The blow fell suddenly. On the same day the Indians attacked the settlers at different points and found them quite unprepared for resistance. Nearly four hundred were slain, and the massacre would have been much more extensive but for the fact that in many cases natives who had acquired a real regard for their white neighbors warned them in time and in some instances defended them. The tobacco planters now huddled in Jamestown, anxious only for their lives. Hurriedly the place was put in better condition to withstand assault and provisioned against a siege. But Opechancanough was too astute to attack Jamestown and an armed peace ensued. The tidings of the massacre horrified England. The Company was panic-stricken and at a loss what to do. Smith called upon them with a proposal for the effective defence of the colony, and offered to go out and put it into operation himself. The proprietors hesitated to incur the expense and, in the meanwhile, their perplexity was relieved by the cancellation of their charter. The colony was attached to the crown and the settlers were left to their own resources. Under these conditions they seem to have fared better than when subject to proprietary interests at home, for from the year of the massacre, 1622, Virginia enjoyed a century and a half of uneventful prosperity. THE END. Transcriber’s Notes: --Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). --Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected. --Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. --Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved. End of Project Gutenberg's Captain John Smith, by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay