It was when Master Hunt ceased reading that I believed my master
would be set free without delay, for of a verity he had the same
right to take part in the deliberations as any other, since it was
the will of the London Company that he should be one of the leaders;
but much to my surprise nothing of the kind was done. Captain
Kendall, seeing the door of my master's room slightly open, arose
from the table and closed it, as if he were about to say something
which should not be heard by Captain Smith.
I would have opened the door again, but that my master bade me
leave it closed, and when an hour or more had passed, Master Hunt
came in to us, stating that it had not yet been decided by the other
members of the Council whether Captain Smith should be allowed to
take part in the affairs, as the London Company had decided, or
whether he should be sent home for judgment when the fleet returned.
But meanwhile he was to have his liberty.
Then it was that Master Hunt, talking like the true man he ever
showed himself to be, advised Captain Smith to do in all things,
so far as the other members of the Council permitted, as if nothing
had gone awry, claiming that before we had been many days in this
land, those who had brought charges against him would fail of making
them good.
Had I been the one thus so grievously injured, the whole company
might have shipwrecked themselves before I would have raised a
hand, all of which goes to show that I had not learned to rule my
temper.
Captain Smith, however, agreed with all Master Hunt said, and then
it was that I was sent forward once more. My master went on deck
for the first time since we had left Martinique, walking to and
fro swiftly, as if it pleased him to have command of his legs once
more.
If Master Hunt and Master Wingfield had been able to bring the
others around to their way of thinking, Captain Smith would have
taken his rightful place in the Council without delay. Instead of
which, however, he remained on board the ship idle, when there was
much that he could have done better than any other, from the day
on which we came in sight of Virginia, which was the fifteenth day
of April, until the twenty-sixth day of June.
During all this time, those of the Council who were his enemies
claimed that they could prove he had laid plans to murder all the
chief men, and take his place as king; but yet they did not do so,
and my master refused to hold any parley with them, except that he
claimed he was innocent of all wrong in thought or in act.
When the others of the fleet set off to spy out the land, my master
remained aboard the ship, still being a prisoner, except so far
that he wore no fetters, and I would not have left him save he had
commanded me sharply, for at that time, so sore was his heart, that
even a lad like me could now and then say some word which might
have in it somewhat of cheer.
During this time that Captain Smith was with the company and yet not
numbered as one of them, the other gentlemen explored the country,
and more than once was Nathaniel Peacock allowed to accompany them,