CHAPTER VII
Fall, clad in gorgeous robes of crimson and yellow, fled before the moaning chant of winter as she wrapped her winding-sheet of glistening snow around her skeleton form. Her biting breath had forced the colonists to build log cabins for shelter. Roaring fires in the great chimney places gave warmth to their bodies, but could not satisfy the cravings of hunger. Most of their ammunition had been squandered along with their provisions, and only the daily visits of Pocahontas now saved them from starvation.
Few among the colonists had any love for Captain Smith. True, his popularity had been great for a while after he had forced Wingfield to abandon the pinnace a second time; but it soon waned, and his days were made miserable with suspicion and taunts.
“I will leave them to their fate and go in search of the South Sea, which men say is only two hundred miles to the westward,” he said to himself.
Acting upon this determination, he took six men and two Indian guides, and started up the James. Soon he came to the Chickahominy, upon whose chocolate-colored breast the wild geese and swans were floating.
At the same time he left Jamestown an Indian was traveling with all speed to carry a message from Wingfield to Opechancanough.
“Father Smith comes your way. Kill him, and twenty guns will be your reward,” was the message.
Seeing a column of smoke rising from among the trees, Captain Smith commanded his men to row him ashore. Perhaps there might be an Indian village there, where he could learn something about the route to the South Sea. Taking with him the two Indian guides, he ordered the others to row to the center of the stream and await his coming.
Hardly had he disappeared when his orders were disobeyed. Robinson and Emry refused to row back. They would do some exploring on their own account.
Opechancanough had received the message sent by Wingfield. As soon as Captain Smith was out of sight, his men pounced down upon Robinson and Emry and added their scalps to their belts. Then they started in pursuit of Smith.