Now this Indian settlement into which the runner had come was the
Pow-ha-tan village of Wero-woco-moco, and was the one in which
the old chief Wa-bun-so-na-cook usually resided. Here was the
long council-house in which the chieftains of the various tribes
in the confederacy met for counsel and for action, and here, too,
was the "long tenement-house" in which the old chief and his
immediate family lived.
It was into this dwelling that the runner dashed. In a group
about the central fire-pit he saw the chief. Even before he could
himself stop his headlong speed, however, his race with news came
to an unexpected end. The five fires were all surrounded by
lolling Indians, for the weather in that winter of 1607 was
terribly cold, and an Indian, when inside his house, always likes
to get as near to the fire as possible. But down the long
passage-way the children were noisily playing at their games--at
gus-ka-eh, or "peach-pits," at gus-ga-e-sa-ta, or "deer-buttons,"
and some of the younger boys were turning wonderful somersaults
up and down the open spaces between the fire-pits. Just as the
runner, Ra-bun-ta, sped up the passage-way, one of these youthful
gymnasts with a dizzy succession of hand-springs came whizzing
down the passage-way right in the path of Ra-bun-ta.
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