in the next hour. Was he, who felt within himself an unusual power to
organize and to command men, to be given this wonderful chance, such as
never yet had come to an Englishman, to plant firmly in a new land the
seed of a great colony? From his early youth his days had been devoted
to adventure. He was of that race of Englishmen who first discovered how
small were the confines of their little island and who sallied gaily
forth to seek new worlds for their ambition and energy. Raleigh, Drake,
Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir Humphry Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville and
John Smith were the scouts sent out by England's genius to discover the
pathways along which she was to send her sons. Bold, fearless,
untiring, cruel often, at other times kind and firm, they went into new
seas and lands, seeking a Northwest Passage, or to "singe the beard of
the King of Spain," or to find the legendary treasures of the New
Indies--yet all of them were serving unconsciously the genius of their
race in laying the foundations of new worlds. Perhaps of them all Smith
saw most clearly the value of the settlement in Virginia, and just as
clearly was he aware that the jealousies and avarice of many of his
fellow colonists would threaten seriously its growth and indeed its very
existence.

Though not one among the curious eyes turned on him, as he walked slowly
towards the stem, beheld any trace of emotion on his grave face, he was
consumed with the hope that he might be chosen to lead the great work.
Yet he feared, knowing that all the long voyage, almost from the time
they had sailed from England, his enemies, jealous of his fame and of
his power over men, had sought to undermine it and to slander his good
name. What lies they had spread through the three ships of a mutiny he
was said to be instigating, until orders were passed which made him
virtually a prisoner for the rest of the journey. But he would soon find
out if they intended to disregard and pass him by.