Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/68

 1607. Sav«d by Pocahontas Returns to Jameftown. 3Q INTRODUCTION. chap, ii. Pocahontas, the king's darling daughter, then about thirteen years of age, whose entreaties for his life had been ineffectual, rushed between him and his executioner, and folding his head in her arms, and laying her's upon it, arrested the fatal blow. Her father was then prevailed on to spare his life, and, after a great many savage ceremonies, he was sent back to James- town/ On his arrival at that place, from which he had been absent seven weeks, he found the colony reduced to thirty-eight persons, most of whom seemed determined to abandon a country, which appeared to them so unfavour- able to human life. He came just in time to prevent the execution of this design. Alter- nately employing persuasion, threats, and even violence, he at length, with much hazard to himself, induced the majority to relinquish the intention they had formed; then, turning the guns of the fort on the bark, on board which were the most determined, he compelled her to remain, or sink in the river. g By a judicious regulation of intercourse with the Indians, among whom Smith was now in high repute, he restored plenty to the co- lony, and preserved it until the arrival of two vessels which had been dispatched from Eng- land, under the command'^^CT^ain Newport, f Stith. s Ibid,