At length it came about that thirty or forty men did all the work,
the others being simply idle loiterers. Seeing this, Smith called
all the colonists together one day and told them that he would
suffer the idleness no longer. "Every one must do his share," he
said, "and he who will not work shall not eat." And so powerful
had he grown that he was obeyed. The idle were forced to work, and
soon houses were built and land cleared and tilled.
At length there seemed good hope that the colony would prosper.
But now another misfortune befell it. For it was found that rats
had got into the granaries and eaten nearly all the store of corn.
So once again expeditions set forth to visit the Indians and gather
more from them. But their supply, too, was running short; harvest
was still a long way off, and all the colonists could collect
was not enough to keep them from starvation. So seeing this Smith
divided his men into companies, sending some down the river to
fish, and others into the woods to gather roots and wild berries.
But the lazy ones liked this little. They would have bartered
away their tools and firearms to the savages for a few handfuls of
meal rather than work so hard. They indeed became so mutinous that
Smith hardly knew what to do with them. But at length he discovered
the ringleader of these "gluttonous loiterers.
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