The chiefs and warriors did not need to be told by Opecancanough that they were staking everything on this single attempt. They had failed by the narrowest chance in 1622, and could not afford to fail again. The secret must be kept, and the wonder of it is that it _was_ kept for twenty-two years. Not a whisper reached the ears of the settlers, nor did any one seem to feel the first throb of misgiving. Through the spring blossoming of flowers, the sultry fervor of summer, the whirling snow and ice of winter, the plotters continued to gather in the twilight depths of the woods, guarded by vigilant sentinels, whom the most cunning scout could not pass, and they talked and smoked their pipes and shook their heads and brought their dreadful plot to perfection. Warriors and chiefs died, and, as we know, the great leader of them all steadily approached the age of a century, but still the blow was withheld, for all was not ready. Incredible as it may seem, Opecancanough was nearly a hundred years old when he gave the order to attack the settlements. By this time, his iron frame had become so feeble that he could not walk. His warriors carried him on a litter, that he might lead in the assault that should not leave a white man or woman on the soil of Virginia. One cause for fixing upon April 18, 1644, for the attack was the state of affairs at Jamestown. The chief kept himself informed, and he knew of the bitter quarrels that were raging there. Revolts had broken out, and the condition of the people invited the long postponed assault. Opecancanough sent his swiftest runners to the distant tribes of the confederacy which he had built up during the many years that had flown since the first massacre. [Illustration: AN INDIAN COUNCIL OF WAR] He meant to lead in person the five nearest tribes, while the more remote ones were placed under the command of their different chiefs. Thus, by a simple plan, the hundreds of savages from the mouth of the Chesapeake to the sources of the principal rivers which flow into it, were joined into a compact force, easily handled without confusion. This fearful horde was to be hurled against the settlements at the same hour, and there could be no turning back after the first tomahawk had fallen. There was no warning as before. The thunderbolts struck the whole line of settlements at the same hour and almost at the same moment.