-minded king)
the sachem Powatan himself died in 1618, aged over three score and ten.
His elder brother O-pi-tchi-pan became head sachem of the Powatan
league. He was not of high character like the great chief's. Now
Opechancanough soon sprang to the front, as champion of the nation.

Pocahontas was no longer a hostage, the English settlements and
plantations had increased, the English in England were in numbers of
the stars, and the leaves, and the sands; and something must be done at
once.

Seventy-eight years of age he was, when he struck his blow. With the
fierce Chick-a-hom-i-nies backing him, he had enlisted tribe after
tribe among the Powatans. Yet never a word of the plan reached the
colonists.

For several years peace had reigned in fair Virginia. The Indians were
looked upon as only "a naked, timid people, who durst not stand the
presenting of a staff in the manner of a firelock, in the hands of a
woman"! "Firelocks" and modern arms they did lack, themselves, but
Opechancanough, the old hater, had laid his plans to cover that.

March 22, 1622, was the date for the attack, which should "utterly
extinguish the English settlements forever." Yet "forever" could not
have been the hope of Opechancanough. Here in Virginia the white man's
settlements had spread through five hundred miles, and on the north the
Pilgrim Fathers had started another batch in the country of the
Pokanokets.

The plan of Opechancanough succeeded perfectly. Keeping the date
secret, tribe after tribe sent their warriors, to arrive at the borders
of the Virginia settlements in the night of March 21.

"Although some of the detachments had to march from great distances,
and through a continued forest, guided only by the stars and moon, no
single instance of disorder or mistake is known to have happened. One
by one they followed each other in profound silence, treading as nearly
as possible in each other's steps, and adjusting the long grass and
branches which they displaced. They halted at short distances from the
settlements, and waited in death-like stillness for the signal of
attack."

A number of Indians with whom the settlers were well acquainted had
been doing spy work. It was quite the custom for Indians to eat
breakfast in settlers' homes, and to sleep before the settlers'
fire-places. In this manner the habits of every family upon the
scattered plantations were known. There were Indians in the fields and
in the hou