Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/96

 For a year, Smith struggled on; for a year, those who would have brought fresh life to Virginia sustained each other's courage by working hard with heads and hands, until they succeeded in building, out of the wreck of their own, two new vessels, in which they again embarked for their western home. Could Smith but have held out until this wonderful feat was accomplished, he might yet have seen the end attained for which he had so long and patiently labored; but he was disabled in an explosion of gunpowder, and obliged to return to England to obtain proper surgical treatment, shortly before Sir Thomas Gates, who was to act as Lord De la Warre's deputy till his arrival, set sail from the Bermudas.

With Smith's departure from Virginia, all the evils he had suppressed with a strong hand cropped up anew. The Indians were roused to fury by raids and oppression; the ground was left untilled, and soon a "starving time" began, which reduced the emigrants from one hundred and ninety to sixty. These sixty—a gaunt and crime-stained crew, huddled together in ruined huts, a prey to disease and misery—came forth to meet Sir Thomas Gates and his hardy followers, entreating with tears and cries to be taken away from the land where they had endured such horrors.

Fearing that his own people might share the fate of the wretches before him, Gates at once resolved to take all the Europeans to Newfoundland, and there await, among the fishermen with whom it was now populated, the arrival of reinforcements from England. On the 7th June, 1609, the two vessels constructed on the Bermudas, and four crazy pinnaces which had belonged to the colonists, weighed anchor, and were dropping slowly from the country of which they had hoped such great things, when a boat was seen advancing to meet them from the sea.

Eagerly did all now crowd to the sides of the vessels to ascertain the meaning of this unexpected phenomenon; and the rejoicing may be imagined when the little bark turned out to be the boat of Lord De la Warre himself, sent to announce his approach with three vessels laden with new emigrants and provisions! No need now to flee to Newfoundland; and, with fresh hope in their hearts, the colonists, old and new, returned to Jamestown, there to await the coming of their governor.

Two days later, the three eagerly expected vessels anchored at the mouth of the James River, and Lord De la Warre came on shore. Falling on his knees as he stepped from his boat, the new leader returned thanks to God for all his mercies—Sir Thomas Gates and the colonists, who were drawn up