| OCR Text |
Show Page 118 and I had paid our own fare to Virginia; a subdued Sharpless had issued the certificate and a laughing John Pory had signed it. Suddenly the New World seemed different. Each leaf, each clod of dirt under my feet, each yellowed cornstalk stood out with great clarity. The dying leaves smelled more pungent, the smoke more biting. The thwack of an ax sounded sharper, the cry of the goose more haunting. I knew what made it so. Virginia had become my home. I belonged to it as a part of it would soon belong to me. I had only to choose my spot, and--providing it had not been patented or barred to white settlement - the surveyor would locate my grant and mark my boundaries. A flutter of joy rippled through me. All the way downriver I silently beseeched the breeze to fill the sail and send us homeward faster, faster. I scarce could wait to search out my land. ******************** November, 1620 I have scarce had a moment of idleness since my return from James Towne, so I have been able to search for land in only |
