Lest there should be any question as to whether my master intended to
carry out this threat or no, William Laxon, one of the carpenters, was
forthwith set to work building stocks in front of the tent where lived
Master Ratcliffe, the new President of the Council. Nor was this the
only change disagreeable to our gentlemen, which Captain Smith brought
about. No sooner had Nicholas Skot proclaimed the order that whosoever
played at bowls should be set in the stocks, than he was commanded to
turn about and announce with all the strength of his lungs, so that
every one in the village might hear and understand, that those who would
not work should not have whatsoever to eat.
Verily this was a hard blow to the gentlemen of our company, who prided
themselves upon never having done with their hands that which was
useful. One would have thought my master had made this rule for his own
particular pleasure, for straightway those of the gentlemen who could
least hold their tempers in check, gathered in the tent which Master
Wingfield had taken for his own, and there agreed among themselves that
if Captain Smith persisted in such brutal rule, they would overturn all
the authority in the town, and end by setting the Captain himself in the
stocks which William Laxon was then making. It so chanced that Master
Hunt overheard these threats at the time they were made, and, like a
true friend and good citizen, reported the same to Captain Smith.
Whereupon my master chose a certain number from among those of the
gentlemen who had become convinced that sharp measures were necessary if
we of Jamestown would live throughout the winter, commanding that they
make careful search of every tent, cave, hut or house in the village,
taking therefrom all that was eatable, and storing it in the log house
which had been put up for the common use.
Then he appointed Kellam Throgmorton, a gentleman who was well able to
hold his own against any who might attempt to oppose him, to the office
of guardian of the food, giving strict orders that nothing whatsoever
which could be eaten, should be given to those who did not present good
proof of having done a full day's labor.
Of course the people who lay sick were excused from such order, and
Master Hunt was chosen to make up a list of those who must be fed, yet
who were not able to work by reason of illness.