The situation would have suggested surrender to the ordinary man. There could be no use in Smith’s contending against such numbers and to retreat to the river would be no less futile, since his men in the canoe must have been captured. It was not, however, in our hero’s nature to give up until absolutely obliged to do so. He could see no possibility of escape but he proposed to make it as difficult as possible for the savages to capture him. With this thought he placed the guide before him as a shield and prepared, with a pistol in each hand, to meet an onrush of the warriors. But they had no mind to rush upon those fearful fire-spitting machines and kept off, discharging their arrows from a distance that rendered them harmless. Seeing this, Smith began to retire, keeping his face towards the enemy and holding his human buckler in place. The Indians responded to this movement by cautiously advancing and at the same time they sought to induce the Englishman to lay down his arms, promising to spare his life in case he should do so. Smith positively declined the proposition, insisting that he would retain his weapons but promising not to make further use of them if he should be permitted to depart in peace; otherwise he would use them and kill some of his assailants without delay. The Indians continuing to advance upon him, Smith let go both his pistols at them and took advantage of the hesitation that followed to retreat more rapidly. Of course this combat was of the most hopeless character and our hero must ultimately have been shot to death had not an accident suddenly put an end to his opposition. Still stepping backward and dragging his captive with him he presently walks into a deep morass and reaches the end of his journey in more than one sense, for it is in this swamp that the Chickahominy rises and he has fulfilled his undertaking to find the head of the river. It was at once clear to the dauntless explorer that he must yield, and that quickly, for he and his Indian were fast sinking in the icy ooze of the bog. He threw his pistols away in token of surrender and his savage adversaries rushed up and extricated him from his perilous situation. It was with feelings of curiosity and interest on either side that Captain John Smith, the leader of the colonists, and Opechancanough, the chief of the Pamaunkes, confronted each other. Both men of noble bearing and fearless character, they must have been mutually impressed at the first encounter. The chief’s erect and well-knit frame towered above the forms of his attendant warriors and, together with the dignity and intelligence of his countenance, marked him as a superior being. In later years he played an important part in colonial history and met a shameful death by assassination whilst a captive in the hands of the authorities of Virginia.