POCAHONTAS.  I will not shoot at deer!

WOMAN.  Ah, but you must.  The braves have gone to watch the white men. 
So we must do the hunting.  Come!

POCAHONTAS.  I will not shoot at deer!

THIRD GIRL.  She never shoots at them.

WOMAN.  Why, what is this?

FOURTH GIRL.  She only shoots at trees and sedges peeping from the water.

WOMAN.  Now why do you not shoot at deer?

POCAHONTAS.  They look at me so gently.  I cannot bear to kill them.

FIRST GIRL.  She will not kill anything.

SECOND GIRL.  She will not even shoot a bird.

WOMAN.  Can this be true?

POCAHONTAS.  I will not kill the pretty things.  This forest is their home, the same as it is ours.

WOMAN.  Such talk I never heard before!  The braves must know of this.

POCAHONTAS.  No, no!  They will tell my father!

WOMAN.  Aye!  Chief Powhatan must know.

POCAHONTAS.  I beg you not to tell him!

THIRD GIRL.  He will send her from his wigwam!  Do not tell him!

[Illustration:  “I WILL NOT SHOOT AT DEER”]

FOURTH GIRL.  He will send her alone into the forest!  Do not tell him!

POCAHONTAS.  Do not tell him!

WOMAN.  Then take your bow and kill a deer.

POCAHONTAS.  I will not!  I have told you that!  I cannot!

WOMAN.  Powhatan shall know.  Before the sun sets, Powhatan shall know.

[INDIAN BOYS enter.]

FIRST BOY.  The braves have brought a prisoner!

SECOND BOY.  It is the white chief from the village!

THIRD BOY.  They have taken him to Powhatan!

FOURTH BOY.  Come, if you would see him!

WOMAN.  I come!  I come!

GIRLS.  And I!  And I!  And I!

[They go.]

SCENE II

TIME:  a little later.
PLACE:  Indian camp.

* * * * *

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
MEDICINE MAN. 
CHIEF POWHATAN. 
POCAHONTAS. 
BRAVES, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN.

* * * * *

[CAPTAIN SMITH stands before POWHATAN.  He holds a small compass in his hand.]

SMITH.  Let me live, great chief!  Let me live and you shall have my talking needle!

POWHATAN.  Talking needle!  What is that?

SMITH.  It is this needle in this box.  It talks whenever I wish it.

POWHATAN.  What does it say?

SMITH.  It tells me where to find the north.  I turn the box this way,—­I turn the box that way.  But the needle always shows the north to me.

POWHATAN.  Why, so it does!  It is very strange and wonderful!

A BRAVE.  Will it tell the north at night?

SMITH.  In the darkest night it tells you.

ANOTHER BRAVE.  Will it tell the north on water?