dian words rang out:

"No! He shall not die!"

The savages stood with upraised weapons; Powhatan sat rigid in the
intensity of his emotion. Watching him closely for some sign of
relenting, Pocahontas, without moving from her position, began to
plead with the stern old Chief,--begged, entreated, prayed--until she
had her desire.

"Let the prisoner go free!"

Through the long Council-room echoed Powhatan's order, and a
perfunctory shout rose from the savage throng, who were always quick
to echo their Chief's commands. Captain Smith, bewildered by the
sudden turn of affairs, was helped to rise, led to the beaming girl,
and told that the condition of his release from death was that he
might "make hatchets and trinkets" for Pocahontas, the Werowance's
dearest daughter. So his deliverer was the daughter of the great
Chief! With the courtly manner which he had brought from his life in
other lands he bent over the warm little hand of the Indian maiden
with such sincere appreciation of her brave deed that she flushed with
happiness, and she ran away with her playmates, singing as merrily as
a forest bird, leaving the pale-faced _Caucarouse_ with her royal
father, that they might become better acquainted. Although she ran off
so gaily with her comrades after having rescued Captain Smith, yet she
was far from heedless of his presence in the village, and soon
deserted her young friends to steal shyly back to the side of the
wonderful white man whose life had been saved that he might serve her.

During the first days of his captivity--for it was that--the Captain
and Powhatan became very friendly, and had many long talks by the
camp-fire, by means of a sign language and such words of the Algonquin
dialect as Captain Smith had learned since coming to Virginia. And
often Pocahontas squatted by her father's side, her eager eyes intent
on the Captain's face as he matched the old ruler's marvelous tales of
hoarded gold possessed by tribes living to the west of Werewocomoco,
with stories of the cities of Europe he had visited, and the strange
peoples he had met in his wanderings. Sometimes as he told his
thrilling tales he would hear the little Indian maid catch her breath
from interest in his narrative, and he would smile responsively into
her upturned face, feeling a real affection for the young girl who had
saved his life.

From his talks with Powhatan the Englishman found out that the great
desire of the savage ruler was to ow