ons for her.

She soon got over her awe of the white men, judging, now that she had a
closer view of them, that they were in many ways like her own people.
And seeing that her lightheartedness was pleasant to them, she teased
and joked with them.

"Wilt thou eat a persimmon?" she asked Rolfe, smiling at the trap she
was laying as she stood on tiptoe to pick one from a branch above her.
And Rolfe bit into the golden fruit, not knowing that the persimmon till
ripened by frost is for the eye only. She laughed with glee as she saw
his mouth all puckered up until he believed it would never unpucker
again.

"I'll pay thee for this some day," he threatened in mock anger as soon
as he could speak; but she only laughed the more.

One of the reasons that Pocahontas was content to remain in Jamestown
was that she hoped to get news of Captain Smith's return. Every day she
would ask, sometimes Mistress Lettice, sometimes Sir Thomas Dale, or
anyone with whom she spoke:

"When cometh back the Captain? I am longing to see my Brother."

And one told her one thing, one another, some lying because it was
easier; some from sheer ignorance said they had heard that John Smith
had gone back to fight the Turks; that he grew fat and lazy in his
English home; that he was exploring further up the coast; that he might
be expected at Jamestown with the next ship. And Pocahontas, believing
those who said the last because she wished this to be the truth, was not
unhappy to wait among strangers that she might be the first to welcome
him.

The spot in the town which most excited her curiosity was the church.
The colonists had now replaced the first rude hut by a substantial
building with a tower. The bells that called Jamestown to daily prayers
had a weird fascination for the Indian girl. They seemed to speak a
language she could not understand. Nor could she understand the ceremony
which she observed, wide-eyed, of the kneeling men and women and the
white-robed clergyman who stretched out his arms over them.

"What doth it signify?" she queried; and Rolfe, remembering that the
conversion of the heathen was one of the reasons given by Europe for
sending colonies to the New World, tried to explain the mysteries of his
faith to her. But he found it too difficult a task, and besought the
Reverend Thomas Alexander Whitaker to undertake it in his stead.

This the zealous and gentle minister of the Gospel gladly consented to
do. Here was the great