Chesapeake by James A. Michener Page B

destroyed an ordinary man: mercenary in the most brutal years of the German wars, heroic defender of Christianity when the Muhammadans invaded Hungary, captured slave immured in a Turkish dungeon, foot-traveler to Muscovy and Madrid. And now he surveyed his fleet on the eve of his finest adventure: the establishment of a new colony, the subjugation of a new world.
    ‘We’re off!’ he shouted as he jumped into the shallop. Grabbing theeighth oar, he began rowing with an energy that shamed the others, and soon they were moving briskly down the Thames. When they passed the three larger ships Smith yelled, ‘Mister Steed, have you handled sail?’
    ‘That I have not, sir,’ the scholar replied, at which Smith bellowed, ‘Then stand clear as Mister Momford runs it up.’ And a gentleman who had knowledge of boats manipulated the sheets so that a fore-and-aft sail climbed the mast. With it in place, the shallop moved so smartly that rowing was no longer required.
    ‘Ship the oars!’ Smith ordered, but since the gentlemen were unfamiliar with this command, confusion resulted. ‘Bring in the oars!’ Smith roared, and they were shipped, as he had wanted.
    When the brief trip was completed, with the shallop safely in dock, Smith surprised his crew by ordering them to haul the little craft ashore, after which he handed Steed and Momford buckets of paint and brushes, instructing them to number every board used in construction of the boat. ‘Each is to have its proper number, at four different spots, indicating its relation to every other board that touches it.’
    When this curious task was completed he summoned carpenters, who dismantled the boat, knocking out nails and wooden wedges until only piles of timber lay on the dock. These he ordered tied in lots and carried aboard the
Susan Constant,
where they were stowed below decks, and when all was secure, Smith led Steed to the edge of the hold in which they could see the bundled spars.
    ‘An idea of mine,’ he said. ‘Conceived while imprisoned in a Turkish harem,’ and once more he saluted the boat which would play so crucial a role in establishing the Virginia Colony.
    Because of his arrogance and vile temper, Captain Smith fared poorly in Jamestown. Thrown in jail for attempted mutiny, captured by Indians, near death at the hands of Powhatan, and actually led to the gibbet to be hanged for insubordination, he was saved by a last-minute revelation. Cocksure and prescient, he survived travail, gave the colony the iron leadership it required, and found time to pursue his major preoccupation: the exploration of the Chesapeake. ‘This is a noble sea,’ he told his men at night, after the day’s work ended. ‘Calm and hospitable, majestic in size. Its potential cannot be imagined.’
    He had already mounted two preliminary explorations and was encouraged by what he had found: broad rivers, innumerable harbors, a plenitude of fish and crabs, and meadows yearning to be cultivated. But his two preconceived targets had eluded him: he had not found a passage to India, he had not uncovered the gold and silver which were known to exist somewhere along the shores of the Chesapeake.
    ‘Infuriating,’ he growled one July day in 1608. ‘Three years ago I heardthe facts for myself. The leaders of the expedition were busy securing permissions in London, so a noble lord and I attended a play, very little substance and I was about to leave, for I do not waste my time idly. But destiny tugged my sleeve and kept me … for a purpose. An actor in this play strode to the edge of the stage and orated directly at me, none other. He spoke of Virginia and told me what I should find here. Silver more common than copper. Kitchen pans and bedroom pots made of pure gold. Rubies and diamonds in the streets. Children gathering pearls along the streams. The riches are here, if only we can find them.’
    On Saturday, August 9, he outlined his plan: ‘The gold lies, I am convinced, in towns hidden