But for this golden fever, which attacked the gentlemen more fiercely
than it did the common people, the story of Jamestown would not
have been one of disaster brought about by willful heedlessness and
stupidity.
Again and again did Captain Smith urge that crops be planted, while it
was yet time, in order that there might be food at hand when the winter
came; but he had not yet been allowed to take his place in the Council,
and those who had the thirst for gold strong upon them, taunted him with
the fact that he had no right to raise his voice above the meanest of
the company. They refused to listen when he would have spoken with them
as a friend, and laughed him to scorn when he begged that they take heed
to their own lives.
I cannot understand why our people were so crazy. Even though Nathaniel
and I were but lads, with no experience of adventure such as was before
us, we could realize that unless a man plants he may not reap, and
because we had been hungry many a time in London town, we knew full well
that when the season had passed there was like to be a famine among us.
I can well understand, now that I am a man grown, why our people were
so careless regarding the future, for everywhere around us was food in
plenty. Huge flocks of wild swans circled above our heads, trumpeting
the warning that winter would come before gold could be found. Wild
geese, cleaving the air in wedge shaped line, honked harshly that the
season for gathering stores of food was passing, while at times, on a
dull morning, it was as if the waters of the bay were covered completely
with ducks of many kinds.