Ten American Girls From History | Page 9

Captain Smith had brought for
exchange. Then began a long and hot discussion in which neither the

Captain nor the wily Emperor gained a point. Powhatan refused to trade
unless the white men left their firearms on their barges and would
barter corn only for the coveted articles. Captain Smith would not
accede to his demands even to get the much-needed corn, and was on
his guard because of the warning he had received, knowing that
Powhatan was only waiting for the right moment to kill him.
The debate went on for hours, during which there had been only one
trade made when Smith exchanged a copper kettle for forty bushels of
corn. Annoyed at this, he determined to take matters into his own hand.
Beckoning to some friendly Indians, he asked them to go to the river
bank and signal to his men on the barges to come ashore with baskets
to take back the corn for which he had traded the kettle. Meanwhile he
kept up a brisk conversation with the old Werowance to divert his
attention, assuring him that on the next day he and his men would leave
their firearms on the ships, trusting to Powhatan's promise that no harm
should come to them.
Powhatan was too clever to be fooled by any such delightful promise;
he knew the quick-witted Captain was probably playing the same game
that he was, and feared lest the white man should be quicker than he at
it. He slyly whispered a command to a young warrior, and at a sign
from him two gaily decorated squaws darted forward and, squatting at
the feet of the Captain, began to sing tribal songs to the beating of
drums and shaking of rattles, and while they sang Powhatan silently
drew his fur robe about him and stole away to a forest retreat long
prepared for an hour of danger. Before him went a supply of provisions,
and with him some women and children, but not Pocahontas. Meeting
her father in his hasty flight, she listened to his request that she go with
him, but with a laughing gesture of refusal she fled through the woods
to the place where the white men were grouped. The old Chief's power
over his daughter had been greatly weakened by the coming of the
colonists to Jamestown, and who knows what a fire of envy that may
have kindled in his heart?
As soon as the Emperor reached his hiding-place, he sent an old
Sachem in war paint and feathers back to Captain Smith, bearing a

valuable bracelet as an offering, and saying that his chief had fled
because he feared the white man's weapons, but if they could be laid
aside, he, Powhatan, would return to give the colonists an abundance of
corn. Captain Smith, with arms folded and flashing eyes, refused the
bracelet and the request, and the Sachem went back to carry the news to
Powhatan.
Pocahontas had watched the interview with breathless interest, and
when she saw the old warrior turn away, and knew that Captain Smith
had foiled her father's intent, she knew that the brave Caucarouse was
in great danger. That night, while all the Englishmen except their leader
were out hunting, the Captain sat alone in his wigwam musing on ways
and means to gain his end. There was a sound in the still forest--a
crackling of underbrush--he roused at a light touch on his arm.
Pocahontas stood by his side, alone in the darkness; swiftly she
whispered her message and he understood its gravity only too well.
"My father is going to send you food, and, if you eat it, you will die,"
she said. "It is not safe for you to stay here any longer. Oh, go! I beg
you, go!"
She was shivering in her fear for his safety, and the Captain was deeply
moved by her emotion. Raising her hand to his lips in his wonted
fashion, he thanked her and offered her the choicest beads in his store
for a remembrance, but she would not accept them!
"He would want to know where I got them, and then he would kill me,
too," she said, and vanished as silently and swiftly as she had come.
As she had reported, soon there came warriors from Powhatan bearing
huge vessels filled with food, smoking hot. The Chief had returned to
Werewocomoco, they said, and wished to show his good-will to the
white men. Would they partake of a feast which he had sent?
They set down their burden of tempting food, and the Captain's eyes
gleamed; with a profound bow he thanked Powhatan for his courtesy,
but he said:

"When we English make a feast for any one, we ourselves first taste
each dish before we offer it to our