THE HEAD OF A HUNDRED.
 
 D-OFA 
 
 NDRED 
 
 
 ED /TED 
 
 AVTHOR-OF 
 THE- COLONIAL- CAVALIER 
 
 B O S T O M 
 
 LITTLE-BROWM&CO^ 
 i 693
 
 Copyright, 1895, 
 BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 
 
 SSnibcrsitp 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
 
 
 To A. G. 
 
 THE CRITIC ON THE HEARTH, 
 
 E SeUtrate 
 
 THIS LITTLE ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. 

 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. PHILLIDA FLOUTS ME g 
 
 II. AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW LAND . 30 
 
 III. A SHIP COMES IN 42 
 
 IV. FORGIVE ME 58 
 
 V. ACROSS THE BAY. ABOARD THE 
 
 " RED Fox " 73 
 
 VI. WHAT BEFELL AT ACCOMAC .... 87 
 
 VII. CUPID 102 
 
 VIII. PARTING 116 
 
 IX. A PRIVATE QUARREL 132 
 
 X. I SET SAIL 145 
 
 XI. FLOWER DA HUNDRED 151 
 
 XII. A CHRISTMAS GIFT 161 
 
 XIII. A VISIT TO MY NEIGHBORS .... 169 
 
 XIV. THE MUTTERING OF THE STORM . . 182 
 XV. THE STORM BREAKS . 191 
 
 XVI. "OUR LADY OF DELIVERANCE" . . 201 
 
 XVII. IN WHICH WE BURY OUR DEAD . . 210 
 
 XVIII. THE RING . . 216
 
 THE HEAD OF A HUNDRED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PHILLIDA FLOUTS ME. 
 
 \A/E had finished our journey. The safe har 
 bor of Chesapeake Bay lay around us, and 
 only one more night separated us from a new 
 land. 
 
 It is ever a joyous and yet a solemn moment 
 when a ship drops her anchor after a long voyage. 
 T is like to waking from a dream. Life hath us 
 once more in its clutches. We have come so far 
 and strained our eyes so long to catch sight of 
 this land ; now we are arrived : but behold, close 
 beside us sits that black care from which we 
 sought to fly on canvas wings ! 
 
 Captain Chester was keeping his midnight watch, 
 according to his wont, on the " Margaret and 
 John," though the shore lay full in view, and all 
 
 9
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 was well; but a ship, he said, was like a child, 
 any one might care for it by day, but a mother 
 and a master must be on guard by night. 
 
 By his leave I was sharing his watch this last 
 night. We had sat long together without speech. 
 The broad bay around us lay with scarce a ripple 
 on its breast. Not a breath of wind was stirring. 
 A single point of light on a low strip of land to 
 the northward, told us that there lay the little 
 settlement of Point Comfort. Everywhere else 
 the shore was black with a dense growth of pines 
 and cedars, whose fragrancy was borne to us across 
 the still air of the April night. All about seemed 
 new and strange no, not all, for there above 
 shone the same stars to which, as a boy in Eng 
 land, I had looked up in childish wonderment. 
 There rode Charles s Wain and Orion with his 
 belt, and high above all, the round moon, spread 
 ing a pathway of light from the ship to the shore. 
 
 Times like this set a man to thinking and to 
 remembering. I know not how long I sat thus 
 steeped in mine own thoughts. When I woke to 
 full consciousness I noted the captain s eyes fixed 
 on my hand. 
 
 " T is a ring of rare value that thou wearest. 
 Methinks I have looked on it ere now, yet can I 
 not say where." 
 
 TO
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 Truth to tell, twas a ring that might well draw 
 the eye of any man, and strangely ill befitting the 
 finger of a poor soldier of fortune, like myself. A 
 prince might have worn it, as indeed a princess had. 
 Its stone was a star sapphire, milky, yet luminous, 
 glowing now like the Northern Light, as the moon 
 beams fell full upon it. Above it was an arm dexter, 
 holding a poniard, and the posy bore the words : 
 
 " God be near thee, 
 On land and sea ! " 
 
 The gem was set in massive gold, delicately in 
 wrought and intertwined ; on either side stood the 
 initials, " E. R." 
 
 Her glorious Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, had be 
 stowed it on mine uncle; yet it was not of her I 
 had been thinking, but of another " E. R.," the 
 queen and tyrant of my heart. I spake not the 
 thoughts that were in my soul, but buried them 
 under a careless manner, and answered lightly : 
 
 " Belike thou hast seen it on the hand of mine 
 uncle, Sir Humphrey Gilbert. He had it of Queen 
 Bess, together with a golden figure of a lady 
 guarding an anchor, as a token of her favor, and 
 accompanied by a gracious message bidding him 
 be of good cheer, for she wished him as good a 
 voyage as though she herself were to be on his 
 IT
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 ship. Alas ! The good wishes even of a queen 
 avail little. It was on that very trip that the 
 Squirrel foundered off the Azores." 
 
 " Ay, and the noblest heart in England went 
 down in her. I mind me well when it happened, 
 though t was over thirty years ago ; but how 
 happened it that this ring perished not with 
 him ? " 
 
 " Why, he had no mind to risk such a treasure 
 amid the perils of the seas, and ere he went on 
 that fatal voyage he sent the golden image to Sir 
 Walter Raleigh, his kinsman ; and the ring he 
 gave into the keeping of my mother, then a slip of 
 a girl living in his house, saying that should aught 
 befall him it was his will that the ring should be 
 hers. Even so, in God s providence it fell out. 
 She kept the ring always as a priceless treasure, 
 and on her deathbed bade me wear it, until I 
 should place it, as her bridal gift, on the finger 
 of the woman I should wed. So, as I am little 
 like to marry in this land of savages to which we 
 are bound, the pretty bauble must e en be content 
 to tarry on my brown paw, instead of gracing the 
 white hand of a lady." 
 
 Part of the bitterness of my spirit must, against 
 my will, have found its way into my tone ; for 
 Captain Chester looked at me a moment, then 
 12
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 laying his heavy hand on my knee, he said in 
 his deep, kind voice : 
 
 " Humphrey Huntoon, thou canst, maybe, doctor 
 the body, but I could swear that thou hast thyself 
 need of a physician of the soul. Something hath 
 weighed upon thee since ever we set sail from 
 London. Indeed, lad, methinks thou art not wise 
 to keep it thus secret from the old-time friend of 
 thine uncle. Next to a priest, there is no father- 
 confessor so good as a sailor, for he hath no chance 
 to blab, save to the waves and the clouds. Come, 
 boy ; out with thy secret, and then thou and I 
 will bury it here in the deep bosom of the Mother 
 of Waters, as I hear the naturals have named this 
 bay." 
 
 ft was ever desperate hard for me to confide in 
 another. At school they were wont to call me 
 "the tortoise" because, so they said, I but poked 
 my head out of my shell now and then to see my 
 way, and straightway drew it in again, if any one 
 so much as looked at me. But now the darkness 
 of night covered my shyness, and the kindness of 
 the captain s voice so opened my heart that I laid 
 bare the grief that had been smouldering within 
 me. 
 
 " T is the old, old story, captain, tedious as a 
 twice told tale. T is all summed up in few and 
 
 3
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 brief words: He loved her she loved him 
 not." 
 
 "Ay, then, tis as I suspicioned; there is a 
 woman at the bottom of thy trouble." 
 
 "Yea, a woman, and, O good father-confessor, 
 such a woman ! Why, Saint Anthony himself 
 must needs have fallen down and worshipped her, 
 as I did fool that I was ! " 
 
 " Not the first fool, by a thousand, nor the last 
 by a million to yield to the bondage of a satin skin 
 and a rose-pink flush. This sweet-heart of thine, 
 I doubt not, is as fair in thine eyes as Venus and 
 Dian together." 
 
 " Nay, father, not so fast ! The confessor must 
 not put words into the mouth of him who kneels 
 at the confessional. I never said that Elizabeth 
 Romney was fair." 
 
 I could have bitten out my traitorous tongue 
 when I caught it thus letting slip the name which, 
 for all these weeks, my heart had been saying over 
 and over. But the mischief was done. 
 
 "The daughter of Sir William Romney," said 
 the captain, " is entitled to some dower of stately 
 beauty from her mother, as well as to a deal of 
 beastly pride from her father." 
 
 " Thou knowest Sir William ? " 
 
 " Only by rumor, which speaks not too well of 
 
 14
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 him. An I mistake not, I have seen his name in 
 the list of those who hold stock of the Virginia 
 Company, and rumor saith he looks anxiously to 
 a rise in its value to help his falling fortunes. But 
 twas of his daughter we were speaking." 
 
 " Yes," I answered, communing, if the truth were 
 told, more with myself than with my companion, 
 " yes, of his daughter and her beauty. T is 
 strange I ne er before thought to ask if she were 
 fair. To me she ever seemed a part of Nature. 
 When I think of her I think of the freshness of 
 the morning wind, and the clearness of the moun 
 tain-pool; yea, and sometimes of the brawling of 
 the angry brook, for Mistress Betty is never twice 
 in the same mood ; but will play the stately dame 
 and the spoiled child within the one hour. Yet 
 ever, under all her quips, I fancied I could see a 
 true and tender heart, and thus I forgave her all 
 her foibles, nay, to be honest, I think I but loved 
 her the better for them." 
 
 " Hast known her long ? " 
 
 "Ay, since ever I was a stripling in mine uncle s 
 house, whither my mother and I came after my 
 father s death. We grew up as boy and girl to 
 gether there at Compton, down in dear old Devon. 
 Romney Hall stands hard by mine uncle s place, 
 separated but by a little stream, which flows
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 between. On either side of this stream we have 
 often stood, she and I, bandying childish jests. 
 
 " One day in particular I do recall, when she was 
 but a tiny maiden. She scooped up the water from 
 this brook in the cup of her chubby hand, and threw 
 it in a shower over my new suit of puce-colored 
 velvet with lace ruffles, which I had donned in 
 honor of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was paying us 
 a visit, on his way to London. T is a hard case 
 when a lad is angry with a girl younger than him 
 self. T is unmanly to conquer ; t is cowardly to 
 yield. My youthful heart swelled with wrath ; yet 
 I spake no word. I gave her but one look and 
 turned away. In an instant, heedless of her pretty 
 slippers, she had waded through the brook and 
 thrown her arms about my neck, begging, with 
 sobs, to be pardoned for her silly trick." 
 
 Tis strange what lightness of spirit comes with 
 the laying bare of a sore heart. Verily, a trouble 
 half told is half healed. Here I, who had not been 
 merry for months, found myself now smiling in 
 the dark, as I talked of those pleasant days of old. 
 Then, like a mourner ashamed that he hath forgot 
 his grief, I caught up my melancholy once more. 
 
 " Well, well ! All that is over and gone. If she 
 loved me in those childish years (and I still think 
 she did) she outgrew the foolishness soon enow. 
 16
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 Yet, from time time, as she grew into maidenhood, 
 she let drop some word, some hint, as tho she 
 would say, Perhaps ! but ere I could pry into 
 the meaning of her words, her eyes gathered mer 
 riment, like as if they were laughing at the poor 
 fool who allowed himself to be cheated thus. 
 
 " Once, ere I went to Oxford, I rode beneath 
 her window. She, leaning out of the casement, 
 did drop a sprig of lad s-love, which a moment 
 before she had been holding to her lips ; then, 
 when I looked up, with my heart in my eyes, she 
 slammed the window to, and a moment later I 
 heard her calling her dog within." 
 
 " Tush, tush, lad ! A woman s ways are like the 
 maze at Hampton Court. If thou lose the clue, 
 thou mayst wander round and round forever and 
 be no nearer coming out. Why didst thou not 
 ask her flat would she have thee for her hus 
 band ? " 
 
 " Why not, indeed ? Ah, therein lies the root 
 of all my bitterness ! When I had finished my 
 studies at Oxford and got my degree as a phy 
 sician and chirurgeon in London, I found myself 
 with a scanty portion of a thousand pounds. Yet 
 had I none the less high hopes of carving my way 
 to fame and fortune, as other men have done from 
 still lower estate. This did I write to Sir William 
 
 2 17
 
 The Head of a Hundred, 
 
 Romney, and in the packet I enclosed a letter to 
 his daughter. 
 
 " Therein I told her anew what she knew of old, 
 that I loved her. I asked her not to share the 
 fortunes of a poor adventurer. I did but seek a 
 pledge that she would grant me a year and a day, 
 and a promise that if by that time I had aught of 
 success to lay at her feet, she would look on my 
 suit with favor." 
 
 " It was done like thyself, Humphrey. What 
 answer made she ? " 
 
 " Answer ! Oh, it makes me mad to think on t ! 
 She might have said me nay, and yet I would have 
 gone my way, loving her like a knight of old, with 
 out hope of reward or return ; but to be flouted 
 and baited, and badgered and mocked, when I had 
 offered her that poor thing, my heart, oh, it was 
 ill done ! " 
 
 The instinct of my body to keep pace with my 
 restless and turbulent soul led me to stride up and 
 down the deck, striving to master the storm within 
 me. When I took my seat again, Captain Chester 
 drew me on to speak further. 
 
 " Perhaps," he said, " the maid was but the 
 mouth-piece of her father. I hear of him every 
 where as a hard, cold man." 
 
 " Oh ! Ay, ay, ay ! " I broke in, " I have 
 18
 
 Phillida Flouts Me! 
 
 said all that over and over to myself, like a mad 
 man, since ever I received Sir William s cool note 
 of dismissal, enclosing the daughter s mocking 
 lines ; but whenever I would soothe my sore heart 
 with the thought that she wrote it not of her own 
 free will, my reason says : T is false, and thou 
 knowst it ! She would brave a thousand fathers 
 if she really loved, and her will was crossed. I 
 know, of course, that her refusal jumped with her 
 father s wish. Since ever he hath been under 
 royal disfavor and banished from court on sus 
 picion of popish plots, he hath been striving and 
 conniving, if so he might not wriggle back into 
 power ; and of late I have heard that he reckons 
 his best chance to lie in marrying his daughter to 
 that shining light of Protestantism, the Earl of 
 Chetwynd." 
 
 " But if he is a papist, why should we seek to 
 wed his child to a heretic ? " 
 
 " Because the King s crown is closer at hand 
 than the Pope s tiara, and, besides, Chetwynd 
 hath real religion no more at heart than Romney. 
 She to wed with him ! Oh, I cannot brook 
 the thought ! Let her marry whom she will so 
 it be an honest man, but not that old hawk! 
 Ill as she hath treated me, I could not bear 
 that." 
 
 19
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " And art thou sure, quite sure, that she hath 
 treated thee ill?" 
 
 The very softness of the Captain s words an 
 gered me, for twas as if he were talking with one 
 whose wits were wandering and who could not be 
 made to hear reason till he had said his say. 
 Stung by his doubts, I drew out from my jerkin, a 
 square white packet, sealed with the Romney arms. 
 
 " See," I said ; " t is the sole scrap of her writ 
 ing I e er received, and, truth to tell, of such un 
 pleasant reading, the less the better." 
 
 With this I flung the letter open before him. 
 
 "So, by way of forgetting your lady-love, you 
 carry her letter on your heart ! " said the captain, 
 picking up the writing, with a smile. 
 
 " Perhaps," quoth I, ruefully, and paying little 
 heed to his jibing, " t is as well her answer fin 
 ished the matter betwixt us ; for now that our 
 army is withdrawn from the Lowlands, and we are 
 at cowardly peace with Spain, I find it not so easy 
 a matter to open the oyster of the world with a 
 sword s point, nor yet, I fear me, with a lancet s 
 edge." 
 
 While I plunged along thus, Captain Chester 
 had been spelling out the lines by the aid of the 
 ship s light (a vile one). Anger gathered on his 
 brow as he read. 
 
 20
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 " Why, mark ye, Huntoon ! " he said, as he 
 puzzled over the paper, "the hussy that wrote 
 those lines is na worth the paper she writes on. 
 T is the cheap trash caught at second-hand from 
 the ladies of the court and their gallants in 
 rhyme, too! why, that s the worst insult of all! 
 When the heart speaks, it uses honest prose, and 
 not these silly quirks. Her love, she says, was 
 never given to thee ; and what s this? Oh, the 
 insolence of a Romney bidding Humphrey Gil 
 bert s nephew seek a sweetheart of his own 
 degree ! I would I had her here, within reach of 
 the cat-o - nine-tails ! " 
 
 As the captain waxed hot, I grew cool. Of a 
 sudden, I began to wish, with a chill, that I had 
 held my tongue. 
 
 " An it please thee, good Master Chester, we 
 will talk no more of her," said I, somewhat stiffly. 
 " It is idle to seek to explain my feeling to one 
 like thee, who never knew the hold that love, yes, 
 even cheated love, hath on the victim s heart." 
 
 The next moment I would have given the world 
 to call back those hasty words. I saw the cap 
 tain s ruddy face grow of a sudden white as 
 ashes. 
 
 " Be silent, prating boy ! " he gasped, fumbling 
 at his neck-band, as though something hindered 
 
 21
 
 The Head of a Hundred, 
 
 his breathing. For an instant he made as though 
 he would take me by the throat; then he sank 
 back, still striving to open his coat, that the burst 
 ing heart might find room for its throbbing. 
 
 " Pardon, old friend," I cried. " I meant 
 naught, trust me, by my thoughtless speech, save 
 that thou hadst been wiser than the rest of us, and 
 never fallen victim to a foolish passion." 
 
 " T is I should ask thy pardon, Humphrey ! 
 There is no sight in the world more pitiable than 
 an old man in a rage over a trifle. Forgive my 
 roughness, and forget, if you can, my folly ! " 
 
 Made bold by the kindness of his tone, I said : 
 " Perchance thou, too, hast need of a father-con 
 fessor and of a soul s doctor." 
 
 " Ay," he answered, in a deep and sorrowful 
 voice, " That have I no man more ! " 
 
 A long pause followed. 
 
 At last I said softly, " Is it some old love of 
 thine own that my story brings back to thee like 
 a ghost in this midnight hour?" 
 
 " Alas ! With me t is no boyish folly, but a 
 man s sin that sits heavy on my soul. Here will 
 I confess it before thee and before my God, if 
 haply I may purge my soul thus of some share of 
 its guilt by warning another against the cherishing 
 of hatred and bitterness.
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 "Listen, Humphrey! When I was thine age, 
 I was a callow stripling, free and bluff, as sailors 
 ever be, trusting every man, and foolisher still, 
 every woman, who bade me God be wi ye! 
 My hands were in and out of my pockets, while 
 a crown or farthing was there, and I wore my 
 heart on my sleeve. 
 
 " Well, there was a maid who dwelt in the little 
 town where I grew up. Hers was no fiery spirit 
 like that of thy lady-love. She was a timid, 
 shrinking creature with an eye such as the dumb 
 animal hath, that seems to speak and laugh and 
 pray all through that one outlet. Frail she was, 
 and soft and white as the rose which clambered 
 to the thatch of her cottage. I loved her the more 
 that she was so unlike me, and I now see that I 
 was to blame that in so slight a nature I looked 
 for so stubborn a virtue as constancy. 
 
 " One night t was just before I sailed on a 
 voyage to the Spanish Main I walked with her 
 along the cliffs at Ilfracombe. As we stood look 
 ing down on my ship, the Flying Hart, I mind 
 me, was its name, I asked her to be my wife when 
 I should come back, and I pictured to her the 
 bright future when I should be master of a vessel 
 like the one beneath us, with a wee dark-eyed wife 
 to bear me company on my voyages. 
 
 2 3
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 We kissed and parted, and t was agreed that our 
 betrothal should be kept secret betwixt her and 
 me, till I should come again, to claim her promise." 
 
 The captain s voice wavered, and then stopped 
 short. He gulped hard, as tho striving to swallow 
 down some feeling too mighty for him. 
 
 " The Flying Hart, " he went on at length, " was 
 gone from England for three years. The other 
 sailors had sweethearts in every port we touched ; 
 but I never gave a thought to any woman but her. 
 Each night ere I slept, sometimes amid roaring 
 tempests, with the rude gale tossing the ship from 
 wave to wave like an egg-shell, my last thought 
 was of her in her peaceful cottage on Ilfracombe 
 Cliff, and I prayed Heaven to make me good 
 enow to deserve her love." 
 
 Here the captain heaved a patient sigh which 
 pierced my soul. 
 
 " Well, well, lad ! T will na do to dwell too 
 long on that time, though it is something to have 
 known three years of happiness in this life." 
 
 I waited in silence, till Chester took up the sad 
 burden of his story once more. 
 
 " One bright, calm morning in May, our good 
 
 ship came into harbor. There stood the craggy 
 
 cliffs, and the little white town straggling up the 
 
 steep street, just as I had left it. I looked to see 
 
 24
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 her standing on the shore, and when I missed her 
 from the crowd, which had gathered to welcome 
 us, my spirit sank within me, for I feared she was 
 dead; but t was worse, lad, worse ! When I asked 
 for her the folk, not knowing they broke my heart, 
 told me lightly that she was wed to a carpenter. 
 
 " Wed / I staggered as I walked away, and those 
 that stood around nudged each other, thinking that 
 I was overcome with drink ; but I was drunk with 
 grief, and mad with anger and the thought of 
 vengeance. 
 
 " I strode up the steep village street. Of a 
 sudden mine eyes lighted on a new cottage, builded 
 since last I was at home. (Three years make 
 mighty changes in places as in people.) Whom 
 should I see, sitting in the door-way, but her that 
 had betrayed me ! 
 
 " I have ever believed I think I could na go 
 living but for the thought that if my wrath had 
 but had time to cool, I had never done the thing 
 I did. I stood there before her, she and I alone 
 together as we shall stand at the Judgment Throne, 
 and I I cursed her! I called down the ven 
 geance of God on her, and on him she had wed, 
 and on the children she should bear." 
 
 " And she ? " I broke in, " said she anything in 
 her own defence ? " 
 
 25
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Nay, no more than the flower defends itself 
 against the storm that beats it to earth. She 
 went white of a sudden, and sank to the floor. 
 Thus I left her, and, going down the hill, I 
 found another ship that set sail next day for 
 the coast of Denmark, and I sailed in her, and 
 for nigh fifteen year I never saw Ilfracombe 
 again." 
 
 Silence once more and the lapping of the waves. 
 I longed to hear further this strange, sad story which 
 had come near to drive my own poor little tragedy 
 out of my mind, yet durst I not urge him to speak. 
 I was glad when, a moment after, he went on of 
 his own accord. 
 
 " My heart was softened by those years of ab 
 sence. Time, which dulls all things, had taken 
 the edge from my anger and my grief, and I was 
 shamed when I bethought me how I had cursed a 
 solitary and defenceless woman. I came back to 
 Ilfracombe on purpose to seek her out, and to beg 
 her to let by-gones be by-gones and be friends once 
 more. 
 
 " Again I inquired for her, and again my heart 
 was stabbed. She had died, so the neighbors said, 
 fifteen years syne, within three months of the day 
 the Flying Hart came into port. 
 
 " She had been with child then (God forgive me 
 26
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 for my cruel words), a daughter, that was born 
 after, whilst the mother lay a-dying. 
 
 "The child, they said, had ever been strange; 
 wrong like i the head, and had never spoken a 
 word." 
 
 A light began to break on my mind, but the 
 matter was so strange and full of bewilderment 
 that I sat as one dazed and spake no word for 
 some minutes. At length I cried, " Can it be that 
 twas the old man in the cabin below; and the 
 child was the dumb maid, his daughter?" 
 
 "Ay, Humphrey," quoth the Captain, " I see by 
 thy look that thou hast guessed the rest. The 
 carpenter was Giles Lucas, a dull, good man that 
 ne er suspicioned aught, neither our betrothal 
 nor her falseness nor my cruelty. T was not his 
 fault that he had won a fickle fancy and a soft 
 heart away from their vows, by kind words and the 
 promise of a good home. 
 
 "He is well enow, well enow, but when I saw 
 him and his dumb daughter amongst the pas 
 sengers on my ship, I was filled with foreboding, 
 though I be not a coward by nature. I feared 
 God had taken me at my word, and that curser 
 and accursed would perish together, in the doom I 
 had impiously called down." 
 
 " Yet it fell not out so." 
 27
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Dost thou remember the twenty-second of 
 March, the day we met the Spanish man-of-war ? " 
 
 " Sooth, I am not like to forget it, since that 
 day s fight came near sending us all to the bottom 
 of the sea ! " 
 
 " Ay, well, on that day the maid fell in a trance, 
 and her finger pointed off to the southard (the 
 direction whence that foul Spaniard sneaked upon 
 us), and her eyes were set in terror, and for hours 
 she lay so, all through the fight. I would rather 
 face the foul fiend than look upon her so again. 
 Bohun, the ship s doctor, thought it but a touch o 
 the falling sickness ; but I knew better. I knew 
 t was a warning of that which befell." 
 
 " But naught of harm came to thee after all, nor 
 yet to her," said I, striving to comfort him. " Did 
 we not beat off those dogs of Spaniards and slay 
 their admiral ? Troth ! I mind me still of the look 
 of Giles Lucas as he stood by his great gun on the 
 half-deck, with his white beard floating in the wind 
 and his shot scattering ruin and confusion among 
 the enemy, till one cried out that there was no use 
 contending with old Death himself. Sure the 
 maid must be a white witch, for it is good and 
 not ill she brought us." 
 
 " Nay, the cloud has lifted for a time, but, 
 Humphrey, I feel it in my soul that some day 
 28
 
 Phillida Flouts Me. 
 
 the curse will fall ; and I feel too, and that with 
 out sorrow, that my fate is somehow bound up 
 with the fate of that maid, and that the same blow 
 that strikes her will fell me too. God is just, and 
 I am guilty ! " 
 
 The ship s bell sounded the end of the captain s 
 watch. The mate came on deck, and I went be 
 low. We said no more then, or for long after, 
 touching these things. 
 
 29
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW LAND. 
 
 T LANDED at Point Comfort, but I tarried 
 * thereabouts only a little over three months, 
 for I saw no likelihood of earning my living, 
 the inhabitants being most abominable healthy. 
 Being told that at James City fevers and such 
 like disorders did much prevail, owing to the 
 dampness of the marshes and the muddiness of 
 the drinking water, I determined to betake myself 
 thither, for physicians are like carrion crows and 
 must follow the scent of death. 
 
 I had been but three days here in James City 
 when, walking one morning in the narrow unpaved 
 passage between the wooden houses which here 
 does duty for a street, I beheld, twirling his mus- 
 tachios on the next corner, the figure of a gallant, 
 clad in rich yet shabby dress. The lace of the 
 ruffles about his wrists had more open work than 
 the maker thereof ever intended. The points 
 30
 
 An Old friend in a New Land. 
 
 which held his doublet and hose together had lost 
 their tags, and his jerkin showed stains of weather 
 and of wine. The face above it was likewise some 
 what the worse for both ; but the eyes twinkled 
 so merrily that one scarce noted the redness of 
 the nose, and the gayety of the lips redeemed 
 the heaviness of the chin. At least I thought 
 so, but a man s judgment is ne er too keen when 
 he encountereth an old friend in a strange land. 
 
 At any rate t is certain that a man may look the 
 gentleman, be he never so shabby, provided his 
 beard and his boots be well kept. Our eyes met 
 on the instant. 
 
 " Why, slay me," I cried, " an it be not Jack- 
 in-the-Box ! " 
 
 The cavalier laid his hat with its bedraggled 
 plumes upon his heart, as he bowed low before 
 me with mock ceremony. 
 
 "And can this be that Humphrey Huntoon 
 whom I remember lean and learned there in 
 London aforetime, while the rest of us were kill 
 ing the fatted calf, and making merry with our 
 friends ? " 
 
 "Nay, Jack, thou art at fault in thy quotation, 
 for if I mistake not, t was the father of the prodi 
 gal that killed the fatted calf to make a rejoicing 
 over his son s reform, but thou and thy fellow 
 
 3 1
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 roysterers were still squandering your portions 
 in riotous living." 
 
 " Ah, rogue ! hast thou caught me tripping in 
 my Scripture ? Well, to tell the truth, I think my 
 Bible must have been ymbeasiled, for I found it 
 not in my sea-trunk , so I have not been able to 
 refresh my memory. But tell me, Master Tor 
 toise, how and wherefore art thou come hither ? " 
 
 " Faith ! t is the very query I was fain to put to 
 thee, for the last word I had from thee was dated 
 Ye Sponging House, Fleet Street. " 
 
 "Yea, man, and twas a fair investment of thy 
 ten pounds that lifted me out of that vile debtor s 
 prison, which hath detained me so long and so oft 
 that the ribald mirth of jesters like thee hath 
 christened me Jack-in-the-Box. I shall ne er 
 forget that kindness of thine ; not that I would 
 offer to repay thee in filthy lucre, I ne er insulted 
 friend after that fashion, but my influence, that 
 valuable which costs little and comes to much, is 
 at your service." 
 
 "Thine influence! Wilt thou never have done 
 with that ancient jesting habit of thine? " 
 
 " Trust me, I speak but the sober truth." 
 
 "Then tis the first time Jack-in-the-Box e er 
 spake anything sober." 
 
 " But I tell thee t is not Jack-in-the-Box who 
 
 32
 
 An Old Friend in a New Land. 
 
 speaks, but Master John Pory, secretary to his 
 Excellency Sir George Yerely, Governor of Vir 
 ginia. Ay! drop thy jaw like a gaby and stare 
 thine eyes out of their sockets. 
 
 Thus things proceed and vary not a jot 
 Whether you know them or you know them not." 
 
 " Well, then, Master John Pory, secretary to his 
 Excellency the Governor of Virginia, if thou in 
 deed hast a right to that high-sounding title and 
 art not masquerading to mock at my credulity, 
 why then, I say, thou art well met, for I am travel 
 ling with my cap in hand to catch whatsoever larks 
 may be falling." 
 
 " And I," quoth he, " am the man to drop them 
 ready cooked into thy hat. Now here is a chance 
 opening for thee at once. The governor hath 
 bade me make ready shortly to pay a visit to his 
 Majesty, the Laughing King of Accomac, whose 
 dominions lie on the eastern shore of the Bay of 
 Chesupioc to the northward of Dale s Gift. I am 
 to take with me a pinnace, and ten men fully 
 armed, for the king hath sometimes a trick of 
 giving white-face embassies an over-warm wel 
 come, and is fond of preserving locks of their 
 hair with the skin attached, as a keepsake." 
 
 "And are these the larks thou didst promise? 
 3 33
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 that I shall be one of the ten to be roasted over 
 the infernal bonfires of these savages? I thank 
 thee, good John, but I have a taste for gentler 
 sports." 
 
 " Nay, t is not death, but a taste of life I am 
 offering thee. I have often told thee, with the 
 honesty which befitted a friend, that thou art too 
 much of a bookworm. Thou hast need to learn 
 of our brave Captain Smith, who made his boast 
 that he scorned to sit down in a library to write of 
 other men s exploits, but that he did rather take 
 his pen and inkhorn with him into the trenches 
 and behind the barricades, where what his sword 
 did his pen writ. 
 
 " So shall it be with thee. We will send back 
 to England A True Relation of the Habits of 
 the Naturals in Virginia, writ by Humphrey 
 Huntoon; and the description will appear but 
 the more graphic if the volume be bound in thine 
 own hide, neatly tanned and dressed by some 
 copper-colored squaw." 
 
 "John Pory," quoth I, "I have ever observed 
 that another man s skin maketh excellent subject 
 for sport, but I have such respect for mine that 
 I must e en beg of thee to leave it out of thy light 
 and profitless discourse. Quit thy jesting and tell 
 me in all seriousness how thou likest this new land." 
 
 34
 
 An Old Friend in a New Land. 
 
 " Well, sooth to say, at my first coming I liked 
 it not at all. The solitary uncouthness of the 
 place, together with finding myself sequestered from 
 the excitements which are rife in the great world, 
 did more than a little vex me; but liking grows 
 with wont, and here, among these crystal rivers 
 and odoriferous woods, I do escape much expense, 
 envy, contempt, vanity, and vexation of mind. 
 
 " I can see readily, friend John, of what benefit 
 Virginia hath been to thee ; perchance thou wilt 
 also make it clear to my dull wits of what use thou 
 canst be to Virginia." 
 
 " Hark ye ! young sceptic ! Didst ever hear tell 
 of ye secretary bird ? " 
 
 "Ay." 
 
 "Well tis of its feathers the quill pens are 
 made, which being translated signifies that my 
 services are much in demand for writing letters 
 home. These documents so alluringly set forth 
 the charms and advantages of this region that 
 the readers thereof count it in very truth Earth s 
 only Paradise, as the poet hath writ of it. 
 
 " I send such accounts of the black Muscatel 
 grapes as maketh the mouth of him that readeth to 
 water. My stories of the plentifulness and great 
 size of the wild beasts and the household animals 
 do greatly attract both hunter and farmer ; while 
 
 35
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 he women folk are taken captive by the picture 
 of the gewgaws to be had for nothing from the 
 savages, and gold so plenty that all may go bravely 
 dressed even o week-days, and as for Sundays, 
 why, I set forth how our cattle-keeper, which is 
 a woman, doth wear a hat of silken beaver, smartly 
 tricked out with a plume and a band of pearl." 
 
 "Thou callest thyself a secretary bird, but to 
 my thinking, thou art more like a decoy duck." 
 
 "Nay, but rather the fowler that traps the 
 game." 
 
 " Ay, and thou drawest thy net cunningly." 
 
 " Perhaps, but my conscience is of such a ten 
 derness that it would not let me write those lines 
 about the cattle-keeper till I had placed mine 
 own Sunday hat, pearl band and all upon her head, 
 whereat she was so pleased that I am fed on cream 
 ever since." 
 
 While we were thus in the midst of jesting talk, 
 the sound of the church-bell fell on mine ear. 
 
 " How now ? " I cried. " Are my wits wool 
 gathering? Surely tis not the Sabbath, else have 
 we two in a week, for I did attend service in 
 yonder chapel the first day I came." 
 
 "Two Sundays in a week ! Faith we are much 
 more like to have but one in two weeks, for we are 
 not a godly set. But I tell thee this is a greater 
 36
 
 An Old Friend in a New Land. 
 
 day than any Sabbath. Hast thou not heard that 
 the Virginia House of Burgesses meets to-day ? " 
 
 " Nay, I knew not that it met to-day, but I have 
 heard there in Kiccowtan that his Majesty hath 
 proclaimed that Virginia is to have a hand in 
 governing herself, at least in so far as jumps with 
 the royal will." 
 
 "Ay, man, and they say that in England, the 
 night before the commission was issued, a naming 
 comet appeared in the heavens; and well it might, 
 for such a wonder as a free assembly of the people 
 hath never before been seen. Well, t is to-day, 
 the thirtieth of July, that the House meets for the 
 first time." 
 
 " T is wondrous dull in me to have forgot it. 
 Dost thou know any members?" 
 
 " Close thy mouth and open thine ears, and thou 
 shalt be the wiser. Look at me, and thou shalt be 
 hold a mighty man, a man of office, in brief, the 
 speaker-to-be of the House of Burgesses ! " 
 
 " Thou ! " 
 
 " I." 
 
 " Ne er again will I credit the saying that a silk 
 purse cannot be made out of a sow s ear. To 
 think that Jack-in-the-Box should come to be a 
 burgess ! " 
 
 " Strange, but true, nevertheless. Wouldst like 
 
 37
 
 The Head of a Hundred, 
 
 to see the opening of the session ? An thou wilt 
 I will have thee a pass from the governor to enter 
 in with me." 
 
 Scarce waiting for my answer, the good-natured 
 fellow darted into the doorway of a house some 
 what larger and grander than its neighbors, where, 
 as I surmised, the governor dwelt. Shortly he 
 came out thence, bearing a green ribhon, which, 
 when we were come to the church where the 
 Assembly was to sit, we showed to the door 
 keeper, and straightway he let us in. There I 
 betook myself to a seat in the corner while my 
 companion returned to escort the governor. 
 
 As I sat thus alone, I marvelled much that so 
 fine a church should be builded here, as t were 
 in the wilderness. The table of the sacrament 
 was of a strange dark wood, and the pulpit and 
 pews of cedar. The windows, which stood open, 
 were wide and richly cased in wooden frames. 
 
 The air in the church was of a rare fragrancy, 
 the choir being trimmed with divers plants, and 
 the sacramental table decked with sweet-briar and 
 roses and the red swamp-lilies. 
 
 Ere I had fully settled my wandering wits, the 
 sound of a fife and drum struck my ear, announc 
 ing the arrival of the burgesses, and presently the 
 procession moved up the aisle. First came his 
 38
 
 An Old Friend in a New Land. 
 
 Excellency the Governor, a tall man of soldierly 
 bearing, and clad in robes of office. With him 
 walked the Council accompanied by a guard of 
 halberdiers, and behind came, marching in pairs, 
 two-and-twenty Burgesses, of grave and imposing 
 aspect. 
 
 But the thing which did most amaze me was to 
 see my old friend Jack-in-the-Box carrying himself 
 with more dignity and solemnity than any in the 
 procession. One would have said he was a born 
 bishop that had somehow missed his calling. 
 
 When the Governor was come to the choir, he 
 took his seat on a green velvet chair set for him 
 with a cushion for his feet. The Burgesses, with 
 their hats still on their heads, seated themselves 
 before him. A reverend clergyman rose to offer 
 prayer. The prayer ended and the roll purged, 
 an election was held and the governor announced 
 that Master John Pory was chosen speaker of the 
 House of Burgesses ; whereupon Master Pory rose, 
 and removing his hat, stood there in face of that 
 dignified body. 
 
 Yes, there he stood, the rogue whom I had 
 many a time and oft, in the old days, helped to 
 bed in his cups, bearing himself with a swelling 
 and majestical port, as tho on Fortune s cap he 
 were the very button. 
 
 39
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 I swear I was near to bursting with laughter as 
 I listened to him reading in a loud voice the king s 
 commission, and then the great charter brought 
 out of England by Sir George Yerely. 
 
 " I would fain," said he, " have you hearken to 
 these laws diligently, that in case you find aught 
 not perfectly squaring with the state of this colony, 
 or any law which doth press or bind too hard, we 
 may, by way of humble petition, seek to have it 
 redressed; especially as this great charter is to 
 bind us and our heirs forever." 
 
 As the sound of his voice went on and on in a 
 single tone, and as the drowsy hum of bees outside 
 the window among the honeysuckle swelled in 
 mine ears, I fell asleep, and in my dream I saw 
 myself standing on Magdalen Bridge in Oxford 
 with my hand clasping the hand of Betty Romney, 
 as we hearkened to the bells tolling from the tower 
 of Christ Church. 
 
 But lo, when I awoke, it was but the bell of 
 the James City Chapel announcing the ending 
 of this, the first session of the Virginia House of 
 Burgesses. 
 
 As Pory and I tarried in the porch of the church, 
 I pointed out a wild and rakish fellow playing with 
 the silver handle of his rapier. 
 
 " Who may he be ? " I queried. 
 40
 
 An Old Friend in a New Land. 
 
 " That," answered Pory, " is Captain Henry 
 Spelman. He is like to be had up before the 
 Assembly on complaint of Robert Poole who 
 charges him with malicious speeches concerning 
 the governor." 
 
 "He looks a fiery and sparkish gentleman." 
 
 " Ay, and one that will light the flame of a 
 mutiny here in the colony if he be not quenched in 
 good time. I do remember him at home as a wild 
 lad; and he hath not mended his ways since he 
 came hither." 
 
 As Spelman passed out, he cast on us a black 
 look. 
 
 "Pray hath he aught against us? " quoth I. 
 
 " Sooth, I know not, and what is more I care 
 not. I dare say he holds me responsible (which 
 I am not) for the charges against him, and belike 
 he deems that thou and I are putting our heads 
 together even now in some deep-laid plot against 
 him." 
 
 Pory laughed ; but the memory of that scowling 
 look abode in my mind, and the day came when I 
 had reason to recall it.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A SHIP COMES IN. 
 
 T WAS down for a week with that wretched 
 James City fever. By day I shivered, and by 
 night I burned with a consuming heat. Pory said 
 it served me right that I who had come hither hop 
 ing to batten on the misfortunes of others should 
 myself fall a victim. He, for one, hoped that I 
 should get no relief till I had swallowed all the 
 black and bitter drugs in my vile-tasting and 
 worse-smelling collection. 
 
 Thus he talked, like himself, and equally like 
 himself he stayed by my bedside day and night, 
 scarcely taking off his clothes, tending me as if 
 I were a baby, and mixing doses of the bark, a 
 sovran remedy, till he saw me well on the road to 
 recovery. 
 
 My convalesence he cheered as he had cured 
 my illness. All the gossip of the settlement he 
 brought to my bedside. I learned how John 
 42
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 Twine and Tom Pierce were at loggerheads over 
 a piece of land; how Captain Powell s servant, 
 Thomas Garnett, for evil behavior was set in the 
 pillory with his ears cropped from his head ; and how 
 Henry Spelman, the one who scowled at us from 
 the church door, was found guilty of speaking ill 
 of the governor, and sentenced to be degraded 
 from his title. 
 
 One day (I was quite recovered then) my lively 
 friend came bouncing in, full of excitement. 
 
 " A ship lieth in the harbor," cried he, " and she 
 hath brought what think ye ? " 
 
 "Sooth, I know not. How should I? And if I 
 did t were cruel to spoil thy sport by saying so. 
 What is this wondrous cargo ? " 
 
 " Why, twenty maids, come out with one that is 
 already betrothed to Babcock, the blacksmith ! " 
 
 " Well, what of it ? " 
 
 " What of it, man ! Why t would be the mak 
 ing of the colony could we get twenty score in 
 place of one. Ay, I say, t would be the making 
 of this colony. A ship-load of good wives were 
 the best cargo England could send us." 
 
 "And thou wouldst choose the handsomest 
 for thyself by right of thine office, I dare be 
 sworn." 
 
 " Nay, not I. I have ever had too poor luck 
 
 43
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 at play, to throw dice with Fate for such heavy 
 stakes." 
 
 With this he ran out, laughing. 
 
 When he was gone I stretched my head forth 
 from the window of my lodging. Yonder in the 
 river a tall ship lay black against the shining water. 
 I could see the sailors in their glazed hats and 
 loose, flapping breeches, casting anchor to the time 
 of their harsh song. Skiffs and canoes were ply 
 ing busily betwixt the ship and the shore. One 
 curious thing I noted, that whereas only one went 
 out in each canoe, two came back; and then, as 
 mine ear caught the ringing of the church-bells 
 and mine eyes marked the gallants who had gone 
 of late ill-clad and worse-shaven, now tricked out 
 in bands of fine lawn, and ruffles at their wrists, a 
 sudden light brake on me, and I realized that all 
 this was because the twenty maids were come, and 
 straightway these bachelors, who till now had been 
 quite content in their single estate, must set their 
 silly hearts on being married. 
 
 " Ho there, Master John ! I shouted as I caught 
 sight of Pory s grizzled head and pointed beard 
 under my window. " Read me this riddle : What 
 is that which flies when pursued, and pursues when 
 fled from ? " 
 
 "A maid." 
 
 44
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 " Verily, thou art a shrewd fellow to have guessed 
 it. Come up therefore and tell me all thou know- 
 est, which thou mayst do and yet be gone in five 
 minutes." 
 
 "That my civility may the more brightly shine 
 against the foil of thine uncivil words, I will come, 
 and to heap coals of fire on thy head, I will tell 
 thee of the scene on shipboard. The choosing of 
 husbands and wives went on as merrily as the 
 choosing of partners for a country dance. It was 
 a busy market, I can tell thee." 
 
 " A market how meanest thou ? " 
 
 " Why, t is thus they manage it, by bargain and 
 sale, and belike t is as good an arrangement as 
 any, since when the husband hath paid down his 
 hundred pound of tobacco for a wife, he is bound 
 to make himself believe he hath a bargain, and the 
 wife, seeing he hath set so high an estimate on 
 her worth, in honor must strive to live up to his 
 valuation." 
 
 " And was every one of the twenty maids married 
 thus ? " 
 
 " Ay, all but one ; and she remained without a 
 partner from choice, which thou wouldst have de 
 clared impossible. Many offered for her though 
 she wore her veil and coverchef close and would 
 not show her features. But she would look at none 
 
 45
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 and went off at the last to lodge with her friend, 
 one that was taken to wife by Miles Gary. I 
 was somewhat struck with curiosity over the con 
 duct of the one unwed maid, and I searched out 
 her name in the ship s register where she is set 
 down as Elizabeth Devon. Now, fare thee well ! 
 for my five minutes are over and if I told thee 
 more twould be what I know not, and ergo, 
 lies." 
 
 After my nimble-witted friend was gone his way 
 I sat for long, looking down into the street and 
 watching the bridal couples as they passed from 
 under Parson Bucke s blessing to their new homes. 
 It seemed a strange and abrupt beginning of mar 
 ried life ; yet they appeared no less content than 
 those that take twenty years to make up their 
 minds. 
 
 All this billing and cooing and setting up of new 
 households made me feel but the more lonely and 
 doleful. So I went not abroad that day, tho I 
 was well enow to be out ; but sat reading and study 
 ing with no other comforter than my pipe. But to 
 say truth, the pipe is no mean consoler, and there 
 is no friend that doth so adapt himself to thine 
 every mood, so partake, as t were, the very shade 
 and subtlety of thy thought and feeling as tobacco. 
 Pory would fain persuade me that the "Sweet 
 46
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 Scented " is the better brand, but I was wed from 
 the beginning to " Bright Orinoko." 
 
 Well, as I sat thus, the day wore on to evening. 
 The flame in my pipe was expiring with a final 
 flicker, when a knock sounded at my door. 
 
 " Come in ! " I called, and Miles Gary entered. 
 
 " Why, how now, Gary ! Art thou come to com 
 plain of thy bride of half a dozen hours. Hath 
 she beaten thee over the head with the new broom 
 stick, and thou art shamed of thy black eye, and 
 come to get it healed by stealth after dark, lest 
 thou be the laughing-stock of James City? " 
 
 " Nay, t is nowt like that," answered the burly 
 yeoman as he stood awkwardly twirling his Mon- 
 mouth cap on the end of his finger. I saw that 
 my jests were less amusing to him than to me. 
 Folk are sometimes like that ; so putting off my 
 jibing tone, I asked him seriously if aught were 
 ailing in his household. 
 
 " Ay, t is the friend of my wife." He grinned 
 with sheepish pleasure over the last word. 
 
 " Is that the unwed maid, Elizabeth Devon, of 
 whom Master Pory spake ? " 
 
 " Yea ; her arm was hurt on the ship in a storm, 
 and methinks it must have been ill treated, for, in 
 place of mending, it grows ever worse ; yet have 
 we had a hard task to persuade her to see the 
 
 47
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 leech, and even now am I come without her con 
 sent. I fear me she is o er headstrong; but my 
 Kate will have nowt said to her save wi cap in 
 hand, and she gives more attention to her friend 
 than to her husband." 
 
 " Well, well, that is but natural. Grumble not, 
 Gary; but remember that thy courtship must be 
 done after marriage, and be content to bear awhile 
 with coolness." 
 
 I took up my box as I spake, and we went out 
 into the night together. As we walked thro the 
 town, I marvelled much that all should be so 
 changed of a sudden. T was no longer a camp, 
 but a village. For good or evil the first English 
 homes had been planted here in the heart of the 
 wilderness. 
 
 We stopped before Gary s cottage and I marked 
 its shining neatness. The stepping-stone in front 
 of the door was polished smooth as marble, and 
 the floor within, for all it was but of logs rudely 
 smoothed with an axe, was clean and neatly set in 
 order. 
 
 As I stepped into the kitchen which served for 
 hall and parlor and dining-room all in one, I was 
 greeted by the mistress of the house with a deep 
 bobbing courtesy which brought her short skirt 
 down over her bright stockings and almost hid 
 48
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 the high heels and pointed toes of her wedding 
 slippers. 
 
 " Is thy friend badly hurt ? " said I. 
 
 " Ay, sir, she suffers much, but she bears it ever 
 with so brave a heart and so cheerful a face that 
 none would guess it to look at her." 
 
 " She hath learned, perchance, that suffering 
 may oft be smiled away. Hast thou bandages 
 and swathing-cloths at hand ? " 
 
 " Nay, not rightly at hand, but a plenty in the 
 sea-chest, which hath not yet been opened. Wilt 
 thou lend a hand Miles ? " 
 
 I could but smile to watch the coquetry with 
 which the name was spoken, and to see how a soft 
 tone and glance oiled the wheels of life and made 
 the half-sulky husband her willing slave. 
 
 Foreseeing that the uncording of the chest would 
 be a matter of time, I stepped to the door of the 
 nearer chamber (the house boasted but two) and 
 finding it ajar, I bowed my head to its low pro 
 portions and entered. 
 
 The room had been filled with flowers, in honor 
 of the home-coming of the bride. T is wonderful 
 to me how thoughtful and tender to women these 
 rough fellows oft be. 
 
 The window-sash, its panes filled with oiled 
 paper, was swung open and the night wind blew 
 4 49
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 the perfume of wild-rose and honeysuckle in my 
 face. I can feel it still. A single candle shed a 
 dim light around and threw a yellow ray on a 
 wooden arm-chair drawn close to the table. 
 
 As I turned me toward this chair, suddenly my 
 heart stopped beating. If the thing had not been 
 so wildly impossible, I could have sworn it was 
 Elizabeth Romney herself sitting there. The maid, 
 whoever she was, had the same delicate curve of 
 ear and throat, the same droop of the eyelid, the 
 very trick of the hand lying open palm upward on 
 the knee. 
 
 I brushed my hand across my eyes and looked 
 again. My God! Incredible! It could not 
 be ! yet what a likeness ! 
 
 Then I told myself that I was going mad from 
 dwelling too long on one thought. I must speak 
 and break the spell. As I opened my lips, a 
 sudden searching conviction fell upon me like a 
 lightning flash that this was indeed she, the one 
 woman in the world to me. 
 
 I gasped out : " Elizabeth ! " 
 
 The maiden turned, and for the first time caught 
 sight of me standing thus in the doorway. 
 
 She gave one low cry of " Thou ! " 
 
 After that one word we faced each other in 
 blank silence. The folk in books have ever some 
 
 5
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 pat speech ready for such a moment ; but in real 
 life tis not so. How could I speak when my 
 brain was whirling like a mill-wheel, and my voice 
 choked in my throat? I stood still and looked 
 upon her, and the longer I looked, the harder I 
 found it to believe that my eyes were not playing 
 me a trick. 
 
 Yet twas but the truth they told me. There 
 she sat, she that had been brought up to be 
 tended and waited upon, and compassed about with 
 luxuries, now sick and suffering, with only a 
 wooden arm-chair to rest upon, and a cottage roof 
 to shelter her. How, in God s name, had it come 
 to pass ? 
 
 Her face was deadly pale, for all she had been 
 three months on the sea; and now, as she gazed 
 at me, she grew ever whiter, and swayed as tho 
 she would fall in a swoon. But all the while she 
 kept her eyes fixed steadfastly on mine. They 
 were eyes never to be forgotten by one who had 
 seen them once. I have heard folks praise the 
 brilliancy of her glance and the curling length of 
 her eyelashes ; but, to her lover, there lay a subtler 
 charm in the tender trouble of her eyebrows, bend 
 ing slightly downward toward the inner corner. I 
 noted it now as distinctly as the drowning man 
 counts the bubbles in the water.
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 I was the first to find my voice, and I hated 
 myself that it sounded hard and stern, when I was 
 mad to fling myself at her feet and entreat her to 
 trust herself to me. But that abominable diffi 
 dence of mine, which is so akin to pride that one 
 is oft mistook for t other, played me false, and 
 made me seem in her eyes, I doubt not, like 
 a pragmatical schoolmaster chiding a recreant 
 child. 
 
 " Elizabeth Romney ! am I dreaming, or is it 
 indeed thou come on the ship with the maids ? " 
 
 An angry flush swept over the whiteness of her 
 cheek and rose to meet the hair that curled in 
 childish rings round her little ears. 
 
 " Thou art thinking, perhaps, that I too, like 
 these others, am come three thousand miles in 
 search of a husband ? " 
 
 I knew not what to say, and so I said nowt. 
 
 " Well, believe t if thou wilt ! " she flung out, 
 her eyes one blaze of wrath ; " but believe not that 
 thou art such a husband as I would seek, not 
 though thou wert the only man on this side of the 
 ocean, and though all the tobacco in Virginia were 
 the price in thine hand." 
 
 " I am not like to believe that, Mistress Betty," 
 I answered bitterly. " Yet would I rather believe 
 anything, than that this journey is a mad prank of 
 52
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 thine without rhyme or reason. Wild and venture 
 some thou hast ever been ; but never unmindful of 
 thy sex or thy station." 
 
 "Which means that now I have shown myself 
 unmindful of both. I thank thee, Humphrey Hun- 
 toon ; but till I seek thy counsel, do thou keep thy 
 censure ! " 
 
 I know not what we might have spoken further, 
 for anger was hot in both our hearts ; but at that 
 instant Dame Gary and her goodman came in, 
 bearing a roll of linen and a whale-oil lamp ; which, 
 vile smelling as it was, gave a brighter light than 
 the candle. 
 
 As it shone on the maiden s face, the look of 
 illness and suffering was more plain to be seen; 
 and I cursed myself for a fool that I had forgotten 
 all this time the arm I had been called to tend. I 
 took the linen from Dame Gary s hand and tore it 
 into strips ; I laid out on the table ointments and 
 balms, and then I turned me once more to the 
 patient. 
 
 " Will you be good enough to let me see the 
 hurt ? " I asked in a constrained voice. 
 
 Without a word, she threw back her short cape 
 and showed me the right arm wound round and 
 round with clumsy swathings, which I straightway 
 set to work to unwind. It was well that my calling 
 
 53
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 had trained the fingers to work coolly, no matter 
 how hotly the heart might be beating. 
 
 I went near to breaking out into oaths when I 
 laid bare the arm, and saw how great a bungler 
 had had charge of the hurt there on the ship. 
 Had the arm continued as it was but a little longer, 
 it had been past the aid of the most skilful chirur- 
 gery. As it was, that which had been so ill done 
 must be undone ere it could be set right. 
 
 The doing of this cruel kindness went near to 
 break my heart ; yet she who suffered bore it 
 without a groan. The free hand grasped the arm 
 of the chair more closely, and the face was set in 
 the look of one who would die ere look or sound 
 of weakness be wrung from her. Only the sharper 
 drawing down of the eyebrow marked the strain 
 and stress of suffering. 
 
 At length, after a time which seemed to me 
 longer than many a month I have known since, the 
 poor arm was rebound in a pair of splints, hastily 
 made from barrel staves. As I swathed it in band 
 over band of linen, I turned to Dame Gary I 
 dared not trust my voice to address that other. 
 
 " Your friend," quoth I, " hath an excellent 
 courage." 
 
 "That hath she!" broke in Miles Gary, who 
 had the true English love of bravery, and who, as 
 
 54
 
 A Ship Comes In. 
 
 he stood by, holding the lamp while I worked, had 
 been greatly stirred by the sight of the maid s 
 endurance. "Had we but a company of soldiers 
 like her, we had no need of a stockade round 
 about James City. We would harry the naturals 
 out of the land before Advent." 
 
 " Ay," put in his wife, " but ye should have 
 seen her on the sea ! In that great storm when 
 her arm was broke, she was the only one of 
 us that screamed not nor wailed, nor wished 
 herself on land ; but went about cheering and 
 encouraging all, so that the captain himsel took 
 note on her, and named her, Ye Mistress o ye 
 Maides. " 
 
 Methought I saw a glance of warning pass from 
 the girl in the chair to the woman in waiting, for 
 she straightway brake off her discourse, and spake 
 quite sharply to her husband, bidding him go be 
 fore with the light, that we might follow without 
 breaking our necks over the kitchen settle. 
 
 So they went out and I walked behind them 
 stupidly as far as the door. There I found my 
 wits, and turning back, I stepped close to the 
 arm-chair. 
 
 "The doctor," quoth I, in a low voice, "craves 
 pardon for the hurt he could not help." 
 
 " The doctor" she replied, also speaking very 
 
 55
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 soft, " is pardoned in advance, for he hath but 
 done his duty. For the friend, t is another matter. 
 I cannot soon forget that he hath failed me." 
 
 " Yet he too hath but thy good at heart, and that 
 thou wilt some day confess ; and so must I leave 
 thee. Good-night, madam ! " 
 
 I spoke the last words in a louder tone and bow 
 ing low I passed out of the chamber. 
 
 In the kitchen I tarried for a little talk and 
 spent the time in taking note of this Dame Gary, 
 who was so strangely become the hostess of Mis 
 tress Romney. I studied her and I was satisfied. 
 " This," said I to myself, " is no prating busy-body. 
 That mouth shuts close, and, methinks, can keep a 
 secret, even from her husband. The eyes are 
 small, and not too knowing; but the little they 
 speak is truth. Mistress Romney may count on 
 her faith and loyalty." 
 
 " Fare ye well, good people ! " I said, at length. 
 " Nay, never mind the lantern. I can see my way 
 home by the light o the moon, e en tho it be not 
 my honey-moon. See to it, Dame Gary, that thy 
 friend stirs not nor quits her room till I see her 
 again ! " 
 
 Despite my protest, Gary held the lamp high 
 above his head as I departed. It shone out 
 cheerily into the night, but it could not throw 
 
 56
 
 A Skip Comes In. 
 
 a light upon the black bewilderment of my 
 mind. 
 
 " How came it to pass ? How did it come to 
 pass?" So I kept asking myself, and the only 
 answer was the rustle of the dark pine boughs and 
 the lapping of the river on the beach. 
 
 57
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FORGIVE ME! 
 
 HPHRICE within the week after that night, I saw 
 -*- Elizabeth Romney. The first time she slept, 
 and I disturbed her not ; the second time I but 
 changed the bandages on the arm, and she, lying 
 back on her pillow, feigned a weakness that forbade 
 over-much speech. Her conversation was after 
 the Scripture injunction, but "yea, yea, and nay, 
 nay." 
 
 " Had she fever ? " 
 
 "Nay." 
 
 " Had she slept ? " 
 
 "Yea." 
 
 " Was the arm more painful ? " 
 
 " Nay, rather less." 
 
 Kate Gary, who stood by, helping me to bind up 
 the arm, and who, if I flatter not myself too far, 
 had taken somewhat of a liking to me from the 
 beginning, would fain now have drawn the lady on 
 
 58
 
 Forgive Me ! 
 
 to longer and more gracious speech, but she would 
 not ; only, when I took my leave she lifted those 
 great eyes of hers and said : " I thank thee ! " 
 
 Mayhap the words were but an idle form of 
 courtesy, yet none the less they shed an inward 
 gladness which warmed me like sunshine. 
 
 " I thank thee," sang the birds. 
 
 " I thank thee," nodded the tassels of the corn. 
 
 " I thank thee," chirped the grasshopper from 
 beneath the broad-spreading tobacco-leaf. 
 
 Everywhere as I passed that day Nature seemed 
 pitched to suit the tune of my mind, and echoed 
 the joy in my heart. 
 
 The third time I saw her, things fell out in this 
 wise. When I entered the door of the Carys 
 cottage, the kitchen was empty, but not lonely. The 
 kettle sang on the fire and a cat purred on the 
 hearth. Save for these cheery sounds utter silence 
 reigned. 
 
 I pushed on to the entrance of the sick-room. 
 Through the open door I saw the invalid sitting, 
 with her head leaned against the casement, gazing 
 out toward the sea. T was nigh sunset, and her 
 head stood out like a shadow picture against the 
 brightness of the evening sky. 
 
 Her attitude was full of pensive charm, but it 
 smote upon my heart ; t was so full also of list- 
 
 59
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 lessness, and despondency, and longing for home. 
 Slowly, as I looked, the head drooped lower and 
 lower, till it fell upon the arm outstretched along 
 the window-sill, and the shoulders rose and fell, 
 shaken by a tempest of sobs. 
 
 I was fain to beat a retreat that I might come in 
 again after a noisier fashion, but the board creaked 
 beneath my feet and her swift ear caught the 
 sound. 
 
 She raised her head in a quick, wilful way which 
 was her wont, and brushing away the tell-tale drops 
 which still stood on her cheek, she said : "I I 
 was not weeping ! " 
 
 " Who could have thought it ? " I answered, 
 smiling at her childish falsehood, if falsehood it 
 could be called, that was as transparent as the mist 
 of morning. 
 
 " Poor child ! " said my heart, " so young, so far 
 from friends and fatherland, why shouldst thou not 
 weep?" But that accursed diffidence which ever 
 haunts me held me tongue-tied. I took her hand 
 and strove to hold it ; but she pulled it away, 
 looked at me straight a moment and then, laying 
 down her head, fell a-sobbing once more like a 
 homesick child. I sat me down on the window- 
 seat by her side, and looked out on the wide ex 
 panse of the yellow river. " See," I said, after a 
 60
 
 Forgive Me! 
 
 moment, " there is goodman Gary on the wharf 
 loading the last casks of tobacco on The Tyger. 
 She sails to-morrow for home. Wouldst thou not 
 be glad to be aboard ? " 
 
 "Thou art either exceeding cruel or passing 
 dull." 
 
 " Nay, surely not cruel, and I trust not duller 
 than the rest of my sex. But I see thee sick for 
 home and I long to help thee. The captain s wife 
 sails with him on The Tyger, and if thou art 
 eager to go too, t is not too late. Thine arm is so 
 far mended that thou mayst safely travel." 
 
 " Doctor Huntoon, thou hast ever, despite all thy 
 care and kindness, treated me like some naughty 
 child that hath run away from its home without 
 counting the cost. T is true I have left my father s 
 house secretly, run away, if thou wilt ; yet could I 
 do no otherwise." 
 
 I wished eagerly that she would speak further 
 of her reasons, but remembering how she turned 
 on me that first night, I durst not question her, but 
 sat there silent, thrilled with the impotent desire to 
 help. 
 
 " Ah, well," she went on presently, " bad as 
 
 things are, they might be worse. I am of full age, 
 
 and, thanks to my mother s legacy of jewels, I am 
 
 not dependent. I have, moreover, a plan in my 
 
 61
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 head concerning my future, of which I should have 
 spoken with thee ere now ; but thy manner when 
 first we met was so deadly cold I came near to 
 catching a chill" (here she gave a little shiver). 
 "I vowed then that, come what might, I would 
 ne er look to thee for counsel, nor ask thee aught 
 of favor." 
 
 " T is strange," quoth I, " for I have vowed the 
 same of thee. Yet may some priest be at hand 
 when I die, to shrive my soul of the broken oath, 
 for I am come this very night to ask a boon of 
 thee. But first let me see the arm. Ah! that is 
 doing passing well ! Another fortnight and thou 
 mayst have the bandages off and wear only a 
 sling." 
 
 " The boon ! The boon ! " she cried, more gayly 
 than I had heard her utter speech since the old 
 days down in Devonshire. " Do not waste time in 
 talking of my arm ; but proffer thy request ! If 
 tis anything in reason, and humbly asked, it is 
 possible I may not say it nay." 
 
 " Be it so, then ! " I answered, catching somewhat 
 of her lightness of heart, for she had ever that way 
 with her, and could make folk round her smile 
 or sigh, even as the sun makes lake and mountain 
 bright or dull according as he sheds or veils his 
 light. 
 
 62
 
 Forgive Me! 
 
 " Hear, O Queen, mine humble prayer, and, 
 that thou mayst the better comprehend my petition, 
 listen to my story ! Once upon a time " 
 
 " Good," said she, " it beginneth like my nurse s 
 tales, and must end : they married and lived happy 
 ever after. " 
 
 When she had said the words, a deep blush 
 spread over her face from brow to chin, and she 
 frowned as if with vexation at her own speech. 
 
 " Nay," I answered gravely. " It hath, I fear 
 me, no such happy ending." 
 
 "Well, well!" quoth she, tapping the floor im 
 patiently with her scarlet slipper, " tell on, and I 
 will interrupt thee no more." 
 
 " As I was saying, then, there was once on a time 
 a brave sailor, and his queen sent him as a token 
 a signet ring set in fine gold." 
 
 " I know," cried Mistress Betty, lifting her head 
 with a wonderful stateliness as tho she shared 
 the pride that was in mine own heart, " that brave 
 sailor was thine uncle, Sir Humphrey, and the ring 
 is the one on thine hand." 
 
 "So much," said I, laughing, "for thy promise 
 not to interrupt ; but thou hast guessed it. T is 
 the same ring, worn first by my uncle and then 
 by my mother, and by her given to me with 
 the injunction that I wear it for life or till I 
 
 63
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 should place it on the finger of my betrothed 
 wife." 
 
 I saw the maiden tremble and grow white, and 
 I understood that she feared I was about to bring 
 up that old sore subject; so I hurried on. 
 
 " It looks now as tho I should wear it to my 
 grave as she did, if I have the good luck to die a 
 natural death ; but I cannot bear the thought that 
 this sacred ring may fall into the clutches of some 
 vile savage ; and this brings me to the substance of 
 my petition." 
 
 " Say on ! " said Mistress Betty, but the life was 
 gone from her tone, and I misdoubted but that I 
 had already wearied her with over-much talking of 
 myself. 
 
 " Well, then, to make a long story short, I am 
 planning to go to-morrow with Master Pory, the 
 Governor s secretary, to the eastern shore beyond 
 the Bay, on a visit to the Laughing King of 
 Accomac. Since no man can foresee what may 
 come to pass there, I would fain be on the safe 
 side, and therefore I make bold to pray thee to 
 keep my ring, to wear it till I come again, and if I 
 come not, then to wear it still in memory of one 
 who despite all his blundering, was ever true 
 friend of thine." 
 
 Mistress Betty took the ring, and slipped it on 
 64
 
 forgive Mel 
 
 her slender finger, for which t was a world too 
 wide. She twirled it round and round, and for a 
 long while she spake no word. Then, lifting up her 
 eyes with the tears still swimming in them, she 
 smiled, and twas as when a shower breaks and 
 there behind it we catch a glimpse of shining sky. 
 
 " E. R., " she murmured to herself, and holding 
 her hand out before her with the ring on it. " They 
 are unlucky initials. They stand for Elizabeth 
 Regina, a poor queen who died, after all her 
 grandeur, solitary and deserted ; and for Elizabeth 
 Romney, a poor maid, whose only friend goes off 
 among the naturals to be rid of her." 
 
 If ever man was a dolt and a dullard, I was that 
 wight, that I spake not out boldly then and there, 
 bidding her say why she cozened me thus with 
 sweet speeches, she that had played with my 
 heart and flung it away like a cast-off trinket. But 
 the passing moment was sweet, and I could ill 
 brook the thought of marring it with harsh words. 
 
 " Thy friend," quoth I, "will I ever be, so long 
 as I live ; and wherever I am thou hast but to call 
 on me for whatsoever help it lies in my poor power 
 to give, and it is thine. That thou knowest right 
 well." 
 
 Still, by a sidelong glance I saw her downcast 
 look, and I strove to cheer her. 
 5 65
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " For this visit to the Indians," I said, " t is a 
 small affair, and we shall bring back strings of 
 peak and roanoke and curious embroideries, and 
 for thee I will bring a black bear-skin for the back 
 of thy chair." 
 
 She smiled, but absently, as one who leaves her 
 lips to perform the duties of courtesy while her 
 mind is gone off on a holiday. Yet, manlike, I 
 went on, dwelling on all the strange experiences 
 we should meet and all the travellers tales we 
 should bring home to make her merry withal. She 
 did but half hearken, and when I was done, 
 
 " At what hour do ye set forth ? " said she. 
 
 "At the firing of the sunrise gun. Pory hath 
 his pinnace ready fitted at the wharf, and if the 
 wind fail us not, we should reach Kiccowtan by 
 noon ; thence we cross the Bay and come to Acco- 
 mac at such time as pleaseth the old man who sits 
 at the cave of the winds." 
 
 " And your coming back ? " 
 
 "Why, tis set for a week hence, unless the king 
 and his relatives should take so great a liking to 
 us that they will not be persuaded to part from us 
 till Governor Yerely do send a special messenger 
 to fetch us." 
 
 " T is well," she answered, speaking somewhat 
 short, as having heard enough. 
 66
 
 Forgive Me! 
 
 Even I, slow tortoise tho I be, could take that 
 hint. 
 
 " Then fare thee well," said I, rising; " and thou 
 wilt wear the ring till I return ? " 
 
 " What a stupid animal is a man ! " quoth this 
 chameleon, changing swift as lightning from weary 
 to sprightly, and showing a row of white teeth 
 in the most charming smile in the world. 
 
 " Good Master Blind-as-a-Bat, how am I to 
 wear thy ring ? Do I not have a hard enough 
 task as it is to keep up my part, and wouldst thou 
 have me mix dough with a queen s ring on my 
 finger ? " 
 
 " I never thought of that." 
 
 "Well, tis lucky for us both that I am gifted 
 with a woman s wit. I will wear thy ring, yet not 
 thus." 
 
 As she spake she loosened the ruff about her 
 neck, and with some difficulty her left hand did 
 undo the clasp of a slender chain of gold made in 
 the form of a serpent which upheld a miniature 
 of a brilliant and beautiful dame with Mistress 
 Betty s own soft dark eyes and waving hair. 
 
 "Yea," quoth she, "I will wear it beside my 
 mother s picture on this chain ; " and she slipped 
 it on in a trice. " But," she said, looking up at 
 me with a question in her glance, "how am I to 
 
 67
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 fasten it again with my right arm swathed and 
 bound tight to my breast." 
 
 " I am but a clumsy tiring-woman," I said, " but 
 if thou wilt tell me how the clasp closeth, methinks 
 I can fasten it." 
 
 "See, then; take this end, the serpent s head, 
 in thy right hand thus ; and the tail in thy left 
 hand thus ; and fit the tail into the mouth, thus. 
 Now, do thou try! " 
 
 She bent her head and I stood over her, stoop 
 ing that I might the more closely observe the 
 opening in the serpent s mouth, but my hand 
 trembled so that, for my life, I could not bring 
 the head and tail together, and I thought at first 
 I must e en give up the task ; till at length, more 
 through luck than skill, the fastening snapped 
 together. 
 
 " I am sorry to have given you the trouble," says 
 my lady, rising very grand to her feet like some 
 great court dame now, that had been a child but 
 five minutes before. " I thank you and I wish you 
 good-night and good-bye." 
 
 With that she swept me a stately courtesy 
 strangely at odds with the tiny bare room ; but 
 I matched it with a bow as deep as the Duke of 
 Buckingham s, my hand on my heart and my sword 
 standing out behind ; and so we parted. 
 68
 
 Forgive Me! 
 
 How had I offended her? This was the ques 
 tion I asked myself over and over again that 
 night and could give no answer. Did she feel 
 in her heart the thoughts that thrilled in mine 
 as I bent over her there, and was she angry 
 that I but longed to kiss her? Surely that were 
 to judge more harshly than the Recording Angel 
 himself, who writeth not down to the charge of 
 us poor sinners those perverse inclinations which 
 we do steadfastly resist, and carry not out into 
 action. 
 
 The next morning while the stars still shone in 
 the summer sky I was out of bed, and making 
 ready for my journey. My apparel was not fine ; 
 but t was fit and proper to its uses. My leggings 
 were of stout leather buttoned over a pair of Irish 
 stockings. The suit of rough frieze buttoned to my 
 chin, and on my head I wore a Monmouth cap. 
 The weather was colder than prevailed here ordi 
 narily at the season, and I was dressed to meet 
 storm as well as sunshine. About my waist I 
 wore a belt, in which, beside my bandelier filled 
 with powder, I carried a light dagger, and over my 
 shoulder I slung my long piece, a fine one, measur 
 ing nigh five foot and a half. My box of physic 
 and instruments of chirurgery I strapped together 
 with my pipe and tobacco and a leather bottle of 
 69
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 aquavitae, and rolled all round with my sea-rug. 
 Thus I set forth. 
 
 All James City was still asleep, save the watch 
 man who was just putting out his lanthorn after 
 the last cry of " four o the clock, and all s well ! " 
 Morning was already breaking, and the red that 
 flushes the sky before the rising of the sun set me 
 to thinking of friendship and love. They were 
 queer thoughts to haunt the head of a man going 
 forth on an expedition among savages ; but I could 
 not get rid of them, and, as I drew near Miles 
 Gary s cottage, my sentimental mood got quite the 
 better of me, and I stood with uncovered head 
 calling down peace upon that house and them 
 that dwelt therein. 
 
 Of a sudden I was ware in the silence of a mov 
 ing of the window sash in the eastern room. A 
 low voice called softly, " Doctor Huntoon ! " and 
 at the same moment, Mistress Betty Romney ap 
 peared at the casement. She was clad in a soft 
 light gown, and her hair fell in heavy waves over her 
 shoulders. Very young she looked and very sor 
 rowful. I bethought me of that scene at the brook 
 in Devon a dozen years before. 
 
 " Mistress Betty ! awake so early ? " 
 
 " Yea, doctor, I but wished to speak with thee 
 ere thou embarked on the pinnace, that I might be 
 70
 
 Forgive Me! 
 
 sure I heard thee aright last night. I think thou 
 saidst I might take off the bandage from mine arm 
 to-morrow or the day after." 
 
 Little cheat ! she thought nowt o the sort ; but 
 I was so simple no suspicion of her crossed my 
 mind. 
 
 " Take off the bandage ! " I cried, " at thy peril ! 
 By my faith, if thou and Dame Gary have no more 
 wisdom than that betwixt ye, I 11 e en beg off from 
 Pory and his expedition, and bide at home to look 
 after so silly a patient." 
 
 "Nay, Humphrey," quoth my lady, the friendly 
 sunshine playing over lips and eyes, " t was not 
 quite for this I stopped thee; but I had not 
 the courage to call out, Forgive me ! loud enow 
 to wake the town. Yet I could not let thee part 
 from me in anger." 
 
 How little, keen as she was, could she read my 
 heart. 
 
 " Take my hand," quoth she, " as thou wert 
 wont when we had quarrelled as children, and 
 say, Betty, for all thy naughtiness I do forgive 
 thee. " 
 
 Bending low over her hand, I raised it to my 
 lips, murmuring : 
 
 " Betty, for all thy naughtiness, I not only forgive 
 thee freely, but " 
 
 71
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 "Nay, qualify not thy forgiveness with any buts. 
 Besides if thou stay for further speech thou mayst 
 lose thy trip. Yet, ere thou go, I will call down 
 on thee the benediction of thy ring : 
 
 God be near thee 
 On land and sea ! 
 
 Hearken, Humphrey, tis the sunrise gun 
 Begone ! " 
 
 72
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ACROSS THE BAY. ABOARD THE "RED FOX." 
 
 "/""^OME on, thou long-legged son of Satan! 
 
 ^^ How much longer wouldst thou keep us 
 waiting while thou liest snoring away the morning 
 hours ? The wind sits in the shoulder of our sail, 
 and you are stayed for, as the old man saith to 
 his son in the play at the Globe Theatre. Hamor, 
 push off ! Allington, see to it that she dig not her 
 nose into the wharf as we pass, to scrape off the 
 new red paint!" 
 
 " So ! " said I, " t is but a painted beauty your 
 shallop can boast, Master Pory ! Then will I 
 none of her. Give me a beauty that shows as 
 well by sunlight as by candlelight ; with no colors 
 but the rose of youth and morning." 
 
 "How now, lads!" cries- Pory, with a comical 
 twist of his moustachios. " Have we a madman 
 aboard the Red Fox ? He cannot be drunk at 
 this early hour ; yet he raves of beauty like one 
 
 73
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 that hath been all day at a tavern. T is clear he 
 hath need of a strait-jacket, being light i the 
 head." 
 
 " Nay, masters, my lightness is not of the head, 
 but of the heart. T is true, though, that this Vir 
 ginia air doth go to the brain like wine." 
 
 " Then lie down there in the stern, and drink it 
 in, while the Red Fox runs before the wind, as 
 she will, gayly as a bride trips the measures of a 
 contra-dance." 
 
 Waiting no further orders or urging from Pory, 
 I stretched myself out on the deck with my rug 
 beneath my head, and my cap drawn over my 
 eyes. As all hands were at work, I was at leisure 
 to dream my day-dreams without interruption. 
 
 There was but one vision ever before me. A 
 picture of youth, and hope, and morning ; an open 
 casement, and a pale, fair face looking out with 
 drooping eyelids and a delicate line of troubled 
 eyebrows, from under falling masses of shadowy 
 hair. But the face looked on me with kindness, 
 and I held a soft white hand in mine. 
 
 " Perhaps," I thought to myself, " there is yet 
 room for hope. She feels now only pity that she 
 hath, in her carelessness, hurt the heart of a friend, 
 but pity is cousin-german to love, and who knows 
 but she may learn to love me for the love I bear 
 74
 
 Aboard the " Red Fox." 
 
 her ? I will not hurry her. I will give her time, 
 and compass her about with delicate observances 
 till she find herself turning to me as the shy pansy, 
 at last, turns its face to the sun. Then she shall 
 find a heart beating warm and true, with no long 
 ing save to make her life happy, and guard her 
 against all comers." 
 
 Allcomers. The words started a new train of 
 thought which ere long bit like an adder. What 
 if some of these settlers and adventurers coming 
 over to Virginia, since they are of all ranks and 
 degrees, should be friends of the Romneys, and 
 seeing her and me together here, should send 
 back to England such reports as made men be 
 lieve I had enticed her hither! Would any, know 
 ing what friends we had been from childhood, 
 believe that we came each in ignorance of the 
 other s coming?" 
 
 The thought pierced like hot iron into mine 
 honor, yet t was more of her than of myself that 
 I thought. Dare I, then, take such risks for her? 
 
 To ask the question was to answer it. Nay, not 
 though her hand were the prize, would I run such 
 hazard. We must part ! If she left James City, 
 I must stay. If she stayed, I must go. So much 
 I then and there did vow, but the force of my will 
 could go no further, and I resolved to let my future 
 
 75
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 course drift before the wind of Fate. Meanwhile 
 I determined to shake off the load of care which 
 sat so heavy on my heart, and throw myself into 
 the excitements of the passing moment. 
 
 I rose, and made my way to the bow of the 
 shallop, where sat Pory, making laughable efforts 
 to learn words and phrases of the Indian tongue 
 from Tom Salvage, a youth who had lived for 
 some months among the naturals, and was come 
 on this expedition as interpreter betwixt us and 
 them. Pory, sitting as he was, kicking his heels 
 against a barrel, and leaning his elbows on his 
 knees, looked a strange head for an embassy of 
 State. It was ever a singular thing about this 
 man, that one who saw him grave would say he 
 never jested, and one who met him in jesting mood 
 would swear he could never be serious. 
 
 Three of the men were struggling to cook a 
 mess of oatmeal porridge over a stove that ap 
 peared to have the rickets, so unstable was it on 
 its legs. As I strove to come to their aid and 
 prop up the stove with a block of wood, my foot 
 struck against a long, low chest, stumbling over 
 which, I was like to break my neck. 
 
 " In the king s name I command you meddle 
 not with that box ! " sang out Pory. 
 
 " And pray what is sacred in that unwieldy thing, 
 76
 
 Aboard the "Red Fox." 
 
 set along the deck as a stumbling-block to the un 
 wary ? Doth it hold State treasure ? " 
 
 " Yea, verily, it is full of precious articles. Let 
 me see, I believe I have the list here," and draw 
 ing an inventory from his breast, Pory began to 
 read aloud in the sing-song tone of a seller at an 
 outcry : 
 
 " Two pieces of copper, 
 
 Five strings of blue beads, 
 
 Five wooden combs, 
 
 Ten fish-hooks, 
 
 One pair of knives, 
 
 Six scarlet blankets, and 
 
 Twenty Bibles. 
 
 " All these to be solemnly and in due form pre 
 sented with the compliments of His Majesty, King 
 James the First of England to his Royal Brother, 
 the Laughing King of Accomac." 
 
 " And what seek you in exchange for this box 
 of toys and trinkets thus strangely mixed up with 
 volumes of Holy Writ ? " 
 
 " Why, that you shall know when we sit in con 
 clave round the Indian fires on the eastern shore, 
 and not before. To tell it now were a flat betrayal 
 of State secrets." 
 
 " Tell me, then, at least, of what service these 
 Bibles can be to these ignorant savages, who can 
 
 77
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 neither read, nor so much as comprehend the words 
 if one reads to them ? " 
 
 " Catechise me no further, I pray," answered 
 Pory, shrugging his shoulders. " The company at 
 home hath given strict orders that every expedition 
 to the naturals do carry Bibles for their conversion. 
 These good Christians, I suppose, think it no more 
 than fair that if we take away the inheritance of 
 the savages on earth, we should in return share 
 with them our interest in the promised land. 
 
 " As for the poor devils themselves, they look 
 upon the Scriptures as a book of charms where 
 with the white men propitiate their god, and they 
 hope to steal the secret and win him over to the 
 red men s side. So, tis diamond cut diamond." 
 
 The men laughed loud and long at this sally, but 
 I felt ashamed in my heart thus to be trafficking 
 in holy things and tricking these poor ignorant 
 beings. 
 
 The sun had risen high in the heavens. We 
 had long passed the bend in the river which hid 
 James City from our eyes. Another turn brought 
 a broad stretch of blue water in sight ; later, when 
 the sun stood full on the mark of noon, we saw the 
 long tongue of sand which Point Comfort thrusts 
 out into the Bay, and soon the " Red Fox " swept 
 into the quiet harbor of Kiccowtan. 
 78
 
 Aboard the "Red JFbx." 
 
 " Hulloa ! " cried I, in some surprise, " Do we 
 put in here? " 
 
 " Ay," said Hamor, as he prepared the skiff to 
 go ashore. " Here we take on Master Rolfe. See 
 you not that man standing on the shore, holding his 
 boy by the hand ? That is Rolfe, and since ever 
 his Indian wife, Pocahontas, died, he will scarce 
 let the child out of his sight." 
 
 " Pocahontas ! why, so was she named that 
 all London went crazy after in London, where she 
 was known as the Lady Rebecca." 
 
 " Ay, t was she, and she died at Gravesend, 
 poor lady God rest her soul ! As for her hus 
 band, he hath the longest head and the coolest 
 judgment in the colony. Glad am I that he cometh 
 with us on this trip which (between you and me) is 
 a ticklish business." 
 
 While he spoke, Hamor was busy lowering the 
 boat, and now, leaping into it, sent it flying across 
 the water with great sweeps of his stout oars. I 
 looked from his boat to the shore and studied the 
 tall, silent man who stood there holding tight to 
 the hand of a little lad with dark eyes and long 
 straight hair. As the boat s keel grated on the 
 sand, he took the boy in his arms and strained him 
 to his heart. Then he stepped into the boat, and 
 without a backward glance put off for the shallop. 
 
 79
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Ha ! " exclaimed Pory at mine elbow, " here is 
 a man who when he hath put his hand to an enter 
 prise, looketh not back, tho what he loveth best 
 in life be behind him. A rare man, and one that 
 will stand us in good stead, if trouble threaten." 
 
 With that, he put out the boathooks and held 
 the skiff while Rolfe came aboard ; then once more 
 the boat was hung on its davits and the " Red 
 Fox" was skimming across the open water of 
 Chesapeake Bay. The north wind blew us over 
 to starboard till our rail was under water, and our 
 bow cut the waves like a knife. Let a man be ever 
 so deep in love or grief, his spirits must rise when 
 he looks on the white caps of the green billows, 
 when he feels the salt spray on his face, and the 
 dancing deck beneath his feet keeps time with the 
 dancing waves. 
 
 At sunset, the eastern shore, where lieth the 
 kingdom of Accomac, was in full view. First we 
 saw a blue streak, then a low, sharply cut strip of 
 land jagged with trees, and here and there a giant 
 pine towering like some church spire among its 
 fellows. 
 
 As darkness fell, high fires of brushwood flamed 
 along the shore, and told us that we were expected. 
 
 " Now, my men," said Pory, summoning all 
 hands on deck, " I have a word to say to you before 
 So
 
 Aboard the Red 
 
 we go ashore. At James City yonder, every man 
 is his own master, and each may hold his head as 
 high as John Pory. On the shallop Red Fox 
 likewise, we are all comrades, and you will bear me 
 witness that I have given myself no airs, but made 
 common mess with the rest of you, as a good sailor 
 should. So far, so good ! But from the moment 
 we set foot on the shores of Accomac, things are 
 changed. I become as great a chief as any Wer- 
 rowance of them all. I command ; you obey. 
 When I scowl, you tremble ; and what I say, you 
 swear to." 
 
 " Ay ay ! " shouted the men with one accord. 
 
 " As for thee, Huntoon, thou art our medicine 
 man. Gibbs is to fall desperate sick with cramps 
 and thou art to cure him with a mixture of worm 
 wood, peppers, dandelion, and stewed snails, a 
 portion of which thou mayst afterward present to. 
 the king as a precious medicament. See to it that 
 the concoction be very hot and bitter." 
 
 "That is all very well for Huntoon, but hard on 
 my poor gizzard," muttered Gibbs. 
 
 " Pshaw ! thy gizzard is like leather already from 
 thy custom of strong potations, and were the drink 
 less stinging than fire-water, thou wouldst not know 
 when to swallow, and mightst strangle to death by 
 taking it in at the windpipe. There, lads, yonder 
 6 81
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 lies the inlet. Put your helm hard-a-port, Hamor ! 
 Allington, get ready the boat on the davits ! " 
 
 T is a great thing for a man when his opportu 
 nity jumps with his talents. Here was this Pory 
 who had lain idle for months at a time in a debtor s 
 prison, and whom I, for all my liking, had reckoned 
 but a good-for-naught and a ne er-do-weel, now, face 
 to face with peril and difficulty, showing himself a 
 born leader of men. 
 
 " Before we go ashore," cried I, "three cheers 
 for our gallant captain, John Pory ! " 
 
 The cheers were given with a will, and the noise 
 of our shouting brought the savages trooping down 
 to the water s edge. T was the first time ever I 
 saw a crowd of naturals together, and I hesitate 
 not to say that I little liked the sight. 
 
 Their skin was of the color of dull copper, their 
 hair shaved on the side of the head and cut in a 
 stiff ridge along the top, like the comb of a cock. 
 Their bodies were tattooed in fantastic designs, 
 and further decorated with strings of beads and 
 the skins of animals fastened together by the claws 
 slant-ways across the breast, while from their ears 
 hung dead rats, the rat s tail through the hole in 
 the ear, so it swung hideously to and fro as the 
 savage walked. Truly their silent aspect was 
 terrifying enough, but when were added wild yells 
 82
 
 Aboard the " Red Fox." 
 
 and the waving of gleaming tomahawks, they were 
 dreadful beyond words. 
 
 I knew not how my comrades felt, but one man 
 as he stepped ashore would gladly have found him 
 self back again on the " Red Fox," or better still, 
 in James City. 
 
 " Whatever happens, Huntoon, keep close at my 
 side," whispered Pory. 
 
 " Ay, that will I. A leech can stick no closer." 
 
 Pory laughed as though I had intended a play on 
 words, but, sooth to say, I was never in a less 
 jesting mood. 
 
 We were welcomed, however, with every mark 
 of friendliness. A brave, who, judging from the 
 number of chains he wore, must have been 
 a great man in the tribe, conducted us to the 
 presence of the king, whom we found seated in 
 state upon a couch covered with blankets, his 
 warriors ranged behind him, spears in hand ; 
 and his women squatting before him on mats, not 
 over-nice. 
 
 I can see Pory to this day, as he stood there with 
 the light of the fire playing on his face and his 
 good sword gleaming by his side, a man, every 
 inch of him. 
 
 We gathered behind him at a respectful distance 
 holding our muskets as the savages held their 
 
 83
 
 The Head of a Hundred, 
 
 spears, and imitating their looks of reverence for 
 our chief. 
 
 Tom Salvage, kneeling on the ground, interpreted 
 the words of each potentate in turn. 
 
 " You are welcome, white man ! " 
 
 " Thanks, noble king ! I am come bearing mes 
 sages of friendship from my master, King James of 
 England, to his brother the King of Accomac." 
 
 " It is well. Come hither and sit upon my 
 blanket, and I will share with you my pouch of 
 bright Orinoco and my pipe of Powhatan clay." 
 
 "The honor is too great," said Pory, bowing 
 low, but with an indescribable side-glance at me. 
 " Ere I accept the invitation, permit me to present 
 at least a portion of my offerings." 
 
 With this, Hamor and Gibbs, who had been 
 lugging the heavy chest from the shore, now set 
 it down in the centre of the circle. Pory, stepping 
 forward with much ceremony, brake the seal and 
 laying back the lid, spread out the knives and the 
 beads, the blankets and Bibles. 
 
 To my surprise, the eyes of the grim Indian 
 king glistened most at sight of the books, and he 
 insisted at once on Salvage s reading a chapter to 
 him. The interpreter opened to the account of 
 the Creation (which I confess hath ever seemed 
 to me rather dull reading), but the king listened to 
 84
 
 Aboard the " Red 
 
 every word with much attention. When it was 
 finished, he remarked that he himself was like 
 Adam in that he had only one wife at a time. 
 He took the book and held it tightly, as if he felt 
 sure it contained incantations which if he could 
 but master them, would teach him the secret of 
 the white man s power. 
 
 " These gifts are worthy of your king," said he. 
 " Pray tell me what he would condescend to accept 
 from me in return ! " 
 
 The words savored of irony, but the Indian s 
 mask was unmoved and showed naught of his feel 
 ing. Even Pory s assurance was abashed for a 
 moment, but he answered smoothly : 
 
 " My master desireth nothing so much as to live 
 in amity with your Majesty. For the moment, we 
 are short of grain and would be glad to buy yours, 
 and we would like your royal permission to till the 
 ground at Accomac, and to impale and fortify to 
 guard us against our enemies and yours." 
 
 The eyes of the old king gleamed keen as a 
 dagger for an instant. Then he answered : 
 
 " The King of Accomac needs not the white 
 man to protect him against the red. Grain you 
 shall have ; for the rest, it must be considered in 
 council. Meanwhile, be at home in Accomac ! " 
 
 When the interview was ended, the same brave 
 
 85
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 who guided us to the presence of the king, pre 
 sented himself again to escort us to our sleep 
 ing quarters. It proved that, by the king s orders, 
 we were to be lodged in one of the royal wigwams, 
 and at first we were much pleased by this mark of 
 favor ; but the heat and the smells and the fleas 
 proved so troublesome that we were fain to betake 
 ourselves to the open air; where, spreading my 
 blanket beneath the boughs of a mighty pine, I 
 fell upon sweet slumber, and straightway forgot all 
 troubles, difficulties, and dangers. 
 
 86
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHAT BEFELL AT ACCOMAC. 
 
 f "T~*HE next morning, when we had washed our- 
 -*- selves in the clear waters of the bay, and 
 dried our skins by the aid of a fan of feathers (the 
 gift of the Queen of Accomac), we sat us down to 
 our breakfast, which consisted of sod bread. This 
 ill-boiled dough was so disgustful to me that I 
 would have left it untouched, but Pory motioned 
 to me that swallow it I must, and the keen and 
 suspicious glances of the naturals enforced his 
 commands. 
 
 When this substitute for a meal was at an end, 
 we wandered about among the wigwams, I keeping 
 ever close to Pory as he had bid me, and Salvage 
 along with us. Presently the king who had been 
 showing us his rows of maize and other grain 
 growing tall and ripe in the August sunshine, 
 motioned mysteriously to Pory and finally drew 
 
 87
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 us into a thicket. Here he unclasped the bear 
 skin from about his neck and pointed to his naked 
 breast, making strange sounds the while. 
 
 " What saith he? " Pory asked of our interpreter. 
 
 " He asks if you see any deformity on his 
 breast." 
 
 "Tell him no ; but for thy life add not, what is 
 more the truth, that mine eyes ne er before lighted 
 on so ugly an object in nature." 
 
 Twas with difficulty that Salvage did keep a 
 straight face while translating the civil portion of 
 his captain s answer : " He saith nay. " 
 
 "Then no more," said the king, "is there any 
 deformity within ; but all is pure and sincere. 
 Therefore come freely into my country, and 
 welcome ! " 
 
 Pory bowed low in response to this proffer of 
 hospitality, and bade Salvage make answer that 
 we accepted his welcome in the spirit in which 
 twas offered and would return it whenever it 
 should suit his Majesty s pleasure to come to 
 James City. But to me apart he said: "I like 
 not altogether the aspect of this fellow. He is too 
 civil and too subtile." 
 
 While we stood thus in conclave, a messenger 
 came up breathless with haste to make known to 
 us how one of our men was taken suddenly with
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 cramps, and doubled himself in convulsions as one 
 possessed. 
 
 " Trouble yourselves no more over so slight a 
 thing," quoth Pory with a lordly wave of his hand. 
 " I have with me a medicine-man who can cure the 
 sick by his very presence. He carries a vial which 
 containeth a liquid, hot to the tongue, but healing 
 to the inwards. Take us speedily therefore now 
 to the sick man ! " 
 
 The Indian led on and we followed, I, for one, 
 mightily ashamed of our stratagem. We found 
 Gibbs lying on the ground in front of the wig 
 wams, writhing in well-feigned convulsions. When 
 he caught sight of us, the spasms increased in 
 violence. Kneeling down by his side, I poured 
 out some drops of the mixture of wormwood and 
 peppers and spearmint, which having swallowed, 
 he straightway revived, and sitting up, called for 
 cold water, which indeed he needed much, since the 
 medicine had gone nigh to choke him. 
 
 The king, seeing this marvel, begged that we 
 would give him what was left in the vial ; I gave 
 it him and he showed much delight, whereupon 
 Pory promised him that he should have a jugful 
 of it if he consented to the requests of Governor 
 Yerely. 
 
 That evening a feast and a dance were given in 
 89
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 our honor ; and I do protest that mine eyes ne er 
 beheld a sight so dreadful to look upon, as these 
 naked savages capering about with wild whoops 
 and waving of weapons around their camp fire. I 
 was glad when it was over and we laid ourselves 
 down once more in the shadow of the tree. But 
 whether because of the emptiness of my stomach 
 (for my hunger did refuse to be appeased by their 
 vile dishes) or that my brain was so full of the 
 figures of dancing savages, I could not sleep, but 
 lay staring up at the sky between the dark branches 
 of the giant pine. 
 
 I watched the constellations slowly sinking, one 
 by one, toward the shores where James City lay, 
 and I wished that I could travel with them and 
 look down on a little cottage, bare and rude and 
 thrusting itself boldly into the dusty road, yet for 
 me the only cottage in the world, the shrine where 
 I had laid my heart. 
 
 The hours passed on, unmarked save by the dew 
 dropping sharply from the fresh pine needles above 
 to the withered ones beneath. 
 
 "Heigh ho!" I thought, " tis tedious work, 
 this lying awake alone. Why should I be cursed 
 with sleeplessness when all these men round me 
 are sleeping as soundly as dogs by a fire-side? 
 Hulloa ! " 
 
 90
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 With my eyes half open, I had caught glimpse, 
 in the dim twilight before the dawn, of that which 
 dispelled all dreamy reveries, and sent my blood 
 bounding madly. What I saw was a weird and 
 dark face peering at me with evil snake-like eyes 
 from behind a hemlock tree at a distance of per 
 haps twenty feet. 
 
 Tossing my arms above my head and turning 
 like one who seeks in his sleep to find a position 
 of greater ease, I began to snore. At the same 
 time, I cautiously opened my eyes just a crack, 
 but wide enough to see another Indian behind 
 another tree at about the same distance as the 
 first. We were surrounded ! That was evident ; 
 but what should I do ? To move my arm might 
 be the signal for an attack, sure to prove a whole 
 sale slaughter of our sleeping men. 
 
 At length I bethought me that an old physician 
 had told me how he had oft noted as a singular 
 thing, that anyone firmly bidden in sleep to do a 
 certain thing, would, in nine cases out of ten, obey, 
 before the conscious will awoke. 
 
 I resolved to test it HOW. 
 
 Without moving a muscle, I whispered low but 
 firmly in the ear of Pory, who lay next me : 
 
 " Blow thy whistle ! " 
 
 Opening his eyes drowsily, he hesitated one
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 awful second, then drawing his silver whistle from 
 the breast of his leather jerkin, he blew on it 
 thrice. 
 
 It was the alarm signal we had agreed upon on 
 board the " Red Fox," and the men responded by 
 leaping to their feet, each grasping the musket on 
 which he had lain. The shrill note had startled 
 Pory himself wide-awake, and his swift eye took 
 in the situation at a glance. 
 
 " Come on, you skulking wretches ! " he cried, 
 as he caught sight of one and another dusky form 
 hiding in the underbrush. We are only ten, but 
 we are a match for a hundred like you. 
 
 " Salvage, bid the king s messenger, him that 
 hath been our guide, stand forth, and explain this 
 treachery, if he can ! " 
 
 In answer to Salvage s summons, the Indian 
 warrior came out from behind a tree. He looked 
 on me with murder written on his face. 
 
 " How now ? " quoth Salvage " Is this the end 
 of your king s fine promises, that he would have 
 us murdered in our beds ? " 
 
 "The king," answered the Indian, "hath dis 
 covered the treachery of the pale-faces who would 
 rob him of his son, and he hath doomed to death 
 the medicine-man who hath so betrayed him." 
 
 "What folly is this?" 
 
 92
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 " Tis no folly, white-face! The king s son, 
 young Oropax, is sick unto death. When he was 
 ill with fever this night, the king did give him the 
 medicine in the vial, and ever since he hath grown 
 worse, and now he raves and knows not his own 
 father. Therefore is the king angered against the 
 white-faces, and vows he will have a life for a 
 life." 
 
 " So," said Pory, coldly, " he was like Adam 
 yesterday. To-day he has become a Moses. Tell 
 him, Salvage, that he is all wrong ; that we have 
 wished the lad no harm, nor any to himself ; but 
 as he receiveth us so unkindly, and basely with- 
 draweth his hospitality, we will be gone across the 
 water and he shall see us no more." 
 
 With this, Pory gave the word to the men to 
 close in, and we turned to the path leading to our 
 skiff; but we found, as I had expected, our way 
 blocked by angry faces, while threatening voices 
 round us called : " Give up the medicine-man, and 
 the rest may go ! " 
 
 " Pory," said I, " have done with this ! Sacri 
 fice not ten lives in the vain attempt to save one ! 
 Go you to the ship and leave me here to take my 
 chances ! I will make a fight for my life ; but 
 God knows I value it not o er highly." 
 
 " There is truth in what thou sayest," answered 
 
 93
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 Pory. " We stand no chance whatever here in 
 open fight, ten against a hundred. It shall be as 
 thou hast said." 
 
 My reason told me that he was right, yet it cut 
 me that he would give me up so readily. 
 
 " Rolfe," continued Pory, " lead these men to the 
 skiff, and withdraw to the shallop. Wait till six 
 o clock to-morrow morning. Then, if we come 
 not, depart for Kiccowtan, and return with what 
 soever men you can muster, to rescue us if living, 
 to avenge us if we be dead." 
 
 That one word we, how it takes the sting from 
 death itself ! Yet was I more than ever loath that 
 my friend should thus throw away his life ; but he 
 would hear no entreaties. 
 
 " Be silent ! " he said sternly. " John Pory never 
 yet deserted a friend, and this plight is owing after 
 all to me and my scheming. Rolfe, begone ! " 
 
 " Faith," said Rolfe, with a sorrowful counte 
 nance, " t is the hardest command I did ever 
 receive." 
 
 " I believe it, to a gallant soul like thine, but 
 none the less, it must be obeyed. Room there for 
 my men. To the boat ! Forward, march ! " 
 
 "Ay, Salvage," he continued, noticing that the 
 interpreter still lingered, " tis well. We shall 
 have need of thee. Bide thou here ! " 
 94
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 There we stood, we three, and watched our com 
 rades disappearing thro the tangle of the trees in 
 the gray, desolate dawn. 
 
 " Now," said Pory, turning to the warrior, more 
 like a conqueror than a prisoner, "we will to your 
 master ; lead on ! " 
 
 On we went accordingly, trampling the crackling 
 boughs beneath our feet, and ever and anon put 
 ting back with both hands the pine twigs which 
 slapped us smartly in the face as we passed. 
 When we were come to the king s wigwam, our 
 guide lifted the flap of matting and bade us enter. 
 Thus we did. 
 
 T was a strange scene that met our sight thro 
 the murky air, thick with the smoke of a smoulder 
 ing fire, and foul with the breath of a dozen men 
 and women crowded together round the bed of 
 pine boughs on which lay the form of a youth in 
 delirium, tossing his arms and moaning and mak 
 ing strange, barbaric noises. 
 
 A native medicine-man bent above him uttering 
 weird incantations, and shaking a rattle made from 
 the tail of a snake, which he whirled about his 
 head whilst he squirted water from his own mouth 
 over the youth s body. 
 
 As I entered, this man cast on me such a look 
 of malignity as made me sure that it was more to 
 
 95
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 his malice than aught else that we owed our pres 
 ent plight. 
 
 Pory, too, caught the glance, and said to me in 
 an undertone, not without grim humor : 
 
 "I might have known it. Two of a trade can 
 never agree." 
 
 For myself I determined at once to open war 
 with this man. I therefore threw as much disdain 
 as I felt into my tone, as I bade Salvage to ask of 
 the king why he allowed his son to be put to death 
 thus by a medicine-man who knew not his own 
 business. 
 
 "He says," answered Salvage, "that tis thy 
 drugs that have brought him to this." 
 
 " Of course," said I, "such a powerful and benef 
 icent medicine as the king s vial contained, can 
 not be used carelessly. The cure for cramps may 
 kill a fever." 
 
 " Listen now, O King ! Our lives are in thy 
 hands ; and I give up mine a ready sacrifice, and 
 my body to be burned at the stake, if I heal not 
 thy son." 
 
 For the first time the dark looks of the king 
 lightened a little, as my words were translated to 
 him. 
 
 " Try, then," he answered, briefly. " Cure and 
 live, or kill and die ! " 
 
 96
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 With the last words a tomahawk fell clashing to 
 the floor, and I saw Salvage shudder. I realized 
 that I was playing a desperate game, but my spirits 
 rose with the danger, and I felt myself master of 
 the situation. 
 
 " Your Majesty s trust shall be justified. Give 
 me but my way, and the lad s life is saved. First, 
 send away that man ! " I pointed toward the 
 scowling medicine-man, who seized up a bow and 
 arrow at my words, crying out that the One Alone 
 called Kiwassa demanded my blood ; but at a sig 
 nal from the king, two braves pinioned his arms 
 and marched him away. I then sent Salvage and 
 an Indian to bring all our blankets, which I piled 
 one on top of other beneath the shade of a tree, for 
 the August sun was already waxing hot. To this 
 bed I had the poor youth carried, still waving and 
 tossing of his arms. Kneeling beside him I laid 
 my hand on his head t was burning hot ; then 
 on his heart; twas beating with uneven violence, 
 like the waves on a rocky coast ; thumping as 
 twould burst the ribs, and then retiring till I could 
 scarce count its throbbing. I did not hide from 
 myself that it was a desperate case. I had seen 
 men like that die in an hour; but I would do my 
 best. Selecting three Indian youths, I bade them 
 take the leather buckets which we had brought 
 7 97
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 ashore, and fill them at the runlet at the base of 
 the hill, bringing it fresh and fresh. While they 
 were gone, I set Pory and Salvage to tearing up 
 their underwear into strips. When the water was 
 come, I dipped my hand therein, and joyed to find 
 it cold as winter. Plunging the cloths into the 
 first bucketful, I drew them out dripping, and 
 covered the body of Oropax from head to 
 foot. So hot was he, that the cloths on the 
 head were heated almost before those on the 
 feet were applied. But I saw with much relief 
 of mind that the second cloths were not so 
 hot, and placing my hand on the heart, I found 
 it calmer. 
 
 Opening my medicine-chest, I drew out a vial 
 filled with the essence of the deadly night-shade ; 
 a rank poison, but in such cases as these and used 
 with care, a most valuable medicament. A few 
 drops I poured into a small tumbler of glass given 
 me by a Venetian in London. To the dose I added 
 a cupful of water, and raising it to the lad s lips, 
 bade him drink. 
 
 No sooner had he quaffed than his head and 
 arms ceased to move restlessly, and ere long, I saw 
 with delight that he slept. Calling for the queen s 
 feather fan I waved it above him, thereby both 
 driving away the insects which hereabouts do be 
 98
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 most abundant and annoying, and also keeping up 
 a grateful current of air. 
 
 In an hour Oropax awoke and called for drink. 
 I gave him freely all he craved and of the coldest, 
 tho there be those in London would have found 
 fault with me therefor ; but so far from hurting, it 
 did marvellously refresh him, so that he sat up 
 and called aloud for his father. 
 
 From this moment I breathed freely. " Hurrah ! " 
 I cried to Pory, " we have fought with death and 
 won ! " 
 
 " Lad ! lad ! " he said kindly, with his arm about 
 my neck, " thou hast saved not him alone, but us 
 all." 
 
 When the soft shades of twilight had fallen and 
 the youth lay in quiet slumbers once more, the 
 king sent forme. " Go ! said Pory; "I will sit 
 beside the sick youth and see that no villain of a 
 natural comes near to undo your work." 
 
 When I was in the king s presence I marvelled 
 much at the change which a few hours had wrought. 
 Suspicion and distrust had given way to a friendly 
 aspect. With his own hands he hung chains of 
 beads around my neck and set a cap of buckskin, 
 stiff with embroidery, on my head. Finally he 
 bade me say what I wished of him, and I should 
 have it even to the half of his kingdom. 
 
 99
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " We ask naught," said I, "save leave to depart 
 for our own country, bearing such grain as you are 
 willing to sell us. We would counsel you in friend 
 ship to detain us no longer, lest the anger of our 
 king be aroused against you, for he is mighty to 
 avenge." 
 
 The king must have been at heart a craven, or 
 else he had heard wondrous tales of the prowess of 
 the English, for he quailed at my words. While 
 I was uttering them we heard a shriek of terror, 
 and beheld crowds of savages who came running 
 from the shore, cowering round the king and cry 
 ing out that the English warriors were planning 
 vengeance, and sending fire-balls from the ship, 
 which would surely burn their village, as one 
 wigwam was already on fire. 
 
 " Go, then ! " said the king suddenly to me. 
 " T were well to be at peace with men who can 
 save or destroy life at will." Stopping for no 
 second thoughts, I hastened back to Pory, who 
 straightway sent Salvage to the shore to make 
 signals that the firing be stopped and the skiff be 
 sent for us. Lines of Indians carried down the 
 sacks we had brought, filled with grain, and we 
 made ready to put off ; but a messenger came run 
 ning to say that young Oropax would fain speak 
 with me ; and accordingly Salvage and I went back, 
 100
 
 What Befell at Accomac. 
 
 not without detecting some uneasiness in Pory s 
 eye ; but I had no misgivings now. 
 
 The Indian lad grasped my hand, though his was 
 almost too weak to hold it. 
 
 " Give him every two hours of that gruel Salvage 
 made," I said to the woman standing by. She 
 nodded with a grunt. I believe, like all women, 
 she resented the idea that a man could cook. 
 
 " Oropax," explained Salvage, who had been 
 bending near the lad s lips to catch his feeble 
 accents, " desires to wish you farewell, to thank 
 you for saving his life, and to bid you ask him for 
 some gift." 
 
 "Tell him," I answered, "that when he is well 
 again, he shall shoot for me the biggest black bear 
 in Accomac, and send the skin to me at James 
 City." 
 
 The Indian youth looked up, mightily pleased at 
 my request, and with another pressure of the hand 
 he and I parted. 
 
 When we were come to the shallop, our com 
 rades fell upon our necks and wept over us, for 
 they had looked on us as doomed, and mourned for 
 us as already dead. As dawn brightened we set 
 sail from harbor, and thus ended our visit to the 
 Laughing King of Accomac. 
 101
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CUPID. 
 
 HPHE "Red Fox "shook out her sails briskly, 
 * as if only too glad to leave behind the 
 treacherous shores of Accomac ; but no sooner 
 were we fairly out in the Bay than the wind fell, 
 and we lay for hours in a dead calm beneath the 
 broiling August sun. 
 
 We were thankful enough for to sight Point 
 Comfort at eventide, and to anchor off Kiccowtan 
 for the night. Here John Rolfe left us, to my 
 sorrow, for I reckoned him a stanch and true 
 man. 
 
 It was thus on the twentieth day of August, and 
 the second after leaving the eastern shore, that 
 our pinnace again touched at James City. 
 
 " Canst thou tell me," I asked of a gallant stand 
 ing on the wharf, with a swashbuckler air, and a 
 plumed hat on the side of his head, " what was 
 that strange craft we noted as we came in, an 
 chored near the shore ? " 
 
 102
 
 Cupid. 
 
 " T is a Dutch man-of-war," he answered. " It 
 came in yestere en bringing a cargo of twenty 
 blacks, men, women, and children. They were 
 sold this morn, at public outcry, to the highest 
 bidders, for field hands and household servants. 
 Thereby hangs a jest, oh, an excellent jest! " 
 
 Here the gallant brake off and stood holding 
 his sides as though they were like to split with 
 laughter. When he was recovered enough to 
 speak, "Thou knowest Spelman, Pory? " he said. 
 
 " Ay, t was he that defamed the governor, and 
 was sentenced to lose his title and to serve seven 
 years as interpreter to his Excellency." 
 
 " Well, the sentence hath not cut the cock s 
 comb. He carries his head as haughtily as ever. 
 You must know he sets up for a lady-killer and a 
 squire of dames. Now it seems that he hath cast 
 sheep s-eyes at the unwed maid, Elizabeth Devon, 
 since ever the ship Susan came in." 
 
 I dropped the sack of grain which I was engaged 
 in hoisting to the wharf from the hold of the " Red 
 Fox," and drew nearer to the speaker. 
 
 " Now," he continued, " when the negars were 
 sold thus at outcry, the captain purchased, for ten 
 pound, a lively boy of some twelve summers old, 
 and sent him as a gift to the fair lady, with a note 
 pinned to the front of his garments. The letter 
 103
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 stated that the black boy s name was Cupid, and 
 the sender prayed that she would accept the gift 
 of him as a slave, and of himself, Henry Spelman, 
 as a husband." 
 
 " Insolent ! " cried I, tho I had been fully re 
 solved to hold my tongue. " And she ? What said 
 she?" 
 
 " Why, there riseth the cream o the jest. She 
 straightway despatched the boy back to the sender 
 with another note pinned to his back, wherein she 
 said that when she should wed, she should expect 
 her husband to be her slave, and therefore should 
 need none other ; but that, as she had no inten 
 tion of marrying at present, she counselled Cap 
 tain Spelman to bestow himself and his negar 
 elsewhere." 
 
 " Good ! Good ! " cried the loungers in chorus. 
 
 " Ay, good it was," continued the first speaker, 
 quickened to greater liveliness by the success of 
 his story. " You should have seen Spelman, when 
 he did receive the note. He was e en raging, and 
 such a fool as to read it out to the crowd of us, so 
 that, the news spreading, he is become the sport of 
 James City." 
 
 " I like the girl s spirit," quoth Pory. " I would 
 rather have her than forty tame Griseldas that 
 come at the first man s whistle. How say you, 
 104
 
 Cupid. 
 
 Huntoon, shall we try our luck as rivals to the 
 captain and his negar ? " 
 
 My heart grew hot within me as I listened to 
 this light talk concerning Elizabeth Romney. 
 
 " For Heaven s sake, Pory," said I, " leave off 
 thy buffoonery ! and, for the rest of you, either 
 make way there or lend a hand ; for this grain 
 must be stored inside the palisades before night." 
 
 Pory looked at me for an instant in dumb sur 
 prise, and then, with a grunt hard to interpret, 
 shouldered his sack and took up the line of march 
 for the gate. The others followed, and the grain 
 was soon safely stowed away in the magazine. 
 
 The next morning I was honored by a command 
 to wait upon Governor Yerely. I dressed myself 
 with extra care, but with a painful sense of the 
 shortcomings of my wardrobe for such an occasion. 
 
 I longed only for the old days at Oxford when 
 a scholar s gown covered all deficiencies, and the 
 fashion of the cap changed not, as doth the habit 
 of the court, like a weather-cock, when the king 
 doth blow on it. 
 
 I wondered much, as I walked along, that the 
 governor should have sent for me, whose name, I 
 thought, he could scarce have heard. " But," said 
 I to myself, " t is a great thing to be nobody ; and 
 never to be heard of, is to be heard no ill of."
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 When I was shown into the governor s room, I 
 found him seated in a chair of oak before a long, 
 cross-legged table, strewn with documents and 
 State-papers. 
 
 He received me right graciously ; yet his first 
 words much amazed and disconcerted me. 
 
 " Master Huntoon, thy dress is over-plain. I 
 like not thy coat, t is too bare ! " 
 
 I knew not where to look, so vexed was I, and 
 withal so vexed with myself for being vexed. 
 
 " T is passing plain, my lord, but yet as rich as 
 beseemeth a poor scholar and soldier of fortune. 
 Were I the Head of a Hundred, I might go bravely 
 tricked out with gold lace ; but t were ill fitting 
 that one who hath no gold in his purse, should 
 wear it on his person." 
 
 " Thou art right, young man. It were, as thou 
 sayest, most ill done, unfit, and unbecoming, and 
 like to win thee a lodging in ye Guard House. 
 Yet have I a fancy for seeing thee thus decked, 
 and so there s no way out of it but that thou 
 shouldst be made Head of a Hundred." 
 
 My looks so spake the bewilderment of my 
 mind that the governor took pity on me and 
 explained. 
 
 " My secretary, Master Pory, hath so set forth 
 thy talents and acquirements, and in particular thy 
 106
 
 Cupid. 
 
 services on this expedition to Accomac, wherein 
 he says thy coolness and prudence did equal thy 
 courage and contrivance, that he hath persuaded 
 me to place thee in charge of Flower Da Hundred, 
 a colony further up the river, which hath lately 
 lost its commander through an illness which com 
 pelled him to seek medical treatment. 
 
 " Now, thou wilt have no such excuse for quit 
 ting thy post, else wilt thou stand confessed no 
 physician ; argal a fraud ; argal to be hanged." 
 
 "Your Excellency," I stammered, "you do be 
 wilder me with this kindness, which I have had so 
 little opportunity to deserve. If Master Pory hath 
 represented that I have done anything out of the 
 ordinary there in Accomac, he hath exaggerated 
 trifles out of all semblance to truth in the cause 
 of friendship, and I would not be beholden to such 
 misprision for so great and sudden advancement." 
 
 " Tush, tush, man ! I have eyes in my head, and 
 ears as well, and a discernment to match. Do not 
 set thyself up to be a better judge than I as to 
 whom I shall appoint to office ! Only see to it 
 that thou do thy work well, else shall I have 
 spoiled a good doctor to make a poor commander ; 
 and in sooth, had we not tidings of another physi 
 cian on his way hither, I would not let thee go, for 
 I hear thy skill well spoke of " 
 107
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Thanks, my lord ! but " 
 
 " Butt not against thy good fortune, unless in 
 deed thou likest too well to loaf about the tavern 
 here at James City, and art slow to betake thyself 
 to pioneer life in a distant settlement." 
 
 " Your Excellency," cried I, eagerly, " for noth 
 ing do I thank thee more than for this chance to 
 get away from James City. T is tis too near 
 the sea ; and I fear rheumatism from the dampness 
 of the air." 
 
 Sir George Yerely s keen eyes were fixed on mine 
 as I spake, and I felt them pierce to the core of 
 my device. 
 
 " The reason thou hast given is false," said he 
 slowly, " and t is the foolisher that thou wert not 
 called to give any. Ay! I am glad to see thee 
 redden. Now, thy friend Pory will look me in the 
 face innocent as a babe, and invent the most enor 
 mous fabrications ; but thou art young at the busi 
 ness, and, trust me, t is a practice that ill suits a 
 gentleman." 
 
 " Good my lord, I do acknowledge the justice 
 of the reproach and if you do insist, I will tell you 
 the true reason, though it is in its nature most pri 
 vate, and touching mine own heart alone." 
 
 " Nay, nay, it is not for me to meddle with a 
 lad s quarrels or perhaps a lad s love affairs. Do 
 1 08
 
 Cupid. 
 
 but serve the State faithfully and well, and thou 
 wilt have earned thy gold lace honestly, and mayst 
 hide what private sentiments thou wilt under the 
 breast of thine official coat. The settlement yonder 
 at Flower Da Hundred groweth unruly without a 
 head. How soon canst thou be gone ? " 
 
 " To-night, my lord." 
 
 " Good ! I like promptness. But thy parting 
 from us need not be so abrupt as that. If thou 
 art in readiness, in three days time t will serve." 
 
 " In three days let it be, then, and I will strive 
 diligently that I may not fail the trust reposed in 
 me." 
 
 " If thou indeed strive diligently, thou wilt not 
 fail." 
 
 With this he gave me permission to withdraw, 
 and bowing low, I went out. In the hall-way I 
 was overtaken by Pory. 
 
 " Hello ! " he cried. 
 
 " Ah ! Jack," said I, " what hast thou been 
 doing? " 
 
 " Doing ? I ? Why, nothing save cooking larks 
 to drop into the cap of a good-for-nothing, who 
 does n t know enough to hold them when they are 
 in. Oh ! I heard it all from my desk behind the 
 door. A fine character you and the governor gave 
 me between you ! " 
 
 109
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " How can I thank you for this advancement 
 which I owe to your influence ! " 
 
 "Oh, so you ve discovered that 1 have an in 
 fluence ; for all it struck you as so fine a jest a fort 
 night ago ! " 
 
 " Behold me, Master Pory, prostrate at your 
 feet in self-abasement ! You have taken a most 
 generous revenge." 
 
 " I am more beholden to you for the compliment 
 than you need be to me for the office. A compli 
 ment is an accomplished fact, whereas an office is 
 but an opportunity for work, which my stomach 
 never relished over-much. But now must I get me 
 back to mine, for the God-Speed sails to-day, 
 bearing despatches which I must savor and sweeten 
 ere they are closed with the governor s seal. Fare 
 well till afternoon, when we will talk further of the 
 future." 
 
 With this he vanished like the very Jack-in-the- 
 Box he was, and I took up my way to my lodgings. 
 Yet being there, I could find no rest, neither 
 absorb myself in reading nor in writing, for that 
 my soul was in so great a tumult. Joy and sorrow, 
 success and failure, hope and despondency battled 
 it together in my breast. 
 
 At length, after an hour or two, worn out with 
 the conflict, I picked up my hat and sallied forth 
 no
 
 Cupid. 
 
 to try what distraction I could find out of doors. I 
 had gone but a few rods ere I saw Pory and Henry 
 Spelman standing in the centre of a group of men 
 who were discussing the arrival of the Dutch ship, 
 and the effect on the colony, of the coming of the 
 blacks, which, Pory said, he feared would do away, 
 in time, with the indented servants, who were a great 
 blessing to the settlement. 
 
 From that beginning, the talk was tossed about 
 like a ball in the tennis court, till Tom Pierce, the 
 gallant whom we had encountered on the wharf 
 the day before, began a jesting attack on Spelman 
 anent the ill-fate of his purchase in human live 
 stock. 
 
 Both men were somewhat the worse for liquor, 
 and Spelman chafed beneath the jibes, tho he strove 
 to cloak his vexation under a tone of bravado. 
 
 " Look ! " cried one who till now had borne no 
 part in the talk. " If I be not mistaken, the 
 haughty maid herself is walking this way on t other 
 side of the street." 
 
 I turned at his word, and saw, advancing toward 
 us, a damsel, clad in a robe of rough brown serge 
 with long pointed sleeves falling over closer ones of 
 white. Her veil, which was also white, reached to 
 the hem of her skirt, completely hiding her face 
 from view. 
 
 in
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 But it was as idle for Elizabeth Romney to go 
 forth thus and fancy herself disguised, as for the 
 ostrich to hide his head in the sand and think to 
 escape notice. Her slender foot, her lithe, light 
 figure, the carriage of her head, the very air with 
 which she set one foot before the other, proclaimed 
 her birth and breeding. 
 
 " Speak to her, Spelman ! " cried Pierce, the 
 tormentor. " Mayhap she will pay more heed to 
 thy speech than to thy letter." 
 
 " Thou durst not," said I, sternly. 
 
 " Who says durst not to a soldier ? " cried the 
 captain. " Ye shall see if I fear man or woman 
 either." 
 
 Ere any could stop him, he had lurched across 
 the street and blocked the lady s path. 
 
 " We were speaking of thee but now in council, 
 and we have decided that thy mien is too lofty for 
 one come three thousand miles to find a husband. 
 I am therefore commissioned to pray thee " 
 
 Before he could get further, she whom he ad 
 dressed, drawing aside her skirts as from some 
 noxious animal, sought to pass in disdainful silence. 
 At this rebuff the watchers on the other side the 
 road began to snicker ; whereon the captain was 
 so incensed that he quite forgot his manners, 
 and strove forcibly to pull aside, or at least to 
 112
 
 Cupid. 
 
 peep under the veil which the lady held firmly 
 down. 
 
 I would not have stood by to see this done to 
 a barmaid, and for Elizabeth Romney I strode 
 across the street and taking him, like a puppy, by 
 the nape of the neck, I flung him into the mud. 
 Perchance my handling was ruder than I knew, 
 for I perceived that he did not rise again. But I 
 counted it more the effect of his drink than of my 
 force, for a man in liquor is like a ship with a 
 shifting ballast, and careeneth with a light blow. 
 
 I walked on by Mistress Romney s side for the 
 few paces that lay betwixt us and Dame Gary s 
 door. 
 
 " Wilt thou not come in ? " she asked in a voice 
 withheld with difficulty from tremulousness. 
 
 " Nay, mistress, not till nightfall, when I will,, 
 with thy permission, attend upon thine arm, and 
 shall hope for good accounts of its advance toward 
 recovery." 
 
 With this I left her and returned to the spot 
 where Spelman had fallen, and where he still lay 
 sprawling on his back, like a turtle that hath been 
 upset. The loungers around him looked some 
 what affrighted lest he should never come to him 
 self. But I knew better, and pulling a bottle of 
 sal ammoniac from the pocket of my jerkin, I held
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 it to his nose, till it did speedily prick him back to 
 life. 
 
 Unfortunately for me, his choler awoke at the 
 same moment with his consciousness, and as he 
 rose and brushed the mud from his hosen, he cast 
 on me a look of malignity. 
 
 " I regret " I began ; but he brake in rudely : 
 
 " Regret me no regrets ! You shall hear from 
 me, and that right soon, I promise you." And he 
 walked off still scowling. 
 
 " You have a promising quarrel on your hands," 
 said Dick Pace, who was come to James City to 
 load his shallop with grain to take back with him 
 to "Pace s Paine." 
 
 " Faith," says Pory, " an I have not forgot my 
 Cambridge Latin, tis the first time ever Pace 
 stood for war. Nonsense, man ! When Captain 
 Spelman (and I know not why we still give him 
 the title, since the Council did deprive him of it) 
 when Spelman, I say, hath slept off his liquor, he 
 will know full well that he got no more than his 
 deserts when he offered insolency to a woman in 
 the presence of Englishmen. Say no more of the 
 matter, lest it come to the ears of the governor and 
 kindle such a fire as none of you shall be able to 
 quench. 
 
 " By the way, good Doctor, I have a felon on my 
 114
 
 Cupid. 
 
 finger, about which I would fain consult thee, if 
 these gentlemen will pardon our withdrawal." 
 
 With this he drew my arm thro his own and 
 marched off very dignified, to his lodgings. Before 
 we reached there I had as completely forgotten my 
 quarrel as he his felon, which to say truth was 
 more in his fancy than on his finger. 
 
 When we were come into his house and the door 
 was shut, he threw his arms about me and kissed 
 me on both cheeks in the good old English 
 fashion, now almost gone out more s the pity. 
 
 " So thou art to be Head of a Hundred ! " he 
 cried. " Well, see to it that thou forget not thine 
 old friend, as Pharaoh s butler (or was it his 
 baker ? ) forgot Joseph in the days of his prosperity. 
 Sooth to say, youngster, I have come to love 
 thee well and t is more of a trial than I thought 
 for to let thee go, tho it is but beyond the bend o 
 the river ! " 
 
 " And I am as loath to be leaving thee. Say no 
 more, I pray thee, lest thou unman me quite and I 
 shed tears like a homesick schoolboy." 
 
 " Then drown thy tears in a cup of sack with 
 me," quoth he, filling two generous wooden nog 
 gins. "I drink the health of Humphrey Huntoon, 
 Head of a Hundred ! " 
 
 "5
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PARTING. 
 
 TT was with a heavy heart that I drew near the 
 * door of Miles Gary s cottage this night. Now 
 that all was settled I began to wish it unsettled 
 again, and to regret that I had been so quick to 
 accept the governor s offer. 
 
 But I reproached myself for this weakness and 
 I said to that coward, my heart, "Thou art a fickle 
 and treacherous counsellor, that sayest one thing in 
 the morning and another at night. The question 
 is settled. This maid and I must part. The when 
 and the how can matter little." 
 
 Outside the window I stopped, for I saw a 
 slender figure flitting to and fro, and I caught a 
 snatch of an old song that I had whistled many 
 a time and oft along the cliffs of Devon, with the 
 gulls circling overhead, and the breakers thun 
 dering under my feet: 
 116
 
 Parting. 
 
 By my true love s bower, a rose, 
 
 Fresh and fair and fragrant grows. 
 
 On its briar, my hand I ve torn ; 
 
 I ve missed the rose and pulled the thorn. 
 
 Heigh-ho, 
 
 Joy and wo ! 
 
 Betty Romney s voice was a part of herself, not 
 soft and sentimental, but clear and triumphant, 
 tho she sang of grief and thorns. With my hand 
 on the latch, I stood still to try if she would go on 
 again, and when she did, I leaned back against 
 the wall listening as I have listened for the rare 
 note of the piping bullfinch in the forest : 
 
 Love is aven such a flower, 
 Fresh and fragrant for an hour, 
 Yet, lest my poor heart be torn, 
 I 11 have neither rose nor thorn. 
 
 Heigh-ho, 
 
 Joy and wo ! 
 
 " Heigh-ho, joy and wo ! " I said, entering. " It 
 is a song as old as life, ay, mistress Betty ? " 
 
 " So thou art come ! " cried my lady, throwing 
 down on the table the flowers she was sorting for 
 a nosegay to garnish the simple evening meal. 
 
 "Thou art welcome. But where is the bear 
 skin thou didst promise to bring for the back of 
 my chair ?" 
 
 " Faith," said I, " I thought myself but too 
 117
 
 The Head of a Hundred, 
 
 lucky to get off with mine own skin to give heed 
 to a bear s, or to my idle promise." 
 
 "Oh, ay! Tis ever thus with men. They will 
 swear you mighty oaths, but in their fulfilment 
 are they wondrous modified." 
 
 " I hear," quoth I, stung by the wasp of her 
 woman s wit, " that thou hast not lacked either for 
 vows or offerings in mine absence." 
 
 Her eyes blazed up with a light, half anger, half 
 laughter. 
 
 " I have indeed met with two offerings, and of 
 scarce commodities, a heathen and a heart. Oh, 
 Humphrey ! Thou hadst died of laughing, couldst 
 thou have seen that poor little negar thing, with 
 the hair on his head all kinky, like the wool on old 
 Michael s black sheep, and his short white suit 
 against the blackness of his legs and arms, and 
 then the note pinned to his breast, a note as full 
 of fancy flourishes as a Frenchman s dancing. 
 Troth, it made me laugh for the first time since 
 ever I came to this dismal land ! " 
 
 " No doubt," answered I, stiff as the ramrod of 
 my match-lock musket. " No doubt it was mon 
 strous funny for the daughter of Sir William Rom- 
 ney to receive notes and gifts from a roystering 
 gallant ! And no doubt it was vastly amusing for 
 me to hear men jesting about her on the wharf 
 118
 
 Parting. 
 
 yestere en, and yet again to see her veil twitched 
 in James City street this morning ! " 
 
 I know not how it chanced that I was drawn on 
 to speak thus in childish anger. I took shame to 
 myself ere the words were uttered ; and still more 
 when Mistress Betty answered with quiet dignity. 
 
 " Sir William Romney s daughter," quoth she, 
 speaking low and yet very proud, " hath no need 
 of any help save from her own dignity and virtue 
 to protect her from insult." 
 
 " Bravely spoken ! " cried I, filled with admira 
 tion for her high spirit, " yet it is none the less 
 false. Let me speak freely with thee for once if 
 never more. Thine arm is almost healed and can 
 go in a sling,for another se n-night, and after that 
 I trust t will serve thee as well as its fellow. It is 
 no longer as thy physician that I speak, but as thy 
 friend, almost thy brother. And I beg I entreat 
 of thee, to go home ! " 
 
 She made a motion as though she would stop 
 my speech, but I was resolved to be heard. 
 
 " This James City is as evil a place as the round 
 world can show for a young, unprotected maid like 
 thee. T is filled with gallants, and soldiers of 
 fortune, yea, and even with jail-birds and the off- 
 scouring of London slums. Canst thou bide here, 
 and alone ? " 
 
 119
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " I am not alone," she answered. " Kate Gary 
 was my cousin s tiring woman for seven years, and 
 she hath never yet flinched in faith and loyalty to 
 me. Besides," and here she sparkled forth the 
 intoxication of her smile, "have I no right to 
 count something on mine old friend, or him who 
 at least was wont to call himself such Humphrey 
 Huntoon ? " 
 
 The words of simple trust pierced my soul and 
 made me feel as if I were but a base deserter from 
 a post of honor. Love swelled in my heart, but I 
 saw quite clearly that it was friendship alone that 
 filled her mind. 
 
 "The man thou hast once called friend," said I, 
 "must needs carry his head higher ever after. 
 Count upon me, indeed, and be sure I can have no 
 nearer duty, and no dearer pleasure than to give 
 my life, if need be, in thy service ! But at the 
 present moment I am no longer mine own master. 
 Governor Yerely hath appointed me Head of Flower 
 Da Hundred. Thither for a time I must betake 
 me, and I should be loth to think of thee when I 
 was thus far away, subject to such insult as thou 
 didst meet this day, close by thine own door." 
 
 I said all this hurriedly, and with eyes cast 
 down like one abashed, for I feared that she to 
 whom I spoke looked scornfully on me as a pol- 
 120
 
 Parting. 
 
 troon and a deserter, or worse still, that she was 
 thinking sorrowfully on the solitariness of her posi 
 tion here when I was gone, with none to turn to 
 for aid or counsel. 
 
 My thoughts showed how little I understood the 
 nature of Elizabeth Romney. 
 
 When I looked up I found her gazing steadfastly 
 at me. Her face was quite white, but a wonderful 
 pride and gladness shone in her eyes. 
 
 " I might have known it, Humphrey ! " she cried. 
 " They have found thee out, as they were sure to 
 do only t is come sooner than I thought. Thou 
 wilt be a great man. When thou art come, as 
 may happen some day, to the dignity of governor 
 of the colony, remember, I pray, that thou didst 
 first practice governing on little Betty Romney by 
 the brook that runs past Cumnor Hall." 
 
 " Heaven send me few such rebellious subjects ! " 
 said I, jesting, with a lump in my throat. 
 
 "When subjects rebel tis oftenest the fault of 
 the tyrant who governs," quoth she, still striving 
 to be merry, tho the big tears stood in her eyes. 
 
 " I would I could play the tyrant over Fate for 
 thy happiness," I answered, and then I said : 
 " Couldst thou not, now we are so near parting, 
 trust me with the secret of thine exile ? Perhaps 
 some help may be found even in my poor counsel." 
 
 121
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Alas ! it is a matter past all help of counsel," 
 she sighed, " and even the Head of a Hundred 
 would be powerless therein; yet now thou askest 
 in the way of kindness and not in anger, as on 
 that first night, I will tell thee all, and welcome 
 the chance." 
 
 " Thou hast misprised my interest in thee, Mis 
 tress Betty, since ever we did meet on these shores ; 
 but let that pass and go on with thy story ! Thou 
 didst quarrel with thy father past all hope of recon. 
 cilement, is it not so ? " 
 
 "Ah, tis but too true, and it would seem that 
 the fault must be mine, yet in looking back, I can 
 not think it so." 
 
 " Perchance your father asked that of you which 
 neither he nor any man had the right to demand." 
 
 " Ah ! how you help me. But how could you 
 know?" 
 
 "Shall 1 tell thee? Well, then, a little bird 
 from Oxford, one of those perhaps, that build 
 their nests in the ivy that grows round the grey 
 walls of old Balliol, whispered in mine ear that 
 thy father sought an alliance with the House of 
 Chetwynd." 
 
 " An alliance ! " cried the girl, with a fine scorn, 
 "Yea, it was just that. It made no difference 
 whether I loved or loathed. No matter whether 
 
 122
 
 Parting. 
 
 the man I was to wed cared a brass farthing for 
 me, it was an alliance ! I would none of the 
 scheme, and so I told both the earl and my 
 father." 
 
 " Well, and was that not enow for them both ? " 
 
 " Nay, in sooth ; but the more I refused, the 
 more resolved were they. At last my father 
 threatened that if I yielded not, he would send me 
 to a convent in France." 
 
 " Pooh ! t was but a bogie to fright thee. He 
 dared not." 
 
 " Perhaps I know not how far he would have 
 gone. But I had seen more than once the cowled 
 figure of a Jesuit priest, flitting like a bat about 
 the corners of the hall after dark. And once, 
 wakened at midnight by the sound of a tinkling 
 bell, and creeping from my chamber to the gallery, 
 I saw, in the hall below, my father kneeling at 
 midnight mass and before him this same priest, 
 who passed abroad for a parson of the New 
 Church. I feared him and I feared my father, 
 and I believed, as for the matter o that I do still 
 believe, that between them, they would carry out 
 their threat." 
 
 " Poor child ! thou wert indeed but a silly dove 
 in the nest of hawks. Whither couldst thou look 
 for deliverance ? " 
 
 123
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " In truth, I know not how all would have 
 ended, but just then my uncle, with his wife and 
 daughter were come on a visit to the hall. My 
 cousin, who was ever my dearest friend, caught me 
 one day weeping in my chamber, and would give 
 me no rest till she had learned the secret, which 
 indeed my father s anger had made little secret to 
 those around us. 
 
 " Besse, quoth she, hast thou courage to 
 carry out a plot if I do plan it for thee ? 
 
 " I answered her that I had courage for anything 
 but this hateful marriage, though in truth my heart 
 sank weakly at the prospect of barred windows and 
 convent walls. 
 
 " Weep not, pretty coz ! she said. Thou 
 shalt not be dragged either to the altar or to the 
 convent cell. Beshrew me if the wits of two maids 
 be not a match for all the men in Christendom ! 
 
 "Having cheered me with her heartening talk, 
 she left me and I thought she would forget ; but 
 after a few days she sought me In my closet and 
 then she laid bare the scheme she had worked out. 
 Oh, Humphrey ! I wish you could have known 
 Barbara well. She is so clever and so stanch 
 and true, even if sometimes a bit headstrong." 
 
 " I can easily credit it," quoth I ; " these things 
 do oft run in families." 
 
 124
 
 Parting. 
 
 Mistress Betty made a charming little mouth at 
 me. "Your compliments," says she, "are like 
 chameleons which change color according to the 
 light that falls on them." 
 
 " Well, well, never mind my compliments, but 
 tell me of your cousin s scheme ! " 
 
 " Ay, give me but time, and I will. 
 
 " Her tiring woman had engaged passage for 
 America on a ship with a company of maids who 
 were coming out on the strange errand of making 
 wives for the planters, but with the express under 
 standing that none need wed save at her own free 
 will. 
 
 " It was my cousin s plan that I should go out 
 with this Kate Brandon, and to make the surer of 
 not being forced into any marriage, after having 
 fled so far to avoid the calamity, my passage was 
 to be paid aforetime. So far the plan did not at 
 all appal me, for the prospect appeared then far 
 less formidable to my ignorance than would it now 
 to mine experience. 
 
 " But prythee, good cousin, said I, how am I 
 to make my escape from Romney and find my 
 way to this outward-bound ship ? 
 
 " All that have I arranged, she replied, and 
 t is by far the cleverest part of the plot ; for it will 
 be fooling the fox with his own brush. This morn
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 I was tempted for old time s sake, to peep into the 
 little cupboard under the tower stairs, where we 
 were wont to play at hide and seek as children ; 
 and there what think ye I should find but a priest s 
 robe and cowl rolled up in a cobwebby corner ! " I 
 have it!" I thought, when mine eyes fell on it; 
 t is the very disguise for Besse." This shalt thou 
 put on and be off this very night ; for I have made 
 sure that he who passes for our pious Church of 
 England clergyman is gone to London for a week. 
 There is no moon to-night, but that is all the better 
 for our scheme. Thou art to slip out the little side 
 door by the eastern tower, then through the ivied 
 gate at nine o the clock, and at the turn of the road 
 thou shalt find one waiting to guide thee to the 
 lodging of Kate Brandon, where thou shalt lie as 
 safe hid as a mouse in a hay-stack till the sailing 
 of the ship!" 
 
 " Faith ! " cried I, " thou saidst but the truth 
 when thou didst call this cousin of thine a clever 
 maid. What answer didst thou make to her plan ? " 
 
 " Why, truth to tell, I knew not what to say. 
 My mind rolled now this way, now that, like a ship 
 at sea, but chiefly it turned to the thought of my 
 father and his anger. He will never let me slip 
 away in so quiet a fashion, Bab, said I; thou 
 knowest his temper too well to expect that. 
 126
 
 Parting. 
 
 " Trust that to me, says my cousin, whose spirit 
 is as high as my father s. Thou art to leave on 
 my cushion a note in which thou art to say that, 
 being unable to bear this life longer, thou art gone 
 to make thy home with a friend ; that thou art re 
 solved to return no more, but to be as one dead to 
 that father who would so readily give thee up to 
 the death of a convent, or the worse than death of 
 a hated marriage ! 
 
 " My wit was less nimble than my cousin s, and I 
 was fain to write down the words after her. But when 
 I was done, I said, Of what good will this be ? 
 
 " That wilt thou not be here to see, but I will 
 play the gypsy and foretell unto thee how matters 
 will fall out. I shall carry thy note to mine uncle, 
 and then I shall draw a long face and say that one 
 of the maids reported seeing a priest in the corri 
 dors near midnight, and that there is already gos 
 siping in the servants hall over thy disappearance, 
 and though I know there can be no truth in it, yet 
 I fear, if the matter come to the king s ear, he may 
 suspect my cousin was spirited away against her 
 will to a convent and be sore in anger against us 
 all. So I shall counsel him to give out that thou 
 art gone off on a visit, and trust to thy returning 
 of thine own free will when thou art sick and tired 
 of thine exile ! 
 
 127
 
 The Head of a Hundred, 
 
 " So the matter fell out, even as Barbara had 
 planned it. We kissed and cried together and 
 parted, she bidding me write her whenever I 
 could, under cover of Kate Brandon, for that she 
 should ever hold herself responsible for my good 
 or ill fortune." 
 
 The maiden paused here and sighed deeply, 
 seeming almost to have forgotten my presence ; 
 then she went on : 
 
 "I know not if I could have done otherwise; 
 yet it is ever a sore thought with me to remember 
 how I crept out from my father s house like a thief 
 in the night, and to make the resemblance more 
 exact, with the jewels my mother had left me, hid 
 away in my wallet. Oh, how often in the night here 
 when the pine-trees are murmuring sorrowfully 
 outside my window, I have fancied my father there 
 alone in the dark old rooms at Romney Hall ; and 
 how I have longed to go to him and beg him to 
 forgive me and let things be as they were in the 
 old days ! But that can never be now never 
 no, never ! " 
 
 The girl s voice, which had been quite steady and 
 cheerful at the beginning, sank at the end into a 
 passive melancholy, which smote me too with sorrow. 
 
 " Trust me, Betty," said I ; " I am not one to 
 treat with lightness thy duty to thy father ; but to 
 128
 
 Parting. 
 
 me t is clear that thou couldst do no other than thou 
 didst. Let the past be past, and turn thy thoughts 
 to the future ! Hast thou any plans? " 
 
 " I have a plan, and one I would fain open to thee. 
 Thou hast heard how, when Sir Thomas Dale was 
 here, they builded a guest-house for the sick people, 
 a high seat and wholesome air, and called the 
 place, Mount Malado. Here it still stands 
 and here now abide two Sisters of Mercy, besides 
 the widow of a ship s captain that hath been 
 drowned in the Bay. Hither I am resolved to 
 betake myself for the present at least, that I may 
 try what help lies for my sick heart, in ministering 
 to others." 
 
 I shuddered to think of her thus ; yet could I not 
 on the moment devise a better scheme. 
 
 " But," said I, " what wilt thou do, if thou thy 
 self fall ill, far from all old friends and among 
 strangers thus ? " 
 
 " I shall not be among strangers. Miles Gary 
 has taken out a land patent covering a hundred 
 acres or more near Rock Hall, Parson Whitaker s 
 old house, fair framed and strongly impaled. So I 
 shall still be near friends, and less in danger of the 
 betrayal of my secret than if I tarried here where 
 there are so many ships coming in from England." 
 
 " I think thou art right and I honor thee for a 
 9 129
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 brave woman. Yet do I grieve to see thy bravery 
 put to the test. Some day " 
 
 " Some day ? " 
 
 " Nay, I will not be guilty of speaking the weak 
 ness that was on my tongue. For a time thou and 
 I must part. Sure, for so short a word, parting is 
 wondrous hard to utter." 
 
 " When must thou be gone ? " 
 
 " To-morrow, perchance ; or at latest within three 
 days." 
 
 " Why, then, this is good-bye ! " 
 
 " Then do I indeed pray God be with thee ! : 
 
 " Ah ! that puts me in mind that I had well nigh 
 forgot to return thy ring, and thou wouldst be 
 thinking me a thief indeed." 
 
 " Betty, if thou wouldst have me believe in thy 
 friendship, offer not to return the ring, for while 
 thou wearest it, t will seem a link binding me to 
 thee. I shall feel, moreover, that it is a talisman to 
 call me to thy side ; for should I ever receive it by 
 the hand of any messenger, t will need no word 
 accompanying it to say, Thy friend hath need of 
 thee. " 
 
 " I would," said she, " that it were of less value ; 
 yet will I keep it, and thou in turn must take some 
 thing of me, for who knows but the day may come 
 when thou shalt feel the need of me ? " 
 130
 
 Parting. 
 
 " The need of thee Oh, Betty ! " 
 
 " Ay, thou knowest the lion in the fable owed 
 his life to a mouse." 
 
 While she was speaking she drew the chain 
 from her neck, and unclasped her mother s picture. 
 " Take it," she said ; " it hath ever been thought 
 to bear a great resemblance to me and there may 
 be times yonder at Flower da Hundred when it 
 will please thee to recall that troublesome Betty 
 Romney." 
 
 Our eyes met, and methinks she saw that in 
 mine which caused her own to droop, for her voice 
 faltered, and then stopped short. I took the little 
 pearl-set picture from her hand, and raised it rev 
 erently to my lips before thrusting it into the breast 
 of my jerkin. Then for the temptation was too 
 mighty for me I bent over Elizabeth Romney 
 and kissed her, there above the troubled eyebrow, 
 on the white forehead, now flushed rosy red. Yet 
 spake she not a syllable. 
 
 " Farewell ! " I cried ; and without another word 
 I rushed out of the house, my heart beating like a 
 thousand hammers in my breast.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A PRIVATE QUARREL. 
 
 OME in, can t ye, without battering my door 
 down ! " 
 
 At this invitation, which I own was not over- 
 courteous, my door was thrust open, and in walked 
 a young coxcomb in habit singularly combined of 
 the court and the wilderness. He was dressed in 
 the very height of faded finery. If his hat was 
 worn and his plumes draggled, he atoned for both 
 by setting them the more jauntily on the side of 
 his head. The holes in the ends of his gloves he 
 concealed by holding one glove and grasping the 
 hilt of his sword with the other, and the oiled point 
 of his Spanish beard concealed the tatters of his 
 muslin ruff, stiff with saffron starch. 
 
 " Good morrow, Master Pierce ! " quoth I. " And 
 what, may I ask, hath procured me the honor of 
 a visit from you ? I would have sworn that the 
 132
 
 A Private Quarrel. 
 
 only hope of seeing you lay in stopping at the 
 ordinary, under the sign of The Goat. " 
 
 " I am come," answered he, with the solemnity 
 of extreme youth, " bringing a note from my friend, 
 Captain Spelman, who doth request an immediate 
 reply." 
 
 "Very good," said I, "he shall not suffer from 
 the lack of one. Perchance he has fallen a trifle 
 lame this morning, and desires a rubbing with my 
 universal balm liniment. Sit ye down, Master 
 Pierce, on yonder stool, while I run my eye over 
 his symptoms. Belike he hath caught a chill in 
 the night air, for I am told both you and he are 
 o er given to late hours." 
 
 " Read the note, Master Huntoon, and methinks 
 your own teeth will chatter as though (hie) ye had 
 the ague yourself." 
 
 " So ? It must be a cool epistle indeed, and 
 quite refreshing, I dare be sworn, in this sultry 
 weather. I will lose no time in perusing it." 
 
 With this I brake the seal, and unfolding the 
 letter, I found within, as I had expected, a 
 challenge. The note ran after this fashion : 
 
 MR. HUNTOON, I wonder ye should so much de 
 generate from a gentleman as to seek to cast the 
 aspersion of a blackguard upon me in the presence of 
 a ladie and of half the gallants of James Citie. I know 
 
 133
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 it to be out of malice and the evil disposition of your 
 hart ; therefore I desire ye, if so be that ye have aught 
 of manhood in ye, that y e meet me to-morrow morning 
 at six o clocke, at y e blazed tree, hard by the eastern 
 gate which leadeth out from y e palsado. 
 
 My weapon is Rapier, y e length of which I send ye 
 by bearer. Yo r seconde bring with ye, and I will do 
 the like. 
 
 Yo rs not now, but at y e time appointed, 
 
 HENRY SPELMAX. 
 
 When I had finished reading this letter, I filed 
 it by spitting it, as it were, on the point of my 
 dagger. Then, drawing my quill pen from its case, 
 I dipped it into the inkhorn and wrote : 
 
 Mr. SPELMAN, Perchance t were looking for too 
 much to expect that one who understands not how to 
 treat ladies, should any better comprehend how to deal 
 with gentlemen. I believe it to be the practice among 
 gentlemen, when sending a challenge, to offer the choice 
 of weapons to their opponent. But I am quite content 
 to waive this courtesie that I may be the less in your 
 debt whatever the issue. I accept the Rapier, and will 
 find a second. 
 
 I will meet you at y e hour and place appointed. 
 
 HUMPHREY HUNTOON. 
 
 I read my note over carefully and lighted my 
 candle to seal it withal, when a sudden thought 
 came over me. I took up the captain s note once
 
 A Private Quarrel. 
 
 more, and perused it from beginning to end ; after 
 which I held both his and mine in the flame till 
 they were consumed to ashes and fell in light gray 
 flakes on the deal table. 
 
 " T is not meet," said I, turning me toward the 
 stool from which Pierce was watching me with 
 round-eyed astonishment, " that a lady s name be 
 brought into the matter ; least of all in writing. 
 Say to him that sent thee that I fear him no more 
 armed than unarmed ; that I am glad I did as I did, 
 and would do it again ; and that in spite of the 
 scant courtesy he hath shown me, I do consent to 
 the use of the rapier and will meet him as he 
 desireth at the blazed tree at six in the morning. 
 
 " As for the rapier he hath sent as a measure, 
 let me see Ay, it matcheth well with mine own 
 in length." 
 
 By the glint of my visitor s eye, I suspicioned 
 that he was somewhat surprised at my familiarity 
 with the weapon ; but he said nowt and presently 
 withdrew with as much bluster as had accom 
 panied his entrance. 
 
 It took me no long time to decide on my second. 
 There was not a man in the colony so good an 
 authority on duelling as John Pory. To him I 
 betook myself. 
 
 My heart was beating hard and I felt that my 
 
 35
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 affair was the only thing of interest in the wide 
 world. It gave me somewhat of a chill, therefore, 
 to find Pory hard at work on a revision of his 
 " Geographical History of Africa," which had been 
 published in London some years before, and had 
 met with the good fortune to be praised by the 
 great Hakluyt himself. 
 
 As I entered, Pory looked up, but was too much 
 absorbed in his own thoughts to note my excitement. 
 
 " The Nile," said he, pointing with his finger to 
 the map which he was engaged in drawing, " the 
 Nile, my boy, is the great mystery of the modern 
 world. Here have I traced its course as I believe 
 it to run from some inland lake northward to the 
 sea. Some day, who knows but you and I to 
 gether may sail our boats up to its hither cata 
 ract, and cut our way thro the jungles above ? 
 There were pioneering worth our while ! " 
 
 " Thanks," said I, "but it looks now as if I 
 were more like to accept a previous invitation to 
 visit that undiscovered country from whose bourne 
 no traveller returns. " 
 
 " How s that ? " 
 
 " I have been honored with a challenge from " 
 
 " The devil ! " 
 
 " No, not from the devil, but from his favorite 
 son, Captain Henry Spelman." 
 136
 
 A Private 
 
 " The insolent beggar ! Compliment him not 
 with the title of captain, for the Council hath sen 
 tenced him to be stripped thereof. He to chal 
 lenge thee ! I 11 have out a writ commanding the 
 sheriff to seize and apprehend the body of said Spel- 
 man, and detain him in safe custody without bail 
 or mainprize." 
 
 " Nonsense ! I am not come to appeal to an 
 officer of His Majesty s province of Virginia, but 
 to ask a favor of mine old friend, John Pory, who 
 in days of yore was counted as good a shot and as 
 steady a hand at the fencing foils as any in Eng 
 land, that is, when he was sober, as seldom hap 
 pened. John, will ye be my second ? Yea or nay." 
 
 " Faith, ye tempt me sorely. T is not o er well 
 befitting that an officer of the government do aid 
 and abet the breach of the peace. Yet the quarrel 
 is by rights as much mine as thine, for hadst thou 
 not been ahead of me, I must e en have chastised 
 him myself. 
 
 " He is a strange being, that Spelman, not a 
 bad nature, methinks, but ungoverned from child 
 hood. He comes of good blood, too, being a son 
 of Sir Henry Spelman of Norfolk." 
 
 "He a son of Sir Henry Spelman ? " 
 
 " Why not, since he needs must be son to some 
 man ? " 
 
 137
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " But my father knew Sir Henry well, and did 
 esteem him much." 
 
 " Well, and pray what of that ? t is not the first 
 time, I trow, that the sons of loving fathers have 
 fallen foul of one another, and cut each other s 
 throats with as much zest as their fathers locked 
 arms withal. But I understand that Sir Henry him 
 self is not on terms with his son, for the captain 
 did tell me of his coming to this country that twas 
 on account of being in displeasure with his friends. 
 
 " I can well believe it, for he hath been ever a 
 firebrand in the colony ; yet have I a kind of 
 liking for the animal, perchance through having 
 been somewhat of a scapegrace myself in my day." 
 
 " T is an ill-chosen time for descanting on his 
 virtues," quoth I, somewhat nettled. 
 
 " Nay, nay," cried Pory, stretching out both 
 hands in comic deprecation of my wrath. " I 
 look upon him as practically already dead, since 
 he is to fight with thee, and I was but speaking an 
 apology over his grave. But come, then, what 
 weapons didst thou choose ? " 
 
 " I had no opportunity to choose. He himself 
 named rapiers." 
 
 " Why, that was a gross offence against etiquette, 
 and strange indeed in a man whose father hath 
 written a learned treafise on the code." 
 138
 
 A Private Quarrel. 
 
 Ay, so I thought ; but as it happens, I am more 
 at home with rapiers than with other weapons. In 
 sooth I am not in a mood to worry over the issue 
 of the quarrel. For one thing only do I care, 
 that the lady s name be not mixed up in the 
 matter." 
 
 " Why, man, how can it be helped when half the 
 gallants in the town saw the blow ? I tell thee the 
 best thing thou canst do is to tie the lady s colors 
 to the hilt of thy rapier ere thou enter the lists. 
 No doubt she would smile on thee." 
 
 " Say no more on that subject, Pory, lest I fight 
 thee too ! " 
 
 Pory looked hard at me with a twinkle in his 
 eye, and then gave vent to a long, low whistle. 
 
 " In love ! " he chuckled, " as I m a living 
 sinner ! T is the tender passion which hath turned 
 thee such poor company of late." 
 
 "Jibe on, if thou wilt," cried I, all of a torch, 
 " but spare me from joining in thy mirth." 
 
 With this I rose to take leave. 
 
 " Beshrew me if I ever smile at thee again," he 
 answered; "but leave me not ere thou hast told 
 me the hour and place of meeting, and what details 
 thou and the captain have left for your seconds to 
 arrange." 
 
 " The hour is six in the morning. The place 
 
 139
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 the blazed tree near the eastern gate, and for the 
 duties of the seconds, belike thou knowest them 
 better than I, for to tell thee the truth in con 
 fidence, t is my first affair of honor and I am raw 
 at the business." 
 
 " I 11 risk thee, tho it be thy first. Remember 
 there are but three things needful in this kind of a 
 fight." 
 
 " And, pray, what be they ? " 
 
 " A quick eye, a firm wrist, and a cool head." 
 
 " But how goes it if both antagonists have all 
 three ? " 
 
 "Why, so far in history, no affair hath e er 
 turned up where either had them. The only 
 question is whose eye wavers least, whose wrist 
 trembles least, and whose heart chokes him least. 
 Bear in mind that the other man is probably worse 
 affrighted than thou, let thine own heart thump in 
 thy breast as it will ! " 
 
 I pondered on the advice as I walked home 
 ward, and again when I went to bed, and yet again 
 when I stood under the shadow of the blazed tree 
 in the slant light of the next morning s sun, and 
 each time it gave me fresh courage. 
 
 Pory and I were first to reach the spot of this 
 ungentle tryst, but ere long we caught sight of 
 Spelman coming down the path which led from 
 140
 
 A Private Quarrel. 
 
 the eastern gate-way, arm in arm with Pierce, and 
 bearing himself with jaunty assurance. 
 
 "He s cock-a-hoop now," quoth Pory, "but 
 we 11 trim his comb for him ere long." 
 
 " Gentlemen, are you ready ? " queries Pierce. 
 
 Ay, and waiting," answers Pory. 
 
 The captain and I took off our hats to each 
 other till the plumes swept the ground. 
 
 " Faith, t is as pretty a salute as I e er saw at 
 Hampton Court ! " cried Pierce. 
 
 " I misdoubt if the jackanapes e er saw either 
 the one or the other," Pory whispered to me as he 
 helped me to strip to the waist. 
 
 With nowt on above the belt but our shirts, and 
 with our sleeves rolled to the elbow, I had the better 
 opportunity to measure mine adversary. I noted 
 his heavily built shoulders, and the muscles on 
 his arm standing out like ropes on a mast, whereas 
 I was but slenderly built, and my height gave but 
 the greater space to be covered by my guard. But 
 to balance this, my training as a chirurgeon had 
 made my hand steady, and my adversary had been 
 drinking heavily over-night. 
 
 " Gentlemen, stand on your guard ! " called Pory, 
 when he and Pierce had placed us so that the sun 
 shone on both alike. 
 
 We raised our rapiers and engaged. 
 141
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 At the first I found myself hard pressed and had 
 difficulty in parrying. The weight of his lunge 
 was more than once like to lay me out, but at the 
 end of two minutes, Spelman s guard began to 
 weaken. He strove to recover himself at octave, 
 engaging my blade and binding it, till he could slip 
 his point past my wrist and plunge it in my side ; 
 but I parried with quinte, and caught his weapon 
 with the edge of mine. He responded to this by 
 a return to guard, his elbow bent and his body 
 held far back, too far, as the event proved, for 
 seeing mine advantage, I raised my wrist to high 
 carte, and throwing all my force into the thrust, 
 I bore him through the shoulder, and, his balance 
 being weak, he fell to the ground, his rapier, 
 knocked from his hand, flying off to a distance 
 of two or three paces. 
 
 " Now, Captain," said I, " thou hast had thy 
 satisfaction, and I will have mine." 
 
 " Yea," quoth he, breathing heavily and faint 
 from loss of blood, " I do acknowledge that my 
 life is justly forfeit." 
 
 " Nay," I answered, " I have no use for thy life, 
 and mayhap thou hast. Take it therefore ; but 
 two things I do require of thee : first, that thou 
 offer humble and contrite apology to one of whom 
 thou wottest ; and second, that thou do hence- 
 142
 
 A Private Quarrel. 
 
 forth conduct thyself as beseems the son of that 
 noble gentleman and learned scholar, Sir Henry 
 Spelman." 
 
 The mention of his father s name did more 
 than my sword-thrust to unman the captain, who 
 wept like a child the while he promised to do as I 
 commanded. 
 
 Fearing lest the loss of blood would cause him 
 to swoon, I pulled out a flask of brandy and poured 
 some down his throat. Then I drew out a roll of 
 bandages which I had prepared for myself in the 
 event of receiving a wound. Aided by Pory and 
 Pierce I propped Spelman against a tree, and 
 having washed the shoulder with water from the 
 river I bound it as deftly as I could. Whilst I 
 worked, I could not but smile to myself, thinking of 
 the trouble it was giving me to undo mine own work. 
 
 As we helped Spelman on with his coat, Pory 
 said, " Gentlemen, ye have made a gallant fight. 
 It is finished with satisfaction to the honor of both, 
 and there remains but to shake hands." 
 
 I put forth my hand. 
 
 Spelman held back for a moment, then he too 
 extended his, saying in right manly fashion, 
 
 " Huntoon, I thank you. From this hour, I will 
 try if t be too late for Henry Spelman to make a 
 man of himself ! " 
 
 143
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 So we, who but an hour ago had come forth 
 bent on shedding one another s blood, clasped 
 hands and parted, friends. T is a strange world. 
 
 As I walked back to the town the sky bent blue 
 above me, the dew lay thick on the curly wreath of 
 the ground-pine at my feet. The oriole and the 
 scarlet tanager shrilled merrily in my ear. " Strange 
 as the world is," thought I, "and ofttimes sad 
 withal, t is too good to leave ere one s summons 
 comes." 
 
 144
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I SET SAIL. 
 
 MY setting forth from James City was a strange 
 mixture of gladness and sadness. On that 
 day I donned, for the first time, my new coat, 
 trimmed very elegant with gold lace, and set off 
 with bars on the shoulder. T is wonderful how 
 dress doth raise the heart of a man. I felt within 
 me, from the moment of putting on this uniform of 
 office, a new power to command. 
 
 John Pory had decreed that I should leave 
 James City in state, and accordingly he appeared 
 at the hour of my setting out, with a guard of hal 
 berdiers before my door. When I came out, mine 
 ears were assailed by the notes of the fife and 
 drum, and to their lively tune we marched to the 
 long wharf where lay the shallop " Red Fox," the 
 same in which we had sailed for Accomac, now 
 decked out with flags and pennons almost past 
 recognition. 
 
 10 145
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 A womanish weakness came over me as I saw 
 the friends waiting round the wharf to bid me 
 good-bye. There were John Twine, and Ralph 
 Hamor, together with Master Maycox and Parson 
 Bucke, each with a hearty handshake and a kindly 
 word of farewell. 
 
 Pory would take no denial, but I must carry 
 with me a jug of his oldest and best canary ; and 
 with a sly wink, he took me down into the cabin to 
 pledge my health ere we started. 
 
 " Huntoon," he said, as we stood together in 
 the tiny cabin, "thou art not in the main a bad 
 fellow, but I must warn thee that thou hast an 
 enemy." 
 
 " Not Captain Spelman surely, after our kindly 
 parting ! " 
 
 " No, methinks you have no warmer friend in 
 the colony than Spelman. Look nearer home ! " 
 
 "Why, Jack, I must depend on thee to enlighten 
 my dulness of apprehension, for as I cherish no 
 rancor against any man, so I know of none that 
 hath cause of bitterness against me. I grieve only 
 that I have done so little to deserve the esteem 
 and good-will of those that are gathered here to 
 day to do me honor." 
 
 "Ay!" burst out Pory, "there speaks that old 
 enemy of thine, thyself, who goes about crying 
 146
 
 / Set Sail. 
 
 down thy merits and abilities, till t is almost past 
 the power of thy friends to cry them up again." 
 
 I laughed. 
 
 " Nay," quoth my mentor, " it is no laughing 
 matter. T is all very well to claim that a good 
 wine needs no bush, but I tell thee, the bush is all 
 that this busy world of ours gets time to take note 
 on, and if thou art wise thou wilt not hide thine 
 old canary character under any vile pot-house 
 label. 
 
 "Thou art going now among new people, and 
 those that will take thee much at thine own esti 
 mate. Thou canst meech thro life, or lord it as 
 thou wilt. But if thou It take the advice of John 
 Pory, thou wilt carry thy head high, and doff thy 
 cap to no man till thou seest whether, let alone, he 
 will not uncover before thee." 
 
 " No, no, Jack ! T is too late for me to put on 
 airs of grandeur. I must needs go my unnoted 
 way ; but to the end of the chapter, I shall con 
 tinue true and thankful friend of thine. It is 
 time to be off. Good-bye ! " 
 
 " Good-bye, lad, and good luck go with ye ! " 
 
 I could trust myself to say no more, and wring 
 ing his hand I hastened out of the cabin. 
 
 When we had come on deck once more, and all 
 my chests were stowed safely aboard, I saw with 
 
 147
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 some surprise the dapper figure of Tom Pierce, 
 hastening down the path from the palisade to the 
 river s edge. He was leading by the hand the 
 little black boy who had caused such a pother. I 
 smiled to see the ebony legs and arms against the 
 little white shift which formed his only clothing, 
 and the black pupils of his eyes set in great rings 
 of staring white. 
 
 " A word with you in private, Master Huntoon ! " 
 said Pierce, with much air of mystery, when he had 
 caught his breath. 
 
 We withdrew a pace or two when he continued, 
 
 " Captain Spelman desires his compliments, and 
 begs that ye will accept the gift of this little negar, 
 Cupid, in token of his amity." 
 
 I was much embarrassed by the offering, for I 
 had ever found it too hard a matter to control my 
 self, to desire the life-long charge of any other. I 
 opened my lips accordingly to express my regrets 
 that, much as I thanked the captain for the tender, 
 I was unable to accept it, when the black boy, 
 whose eyes were shrewder at reading faces than 
 his ears at catching spoken words, threw himself 
 on his knees at my feet, and fell to kissing my 
 hand. 
 
 " Thou seest," quoth Pierce, smiling, " the gift 
 has a mind of its own and will not be refused." 
 148
 
 I Set Sail. 
 
 " Then," said I, " I will accept it with the 
 same heartiness as t was offered, and I do send 
 Captain Spelman most cordial thanks and greet 
 ings." 
 
 " Come, good master ! " cried a sailor from be 
 low, " we shall lose our favoring breeze an ye 
 make not greater haste." 
 
 I turned toward the boat and had just stepped 
 aboard when Miles Gary pressed toward me. The 
 rope was cast off, but he reached across the gap 
 of water a white packet which I seized eagerly. 
 My heart throbbed in my throat as I tore the 
 letter open. It contained but eight words : 
 
 " God be near thee 
 On land and sea ! " 
 
 and was signed, " E. R." 
 
 The words were scrawled with difficulty, as 
 needs must be when one writes with the left hand, 
 but of all the tokens of good-will which that day 
 brought me, none carried such warmth and cheer 
 to my heart as this. 
 
 As the " Red Fox " set her sails and moved 
 slowly up the river, I knew well that from the 
 window of Miles Gary s cottage, friendly eyes 
 were looking out across the water, and a friendly 
 heart was wishing me " Good speed " ! 
 149
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 I remember well the sinking of heart with which 
 I saw the figures on the wharf grow dim and fade 
 away from my vision, and the pang with which 1 
 realized that I had let slip the cables which bound 
 me to so many tried and true comrades, and to the 
 woman I loved.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 FLOWER DA HUNDRED. 
 
 TO my diffident and downcast heart, the taking 
 up of a new life among utter strangers 
 appeared a terrible hard task. In the matter of 
 this, however, a pleasant surprise awaited me. 
 
 No sooner was I come ashore at Flower da 
 Hundred than, in the line of citizens come down 
 to meet me, I recognized one as strangely familiar, 
 tho I could not for the moment rightly tell where 
 and when I had seen him last. 
 
 To him had fallen the honor of carrying the 
 keys of the town-gates; and he now stepped out 
 from the procession and laid them in my hands. 
 As he thus drew near I recognized his white beard, 
 and I knew him for the father of the dumb maid, 
 whom I had seen last aboard the " Margaret and 
 John." 
 
 " Why," cried I, " t is Giles Lucas ! "
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Ay, sir," answered the old man, greatly gratified 
 at my remembrance, " and wondrous glad to meet 
 with thee once more." 
 
 " Art thou settled here in Flower da Hundred ? " 
 
 " I am, sir, with my daughter. I have a grant 
 of a hundred acres of land at Dancing Point, just 
 across the river, and I would fain remove my 
 house thither, but my daughter does be terrible 
 afeard of the savages." 
 
 " Little fear of savages in these peaceful days," 
 quoth I ; " yet am I glad to find thee housed here, 
 for I have hopes that thou art in want of a lodger, 
 as I *f a lodging." 
 
 " If my poor house be counted worthy to enter 
 tain the Head of the Hundred, I shall be but too 
 much honored," said Lucas, with a bow worthy of 
 a courtier. 
 
 Thus it came about that I took up my lodging 
 with these good people, who from that time on 
 seemed to have no thought in life, save how to 
 make me comfortable. Owing to his skill at car 
 pentering, Giles Lucas s house was the most solid 
 and commodious in the settlement. The daughter, 
 going so little abroad, had the more time to devote 
 to keeping home orderly and tidy. She did appear 
 better in mind and body than when I saw her first 
 on shipboard, and her presence seemed to carry 
 
 52
 
 Flower da Hundred. 
 
 with it a benediction. As she sat spinning at her 
 flax-wheel I could have fancied a halo around her 
 head like that above the Saints and Martyrs of 
 old, and her lips wore oft a peaceful smile as 
 though friendly spirits were whispering airy secrets 
 in her ear which was more delicately attuned than 
 our rude natures. Her very affliction seemed to 
 lend her a peculiar sacredness, setting her apart 
 from the jarring discords of the world and shutting 
 her in to a peaceful inner realm where reigned an 
 eternal calm. 
 
 Her father worshipped her with such an intensity 
 of affection as sometimes led me to wonder if it 
 were right that one life should be so absorbed 
 in another; but t was clear that he found his 
 happiness in ministering to hers, and she in turn 
 lavished love and gratitude in unstinted measure 
 upon him. 
 
 Poor though they were, and exiled from their 
 native land, they needed no pity, for they lived in 
 a spirit of unity which can make a paradise of a 
 desert. This land, however, is very far different to 
 a desert. Tis a land of plenty, where any, striving 
 with a will, may find a rich return for his toil. For 
 myself, the thousand crowns which appeared but a 
 pittance in England, was here accounted a hand 
 some competence, and I was thankful enow that I 
 
 153
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 neither lived in poverty nor pomp, but in a very 
 good indifferency and to a full content. 
 
 I had abode with the Lucases some months, 
 when a young farmer who worked the plantation 
 on Dancing Point, which Giles Lucas owned, 
 came a-wooing to Joan. I doubt not he really was 
 fond of the maid, but more than this t was his assur 
 ance that she would make a good housewife, and 
 a clever dairywoman, which led him to ask her 
 hand of her father. 
 
 T was a curious study to see the mingling of 
 emotions in the old man s mind, what with joy that 
 his daughter should be chosen to wife like other 
 maids, for all her infirmities, and grief at the 
 thought of losing her even partially out of his life. 
 At length he decided in his own mind that it was 
 best for her, and quietly made the sacrifice of his 
 own feelings as of everything else for his maid s 
 sake. 
 
 " You see, sir, when I m gone, she 11 have no 
 one to look after her, and she s na one can fight 
 her own battles in a rough world like this. William 
 Wilkins is not wholly to my liking, but he 11 make 
 her a kind man, and he shall have her." 
 
 " Hast thou spoken with Joan ? " 
 
 " Nay, there s no need. From a babe she has 
 known no will but mine." 
 154
 
 Flower da Hundred. 
 
 " Nevertheless, maids have oft a mind of their 
 own on this subject, be they never so meek on all 
 others, and I counsel thee to ask her ere thou give 
 thy consent to Wilkins." 
 
 " Why, then, I will speak with her ; tho t is a 
 mere form." 
 
 T was that very evening after tea that Lucas, 
 following mine advice, did by signs and manifold 
 gestures, wherein both he and she are wondrous 
 skilled, communicate to her his plans for the 
 future. 
 
 T was some time ere Joan did comprehend the 
 drift of his meaning ; but when she caught it she 
 fell into a very passion of weeping, and would not 
 cease till she had his promise to speak no more on 
 the subject. Even when he had promised, and sat 
 smoothing her hair and speaking soothing words 
 which, God help her, she could not hear, she still 
 clung to him as tho some one might tear her 
 away. 
 
 I rose silently to get my candle that I might 
 steal away unperceived and leave them together ; 
 but as I passed the wooden settle on which they 
 sat, she turned on me such a look of mute and 
 piteous reproach, as made me angry both with 
 myself and her. 
 
 " For Heaven s sake," quoth I to myself, " why 
 
 55
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 have I such an accursed habit of mixing myself up 
 with the concerns of others ? Why should Joan 
 Lucas look at me as if t were I, in place of Wil- 
 kins, who was striving to take her away from her 
 father ? " 
 
 I had little more than reached my chamber when 
 I heard Lucas call me, and running down the ladder 
 which led to my room, I was horror-struck to see 
 Joan sitting rigid on the floor, her back propped 
 against a stool. 
 
 Her eyes were set and her countenance fixed in 
 a look of anguish. Her fair hair fell dishevelled 
 around her, and gave a weird expression to the 
 face ordinarily gentle and placid. 
 
 As I entered, her look changed from terror to 
 relief, her arm which had been stretched out 
 straight and stiff, fell to her side, and her breath 
 ing began to subside from its labored gasps. 
 
 " Is she often thus ? " I asked of the father, as 
 together we laid her on the canvas-covered bed of 
 straw in her little room. The old man trembled 
 painfully, his head shaking as if he had the palsy. 
 In place of answering my question he only mut 
 tered to himself over and over again : " It bodes 
 no good ! It bodes no good ! " 
 
 Seeing that the father stood more in need of 
 my aid than the daughter, who was now sunk in 
 156
 
 Flower da Hundred. 
 
 quiet slumber, I mixed for him a stiff mugful of 
 aqua-vitae ; which he drank in long gulps, glanc 
 ing ever and anon over his shoulder, like one 
 shaken by fear. 
 
 " Tell me," said I, slapping him gently on the 
 shoulder to hearten him up, "has your daughter 
 e er before had such an attack as this ? " 
 
 "Ay," he answered, speaking like one in a 
 dream. 
 
 " When were they, and how fared she in them ? 
 Mayhap I may help her if I can learn the story of 
 her affliction." 
 
 " Why, sir, " began the poor old man, and 
 then broke down utterly. Sinking on the stool, 
 he rocked to and fro in his misery, the great tears 
 running down the furrows of his cheeks. 
 
 " Come, come, man ! Cheer up ! Thou must 
 bear a braver heart than this, if but for thy maid s 
 sake." 
 
 " For my maid s sake ! Oh, good master ! We 
 are sore in need of help, she and I ; but there s 
 nowt I wud na do for her sake. T was for her I 
 left England. An old man does not tear his heart 
 away from his fireside and his porch and the 
 friendly gossip of his neighbors, without a sore 
 struggle ; yet have I turned my back on them all 
 and come to die in a strange land, all because I
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 loved my maid better than home or friends, or life 
 itself." 
 
 " Faith, t was a strange love that bade thee drag 
 her thus over stormy seas, to a land filled with 
 savages." 
 
 I spake roughly, but Lucas was too full of his 
 own grief to heed my tone, though it had been 
 harsh as a rook s, or soft as a cooing dove s. 
 
 "Ay," he answered, " twas hard; but I saw no 
 other way to save her. The neighbors had already 
 begun to whisper dark things about her. One told 
 how she had been seen from her casement, point 
 ing her finger at Dame Derby s babe, which was 
 carried to its grave within a week. My poor 
 lass, that would na hurt a worm, and that cried 
 her eyes out the day our lamb was sent to the 
 butcher, to think of her casting the evil eye on 
 a baby ! 
 
 " But folk are cruel, and I tell thee, had we 
 tarried in Ilfracombe another three months, as 
 sure as there s a devil in hell, my daughter had 
 been burned as a witch." 
 
 I started. 
 
 " Poor lass ! " he murmured, looking tenderly 
 
 upon the motionless figure on the pallet. " She 
 
 knows nowt of the dark fate hanging over her, 
 
 and my hope was that in some wild of the West 
 
 158
 
 Flower da Hundred. 
 
 we might find a home where she and I might live 
 out our days in peace ; but I fear I fear ! " 
 
 With this he fell a-trembling once more. 
 
 "Look ye, Giles Lucas," said I. "You have 
 done well to tell me this. I will stand your friend 
 against all comers, and do what I can for this poor 
 maid ; but see to it, after this, that ye keep a close 
 tongue in your head, for our settlers are full of 
 strange fancies and superstitions. If they catch 
 but a hint of this business they will be for burn 
 ing or drowning, or any other swift and easy means 
 of ridding the colony of a witch. 
 
 "There, there! Don t tremble so, and look as 
 tho the worst were already come ! I say they 
 shall know naught of what hath befallen. Thou 
 and I alone are in the secret and methinks we are 
 both men who can be silent when we will ! " 
 
 Whilst I was speaking, the maiden, as tho 
 catching the meaning of my words, opened her 
 eyes and smiled. T was the sweetest look I ever 
 saw on earth, something between the smile of an 
 infant and the benediction of an angel. 
 
 " Talk not to me," said I to myself, " of that 
 maid and the black mysteries of witchcraft 
 together." 
 
 " God bless you, sir ! " quoth the old man, sitting 
 there beside the bed, like Father Time with his 
 
 159
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 white beard resting on his doubled fist, " for your 
 kindness to my poor maid, and may He send me 
 the chance to repay you some day ! " 
 
 Turning to go out, I looked long at the silent 
 figure on the bed and as I looked, I fell a-thinking 
 of the Trojan maid of whom I had read in my 
 boyish days, the maid whose hard fate it was to fore 
 tell evil to her kindred and to those around her; 
 always to warn, never to be believed, and finally 
 to perish in the ruin she had predicted. 
 
 I shut the door softly. 
 
 " Poor thing ! " I murmured. 
 
 160
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS GIFT. 
 
 TT was Christmas day the first I e er spent out 
 -* of England, and indeed it would have been 
 easy to make myself believe that I was in Eng 
 land once more, so like was the day to our Christ 
 mas at home. The morning before we had gath 
 ered armfuls of the scarlet-berried holly along the 
 wayside, pulled off big boughs of mistletoe, and cut 
 down pine-trees in the forest. These we dragged 
 thro the gates with difficulty ; so great was the 
 spread of their branches, and such their weight that 
 a yoke of oxen must needs be fastened to each. 
 
 The little church was decked with ivy and green 
 wreaths dotted with bright holly berries and the 
 houses were gay with candles, when on Christmas 
 eve, beneath the cold December moon, a band of 
 waits sang their carols beneath my window. 
 
 As I was returning from the morning service in 
 the chapel, I saw an Indian standing before the 
 161
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 door of Lucas s cottage. His limbs were cased in 
 leggins of buckskin, fringed along the side ; his 
 head was covered with a cap of fur, and his body 
 was likewise kept warm by a skin of fur. In 
 his hand he held a bundle. As he saw me he 
 uttered a cry of joy, and loosening the leathern 
 thongs which bound his bundle, he laid at my feet 
 the skin of an enormous black bear. 
 
 It was Oropax. He was come, in fulfilment of 
 his promise, to Jamestown, and finding me gone 
 had followed on to Flower da Hundred. 
 
 When he had deposited his burden, he was fain 
 to be gone at once, for he said the king, his father, 
 had been loth to trust him amongst the pale-faces, 
 and he had promised to return within three days. 
 
 His discourse was open and friendly ; but the 
 savages who accompanied him were surly and 
 full of suspicion. Finding that he would not bide 
 with us, I took him into the house and filled for 
 him a dish of the dinner, which Joan was cooking 
 extra good in honor of the day ; I loaded his 
 trencher with hot corn meal and the tender flesh 
 of a sucking pig, and to wash all down I gave 
 him a mug of Pory s old canary wine, which 
 he did mightily relish. When he had eaten and 
 drunken he took his departure, promising to come 
 again in the spring. 
 
 162
 
 A Christmas Gift. 
 
 " T will make a famous cushion for thy study 
 chair," quoth Lucas, when he saw it. I shook my 
 head, smiling. 
 
 " Wilt thou, then, have it for a rug on thy floor? 
 I did not think thou didst care for such luxuries." 
 
 " Nay, Lucas," said I, " I intend not to keep it 
 for myself at all, but to send it to a friend of mine 
 at Mount Malado." 
 
 " If thou hast a sick friend, why dost not bring 
 him here to be nursed ? " he asked. 
 
 " Nay, thou art mistook. My friend is not sick, 
 but a nurse in the hospital," I said. 
 
 " Why, they have only women," he began, then 
 paused, and studied me curiously. 
 
 I carried the rug to my room and looked at it 
 with satisfaction. I could fancy the pale, pure 
 profile standing out against its blackness, and the 
 delicate white fingers buried in its long, thick fur. 
 When I had rolled it up and secured it once more 
 with the leathern thongs which had bound it on its 
 journey from Accomac, I sat down at my table, 
 drew forth my pen and inkhorn, and wrote : 
 
 FLOWFR DA HUNDRED, 
 
 XMAS DAY, 1620. 
 
 DEAR SISTER ELIZABETH, For so they tell me 
 thou art called yonder at Mount Malado, thinkest thou 
 not t is somewhat hard that t is from others only that I 
 163
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 have thus far learned of thy welfare ? To me it seemeth 
 so, but Christmas day is the season for forgiveness, and 
 I do extend thee full and free pardon for this thy sin. 
 
 Perchance thou dost remember how one night in 
 James City, the last before we parted, thou didst flout 
 me with having forgotten my promise anent a certain 
 bear-skin. " Men " (these were thy words) "will swear 
 us mighty oaths, but in their fulfilment are they won 
 drous modified." 
 
 Now it is my design to heap coals of fire on thy 
 head by sending thee the very bear-skin for which I did 
 agree there in Accomac, looking to the fulfilment of 
 that promise made thee. To-day, young Oropax, the 
 son of the king, to whom I did some trifling service, 
 appeared in Flower da Hundred with this skin, the 
 largest, I verily believe, in Virginia. I trust thou wilt 
 use it for the back of thy chair, which, if I recall aright, 
 was thy part of the compact. 
 
 I know not if thou hast enough interest in an old 
 friend to care to hear of his life, yet will I set thee an 
 example, for I am longing daily to hear thus of thee. 
 In the morning I say, " Now Mistress Betty will be at 
 breakfast ; " and at noon," Now she perchance is prepar 
 ing some dainty dish for her sick patients ; " and straight 
 way I fall a-wishing for an attack of sickness which 
 shall send me to Mount Malado, but twould be hard 
 indeed for a man to sicken with such care as I have 
 here. 
 
 Thou must know that I have fallen in with an old 
 
 man named Lucas, who hath a dumb daughter. They 
 
 seemed from the first like old acquaintance, since they 
 
 came over with me in the " Margaret and John," and 
 
 164
 
 A Christmas Gift. 
 
 t is they who have taken me in and made me at 
 home. 
 
 I would that thou couldst see Joan Lucas. She is 
 not accounted beautiful ; but to me her soft grey eyes 
 are full of a pathetic charm, and her fair hair lies like a 
 halo round her face. I have learned to talk with her by 
 signs, and I find her mind as clear in intelligence as 
 any that have the use of both tongue and ears. 
 
 She sits ever with her spinning-wheel close by the 
 window, and as I draw near the door at even and see 
 her smile of welcome, truly she seemeth to me like 
 some guardian spirit set to care for my welfare. 
 
 I would thou couldst have such an one yonder at 
 Mount Malado. Hast thou thine old headlong habits? 
 If so, I wonder they do trust thee with the mixing of 
 drugs. Prithee write me just what thou dost, and when 
 thou art about it, that I may pin it up as the Papists 
 pin up their hours for nones and vespers, and I will 
 learn it by heart for my Saints Calendar. 
 
 Thy faithful friend, and most devoted servant, 
 HUMPHREY HUNTOON. 
 
 I read over my letter, well pleased to find naught 
 therein which could offend Mistress Betty, or lead 
 her to think that under guise of a Christmas gift 
 I sought to play the lover against her will. When 
 I had sealed it with red wax, I sent for Cupid, and 
 bade him carry both letter and bundle to Mount 
 Malado, and I particularly charged him to wait for 
 a letter to be returned. He was to take the skiff ; 
 165
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 and, departing as he did on a Monday, I reckoned 
 that he should be back on Wednesday. 
 
 To my eagerness even two days looked a long 
 time, but I whiled away the hours by fancying the 
 kind words which should greet my eye, the hint of 
 perfume on the paper, and the joy lying in the very 
 sight of the hand-writing which so far was only 
 connected for me with the cruel note I had carried 
 so long. I resolved that I would destroy that as 
 the old year died, and would carry in its place the 
 new letter, if it should prove kind, and such an one 
 as could be worn as an amulet folded about the 
 picture which I bore ever on my breast. 
 
 The sun was drawing towards setting on Wednes 
 day eve when Cupid found his way to the room 
 where I was sitting alone. 
 
 "Quick!"! cried, holding out my hand, "the 
 letter ! " 
 
 "No letter, Mars Humphrey," says he. 
 
 At first I fancied that he had lost the letter by 
 the way, and feared to confess it ; but when I ques 
 tioned him the whole story came out. He had 
 come safely and without adventure to Mount Ma- 
 lado, and been admitted to the presence of a " boo- 
 ful lady" whom they called Sister Elizabeth. When 
 he laid the skin at her feet and told her twas from 
 me, she smiled and wept, and when he handed her 
 1 66
 
 A Christmas Gift. 
 
 the letter she looked at it "her eyes all shining," 
 but as she read on, she grew angry, and stamped 
 with her foot on the ground. 
 
 " Tell your master," said she, " that I thank him 
 for the bear-skin, which is of a rare size and hand 
 someness. Tell him, too, that I am glad he hath 
 found such good friends in Flower da Hundred, 
 and say that I do earnestly counsel him to take a 
 dumb wife, that he may talk all he will without 
 contradiction." 
 
 Cupid, whom I have encouraged to prattle o er 
 familiarly with me, did venture on a grin as he 
 uttered the message ; which he did swiftly repent, 
 for I shook him till his teeth chattered. 
 
 " Rascal ! " cried I, " t is an impudent falsehood 
 of thine own invention." 
 
 The poor black boy, fearing, I suppose, that I 
 was about to beat him, fell on his knees and en 
 treated me to believe him, for he spoke but the 
 truth, and the lady had made him repeat the mes 
 sage twice that he might learn it pat. 
 
 It was clear to me that t was the truth he spake, 
 and indeed as I pondered on the language, I saw 
 clearly that t was none of his. There was no just 
 cause for surprise, I said to myself, bitterly ; t was 
 just such a message as might have been expected 
 of the writer of that first letter. This was the real 
 167
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 Betty Romney. The other the brilliant, tender 
 thing of April smiles and tears was but the crea 
 tion of mine own fancy, which had conjured up a 
 beautiful soul where nature had made only the 
 body fair. 
 
 " I would have forgiven her aught else," said I 
 to myself, " if only she had spared Joan Lucas. 
 
 1 68
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A VISIT TO MY NEIGHBORS. 
 
 IT was a joyful day for me when John Pory came 
 to Flower da Hundred to pay me a visit, the 
 first in two years. The bright October air lay soft 
 and hazy on the horizon, but clear overhead. It 
 was hunter s weather. Many a night under the 
 moon we treed the wily opossum ; or by day, with 
 dogs and servants, tracked the fox and the wolf 
 through the crackling underbrush, or, hiding in 
 the deep river grasses, shot the wild duck on the 
 wing. 
 
 Twas a visit of business as well as pleasure, 
 however. Pory brought to me a bundle of papers 
 from the governor, and bore also messages for a 
 certain Master Jordon, who had builded a stout 
 palisado between Flower da Hundred and Martins- 
 Brandon. Within this wall of wood he had raised 
 a fine house, and within the house he had a pretty 
 wife, one (so rumor said) whom marriage had not 
 169
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 cured of the habit of making eyes at every man 
 she met. 
 
 Pory requested that I should bear him company 
 to this place, which the owner thereof hath chris 
 tened " Jordon s Journey ; " and so it fell out that 
 one day when the sun was dancing on the yellow 
 river, we dropped down the stream in a cockle 
 shell skiff rowed by Cupid, since the wind was too 
 light to fill the sail. 
 
 When we arrived at the little wharf which runs 
 out into the river from Master Jordon s plantation, 
 we found by the shore an Indian servant, who ran 
 on ahead to the house to herald our approach. 
 
 The master of the house was gone on horseback 
 to look after his tobacco-fields; but his wife, Mis 
 tress Cicely Jordon, made us welcome, and me- 
 thought wasted no regrets on her husband s 
 absence. She and Pory fell at once into jesting 
 talk, whilst I amused myself in looking over the 
 books, heavy folios and stout, leather-bound duo 
 decimos, which were piled one on top of other, as 
 is the wont of a man who useth them but little. 
 
 Taking up one of the volumes, I brushed away 
 the dust with my glove before opening. 
 
 " Look! " cried Mrs. Cicely, laughing, yet a trifle 
 vexed withal ; " is he not rude to be calling atten 
 tion thus to my bad housekeeping? 
 170
 
 A Visit to My Neighbors. 
 
 " Nevertheless I shall insist on showing you 
 over our new house, tho t will make my husband 
 vexed that he was not here to do t himself." 
 
 " Twere worth crossing Jordan to enter Para 
 dise," exclaimed Pory, bowing low, " especially if 
 one be conducted by an angel ! " 
 
 " O law, Mr. Pory ! " quoth Mrs. Cicely, with a 
 giggle ; " I ve not heard such talk since I came 
 over." 
 
 " Then you should have tarried at Jamestown, 
 where the gallants know how to appreciate female 
 loveliness," says Master John, as bold as brass. 
 
 " Perhaps," said I, coughing, " t is not that our 
 eyes are poorer, but our discretion greater, further 
 up the river." 
 
 My suggestion was the sooner heeded that just 
 at the moment the sound of horses hoofs was 
 heard without, and an instant later the master of 
 the house entered, a loud-voiced, red-faced Eng 
 lish squire, who bade us make ourselves at home, 
 which we soon found to mean making free with the 
 brandy and aqua-vitae. 
 
 " What luxury is this, Master Jordon ! " cried I, 
 as he opened a heavily panelled door. 
 
 " A dining-room separate from the kitchen ! 
 Why, the next step will be a ball-room and a ban- 
 queting-hall." 
 
 171
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " In truth it may well be that my children s chil 
 dren shall see such grandeur. Things are moving 
 rapidly here in Virginia." 
 
 "Ay, verily," adds Pory; "every ship that sails 
 the sea now-a-days comes over loaded with Delft 
 ware or pewter services; and even silver spoons 
 may be seen on the tables at James City, where 
 they strike such envy to the hearts of them that 
 own them not, as hath tempted the Council to put 
 them under the ban of the sumptuary laws." 
 
 "Why, Cis!" cried Master Jordon, " he must 
 have caught sight of thy new chest. Have out thy 
 best for dinner! We will be ready for it anon, 
 when we have visited the smoke-house and the 
 wind-mill." 
 
 " Thanks, good Master Jordon," said I, " but 
 methinks we were best not to tarry for dinner, but 
 to hoist sail for home when Secretary Pory hath 
 delivered to thee the messages he bringeth from 
 the governor." 
 
 " Not stay for dinner ! Tut, tut, man ! Offer 
 not such an insult to a Virginia planter as to talk 
 of leaving his house without breaking bread with 
 him!" 
 
 Thus pressed, we tarried for dinner, and sat us 
 down to a feast of hung beef and hominy with 
 boiled potatoes (a great luxury), and a delicious 
 172
 
 A Visit to My Neighbors. 
 
 dish made by the Indian servant, Chantro. T was 
 compounded of maize mixed with beans, and cooked 
 with butter and milk, slightly salted. This dainty 
 was served in Delft saucers, and we ate it with 
 Mistress Jordon s new silver spoons. 
 
 When dinner was ended, Chantro, the Indian 
 lad, aided by my negro boy, Cupid, brought in 
 some tobacco in a lily pot, otherwise a jar of white 
 earth. Master Jordon lighted Pory s pipe with a 
 coal of fire held in the clutches of a tiny pair of 
 silver tongs, brought over, as I suspicioned, along 
 with the spoons in the last packet. For my own 
 light I preferred the fresh stick of fragrant juniper 
 which Cupid held to my tobacco. 
 
 Mistress Cicely, so far from finding the smoke 
 unpleasant, sat herself down close at my side upon 
 a stiff straight-backed chair of black oak, which 
 would, doubtless, have been uncomfortable had 
 she not been sustained by the thought that her 
 fluffy golden hair and pink and white skin looked 
 wondrous well against that dark setting. 
 
 She sat a moment running her fingers through 
 her light love-locks, playing with her rings, and 
 settling her farthingale, while I sought vainly for 
 a theme whereon to converse. T was as if a bear 
 were seeking some interest in common with a 
 butterfly. 
 
 173
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 At length she relieved me of my embarrassment 
 by beginning herself : " Didst ever visit Mount 
 Malado?" 
 
 I started, as a bear might start when a butterfly 
 lights upon an open wound. 
 
 " Nay, I have ne er visited it, tho t is not far, as 
 thou knowest, from Flower da Hundred. Dost 
 thou know the place ? " 
 
 " Ay, I was there but last week." 
 
 " Pray how did that befall ? " 
 
 "Why, now thou art waking up. Thine eyes 
 have been half asleep till now. Well, I will tell 
 thee of my visit, and I can assure thee the spot is 
 well worth a day s journey, for, an it be not itself 
 an Eden, it holds the fairest Eve in Virginia." 
 
 " Go on, I prithee ! " 
 
 " I am going on, but my discourse is ever a 
 rambling path and must be permitted its digres 
 sions. I went to Mount Malado to visit a young 
 man. There, don t flush up and look so absurdly 
 jealous ! What is it to thee ? Besides, he was my 
 cousin." 
 
 " And how old did you say he was ? " 
 
 " I said naught of his age, but tis the properest 
 to make an interesting man, about like thine, I 
 should say. But to relieve thy feverish impatience 
 I will acquit myself at once of all sentiment, by 
 
 74
 
 A Visit to My Neighbors. 
 
 telling thee that he is sunk fathoms deep in love 
 with another." 
 
 "No!" 
 
 " Ay, with an angel, a vision from heaven, as he 
 thinks, who, for the short time she is allowed to 
 walk the earth, doth spend her life in the holy 
 duties of caring for the sick and goeth by the 
 name of Sister Elizabeth. " 
 
 " And didst thou see this paragon when thou 
 didst visit Mount Malado?" 
 
 " Nay, jest not at her perfections. I own I do 
 not as an ordinary thing care for women. Methinks 
 they comprehend not my nature so well as men, 
 but I confess that when I had seen this Sister 
 Elizabeth, my heart was as far gone as Cousin 
 Will s." 
 
 " Canst thou describe her?" 
 
 " Oh, ay, I could rave all day of her beauty, but 
 belike I could not make you see it. You dark men 
 are ever so crazed over flaxen hair and red and 
 white skin, like like mine, for instance." 
 
 " Mock not at my susceptibility ; but try if thy 
 lively wit can paint this angel of thine before my 
 vision ! See, I will sit with mine eyes closed thus, 
 while thou dost conjure her up before my fancy." 
 
 " Why, then thou canst not see me . " 
 
 "Ay, precisely! twas my intent to shut out that 
 
 T 75
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 too distracting vision, to give room for the entrance 
 of another." 
 
 " Prettily spoken, and thou shalt have thy re 
 ward! Listen, then, and conjure up, if thou canst, 
 a form straight and lissome as a lily stalk, holding 
 itself with pride, yet not with haughtiness." 
 
 " Faith, ye are the princess of narrators. I 
 could listen to thee forever." 
 
 " Oh, but her face ! You should look on that ! 
 The skin is creamy white and the nostrils deli 
 cately cut, but you note them not ; nor nothing else, 
 but only the sweetness of the mournful eyes, which 
 droop a little at the corner as in sadness, yet can 
 flash into laughter at a word, as the dark brook 
 sparkles into merry ripples if a stone be cast 
 therein." 
 
 "Nay," said I, " tis not the eyes at all that 
 give that troubled look, but the waving line of the 
 pencilled eyebrow." 
 
 " How now, traitor ! Hast thou seen her ? " 
 
 " I ? Oh, no that is I what a strange 
 fancy! When thou hast reached my years, Mis 
 tress Cicely, thou wilt find all the world cut up into 
 types, and when one describes so vividly as thou 
 the dullest mind supplies the missing details and 
 fills up the picture. But what of Cousin Will ? Is 
 he still at Mount Malado ? " 
 176
 
 A Visit to My Neighbors. 
 
 " Bless thee ! no : he is up and away ; off again 
 on his ship. I trust he carried with him some hope 
 of winning the maid, for I ne er saw man worse 
 love-struck. Methinks it argueth something for 
 him that she hath promised to pay us a visit, here 
 at Jordon s Journey, in March. Perchance I would 
 invite thee at the same time, were it not for the 
 fear of injuring Will s chances; for at the risk of 
 making thee vain for life, I will own that thou art 
 the handsomer of the two ; though Will was ever- 
 counted the properest man in Dorsetshire." 
 
 I let the woman babble on. In sooth, mine ears- 
 might as well have been stopped with flax, so 
 swathed was I in mine own thoughts. I but an 
 swered "Ay" and "No" at the pauses in her 
 discourse, which she did most truly describe when, 
 she called it a rambling path. 
 
 Meanwhile the talk of the others had drifted on 
 to public affairs. 
 
 "Has any ship from home come in of late?" I 
 heard Master Jordon ask of Pory when I wakened 
 from my trance of forgetfulness. 
 
 "Ay, The Bona Nuova. She came in a sen 
 night since, come Tuesday, and is still breaking 
 bulk at James City." 
 
 " And what news doth she bring from London ? 
 As good I trust as her name should indicate." 
 12 I
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Why, like many other things in this world, t is 
 mixed good and evil. First, good, for that as thou 
 hast mayhap heard, the experiment of the twenty 
 maids in coming out to seek husbands here two 
 years since, is proved such a success that Sir 
 Edwin Sandys hath planned to send out ninety 
 young women pure and uncorrupt, enough to make 
 wives for half the planters on the shores of the 
 river. They are even now on their way, so it 
 seems." 
 
 " Ay, that is good news indeed, homes and fami 
 lies are all our settlers need to make them good 
 and stable citizens. But what is the evil tidings, 
 which, as thou sayest, doth mix with the joyfulness 
 of this ? Is aught wrong at home ? " 
 
 " Why, so far as I can learn from talking with 
 the captain and from the letters he hath brought 
 the governor, public affairs are in a tangle, which 
 threatens to snarl worse and worse." 
 
 " Sdeath ! and how s that ? Is the Spanish 
 marriage still on?" 
 
 " Ay, and talk of Prince Charlie going over to 
 Spain in body, and to Rome in soul." 
 
 " But the Commons will they consent ? " 
 
 "Ay, there s the rub ! What s to happen when 
 the king will and the Commons won t?" 
 
 "Gossip says that one of the leaders of the 
 178
 
 A Visit to My Neighbors. 
 
 House, being closeted with the king, ventured to 
 remark: We feel sure that your Majesty doth 
 intend to govern us according to the common will. 
 
 " Say not so ! cried the king, in a towering rage, 
 I intend to govern according to the common 
 weal; but never according to the common will? " 
 
 " Then," exclaimed Jordon, impetuously, " all I 
 have to say is, let him not in that spirit meddle 
 too far with the Virginia House of Burgesses ! " 
 
 " Ay," quoth I, " the rope of loyalty, stretched 
 three thousand miles, must needs be wetted with 
 good-will ; else twill snap some day." 
 
 At these words, Pory jumped up from his chair 
 and began to shake himself at such a rate 1 
 thought a hot coal had fallen on his breeches, but 
 when we questioned him he said : 
 
 " Nay, I am but striving to shake off the smell 
 of treason from my garments. I call upon you all 
 to witness that / made no such strictures on his 
 Majesty. If he doth abbreviate the privileges of 
 Parliament, why, tis not the first time nice cus 
 toms have courtesied to great kings." 
 
 " Pory," quoth I, quickly, a little afraid lest our 
 host might take him seriously, " thou art drunk on 
 Shakespeare. Canst thou not utter two words 
 without lugging in a quotation by the ears?" 
 
 " And why not ? I hold that to use thine own 
 179
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 words when another s do better fit the thought is 
 to send it forth clad in fustian when it might be 
 clad in cloth of gold." 
 
 " Ay, but fustian doth best beseem a peasant, 
 and for thy thoughts a garment of thine own lan 
 guage doth appear more equal." 
 
 " Nay, nay, look not so fearfully, Master Jordon, 
 we are not at sword s points ; but only using the 
 old friend s privilege of free speech." 
 
 " Pory, the dial yonder says four o the clock, 
 and warns us that we must be on our way." 
 
 Master Jordon would fain have pressed us to 
 stay the night ; but I could not, for that I must 
 needs be at Flower da Hundred to receive the keys 
 of the town s gates at sunset, in the king s name. 
 
 As we walked down to the wharf, Pory fell 
 behind with Mistress Cicely, and I heard them 
 quarrelling over a knot of ribbon which had fallen 
 from her hair, and which he, picking up, had 
 refused to return. 
 
 To divert Jordon s attention from Pory s indis 
 cretion, for which I resolved to rate him roundly 
 on our return home, I began to talk of the Indian 
 servant who was helping Cupid to set the sail. 
 
 " He seems a likely lad," said I. 
 
 " Oh, ay, we could scarce live without Chantro. 
 He takes my gun in the morning and brings in 
 180
 
 A Visit to My Neighbors. 
 
 meat and game enough for the dinner, which he 
 doth then proceed to prepare and serve. He is 
 cook, butler, game-keeper and watch-dog, all in 
 one." 
 
 " Yet trust him not too far ! Indian blood will 
 betray new friends to old if ever a conflict comes." 
 
 " Mayhap, yet suspicion hath poisoned dogs 
 that, trusted, had perchance saved a life." 
 
 " T is an honest saying give me thine hand," 
 quoth I, heartily ; and Pory coming up with us, he 
 and I leaped aboard the skiff. 
 
 " A simple, loyal nature that ! " said I when we 
 were well out upon the river. 
 
 " Yea, and safer in the hands of his Indian than 
 of his wife." 
 
 " From such as you, I can well believe it," I 
 answered, smiling. 
 
 181
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE MUTTERING OF THE STORM. 
 
 T OFT repeated to myself these words Master 
 * Jordon spake to me at parting, 
 
 " Suspicion hath poisoned dogs that, trusted, had 
 perchance saved a life." 
 
 I resolved, so far as in me lay, to put aside the 
 suspicion which is ingrained in my nature, woven 
 in its tissue like warp and woof. I could never, as 
 some men do, throw myself with heartiness into 
 the arms of new acquaintances. My feet walk 
 slowly in the paths of friendship, but so far they 
 have never taken a backward step. 
 
 T was with me also in public as in private. I 
 could never hope to win the applause which threw 
 up its hat for Pory wherever he appeared, and 
 which he did ever most richly deserve. He was 
 able to carry at a dash the sympathy of the people, 
 while I must needs sit down in tedious siege of 
 their judgment. 
 
 182
 
 The Muttering of the Storm. 
 
 These reflections were borne in on me in particu 
 lar one day, after a talk I had held with a certain 
 Master George Thorp, who had a plantation a little 
 further down the river. He was a very worthy and 
 religious gentleman, but his piety did, in my esti 
 mation, lead his reason by the nose. He had the 
 welfare of the Indians so much at heart that he 
 gave little thought to the safety of his own people. 
 Indeed he was wont to enjoin upon them the Scrip 
 ture doctrine of turning the cheek to the smiter, 
 which, as we all know, is a rule for angels when 
 their wings are grown, and not for poor sinners 
 who must stumble along on their own legs through 
 an unfriendly world. 
 
 " Is it true, Master Thorp, as I have heard," 
 quoth I, " that ye have of late had all thy mastiffs 
 killed because the naturals do fear them ? " 
 
 " Yea," said he, " t is the living truth." 
 
 " And is it true also thou hast built for that 
 marauding king of the Werrascos, a fair English 
 house wherein he delighteth himself, running up 
 and down the stair, and turning the key in the 
 lock, forty times a day ? " 
 
 " Ay, and why not ? " 
 
 "Why not, in sooth? Because thou art putting 
 a premium on the plundering of thy neighbors, and 
 later perchance of thyself." 
 183
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " And pray, dost them not believe in the golden 
 rule ? " 
 
 " Verily, I do," quoth I, " but t is a poor rule, 
 leaden or golden, which worketh not both ways 
 alike. Besides, you who cling so close to the Bible 
 should bethink thyself how the law came before 
 the gospel, and ask thyself in all seriousness if 
 these savages were not well kept for a while yet 
 under the wholesome discipline of fear." 
 
 But he would not hearken to me and stoutly 
 maintained that the white men must treat the reds 
 as they would themselves be treated, let the issue 
 be what it might. Perchance it argueth that I am 
 but a heathen myself, but things look not so to me. 
 I am deeply convinced that having planted a col 
 ony here in the wilderness, it is our solemn duty so 
 to protect and fortify it as shall strike an awe into 
 the hearts of these savages, who, after all, are 
 but half-tamed beasts of the forest, like at any 
 time to turn and bite the hand they have been 
 licking. 
 
 Thus I argued, and thus I acted, despite the 
 smiles of some at my caution and the sneers of 
 others at my cowardice. 
 
 " We shall see ! " I said calmly to each in turn. 
 " I mean not, if I can help it, to be caught tripping 
 like mine uncle, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, because in 
 184
 
 The Muttering of the Storm. 
 
 peace I neglected the discipline which is the best 
 preparation for war." 
 
 Every day, accordingly, I ordered out all the 
 men capable of bearing arms and put them through 
 a drill. Sometimes in the middle of the night 
 would I cause the alarm to be sounded, when, not 
 without some grumbling, the citizens would turn 
 out in the square, and take up the position assigned 
 to each in event of an actual attack by the Indians. 
 
 I was the more settled in this course of action 
 when, one day early in March, a trader came into 
 the settlement with news which seemed to mine 
 ears not a little alarming. From this man s story 
 it appeared that there was an Indian called by his 
 own people Nemattanow, but by the English nick 
 named Jack o the Feather, because he was wont 
 to wear so many quills for his adornment. 
 
 "This Indian," said the trader, "went one day 
 to one Morgan his house and persuaded him to go 
 over to Pamauke to truck. The unlucky Morgan 
 went and was never seen alive again. Three days 
 after their setting forth together, Nemattanow 
 returned alone to Morgan s plantation, where he 
 found two youths who had been the planter s ser 
 vants. They asked straightway what was become 
 of their master. Jack o the Feather replied very 
 innocent that he was dead. 
 
 85
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " Then said one of the youths, T is thou that 
 hast slain him and hast insolently set his cap on 
 thine own head. 
 
 " Yea, said the other, and we will have thee 
 up for judgment before Master Thorp. 
 
 " At this they would have bound him, to carry 
 him with them to their canoe, but he, the more 
 emboldened that he believed himself immortal, did 
 struggle with them, and had gone near to draw his 
 knife, when the elder of the two youths fired his 
 piece at him, and struck him, so that he sank upon 
 the ground. 
 
 " Thinking him but slightly wounded, they placed 
 him in the boat and set out for Master Thorp s 
 plantation ; but by the way, Jack, finding the pangs 
 of death upon him, desired of the boys two things. 
 The one was that they would not make it known 
 that he was slain with a bullet, he that had been 
 honored by all his tribe as immortal ; and the other 
 was that he might be buried at James City among 
 the English." 
 
 The folk at Flower da Hundred were inclined to 
 make a great rejoicing over the death of this pesti 
 lent savage, who had been greatly feared among 
 the settlers for his insolence and thieving habits ; 
 but I felt no such lightness of spirits, for I feared 
 me the slaying of Nemattanow would rouse the 
 186
 
 The Muttering of the Storm. 
 
 great Chief Opechancano, brother of Powhatan, to 
 revenge, that we had but slain the sparrow to 
 stir up the eagle. 
 
 My fears were somewhat allayed a few days later, 
 when Pory appeared at Flower da Hundred on his 
 return from an embassy sent by his Excellency 
 the governor to the old Indian chief. He re 
 ported that Opechancano had received him with 
 friendliness and sworn an oath with his hand on a 
 brand new Bible, that he would not cherish anger 
 against the white men for the red man s death. 
 
 " Tis well," said I, "yet do not put too much 
 faith in Indian oaths." 
 
 Pory s coming brought me great joy, for beside 
 the pleasure of seeing him once more, he had 
 brought along with him, as part of his escort, two 
 old friends. One of them was an old enemy too, 
 even Captain Spelman, now grown to be a pros 
 perous planter, a prop of the colony, and a stanch 
 supporter of mine own. 
 
 " T was the laying out by thee," he said to me, 
 " which set me on my feet ; and to thee more than 
 to any other man on earth, do I owe gratitude and 
 such service as in me lieth." 
 
 Right cordial welcome did I hold out to him, and 
 still heartier to his companion, who was none other 
 than that valiant old sea-dog, Anthony Chester. 
 187
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 The two years which had passed since we parted 
 had left few traces of age upon him, save that his 
 hair was white, and the skin against it, by contrast, 
 browner ; but his heart beat as warm and true as 
 ever, and his hand clasped mine with such an hon 
 est grip, as made me wince with pain at the pres 
 sure. He was one 
 
 " Whose even thread of life was woven round and full, 
 As if Fate spun it of her choicest, whitest wool." 
 
 Among the most treasured memories of my life, 
 is the thought of those peaceful, pleasant hours 
 with him in those few days. He seemed to live 
 over his whole life, in calling up for me the stories 
 of his adventures by sea and land. Of the confi 
 dence he had made me that night on shipboard he 
 never spake word till the evening before he was to 
 leave for James City. 
 
 We were sitting late, he and I alone together, 
 and betwixt us a noggin of toddy such as ever 
 openeth the heart and mouth of a man. I plunged 
 the loggerhead deep into the bed of glowing embers 
 and then, when it was at white heat, dipped it into 
 the beverage, which greeted its plunge with a kiss 
 of welcome and a bubbling of creamy white foam. 
 The captain drank his mug off at a draught, but 
 the heat thereof was too great for my throat and 
 188
 
 The Muttering of the Storm. 
 
 I was fain to sip it while Chester sat watching me 
 in silence. 
 
 " Humphrey," said he, " t is a strange chance 
 that bringeth us together again, that maid and me 
 and Giles Lucas, and under his roof, too." 
 
 Ere I could speak, he went on : 
 
 " I have had of late a blessed sense of peace and 
 pardon, as tho my transgression had been blotted 
 out. The punishment may fall, that were but 
 justice; yet I feel as though all were somehow 
 set right between my soul and the spirit of that 
 dead woman, and tis all I ask." 
 
 We sat in silence, for I knew not what to say ; 
 and indeed speech seemed but an impertinence 
 to such a mood as his, which was but a sort of 
 communing aloud with himself. So we sat still, 
 watching the falling of the embers from the dying 
 fire. 
 
 At length he rose to go to bed, but ere lighting 
 his candle, he stood a moment behind me, laying 
 both hands on my shoulders. 
 
 "Humphrey, have things come right betwixt 
 thee and Elizabeth Romney ? " he said, in his deep, 
 kind voice. 
 
 I shook my head, for I could not trust my voice 
 to answer. 
 
 " Nay, look not so despairing ! All shall yet be 
 189
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 well with thee in God s own good time. Good 
 night and God bless thee, dear lad ! " 
 
 So tenderly he said it that I felt the hot tears in 
 mine eyes, and being ashamed of them I bowed 
 my head upon my arms on the table. Thus I sat, 
 while I heard his footsteps on the stair and listened 
 to the sharp closing of the chamber door behind 
 him. 
 
 Then I lifted my head and said aloud : 
 
 " Good-night, old friend ! " 
 
 190
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE STORM BREAKS. 
 
 TT was a wild March night. 
 * The wind howled and moaned and ever and 
 anon rose to a piercing wail, which brought me 
 more than once to the window to make sure that 
 no one was crying outside the casement. I was 
 glad when morning broke, and gladder still when I 
 entered the kitchen, and saw a high fire blazing on 
 the cheerful hearth. 
 
 The table was already prepared for breakfast, 
 and the good folk waited but for me. The board 
 was set out with noggins and trenchers of wood, 
 with a few pewter spoons glittering bright in the 
 fire-light. The fare too, was as simple as the set 
 ting, yet both were cleanly and wholesome, and 
 t was a cheery party that gathered round the table, 
 with much talk and laughter and clatter of knives 
 and spoons. 
 
 That those things which happened after may be 
 191
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 the better understood, I have set forth in a diagram 
 the order in which we sat ; as thus : 
 
 POCONO. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 Capt. CHESTER. 
 
 PONTO. 
 
 I remember me that at the head of the board 
 where I sat was a mighty haunch of venison I 
 could ne er abide the smell o the meat since. As 
 we were sitting down, two Indians with strings of 
 wild duck over their shoulders, tomahawks and 
 knives in their belts, and long pieces in their hands, 
 slipped in and took the warm seats on the settles 
 at either side of the fire. 
 
 The mastiff rose and howled in their faces. 
 
 " Down, King ! " I cried ; " make not such a com 
 motion! T is but Ponto and Pocono, who have 
 192
 
 The Storm Breaks. 
 
 come in fifty times ere now for a hot bite of a cold 
 morning. Down, I say ! " 
 
 The dog seemed but half satisfied, and lay down 
 growling under his breath as t were, his nose 
 between his paws and his eyes fixed on the intrud 
 ers. Pory handed the new-comers some hot corn- 
 bread, which they took and held in their hands as 
 if to warm them, but they tasted it not. 
 
 " Captain Chester," said I, as I plunged my 
 knife into the meat, " dost thou remember what 
 day this is? " 
 
 Ay," he answered, " that I do. T is the twenty- 
 second of March, the anniversary of the day we 
 met the Spanish caravel off the Isle of Domenica. 
 Faith, t was the narrowest squeak e er the Mar 
 garet and John had for her life." 
 
 " I believe it well, for sure ne er did any one of 
 us stand in such deadly peril, nor for that matter 
 are like to again ; but, thanks to God, and to thy 
 skill and bravery we came safely out." 
 
 "Yea," said the captain, solemn and slow, "by 
 the mercy of the Most High we are come so far." 
 
 While the words were on his lips, my attention 
 was suddenly called to the maid, Joan. I saw her 
 features begin to twitch strangely. Her lips grew 
 tense and drawn, the foam gathered at the mouth, 
 round which was a streak of livid purple. Her 
 13 193
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 eyes seemed starting from her head with that old 
 look of terror which I remembered in the little 
 bedroom." 
 
 We all gazed on her spellbound. Slowly, slowly 
 she twisted herself about till she was directly front 
 ing Pocono, when, extending her rigid arm, she 
 pointed her thin, white finger full in his face. 
 
 Oh, the horror of that moment ! T was as if 
 these savages, brute beasts as they were, saw the 
 angel of doom pointing its fateful finger toward 
 them. 
 
 Pocono sat motionless for a second, held like a 
 stone image by that awful glance ; but Ponto, 
 springing from his seat with a blood-curdling yell, 
 raised his tomahawk and buried its blade in the 
 brain of the poor maiden. 
 
 At the same instant, Pocono, awakened from 
 his trance, struck his knife, deep, deep into the 
 heart of Anthony Chester, who, without a groan, 
 fell heavily to the floor in a pool of blood. Thus 
 perished by the hand of a treacherous savage that 
 gallant sailor who had braved storms and gales and 
 equal foes. He died, died, as he had predicted, 
 by the same blow that felled Joan Lucas. But he 
 did not die unavenged. Pory s blade flashed in 
 air, and when it came down another corpse lay in 
 these bloody shambles. 
 
 194
 
 The Storm Breaks. 
 
 I was making towards Ponto, who was levelling 
 his musket at me, but Giles Lucas and King, the 
 mastiff, leaped upon him at the same instant. 
 " Leave him to me ! " shouted Lucas. " God grant 
 me at least my vengeance ! " 
 
 I saw that he stood in no need of my assistance, 
 and on the moment an instinct told me that this 
 was no private murder, but a plot, a conspiracy. 
 
 " To the gates, to the gates ! " I cried, rushing 
 into the street, followed by Pory and Spelman. 
 
 The first man I met, fortunately, was Ensign 
 Rosingham. 
 
 " Have out the drummers instantly ! " I shouted. 
 " Sound the alarm ! The Indians are upon us ! " 
 
 In less time than it takes to tell, the call to arms 
 sounded out and Flower da Hundred awoke to its 
 peril. 
 
 As the settlers sprang out fully armed from every 
 doorway, and gathered swiftly in the centre of the 
 town, I saw with grim satisfaction that my caution 
 was justified of itself. It was no mob I had to deal 
 with, but an army, in which every man knew his 
 post. They marched away by twos and threes, 
 some to the gates, some to the guns. All was in 
 order to meet the attack, let it come when it might. 
 
 To Pory I gave command of the little force at 
 the West gate, where the heaviest onslaught might 
 
 195
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 be expected. Spelman I set to oversee the ord 
 nance. Then I started on a journey of inspection 
 round the palisade, for I realized that a single 
 weak spot in the joining of the logs might be the 
 ruin of us all. 
 
 As I reached the Eastern gate, the one which 
 opens toward the river path, the man at the peep 
 hole called to me, 
 
 " An Indian is creeping up thro the underbrush, 
 and making strange signs, as though he seeks a 
 parley." 
 
 Apprehending that this was but another move in 
 the dastardly game of the naturals, I applied mine 
 own eye to the hole. Lying flat on his belly in the 
 low bushes, not ten paces from the gate, I saw 
 with amazement the figure of Chantro, my neigh 
 bor Jordon s servant. 
 
 " So this," thought I, " is the end of my friend s 
 trustfulness, that he and his lie there at Jordon s 
 Journey weltering in their blood like Chester and 
 the poor maid yonder, and now he has come to 
 trap us if he can. 
 
 " Halt," I cried ; " another step and thou art a 
 dead man ! " 
 
 " Hush ! Speak low ! " answered the Indian s 
 voice from the thicket. " Master Jordon and his 
 women in the woods, and pray, Open the gate ! 
 196
 
 The Storm Breaks. 
 
 " Liar," I groaned, " thou hast slain them and 
 now dost seek, under cover of their names, to open 
 the gate to thy fellow-scoundrels." 
 
 The stolid face of the savage showed no resent 
 ment at my words. 
 
 " Is Master Huntoon there?" he asked, in the 
 same low, harsh guttural. 
 
 " Ay, your braves have not slain him as ye 
 planned." 
 
 " Him pick up Chantro s arrow ! " 
 
 With these words the Indian drew his bow and 
 shot an arrow high into the air. It fell just inside 
 the walls of the palisade, almost at my feet. 
 
 I stooped and picked it up. Twas heavy. 
 Something was tied to it. God ! twas my ring ! 
 
 " Wait for me, I am coming with thee ! " I 
 called. 
 
 " No, no ! Kill every one by that," answered 
 Chantro. 
 
 " Then," cried I, " fly, swift as the wind, still as 
 death ! Every moment is precious. We will open 
 just as you reach the gate ! " 
 
 The Indian was gone; wriggling his way like a 
 snake through the shrubbery as no white man 
 could ever do. My heart in my mouth, I stood 
 there watching for his reappearing. One minute 
 passed two three Would he never come ? 
 197
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 At length, at a point some distance from that 
 where he had first appeared, I noticed a little stir 
 ring of the underbrush. It was they. They had 
 crept up as far as they could under cover. Now 
 for the dash across the open ! 
 
 The distance was but a hundred yards, and they 
 were fleet of foot and sped by terror, but to me it 
 seemed as though they were shod with lead. Half 
 the distance was covered. They were safe no, 
 they had been seen, and a shower of arrows fell 
 around them, while behind them rose that blood 
 curdling, paralyzing yell. Who shall describe it 
 to ears that have never caught the terror of that 
 sound ? 
 
 I felt my limbs palsied and ready to sink, but 
 mine eyes were glued to the hole beside the gate 
 and my hand was on the bolt ready to draw. I 
 counted the flying band. They numbered but four 
 Mistress Jordon half-dragged along by her hus 
 band, and in advance, holding close to Chantro 
 and keeping pace with his flying-footsteps, the 
 lithe, light form of Elizabeth Romney. Jordon 
 stumbled over a rock in the path and slipped. 
 Alas for him and his charge had he not recovered 
 himself as he did by a mighty effort. On they 
 came, steadily. Thank Heaven ! none were left on 
 that fatal field. All, all were saved; if indeed it 
 198
 
 The Storm Breaks. 
 
 were being saved to share our peril. While I was 
 thinking this an Indian dashed out from the thicket 
 at one side and raising his tomahawk, swung it, 
 gleaming round his head, taking aim full at Eliza 
 beth Romney. I hesitated the fraction of a second, 
 for it is a last resort to fire at flying figures, but 
 dangerous as it was, it must be chosen. I fired, 
 and the savage fell dead upon the ground. The 
 great gate swung open as the refugees reached it, 
 then slammed to behind them with a great clang. 
 As the heavy bolt fell into place, we gave one 
 mighty cheer ; but there was scant time for greet 
 ing or for rejoicing. 
 
 " Jordon," cried I, " when thou hast thy breath, 
 do thou keep this gate, and open not to any man 
 living without my orders. Send the women to 
 Master Jefferson s house. T is the strongest bar 
 ricaded, and the safest ! " 
 
 From the ground whereon she had sunk ex 
 hausted from her desperate flight, Elizabeth Rom 
 ney rose then and faced me. In her eyes was the 
 fire of a fighting race. She wasted words neither 
 in argument nor entreaty, but said simply : " Give 
 me a gun ! " 
 
 It was her hour of command. I have ever be 
 lieved that such an hour comes to every strong 
 soul, at some crisis in life. 
 199
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 Silently I handed her my long piece, and buckled 
 about her slender waist my belt with its powder- 
 horn, bullet-purse, and touch-box. 
 
 " These," said I, " are for the enemy. This " 
 handing her my dagger " is for thyself. Thou 
 knowest its use. If the gate be broken in, stab 
 thyself to the heart." 
 
 " I will," she answered, and her voice rang true 
 and steady. 
 
 So we met after nigh three years ; and so, for 
 the time, we parted. 
 
 200
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 "OUR LADY OF DELIVERANCE." 
 
 TT was now twelve o the clock. From Pory s 
 ^ gate we could see groups of Indians skulking 
 thro the brush. But their movements seemed un 
 certain, as though they missed a leader. 
 
 I surmised then, what I afterwards learned was 
 the truth, that the signal waited for was the firing 
 of Pocono s gun, announcing that I was slain. 
 They had counted on an easy victory over old 
 Lucas and me, but their plans were disconcerted by 
 the extra men who turned the tide of the fight. 
 The murder of Joan was a blunder on their part, 
 a mistake to which I owed my life, since t was on 
 me that the blow was to have fallen. They were 
 waiting now, I judged, for reinforcements which 
 did not come. 
 
 The shadow on the dial marked three hours past 
 noon ere the first attack was made. Then, break 
 ing out from the woods, they came on, not in a 
 
 2OI
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 solid column like English soldiery, but from behind 
 every tree and bush like the legions of devils they 
 were, waving their tomahawks and making the 
 forest echo with their wild war-whoop. 
 
 " Give them the culverin ! " I ordered, and the 
 great guns belched out their fire, killing some, and 
 so affrighting others that they could not stand 
 against the fire, and retreated to the shelter of the 
 trees once more. 
 
 Shortly I perceived, skulking around to the 
 weaker side of our wall, a company of a dozen 
 Indians bearing lighted fire-brands. 
 
 " Ha," said Pory, " they think to smoke us out 
 like possums, do they?" 
 
 " Captain Spelman," I said, " take three men, 
 good shots, and follow those fire-brands wherever 
 they go. Move thy men round inside as fast or as 
 slow as they move outside. Pick them off, one 
 by one." 
 
 " Ay, sir," was his brief answer. It was done ; 
 and so well done that within a half-hour five smoul 
 dering brands lay on the ground with five dead and 
 wounded Indians beside them, while the other 
 torch-bearers had retreated to the brush in igno 
 minious defeat. 
 
 So far we had lost but four men. Yet was the 
 situation growing ever more and more grave, for 
 202
 
 " Our Lady of Deliverance" 
 
 who could tell what reinforcements were coming 
 up, or what deeds would be done under cover of 
 the gathering dark. 
 
 We were but fifty to their hundreds, and should 
 they attack in force, they must needs conquer. But 
 our successful defence had led them to believe us 
 forewarned and forearmed, and they had a whole 
 some dread of the garrison of Flower da Hundred, 
 whose fame for discipline and valor was gone 
 abroad amongst the savages far and near. 
 
 Several of our men had already had hair-breadth 
 escapes. One was looking through his peep-hole 
 when, of a sudden, an arrow struck him full in the 
 eye, and he ran home howling with pain. Another 
 lost a leg by the exploding of our own gun, and I 
 saw him carried off on a board more dead than 
 alive. For myself, I had the narrowest escape of all. 
 
 As I stood near the gate giving orders to a sen 
 try, an arrow struck me square in the breast. 
 Surely it had pierced my heart and stretched me 
 dead on the ground, for I had had no time to don 
 my armour, had I not all unwitting worn a shield. 
 
 The point of the arrow was turned : but the pic 
 ture Betty Romney had given me was shattered 
 into a thousand fragments. 
 
 " He shall pay for that," I muttered, as I caught 
 sight of a tawny arm drawing back into the bushes. 
 203
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 Snatching a gun from the sentry, I fired, and with 
 such aim that I saw the red man fall crashing to 
 earth like some great forest tree when the axe is 
 laid to its roots. 
 
 So the battle raged with varying fortunes. At 
 length, just as the sun was setting, Pory came to 
 me. "Wilt thou," said he, "give one order on 
 faith?" 
 
 " Ay, forty, if the faith be pinned to thee." 
 
 He smiled. " Then," he said, " do thou com 
 mand every man, when my whistle blows, to cease 
 firing absolutely, and on the instant." 
 
 This was I the readier to do that the guns needed 
 cooling, and the ammunition was running low. 
 Pory disappeared, and I sent the orders to every 
 man to do as he had directed. 
 
 Dusk was fast falling. The tall pines stood 
 black against the wintry sky. The bodies of the 
 slain lay gaunt upon the barren plain in the waning 
 light. It was a weird scene. Suddenly, above the 
 noise of the fight sounded a shrill whistle. In 
 stantly the report of the firing ceased, and dead 
 silence succeeded. 
 
 The effect was unearthly, indescribable. As I 
 
 paused in breathless suspense, I felt Cupid pull 
 
 my sleeve. " Look, Mars Humphrey," cried he, 
 
 almost white with terror: and looking, I saw, rising 
 
 204
 
 " Our Lady of Deliverance" 
 
 slowly above the wall, a gigantic figure, vast, 
 vague, mysterious as Fate itself, with muffled head, 
 and floating white drapery, and arms outstretched 
 threateningly toward the foe. 
 
 I am a man little given to superstition; but I 
 own that as I looked on this giant spectre my 
 brain reeled and my heart stood still. 
 
 If to me it was a vision full of awe and terror, 
 what must it have seemed to those savages ! With 
 a shriek they turned and fled as from a pestilence. 
 It was a wild stampede. Those who fell were 
 trodden under foot, and Giles Lucas, discharging a 
 culverin into their midst, the blazed path was red 
 dened with gore, so that for years after it was 
 known as " the bloody path." 
 
 They fled, and as we watched their rout, a wild 
 passion of exultation seized on us all. In the 
 frenzy of his hatred, Lucas leaped upon the pali- 
 sado and yelled a parting curse after them. It was 
 his last word. A random arrow fired by a retreat 
 ing brave, struck him full in the heart, and he fell 
 forward on his face dead. 
 
 He was the last man to fall in the combat. 
 
 The fight was won and we were saved. Half 
 
 dazed over our sudden victory I turned me toward 
 
 the market place, where I saw women and children 
 
 crowding around some object on the ground. I 
 
 205
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 joined them, and then I, too, stood at gaze ; for 
 there, prostrate on the earth lay the spectre which 
 had frightened our foes more than a thousand of 
 ordnance could have done, and put to rout an 
 enemy outnumbering us ten to one. 
 
 I laughed when I saw it as men will laugh under 
 such a strain, and t was long ere I could have 
 done ; for behold this terrible apparition was but a 
 well-sweep, dressed out with canvas sheets and 
 stuffed with bolsters and pillows, for all the world 
 like the scare-crows I remembered of old in the 
 farmers fields at home. 
 
 When the people had fairly taken in the meaning 
 of the figure, they gave one mighty shout as Spel- 
 man christened it "OUR LADY OF DELIVERANCE." 
 The men formed a triumphal procession, and 
 bore the giant image to the space before the 
 church, where they joined hands in a joyful dance 
 around her. But our men slept on their arms that 
 night, and we doubled the watch at every gate. 
 Mistress Jordon and Elizabeth Romney, who had 
 had no sleep for nigh forty hours, were gone to 
 Thomas Jefferson s house, under promise that they 
 should be wakened if aught befell. For myself, I 
 could not think of sleep, every nerve in my body 
 was wide awake and crying for action. I was 
 fairly aroused. I inspected each bolt, made sure 
 206
 
 " Our Lady of Deliverance 
 
 that every gun was loaded and primed. Then I 
 came back to the watch-fire, by the side of which 
 Pory had laid himself down with that universal 
 consoler, his pipe. 
 
 " Pory," said I, accepting the light he offered, 
 and drawing in deep draughts of the fragrancy of 
 the tobacco, " t was a brilliant thought of thine. 
 Our Lady of Deliverance was a patron saint 
 worthy of the name. 
 
 "Ay, that she was," answered Pory; "but the 
 device was none of mine." 
 
 " Not thine ? and whose then ? " 
 
 " It sprang full-fledged from the brain of her 
 whom Mistress Jordon doth call Sister Eliza 
 beth ! Verily," he added, " t is the bravest spirit, 
 and the readiest wit I e er encountered." 
 
 "So it was her device," I murmured; "then it 
 is she hath saved Flower da Hundred ! T is to 
 her that \ve owe our lives." 
 
 " Then," was Pory s most unforeseen response, 
 " why dost thou not pay thy share of the debt ? " 
 
 " What ? how ? I understand you not." 
 
 Pory, with that vexatious slowness which ever 
 marks smokers, drew three long breaths and puffed 
 them out one by one, ere he replied. 
 
 " If mine eyes deceive me not, and they are not 
 given to playing me false, this Sister Elizabeth is 
 207
 
 The Head of a Himdred. 
 
 none other than Elizabeth Devon, the unwed maid 
 of James City." 
 
 I felt myself shaking like a leaf. 
 
 " Well, and what then ? " said I. " Granting that 
 thou art right, what have I to do with it ? " 
 
 " Simply this, that like a fool thou hast fallen in 
 love, and like a greater fool, thou hast run away 
 from the woman thou lovest." 
 
 " Nay, not a fool either time, John, for I loved a 
 woman worthy to be loved, and I ran away because 
 she loved me not, and my presence hampered and 
 might have greatly harassed her." 
 
 " Who said she loved thee not ? " 
 
 " She told me so herself in round terms." 
 
 "How oft?" 
 
 " As oft as any woman shall e er say it to me 
 once." 
 
 " There again art thou not only a fool, but a 
 coward as well. If thou didst storm a fortress 
 which yielded not upon the first assault, wouldst 
 thou raise the siege and run away sulking? Fie, 
 lad ! Be a man write her every morning and 
 tell her every evening that thou wilt never give her 
 up nor cease asking her till she capitulate. That "s 
 the way women are won." 
 
 " And yet, John," said I, slyly, " thou art still a 
 bachelor at forty odd." 
 
 208
 
 " Our Lady of Deliverance" 
 
 " I ! Oh, yea ! My pipe and my pouch and my 
 jug of brown ale are wife enough for me; but I 
 hate to see a man run away from a winning fight, 
 and I say that Elizabeth Devon, whatever she may 
 have said or writ a twelvemonth since, will have 
 thee, if thou ask her now in earnest. I saw her 
 look at thee this day. I heard her say Humphrey / 
 And then I knew. But make up thy mind quickly ! 
 for an thou ask her not within three days, I will 
 win her from thee by the rivalry of a man who is 
 not afraid to ask for what he wants, and to keep on 
 asking till he gets it." 
 
 " Thanks, John ! " quoth I, wringing his hand, 
 "grant me three days, and thou hast my leave to 
 begin." 
 
 " She s too good for thee." 
 
 " Ay, and for thee." 
 
 " Ay, and for any man t is she who is in 
 very truth OUR LADY OF DELIVERANCE ! " 
 
 14 209
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 IN WHICH WE BURY OUR DEAD. 
 
 * I A HE next few days brought us crushing tidings 
 * from all parts of the colony. The massacre 
 had been well planned. At the very instant when 
 the murderous knife fell on Anthony Chester, a 
 hundred tomahawks were raised by hearthstones of 
 households as unsuspecting as ours. In the streets 
 of the towns, on the fields of the lonely plantations, 
 everywhere the knife of the red man fell upon the 
 white. 
 
 At Falling Creek, twenty-two were slain ; at 
 Mulberry He, five; at Martin s Hundred, seventy- 
 three ; and at Powel Brook, Captain Powel and 
 twelve others. 
 
 Previous kindness availed not to stay the mur 
 derer s hand. Master Thorpe was slain, cruelly, 
 shockingly butchered, he who had done more 
 than any other toward striving to conciliate the 
 implacable Indian. 
 
 210
 
 In Which we Bury our Dead. 
 
 With all these fresh tidings of disaster, a deeper 
 and deeper shadow fell upon our gloom, black 
 enough before. All Flower da Hundred was in 
 mourning. Not a house that did not hang out its 
 symbol of sorrow for some friend or relative slain 
 in that cruel slaughter. 
 
 My heart was still further saddened by the news 
 that my faithful friend Oropax, was dead of a fever. 
 Had he lived I should not have been taken thus 
 unwarned. 
 
 On the second morning after the massacre, we 
 buried our dead. The heads of Ponto and Pocono 
 were cut off and set upon the walls above the gates 
 as a warning to their tribe, but to their bodies we 
 gave decent burial. 
 
 Our own dead were laid in coffins made out of 
 rude boards ; but their bareness was hidden by 
 boughs of cedar and hemlock. Mistress Jordon 
 and Elizabeth Romney wrought for Joan Lucas a 
 white shroud of the softest and finest lamb s wool. 
 Wrapped in it she lay still and peaceful, the 
 troubled brain at rest now, the smooth, white lids 
 closed over the far-seeing eyes, and all earthly 
 visions of trouble and terror shut out forever. 
 
 On Captain Chester s coffin, one skilled in such 
 work carved an anchor, and on his heart under 
 neath his doublet I laid I trust I did no wrong 
 
 211
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 a picture found in Joan s chamber, the double 
 of one borne to the grave on the breast of Giles 
 Lucas. 
 
 The funeral was simple yet solemn. The service 
 was read at home within these walls builded by 
 Giles Lucas s own strong arms. After that the 
 whole town did follow the coffins to their final 
 resting-place on a little hillock in the centre of the 
 town before the church. 
 
 They were laid in one grave, and over them we 
 raised a cross on which was written : 
 
 To Y E MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 ANTHONY CHESTER 
 
 CAPTAIN OF H. M. S. MARGARET AND JOHN 
 
 AND OF 
 GILES LUCAS 
 
 AND 
 
 JOAN, HIS DEARE DAUGHTER 
 
 MURDERED BY YE INDIANS 
 
 MARCH YE TWENTY-SECONDS, 
 
 1622. 
 
 When the sad ceremony was over we repaired 
 to the chapel, where, on bended knees, we did ren 
 der humble and hearty thanks for the deliverance 
 of our town from the hostile hand of the naturals. 
 212
 
 In Which we Bury our Dead. 
 
 After this we separated, going every man to his 
 own house. 
 
 I was the last to turn away from the door of the 
 church, and as I looked back I saw Elizabeth 
 Romney kneeling beside the new-made grave. Her 
 cloak was slipping back and her hands were clasped 
 as if in prayer. 
 
 " Come," said I, going gently to her side, " let 
 not one funeral be the making of another, as so 
 often cometh to pass. The ground is damp and 
 chill, and after thine excitement thou must run no 
 such risks of fever." 
 
 " Humphrey," said she, " I have been asking 
 pardon of this dead maid for the cruel and heart 
 less words I said concerning her on that Christmas 
 day when thou didst send Cupid to me with the 
 bear-skin and the letter. T is no excuse for me 
 that I was sore vexed." 
 
 " Nay, Elizabeth," I answered, soothing her as 
 best I might, for she was much shaken and trem 
 bling violently. " She knew naught of thy vexa 
 tion, and was not of a nature to harbor malice, 
 had she known. I was the only one who felt 
 the sharpness of thy words, which did cut the 
 more deeply because I dreamed not of having 
 vexed thee. Tell me now, I pray thee, wherein 
 I did offend." 
 
 213
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 " T was no offence of thine, only t is ever a little 
 hard for the old friend to be forgot for the new." 
 
 " Forgot ! " I exclaimed, taking in mine the cold 
 little hand which hung white against her black 
 gown. 
 
 "Ah, here you are ! " called Ensign Rosingham s 
 voice from the street. " Mistress Jordon hath sent 
 me in search of Sister Elizabeth and laid her 
 commands upon me not to return without her." 
 
 " She is safe with me, as thou mayst report to 
 Mistress Jordon," said I ; " we are coming home 
 at once." 
 
 " Why, then, we may all walk along together," 
 says he ; and finding him no more to be shaken 
 off than a burr that hath set its pricks in thine 
 hosen, I walked along stiff and silent as far as the 
 gate, my gate, for Master and Mistress Jordon 
 had most kindly consented to my entreaty that they 
 and Elizabeth Romney would tarry with me through 
 those first trying days when every spot seemed 
 haunted. Methinks I could not have borne it to be 
 alone. 
 
 Seeing that there was no chance of further 
 speech with Elizabeth, I entered the house leaving 
 her still talking with Rosingham by the gate. 
 Perchance tis not her fault that she doth treat 
 every man alike with such graciousness, but tis 
 214
 
 In Which we Bury our Dead. 
 
 none the less vexing to one who would fain believe 
 himself favored above all others. 
 
 Could Pory have been right the other night? 
 Could that have been the explanation of the mes 
 sage sent by Cupid ? That might match well 
 enough; but what of the letter? Well, I should 
 soon know now ! 
 
 The house stood silent and empty. I entered 
 the room where Giles Lucas had slept, out of which 
 opened Joan s chamber. There stood her little 
 bed draped in white, and through the snowy cur 
 tains drawn across the checkered pane the sunlight 
 played on the deal floor. Lying on the broad win 
 dow shelf was a little, old, worn Bible. Moved by 
 some sudden impulse I crossed the room and 
 picked it up. 
 
 The book opened at a mark made of a gay rib 
 bon I had brought to Joan from a James City mar 
 ket-day fair, and mine eyes fell upon the words: 
 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
 lay down his life for his friend" 
 
 215
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE RING. 
 
 IT was the evening of the third day after the 
 massacre, the event from which we had come 
 to date all things at Flower da Hundred. Coming 
 home from my watch and the drilling of the men, 
 I found Elizabeth Romney sitting by the fire. 
 
 " What ! all alone ? " quoth I. 
 
 " Yea, since Mistress Jordon is gone to sit with 
 the little son of Master Jefferson, who is sick. She 
 would not hear of my going, tho I was quite as 
 well able as she. She hath a wonderful kindness 
 of heart, tho her manner be sometimes light." 
 
 It gave me a sudden thrill to see the maiden 
 seated thus at my hearth-stone as I had seen her 
 so oft in my dreams. She sat with her feet thrust 
 out to the fire, and her hands clasped one in other, 
 palm upward, in her lap. 
 
 As I drew up my chair opposite her and stretched 
 my hands toward the friendly blaze, I noticed with 
 216
 
 The Ring. 
 
 a shock how ill she looked. Dark lines had 
 gathered under her eyes, and the pupils were large 
 and distended. 
 
 " You are ill," said I ; " I see it as well as Mis 
 tress Jordon. You are worn out, and should even 
 now be in bed and under the influence of a sleep 
 ing potion." 
 
 But she only shook her head. " Nay," said she, 
 " I feel as if I should never sleep again ; and in 
 truth, I scarce wish to, lest my slumbers be haunted 
 by the sights I have witnessed and the sounds mine 
 ears have heard. 
 
 " It must have been just there," she added, 
 shuddering as she pointed to a dark spot on the 
 boards, " that Captain Chester sat, and there he fell 
 dead upon the floor. To think that but for the 
 chance of the moment, it might have been thou ! " 
 
 " Ay, and why the worthier life should have been 
 sacrificed, I know not. But come," I added, 
 moving my chair so that it covered the blood 
 stains on the floor upon which Elizabeth s eyes 
 were fixed, " since memory is working so strongly 
 in both of us to-night, let us drive her further afield, 
 and try which of us hath the livelier remembrance 
 of old days. I do remember thee in a sprigged 
 chintz dress, and scarlet shoes, playing by the 
 brook at Cumnor Hall." 
 
 217
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 "And I," said she, brightening, "do recall thee, 
 in thy suit of tawny velvet, riding thy horse, Prince 
 Charley, at a break-neck gallop across the downs 
 by the sea; and I remember how thou didst laugh 
 at my fears, and only urged on thy horse the more 
 to prance and curvet when I screamed and clapped 
 my hands to mine eyes." 
 
 " And I do recall one day years after, when I 
 rode under thy window, and thou didst throw 
 down to me, having first touched it with thy lips, a 
 sprig of lad s-love." 
 
 " Nay, nay ! T was no lad s-love ; t was 
 maiden s-pride." 
 
 "Indeed!" quoth I, "and was it so? T is 
 rare that such a question is not outlawed after 
 ten years; but I have evidence not to be gainsaid, 
 and I do here desire leave to lay it before the Court." 
 
 With this I pulled forth from my breast the 
 packet which I had worn next my heart for more 
 than three years, the bitter and the sweet together; 
 the lad s-love and the lady s letter. Sooth to say, 
 I had clean forgot how the flower was wrapped, 
 but as I opened it out, her quick eye caught the 
 seal upon the paper. 
 
 " Why, t is the Romney arms! " quoth she. 
 
 "Ay," answered I, "and why not, since twas a 
 Romney hand that writ the letter ? " 
 218
 
 The Ring. 
 
 " Faith, I comprehend not this puzzle. Is it 
 from my father s hand?" 
 
 " Nay, mistress, I were scarce like to carry thy 
 father s writing round the world with me. But 
 thy words " 
 
 " My words ? " 
 
 " Ay, thine, and crueller did no maiden s pen 
 ever trace." 
 
 " Give me the letter quick ! " 
 
 " Why, there, then ! Take it ! Perchance t is 
 so common for hearts to be in the way of thy foot 
 that thou canst scarce remember which one it was 
 that thou didst tread on three years since." 
 
 She snatched the letter from my hand and bent 
 near the fire to read it the more clearly. I watched 
 the firelight play on her little ear and along the 
 delicate line of her throat. Having finished the 
 letter she folded it slowly, and handed it back to 
 me with an air of deep disdain. 
 
 "And thou," she said scornfully, "didst think 
 that I could write such stuff as that! / Eliza 
 beth Romney! Why, my chamber-maid would 
 write better to my lacquey. At least, she would 
 put her cross to nothing so cheap, so poor, so 
 unmaidenly ! " 
 
 I sat there, frozen stiff by the coldness of her 
 scorn. The letter not hers ! She denies it ! The 
 219
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 room whirled round and round as my brain strove 
 to take in the thought. At length I burst out, 
 
 " Then, in God s name, who did write it if thou 
 didst not ? " 
 
 " I know not and I care not. That which bites 
 into my soul like acid into iron is the thought that 
 thou shouldst know me so little. Thinkest thou if 
 that same Jesuit priest, who, as mine instinct tells 
 me, did devise this letter in my name, had come 
 to me with a bit of writing which did proclaim 
 Humphrey Huntoon over his own signature a thief 
 or a coward, think st thou I would have credited 
 the false witness? Not though it bore the seal of 
 thy house on every page. I would have gone to 
 thee, not to insult thee with the question if it 
 were true ; but to inquire of thee how best to dis 
 cover and punish the liar who had taken thy name 
 thus in vain." 
 
 She was magnificent as she uttered these words. 
 A bright red spot flamed in either cheek ; her eyes 
 dilated and her head was thrown back as if to defy 
 a world and hold it at bay. I felt utterly abashed 
 and humbled. 
 
 " And yet," said I, falteringly, " I did receive it 
 from thine own father s hand." 
 
 I repented me bitterly of the words as soon as 
 spoken, for I saw a quick look of anguish on her 
 220
 
 The Ring. 
 
 face. A sudden pallor followed the red flush of 
 maidenly pride, and her head sinking on her arm, 
 she fell to sobbing low but deep. 
 
 " O Humphrey ! And he told me that thou 
 hadst left England partly to seek thy future, but 
 still more because thou didst suspect I cared for 
 thee more than maiden should, whereas thy feeling 
 for me was but that of a brother for a sister." 
 
 "He Did he dare to say that? He shall 
 repent it ! " 
 
 " Hush, Humphrey ! Hast thou taken no note 
 of this ? " and she pointed downward to her 
 mourning gown. 
 
 " I had noted it indeed," said I, with sudden 
 enlightenment; but methought t was worn but in 
 harmony with our mourning world here at Flower 
 da Hundred." 
 
 " Nay, t is worn for my father. A letter from 
 my cousin a fortnight since told me of his death, 
 how he fell from his chair at table and never did 
 speak word more. So you see he died without 
 forgiving me. T is passing hard ! And now I 
 must go home and live alone in that old Hall, 
 echoing with the memories of the past. I shall 
 grow old and ugly and bitter as Bess of Hardwick." 
 
 Her face as she spoke thus wore such a look of 
 settled gloom as made me resolve to prick her out 
 
 221
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 of melancholy though it roused her to anger. 
 Wrath I could bear, but not this despair. 
 
 " Elizabeth Romney," said I, " thou art a riddle 
 past my solving. A thousand times since Fate 
 threw us together once more so strangely here in 
 the wilderness, have I longed to ask thee to solve 
 thine own mystery for me. Oft would I have 
 spoken, but straightway after each word of kind 
 ness, each genial glance, thou hast suddenly frozen 
 again. Before a poor mortal could warm himself 
 in the sun, behold the snow was falling." 
 
 " Perchance, said she, turning her face toward 
 me on her arm, with the eyes still downcast, but 
 the shadow of a dimple showing in her cheek, 
 " perchance the mortal was so slow that Summer 
 turned to Winter while he delayed." 
 
 "Ay," said I, "I am slow, but by heavens! I 
 am slower to yield than to win. I swear I will 
 wait for thee till Winter turn to Summer again. 
 O child, child, have you not made me surfer 
 enough? See, Elizabeth, here is the ring my 
 mother bade me place on the finger of my be 
 trothed wife, the ring thou didst return to me on 
 Chantro s arrow. Now it is come back to thee 
 again. Wilt thou wear it ? " 
 
 Silently and all trembling she held out her hand : 
 and kneeling there beside her in this spot, doubly 
 
 222
 
 The Ring. 
 
 hallowed by love and death, I slipped the star 
 sapphire on her finger, and kissed fervently as 
 reverently the hand given thus into my keeping. 
 
 " Humphrey, forgive my father ! " she whispered. 
 
 " Thy people," I answered, " are henceforth my 
 people, and to the dead all things are forgiven." 
 
 My head was bowed upon the arm of her chair, 
 and she laid her hand upon my hair, and silence 
 born of happiness too deep for words, fell upon us. 
 
 " And so," she said at length, twinkling off the 
 tears, for she could never be serious long at a time, 
 " my nurse s tale comes true after all, And they 
 married and lived happy ever after. " 
 
 While she was yet speaking, Master and Mis 
 tress Jordon, and after them Spelman and Pory, 
 entered the room. Mistress Betty, who loveth not 
 to lay bare her feelings, laid her ringers on her lips 
 to beckon me to silence ; but Pory s eye was too 
 quick for her. 
 
 " I do commend thee, Sister Elizabeth," quoth 
 he, " when thou wouldst beckon thy lover to keep 
 silence concerning thy betrothal, do it not with the 
 finger which weareth his ring. 1 1 
 
 " Faith," said I, rising, but with no haste, " ye 
 
 are come in good time, friends, to wish us God 
 
 speed. " Then, amid much wonderment and many 
 
 explanations we all fell to shaking hands, and Mis- 
 
 223
 
 The Head of a Hundred. 
 
 tress Cicely kissed and cried over Betty Romney, 
 and drew her away with her to her chamber. 
 
 At the door, however, Mrs. Jordon paused, and 
 shaking her finger at me, with something of her 
 old lightness which had fallen from her of late, she 
 said, smiling, 
 
 " I have a lecture for thee yet. I have not for 
 got that day at Jordon s Journey, when thou didst 
 lead poor innocent me on to talk of Sister Eliza 
 beth. Look to him well, Betty, lest he cozen thee 
 as completely as he did me that day. I can see 
 him yet, as he sat there with his eyes shut, striving 
 to conjure up this unknown being. Oh, my de 
 scription was wondrous vivid, so he said. A fraud, 
 Betty, an arrant knave, I wish thee joy of him ! " 
 
 With these words the door closed upon the 
 women, and we saw neither Mistress Cicely nor 
 Betty Romney more that night. 
 
 We were married in the little chapel. I remem 
 ber as in a dream the friendly faces, the strains 
 of the wedding hymn, and the voice of the white- 
 robed priest, as joining our hands, he did rever 
 ently pray to the Author of everlasting life : " Send 
 thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and 
 this woman whom we bless in thy name ; that, as 
 Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so 
 224
 
 The Ring 
 
 these persons may surely perform and keep the 
 vow and covenant betwixt them made, whereof 
 this ring, given and received, is a token and a 
 pledge." 
 
 As the priest spake these words, a ray of sun 
 light struck through the tiny panes of the dia 
 monded window, full on the star sapphire in its 
 setting of gold, as it lay there on the ringer of 
 Elizabeth Romney. Thus it rested while the final 
 words were said : 
 
 " What God hath joined together let no man put 
 asunder." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 225
 
 Choice ^fiction. 
 
 The Head of a Hundred. Being an Account of 
 Certain Passages in the Life of Humphrey Huntoon, 
 Esq., sometyme an Officer in the Colony of Virginia. 
 Edited by Maud Wilder Goodwin, author of " The 
 Colonial Cavalier." i6mo. Cloth, extra, gilt top, $i. 25. 
 
 A Madonna of the Alps. Translated from the 
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 Cloth, extra, gilt top, $1.25. 
 
 Yanko the Musician, and Other Stories. By 
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 "The Deluge," " Pan Michael," "Without Dogma," 
 etc. Translated from the Polish by Jeremiah Curtin. 
 Illustrated by Edmund H. Garrett. i6mo. Cloth, 
 extra, gilt top, $1.25. 
 Contents. I. Yanko the Musician ; II. The Lighthouse 
 
 Keeper of Aspinwall ; III. From the Diary of a Tutor in 
 
 Poznan ; IV. A Comedy of Errors, a Sketch of American Life ; 
 
 V. Hartek the Victor. 
 
 Lillian Morris, and Other Stories. By Henryk 
 Sienkiewicz, author of " With Fire and Sword," " The 
 Deluge," "Pan Michael," etc. Translated from the 
 Polish by Jeremiah Curtin. With Illustrations by Ed 
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 Con tent a. I. Lillian Morris ; II. Sachem; III. Angel; 
 
 IV. The Bull Fight. 
 
 A Woman of Shawmut. A Romance of Colo 
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 Carpenter. With 12 charming full-page illustrations 
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 drawings by F. T. Merrill. i6mo. Cloth, extra, gilt 
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 A story of rare beauty of sentiment, in which the atmos 
 phere of a picturesque past is admirably preserved. Boston 
 Beacon. 
 
 The Blind Musician. Translated from the 
 Russian of Vladimir Korolenko by Aline Delano. With 
 introduction by George Kennan, and Illustrations by 
 Edmund H. Garrett. i6mo. Cloth, extra, gilt top, $1.25.
 
 Carine. A Story of Sweden. By Louis ENAULT. 
 Translated from the French by Linda De Kowalewska. 
 With 39 Illustrations by Louis K. Harlow. i6mo. 
 Cloth, extra, gilt top, $1.25. 
 
 The story is pure, sweet, and wholesome. The descriptions 
 of Swedish scenery are vivid and glowing. Especially so is 
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 this " Land of the Midnight Sun." One of Hie most charming 
 of books. Boston Advertiser, 
 
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 Translated from the French by Jane Minot Sedgwick. 
 With a frontispiece specially drawn and etched for this 
 edition by the eminent French artist, E. Abot. 
 
 2. The Devil s Pool (La Mare au Diable}. 
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 etched by E. Abot. 
 
 3. Fadette (La Petite Fadette}. Translated from 
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 LIMITED EDITION, printed at the DeVinne Press, on 
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