“Before three days are past I shall return this way with my squaw.  No longer will I wait for her to feign deafness to my piping.  She shall listen to it and follow me to my lodge.”

Knowing that he was among a friendly allied tribe, Claw-of-the-Eagle strode along as openly and as carelessly as he would have done at Werowocomoco or Powhata.  Yet suddenly, like a deer that scents a bear, he stood still, his nostrils quivering; then, slipping behind a tree, he notched an arrow to his bow.

“A white man,” he thought, long before his eyes caught sight of him.

Concealed by the tree, he waited and watched pass the man he knew was the new English captain, and to his astonishment found that the women who accompanied him were Pocahontas and a squaw of the Patowomekes.  It was the squaw of Japezaws; and it was at his bidding that she was now acting.

“Because thou hast seen as often as thou wilt the lodges of the palefaces,” Claw-of-the-Eagle heard her say to Pocahontas, “is it right for thee to marvel that I am eager to witness with mine own eyes such strange ways as are theirs and the marvels the white chief hath stored in the canoe?”

“I do not wonder,” laughed Pocahontas; “and in truth I rejoice to go with thee, and with the few words of their tongue that I have not forgotten to ask for thee the questions thou wouldst put to him.  I, too, have questions to ask him.”

When they had passed the young brave followed them, far off enough that Pocahontas’s quick ear might not hear his step that would have been noiseless to the Englishman.

At the bank to which the pinnace was moored he sought cover back of a large boulder, his eyes never moving from the women before him.  He watched them go on board, saw the English sailors rise to receive them, and heard the eager outcries of the squaw as she felt of their garments and went about the deck of the little craft, while Pocahontas explained as far as her own knowledge went, the meaning of anchor and sail, of cooking utensils and muskets.  He saw Captain Argall open a small chest and hand out presents to the two women, Japezaws’s squaw uttering loud cries of delight as beads and gaudy handkerchiefs were placed in her hands.

Claw-of-the-Eagle waited to see what would happen next.  After an hour’s watching he beheld the two women approach the side of the pinnace nearest the shore, the squaw in front.  She sprang to the bank and ran lightly into the forest.  Pocahontas had her foot on the gunwale to follow her when Captain Argall took hold of her arm.

“Come with us to Jamestown, Princess,” he said; “we will welcome you for a visit.”

Pocahontas’s anger flared up.  Never in her life had she been restrained by force.  She wasted no time nor strength in entreaty, but sought to wrench herself away from him.  But the Englishman held her firmly but gently, and while she struggled the sailors shoved the boat out into the stream.