[XXIII.]
A HUMBLED CHIEFTAIN
Powhatan stirs his Dutch allies to reluctant activity—They concoct a conspiracy to seize Jamestown and massacre the English—The movement fails and all Powhatan’s warriors fall into the hands of Smith—“It is within my power to cut off the Powhatans root and branch!”—The old Chief is bowed in shame and repentance—A very righteous fate befalls the perfidious Dutchmen—Friendly relations are again established between the whites and the Indians—A grand scheme of government which has a bad inception—Ratcliffe, Archer and other mischief-makers return to Virginia—Smith is seriously injured and returns to England.
The Dutchmen at Werowocomico had been living on the fat of the land. They were installed as honored members of the tribe and granted many unusual privileges. Powhatan was well pleased with their work in the erection of his English house and their success in stealing from the settlement. But he expected much more from these white allies, who came to him boasting that they would show him how to subdue the English and drive them into the sea. The traitors would have been well content to have Powhatan forget those idle promises and allow them to continue in peace the life of ease and comfort into which they had settled. They were mechanics, quite ignorant of military matters. They could steal muskets but were unable to drill the savages in the use of them and, indeed, through their faulty instructions caused a number of the Indians to be blown up by gunpowder. However, Powhatan was insistent that they should redeem their promises and it became necessary to bestir themselves.
Smith had effectually put a stop to the traffic between the thieves in the fort and their confederates among the Indians, but it would have been quite impossible to prevent communications, since there was constant intercourse between the settlers and the natives of the surrounding country. The Dutchmen, therefore, had no difficulty in laying plans with certain of their countrymen in Jamestown. A scheme was at length conceived that appeared to present some prospect of success and met with the approval of Powhatan. On a certain night the conspirators within the fort were to blow up the arsenal and set fire to the settlement at several points simultaneously. In the confusion that would follow two thousand Indians would rush into the enclosure and massacre the surprised settlers. There was one point about this arrangement that was not quite satisfactory to the plotters. Their contemplated rush might be effectually checked by a few faithful and determined men in control of the big guns. These were always handled by experienced English gunners and it would be necessary to seduce some of these from their allegiance. With this view, the schemers approached Douse and Mallard, whose posts were at the main entrance. To them they promised rich rewards and high favor with Powhatan on condition of disabling the guns on the night of the attack and deserting to the enemy. The gunners apparently fell in with this proposal and the conspirators congratulated themselves on having their plans arranged beyond the possibility of miscarriage.
On the appointed night two thousand warriors under picked chiefs crept up to within half a mile of the fort and lay in waiting for the signal flames that were to call them to the attack. Hour after hour passed without a sign from Jamestown. The settlement was apparently sunk in peaceful slumber, but, as a matter of fact, every man within the stockade was wide awake and standing silently to his arms ready to repel an attack, whilst the conspirators lay snug and safe in the jail. At the first streak of dawn, the disappointed Indians prepared to return, when they found themselves face to face with a body of musketeers. They were ordered to lay down their arms and did so without delay. Contention would have been useless for they lay between two bodies of the English and were completely cut off. Captain Percy, in command of the ambuscade, now demanded the surrender of the renegade white men. The Indians were unable to comply with this request for those worthies, realizing that something was wrong, had sneaked off some hours earlier and were on their way to Werowocomico.
The warriors were rounded up and marched into the fort, and Smith immediately selected one of their chiefs to act as a messenger and sent him, under the escort of Master Richard Whyffin and Serjeant Ford, to Powhatan.
“Tell your Werowance,” ran Smith’s message, “that I have all his warriors penned up as we pen our sheep. It is within my power to cut off the Powhatans root and branch, and if I visit them with their deserts, that will I do. For the present I demand the immediate surrender of the foreign renegados who fled from this place and those that I sent to work at Werowocomico. I make no conditions. What I may do with the warriors of the Powhatans is yet to be determined. Mayhap my temper may cool upon reflection, but at present my heart is filled with wrath against Powhatan and all his tribe. Go! I have spoken!”
The following day the Indian messenger and the two Englishmen returned, but they were unaccompanied by the Dutchmen. From Powhatan the chief brought this message:
“Powhatan is bowed in anguish and his gray hairs sweep the dust. He prays the great English Werowance to hear these his words for they are spoken in truth and all sincerity from the bottom of his heart. Powhatan pleads for mercy and the friendship of Captain Smith. Never again, so long as Powhatan lives, will he or any of his people raise hand against the English. This is no idle talk, Powhatan swears it by the name of his gods and the god of the strangers and will give ample hostages to insure his good faith. Why should Captain Smith slay the warriors who but obeyed the commands of their Werowance? Would he visit his wrath upon the squaws and children of the Powhatans who sit wailing in their wigwams? If the fields of Werowocomico, of Pamaunke and of Oropaks, yield no harvest in the coming fall, where will the English procure corn to stay their hunger? But if the white Werowance must satisfy his just wrath, then let him come to Werowocomico and sate it upon me. I am here alone and unguarded and will bow my head to the stroke of his sword. Then let him return and release my warriors so that the wailing of my people may not reach my ears in the happy hunting grounds of my fathers.
“As to the renegados, who betrayed me as they had betrayed you, it is not in Powhatan’s power to return them to you for they were slain before your messengers arrived in Werowocomico. The hungry curs slunk back to their wigwams in time for the morning meal. This I gave them in plenty—for it is not our custom to send a man fasting to the spirit-land—but afterwards their brains were dashed out by my orders and their bodies have been seen by the English captains who came with your messenger.