see the white men, and offered them maize and fish; every thing went on pleasantly, and the ships having returned home, Raleigh named the new region VIRGINIA, in honor of his virgin queen.

But soon afterward, his men who remained behind began to quarrel with the Indians; and you will be sorry to hear that having burnt down an Indian village in revenge for the theft of a silver cup, they laid a snare for one of the chiefs, and treacherously put him to death with eight of his warriors. After this, I dare say the murderers' consciences smote them, and they left the place and went home by the first ships which came that way.

When Raleigh heard of it, he sent out another ship, and landed fifteen men on the island, and told them to be sure and treat the Indians well. But the red men had not forgotten the murder of the chief and the eight warriors. When Raleigh sent out a third party of settlers, next year, to build a city which was to bear his name, they found no one on the island. One skeleton lay on the sand, the bones bleaching in the sun-this was all that remained of

the fifteen men.

The new settlers landed, and the ships sailed away, promising to return early next spring. By the time they arrived in England, however, war was raging with Spain: every one was providing for defense, and no one but the faithful Raleigh thought of the exiles who were far away across the sea. He never forgot them for an instant.

Early in spring he dispatched two ships, with food, to Roanoke. But the Spaniards were on the look

out on the coast; the moment Raleigh's vessels went to sea, they attacked them, captured one, and drove the other back to port.

Raleigh did not lose heart. He hired other ships, and loaded them with more provisions; but just at that time the news came that the king of Spain, with an immense fleet of ships of war, which is called in history the Spanish Armada, was on the way to conquer England. Every English ship was taken to defend the coast against this terrible armada, and Raleigh's with the rest.

By this time so many losses had ruined him ; he had no money left to hire new ships, and could only go about wildly imploring rich men to send food to the men, women, and children—over a hundred in all-who were starving on the island of Roanoke in America. For a long time no one would listen to him, and Raleigh's brave heart nearly broke under his grief; but at last, three years after the ships had sailed away from Roanoke, others were sent to the relief of the settlers.

They came too late. When the crews landed, they found the huts standing, but the furniture was broken; deer were browsing within the fence, and no human being was to be seen. While they were looking round for traces of the lost exiles, the wind began to blow, and they were forced to re-embark on board their ships and put to sea; and no one, from that day to this, has known what became of the unfortunate people who came to Roanoke in the year one thousand five hundred and eighty-seven to found the city of Raleigh.

For many years after this, the English did not try to settle in America. They sent a few ships out, which sailed up and down the coast, and bought furs, sassafras, and other articles from the Indians; but when their cargoes were on board, they turned their bow to the east and sailed homeward. It was not till peace reigned in Europe that France and England began to think once more of the great countries which lay on the other side of the stormy

ocean.

CHAPTER II.

NEARLY twenty years after Raleigh's last party

of settlers had landed on the island of Roanoke -to perish of hunger, or to be killed by the Indians -the restless people of England, now at peace with Spain, began to think once more of founding colonies in Virginia.

Their best man, Sir Walter Raleigh, lay pining in the Tower, where he had been imprisoned by the miserable King JAMES I., for no better reason than that he was brave and good and honest, which the king was not; but there were many other adventurous Englishmen, great and small, who had a hankering after the western world-some from a desire for gain, others from restlessness, others from high and noble hopes of founding a new nation. The king was always ready to do any thing that was asked of him by great people, provided it cost him no money: the adventurers got the Chief Justice to apply to James for them, and soon obtained a great Patent-which was a piece of parchment, sealed with a great seal, in which King James said he gave away such and such lands, which did not belong to him.

Accordingly, one wintry day in December, in the year one thousand six hundred and six, three little ships, the largest of which was smaller than many of our coast schooners, set sail for America with one

hundred and five men, only twelve of whom had ever been used to hard work. The others were idlers, ruined gentlemen, goldsmiths, and persons who thought they could make rapid fortunes by picking up lumps of gold in the new country. The little fleet was commanded by SIR CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT; under him were WINGFIELD, a sordid, spiteful fellow, who thought of nothing but his own gain; a brave sailor named GOSNOLD; ROBERT HUNT, a clergyman; and Captain JOHN SMITH, the most famous of all.

He had been a great traveler, and a bold soldier. When a boy, he had gone over to Holland, and fought in the Dutch wars: when these ended, he traveled to Hungary to fight against the Turks. For many years his flashing plume and his swift sword had been the terror of the Sultan's troops; but one day, falling wounded in a skirmish, he had been captured, taken to Constantinople, and sold as a slave. He was bought by a Turkish lady and sent to the Crimea, which then belonged to Turkey. There he endured such cruel treatment that, in a fit of passion, he killed his task-master, mounted a horse, and fled northward through Russia. On his way he heard that war was raging in Morocco, and, as eager for the fray as ever, turned about and hastened thither.

When there were no more Moors or Turks to slay, he returned to England, just in time to embark on board the ships bound to Virginia. He was not thirty years old at this time, though he had seen and suffered so much; but there was no one in the fleet as