Pocahontas

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

JOHN SMITH

I hear an inaudible shout from the deck above. I sit inside the ships lowere decks eating and talking with a few other crew members. I turn around when I hear someone trompling down the stairs. It only takes a glance at the baggy green hat for me to realize it's Thomas.

"Come on!" he exclaims, "There's always later to finish your food, we've spotted land!"

Even I get a little excited about not seeing land for nearly five months. I pound up the narrow stairs to the main deck and stroll to the side of the ship with Thomas and the others just as we enter the mouth of a river that flows in the opposite direction. far ahead of us I see a large solid stone cliff with a part in the center that sticks out further than the rest. To the right of the cliff is where the river curves and becomes just a bit smaller.

"Come look over here john!" Thomas exclaims from the other side of the ship. He's so silent I didn't even hear him walk to the other side of the ship. I walk to the other side of the ship and lean on the rail at Thomas's side. I look far out past the trees and see several bare hills beyond the forest. In all my years of exploring, never have I ever seen anything quite so grand in scale. Other than that gigantic whale we spotted a few miles away on the way here.

We start to near the cliff and the ship turns to the right, missing it with ease and we sail past it down the smaller section of river. The river widens up again a bit and right around the cliff there is a large are of land with a minimal amount of trees, perfect for building the fort. I stroll down the deck to the rear deck house where Governor Ratcliffe stays. I knock loudly.

"Yes?" Comes Ratcliffes stern voice from inside. I barge in and march right up to his wooden desk.

"It's perfect Governor," I say, "The water is deep enough, we can pull right up to shore," I look at Governor Ratcliffe's face to see any change in emotion, but his face doesn't change. Quite an un-emotional man.

I reach down and pet Ratcliffe's small gray dog Percy who sits by his desk. Anytime I try to do that Percy gets shows his teeth and growls. So much for gratitude.

"Alright then," says Ratcliffe barely glancing up from his papers, "Give the order,"

"Very well sir," I reply. I start to leave but Ratcliffe looks up from his paper once more and says,

"About the Natives, I'm counting on you to make sure those filthy heathens don't disrupt our mission,"

"Well if they're anything like the savages I've fought before It's nothing I won't be able to handle," I reply.

"Very well," says the governor, "That'll be all Smith,"

"Thank you Governor," I reply and walk out the door and into the open air to get the crew ready to pull up to shore. To the New World. To my new home.