reaped and throughout the island there went up a shout of anticipatory triumph. But, alas! the sanguine hopes aroused were destined never to be realized for reasons which must now be related.
Sir Thomas Dale, one of the most experienced commanders of the Company at the time, was sent in 1619 from India to Bantam charged with the special duty of protecting English shipping and English interests from the attacks of the Dutch. In his early days Dale had served as a military commander in the service of the States General. But he is best known as one of the first governors of the infant Colony of Virginia. It was he who brought over to England the celebrated Princess Pocohontas whose romantic story so stirred the sentimental hearts of a past generation. He was a bluff, choleric type of man, ready of tongue and in official matters exacting and punctilious. He was rather feared than loved by those under him. As far as the particular service upon which he was engaged was concerned, he was at a distinct disadvantage owing to the fact that his experience in positions of authority had been gained in the West and not in the East.
On receiving at Bantam the intelligence of the latest moves of the Dutch, Dale's hot blood boiled over with indignation. He swore with all the freedom which he allowed himself that he would have vengeance of these ruffianly Hollanders, and especially of that arch enemy of the English, Jan Pietersoon Coen, who had distinguished himself by his cruel treatment of the English prisoners in his hands.
As a preliminary to larger operations Dale seized a Dutch vessel called the Zwarte Leeuw (Black Lion) and put her crew ashore with the intimation that if he caught
