Part 20 (2/2)

”I respect Manteo. I do not wish to be married to him, for I have decided no man will rule me.” Eleanor and I used to laugh when I said this.

”I would not expect you, of all people, to be ashamed of loving an Indian,” Jane replied, seeming offended.

But shame was not the matter. It was a deeper fear. What I knew of love was that it liked to fill me with longing, then leave me empty.

The day the English s.h.i.+ps appeared was one that otherwise followed the peaceful pattern of our new lives. Jane and I were tearing apart pemminaw pemminaw gra.s.s to make a thread as fine as flax, while Jane and Tameoc's baby slept in a basket. Georgie Howe kicked a ball to entertain Virginia, who was now three years old. I was glad she was growing into such a st.u.r.dy child. Even without her parents she was happy. Around midday Tameoc, who had gone out earlier to dig for oysters, ran into the village shouting for Manteo and waving his hands. I heard the words ” gra.s.s to make a thread as fine as flax, while Jane and Tameoc's baby slept in a basket. Georgie Howe kicked a ball to entertain Virginia, who was now three years old. I was glad she was growing into such a st.u.r.dy child. Even without her parents she was happy. Around midday Tameoc, who had gone out earlier to dig for oysters, ran into the village shouting for Manteo and waving his hands. I heard the words ”great canoe.”

Jane's hand went to her throat. ”No, it cannot be,” she whispered.

Leaving Virginia with Georgie, I followed Manteo and the others to the top of a sandy knoll. As we stared at the sea, three vessels took on distinct shapes, resembling the tiny s.h.i.+ps that dotted the maps in Sir Walter's library.

Why did the men not act? I wondered if we should start a brush fire, so the smoke would rise and signal the s.h.i.+ps. I glanced at Tameoc, whose mouth was set in a grim line. Of course he did not want the s.h.i.+ps to come and take Jane away.

Graham finally broke the silence. ”The biggest s.h.i.+p looks like a Spanish galleon. And the two smaller ones are English merchant vessels, I think.”

”The English s.h.i.+ps have taken the Spanish one!” Jones said in a tone of triumph. ”Let us signal them.”

”No!” I said. ”What if the galleon has captured the others and now sails for Roanoke Island?” The arrival of the Spanish had been one of our greatest fears while we lived at Fort Ralegh. We were fortunate to have left there.

”I cannot make out their flags without a gla.s.s,” said Graham, squinting. ”But they are bound northward, not for this sh.o.r.e.”

”We could sail the shallop up the sound and intercept the s.h.i.+ps at Hatorask,” said Jones.

”And make ourselves known to them?” said Graham. ”That is hardly wise. Manteo, what do you think?”

With a solemn, almost troubled look Manteo gazed out to sea, where the s.h.i.+ps seemed all but motionless. Then he said, ”It is a matter for the council to discuss.”

Meeting without delay, Weyawinga and her advisers decided to spy on the s.h.i.+ps and report if they were bound for Roanoke Island. Graham and Tameoc set out with eight men, paddling their canoe so swiftly it resembled a seabird skimming the water.

When we left Roanoke Island, rescue had seemed impossible. Now with the appearance of the s.h.i.+ps everything had changed. Three days of intense speculation followed while we awaited the canoe's return. Hope alternated with uncertainty. Were the English or the Spanish in command of the s.h.i.+ps? And if the latter, would they occupy the deserted fort or continue onward?

Ambrose Vickers was convinced we were in danger. ”The Spanish will force the English captains to take them to Roanoke Island, and they'll know at once we came here.” He looked accusingly at me, for I was the one who had made him carve the letters in the tree. ”For our safety we ought to go to the mainland and hide.”

The soldiers were of the opinion that we could fight the Spanish with the help of the Croatoan.

”And what if they are English s.h.i.+ps come to our aid?” Alice Chapman asked. ”Would we leave here and go with them? Cate, will you take Virginia back to England to live with her grandfather?”

I did not want to face that terrible choice. ”Let us wait until we know more,” I said.

That night Mika came to my house and told me stories about Algon the hunter, the great Ahone, and Rabbit the trickster. She had a round belly; before the harvest time she would bear a child. Graham, if given the chance, would not go back to England, I knew. He had laid his love for Anne to rest and found a new one.

”Do not go away, my friend,” Mika said. ”I dreamed of a canoe swallowed by the waves. You must not be on it. I want you to stay here.”

When the men returned, Graham reported that the s.h.i.+ps all flew the royal standard of Elizabeth and were sailing for Roanoke. Their purpose could only be to find us.

Jones shook his head. ”After three years? I can scarcely believe it.”

”Think of the stores of food! The new cloth!” said Alice, smiling.

”The armaments and tools and hardware,” said Ambrose, his fear gone.

Jones wondered aloud what we had all been thinking, ”Could it be John White at last?” Hopes, so long submerged, rose to the surface and broke like waves over us.

Betty's eyes shone. ”Perhaps my cousin and his family have come at last. I wrote to them three years ago. Oh, to think of new people joining us!”

The excitement began to distress Georgie, who rocked back and forth saying, ”Is Papa coming back? Is my papa on the s.h.i.+p?”

Graham, when he finally spoke, was harsh. ”Do you think any of our countrymen would choose to live as we do now? Would they wear hides and moccasins, delve in the dirt and hunt with arrows, sleep on animal pelts, and eat roots?”

He swept his arm in a wide arc encompa.s.sing our entire settlement within the Croatoan village. It was even more rustic than Roanoke had been. But it was now home.

Ambrose stroked his chin gravely. ”I think they will judge our failures, for we have not built a civil society or brought the true religion to the natives.”

”Worse than that,” said Graham. ”We have abandoned our posts at Fort Ralegh. They'll say we've committed treason-killed the a.s.sistants so we could rule ourselves. We'll be taken back to England and hanged,” he concluded darkly.

”That is impossible!” Jones said. ”We are innocent.”

”No one will hang me,” said Georgie's aunt. ”Even so, I am too old to cross the seas again.”

I had finally sorted out my own thoughts. ”Even if we could return to England without penalty,” I said, ”how would we live there? Did you not invest all of your livelihood in this enterprise? Do you want to go back empty-handed? Most of us have no kin left, for they came here with us.”

I saw the sadness in their eyes as they thought about those who were lost, and the disappointment at their own failure to become rich. My words began to flow as if from a well within me.

”We have nothing to take back, but everything if we stay here. We have one another and new kin among the Croatoan. Have we wanted for food or feared for our lives since we came here? Or given anyone cause to hate us?”

”But what if the s.h.i.+ps have brought enough supplies and settlers for an entire village?” said one of the soldiers. ”We could rebuild at Roanoke or go to Chesapeake and join Bailey.”

”The soil at Roanoke is too thin. With more people to feed, we would only be hungry again,” said Jones.

”At Chesapeake we face unknown dangers,” I said. ”Even if Roger Bailey is by some chance still alive, nothing on earth could induce me to put myself under his governance.”

”I agree. That tyrant has betrayed us more than once,” said Ambrose bitterly.

”Weyawinga is a benevolent weroance, like our own Elizabeth,” said Graham. ”Here we have a voice at her councils; we are partners in government. That will never happen in England. Why, even women are permitted to speak and give advice.”

”Indeed, who can keep them quiet?” grumbled Ambrose, drawing laughter.

”I did not favor coming to Croatoan Island, but now I deem it best to stay,” admitted Jones with a sigh. ”For I doubt that the s.h.i.+ps' arrival, though we have long desired it, bodes well for us.”

Slowly the tide was turning. One by one we came to see that our best chance of a secure and happy future lay with the Croatoan. Manteo and Weyawinga were brought in to hear our consensus. Weyawinga looked pleased.

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