I was pleasantly welcomed by everybody. Grey came forward and greeted
me, very quiet and civil, and I sat by him throughout the meal. The
Governor was in high good humour, and presently had the whole company
in the same mood. Of them all, Elspeth was the merriest. She had the
quickest wit and the deftest skill in mimicry, and there was that in
her laughter which would infect the glummest.
That very day I had finished my preparations. The train was now laid,
and the men were ready, and a word from Lawrence would line the West
with muskets. But I had none of the satisfaction of a completed work.
It was borne in upon me that our task was scarcely begun, and that the
peril that threatened us was far darker than we had dreamed. Ringan's
tale of a white leader among the tribes was always in my head. The hall
where we sat was lined with portraits of men who had borne rule in
Virginia. There was Captain John Smith, trim-bearded and bronzed; and
Argall and Dale, grave and soldierly; there was Francis Wyat, with the
scar got in Indian wars; there hung the mean and sallow countenance of
Sir John Harvey. There, too, was Berkeley, with his high complexion and
his love-locks, the great gentleman of a vanished age; and the gross
rotundity of Culpepper; and the furtive eye of my lord Howard, who was
even now the reigning Governor.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210