Cate Of The Lost Colony Part 10

"I think your friends cannot be trusted," White said, then strode to the ship's rail and stood with his hands crossed over his chest.

It dismayed me to see our governor overmastered by his pilot. Our fortunes were dependent upon his. If he failed in his purpose, we would all be lost.

"You must speak to your father," I said to Eleanor. "Fernandes considers his own interests. He does not care about the success of our colony."

"I will," whispered Eleanor. "When he is calmer."

Soon we were sailing the northern coast of Hispaniola, which appeared like a distant tuft of moss, green and low. The ship did not go ash.o.r.e as Fernandes promised. White did not order him to land, or if he did, the pilot ignored him. Thus we still lacked salt and livestock, and White remained grim. We encountered no Spanish vessels, and the islands disappeared from view on the sixth of July. Two weeks later, Hatorask, on the outer banks of Virginia, was sighted. Everyone scrambled to the decks, where there was great rejoicing. Eleanor and her husband embraced, the baby in her belly keeping them some distance apart. The hardiest soldiers wiped tears from their eyes.

Our voyage had been brought to a safe end. But our trials were only beginning.

Chapter 19.

From the Papers of Sir Walter Ralegh Memorandum 12 May 1587. The Lion Lion has departed Plymouth and I have had no reply from the Lady Catherine. Perhaps she did not receive my letter? No, it must be that her reply was lost. I see the sodden pages adrift upon the furrowed sea. Alas, I shall never know her mind. has departed Plymouth and I have had no reply from the Lady Catherine. Perhaps she did not receive my letter? No, it must be that her reply was lost. I see the sodden pages adrift upon the furrowed sea. Alas, I shall never know her mind.

My heart beats with a pa.s.sionate remorse. If only I had delivered the letter myself! But I was afraid to face her and now am punished for my cowardice.

24 May 1587. I live the dream of every man in England. Who does not desire to behold the virgin queen at the hour of her awakening, all the day long, and in the last moments before sleep? I see her in her shift, her bosom drooping like a withered bloom. I see her scalp beneath her white hair. I watch her grimace, limping on an ulcered leg, and feel compelled to offer her my arm. This is a husband's intimate office, not mine.

I think I never will marry. Does every man fear to find his ardor cooled by the sight of frailty? By a beauty exposed as stark plainness?

There was nothing false or painted about C.A.'s beauty. Even now I see her lips and cheeks of a natural coral hue, her dark thick hair-all her own. Ah, in years hence it will show strands of silver, and lines will mark her face like tributaries on a map. The thought does not repulse me. Why? Because I will be old as well.

I cannot forget her, though an ocean widens between us. Does she sit in John White's cabin and take her fill of stories from him, as from a father's lips? Does she gaze upon the swarthy Fernandes and wish to sail with rovers and adventurers?

It was her lively imagination-so like my own-that I loved in her. And now it has wandered from me, to wonder new thoughts.

And I am, though never alone, lonelier than can be imagined.

Poem I hope for what I have not, I would come, but may not.

Of my wounds you care naught, Because the pain you see not.

13 June 1587. At the banquet for the Dutch amba.s.sador Her Majesty called me her second Sir Philip Sidney. It was the highest praise, for this soldier-poet lately slain in the Netherlands is England's greatest hero. Before everyone, she demanded a sonnet, which I created extempore: Let us honor fair Astro-phil (Fall'n on the battle's b.l.o.o.d.y plain) By meeting his enemy, Spain, full well In Virginia, across that watery main.

The queen bade me sit at her right hand, while Walsingham gave me the blackest of looks. He is still angry I received the Babington estates. Alas, I would almost give them up to obtain what I have not: my freedom, my own will, and true love.

1 July 1587. Outside the privy chamber, Walsingham stopped me with these words: "Do not forget I am the architect of Her Majesty's policy with regard to Spain. Your efforts must not interfere with mine."

Is he so full of envy he does not welcome my enterprise of challenging Spain in the New World?

Fie upon his threats! The old spymaster does not command me.

I wonder how he can hear anything with that cap pulled over his ears?

24 July 1587Dear brother Carew,Her Majesty's summer progress will take her through Devonshire. I may not leave her side, so you must contrive to visit me. You will recognize me by my puffed-sleeve tunic the color of a Valencia orange, and a plumed hat too ostentatious even for my taste. Do not laugh at me or I shall thrash you as if we were boys again.I swear no man is more hated for being loved than I am. The queen has granted me the monopoly on broadcloth, and every man who suffers the loss of his trade because of it hates me. I wish she would love me more by hating me more. It is a paradox, I know; oftentimes things most contrary are both true.By now the Lion Lion and the pinnace have landed at Chesapeake. There must be no time lost in sending a supply ship, but I am all of out funds. Go to our investors and praise Gov. White's abilities. Remind them of the innumerable pearls and the veins of copper awaiting our discovery, by which we shall all be made richer than King Croesus. and the pinnace have landed at Chesapeake. There must be no time lost in sending a supply ship, but I am all of out funds. Go to our investors and praise Gov. White's abilities. Remind them of the innumerable pearls and the veins of copper awaiting our discovery, by which we shall all be made richer than King Croesus.Your brother,Sir W.R.

Chapter 20.

A Dead Man The tides ebbed and flowed around the Lion Lion, anch.o.r.ed near the inlet at Hatorask. But after so many weeks of confinement we still could not leave the ship. John White, Ananias Dare, Manteo, and forty soldiers had set out in the pinnace to retrieve the soldiers Grenville had left at the fort. When they returned we would sail the short distance to Chesapeake and settle there.

While we waited, I borrowed an eyegla.s.s to peer at the sand-covered hills, where gra.s.s and gorselike bushes grew. They were not as green and lush as I had expected. A seaman, gesturing with pitch-stained hands, explained this was a barrier island holding back the sea from the mainland that lay across the shallow bay beyond it. With the gla.s.s I searched the sea, hoping to see a great fish with fins like sails or the rare leviathan, creatures I had seen only in pictures. I was impatient to be on land, but it was a pleasure just to stand on deck and feel and taste the salty wind. I found myself wishing Sir Walter were beside me. Did he envy me, that I would see Virginia before him and help to build the colony he longed to govern?

I wondered what it was like for Manteo to return to his own land. Would he tell his people about great city of London and teach them English? Would they still accept him now that he looked like an Englishman? I smiled to think of the horrified looks that would greet us if we all returned to London dressed like savages.

When the pinnace returned, it carried the same forty men who had gone out the day before.

"Where are Grenville's men?" called Roger Bailey from the deck of the Lion. Lion.

"They were not at the fort," shouted Ananias in reply. "But we will search until we find them."

"No, son, we sail for Chesapeake now. We will return later," said John White.

One of the women started weeping, for her husband had been among those left on the island.

Then Fernandes announced from the quarterdeck that none of the men would be allowed to board the ship again. But he demanded to see White and sent out a rowboat to fetch him.

At this the men in the pinnace grew restive. Ananias insisted on getting in the rowboat with White. I wondered about Fernandes's purpose. The governor climbed the rigging and jumped to the deck, his face red with exertion and rage.

"What is this? Send the boatswain back to fetch all the men in the pinnace," he demanded.

Without replying, Fernandes disappeared into the cabin, and White and Ananias could only follow him. Again we heard their angry voices. Eleanor clung to my arm. I knew she had not spoken to her father as she promised. Now trouble was in store.

John White emerged from the cabin and without preamble said, "Fernandes has elected to return at once to England because of the lateness of the season and the storms he is anxious to avoid."

He frowned and his eyes flashed. But the storm on his brow was evidently not the one Fernandes feared.

"Thus we are obliged to stay at Fort Ralegh-"

Roger Bailey interrupted him. "What happened to Grenville's men? Did the savages get them?" He pointed to Manteo standing in the pinnace. "He must know. He is one of them."

I admired the way Manteo stood erect, not even glancing at the accusing finger.

"We have women and children with us," said Ambrose Vickers. "We can't stay here if we're likely to be attacked."

His words caused murmuring among the others and White raised his hand to silence it.

"There is still a fort. We will reinforce it and build up the existing houses." He paused, then said with emphasis, "And because because of Manteo, we have friends among the Indians." of Manteo, we have friends among the Indians."

I did not understand why the men were angry with the governor and not with Fernandes, who stood before the cabin door as if he owned everything inside. I wondered if he would have dared to treat Ralegh as he treated White.

Vickers, too, noticed the pilot. "Wasn't he ordered to take us to Chesapeake? And now he refuses. That's mutiny!" he shouted to his fellows.

John White stepped so close to Vickers their noses were almost touching. "The weapons are on this ship and my soldiers are in the pinnace. Shall you you fight Fernandes and his seamen for control of the ship? Shall we begin this venture with bloodshed?" His voice was low and tight. "Not while I govern here." fight Fernandes and his seamen for control of the ship? Shall we begin this venture with bloodshed?" His voice was low and tight. "Not while I govern here."

Vickers seemed to consider his choices. His shoulders slumped. "Governor, I am at your service," he said. But his tone was sullen.

"Men, to your tasks," said White. "Unlade this ship."

The slow business of transporting goods to the island commenced. Bailey oversaw the rebuilding of the shallop, a large rowboat with a mast and sails that had been stored in pieces in the hold. The pinnace and the shallop sailed back and forth over several days. Fernandes watched the operation in silence from the forecastle deck.

The women and children were the last to leave the ship. We climbed down into the shallop, which Ananias guided through the inlet and along the leeward side of the barrier islands. There in the shallows were thousands of sleek cranes with long necks and thin legs. As we pa.s.sed by, they rose as one into the air. The flapping of their wings sounded like sails unfurling in a gale. Jane sat on one side of me and Eleanor on the other, our elbows linked, as the shallop entered the wide bay. We were all silent with expectation, even little Edmund, and Betty's lips moved as if she was praying. The island of the Roanoke loomed larger as we drew near. Its sh.o.r.e was dark and dense with trees, their roots like fingers planted in the water. I peered into the swampy thickets and wondered what man or beast could survive there. I wondered if Grenville's men had been killed by Indians and thrown into the black water or attacked and carried off by the Spanish.

Ananias sailed around the island to a more hospitable landing point, where the pinnace was lashed to some trees. A path had been cleared from the sandy sh.o.r.e to the fort. The site was already a hive of noisy activity, with men cutting down trees and milling the timber by hand. Others were repairing the palisade, a tall fence made from roughly hewed planks. From a forge erected in a clearing came a rhythmic clanging. A grinning Georgie Howe walked by, carrying a cask on his shoulder. Perhaps his mind was weak, but his body was strong and his temperament always sanguine.

But where was Fort Ralegh? I expected to see a high stone wall and a tower within. The soldiers were shoveling sandy dirt into wheelbarrows and dumping it on a high mound. To my dismay, I realized the fort was no more than an irregular earthen wall. Most of it had slid into the ditch around it, and the soldiers were shoring it up again. Inside the fort was a single building, the armory. I watched as three soldiers heaved a gun from its carriage onto a wooden platform built atop the earthworks. I was not rea.s.sured. Every city had its defenses; even peaceful London was surrounded by a wall. But here the houses were located outside outside the fort, and new ones were being built outside the palisade. If the Spanish attacked, or the Indians who were not Manteo's friends, we would be at their mercy unless we were fortunate enough to be inside the fort. the fort, and new ones were being built outside the palisade. If the Spanish attacked, or the Indians who were not Manteo's friends, we would be at their mercy unless we were fortunate enough to be inside the fort.

I regarded the settlement, too, with dismay. The dozen cottages built by Grenville's men had fallen into decay. Their doors sagged and the rush roofs were collapsing. Weeds grew waist high and melon plants with their thick, wide leaves twined like snakes through the windows. Ananias was already repairing the largest cottage to house the governor and his family. It had two rooms, one with a wooden bedstead, the other with a hearth and a rustic table. I wondered where I would sleep.

Eleanor, undeterred by the disorder, was already scrubbing the grimed hearth. She grunted and sweated with the effort.

I was not meant to be anyone's servant in Virginia. But watching Eleanor working in her condition made me ashamed, so I took a broom and began to sweep. Beneath the dried leaves and twigs there was no floor. I stared at the packed dirt in dismay.

"We have mats somewhere," Eleanor said, wiping her brow on her sleeve. "But not enough for both rooms."

"I will find some rushes to strew on the ground," I offered, thinking of the tall gra.s.ses I had seen near the sh.o.r.e.

I set out on a narrow path that led toward the sh.o.r.e beyond the landing place. It was hot and still in the woods, and my shift and bodice clung to my body. Even my legs were damp with sweat. The clangor of the settlement grew faint, until all I could hear was the sound of my own breathing and the insects buzzing around my face. I wondered why I did not see the exotic creatures and plants John White had painted in such detail, the red fruits hanging in cl.u.s.ters of leaves, the yellow and black b.u.t.terflies. The countryside around Wiltshire was more beautiful than what I could see of this island. The queen's garden had flowers of every hue and was not so full of insects. I brushed past brambly shrubs that snagged my skirt. If I walked long enough, perhaps I would come to the Eden I had imagined.

I had gone far from the settlement when it occurred to me that I should not have ventured out alone. I began to wonder about the savages. If they were friendly, as White claimed, why had they not greeted us when we landed? Could they be hiding and watching me even now? I turned in a circle, smiling and holding my palms upward in a gesture of innocence. For some reason it made me feel safer. Then I heard a whispering that rose and fell. I froze until I realized it was the waves lapping the sh.o.r.e. The sound recalled to me my task, and I made for a patch of rushes near the water. I had not thought to bring a knife to cut the rushes or a cord to bind them. The sharp gra.s.ses cut my hands, so I wrapped them in my petticoat and pulled at the rushes until I had more than I could carry. Then I took off my sand-filled shoes, hiked up my skirts, and waded into the water, crouching to bathe my raw and aching hands.

The inlet was so still, the water so clear, I could see fish large and small darting in the lee of the rocks, an entire colony beneath the water's surface. One was greenish in color, with fins as elaborate as a lace ruff. I was about to reach into the water and grasp it, when I beheld out of the corner of my eye a sharpened stick resting against a log, the point stuck in the stream bed. It seemed Providence meant for me to catch a fish that day.

Careful not to stir up the water, I took a few steps closer and reached for the stick. That is when I saw, behind the log, the figure of a man. His legs were in the water, the rest of him lying on his back over a rock. His chest was bristling with arrows, and his b.l.o.o.d.y head had been staved in.

Chapter 21.

I, Manteo, Try to Keep the Peace I heard the woman's voice, faint and far away. I thought of Ahsoo, the maiden who sang so beautifully that the river became alive with leaping fish. They labored so hard to reach the music, even swimming against the stream, that many died on the journey. heard the woman's voice, faint and far away. I thought of Ahsoo, the maiden who sang so beautifully that the river became alive with leaping fish. They labored so hard to reach the music, even swimming against the stream, that many died on the journey.

I ran toward the sound, leaping like one of those fish. The woman was not singing but screaming. I readied my bow.

An English maiden with dark hair stood in the stream. She held a fish spear like a weapon. Her eyes were wide with terror. When she saw me she lowered the spear, but the fear did not leave her eyes. I recognized her as the maid who had fallen into me on the ship, the one who had served the English weroance. And I saw the dead man in the water.

"Are you hurt?" I asked. She shook her head. Seeing her tremble, I wanted to touch her, to rea.s.sure her. But I only said, "You are safe now."

The soldiers were just behind me. The one named Grem picked up the maiden and carried her until she could walk by herself. They also took the body back to the fort.

The dead man was George-howe, one of John-white's councilors. His head was beaten in with a club. Sixteen arrows stuck in his chest. I recognized the bone points and feathering on the arrows.

"This is the work of Wingina's warriors," I said to John-white.

"A year later, and they seek revenge?"

I nodded. Did he think the Roanoke would forget the killing of their weroance?

I let the English see my anger at George-howe's killing, so they would know I was blameless. Instead they blamed John-white, because he had told them the native peoples were friendly. They looked at him with one question in their eyes: Can you keep us safe? Can you keep us safe?

It was my idea to ask Weyawinga what she knew about the fifteen lost men and the killing of George-howe. So I guided John-white and twenty men to Croatoan, a two-day trip by boat. My breast was filled with gladness to be returning home. The English would see how my kin would welcome me. My people would see that John-white and his men respected me. Look how far they have come to understand our ways and live among us, Look how far they have come to understand our ways and live among us, I would say. And my people would be proud to be allies with the English and receive their powerful gifts. I would say. And my people would be proud to be allies with the English and receive their powerful gifts.

But as the shallop came near the sh.o.r.e, war cries rolled toward us on the wind.

"We are betrayed! It is Manteo's doing," Bay-lee shouted. The men fired their muskets in alarm, and John-white shouted for them to stop.

I stood in the bow of the shallop and called to my kinsmen, "It is I, Manteo! We come in peace." I leapt into the water, putting myself before the muskets. My grief was great that they distrusted me.

But the English lowered their weapons. Hearing my voice, my kinsmen came out from their hiding places and welcomed me with smiles and embraces. When all the men had come ash.o.r.e, they led us to the village.

Weyawinga, my mother, greeted me as a fellow weroance, then embraced me as her son. Yet I could see that my English clothes dismayed her, so I removed my shoes and put on a deerskin.

"We must feed the English with great ceremony, to gain their trust," I said to her.

A feast of squashes and nuts and venison was prepared. We smoked uppowoc until the men were content.

I translated between the tongues as John-white asked Weyawinga about the missing soldiers. She said they had been attacked by warriors from Dasemunkepeuc and Secotan.

"Are you certain?" John-white asked. "They are not allies of one another. And the Secotan chief and his wife received us warmly and allowed me to draw them and their village."

There was no mistake, my mother insisted. "The peoples who once fought each other conceived a hatred for Ralf-lane and his warriors that has drawn them together for their protection." She also said Wanchese now led the Roanoke.

John-white thought for a moment, then said to Weyawinga, "You must take this message to all the peoples of Ossomocomuck: in ten days, we will receive them at Fort Ralegh and a.s.sure them of our peaceful intentions. If they accept our friendship, we will forgive the wrongs of the past."

My mother agreed to this, and I left with the English. John-white was pleased at the success of our visit. But Bay-lee said he did not want all the strange chiefs to come to their island.

The day of the meeting came and pa.s.sed into night, and none of the weroances of Ossomocomuck came to the fort. Only Weyawinga sent a councilor. It disturbed me that no one else had come. Why did they not show themselves?

"The Indians are not interested in peace," said Ana-nias the brickmaker. "Indian" was their term for all the native peoples together. "Therefore it is time for war."

"Let us wait. Our time is not their time," said John-white.

"While we wait, hoping for peace, they are readying for war," the brickmaker argued.