CHAPTER I IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE THE work of the day being over , I sat down upon my doorstep , pipe in hand , to rest awhile in the cool of the evening .
Death is not more still than is this Virginian land in the hour when the sun has sunk away , and it is black beneath the trees , and the stars brighten slowly and softly , one by one .
The birds that sing all day have hushed , and the horned owls , the monster frogs , and that strange and ominous fowl ( if fowl it be , and not , as some assert , a spirit damned ) which we English call the whippoorwill , are yet silent .
Later the wolf will howl and the panther scream , but now there is no sound .
The winds are laid , and the restless leaves droop and are quiet .
The low lap of the water among the reeds is like the breathing of one who sleeps in his watch beside the dead .
I marked the light die from the broad bosom of the river , leaving it a dead man 's hue .
Awhile ago , and for many evenings , it had been crimson , -- a river of blood .
A week before , a great meteor had shot through the night , blood-red and bearded , drawing a slow-fading fiery trail across the heavens ; and the moon had risen that same night blood-red , and upon its disk there was drawn in shadow a thing most marvelously like a scalping knife .
Wherefore , the following day being Sunday , good Mr. Stockham , our minister at Weyanoke , exhorted us to be on our guard , and in his prayer besought that no sedition or rebellion might raise its head amongst the Indian subjects of the Lord 's anointed .
Afterward , in the churchyard , between the services , the more timorous began to tell of divers portents which they had observed , and to recount old tales of how the savages distressed us in the Starving Time .
The bolder spirits laughed them to scorn , but the women began to weep and cower , and I , though I laughed too , thought of Smith , and how he ever held the savages , and more especially that Opechancanough who was now their emperor , in a most deep distrust ; telling us that the red men watched while we slept , that they might teach wiliness to a Jesuit , and how to bide its time to a cat crouched before a mousehole .
I thought of the terms we now kept with these heathen ; of how they came and went familiarly amongst us , spying out our weakness , and losing the salutary awe which that noblest captain had struck into their souls ; of how many were employed as hunters to bring down deer for lazy masters ; of how , breaking the law , and that not secretly , we gave them knives and arms , a soldier 's bread , in exchange for pelts and pearls ; of how their emperor was forever sending us smooth messages ; of how their lips smiled and their eyes frowned .
That afternoon , as I rode home through the lengthening shadows , a hunter , red-brown and naked , rose from behind a fallen tree that sprawled across my path , and made offer to bring me my meat from the moon of corn to the moon of stags in exchange for a gun .
There was scant love between the savages and myself , -- it was answer enough when I told him my name .
I left the dark figure standing , still as a carved stone , in the heavy shadow of the trees , and , spurring my horse ( sent me from home , the year before , by my cousin Percy ) , was soon at my house , -- a poor and rude one , but pleasantly set upon a slope of green turf , and girt with maize and the broad leaves of the tobacco .
When I had had my supper , I called from their hut the two Paspahegh lads bought by me from their tribe the Michaelmas before , and soundly flogged them both , having in my mind a saying of my ancient captain 's , namely , “ He who strikes first oft-times strikes last . ”
Upon the afternoon of which I now speak , in the midsummer of the year of grace 1621 , as I sat upon my doorstep , my long pipe between my teeth and my eyes upon the pallid stream below , my thoughts were busy with these matters , -- so busy that I did not see a horse and rider emerge from the dimness of the forest into the cleared space before my palisade , nor knew , until his voice came up the bank , that my good friend , Master John Rolfe , was without and would speak to me .
I went down to the gate , and , unbarring it , gave him my hand and led the horse within the inclosure .
“ Thou careful man ! ” he said , with a laugh , as he dismounted .
“ Who else , think you , in this or any other hundred , now bars his gate when the sun goes down ? ”
“ It is my sunset gun , ” I answered briefly , fastening his horse as I spoke .
He put his arm about my shoulder , for we were old friends , and together we went up the green bank to the house , and , when I had brought him a pipe , sat down side by side upon the doorstep .
“ Of what were you dreaming ? ” he asked presently , when we had made for ourselves a great cloud of smoke .
“ I called you twice . ”
“ I was wishing for Dale 's times and Dale 's laws . ”
He laughed , and touched my knee with his hand , white and smooth as a woman 's , and with a green jewel upon the forefinger .
“ Thou Mars incarnate ! ” he cried .
“ Thou first , last , and in the meantime soldier !
Why , what wilt thou do when thou gettest to heaven ?
Make it too hot to hold thee ?
Or take out letters of marque against the Enemy ? ”
“ I am not there yet , ” I said dryly .
“ In the meantime I would like a commission against -- your relatives . ”
He laughed , then sighed , and , sinking his chin into his hand and softly tapping his foot against the ground , fell into a reverie .
“ I would your princess were alive , ” I said presently .
“ So do I , ” he answered softly .
“ So do I. ” Locking his hands behind his head , he raised his quiet face to the evening star .
“ Brave and wise and gentle , ” he mused .
“ If I did not think to meet her again , beyond that star , I could not smile and speak calmly , Ralph , as I do now . ”
“ ' T is a strange thing , ” I said , as I refilled my pipe .
“ Love for your brother-in-arms , love for your commander if he be a commander worth having , love for your horse and dog , I understand .
But wedded love !
to tie a burden around one 's neck because ' t is pink and white , or clear bronze , and shaped with elegance !
Faugh ! ”
“ Yet I came with half a mind to persuade thee to that very burden ! ” he cried , with another laugh .
“ Thanks for thy pains , ” I said , blowing blue rings into the air .
“ I have ridden to-day from Jamestown , ” he went on .
“ I was the only man , i ' faith , that cared to leave its gates ; and I met the world -- the bachelor world -- flocking to them .
Not a mile of the way but I encountered Tom , Dick , and Harry , dressed in their Sunday bravery and making full tilt for the city .
And the boats upon the river !
I have seen the Thames less crowded . ”
“ There was more passing than usual , ” I said ; “ but I was busy in the fields , and did not attend .
What 's the lodestar ? ”
“ The star that draws us all , -- some to ruin , some to bliss ineffable , woman . ”
“ Humph !
The maids have come , then ? ”
He nodded .
“ There 's a goodly ship down there , with a goodly lading . ”
“ Videlicet , some fourscore waiting damsels and milkmaids , warranted honest by my Lord Warwick , ” I muttered .
“ This business hath been of Edwyn Sandys ' management , as you very well know , ” he rejoined , with some heat .
“ His word is good : therefore I hold them chaste .
That they are fair I can testify , having seen them leave the ship . ”
“ Fair and chaste , ” I said , “ but meanly born . ”
“ I grant you that , ” he answered .
“ But after all , what of it ?
Beggars must not be choosers .
The land is new and must be peopled , nor will those who come after us look too curiously into the lineage of those to whom a nation owes its birth .
What we in these plantations need is a loosening of the bonds which tie us to home , to England , and a tightening of those which bind us to this land in which we have cast our lot .
We put our hand to the plough , but we turn our heads and look to our Egypt and its fleshpots . '
T is children and wife -- be that wife princess or peasant -- that make home of a desert , that bind a man with chains of gold to the country where they abide .
Wherefore , when at midday I met good Master Wickham rowing down from Henricus to Jamestown , to offer his aid to Master Bucke in his press of business to-morrow , I gave the good man Godspeed , and thought his a fruitful errand and one pleasing to the Lord . ”
“ Amen , ” I yawned .
“ I love the land , and call it home .
My withers are unwrung . ”
He rose to his feet , and began to pace the greensward before the door .
My eyes followed his trim figure , richly though sombrely clad , then fell with a sudden dissatisfaction upon my own stained and frayed apparel .
“ Ralph , ” he said presently , coming to a stand before me , “ have you ever an hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco in hand ?
If not , I ” -- “ I have the weed , ” I replied .
“ What then ? ”
“ Then at dawn drop down with the tide to the city , and secure for thyself one of these same errant damsels . ”