"Meredith?" " Meredith?" "Meredith!" "Where are you?" " Indians." "Don't let them take me, ma'am!" "Don't let them take me!" "Huh..." "Help!" "Help!" "Meredith!" " Meredith, help me!" " Huh?" "Coming!" "Coming!" "Get back!" "Hm..." "Back off!" "Don't you dare!" "Ow!" "Oh, my God!" "He's cut me, he's cut me." "Get back here, cowards." " Stay down." " Meredith, come on." "Help me." " Huh?" "It's my hand." "Help me, Meredith!" "They came at me." "They were gonna kill me." "I had to fight them off." " Take his hands, take his hands." " Get him up." "Come here." " Oi!" "He's surrendered!" " I'll show you!" "Look what we got here." "There were dozens of 'em, dozens of 'em." "Eh?" "Eh?" "Eh?" "Eh?" "Keep moving." "Keep moving." "Eh?" "Eh?" " You can't kill him." " You can if he's coming to Jamestown." "I've got you now." "He were coming at me wi' a knife the size of my arm." "Two of 'em." "Four, four of 'em." "You must have fought very bravely." "Well, when you see a woman so a-feared, you don't think of your own safety." "What were they doing in the settlement, Dr Priestly?" "Well, you ask me, they came to take women." "But we in't gonna let them, are we?" "Not while there's fight in a man." "Is that true, Doctor?" "If that's what they wanted, they'd have taken you, Verity." "The Pamunkey have been known to take tools from the settlement." "Though that was before the peaceful times we live in now." "But... well, they didn't have no tools." "So why were they here?" "You see what they think of us?" "We let them mock us." "They come into our settlement and take our weapons from us." "He didn't steal it." "It was sold to them." "The musket went missing from Master Massinger's store six week ago." "Did he not find the thief?" "Nothing was reported, sir." "Any man who sells weapons to them is guilty of treachery." "A hanging offence." "Only one reason Pamunkey want muskets." "That's to use 'em against us." "Here, take it." "Does Chief Opechancanough know you are here?" "Did he send you?" "It is more likely, Governor, that these men are rogues." "Come to show their manliness." "To show they're better than us by stealing into the town." "No, you!" "You're waiting, aren't you?" "Preparing for a time when you can attack us!" "Who do we have can talk to the captive?" "Silas." "You gonna plant corn and tobacco?" "Both, sir." "Mostly tobacco." "Three, four acres your first year?" "I was hoping to work ten acres, sir." "Are you thinking of taking on men?" "Nah." "Can't afford that, sir." "Me and Pepper'll tend to the fields." "I in't afraid of land work." "It will take you years to farm just a portion of this plot." "So I thought we could trade." "I'll let you have some of my men." "You give me a piece of your land." "I'm thinking about 50 acres." "We waited a long time for our own piece of ground." "We in't keen to give it up." "You've got two plots since your brother died." "There's sense in my proposal and you know it, Sharrow." "He is not here to help us." "50 acres will never satisfy him." "He'll always want more." "But it's as he said, Alice." "We need to work the land." "He treats you as if he's still your master." "You aren't tenured to him no more." "You have a plantation and so does he." "Submit to him now, he will always master you." "Silas!" "Silas!" "Governor Yeardley says you are to come now, Silas." "They have a captive." "A Pamunkey." "And he has a weapon." "Right." "I'm grateful for your offer, Master Massinger, sir." "But it's not what I want." "Come on, lad." "How long have you been here, Mercy?" "I in't so good with months and years, ma'am." "What I do is I have one day and when that is finished, I have another day." "But you've been here long enough to know previous attacks by Indians?" "Them been known to kill folk, ma'am." "That's why when I seen 'em," "I clutched onto you with the mightiest clutch that I could clutch." "Perhaps you might tell me, Master Read." "Disease has killed more men than Indians but, er... there have been battles." "But I'm sure if they see that we bring a superior way of life, which we're willing to share with them, then they will not take up arms." "Our... superior way of life, that weren't too much use to us when they had to feed us." "The Indians know our intentions better than we do." "The more of us that keep coming, the more trouble there will be." "Then all hail the man who might create peace." "Did you come here... to steal shot and powder for your gun?" "Do you know what we do to thieves, you ugly beast?" "What did he say?" "Sir..." "Chacrow advised that you do not look into the water." "Yes." "Tell him what we do to thieves." "Governor, this will put the peace at risk." "We have women amongst us now." "Consider what this will do to our relations with the Pamunkey." "Tell him a thief forfeits both hands." "Why behave as fools?" "What value am I to you with no hands?" "Stop!" "I want to know who sold you that weapon." "Gentlemen." "It is clear to me now who stole my musket." "Who is it speaks the language?" "Who is it went up the river for several days with no good reason that I can see?" "What man amongst us needs funds and provisions to set up his plantation?" "The Sharrows were good workers." "Reliable men." "But they always had a defiance about them." "They thought themselves as good as their masters." "Master Massinger, did you believe they took your musket?" "I did." "But I could prove nothing." "Thank you, sir." "You went upriver, Silas Sharrow." "With your brother." "Why was that?" "To trade for corn, sir." "But you returned with no corn." "Because of the accident, because of what happened to my brother, his death," "I wanted to return home." "You speak the Indian language well, Sharrow." "When we first came here the Pamunkey gave us food." "They showed us how best to work this land." "You talk like a man who regards these savages as our equals." "They are our neighbours." "The musket was taken from your master's store and is now in the hands of "our neighbours"." "No one can believe I would..." "You went upriver for corn." "What did you propose to give the Indians in turn?" "It was my brother." "My brother had planned..." "Henry's..." "I don't know, sir." "You went miles into Indian territory without knowing what you were to offer 'em?" " In truth, sir, we weren't after corn." " Then you lied to us!" " Marshal, sir..." "My brother insisted that we go a-and that is as much as I can tell you." "Guards, put Silas Sharrow in the garrison with the Indian until he can be tried." "I saw your face at that hearing, James Read." "I believe you know something." "What's there to know?" "I wasn't there when the musket was stolen, was I?" "But you know Silas is not the kind of man that could be guilty of this." "Do I?" "God knows what come about up that river." "But it was not innocence that I saw in Silas $harrow's face when he returned." "When he's gone, your eyes might see that I'm the better man." "That day will never come!" "I won't let it!" "Are you willing to let Silas hang for something he did not do?" "Perhaps there's justice in it." "Massinger came to speak with me." "If I agree to his terms, he'll tell the marshal that I didn't steal the musket." "You must not give him any land, Silas." "Trading weapons is a hanging offence." "What other choice do we have, Alice?" "There must be someone else who can speak the language." " He can tell them it was not you." " They don't believe me." "So why would they believe Chacrow's word against Massinger?" "Well, then we'll prove to them that it wasn't you." "It is impossible." "I will get you out of here." "What did he say?" "There used to be a time... when we could count you people with marks on a stick." "Now we see... you keep coming." "Now women." "Now we see..." "Is it true there are as many of you... as there are stars in the sky?" "Mm." "He had a, he had a knife." "A knife at my throat, right...?" "I'd thank the stars if I had a man like you, James Read." "Oh, Lordy." "You do love Alice Kett with all your living soul, don't you?" "Henry Sharrow." "Davie?" "Davie McDurran?" "Your face is a mess, man." "What happened to you?" "My boat caught fire." "Davie, you were reported dead four year ago." "Was it that long?" "Davie McDurran a deserter?" "I saw the truth." "Starve in the settlement or risk being burned alive out here." "I made the best choice for Davie McD." "They adopted me." "There in't many reasons English come this far up the river." "What's yours?" "Burns like that, why in't you a dead man?" "Marshal Redwick is determined to create a war." "I am certain of it." " Why let him?" "Offer a better solution." " What benefit is there in that?" "If he defeats the Chickahominy, then there are the Patawomeck." "And if he defeats the Patawomeck, he must face the Pamunkey." "And on and on." "It is not the battle out there Redwick wishes to win, but the one in here." "He can convince the Company we should return to being a military garrison." "Was ever a woman so utterly abandoned?" "I might weep." "I have been listening to you and what seems clear to me is the captive presents a most timely opportunity." "An opportunity?" "What if we return him to his people, would that not show good will, Christian decency?" "It is a rather clever notion." "Yes." "Shrewd." "You'll speak to the governor, Samuel?" "Say that you will." "No, no, no, every day since those women arrived" "I see this settlement lift its skirts and whimper." "Why must we behave like jelly-kneed little girls?" "We are surrounded by, let us call them what they are, enemies!" "Thank you, Marshal." "Your enthusiasm to protect the settlement is most comforting." "But we live in an age of political solutions." "I must govern by the will of the Company." "They wish us to conquer the lands that we might send the benefits back to England." "So you insist on returning the captive, Governor?" "I insist on creating a colony where farmers might prosper." "Marshal, prepare a troupe of militia to make the trip." "Might I suggest that if our newly appointed governor were to lead the party to return the captive, hand him over to Chief Opechancanough himself, such a gesture will surely reap the rewards that you deserve?" "I met Opechancanough when I was Captain of the Guard." "Now that he is King and I am governor, of course we should meet." "It was you, wasn't it?" "Put that idea into Yeardley's head to return the bastard to his tribe?" "You are the recorder." "That is your place." "To record, not to meddle." "What is so wrong with wanting peace for the settlement?" "This is the last of your politicking." "We are going upriver." "You will stay here in Jamestown." "Tell that wife of yours to tame her admissions." "Or I'll make a gift to her of your balls on a platter." "He will." "Suppose, Redwick, if we get close to the Pamunkey village our prisoner tries to escape, tries to steal more weapons." "If he was killed, what might happen?" "If we have 50 armed men with us, it could turn to a bloody mess." "And wouldn't that be a prize worth having?" "If you do not accompany the governor, I do not see the point of the trip." "The point, Jocelyn, is that some good might come of it." "For the settlement, for the Indians, so that everyone might live without fear." "He will listen to you, dear Christopher." "Samuel must go." "Redwick and Farlow were opposed and now they're going." "Does that not make you suspicious?" "The governor trusts Samuel's sound judgement." " A gathering as important as this..." " Precisely." " So you will tell him?" " No, Jocelyn." "I will not say a single word to Samuel on the matter." " But why?" " Because you want me to." "Because I have never met a woman quite like you and if I concede to you now, I will do your bidding every day." "I will belong to you." "And I do not want to belong to you." "I have to resist you." "Oh, dear." "And I thought we were to be friends." "How did your boat catch fire?" "I'd been sleeping." "There was gunpowder on the boat." "I was smoking." "You came this far upriver on your own?" "Yes, I did." "You have brothers, don't you?" "Two of 'em still alive." "Pepper and Silas." "Won't they want to know you're alive?" "Erm..." "There's time." "Whoa, whoa." "Gabbon." "Gabbon." "Come here." "Gabbon saw the brothers taking the musket." "Sneaking away at night." "Well, why has this man spoken up now after so long?" "We'll try the matter with the witness when we return from our meeting with the Pamunkey." "They have a witness." "A man who's willing to lie." "James, I've only known you a short while but I cannot believe you would stand aside as an innocent man is condemned." " Leave me alone." " No, I won't." "Because Verity told me you're a good man." "A man of true conscience." "It's a fool who stands against Massinger." "If I thought it was fear stopped you telling me what you know about Massinger, I might forgive you." "But Verity says you're afraid of nothing." "Do you think you know this place, woman?" "Let it be, will you?" "I know that if a true man such as you hides his head when he could save a life, it will be a torment to him." "I owe no debt to Silas Sharrow." "Or to you." "It's your own soul will curse you, James Read, not me." "It seems to me that such a momentous encounter, our new governor confronting the Pamunkey chief, ought the occasion not be properly recorded?" "What do I know of such things?" "Of course Samuel must accompany us on the trip." "He seems strangely resistant." "I fear you must persuade him." "I will insist he's by my side." "Thank you." "But you will not tell him that I spoke with you about it." "He's rather oversensitive of my support of him." "If a wife cannot speak up for her husband, then who can?" "Am I allowed to tell our governor that he is a dear darling man?" "And handsome tool" "You seem to have captivated my husband, Mistress Castell." "It is not so difficult for a woman to seize a man's attention, Lady Yeardley." "If she has the capability." "You have dirt on your face." "Here, allow me." "There." "That's a start." "You spoke with Governor Yeardley, didn't you?" "I see him all of the time." "It's a small community we live in." "You went to persuade him to take me to the meeting with the Pamunkey." "Your voice fills my heart with fright when you speak to me that way." " Please be more gentle, my darling." " Answer me!" " My darling..." " Your best tunic is pressed, sir." "You will be the most pleasingly dressed man an Indian ever set his eyes on." "What can I do to make you stop?" "Is the master unhappy with his tunic, ma'am?" "There was a lad who worked for Massinger called Donovan Hamble." "He was a... a rag of a lad." "It wasn't easy to like him." "He was a whipping post for Massinger." "When the musket was stolen" "Hamble disappeared soon after." "So you have to suppose he stole the weapon." "What happened to him?" "Any man who knows Massinger can picture it." "He..." "lashed that boy till there was nothing left of him." "How do you know this, James?" "I've said all I want to say." "But that won't set Silas free, will it?" "But I've told you what I know." " Who else knows?" "Can't be the only one." " No one knows." "I'm saying this to help you but don't ask me no more." "If no one else knows, that means you were there." " Why won't you let it be?" " Because..." "I love Silas." "I saw Massinger bury that lad." "Where?" "You won't make me tell you that." "I've proved myself to you and now we are done." "Mmm." "Samuel... you must take me to see the captive in the morning." "Why would you want that?" "Silas." "I didn't steal Master Massinger's musket, sir." "Massinger will have to provide evidence that you took the weapon, Silas." "To come into the settlement he must know he might well be caught and killed." "Why would he do such a thing?" "It is not reckless to seek honour." "To outwit these men." "For a Pamunkey such things as iron hoes bring them great social advancement." "This man, my husband..." "This is the man who has arranged to have you taken home." "Jocelyn, what are you doing?" "Ma'am, I cannot tell him that." "This is the man." "Tell him." "Samuel is so modest." "How will he ever advance unless I promote his endeavours?" "Lady Yeardley, good morning." "You are from Banbury in Oxfordshire, aren't you, Mistress Castell?" "Somewhere near there, yes." "Excuse me, Lady Yeardley." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "What are you doing, woman?" "What are you looking for?" "Donovan Hamble!" "You know why I'm looking for him." "You know why he disappeared." "I will dig until I find him!" "Get back to work, you." "Get in there!" "There." "Land the boat there." "I never liked the darkness." "But with the menfolk gone the darkness is darker." "I wish there weren't so much night." "Why can't there be more day?" "Darkness is so full of things that aren't there." "And some that are there." "Mercy, you must fetch Dr Priestly for me." "Yes, ma'am." "D-Do you mean now, ma'am?" "Tell him Mistress Castell needs his attention." "Yes." "Christopher." "I'm so glad you didn't resist." "Forgive me for calling you out late at night, Christopher." " Did you call me?" " Isn't that why you're here?" "I'm here because I wish to speak with you." "I just couldn't bear to be alone." "The darkness seems darker." "Even with the door bolted I fear every wisp of the wind." "Jocelyn, the-the captive..." "When I was afraid as a child I-I used to dance." "I don't know why but it always seemed to soothe me." "Would you dance with me, Christopher?" "Please." "I spoke with Silas to ask why he was so reluctant to translate what you said to Chacrow." "Jocelyn... for a Pamunkey to be given back to his own people, it is humiliating." "He will be considered defeated, a coward." "To return him is an insult and a disgrace." "He'd have to show his strength by killing the man who'd do that to him." "What have I done?" "We will shake him awake." "Take him to those trees." "Shoot him in the back." "Shoot, man!" "He's escaping!" " Who's been hit?" " What the hell happened?" "The Indian escaped." "As soon as we were close enough he must have intended it." "I've nothing to offer to Opechancanough now." "Is this what you planned, Marshal?" "What I had planned was to feed the thieves' hands to the dogs but you stopped me." "Governor, please, please." "Opechancanough will learn that you brought the captive back to return him." "Now surely that is enough." "Surely you would not consider turning back now?" "There'll be no turning back." "What will we do if the master dies, ma'am?" "It is the most terrible thing." "Most terrible." "Most." "We must pray, ma'am." "Pray and pray and then pray some more." " Mercy..." " Yes." "Pray for God's mercy." "Yes." "We came here, Chief Opechancanough, intending to give back to you this man, Chacrow, as a sign that we English value the peace between us and the Pamunkey." "But you do not give Chacrow to us." "He escaped." "Hm." "We wanted to know if Chacrow and the other men came into our settlement with a weapon by the authority of their king?" "We would prefer if you traded with us honourably." "As we know the Pamunkey are honest people." "You told us when you came here you did not intend to stay." "When we first came we had no idea the land would be so kind." "Our intentions have changed." "There are many women in the town." "Yes." "It is good for men to take a woman." "We hope so." "They've been alone a long time." "Then more women will come?" "We hope so." "They will have children." "Bloodlines." "English bloodlines." "You take our land." "Our bloodlines." "Our honour." "What kind of friends are we?" "Alice!" "What's this madness?" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Do you hear me?" "What else am I to do?" "Answer me that, James." "They will find Silas guilty of a crime he did not commit and they will hang him!" "So I must go on digging." "And one day I will find that body!" "I don't know if this woman of yours is brave or just mad, Sharrow, but you tell her to stop digging outside my plantation... and I'll drop these charges against you." "Silas." "Silas, what happened?" "They set me free." "Massinger spoke with the marshal." "He told them that he checked his records and I wasn't on the plantation the day that the musket was taken."