We fashion our future, of bliss or woe,
As the present passes away.
Our feet are climbing the stairway bright,
Or gliding downward into the night,
Little by little, day by day.”
In less than ten minutes they were passing the first log hut; how quiet everything was! Most of the settlers were sleeping as sweetly as they might have done in their own villages in dear old England. There was not much doubt which of the huts was occupied by the Harvey family, for the baby Elizabeth was crying as usual. No one seemed to trouble himself in the least about the wee creature that sent forth constantly so pitiful a little cry, that it said more plainly than volumes could have done, how weary and hard she found this world.
She, the youngest creature, was the first to break the peace of that quiet little Roanoke village, the first Christian people in this heathen land. But the happy hours of peace in their rude little homes were over; for in less than an hour every one’s heart echoed the sad cry of that tiny baby: there were torches lighted here and there, and little knots of men talking in anxious whispers, as if they feared being overheard, even by the wind and trees; women standing together outside their doors, with frightened children clinging to them. Every one was thoroughly awake now. In one group stood Anthony Gage, an elderly man who seemed to have authority, for the others were looking at him and listening. He had been made a leader rather by circumstances than by birth; and he looked frightened and bewildered now, as the torch cast a lurid, flickering light over his handsome face.
“I think,” he was saying, “as long as Manteo is a powerful chief, we had better go back with Ranteo; we will be as safe there as anywhere. It was certainly good of him to offer us shelter, for it will mean war with Wanchese for him. What say you, men?”
Hopeful Kent was in the group, and spoke up at once:—
“I fear we shall then be making slaves of ourselves. Manteo can do what he likes with us when we are in his camp. Mayhap he has made all this story up to get possession of us.”