[
100]
of pearls.
Lane was so credulous, that he at-
tempted to ascend the rapid current of the
Roanoke; and his followers, infatuated with greedy avarice, would not return till their stores of provisions were exhausted, and they had killed and eaten the very dogs which bore them company.
On this attempt to explore the interior, the
English hardly advanced higher up the river than some point near the present village of
Williamstown.
The
Indians had hoped to destroy the
English by
thus dividing them; but the prompt return of
Lane prevented open hostilities.
They next conceived the plan of leaving their lands unplanted; and they were willing to abandon their fields, if famine would in consequence compel the departure of their too powerful guests.
The suggestion was defeated by the moderation of one of their aged chiefs; but the feeling of enmity could not be restrained.
The
English believed
that a wide conspiracy was preparing; that fear of a foreign enemy was now teaching the natives the necessity of union; and that a grand alliance was forming to destroy the strangers by a general massacre.
Perhaps the
English, whom avarice had certainly rendered credulous, were now precipitate in giving faith to the whispers of jealousy; it is certain that, in the contest of dissimulation, they proved themselves the more successful adepts.
Desiring an audience of Wingina, the most active among the native chiefs,
Lane and his June attendants were quickly admitted to his presence.
No
hostile intentions were displayed by the Indians; their reception of the
English was proof of their confidence.
Immediately a preconcerted watchword was given; and the Christians, falling upon the unhappy king and his principal followers, put them without mercy to death
