White had broken into a run, and had dashed past us through the idly swinging gate, and I heard him shout, as he reached the inside. He was rushing madly from hut to hut, searching each one eagerly, and then passing on to the next, his gray locks floating in the breeze. "Virginia!" he shouted, "Virginia! Come to Grandpa," and he raised his voice again and again, and called the child. No answer—only the taunting echo, "Virginia."
The settlement was deserted, and had evidently not been trodden by the foot of the colonists for months. The cabins were bare and uninhabited, with rotting floors, and sagging doors; the hearthstones had been cold for long days. The colonists were gone, and had left no trace behind them.
The old man, Governor White, had thrown himself upon the ground in anguish, and lay with bared head on the grass. He did not move when I approached him.
"Governor," I said, bending and touching him on the shoulder, "do not despair. We will search the country; perhaps they have gone to some more congenial spot, and even now await us. By inquiring among the Indians, we may find some trace."
"No," he answered dully, "our agreement was that if they should leave this spot they should carve upon some tree the name of the place where they had gone, and if in distress, they should cut above the name a cross—I find neither name nor cross. The little lass would be just large enough to walk about and babble her childish thoughts, so young and innocent, with curling locks and playful eyes. And to become the prey of some cruel savage or ferocious beast, or to die beneath the tomahawk, or at the stake," and he tore his gray hair with his hands wildly.
"Come," I said, gently taking him by the hand, and lifting him from the ground where he lay. "Thou must rest, and then we will begin our search."
At that moment there arose a loud shout, and the party, which had scattered in their search, all ran forward to where the Indian stood, surrounded by a throng of the men. White broke loose from me and ran at full speed to where they stood, I hot at his heels. Had Manteo found a moldering body of some of the unfortunate colonists, or had he discovered some token or message of their whereabouts?
Panting and breathless, I halted where the chief stood pointing to a tree, the body of which had been stripped of its bark, and which gleamed white and naked among its fellows. There, high up upon its trunk, in well-cut letters, was carved the one word "Croatan."