By his energetic measures, even before he was formally elected president of the council, Smith succeeded in restoring first peace and then prosperity to the almost despairing band of survivors, and the winter of 1607 found him in a position to pursue the geographical explorations so suddenly interrupted, and with which alone we have, strictly speaking, now to do. On the 10th December he started in a small boat with two Englishmen and two Indian guides, up the little river Chickahominy, which flowed into the James river a few miles above the infant settlement. Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. Illustration: CAPTAIN SMITH TAKEN PRISONER BY THE INDIANS. (From Smith’s “Virginia.”) Unable to proceed far by water, Smith soon left his boat under charge of his fellow-countrymen, and set off alone through the woods with the natives. His English comrades were almost immediately surprised and killed by savages, and he himself was taken prisoner by a chief named Opechancanough and his warriors, who would have slain him had he not suddenly produced his pocket compass, the strange proceedings of which so astonished his captors that they resolved to retain its owner among them, as one likely to bring honor to their tribe. From place to place the unfortunate white man was marched, to be shown to crowds of admiring Indians, paying thus the first visit ever made by a European to the Potomac River, and finally arriving at the encampment of Powhatan――probably the father of the Pawatah mentioned above――then staying on the bank of what is now called York River. Here occurred, or rather is said to have occurred――for some authorities make no allusion to it――that romantic incident which has formed the theme of so many legends and romances. According to Smith’s own account, preserved in his _General History_, he was first received with great respect and ostentation by the Emperor Powhatan, and afterwards a consultation was held between his host and his chief men, resulting in the decision that the white man should be slain. Two large stones were then dragged into the presence; Smith was led to them, and made to lay his head upon them. Three executioners now hastened forward, and were about to beat the victim’s brains out with clubs, when Pocahontas, the king’s dearest daughter, a lovely girl of about twelve years old, rushed forward, seized Smith’s head in her arms, and laid her own down upon it. Illustration: POCAHONTAS AND CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.