his men how the company of Ralph Lane, in their explorations of the Roanoke River, had urged their leader to go forward, saying that they had still a dog, which, boiled with sassafras leaves for sauce, would richly feed them until they could finish their journey, although they had not a mouthful of bread.
"But we have no dog," said one of the men.
"But we have plenty of bread," returned the Captain, "albeit somewhat mouldy. I charge you, gentlemen, to remember that, in setting out, you were suspicious of my tenderness, thinking I would be for turning back, while you would be all for going on. I have shared with you the worst thus far. It is unlikely worse is to come. This is my second summer in Virginia, and I never saw such a continuance of storms as we have weathered. You may expect a long period of fair weather now. For what is to come, whether it be weather, or diet, or whatsoever, I am contented to take the worst. Do you lack shelter at night? Take my blanket. Is the bread bad? Take the best and leave the mouldiest for me. As for your fears that I will lose myself in these great, unknown waters, or that we shall be swallowed in some stormy gust, abandon
