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Jamestown, Virginia
"Laaaaand hooooo!"
Those simple, long awaited words turned the deck below into a boiling frenzy. The young sailor, clinging to the mast where he had been retying a sail, first squinted down to the masses below and then up to the single man in the crow's nest, who was pointing to some unknown point off the port side of the ship. The boy surveyed the endless blue horizon, but he could not see any breaks in the hazy, taunting line.
Seeing the captain emerging from his quarters below, the young man shimmied down the mast and ran to join the other sailors congregating at the rail.
"Where is it?" the men were muttering amongst themselves. "Is this yet another apparition caused by wishful thinking?"
The captain joined them, taking out his telescope. He raised it to an eye and gazed out over the sea. The men waited in silent anticipation and fear. After what seemed to be an eternity, the captain lowered the telescope and stated solemnly, "At long last we are only a few leagues from America. Here is an untouched wilderness. Here is an untapped wealth of riches, gold, land, and timber. Here, we will stake a claim for the glory of England and her king!"
The weary sailors erupted into cheers and praise. The boy could only stand and smile, his heart brimming with hope for the promise of a new world.
