Chapter 1

It had been a full year since Captain White left for England, with no sign of him or the supplies he’d promised to obtain. We had made it through the first winter, barely, on trade with the Indians and the meager fish we could catch, but our original number of 121 had dwindled to 77 through starvation, illness, and the depradations of the Secotan Indians. It was obvious to all of us that the next winter would carry everyone off. We had been able to grow a little Indian corn, but not enough to last the winter, and we were running low on clothes as well. I had outgrown my coat as I grew into my fourteenth year, and my shoes had worn through. Since March I had gone barefoot, clad only in my breeches and shirt. Virginia was warmer than England but I knew from last year’s experience that would want better clothes for the winter, and if the breeches gave out like they were threatening to, I would be as naked as the Indians.

It was the same Indians who were our only hope. We had formed an uneasy alliance with the Croatoans, who lived on an island south of Roanoke. In exchange for food, we would use our guns and steel against their enemies the Secotans. What they didn’t know was that by August of 1588, we were running low on balls for the guns as well as food, and whether our few swords would be enough to hold of the Secotans was anyone’s guess. However, we had grown to be better friends with the Croatoans as we learned more of their language and they learned more of ours. In particular, I had grown closer with Hurritt, a younger brother of our emissary to the Croatoan, Manteo. He was my age, and as all the other colonists were either fully grown or much younger children, I was relieved to have someone to pass the time with on the rare occasions I could get away from work. He taught me how to shoot an arrow and fish in the Indian style, and we went swimming together in the sound.

Being totally deprived of female stimulation, I have to confess that I rather enjoyed seeing Hurritt deprived of what little clothing he typically wore. He returned my interest, and one day he finally confirmed it by reaching out and taking my cock in his hands. I wasn’t totally inexperienced in such matters, having caught the attention of one of the sailors on the voyage over, but he had been much more interested in his own pleasures than mine. Hurritt, in contrast, seemed to want me to enjoy it, and enjoy it I did. After a few strokes, I deposited my seed in the calm waters of the sound.

“Now, you do me,” Hurritt said when I’d recovered, pointing to his own erect member. I happily complied, and then we swam over to the shore. We lay together on the beach and soon drifted to sleep until we were awoken by the trumpet signaling me to return to the palisade for the night. I hurriedly dressed myself and ran back to the palisade. The masters of the colony, especially Reverend White, would no doubt have been furious if they knew what we’d been doing.

It turned out that I didn’t need to worry about disguising my flushed face or disheveled appearance. The masters had all repaired to the house of Ananaias Dare, who was captain of the colony in Governor White’s absence. Rumors flew among the women and lesser men that night – that an English ship had been sighted, or conversely that we were on the verge of being attacked by the Spaniards, or that we were going to try to build a ship and return to England.

It turned out that none of those rumors was true. In fact, Manteo had informed Captain Dare that the Secotan were forming an alliance with kingdoms further south, and that they planned to march on Roanoke and slaughter us all. Alone, we would be no match for this army, but Manteo had offered for us to move our houses next to the Croatoan village. Combined, we would be in a better position to hold off the Secotan. Some of the men didn’t want to go, fearing that the Indians would betray us, but Captain Dare realized that there was no other option.

And so, we carefully dismantled the houses we had laboriously constructed and reerected them on Croatoan, then carved the name of the island on a tree to let Governor White know where we were if he ever returned. I started to carve it into a second tree just to be safe, but an alarm was raised that the Secotan were upon us before I could get past the third letter. Fortunately, the alarm turned out to be false, but by the time we realized that it was too late to go back and finish.