Richard of Jamestown : a Story of the Virginia ColonyOtis, James
History
Richard of Jamestown : a Story of the Virginia Colony
Otis, James
Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Juvenile fiction
"Never did I believe white men who were come together in a new world,
and should stand shoulder to shoulder against all the enemies that
surround them, could be so reckless and malicious. It is vain to hope
for more help from Powhatan, and the time has come when I will no longer
bear with you in your idleness; but punish severely if you do not set
about the work which must be done, without further plotting. You cannot
deny but that I have risked my life many a time in order to save
yours, when, if you had been allowed to go your own way, all would
have starved. Now I swear solemnly that you shall not only gather for
yourselves the fruits which the earth doth yield, but for those who are
sick. Every one that gathers not each day as much as I do, shall on the
next day be set beyond the river, forever banished from the fort, to
live or starve as God wills."
This caused the lazy ones to bestir themselves for the time, and perhaps
all might have gone well with us had not the London Company sent out
nine more vessels, in which were five hundred persons, to join us people
in Jamestown. One of the ships, as we afterward learned, was wrecked in
a hurricane; seven arrived safely, and the ninth vessel we had not heard
from.
All these people had expected to find food in plenty, servants to wait
upon them, and everything furnished to hand without being obliged to
raise a finger in their own behalf. What was yet worse, they had
among them many men who believed they were to be made officers of the
government.
THE NEW LAWS
Now you must understand that with the coming of this fleet we of
Jamestown were told that the London Company had changed all the laws for
us in Virginia, and that Lord De la Warr, who sailed on the ship from
which nothing had been heard, was to be our governor.
From that hour did it seem as if all the men in Jamestown, save only
half a dozen, among whom were Captain Smith, Master Hunt and Master
Percy, strove their best to wreck the settlement.
Because Lord De la Warr, the new governor, had not arrived, many of the
new comers refused to obey my master, and they were so strong in numbers
that it was not possible for him to force them to his will.
Each man strove for himself, regardless of the sick, or of the women
and children. Some banded themselves together in companies, falling upon
such Indian villages as they could easily overcome, and murdered and
robbed until all the brown men of Virginia stood ready to shed the blood
of every white man who crossed their path.
Then came that which plunged Nathaniel and me into deepest grief.
THE ACCIDENT
Captain Smith had gone up the bay in the hope of soothing the trouble
among the savages, and, failing in this effort, was returning, having
got within four and twenty hours' journey of Jamestown, when the pinnace
was anchored for the night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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