No sooner was Smith gone than subordination, and industry were at an end. The colonists abandoned themselves to idleness and indulgence; the store of provisions was consumed. Percy, to whom Smith had delegated his authority, had not the power to enforce it; no one regarded him. The unoffending Indians being attacked and murdered by the settlers, now became hostile, and refused to contribute any further supplies. The horrors of absolute famine faced them; a company of thirty seized a small vessel belonging to the colony, and sailed away as pirates. In the traditions of Virginia this horrible season of winter, famine, and crime, is known as the _starving time_. By the spring of the following year, of the 490 persons whom Smith had left in health and comparative comfort, only sixty remained, and these so reduced and dispirited that a few days longer would have terminated their sufferings. This terrible time, like the flood in the days of Noah, was one of the wise judgments of God, sent to sweep away those who were unfit to live. It was not the will of God that the state should be formed of such base materials; we repeat the words, as true. A few days would have ended the lives of the remnant that was left, but help came within the time. The ship that had been wrecked on the Bermudas arrived without loss of life. For nine months the shipwrecked men had remained on an uninhabited but fertile island, where they had been well sustained. From the wreck of their own ship and timber which they felled, they constructed two vessels, and in these safely reached their destination. They came expecting to be received by a prosperous and happy colony; far different was the scene which presented itself—the extremity of distress, death by starvation even for themselves if they remained, was that which they found. Gates resolved at once to sail for Newfoundland, and seek safety among the fishermen there. Four pinnaces lay in the river belonging to the colonists, and in these they all determined to embark; the colonists were anxious to leave for ever the scene of their misery, determining, as a last act, to burn the town in which they had suffered so much; this, however, Gates, who was the last to leave the shore, prevented. They fell down the stream with the tide, and “none,” says the chronicle, “dropped a tear, for none had enjoyed there one day of happiness.” As they approached the mouth of the stream, a boat was seen advancing towards them. It was the long-boat of Lord De la Ware, now put off to land from one of the three ships with which he had come from England, bringing new colonists and provisions! The hand of God surely was in this. The disheartened fugitives bore up the helm, and with a favouring wind entered once more the harbour of Jamestown. It was well for them now that there were houses left to receive them.