For the Love of Lady Margaret: A Romance of the Lost ColonyWilson, William Thomas
General
For the Love of Lady Margaret: A Romance of the Lost Colony
Wilson, William Thomas
Roanoke Colony -- Fiction
Emerging from the forest, many smoking torches could be seen
approaching, and the beating of drums and the shouts of the advancing
crowd produced a noise that was almost deafening. The embers of
several camp fires lit up the thirty or forty rough bark huts which
were grouped before us into a semicircle. At our heels there tagged a
crowd of men, women, and children, who shouted and danced with glee,
as surrounded by our guards we entered the village. Fierce savage
faces peered at us from the doorways; little half-naked boys and girls
shouted to each other in wonder at my white skin; the wrinkled squaws
hissed and grunted. I only saw hatred, curiosity, surprise; nowhere
pity or sympathy for a friendless stranger.
Yes, in one face I saw pity, sympathy, or was it admiration? It seemed
to me, that as I saw the face for an instant I could discern something
akin to that in the dark eyes. It was a young Indian maid of perhaps
nineteen or twenty summers, who stood in the doorway of one of the
largest huts. Slender, shapely, graceful as a young fawn, with black
eyes, large and liquid, and straight black hair, she might have stood
as a model for some picture, representing savage beauty. She was clad
in a mantle of soft deerskin, with leggins of the same material fringed
with bear claws, and upon her small feet were moccasins of the same
soft skin.
I took all this in at a glance, as I stood motionless among my guards,
for they had halted here. A few words were spoken to the girl. She
stood aside, and the brave dragged Manteo and myself to the entrance
and thrust us inside, leaving several warriors at the open door, while
the babble of tongues wrangled and argued upon the outside, as they
craned and twisted to get a glimpse of me.
For several minutes we lay there; then a wrinkled old warrior pushed
by the braves who stood at the door and bending down he cut the thongs
that bound Manteo, and motioned for him to follow; they strode out of
the place, leaving me alone. An old hag came in to bring me a pot of
some kind of meat, and with her came the pretty maid whom I had seen
outside, who brought me a skin to lie upon.
I thanked her in the native tongue, at which she looked at me with wide
open eyes.
"How knowest thou our tongue?" she asked, while the old crone stood
peering at me as though I were a ghost.
"It matters not," I answered. "And who art thou, my pretty maid, who
dost remember a poor prisoner?"
The rich color surged up into her dark face as she answered shyly, "I
am Winona, daughter of the chief Windango."
At that moment there entered the same wrinkled old chief.
"What dost thou here, Winona?" he said sternly. "This is no place for
thee."
"I came but with Occoma, father," she answered. "She brought the pale
man some venison."
"Begone!" he said, and turning his back upon her, he bent over and cut
the thongs that bound me. "Come," he said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account