l they could lay hands on.
Several of them were caught and confined in the fort, and, guarded,
were conducted to the morning and evening prayers. By threats and slight
torture, the captives were made to confess the hostile intentions of
Powhatan and the other chiefs, which was to steal their weapons and then
overpower the colony. Rigorous measures were needed to keep the Indians
in check, but the command from England not to offend the savages was so
strict that Smith dared not chastise them as they deserved. The history
of the colony all this spring of 1608 is one of labor and discontent, of
constant annoyance from the Indians, and expectations of attacks. On the
20th of April, while they were hewing trees and setting corn, an alarm
was given which sent them all to their arms. Fright was turned into joy
by the sight of the Phoenix, with Captain Nelson and his company, who
had been for three months detained in the West Indies, and given up for
lost.

Being thus re-enforced, Smith and Scrivener desired to explore the
country above the Falls, and got ready an expedition. But this, Martin,
who was only intent upon loading the return ship with "his phantastical
gold," opposed, and Nelson did not think he had authority to allow it,
unless they would bind themselves to pay the hire of the ships.
The project was therefore abandoned. The Indians continued their
depredations. Messages daily passed between the fort and the Indians,
and treachery was always expected. About this time the boy Thomas Savage
was returned, with his chest and clothing.

The colony had now several of the Indians detained in the fort. At this
point in the "True Relation" occurs the first mention of Pocahontas.
Smith says: "Powhatan, understanding we detained certain Salvages, sent
his daughter, a child of tenne years old, which not only for feature,
countenance, and proportion much exceeded any of his people, but for wit
and spirit, the only nonpareil of his country." She was accompanied by
his trusty messenger Rawhunt, a crafty and deformed savage, who assured
Smith how much Powhatan loved and respected him and, that he should not
doubt his kindness, had sent his child, whom he most esteemed, to see
him, and a deer, and bread besides for a present; "desiring us that the
boy might come again, which he loved exceedingly, his little daughter
he had taught this lesson also: not taking notice at all of the Indians
that had been prisoners three days, till that