ks, and gave them as
shortly and simply as I could.

He heard me out with neither liking nor disliking nor any other emotion
written upon his face; but when I had finished, as though he suddenly
bethought himself, he smiled and held out his hand, white-man fashion.
Now, when a man's lips widen I look into his eyes. The eyes of
Opechancanough were as fathomless as a pool at midnight, and as devoid
of mirth or friendliness as the staring orbs of the carven imps upon the
temple corners.

"Singing birds have lied to Captain Percy," he said, and his voice was
like his eyes. "Opechancanough thinks that Captain Percy will never
listen to them again. The chief of the Powhatans is a lover of the white
men, of the English, and of other white men,--if there are others. He
would call the Englishmen his brothers, and be taught of them how to
rule, and who to pray to"--

"Let Opechancanough go with me to-day to Jamestown," I said. "He hath
the wisdom of the woods; let him come and gain that of the town."

The Emperor smiled again. "I will come to Jamestown soon, but not to-day
nor to-morrow nor the next day. And Captain Percy must smoke the peace
pipe in my lodge above the Pamunkey, and watch my young men and maidens
dance, and eat with me five days. Then he may go back to Jamestown
with presents for the great white father there, and with a message that
Opechancanough is coming soon to learn of the white men."

I could have gnashed my teeth at that delay when she must think me dead,
but it would have been the madness of folly to show the impatience which
I felt. I too could smile with my lips when occasion drove, and drink a
bitter draught as though my soul delighted in it. Blithe enough to
all seeming, and with as few inward misgivings as the case called for,
Diccon and I went with the subtle Emperor and the young chief he had
bound to himself once more, and with their fierce train, back to that
village which we had never thought to see again. A day and a night we
stayed there; then Opechancanough sent away the Paspaheghs,--where we
knew not,--and taking us with him went to his own village above the
great marshes of the Pamunkey.

CHAPTER XXXII IN WHICH WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR

I HAD before this spent days among the Indians, on voyages of discovery,
as conqueror, as negotiator for food, exchanging blue beads for corn and
turkeys. Other Englishmen had been with me. Knowing those with whom we
dealt for sly and fi