Words would fail to describe the meeting of Captain Audley with his wife
and daughter. Mistress Audley, could tell her husband that she had been
buoyed up, not by false hopes, but by trusting One who orders all for
the best; and their hearts were lifted up in gratitude to Him Who had
seen fit to reunite them on earth; albeit, having the same blessed
faith, they had looked forward to a joyous meeting in Heaven. Vaughan
soon after returned, and became the husband of Cicely; but Lettice had
to undergo another trial. Captain Layton had to fulfil his promise to
his crew to go in search of a Spaniard, the object of his previous
adventure being accomplished. He was not a man to swerve from his word,
although he would fain have remained at the settlement, and enjoyed that
rest which those advancing in life desire. It happened one evening that
as Roger and Gilbert were walking along the banks of the river, they
caught sight of a small boat pulling rapidly down the stream, with two
men in her. Directly afterwards they encountered Fenton.
"I have just seen that fellow Flowers shove off with another man," he
said, "and when I demanded where they were going, he would give me no
answer. He has been holding correspondence with a strange Indian who
came up from the mouth of the river, and has since been trying to gain
over several of the ill-disposed in the settlement, for some object
which has not transpired."
"Then let us follow him," exclaimed Roger, "the _Rainbow's_ boat is near
at hand, and we may speedily overtake the traitor, if traitor he is."
They hastened on board the _Rainbow_, and wisely putting some provisions
and water into the boat, pulled away in chase of Flowers. The skiff
possessed by the latter was a fast one, and though they pulled on all
night they failed to come up with her. Sometimes they thought that they
must have passed her; if so, they hoped to meet her as she was coming
down at daylight. Just as they were nearing Hampton Roads, they caught
sight of a stout ship standing out past Old Comfort Point, with the
skiff of which they were in search towing astern. They immediately
redoubled their efforts; but before they could come up with her, the
breeze freshening, she stood away out to sea.
"That craft is a Spaniard, though she shows no colours," exclaimed
Roger.
"No doubt about it, sir," observed Ben Tarbox, who was pulling the
stroke oar, "and that accounts for why Master Nicholas was praising the
Spaniards. To my mind he is half a Spaniard himself; I thought no good
would come of his beads and his crosses, his paters and aves."
"What; was he a Romanist, then?" asked Gilbert.
"As arrant a one as I ever set eyes on," replied Ben; "and, if he had
had his will, he would have liked to make us all Romanists too, and burn
us at the stake, as they did in Mary's time."
"He is welcome to his religion," said Roger, "but if he is playing false
to the settlement, he will have yet to repent it. Lads, we must hasten
back on board the _Rainbow_, and go in chase of yonder Don. If she has
any evil design, she will be hovering round the coast for some time to
come."
His proposal was received with a loud cheer, and the crew giving way,
the boat, aided by the flood-tide, pulled back to James Town. The
_Rainbow_ was ready for sea, with the captain on board. A short note to
Lettice, telling her that they had gone to catch the Don, and not
omitting such expressions of affection as his heart prompted, was all
Roger had time to write. The breeze being fair, and the river now well
known, the _Rainbow_, under all sail, was soon rounding Old Comfort
Point. She had not got far down the Chesapeake when a sail was seen
ahead, standing to the southward, which made Captain Layton and his crew
only the more eager to come up with her. For all that night and the
next day the chase continued; but the _Rainbow_ kept the Don in sight,
and, ere evening closed in, ranged up on her quarter, firing a broadside
and receiving hers in return.
"We'll make short work of it, lads," cried the captain, ordering the
helm to be put to starboard, and running on board the Spaniard.
Grappling-irons secured her, and, led by Roger, the British crew were
quickly on her deck. Among the Spaniards was seen Nicholas Flowers,
fighting desperately; but they could not long withstand British muscle
and valour, and, ere five minutes were over, the Spanish ensign was
hauled down, her crew cried for quarter, and the patache _Nuestra Senora
del Pilar de Saragossa_ became a prize to the _Rainbow_.
She was richly laden, with a large store of provisions on board; these,
with the best part of her lading, and all her arms and ammunition, were
transferred to the _Rainbow_. The captain having no wish to detain the
survivors of her officers and crew, they were allowed to go on board,
with sufficient provisions to carry them back to their own country,
provided they were not captured by a Salle rover on their homeward
voyage. The _Rainbow_ having seen _Nuestra Senora del Pilar de
Saragossa_ safe out of the harbour, with her teeth thus drawn, proceeded
up the river, carrying Master Nicholas Flowers and his companion, one
Dick Trunnion, who swore that he had been beguiled to undertake the
adventure by Nicholas, not knowing his object. He, moreover, declared
that Master Nicholas was the very man who had piloted the Armada which
came so proudly to conquer England, dethrone the queen, and establish
the Holy Inquisition in the land; and that he had plotted to deliver up
the settlement to the Spaniards, who would speedily have committed all
the heretics who declined to conform to their faith to the flames. On
their arrival at James Town, Master Nicholas was delivered over to the
authorities, and his guilt being proved, he was hanged on board a ship
in which Sir Thomas Gates shortly afterwards returned to England. The
arms were claimed by the authorities; the rich lading of the prize was
divided among the crew of the _Rainbow_, the officers coming in for
their share.
"Lads," said Ben Tarbox, as the division of the spoil was being made,
"there is a young maiden whom we all know in the settlement, the
firstborn here, and the only one alive of our countrymen and
countrywomen who once dwelt in the land. She is dowerless and
friendless, except her young brother and an old grandfather, who maybe
sleeps in his grave by this time. I am ready to give half of my share,
and I invite those among us who have no kith or kin to give up such
portion of theirs as they may think fit; being very sure that it would
be thus better expended than it will be after the fashion many of us are
apt to get rid of our rhino. Those who think with me hold up their
hands, and those who don't, keep theirs in their pockets."
Ben's appeal was liberally replied to, and no one refused to give a
handsome portion of his share to the fatherless orphan.
Meantime, Mistress Lettice had been labouring diligently to instruct the
uncultivated mind of Virginia, who rapidly improved under her tuition.
From no one, however, did she obtain so much instruction as from her
brother, who, during every moment he could spare from his duties,
devoted himself to teaching her. Her astonishment at seeing the lovely
Pocahontas, dressed in the English fashion, and possessing far more
knowledge of English customs than herself, knew no bounds, and
instigated her to still greater exertions; so that, ere long, she
distanced the young bride in book-learning, if not in other
accomplishments. Harry Rolfe, indeed, at length became persuaded that,
while his wife remained in the country, she would make but slow progress
in such accomplishments as he wished her to acquire, and resolved to
take her to England. Mistress Audley warned him of the danger of
transplanting the flower of a southern region to a northern clime; but
he disregarded her admonitions, and sailed some months after his
marriage. News then came of the admiration his young bride, the
beautiful savage, as she was called, excited at court; then, that she
had given birth to a son, and afterwards, that she and her husband were
about to return. But, alas! by the next ship came the account of her
early death; though Harry brought back his boy to the land of his
adoption, regretting that he had ever left it.
Roger had for some time been rewarded with the hand of Lettice, but the
old captain, discontented, as many were, with the state of the colony,
proposed to return to his old home on the shore of Plymouth Sound, still
kept up by his faithful steward Barnaby Toplight. Captain and Mistress
Audley, hearing of his intentions, the former especially longing to see
once more his native land, determined to accompany him. Roger and
Lettice, though not weary of the colony, were unwilling to let him go
alone to a solitary home, and he gladly accepted their offer to return
with him. Virginia had daily grown in their affections, and as they
felt sure that her presence would cheer the declining days of her
grandfather, they invited her and Oliver to accompany them, it being
settled that the latter should return after a time to Vaughan, should he
so wish.
The _Rainbow_ arrived safe in England; Oliver and his sister were
affectionately received by their grandfather. From that day forward he
would scarcely part from Virginia, so completely did she entwine herself
round his heart.
"Ah!" she used to say, "I obeyed my Indian grandfather, Oncagua, from
fear; but I like to do what you tell me because I love you, and you are
so kind."
She little thought how firmly her image remained impressed on the stern
warrior's heart, of which he afterwards gave a strong proof.
Oliver and Virginia remained with the old man, who, however, worn out by
age and disappointment, died in their arms, tended dutifully by them to
the last. Oliver had long desired to go back to the colony his sister
refusing to be separated from him, and her education being now
considerably advanced, they obtained the sanction of Mistress Audley to
return thither. They sailed in the _Rainbow_, under the command of
Roger Layton.
While he was away, the old captain invited Mistress Audley and her
husband to stay with him and their daughter; a home they never
afterwards quitted, as Captain Layton dying, they lived on with Lettice
and Roger, who gave over the command of the ship to Fenton; for Gilbert
had settled with his brother in the colony. Having established a home,
he persuaded Virginia, ere long, to become its mistress.