CHAPTER XIII.
“She was lost in a country new and strange,
With lakes and with mountains high,
With forests wide, where the redmen range,
And shores where the sea-birds fly.”
Fair and lovely was that sunny Virginia country. No wonder the ships went back to England with fairy tales. No wonder that, in spite of mishaps and disasters, there were always more of the quiet English folk ready to sail for the new world of romance and beauty.
The early spring melted into summer; the trees were festooned with wild vines; the forest was alive with flowers and birds. It was an ideal day in June, and the whole world seemed glad and happy. Virginia and the lovely princesses, Mataoka and Cleopatra, had gathered their arms full of flowers and berries. Virginia was twining them into garlands, as they sat by a little stream down which a canoe was gliding swiftly. It stopped near them, and Nantiquas, who was paddling, drew it upon the bank and sat down near Virginia, listening to her merry chatter with his sisters, till they sprang up to run after a butterfly.