Upon this count, early in September, Wingfield was
deposed from the presidency. Ratcliffe succeeded him, but presently
Ratcliffe fared no better. One councilor fared worse, for George Kendall,
accused of plotting mutiny and pinnace stealing, was given trial, found
guilty, and shot.
"The eighteenth day [of September] died one Ellis Kinistone . . .. The same
day at night died one Richard Simmons. The nineteenth day there died one
Thomas Mouton . . . ."
What went on, in Virginia, in the Indian mind, can only be conjectured. As
little as the white mind could it foresee the trend of events or the
ultimate outcome of present policy. There was exhibited a see-saw policy,
or perhaps no policy at all, only the emotional fit as it came hot or cold.
The friendly act trod upon the hostile, the hostile upon the friendly.
Through the miserable summer the hostile was uppermost; then with the
autumn appeared the friendly mood, fortunate enough for "the most feeble
wretches" at Jamestown. Indians came laden with maize and venison. The heat
was a thing of the past; cool and bracing weather appeared; and with it
great flocks of wild fowl, "swans, geese, ducks and cranes." Famine
vanished, sickness decreased. The dead were dead. Of the hundred and four
persons left by Newport less than fifty had survived. But these may be
thought of as indeed seasoned.
CHAPTER IV. JOHN SMITH
With the cool weather began active exploration, the object in chief the
gathering from the Indians, by persuasion or trade or show of force, food
for the approaching winter.
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