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Show Page 233 directives from the Company since that body received word of the uprising. Would that the Company had not been told, for the officers write saying that we were in part instruments in contriving the massacre and guilty of the destruction by not taking precautions against the Indians. (I can imagine Richard nodding his head over that accusation!) As if these pronouncements were not enough, the Company went on to say we had also invited the massacre by our "excesses of apparel and drinking." (I look down at my tattered rag of a gown and think of the foul water I drink and must needs laugh.) Henceforth, said the directives, we would be safe if we would but "conform to God's most just and holy laws" and apply our labors to the setting up of staple commodities. Furthermore, the Company was sending to Virginia on the Abigail, arms with which to restore our nigh-empty arsenal. (These turned out to be old armor and weapons long stored in the Tower of London as being no longer serviceable. Yet were they welcome in Virginia.) Four hundred men are being sent in the spring, but the Company lamented that with these newcomers they could send no corn! So we must take on the responsibility of feeding them along with ourselves. It is hoped, the letters added, that our unpleasant experience with the Indians and our subsequent hunger will show us the wisdom of having a good supply of food on hand--but this |