Page:Aristopia (1895).pdf/54

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hannock. At an Indian village near the mouth of the latter river the party found one who seemed to them like an old friend: an Indian named Mosco, whom they had first encountered far up the Patawomek, and who had been their guide to the mine of the substance which Smith supposed to be antimony. Learning that the party proposed to go up the Rappahannock, Mosco at first endeavored to dissuade them, by telling them of the fierce and implacable nature of the Indians far up the river, but afterward attached himself to the party, and accompanied them on all their explorations of this river. He was quite useful.

The explorers found that the Rappahannocks were indeed a fierce and treacherous tribe. Smith's party had several fights with these savages. The latter would ambush themselves on the margin of the river by holding before them branches of trees which they had broken off. In one of these encounters Ralph Morton, who had left the boat and gone out for a parley, received a severe arrow-wound in the fleshy part of the right arm.

Leaving the Rappahannock, the party went to explore the south end of the Chesapeake.