The Council readily agreed to the proposed expedition in search of provisions, but it was not in their mind to give the command to Captain Smith. Far from being grateful to the man who had saved the settlement in the time of its dire distress and helplessness, they were more than ever jealous of his growing influence with the colonists. None of them was willing to brave the dangers and hardships of the expedition himself nor did they dare, in the face of Smith’s popularity, to appoint another to the command. In this difficulty they pretended a desire to be fair to the other gentlemen adventurers by putting a number of their names into a lottery from which the commander should be drawn. The hope was that by this means some other might be set up as a sort of competitor to Smith. There were those among the gentlemen who penetrated this design and had sufficient sense to circumvent it. George Percy, a brother of the Earl of Northumberland, and Scrivener, were among our hero’s staunch adherents. Percy contrived that he should draw the lot from the hat that contained the names. The first paper that he drew bore upon it the words: “The Honorable George Percy.” Without a moment’s hesitation he showed it to Scrivener, as though for confirmation, and crumpling it in his hand, cried: “Captain John Smith draws the command,” and the announcement was received with a shout of approval. “Thou hast foregone an honor and the prospect of more,” said Scrivener, as they walked away together. “Good Master Scrivener,” replied the young nobleman, with a quizzical smile, “one needs must have a head to carry honors gracefully and I am fain to confess that I deem this poor caput of mine safer in the keeping of our doughty captain than in mine own.” It was early in November when Smith, taking the barge and seven men, started up the Chickahominy. The warriors were absent from the first village he visited and the women and children fled at the approach of his party. Here he found the store-houses filled with corn, but there was no one to trade and, as he says, he had neither inclination nor commission to loot, and so he turned his back upon the place and came away empty-handed. Now, if we consider the impression that must have been made upon those Indians by this incident, we must the more keenly regret that so few others were moved by similar principles of wisdom and honesty in their dealings with the savages. In his treatment of the Indian down to the present day the white man appears in a very poor light, and most of the troubles between the two races have been due to the greed and injustice of the latter. John Smith set an example to later colonists which, had they followed it, would have saved them much bloodshed and difficulty.