The white man was brought before him. Smith eagerly watched to see if there were any signs of mercy in the stern face. Powhatan talked for some time with his warriors. Then two of them got up and went to the side of their white prisoner. They led him off a short distance and stretched him out on the ground. They placed his head on a stone. "They are going to kill me," Smith said to himself. "I am bound so tightly I cannot possibly get away. There is no help for me now." Then a strange thing happened. Just as one of the Indians raised his club to end the white man's life, a young girl rushed to his side. She was Powhatan's favorite daughter. She threw her arms around Smith's neck. Then, turning toward her father, she cried: "Spare this man's life for my sake." The beautiful girl had grown to love Smith during his stay in the village. While he was shut up as a prisoner he had made whistles and strings of beads for her. His kindness pleased her and her gentle heart was filled with pity for the white man. Powhatan could not refuse the daughter he loved so dearly. He said: "I will spare the man's life for the sake of my child. He shall stay among us and spend his time making ornaments for Pocahontas." This is the story Smith afterwards told of the time when he was in the hands of the Indians. Some people, however, do not believe it is quite all true. At any rate, his life was saved and Pocahontas was the friend of the white people ever after. In a few weeks Powhatan said to John Smith: "You may go back to Jamestown if you will promise to send me two cannons and a grindstone as soon as you arrive." Smith was quite willing to make the promise. When he was once more safe among his own people he found they were in great trouble. Some of them were planning to run away in the only large boat. The others would then be left to the mercy of the Red Men. They were all much in need of their wise leader. The promise to Powhatan was not forgotten. The Indians, however, who had come back with Smith to get the cannons and the grindstone could not carry them home. They were too heavy. So the men were quite willing to take some trinkets instead. Many times after that the people of Jamestown suffered because they did not have enough to eat. They were saved again and again by Pocahontas, who filled her boat with baskets of corn and paddled down the river to her white friends. One evening she heard her people making a plan. They said: "We will creep upon the Englishmen and take them by surprise. Then we will kill them." She was brave as well as good. She did not lose a moment, but hurried away through the dark woods. She did not stop till she reached Jamestown. Then she told of the Indians' plot. She warned Smith to be on his guard. Then she hurried away into the darkness once more.