The Princess Pocahontas | Page 5

she is not a boy. Bring in the prisoner," he
commanded.
But no one came forward. The young braves to whom Pocahontas had
been entrusted kept wisely on the outskirts of the crowd.
Then the little sombre figure at Powhatan's feet rose and stood with the
firelight shining on her face and dark hair and asked in a gentle voice:

"Didst thou want me, mine uncle?"
"Pocahontas," exclaimed Opechanchanough, "how camest thou here
ahead of us, and in that dark robe?"
"Pocahontas can run even better than she can shoot. Uncle, and the
changing of a robe is the matter but of a moment."
"What meaneth this, Matoaka?" asked Powhatan, making use of her
special intimate name, which signified Little Snow Feather. He spoke
in a low tone, but one so stern that Cleopatra shivered and rejoiced that
she was not the culprit.
"It was but a joke, my father," answered Pocahontas. "I meant no
harm." She hung her head and waited until he should speak again.
"I will have no such jokes in my land," he said angrily, "remember
that."
With a gesture of his hand and a whispered word of command he sent
the Pamunkey braves to the guest lodge. Opechanchanough, still angry
at the ridicule that a child had brought upon him, lingered to ask;
"Wilt thou not punish her?"
"Surely I will," Powhatan answered. "Go ye all to the guest lodge and I
will follow. Away, Nautauquas, and carry my pipe thither."
They were now alone in the lodge, the great chief over thirty tribes and
his daughter, who still stood with downcast head. The Powhatan gazed
at her curiously. She waited for him to speak, then as he kept silent, she
turned and looked straight into his face and asked:
"Father, dost thou know how hard it is to be a girl? Nautauquas, my
brother, is a swift runner, yet I am fleeter than he. I can shoot as
straight as he, though not so far. I can go without food and drink as
long as he. I can dance without fatigue when he is panting. Yet
Nautauquas is to be a great brave and I--thou bidst remember to be a

squaw. Is it not hard, my father? Why then didst thou give me strong
arms and legs and a spirit that will not be still? Do not blame me.
Father, because I must laugh and run and play."
As she spoke she slipped to her knees and embraced his feet and when
she had ceased speaking, she smiled up fearless into his face.
Powhatan tried not to be moved by the child's pleading. Yet he was a
chief who always harkened to the excuses made by offenders brought
before him and judged them justly, if sometimes harshly. This child of
his was as dear to him as a running stream to summer heat. If at times
its spray dashed too high, could he be angry?
And Pocahontas, seeing that his anger had gone from him, stood up and
laid her head against his arm. She did not have to be told that the
mighty Powhatan loved no wife nor child of his as he loved her. Then
his hand stroked her soft hair and cheek, and she knew that she was
forgiven.
"Thine uncle is very angry," he said.
"If thou couldst but have seen him. Father, when the arrow whizzed,"
and she laughed gaily in memory of the picture.
"I have promised to punish thee."
"Yea, as thou wilt." But she did not speak as if afraid.
"Hear what I charge thee," he said in mock solemnity. "Thou shalt
embroider for me with thine own hands--thou that carest not for
squaw's needles--a robe of raccoon skin in quills and bits of precious
shells."
Pocahontas laughed.
"That is no punishment. 'Tis a strange thing, but when I do things I like
not for those I love, why, then I pleasure in doing them. I will fashion
for thee such a robe as thou hast never seen. Oh! I know how beautiful

it will be. I will make new patterns such as no squaw hath ever dreamed
of before. But thou wilt never be really angry with me. Father, wilt
thou?" she questioned pleadingly. "And if I should at any time do what
displeaseth thee, and thou wearest this robe I make thee, then let it be a
token between us and when I touch it thou wilt forgive me and grant
what I ask of thee?"
And Powhatan promised and smiled on her before he set forth for the
guest lodge.

[Illustration: Decorative]
CHAPTER II
POCAHONTAS AND THE MEDICINE MAN
Some months later on there came a hot day such as sometimes appears
in the early spring. The sun shone with almost as much power as