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Show Page 224 It had been five long weeks since the expedition sailed away downriver. In all that time I do not think I smiled, but went about heartsick and fearful. I thought I could not bear the grief should something happen to John. Word had come that the company had driven out the Nansemonds and Warraskoyacks, burnt their houses and taken their crops. They had then gone to Kecoughtan, up the Pamunkey to Chescheack and on to Werowacomoco, the chief seat of Opechancanough himself, where they did likewise. The corn that was plundered was sorely needed in James Towne, for each month came more people, yet few provisions did they carry with them, so we were forced to feed more and more people with scarce enough food to feed a few. Captain Hamor had twice been sent to trade with the more remote Indians, but little good came of those excursions, for he trusted them little, and more killing was often the result. One grey day, during which a mizzle fell to further dampen my low spirits, a shout went up that the boats of the expedition were sighted. For a time I did not know which way to move, taking first a step toward the Pierces', then a step toward the gate leading to the river. My belly was a hard lump within and my head pounded as though to break my skull. I closed my eyes and gathered my breath, then took a step toward the gate, then another and another. I did not stop till I was on the shore. |