible at Werowocomico. Seconded by Mr. Hunt, Newport, Percy and Scrivener, he went among the whimpering colonists persuading, threatening, cajoling—in short, using any means to make them bestir themselves.