She caught sight of the white men before they saw her. She must have been coming over the path, when she observed the figures and stopped in amazement. On her comely face the emotion of astonishment was quickly followed by that of pleasure.
"It is Pocahontas," whispered Bertram, at the rear of his friend; "we saw nothing of her yesterday at the lodge of the old chief, because she was absent. I wonder what she is doing here alone?"
"Her friends can't be far off. But I say, Jack, this is a godsend."
"What do you mean?"
"You will see."
The girl did not wait after observing that she was seen by the strangers. She knew where these men had come from, and, shifting her bow to her left hand as she walked, she came smilingly forward. She had noticed the strange custom of the pale-faces when they met of clasping their hands. Without pause she reached out her hand to Smith who was in front, and said to him in broken words:
"How do? how do? Me friend; you friend."
Smith took the dainty palm, warmly pressed it, and then gave way to Bertram, as he stepped up beside him and did the same. Pocahontas tried to say something more, but she knew so little of the English language that neither caught her meaning. It was amusing to note her sparkling eyes and charming smile as she saw that too many of her words were spoken in her own tongue for the men to understand them. Laughing in her childish way, she gave up the effort, and stood looking inquiringly into the bronzed faces before her, as if asking them to help her out of her trouble.
"Jack," said Smith in a low voice, "the Indians have attacked Jamestown; we don't know how many of our people they have killed; we need food; let's take this daughter of the old chief and hold her as a hostage. We will give him the choice of letting us have all the corn we want, or of having his pet daughter put to death."
"I hardly know what to say to that; it may work the other way."