Cate of the Lost Colony - Lisa Klein [30]
Ill feelings grew between the laborers and the gentlemen, who would not build houses, dig the fort, or till the soil. Soldiers fought and Ralf-lane punished them by making them work with chains on their feet. Only John-white seemed content as he made his drawings of fish, plants, birds, and people. They were so true that my people were afraid, but I assured them that his pictures could not steal their spirit and cause them to die.
I no longer regarded the English as godlike. So they had seemed to me, gathered around their Kwin-lissa-bet. Here I saw they could be weak, foolish, and cruel, like any man. Still I was proud to be among them, for I was more esteemed than before. I translated the governor’s words. He and the weroances both relied on me to conduct their business.
When Wingina heard me speak the stranger’s tongue, his astonishment pleased me. I had montoac that even he, the great weroance, lacked.
Wingina said to me, “Wanchese will not speak their language. He does not trust them. Why do you?”
I said Ralf-lane and his men wanted to learn our ways. To trade with us, that we might both grow rich.
Wingina looked doubtful. “I have permitted them to settle on my island so I may watch them.”
“You will see they desire peace,” I said.
Wingina did not reply at first. He knew they were building a fort. He had heard about the silver cup and the destroyed village. This news had traveled throughout Ossomocomuck.
“The white man’s weapons are powerful and deadly. And we have many enemies,” he said finally. Wingina was known to be wise, and he would find a way to benefit from the English presence.
But by a mysterious fate, the English brought death to the Roanoke, though not with their feared weapons. After Ralf-lane’s first visit to Wingina, ten villagers fell ill and died. Wingina sent for me. Wanchese was with him, and they were both afraid.
“It is proved the English can kill without weapons,” said Wanchese. “As they tried to kill me in London.”
“It was your own evil thoughts about the English that made you ill. I have no such thoughts, and I am well,” I said to him, then turned to Wingina. “They will not harm their friends.”
Wingina glanced at Wanchese then settled his gaze on me. He gave the Englishmen forty baskets of openauk and a large field planted with pagatour. Then he moved his villagers to the mainland, to a place called Dasemunkepeuc.
Wingina was wise but also crafty. In the spring he paddled to the island to inform Ralf-lane that an alliance of Chowanoc planned to attack Fort Raw-lee. Ralf-lane decided to act first. With thirty men he rowed upriver and surprised the Chowanoc village, seizing their weroance, Menantonon. This time I was able to prevent the English from destroying the village. Menantonon denied that he planned to attack the fort, saying it was a trick of Wingina to get the English to destroy the Chowanoc village. After a long parley with Ralf-lane, Menantonon saw what the English desired. He described a people who possessed wassador in such abundance they decorated their homes with it. Ralf-lane’s eyes shone. He decided to go to this village, a seven-days’ journey.
I suspected Menantonon, too, was lying. Even setting a trap. But I could not persuade Ralf-lane to turn back if there was a possibility of treasure. I had no choice but to guide them. Every village we passed was deserted. No food to be had. To keep from starving, the English killed and ate their dogs. Still Ralf-lane would not give up. When we came at last to the village, it was also abandoned.
“Where are the silver and copper Menantonon promised we would see?” Ralf-lane demanded.
“They are hidden within the hills themselves,” I said. “No one knows where.”
Without tools or food, there was nothing more Ralf-lane could do. By the time we returned to the fort, our stomachs were as hollow as dried gourds. Several men were near death. And Ralf-lane was full of rage at the deceit of the weroances.
“Wingina delivered us to his own enemies,