The White Doe

When the colonists did not arrive on the shores of Croatoan as planned, Manteo feared the worst.

Mindful of the approaching night, he and Okisko, Ceremonial Fox, took a canoe to Roanoke. They heard no sounds of talk. All the canoes and the pinnace were on the shore, laden with supplies.

"Ananias!" Manteo called.

No answer, save the cry of a lone hawk.

"Takes From Eagle," Ceremonial Fox called to him. "Look at this."

Takes From Eagle, called "Manteo" by the English, looked to where the conjurer pointed. On a tree were carved what the English called letters. Takes From Eagle had learned how to read when he lived with Raleigh in England. He sounded the letters out: "C. R. O."

He turned to Ceremonial Fox. "It seems as though someone was trying to leave a message. These symbols are the first three letters of our island's name in English."

Ceremonial Fox frowned, then reached into his medicine pouch and withdrew a handful of uppowok, which the English called "tabacco". He sprinkled Takes From Eagle with it, then himself. It was an appeal to the mantoac, the gods and it would help keep them safe. "We must hurry." He said, glancing at the sky. "Night comes."

The fort's massive door stood wide open. When they entered, the carnage that met their eyes was almost beyond belief. Both of them had seen Walker victims before, but never so many.

Takes From Eagle's eyes filled and he couldn't see.

The more practical Ceremonial Fox said, "They are not all here. The Walkers have taken many of them."

Takes From Eagle rubbed his eyes and with fresh horror saw that Ceremonial Fox was right. While the number of bodies was staggering, it was no where near the hundred that they should have seen.

"We need to take all the vessels away from here." Takes From Eagle said. "So many Walkers..."

Steeling themselves against the gore, they completed the grim task of pulverizing the skulls of the dead men, women and children. They carried the bodies down to the shore abroad thd pinnace, then set the ship aflame and cut the rope. The tide would take it away.

As they turned to their own, they heard a faint sound from inside the fort.

Takes From Eagle froze.

It came again--the whimpering of an infant. Against all odds, someone had survived.

He walked back to the English encampment. Slowly, almost reverently, Takes From Eagle picked up the baby from her cradle.

"What is that on her head?" Cried Ceremonial Fox. "Do these white men mutilate their own?"

"It is a cross," Said Takes From Eagle. "A holy symbol. Eleanor no doubt marked her, to keep her alive. At the cost of her mother's life, Virginia Dare yet lives." He brought the infant close to his chest.

The exhausted baby turned her head, seeking nourishment.

"We will take her with us," Said Takes From Eagle. "She will be raised as my daughter. She will not fall to the Walkers as her parents did."