ad never done such a thing
before. They warmed the two with blankets, they revived them with
fiery remedies, and they sat about them on the deck, trying to talk to
them by means of signs, but with small success.

"It is no common thing to see these natives so far from shore," the
mate said to the captain, "for as a rule the Indians distrust the sea.
We cannot find out how these came to be adrift in that canoe. The
young one tries to make us understand, but the old man merely covers
his face and groans. I think he will not believe that we are men like
himself."

"Bring the boy to me," the captain ordered. "Perhaps we may be able to
understand him."

In the quiet dawn, when calm had followed the night's storm, the ship
ran in toward a rocky headland to send a boat ashore. Yet when it had
been lowered and Secotan had dropped into it, he turned to see Nashola
standing on the deck above, making no move to follow.

"I am not coming, Secotan," he declared steadily. "The chief of these
men and I have talked with signs and he wishes to carry me to his home
on this strange winged vessel. He promises that he will bring me safe
back again. Then I can tell you and all of our tribe what these white
men really are. And I have always longed to know what lay beyond this
forbidden sea."

Secotan did not protest.

"I have called you friend, I have wished to have you for my brother,"
he said, "but I must call you master now, since you have dared what I
can never dare."

* * * * *

Much has been said of the courage of those white men who crossed the
stormy Atlantic in their little vessels to explore an unknown
continent. But what of the brave hearts of those Indians who thought
the white men were spirits come out of the sea, who did not know what
ships were, yet who still dared to set sail with them? For we know
that there were such dusky voyagers, that they crossed the sea more
than once in the English fishing vessels, and that they brought back
to their own people almost unbelievable tales of cities and palaces,
or harbors crowded with shipping and of whole countrysides covered
with green, tilled fields. With all these wonders, however, they could
tell their comrades that these white beings were mere men like
themselves, to be neither hated nor dreaded as spirits of another
world. Deep dwelling in Nashola was that born leadership that makes
real men see through the long-established doubts and terr