Campfire Girls' Lake Camp; or, Searching for New Adventures

by Irene Elliott Benson; Stella M. Francis

Captain Smith had many things to vex and trouble him. He was angry when he thought of the injustice under which he suffered, and the worthlessness of those named to rule the colony. With the coming of the hot, sultry southern summer all prudence seemed to leave the settlers. They drank deeply of the unwholesome water, and the mists that brooded over the neighboring swamps were heavy with malaria, which had already laid a number on their backs, with more than one fatal issue threatened.

Those who kept healthy thought it too uncomfortable to toil when the hot sun was overhead, and as twilight and night drew near, the day was too far gone to make it worth while to labour. They would not be roused early enough in the day to do anything of account, though most of them did make a pretense of hoeing the corn, of which several acres were growing. Wingfield, the president, set the example of indolence, and instead of being moderate in eating, acted as if there never could come an end to the food that had been brought across the sea, and which was already nearly exhausted. What the colony needed above everything else was a stern, rigorous, wise head, and it is no reproach to Captain Smith that he said to himself: "I am the only man for the time; but they have tied my hands, though they shall not be tied long."

While the future looked so dark, he was more disturbed by the present, or what might be called the near future. He saw in the glum, resentful manner of Powhatan something more than displeasure with the presence of the white men. Holding such great power as did the chieftain, he was not likely to remain quiet much longer. He could not but know of the growing weakness of the colonists, who were short of food, with much sickness among them, and the certainty that before long they would be at the mercy of the Indians.

Smith wondered why an attack had not been made upon the settlement long before. With the vast body of warriors that Powhatan could summon at his will, they would have been able to crush the little band of white men, despite the dreaded firearms at their command. The pioneer had no idea that the postponement of such an assault was due to Pocahontas, nor did he learn the truth until years afterward.

He looked at the dark, frowning shores on either hand, stretching in the distance many miles beyond the farthest extent of vision when the sun was shining, and thought of the thousands of warriors who roamed and hunted through those solitudes, fighting one another, when, had they been wise enough to unite their strength, they could bid defiance to any armed fleet that England might send across the ocean.

Suddenly a star-like gleam showed on the southern shore. That it had been kindled by the Indians was not to be doubted. Watching it for a minute or so, without seeing anything more than a glowing point, Smith turned his face toward the northern bank. At the moment of doing so he observed an answering signal, and was not surprised, for it was natural that such a reply should be made.

"They are speaking to one another about our boat, but that is of no concern to me, for I do not think we have anything to fear from them."

He scanned the two shores in the expectation of seeing other signal fires, but none showed. Meanwhile the boat made little headway against the tide, for the gentle breeze hardly fanned one's face. Smith rose to his feet, and with pipe between his lips, gazed out on the moonlit expanse of river, not expecting to discover anything unusual, and yet something of that nature quickly appeared.

A peculiar flickering toward the northern shore caught his eye, and while trying to learn what it meant he saw that the object was an Indian canoe, in which he soon made out two persons, with the nearer one swaying a paddle, while his companion sat quietly at the stern.

The Captain recalled the sight which greeted the ships when first coming up the James. There was the small craft, driven in the same manner, and with the same number of persons. Standing erect at the gunwale, he watched it closely, and a minute or two later was certain that the two were Nantaquas and Pocahontas. He had learned of their identity from the friendly Indians who came to Jamestown, the plume worn by the girl being a badge of royalty.