there was a rumor that Powhatan had
new grievances against the white men.

The four Dutchmen who for some weeks had been building the house for
Powhatan, had discussed amongst themselves the relative advantages of
friendship with the werowance or with the English. They decided that to
weaken the latter would be their best policy, since they would be
content to see the struggling settlement of Europeans destroyed and to
entrust their own fate to the savages. There was much in the Indian
method of living which pleased them; plenty of good food and full pipes
of tobacco and squaws to serve them. So they laid their plans and
imparted to Powhatan in confidence that Smith, who they knew must soon
appear in search of supplies, was in reality using this need as a
pretext and that he meant to fire upon the Indians and do great damage
to Werowocomoco.

Pocahontas did not overhear this talk, but she had watched the four
strangers together and her sharp ears had frequently caught the word
"Smith" repeated. Now when the news was shouted through the lodges that
the boat bearing Smith and his companions was approaching slowly through
the broken ice, Pocahontas hurried eagerly to the river and waved her
hand to her friends. She watched them come ashore but checked herself as
she started to run to meet them. She had a feeling that this was not the
moment for pretty speeches, and feared that Powhatan's enmity to the
English had been fanned by the Dutchmen until it was ready to burst
forth. She determined, instead of showing any interest in the strangers,
to appear indifferent to them and to let her people think she had grown
hostile to them. She would stay close to her father in order to learn
what he intended to do.

The werowance as he came towards them did not wear his red mantle nor
his crown of English make, but a headdress of eagle feathers and
leggings and a cape of brown bear fur. Perhaps he wished to show that he
had no need to wear a crown to look a king. He strode slowly to the
river and called out in greeting to the white men:

"Ye are welcome to Werowocomoco, my son, but why comest thou thus with
guns when thou visiteth thy father?"

"We be come to buy food from thee, oh Powhatan," answered Smith, "to
fill thy hands and those of thy people with precious beads and knives
and cloths of many colors for thy squaws in exchange for food for to-day
and to last till comes nepinough (the earing of the corn), when we shall
harv