But when he came to Jamestown he was sorry that he had not staid among the Indians.  Captain John Smith had gone home to England.  George Percy was now governor of the English.  They had very little food to eat, and Spelman began to be afraid that he might starve to death with the rest of them.  Powhatan—­not Little Powhatan, but the great Powhatan, who was chief over all the other chiefs in the neighborhood—­sent a white man who was living with him to carry some deer meat to Jamestown.  When it came time for this white man to go back, he asked that some of his countrymen might go to the Indian country with him.  The governor sent Spelman, who was glad enough to go to the Indians again, because they had plenty of food to eat.

Three weeks after this, Powhatan sent Henry Spelman back to Jamestown to say to the English, that if they would come to his country, and bring him some copper, he would give them some corn for it.  The Indians at this time had no iron, and what little copper they had they bought from other Indians, who probably got it from the copper mines far away on Lake Superior.

The English greatly needed corn, so they took a boat and went up to the Indian country with copper, in order to buy corn.  They quarreled with the Indians about the measurement of the corn.  The Indians hid themselves near the water, and, while the white men were carrying the corn on their vessel, the Indians killed some of them.  About this time, seeing that the white men were so hungry, the Indians began to hope that they would be able to drive them all out of the country.

Powhatan saved Spelman from being killed by the Indians; but, now that the Indians were at war with the white men, who were shut up in Jamestown without food, they wished to kill all the white people in the country.

Spelman and a Dutchman, who also lived with Powhatan, began to be afraid that he would not protect them any longer.  So, when a chief of the Potomac Indians visited Powhatan, and asked the Dutchman and the boy to go to his country, they left Powhatan and went back with them.  Powhatan sent messengers after them, who killed the Dutchman.  Henry Spelman ran away into the woods.  Powhatan’s men followed him, but the Potomacs got hold of Powhatan’s men, and held them back until Spelman could get away.  The boy managed at last to get to the country of the Potomac Indians.

It was very lucky for Spelman that he was among the Indians at this time.  Nearly all the white people in Jamestown were killed, or died of hunger.  Spelman lived among the Indians for years.  During this time more people came from England, and settled at Jamestown.  A ship from Jamestown came up into the Potomac River to trade.  The captain of the ship bought Spelman from the Indians.  He was now a young man, and, as he could speak both the Indian language and the English, he was very useful in carrying on trade between the white men and the Indians.