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had been only his betrayer. He determined that, if he was fired at by the savages, his coppercolored companion should, at least, take an equal chance of harm along with him; and so he kept holding the fellow before him all the while, thrusting him between his own breast and the enemy like a shield.

It was not long before the whole Indian ambush discovered itself; and he saw already two bows bent to discharge their arrows at him. He seized the pistols from his belt, and gave the enemy a quick volley, that rather interfered with their purposes. The Indians-of whom there now appeared a large number-pretty soon began to press forward upon him, compelling him to use all the dexterity he could command to keep them at bay. They were afraid of his pistols, and that was a great deal in his favor. Besides, he took constant care to keep the Indian guide between himself and them. They would be very loth to get possession of the adventurer's scalp at the price of the life of one of their own number.

In this state of affairs an Indian chief, named Opechancanough, came up, with a large party of

two or three hundred warriors. Smith knew then that his last chance of escape had vanished, yet he showed not a whit less courage and selfpossession than before. They began to shoot their arrows carefully at him, and he fired at them in return with his pistols. They would not come near enough to him to be within the reach of his pistol-shots, and he adroitly managed to interpose his own Indian between himself and their arrows. Seeing that he stood the test of bravery so well, they held a parley. If he would at once surrender, they promised that he should receive no harm. They told him that the two white men in the canoe were killed, and that he could escape their fate only by submitting peacefully to his capture. Smith was not a little staggered to hear of the death of his two companions, but he utterly refused to listen to any proposal to give himself up. As they talked, first on this side, and then on that, he likewise kept slowly retreating, and drawing his Indian shield after him, step by step. The savages pressed on perseveringly, though they were as careful as ever to keep out of the reach of his weapons. And, as he went on in this backward

style, facing only his enemies, and careless of the path behind him, suddenly the soft ground yielded beneath his feet, and down, down he sank in the depths of a wet and cold morass, that must have formed one of the looked-for sources of the Chickahominy River. Of course

he dragged in the treacherous Indian guide after him; and there they were together, floundering in the water and bog-mud quite up to their armpits.

It was folly to think of holding out any longer. A surrender was all that could have been expected. So he threw his weapons from him upon the ground, in token of submission, and immediately after they drew him out of his uncomfortable bed, covered all over with mud and water, and shivering with the cold. Had it not been for the rest of the party that he left in the boats, all this might never have happened. In both the canoe and the boat his cautions to them had been utterly unheeded. Those in the boat went on shore almost as soon as he had fairly landed and got out of sight; they were insane with the idea of themselves striking upon some sudden passage to the South Sea, or of

finding somewhere in the forest a mountain of glittering gold. Of course they were surprised by Opechancanough and his party, for his wary spies had had their eyes upon them from the beginning. All of them but one managed to reach the boat again in safety, and make off in haste from the shore; but this one was doomed to pay the penalty for the presumption of the remainder with his life. He begged them not to kill him, and promised, if they would not, to tell them of the whereabouts of the rest. Having extorted this intelligence from him, they cruelly put him to death by tearing one limb after another from him, and then burning him in the fire. They then hurried on after Smith and his two white companions in the canoe. These two men had gone on shore, likewise, and built a fire to warm themselves; and, while they sat before its cheering blaze, dozing and nodding from the effects of their long exposure, the savages fell upon them with their arrows, and made very short work with their lives indeed. Of course the other Indian, who had been left in the canoe, apprized his companions of the route Smith had

taken, and very soon after they came upon him and his waylayers, just as has been described.

When Smith was fairly clear of the swamp into which he had fallen, and after they had shown signs of treating him with some consideration, he presented his pocket-compass to the chief, explaining, as he best could, its shifting mysteries. The appearance of the long, slender needle, dancing so delicately to and fro beneath the glass, excited the savage's deepest astonishment and wonder. Smith took some pains to interest him with this toy as long as he could, and then made him a present of it, telling him what wonderful things it would do for him while coursing in the trackless forests, or paddling his canoe between the banks of the running rivers. But, as soon as the wonder of the chieftain was exhausted, he suffered his warriors to lay hold on their prisoner and bind him to a tree. Smith knew what was coming, and he remembered that, in his parleying fight, he had himself slain three of their own number. Only death stared him at that moment in the face.

The savages each put an arrow on his bowstring, and then all stood back in a circle as if to

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