These were holes dug in the
side of small hillocks until a sleeping room had been made, when
the front part was covered with brush or logs, built outward from
the hill to form a kitchen.
During a storm these cave homes were damp, often times actually
muddy, and those who slept therein were but inviting the mortal
sickness that came all too soon among us, until it was as if the
Angel of Death had taken possession of Jamestown.
Captain Smith said everything he could to persuade these people,
who were content to live in a hole in the ground, that they were
little better than beasts of the field.
But so long as the foolish ones continued to believe this new world
was much the same as filled with gold and silver, so long they
wasted their time searching.
THE GOLDEN FEVER
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.
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