The Princess Pocahontas | Page 2

Indians with which we are now
familiar. The curious ceremony which took place in the hut in the forest,
just before Powhatan freed Smith and allowed him to return to
Jamestown, was one he could not comprehend. Modern historians
believe that it was probably the ceremony of adoption by which Smith
was made one of the tribe.
In many places in this story I have not only followed closely Smith's
own narrative of what occurred, but have made use of the very words in
which he recorded the conversations. For instance the incident related
on page 101 was set down by Smith himself; on pages 144, 154, 262
the words are those of Smith as given in his history; on pages 173, 195,
260, 300 the words of Powhatan or Pocahontas as Smith relates them.
There may be readers of this story who will want to know what became
of Pocahontas. She fell ill of a fever just as she was about to sail home
for Virginia and died in Gravesend, where she was buried. Her son
Thomas Rolfe was educated in England and went to Virginia when he
was grown. His daughter Jane married John Bolling, and among their
descendants have been many famous men and women, including Edith
Bolling (Mrs. Galt) who married President Woodrow Wilson.
[Illustration: Decorative]

CONTENTS

I THE RETURN Of THE WARRIORS
II POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN
III MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST
IV RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
V THE GREAT BIRDS
VI JOHN SMITH'S TEMPTATION
VII A FIGHT IN THE SWAMP
VIII POCAHONTAS DEFIES POWHATAN
IX SMITH'S GAOLER
X THE LODGE IN THE WOOD
XI POCAHONTAS VISITS JAMESTOWN
XII POWHATAN'S AMBASSADOR
XIII POWHATAN'S CORONATION
XIV A DANGEROUS SUPPER
XV A FAREWELL
XVI CAPTAIN ARGALL TAKES A PRISONER
XVII POCAHONTAS LOSES A FRIEND
XVIII A BAPTISM IN JAMESTOWN
XIX JOHN ROLFE
XX THE WEDDING

XXI ON THE TRAIL OF A THIEF
XXII POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND

ILLUSTRATIONS
The white figure moved rapidly
"We choose to-day," he cried
"Let us be friends and allies, oh Powhatan"
"I will lead the princess"
Virginia in 1606--from Captain John Smith's Map
"Nay, nay," cried Pocahontas, "thou must not go"
"Do not shoot, Mark!"

[Illustration: Decorative]
THE PRINCESS POCAHONTAS
CHAPTER I
THE RETURN OF THE WARRIORS
Through the white forest came Opechanchanough and his braves,
treading as silently as the flakes that fell about them. From their girdles
hung fresh scalp locks which their silent Monachan owners did not
miss.
But Opechanchanough, on his way to Werowocomoco to tell The
Powhatan of the victory he had won over his enemies, did not feel quite
sure that he had slain all the war party against which he and his

Pamunkey braves had gone forth. The unexpected snow, coming late in
the winter, had been blown into their eyes by the wind so that they
could not tell whether some of the Monachans had not succeeded in
escaping their vengeance. Perhaps, even yet, so near to the wigwams of
his brother's town, the enemy might have laid an ambush. Therefore, it
behooved them to be on their guard, to look behind each tree for
crouching figures and to harken with all their ears that not even a
famished squirrel might crack a nut unless they could point out the
bough on which it perched.
Opechanchanough led the long thin line that threaded its way through
the broad cutting between huge oaks, still bronze with last year's leaves.
He held his head high and to himself he framed the words of the song
of triumph he meant to sing to The Powhatan, as the chief of the
Powhatans was called. Then, suddenly before his face shot an arrow.
At a shout from their leader, the long line swung itself to the right, and
fifty arrows flew to the northward, the direction from which danger
might be expected. Still there was silence, no outcry from an ambushed
enemy, no sign of other human creatures.
Opechanchanough consulted with his braves whence had the arrow
come; and even while they talked, another arrow from the right
whizzed before his face.
"A bad archer," he grunted, "who cannot hit me with two shots." Then
pointing to a huge oak that forked half way up, he commanded:
"Bring him to me."
Two braves rushed forward to the tree, on which all eyes were now
fixed. It was difficult to distinguish anything through the falling snow
and the mass of its flakes that had gathered in the crotch. All was white
there, yet there was something white which moved, and the two braves
on reaching the tree trunk yelled in delight and disdain.
The white figure moved rapidly now. Swinging itself out on a branch
and catching hold of a higher one, it seemed determined to retreat from

its pursuers to the