A WORTHLESS CARGO
When we should have been striving to build up the town once more,
we spent all our time loading the ship with this worthless cargo,
and indeed I felt the better in my mind when finally Captain Newport
set sail, the John and Francis loaded deeply with sand, because
of believing that we were come to an end of hearing about treasure
which lay at hand ready for whosoever would carry it away.
In this, however, I was disappointed. Although there was no longer
any reason for our people to labor at what was called the gold
mine, since there was no ship at hand in which to put the sand,
they still talked, hour by hour, of the day when all the men in
Virginia would go back to England richer than kings.
Because of such thoughts was it well nigh impossible to force them
to labor once more. Yet Captain Smith and Master Hunt did all they
could, even going so far as to threaten bodily harm if the people
did not rebuild the storehouse, plant such seed as had been saved
from the flames, and replace those portions of the palisade which
had been burned.
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