Roanoke (The Keepers of the Ring) (32 page)

“If you call cracked peas a decent meal,” another of the men shouted. “I don
’t.”

“Have we not venison in the woods? Crab in the sea? Fowl and birds? God will provide for us, if we seek him. He did not let the children of Israel starve in the wilderness, so why would he let us starve now? We have but to trust him, my friends, and put away these thoughts of war.”

John Chapman held up his hand for peace. “Mistress Colman speaks the truth,” he said, nodding sagely. “God would not want us to raid the homes of our friends, no more than we would want the Indians to steal from us. Let us remember, dear brothers and sisters, that no one can live in doubt when he has prayed in faith. If we say we trust God, we must allow our faith to destroy our fear.”

A universal grumbling filled the room, but after a moment the group filed out. A hunting party braved the weather the next day and returned with two deer and a fox, and talk of raiding the Indian camps abated, if only for the moment.

But still the winds blew and the foodstuffs failed and the fresh water that seeped up from beneath the sandy hills iced over in the collection barrels. The women worked hard to chip ice into their buckets, often cutting their hands until they ran red with blood. And often Jocelyn found Eleanor on the eastern beach, her face toward England, her bundled baby in her arms. While Jocelyn waited for her husband and the others, Eleanor waited for John White.

twenty-nine

A
s his daughter waited for the men in her life to return, John White sat in his new dockside office and checked the list of supplies and passengers for his next voyage. A great fleet it would be, with supplies enough to last the colony two years, and fresh colonists to fortify the weary souls left behind on Roanoke. Eight ships had been prepared, fine crafts with capable and healthy crews. They would sail under Sir Richard Grenville, a true Englishman if ever such a man existed. Hariot’s
Brief and True Report
had done its work, and a flurry of speculation and investment had accompanied the loading of this fleet. All stood in readiness, and White could not wait to sail.

A knock upon his door disturbed his reverie, and White jumped to attention. “Enter!”

A uniformed messenger came through the doorway. From an inner pocket, he produced a sealed letter. “To John White, sir, with respect, from the Queen’s Captain of the Privy Council,” he announced, bowing as he presented the letter.

White accepted the parchment and allowed the messenger to leave before he broke the seal. A keening wind rattled the windows of his office as he read:

Greetings, Honorable John White:

By the order of Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., any ships capable of service in war are forbidden to leave English harbors unless under command of Lord Admiral Charles Howard of the Queen’s Navy.

White sank upon the stool behind his desk, crumpled the parchment, and slammed his fist upon the desk. Had the devil himself set his face against Roanoke?

thirty

A
shout from a lookout at the beach brought the colonists running from their homes on a grey afternoon in March, and their apprehension turned to rejoicing as the pinnace, the British flag flying high upon her mast, passed through the narrow inlet of the barrier islands and swung into view. A crew of men hastily turned the shallop into the bay and the scouting party spilled from the pinnace in their eagerness to come ashore.

Laden with deerskins and furs, husbands ran to the arms of their wives and the unmarried men stole kisses from the maids and promised their fellows to tell exciting tales in the quiet of the barracks.

Jocelyn waited on the beach with Audrey. After a moment Audrey squealed and ran into the shallows to throw her arms about the golden-haired and bearded William Clement, but Jocelyn saw no sign of Thomas’ dark and somber figure until a voice spoke from behind her: “Good morrow, Mistress Colman.” She felt herself blushing as she turned to look at Thomas. He had slipped ashore in the shallop, and wore a dark beard with a touch of gray that she found strangely appealing. He smelled of earth, leaves, and fish, and for the first time that Jocelyn could recall, his expressive hands were stained and dirty.

But as surprised as she was by his appearance, his greeting startled her even more. Dropping the leather pouches he carried, he wrapped his arms about her and lifted her from her feet while she sputtered in confusion and embarrassment.

While Audrey ran off with William Clement, Thomas took Jocelyn’s arm and walked her home, telling her of their journey and how he wondered if he’d ever see Roanoke Island again. He spoke freely, without regard for the others who walked around him, and sought her eyes often as Jocelyn listened in wonder and bewilderment.

At supper that night he spoke of their journey up a dark river where Indians had approached with bows and arrows aimed at their pinnace. But he had stood in the front of the boat and prayed, and the savages did not attack. They welcomed the strangers into their camps with joy, freely sharing all they had and exchanging what few trinkets the colonists had to barter for bags of corn and furs.

“And so we have found land for our city,” Thomas said, his dark eyes twinkling in the lamplight. “The Indians call the river the Chowan, and our town is quite near a town of friendly savages. The land is accessible through a deep body of water north of here, so the fleet can anchor there with our supplies.”

“
‘Tis not too close to the shore, is it?” Jocelyn asked. “The Spaniards—”

“The place is far enough inland so the Spaniards will tire of looking before they find us.”

After supper, Thomas asked about the colony, expressed his sorrow at the news of so many deaths, and finally asked about Jocelyn’s health. “I am well,” she answered, not knowing whether to be grateful or alarmed at his personal questions. ‘Twas almost as if she had sent one husband away, and a new one had returned in his stead.

The fire was dying when Audrey slipped into the house and climbed into her attic, and after latching the door, Jocelyn slipped into her nightgown and climbed into bed. She felt huge and was a bit ashamed of her distorted appearance, but Thomas crept in beside her and gazed at her in open delight. “I had forgotten how beautiful you are,” he whispered, nuzzling his beard close to her ear. “What a wife God has given me.”

And before the hearth had grown cold, he slept, his breath tickling her ear and his words warming her heart.

Within the next week, the colonists dismantled the walls of their houses, gathered their trunks and belongings, and deposited everything on the beach. Ananias Dare and Roger Bailie surveyed the growing mound of supplies to decide what should be transported and what should remain behind.

Remembering her father’s concern over his books, armor, and maps, Eleanor made certain that John White’s trunks were buried in a trench outside his house. Henry Payne was set to work carving CROATOAN on a post near the gate of the fort, while Roger Prat and his son loaded the smaller guns and cannon from the armory onto a cart.

“Why doesn
’t Henry carve ‘Chowan’ on the post?” Jocelyn asked Thomas as he supervised the dismantling of the church.

He gave her a fondly indulgent smile that left her knees weak. “The Governor will have no idea where we are,” he said, his voice warm. “The Chowan is a long river. But the men who will be installed on Croatoan will be able to direct him to us.”

Manteo and Towaye, who had been living in Dasemunkepeuc village with a band of the Croatoans, canoed to the island in time to bid farewell to the remaining colonists. As the group prepared to pull out, Jocelyn stood alone for a moment and considered the deserted fort. All that remained of the walls of their houses were timber posts sunk at regular intervals in the sand. Three huge cannon deemed too heavy to transport loomed upward from behind an earthen rampart of the fort, and three rows of freshly mounded graves lay in the far corner of the clearing. An air of desolation surrounded the village now, but only yesterday the place had brimmed with life.

“Are you coming, Mistress Colman?” Thomas called, eager to join the others on the beach. Jocelyn nodded and hurried to his side, wondering again what had come over her husband
.

thirty-one

T
he colonists gathered anxiously around Ananias for one final bit of government. All family units were to be transported to the new site on the Chowan River, but the sixty-three unmarried men had to draw lots, for thirty of them were to remain on Roanoke until all the goods had been transported, then move to Croatoan Island to wait for John White’s arrival.

“
A delegation will visit Croatoan in three months and offer whatever assistance you may need,” Ananias promised the group of unmarried men before the drawing began. “But I am certain our governor will return before the end of three months’ time.”

From the corner of her eye, Jocelyn could see Audrey chewing on her thumbnail as the drawing began.
If Roger Bailie drew a marked slip of parchment, William Clement would be required to live on Croatoan with his master until White returned, and Audrey desperately wanted to be married. As an assistant and council member, Bailie was among the first to draw, and Audrey breathed an audible sigh of relief when he held his clean slip of parchment aloft.

The long line of men silently advanced and drew their lots. When all had drawn, the thirty men with marked parchments stood apart and looked toward Ananias with resignation in their eyes.
“We will leave you behind with what we cannot transport today,” Ananias announced. He stepped forward and clapped his hand on the back of Richard Taverner, a broad-shouldered, dependable man who had proved himself a capable seaman and hunter. The parchment in Taverner’s hand was marked with a large X. “I hereby appoint this able man as your captain until you join us at the City of Raleigh.”

Taverner was respected and well-liked, so the men nodded in agreement, though Jocelyn couldn
’t help but notice that a few faces appeared crestfallen at the prospect of remaining behind.

Audrey squeezed her hand.
“‘Pon my soul, Miss Jocelyn, I’d have thrown meself in the sea and swum to Croatoan if William had been sent there.”

Jocelyn said nothing, but patted her maid
’s hand affectionately while she wondered if she would have felt so desperate had Thomas chosen to remain behind.

Jocelyn was amazed at how much the colony had managed to accumulate in such a short time.
‘Twould take three complete voyages in the pinnace to transport everything, but Ananias declared the food supplies and munitions a priority. Among the items put aboard the pinnace was a collection of light artillery, including a mortar and two falcons. Each of the colonists had at least one one-hundred pound trunk, and many of the assistants and married women had two. Added to this bulk were seed and food supplies, farming tools, and the timber and clay walls of their houses, ready for reassembly in their new city.

After saying their farewells to the men who would wait on Roanoke, the women boarded the pinnace and helped settle the cargo into the ship
’s hold. Many of the women complained about the close and crowded quarters, but the familiar rolling of the sea only reminded Jocelyn of the days when she had first met and fallen in love with Thomas Colman. Had similar memories influenced him while he was away on the expedition? Were they the cause of his newly affectionate behavior?

In late afternoon, the colonists aboard the heavily loaded pinnace called farewells to the men left on shore.
The men raised the ship’s anchor and the vessel left the eastern beach of Roanoke Island and headed west into a large sound. Though they were traveling into unfamiliar waterways, Jocelyn had to admit that from where she stood on the deck, the passage did appear safe. The narrow strip of barrier islands off the coast, passable only through two narrow slipways, effectively disguised the wide body of water through which they traveled.

The land to the north and south stretched as far as Jocelyn could see in a vast swampy marsh, with tall pines periodically poking through the gray-brown reeds.
Wildlife peered at the ship from beneath the inky surface of the water, then dove for cover as the pinnace approached. Jocelyn shivered and drew her cloak more closely about her. Were human eyes watching their progress as well?

Though she could hear sounds of laughter and relaxed conversation in the hold beneath her feet, the mood on the upper deck was tense and quiet.
Ananias and Thomas stood together at the bow, one man watching the north bank and the other the south, and old Roger Bailie leaned against the mainmast and hummed a comfortingly familiar English tune. ‘Twas as if they were trying to appear relaxed for the sake of the women, Jocelyn thought, but though the scouting party had traveled this waterway recently, no one could be sure of what lay ahead.