Walter's choice of defensive position was soon seen to be a good one, for there were too many trees and overhanging branches for the Indians to be able to shoot accurately. They did not appear to wish to harm their prey, however, for although they held their bows ready, no hail of arrows such as Bella had been expecting struck them. Instead, with a gradual but certain inevitability, the Indians closed in. The defenders could do nothing with the paltry weapons they had provided themselves with until the Indians were within reach of the clubs.
The end came with terrifying suddenness. At some signal unperceived by the fugitives, the savages broke out into a howling and leaping frenzy, and after a minute of this rushed on the puny defences and by sheer weight of numbers overwhelmed their former prisoners. There were a few injuries inflicted, but the Indians were greatly superior in number. Having cast aside their bows as they ran to the attack, they used sharp hatchets to beat down the branches protecting Bella and her companions.
The colonists fought furiously but they were overwhelmed, smothered and tied up before they could inflict a great deal of harm themselves. Then began the long dreary march back to the village. At midday a halt was called, and the leader of the Indians spoke to Walter who translated what he said to the others.
'They say they do not wish to hurt us, since they intend to carry out their previous plan of killing one each day. I am to be the victim tonight, and then lots will be drawn.'
They listened in silence. Bella wondered wearily whether she would be included in the sacrifice this time, or whether she would be returned to the separate lodge and the other part planned for her.
Eventually they came in sight of the village. Over the stockade Bella could see that several of the lodges had been severely burned, and the main longhouse was still smouldering, a thin spiral of smoke rising lazily into the sky. The captives and the Indians emerged from the trees and wound their way along a narrow path between two fields of maize. They were about half way to the outskirts of the village when a lone figure suddenly burst from the trees to the side, and ran as fast as he could towards them, converging on them and shouting, waving his arms urgently.
'What is it? What is he saying?' Ned asked Walter.
'It is not clear, but it appears that the village has been captured while they have been away! He was the only one to escape!'
'Who? From Jamestown? Is it help?'
'It could be. But it is more likely to be one of the other tribes. There is always rivalry, and this has happened before.'
As he finished, from the village in front of them a line of men filed through the gateway and stood, guns raised. Aiming at the returning group.
Chapter 10
Adam finished his business at the ironworks earlier than he had expected, and decided to set off towards home that afternoon. He missed Bella as unbearably as she missed him when they were apart. But their liaison could not be continued for much longer. Already he had received strong hints from some of the older men in the colony that the Governor could no longer ignore his flouting of authority.
George Thorpe, the overseer of the college lands had made this clear to Adam. A deeply religious man, he had been considered in the colony as a likely successor to Sir George Yeardley, but had been passed over by the Company in favour of Wyatt. Thorpe, who was busy trying to improve the ironworks, and had planted thousands of vines for the proposed college, firmly pointed out to Adam that it was his duty to marry and provide heirs for his own extensive acres. 'You cannot take the part you should in the affairs of the land while you continue your present way of life,' he said severely.
This was undoubtedly true. Never having met a woman he wished to marry, rather than enjoy a brief flirtation with, Adam had taken it for granted that eventually he would agree to accept a suitable bride. Many had been suggested, both by his Virginian friends and his family in England, but so far he had always evaded the issue. He could not for ever put off the unpalatable fact that he needed to marry. If Bella had been free he would have married her, so sure was he now that no one else could ever again rouse in him the feelings she did. But she was married. He could not marry her, nor could he expect her to remain with him if he married some other more eligible woman. One day they would have to part, and it was this depressing thought that sent him hurrying away from Henrico, to enjoy Bella's company as much as possible before the inevitable separation came.
It was dusk when he and Daniel came to John Porlock's plantation, and since he could not reach his own before the middle of the night, he decided to ask for John's hospitality and leave again at dawn.
John welcomed him gladly and then looked past him. 'Where is Bella? Did you not meet her?'
'Bella? She has been here? When? Why?' Adam demanded.
John explained. 'Edward somehow obtained Wyatt's support, and he went with the Governor's men to remove Bella from your protection. She fled here with Alice and Toby.'
'Then where is she?'
'I thought she would have met you. She was so anxious to prevent you from going past unknowingly that she set off with Ned early this morning.'
'We could not have failed to meet unless something has happened!' Adam declared. 'John, will you lend me all the men you have? I must begin at once to search for her. God knows what will happen to her if she has been taken by the savages! They are seeking revenge for Jack.'
'It is too late tonight,' John protested. 'Of course I will do all I can, and so will my neighbours, but we cannot work in the dark. Sleep for a few hours, and I will send a message to your own men, they can set off at first light with all your guns and join us. That will be far more effective than exhausting ourselves to no avail during the night.'
Impatient, but recognizing the sense of this, Adam went to bed, but lay tossing restlessly all night, unable to dismiss from his mind visions of Bella drowned, injured, or, worst of all, in the hands of the savages. Long before dawn he was up and fretting to start and John was helping him organize the distribution of every gun and other weapon they possessed.
They set off as soon as it was light, taking two of the canoes, and leaving instructions with Daniel to send the other men after them as soon as possible. For some distance they saw nothing, and none of the few people who were out on the river so early could help them. They were paddling along a quiet stretch when Adam, who had been scanning the banks closely, gave a shout and turned his canoe towards the north bank.
*
John followed, and soon saw what he had.
'It is my canoe,' he said quietly. 'What happened?'
'It was not overturned, so they have not drowned. Look, here is a thread of silk caught on the seat where it is rough. Did Bella wear a green gown?'
'Yes. Then it looks as though there was a struggle.'
'It could hardly have been Edward Sutton. He would not have known where she had flown to.'
'Indians!' John exclaimed despairingly. 'How can we follow them? They could be anywhere in this vast forest.'
'With prisoners they would have left tracks. There is a trader I often deal with who lives a short way up river. He will help me. Stay here and intercept the others while I go to fetch him.'
It was an hour before Adam returned, and he had more news.
'Joshua here says that another attack took place yesterday and several men were captured. He had not heard of this one, but it is probable both attacks were made by the same group. I'll go ahead with him, you can follow when the others arrive. We will leave marks.'
Joshua was old but still active and nimble. He soon picked up the Indian trail, and assured Adam that there had been a white man and a woman with them. Just before John and his reinforcements caught up with them Joshua was explaining that many more Indians, with half a dozen white men, had been added to the original group.
At last Joshua motioned them to stop, and Adam came up alongside him at the edge of a clearing and saw an Indian village before them.
'I do not like it!' Joshua said quietly.
'
What is wrong?'
'There are too few women in the fields. And almost no children playing outside the stockade. I would suspect that the men are not there.'
'Could they be out hunting? Or are they the ones we seek? Might they be out searching for others to take prisoner?'
Joshua shook his head. 'It is impossible to tell. Wait here, and I will try to discover what it is.'
Without further ado he went off, keeping well inside the shelter of the trees so that within a short time they could no longer see him. It seemed an age before he reappeared silently beside Adam, having circled the whole village.
'Well? Did you discover aught?'
'They are the ones we seek. But the prisoners are not there. I think they escaped during the night and later the Indians pursued them.'
'How can you possibly tell that?' John asked, amazed.
'I can tell by the way the grasses lie,' Joshua replied. 'I also can see from the far side that several of the lodges have been set on fire. That smoke you can see is not all from cooking fires, a longhouse is still burning.'
'So they contrived to escape,' Adam murmured. 'Is there much chance they can evade pursuit?'
Joshua shook his head. 'It is unlikely, the white men will not know the country. They will be caught.'
'Then let us go on,' John urged.
'Wait. What will be done to them when they are recaptured?' Adam said quietly.
'It depends what they are wanted for. They might be killed at once, but it is more probable they will be brought back. I would think if they are not killed during the fighting that is what will happen. The chief will want to take revenge for the destruction of his longhouse.'
'Then we will take the village and wait for them.'
*
Swiftly Adam gave orders and they began the attack on the village. Apart from the women and children, only a few old men were left to guard it, and the resistance was weak. Adam's two dozen men, armed with guns, were soon in control, and only one man amongst the Indians had been slightly hurt as a bullet grazed his leg. The villagers were herded into one of the longhouses which had not been burnt, and Adam set a guard at each end. Then the anxious wait began.
At last the lookout signalled the approach of the Indians, and Adam's men crouched near the entrance to the village, where the stockade overlapped to form a short, narrow passageway. They planned to permit the Indians to come as near as possible before declaring their presence. Adam hoped the total absence of women in the fields would not warn the Indians something was wrong, but before it could be tested he saw a figure racing across the fields towards the returning group. He could now see that several of the men were tied together, and to his immense relief Bella, with her skirts kilted about her waist to permit greater freedom of movement, was there and apparently unharmed.
The Indians stopped as the gesticulating figure approached them, but Adam gave rapid orders and his men filed out of the stockade, threatening the Indians with their guns before they could retreat to the cover given by the forest. Adam, with Joshua beside him, walked forward until he was well within reach of their arrows, but he did not hesitate. He held his gun aloft as a peace sign, and the Indians stood sullenly watching his approach.
'I come in peace, to bargain with you,' he said, and Joshua swiftly translated. 'Release the prisoners you have and we will take no further action.'
'They are our captives, to do with as we please,' the chief's son replied haughtily,
'We have prisoners too,' Adam responded coolly. 'Your old men, your women and your children are in our power. You would not wish it known you permitted them to die for the sake of a few white men.'
'You killed Nenemettanan. We will have revenge.'
'Neither I, my men nor the ones you hold there were responsible for killing Jack of the Feathers. This is foolish talk. Are you willing to trade your prisoners for ours? Or must we act to convince you we will show no mercy if you refuse?'
The young man still protested, and at a sign from Adam John, waiting inside the stockade, led out the old chief, his hands bound behind him.
'He will be the first to be shot,' Adam said calmly. 'Your young son will be the second.'
Another of the men led out a four-year-old child to stand beside the old man.
'There is no need to shed blood,' Adam said quickly. 'Give us the prisoners and we will depart in peace.'
There was some muttering from the crowd of Indians surrounding the captives, and the young leader replied angrily at first to their remarks, then he grew quiet and sullen, and eventually shrugged his shoulders.
'It will serve you little, a respite of but a day,' he retorted, and walked forward to bow before his father, while his companions released the prisoners.
Bella ran forward to meet Adam and collapsed into his arms, trembling now the ordeal was over. The other prisoners crowded round asking eager questions, but Adam held up a hand for silence.
'Are you all here?' he asked quickly.
'They killed Jacob yesterday,' one replied. 'The rest of us are here.'
'They tortured him. They deserve to be shot, all of them!' another protested.
Adam shook his head. 'We cannot take revenge. We still have to escape, and that is no simple matter. If we kill more Indians after Jack's death, there would be a full scale rising. We must concentrate on getting away ourselves.'
Under Adam's careful leadership they soon left the village well behind. The Indians followed them only for a short distance, apparently to ensure they were really departing.
When they reached the river and the place where they had left all the boats Joshua slipped away, proudly refusing the reward Adam offered.
'Thank you, but no. I am ashamed my people have behaved so. Especially to a lovely young lady, and glad I could help.'
Without any further words he vanished, and Adam helped Bella into a boat. They all set off for John's house, where there was much-needed food awaiting them and they could sleep without fear.
Lying in Adam's arms that night Bella shudderingly recounted to him details of the horror she had witnessed, while he held her tightly.
'How could they be so cruel?' she cried, weeping at the memory and clinging to him.
'There are tortures just as bad carried out in Europe's dungeons,' he replied. 'We have progressed as far as to perform them secretly. One day, perhaps, these horrors will no longer exist. We must do what we can to prevent them. You are safe, thank God, and with me again!'
'It was so dreadful,' she whispered, unable to stifle her sobs. 'I want you to turn over, my darling,' he said gently, and disengaging her clinging arms, he carefully repositioned her so that she was lying face down on the bed.
Then, with his hands warm and strong on her skin, he began to stroke her, massaging the knots of tension between her shoulder-blades, drawing gentle fingers down the hollows of her spine, caressing away the shudders which still shook her frame. Gradually she felt the numbing cold of her remembered fear being replaced by a glow of longing until every sensation in her body seemed to be concentrated in his fingertips. As he stroked the soft curves of her buttocks and began lazily to trace the contours of her thighs, she gave a half-articulate cry and turned to face him, her legs parting involuntarily in a gesture of surrender.
He knew at once her need had changed, and took her quickly, not prolonging as he usually did the slow langorous awakening, but thrusting fiercely, almost roughly, carrying her on his own violence to a forgetfulness of the ordeal through which she had passed. Several times during the night she cried out at her dreams, but his caresses soothed her and she slept peacefully again.
*
When they rose in the morning John told Adam the man Walter wished to speak with him urgently.
'He is the man who helped us escape, he had lived with the Indians for several years,' Bella explained.
'Shall we talk as we eat?' Adam asked. 'I would like to set out for Fairmile as soon as possible.'
'Edward!' Bella recalled s
uddenly. 'What are we to do?'
'We'll discuss that on the way home. Let us now hear what this man has to say. He may wish to be reassured he will not be punished for running away.'
But that was not what Walter was concerned about. 'I am worried,' he told Adam when he had been sent for, and awkwardly seated himself near the table. 'I would not have you think that the men I lived with were always like that. They rarely used torture in all the years I was there.'
'You cannot be blamed for that,' John reassured him.
'No, that is not what I am concerned about. For years we have all lived in comparative peace, but there have been mutterings of late, and it is my suspicion something is being planned. Nenemettanan was well respected, but his death could have been an accident, and there have been many other deaths that were no such thing. It has served as a spark for a discontent that has been growing for some time.'
'We shall have to take stronger precautions, then,' John said.
'I think it is more. It has been clear to the Indians many people have been coming to the settlements during the last few years, and they are afraid. Also they do not like what they have heard of the plans to convert them by force. They think their children will be taken from them and imprisoned in the college.'
'Do you know anything more definite?' Adam asked quietly.
'I cannot be certain. They have been preparing for something. They have been collecting together more trading goods than is normal, and there has been much toing and froing amongst the various tribes. I do not know what is planned, but I am uneasy.'
'I must go to Jamestown tomorrow to report what has happened to the Governor. You had best come with me and tell him all you can. He will wish to thank you for what you did in helping the captives.'
They set off soon afterwards, and John decided to travel with them, to make his own report to the Governor and collect some stores that he needed from Jamestown. Alice was fretting in case Edward was waiting for them at Fairmile, but Adam tried to reassure her.
'He will not have waited for three days. My men told me yesterday that after his men had searched the plantation and all the houses on it they went back to Jamestown. Bella is safe for the moment – at least until we can make plans.'
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