Captain John Smith

by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

“Pamaunkes!” said Smith, addressing them in stern tones. “You have gone about to compass my death. What have I done that you should meet my honorable offices with such foul treachery? I promised you my friendship as your Chief promised his to me. In what manner hath he kept that promise? But, despite your presumption, I am willing to overlook that which is passed and take you again into my favor. Now, mark me well! for I speak you in all earnestness! If you repeat your treacheries or shoot but one arrow to the hurt of any of my people, then will I surely visit the Pamaunkes with a bitter vengeance. I am not now powerless, half drowned and frozen, as when you captured me. Yet for your good usage and sparing of me then, am I kindly disposed towards you. In all friendliness I came to barter with you and you undertook to freight my ship. That shall you do, receiving therefor a proper recompense.”

The Indians expressed their willingness to abide by these conditions and declared that every soul in the band should be immediately engaged in the task of loading the vessel, leaving the matter of payment to be decided by the English Werowance later.

“So be it!” said Smith. “Your Chief and brethren are free. They may take their weapons and go. But beware! For if again you play me false I shall show no such mercy upon you.”

The band now set to work to load the barges with all possible speed, for, like the men of Werowocomico after trying conclusions with our Captain, they were only too anxious to have the English begone. They were just at the point of departure when there arrived a tattered and footsore white man, pinched with hunger and cold. He had reached the extremity of his endurance when he staggered into the camp of his people at Pamaunke. This brave fellow was Master Richard Wyffin, one of the gentlemen adventurers who had arrived with Captain Nelson in the Phœnix. After being fed and warmed, he told his story to Smith. It appeared that some two weeks previous Scrivener, the acting President, together with Captain Waldo and Anthony Gosnold, newly appointed members of the Council, and eight men, had left the settlement on a visit to Hog Island, where the colonists kept some swine that had been imported from the West Indies. A sudden storm overtook the party and capsized their boat. All were drowned and their bodies some days later were recovered by Indians. Wyffin, at the grave hazard of his life, had set out alone to carry the sad tidings to the President. After wandering out of his way for several days, the messenger reached Werowocomico, where he expected to find Smith. Here he would have fallen a prey to the vengeance of Powhatan’s warriors had not Pocahontas hidden him and, when opportunity served, set him upon the road to Pamaunke. Smith was much affected by the news of the death of Scrivener, for whom he had a strong regard and whose value to the colony he fully appreciated.

During the loading of the barges Smith had had a heart to heart talk with Opechancanough. That chief, now thoroughly subdued in spirit and persuaded that frankness might better serve his interests than deception, gave the Englishman a fairly truthful account of the actual state of affairs. From this and his own observation, Smith reached the conclusion that the stores of Pamaunke could not well stand the strain of freighting both his barges. He decided, therefore, to be satisfied with one barge load, determining to return to Werowocomico for the second. This he felt quite justified in doing, for it was well known to him that Powhatan’s garners were always overflowing, for the great Werowance exacted a heavy tribute from the minor chiefs of the tribe. Moreover, Smith was willing to punish his adoptive father as the author of all the trouble that had befallen the expedition. Accordingly, after leaving Pamaunke, the boats turned their prows upstream and started back to Werowocomico.

Towards evening the expedition, turning a bend in the river, came suddenly upon a place where a number of people were assembled on the bank, evidently awaiting their coming. They were men and women, quite unarmed, and each bearing a basket of corn. Smith chuckled when he beheld the palpable trap.

“Surely they take us for barn-yard fowls and think that we will run to a handful of grain held out in a sieve. The grain we will take but in no such simple fashion.”

He had no doubt that a hundred or more stout bowmen lay hidden behind the innocent looking crowd which greeted him with eager offers to trade. Dissembling his suspicions, Smith declared that the day was too far spent for trading. He would lie-to for the night, he said, and in the morning would come ashore unarmed as they demanded.

When darkness had set in Smith picked twenty-five men and placed them under the commands of Percy and West. These officers were directed to take the force in one of the barges several miles farther up the river and there to land twenty of them. The remaining five were to bring back the boat that its absence might not excite the suspicions of the savages on the morrow. Percy and West were then to proceed through the forest with their men and dispose them before daylight in the rear of the Indian ambuscade. It was quite dark when the barge, with muffled oars, pulled upstream, but some hours later a clear moon arose, enabling the party to carry out its instructions to the letter.

The next morning, the unarmed Indians were on the bank as before with their baskets of corn, and Smith went ashore as he had promised with a squad of men, all of whom had left their weapons in the pinnace. No sooner had they set foot on land than the would-be traders scattered and fled into the surrounding forest, leaving their baskets upon the ground. At the same instant a band of warriors rose from the cover in which they had lain hidden and drew their bows upon the English.