Still, it was not by parrying words with Powhatan, nor weapons with his brother, that he secured essential food, but by the loving mercy of Pocahontas. That frail and loyal bond between them saved the colonists. She had seemed like the goddess of the maize, bearing corn to them. With braver mercy still, she stole through the woods at night to tell Smith of the plot which her father was contriving with the aid of the treacherous foreigners whom he had sent to build a house for Powhatan. Powhatan was about to have a gala feast spread for Smith and his men, but in the morning when they slept stupidly after too much food and drink, Powhatan's men would descend upon them and kill. Smith, now prepared, made the bearers of Powhatan's treacherous bounty taste every dish before he did, and again he escaped, guarding his appetite and his life. Between February and May of 1609 a well was dug, forty acres were cleared and planted in corn, the church was covered, and twenty new cabins were erected. A blockhouse was built at the isthmus, and a new fort was reared opposite Jamestown. Food was still scarce, however, and rats consumed most of the corn crop. Believing that it was best to keep in with the Indians, Smith induced some Englishmen to live with the natives. Desperately he sent others to the oyster banks to prevent starvation, but the queer diet was unhealthy, and made the skin peel from their bodies. News of these dire conditions got to London and alienated the Company to Smith, whose enemies had talked effectively against him. The stockholders were already displeased with the lack of profit from Virginia, so they decided to appoint their treasurer, Sir Thomas Smith, as absentee President. Little did London care if the bitter colonists saucily wished him astride the mare which they had boiling in a stew, and if they saluted their fancy with impudent glee: "Sir Thomas!" The Company decided to dispatch Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers, followed by Lord Delaware who would get everything under control in Jamestown. When Captain Samuel Argall, the privateer, turned up in July with letters from the Company criticizing Smith and telling of the third supply to be brought by Lord Delaware, Smith was embittered. A month later four ships of the supply came in early bearing--of all people--Smith's former enemies: Ratcliffe, Archer and Martin, all captains now. The _Sea Venture_ and other ships had not been heard from, but Smith had had enough and he was hurt by lack of confidence in his command. He was thinking of returning to England anyhow before his enemies sped him on his way. An accident made up his mind for him.