The Settlers: A Tale of VirginiaKingston, William Henry Giles
History
The Settlers: A Tale of Virginia
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Juvenile fiction
"Who think you, Captain Layton, was the stranger who now spoke to
Batten? He was no other than our father, Captain Vaughan Audley, who
sailed with Sir Richard Grenville, Mr Dane, and Mr Cavendish on board
the _Roebuck_ with many other ships in company. When Sir Richard
returned to England, our father had remained with upwards of a hundred
men with Governor Dane at Roanoke, where they fixed their abode and
built a fort. The Indians, who had hitherto been friendly, formed,
however, a league against them. They were expecting assistance from
England, when one night the fort was stormed; most of the people were
put to the sword, but the life of our father was preserved by a chief
whom he had befriended when, on a former occasion, that chief had fallen
into the hands of the English. The chief, carrying him to his canoe,
concealed him from his companions and conveyed him far away up the
river. Here landing, he concealed him in his own wigwam, where he was
cured of his hurts; but our father had not from that time seen a white
face till he met with Batten.
"Batten's life, as our father promised, was saved; though the Indians
showed otherwise but little regard for him, and this made him wish to
escape should he have the opportunity. He told his purpose to our
father, and promised, should he succeed, to carry home the intelligence
to his friends of his being alive. Some time afterwards, Batten said,
he managed to escape from the Indians, when he made his way towards the
seashore. Lying hid in a thick bush for fear of being discovered by the
natives, he one day caught sight of a party of Englishmen advancing at
no great distance off. Delighted at the thoughts of meeting his
countrymen, he was about to rush out of his place of concealment, when
he saw a large body of Indians coming towards them. He waited to see
the result, when to his horror the Indians drew their bows, and before
the strangers were aware of their danger, every man among them was
pierced by an arrow. Some fell dead; others drew their swords; but with
terrific war-whoops the Indians, setting on them, killed the whole with
their tomahawks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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