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didn’t think it prudent to let him ride the horses near the settlement. I arranged for Moyock to live in one of Powhatan’s settlements a few miles from Jamestown. I wanted him to learn all he could about their language, and to keep his ears open for any information about other white settlers to the north.   I could bring my steeds to that village and give Moyock riding lessons without being spied upon by hostile parties.  
    Back in Jamestown, Pungo brought me word that Pochins, son of Powhatan, and Chief of the Kecoughtan, named a price for the slave girl that I wanted to free.
    “Pochins, he say he want horse for slave girl.”
    No way I could   part with one of them. I didn’t know how far it was to find the Welsh and the Holy Grail. I needed the horses to carry not only me, and   Moyock, but also supplies for the trip. “Tell Pochins, I cannot part with a horse, but I will discuss other prices.”
    When Pungo returned he said, “Pochins say slave girl very valuable. She hard worker. Give warriors much fun. He will take five matchstick rifles and ammunition for her.”
    “Tell Pochins, the weapons   belong to the settlement, and not to me. I have no control over them. As a counter, I could trade some metal tools, a hatchet, saws or hammers.”
    Pungo was a long time returning. When I saw him coming down the trail, I figured he had some bad news. He carried a bundle. When he got up to me he dropped the bundle. A wad of black hair spilled out of it. “Pochins say, he is Chief. You do not offer Chief cheap tools. Here is your girl. You can have her.”
    I stared in horror at the scalp. My bloody red scarf was still wrapped around it. “My god! That fiend! That loathsome swine!” I’ve seen terrible things done to men in battle, but to butcher a female prisoner shocked me. The scalp appeared to be fresh. “Did he kill her in front of you?”
    “Yes. They use her first, Pochins, his sons, others. He tell me to do. I can not. Stallion not work. He want to kill me. Son say that start war with my clan. Pochins calm down, stab and scalp girl. He say I bring to you.”
    “He has made an enemy. I will not forget this.”
    Captain Smyth said, “Best you forget it, son. There’s no use in getting worked up over a slave girl. From the way you said she was treated, she wouldn’t have lived long anyway. Perhaps she’s better off.”
    “Better off is dead? I would have freed her.”
    “To what purpose? Have you thought about that?”
    I couldn’t give him a good answer.
    “Remember these people are savages, not Christians. You can’t be concerned over the things they do to each other…or you’ll never sleep.”
    He told Pungo to bury the scalp and my scarf.   Smith’s question forced me to examine my own less than noble intentions. True I had planned to free her from slavery. Beyond that I merely expected that she would be available for my own lusts. I hadn’t thought further.
    Now I feared for Moyock’s safety. Rather than ride my noisy horses, carefully skirting other Natural clusters, I walked to the village where he stayed. Entering the camp, I raised my right hand in a gesture that the Naturals recognized as coming in peace.
    With Moyock translating, using two languages and hand signs, I probed an old man for information about the distant countryside as far as he knew it. He had not heard of other White Men. Because of trade with other tribes, he had heard of high hills to the west. Considering the size of the James and York, it stood to reason that highlands existed as a source of the rivers somewhere to the west.
    Before I left I talked to Moyock alone. “I want to tell you something, that I don’t want anyone else to know. I’m thinking of making a long exploring trip far from Jamestown. I would like to take you with me, just the two of us, if you want to go. Only think about it for now. I’ll tell you more at a later time.”
    “Leaving Jamestown seems good to me…think I have many enemies