Richard of Jamestown | Page 7

been with the captain a goodly portion of the time
while the ships were being made ready for the voyage, and if he had
harbored so much of wickedness, surely must some word of it have
come to me, who sat or stood near at hand, listening attentively
whenever he had speech with others of the company of adventurers.

CAPTAIN SMITH A PRISONER
When the voyage was begun, and the captain no longer had need of me,
I was sent into the forward part of the ship to live, as has already been
set down, and therefore it was I knew nothing of what was being done
in the great cabin, where the leaders of the company were quartered,
until after my master was made a prisoner. Then it was told me by the
seaman who had been called by Captain Kendall, as if it was feared my
master, being such a great soldier, might strive to harm those who
miscalled him a traitor to that which he had sworn.
It seems, so the seaman said, that Captain John Martin was the one who
made the charges against my master, on the night after we set sail from
Martinique, when all the chief men of the company were met in the
great cabin, and he declared that, when it was possible to do so,
meaning after we had come to the land of Virginia, witnesses should be
brought from the other ships to prove the wicked intent. Then it was
that Captain George Kendall declared my master must be kept a close
prisoner until the matter could be disposed of, and all the others, save
Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, agreeing, heavy irons were put upon
him. He was shut up in his sleeping place, having made no outcry nor
attempt to do any harm, save that he declared himself innocent of
wrong doing.
But for Captain Gosnold and Master Hunt, the preacher, I should not
have been permitted to go in and learn if I might do anything for his
comfort. The other leaders declared that my master was a dangerous
man, who should not be allowed to have speech with any person save
themselves, lest he send some message to those who were said to be
concerned with him in the plot.

I ATTEND MY MASTER
Master Hunt spoke up right manfully in behalf of Captain Smith, with
the result that I was given free entrance to that small room which had
been made his prison, save that I must at all times leave the door open,
so those who were in the great cabin could hear if I was charged with
any message to the seamen.
My eyes were filled with tears when my master told me that he had no
thought save that of benefiting those who were with him in the
adventure, and that he would not lend his countenance to any wicked

plot.
I begged him to understand that I knew right well he would do no
manner of wrong to any man, and asked the privilege of being with him
all the time, to serve him when he could not serve himself because of
the irons that fettered his legs.
And so it was that I had opportunity to do that which made my master
as true a friend as ever lad had, for in the later days when we were
come to Virginia and beset by savages more cruel than wild beasts, he
ventured his own life again and again to save mine, which was so
worthless as compared with his.
Only that I might tell how the voyage progressed, did I go on deck, or
have speech with Nathaniel Peacock, and only through me did my
master know when we were come to this island or that, together with
what was to be seen in such places.

SEVERAL ISLANDS VISITED
Therefore it was that when, on the next day after he was made a
prisoner, we were come to anchor off that island which the savages
called Gaudaloupe, and Nathaniel had been permitted to go on shore in
one of the boats, I could tell my master of the wondrous waters which
were found there.
Nathaniel told me that water spouted up out of the earth so hot, that
when Captain Newport threw into it a piece of pork tied to a rope, the
meat was cooked in half an hour, even as if it had been over a roaring
hot fire.
After that we passed many islands, the names of which I could not
discover, until we came to anchor within half a musket shot from the
shore of that land which is known as Nevis. Here we lay six days, and
the chief men of the company went on shore for