Surviving Jamestown by Gail Langer Karwoski

Author:Gail Langer Karwoski [Karwoski, Gail Langer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781561457557
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Published: 2001-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

One morning in early September, the guards opened the gate of the fort and began to shout. Sam sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He nudged Nate. The boys scrambled out of the tent and headed toward the noise.

Two baskets filled with vegetables had been left outside. The astonished guards carried them inside, cheering triumphantly. Later that morning, several Indian men approached the fort in a canoe piled high with baskets. As they paddled toward the riverbank, the braves called, “Wingapoh!”

The Indians carried the baskets up to the gate and waved at the guards. Then they returned to their canoe and paddled away.

Inside the fort, some of the settlers examined the food suspiciously. They didn’t trust anything that came from savages. Unpacking the corn cakes, shellfish, and meat cautiously, they sniffed for unusual odors that might indicate if the food was poisoned.

Sam was too hungry to be cautious. I’d rather die from a belly full of poisoned food than die slowly of starvation! Many others shared his feeling, and they fell upon the loaves of Indian bread.

Breaking off a hunk and stuffing it in his mouth, Sam sat down to concentrate on eating. The smell made him wild with hunger. He wanted to gulp down his first mouthful, but he forced himself to chew slowly and thoroughly until every crumb dissolved, until he tasted every morsel of its flavor. Then he allowed himself to swallow and take another mouthful.

“If somebody offers me a basket of gold in exchange for this bread,” Sam announced, his mouth stuffed full, “I’m choosing the bread!”

John Smith grinned and helped himself to some bread. He told Sam he wasn’t worried about poisoned food. Why would the Indians send poisoned food to kill them when they were already dying from starvation and sickness? But this unexpected gift puzzled Smith. Like the other settlers, Smith had come to the conclusion that the Indians wanted the Englishmen to die. Even the Powhatans, who had pledged themselves the allies of the English, had ignored the colony’s suffering. It didn’t make sense that the Indians would suddenly decide to help.

Tempting aromas began to drift out of the cooking pots in James Fort. Vegetables simmered in broths thickened with chunks of oysters. Venison roasted over fires and dripped rich fat onto sizzling flames. The smells were so bewitching that Sam couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

Before noonday, Reverend Hunt gathered the colonists who were strong enough to walk for a brief thanksgiving service. The men bowed their heads and thanked the Lord for saving them from certain death.

Hunt reminded the colonists that their salvation had come from Indians, a most unexpected source. “Indeed those very savages who attacked ye and murdered thy comrades!” he exclaimed. “During all these weeks of agony, whilst ye watched thy fellows succumb to horrible starvation and deadly sickness, the savages delivered nought but brutality to thy gates. Behold, it is from the hands of the enemy that ye now receive thy salvation! The same savages who shed thy blood hath delivered the bread of life to thy gates.

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