Cate of the Lost Colony - Lisa Klein [105]
“Worse than that,” said Graham. “We have abandoned our posts at Fort Ralegh. They’ll say we’ve committed treason—killed the assistants so we could rule ourselves. We’ll be taken back to England and hanged,” he concluded darkly.
“That is impossible!” Jones said. “We are innocent.”
“No one will hang me,” said Georgie’s aunt. “Even so, I am too old to cross the seas again.”
I had finally sorted out my own thoughts. “Even if we could return to England without penalty,” I said, “how would we live there? Did you not invest all of your livelihood in this enterprise? Do you want to go back empty-handed? Most of us have no kin left, for they came here with us.”
I saw the sadness in their eyes as they thought about those who were lost, and the disappointment at their own failure to become rich. My words began to flow as if from a well within me.
“We have nothing to take back, but everything if we stay here. We have one another and new kin among the Croatoan. Have we wanted for food or feared for our lives since we came here? Or given anyone cause to hate us?”
“But what if the ships have brought enough supplies and settlers for an entire village?” said one of the soldiers. “We could rebuild at Roanoke or go to Chesapeake and join Bailey.”
“The soil at Roanoke is too thin. With more people to feed, we would only be hungry again,” said Jones.
“At Chesapeake we face unknown dangers,” I said. “Even if Roger Bailey is by some chance still alive, nothing on earth could induce me to put myself under his governance.”
“I agree. That tyrant has betrayed us more than once,” said Ambrose bitterly.
“Weyawinga is a benevolent weroance, like our own Elizabeth,” said Graham. “Here we have a voice at her councils; we are partners in government. That will never happen in England. Why, even women are permitted to speak and give advice.”
“Indeed, who can keep them quiet?” grumbled Ambrose, drawing laughter.
“I did not favor coming to Croatoan Island, but now I deem it best to stay,” admitted Jones with a sigh. “For I doubt that the ships’ arrival, though we have long desired it, bodes well for us.”
Slowly the tide was turning. One by one we came to see that our best chance of a secure and happy future lay with the Croatoan. Manteo and Weyawinga were brought in to hear our consensus. Weyawinga looked pleased.
“If the English newcomers use force against us, will your warriors join us in battle?” Graham asked.
“Yes,” Weyawinga said. “The white men shall not set their feet on this island if they offer harm to even one person here.”
I was suddenly alarmed. I thought the question had been whether we desired to depart with the English. Now it was how far we would go to avoid being taken away by them. Of course our decision had consequences—possibly dangerous ones. But had we just determined to take up arms against the queen’s envoy?
Whether such an act of rebellion succeeded or failed, it would end forever any possibility of our returning to England.
Chapter 41
From the Papers of Sir Walter Ralegh
Narrative of a Voyage to Virginia.
On the 19th of August, 1590, the Hopewell bore SW from Hatorask, keeping to the deepest waters between the mainland and the outer islands.
Capt. Cooke dropped anchor NW of the isle of Croatoan, deeming it unsafe to navigate the unfamiliar sound at night. The next morning, by some misfortune, a cable broke at the capstan and the anchor was lost. The ship nearly ran against the rocks before the spare anchor—our last—found its purchase. The shaken Cooke wanted to abandon our plan to land on Croatoan. Was it not enough, he said, to know the colonists had gone there? But White and I demanded he carry on with the landing.
Do I wish we had heeded Cooke and never set foot upon Croatoan Island? Alas, my pen rushes ahead with my thoughts when it is obliged to relate events in their turn.
Coming within sight of the northern tip of the isle we began to search for a landing place and signs of habitation. It was a long, low island covered