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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36753-8.txt b/36753-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4eea20e --- /dev/null +++ b/36753-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6081 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Cavaliers of Virginia, by William A. Caruthers + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cavaliers of Virginia + or, The Recluse of Jamestown. Vol. II + +Author: William A. Caruthers + +Release Date: July 16, 2011 [EBook #36753] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA, + + OR THE + + RECLUSE OF JAMESTOWN. + + AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE OLD DOMINION. + + BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK." + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + NEW-YORK: + PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, + NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET, + AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT + THE UNITED STATES. + + 1835. + + +Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by HARPER & +BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern +District of New-York. + + + + +THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +The lightning streamed athwart the heavens in quick and vivid flashes. +One peal of thunder after another echoed from cliff to cliff, while a +driving storm of rain, wind and hail, made the face of nature black and +dismal. There was something frightfully congenial in this uproar of the +contending elements with the storm raging in Bacon's heart, as he rushed +from the scene of the catastrophe we have just witnessed. The darkness +which succeeded the lurid and sulphureous flashes was not more complete +and unfathomable than the black despair of his own soul. These vivid +contrasts of light and gloom were the only stimulants of which he was +susceptible, and they were welcomed as the light of his path! By their +guidance he wildly rushed to his stable, saddled, led forth, and mounted +his noble charger, his own head still uncovered. For once the gallant +animal felt himself uncontrolled master of his movements, fleet as the +wind his nimble heels measured the narrow limits of the island. A sudden +glare of intense light served for an instant to reveal both to horse and +rider that they stood upon the brink of the river, and a single +indication of the rider's will was followed by a plunge into the +troubled waves. Nobly and majestically he rose and sank with the +swelling surges. His master sat erect in the saddle and felt his +benumbed faculties revived, as he communed with the storm. The raging +elements appeared to sympathize with the tumult of his own bosom. He +laughed in horrid unison with the gambols of the lightning, and yelled +with savage delight as the muttering thunder rolled over his head. + +There is a sublime stimulus in despair. Bacon felt its power; he was +conscious that one of the first laws of our organization, +(self-preservation,) was suddenly dead within him. + +The ballast of the frail vessel was thrown overboard, and the sails were +spread to the gathering storm with reckless desperation. Compass and +rudder were alike abandoned and despised--they were for the use of those +who had hopes and fears. For himself he spread his sails and steered his +course with the very spirit of the storm itself. Nature in her wildest +moods has no terrors for those who have nothing to lose or win; no +terrors for them who laugh and play with the very elements of her +destruction; they are wildly, madly independent. It is the sublimity of +the maniac! Nevertheless there is a fascination in his reckless steps as +he threads the narrow and fearful windings of the precipice, or +carelessly buffets the waves of the raging waters. There are other +sensations of a high and lofty character in this disjointed state of the +faculties. The very ease and rapidity with which ordinary dangers are +surmounted, serves to keep up the delusion, and were it not for the +irresponsible condition of the mind, there would doubtless be impiety in +its developments. Such were Bacon's sensations as he wildly stemmed the +torrent. He imagined that he was absolved from the ordinary +responsibilities and hazards of humanity! and to his excited fancy, it +seemed as though petty fears and grovelling cautions were all that lay +between humanity and the superior creations of the universe! that power +also came with this absolution from the hopes, fears and penalties of +man's low estate. In imagination "he rode upon the storm and managed the +whirlwind." The monsters of the deep were his playmates, the ill-omened +birds of the night his fellows. The wolves howled in dreadful concord +with the morbid efforts of his preternaturally distorted faculties, as +the noble and panting animal first struck the shore with his forefeet. + +Emerging from the water, he stroked down the dripping mane with a wild +and melancholy affection. The very consciousness of such a feeling yet +remaining in his soul, which he dared indulge, produced for the moment +a dangerous and kindred train of emotions. These as before led him upon +forbidden ground, and again the wild tumult of his soul revived. +Striking his heels into the animal's flanks, and bending upon his neck, +he urged him over the ground at a pace in unison with the impetuosity of +his own feelings. + +The fire and gravel flew from his heels, as he bounded through the +trackless forests of the unsubdued wilderness. The frightened birds of +night, and beasts of prey, started in affright, wild at the appearance +upon the scene of one darker and wilder than themselves. The very +reptiles of the earth shrunk to their hiding places, as the wild +horseman and his steed invaded their prescriptive dominions. + +Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter, according to the commands of Sir William +Berkley, were conveyed to his mansion. To them all places were now +alike. The mother after a long and death-like trance, revived to a +breathing and physical existence; but her mind was overrun with horrors. +Reason was dethroned, and her lips gave utterance to the wildest +fantasies. Events with which, and persons with whom, none of those about +her were conversant, were alluded to in all the incoherency and +unbridled impetuosity of the maniac. The depletion and anodynes of the +physician were administered in vain. The ravages upon the seat of +nervous power had rendered the ordinary remedies to the more distant +chords of communication utterly powerless. From a mild, bland, feeble +and sickly state of melancholy, she was suddenly transformed into a +frenzied lunatic. Her muscular power seemed to have received multiplied +accessions of strength. Yet there was "a method in her madness"--the +same names and scenes frequently recurred in her raving paroxysms. That +of Charles was reiterated through the wild intonations of delusion; +sometimes madly and revengefully, but more frequently in sorrow. + +There was occasionally a moving and touching pathos in these latter +demonstrations--tearless it is true, but thrilling and electrifying in +the subdued whisper in which they were sometimes uttered. A flood of +pent up emotions was poured forth with a thrilling eloquence which had +their origin in the foundations of the soul. Scenes of days long past, +were revived with a graphic and affecting power, which imagination +cannot give if their mysterious source and receptacle be not previously +and abundantly stored with the richest treasures of the female heart and +mind. + +Because the by-standers do not happen to be in possession of all the +previous history of the sufferer, so as to put together these melancholy +and broken relics, they are generally supposed to be the creations of a +distempered fancy. + +So it was with Mrs. Fairfax; her detached reminiscences fell upon the +dull and uninstructed ears of her attendants as the wildest +hallucinations of the brain, yet there was more connexion in these +flights than they imagined. They supposed that she thought herself +conversing in her most subdued and touching moments with young Dudley, +merely because his name was frequently pronounced, and that he happened +to be present at the disastrous ceremony, which resulted so dreadfully +to all parties. + +Among all these, Virginia's was the hardest lot--so delicately and +exquisitely organized, so gentle--so susceptible--so full of +enthusiasm--so rich in innocence and hope, and all so suddenly +prostrated. Bacon was nerved with the wild yet exalted heroism of +manhood in despair. Her mother was wrapt in a blessed oblivion of the +present, but she was sensitively and exquisitely alive to the past, +present and future. One fainting paroxysm succeeded to another in +frightful rapidity, for hours after she was removed to her uncle's +house. + +The painful intervals were filled up with a concentration of wretched +reflections, which none but a finely organized and cultivated female +mind could conceive or endure. No proper conception of these can be +conveyed in language, unless the reader will suffer his imagination to +grasp her whole condition at once.--Beginning at the first inception of +the unsuspected passion for the noble youth who is the hero of our +tale--in her earliest infancy; and afterwards following her as it +matured and strengthened by the reflections of riper years.--Every +faculty, both perceptive and intellectual, had combined to impress his +image in the most indelible colours upon her heart. He had himself +ripened these very faculties into maturity by the most assiduous +culture, and won her esteem by the most touching, delicate, and +respectful attentions. + +All these things in detail were painfully revolved in her mind. Every +landscape, every book, every subject, reminded her most forcibly of him +whom it was now criminal to think of. Hers was the sorrow that no +sympathy could soften, no friendship alleviate. The sight of her +intimate and confidential friend drove her mad, for her presence +instantly revived the horrid recollections of the chapel. Long after the +clouds had cleared away, the thunder still roared in her ears. The +sudden slamming of a door sounded to her nervous irritability, like the +report of a cannon. Her own shadow conjured up horrible images. The most +violent and the most acute paroxysms of the human organization, however, +have a tendency to wear themselves out, when left uninterruptedly to +their own action. Such was necessarily, in some measure, the case with +Virginia; her mother's more alarming condition calling so much more +loudly for attention, and Wyanokee having fled, and Harriet's presence +proving so evidently hurtful, she was consequently left with a single +sable domestic. Essentially she was in profound solitude; and after the +first paroxysms which we have described, her mind naturally and +irresistibly fell into a train of retrospective thought. Startling and +horrifying they certainly were at first, but still the mind clung to +them. Many of the circumstances of the late disastrous meeting were to +her as yet unexplained. To these she clung as to the last remnants of +hope; they were the straws at which she grasped with the desperation of +the drowning wretch. She had at first received her mother's tacit +acknowledgment of the mysterious stranger's statement, or rather the +effect produced by that statement as irresistible confirmation of its +truth. But now she doubted the propriety of her hasty conviction. She +marvelled at the effect produced upon her mother--yet there were other +means of accounting for it. Would she not have exhibited a like +sensibility, had a like statement been made, however false, under such +circumstances?--did she not deny it, positively deny it at the moment? +Such was the train of reasoning by which her mind began to reassure +itself; and it must be recollected that she had never heard more of her +mother's history, than that she was a childless widow when her father +married her. Sufficient was left however of first impressions to render +her situation one of intense suffering and suspense. She dared not ask +for Bacon, yet a restless and gnawing anxiety possessed her, to know +whether he acknowledged the truth of the dreadful tale without a murmur, +and without investigation. But her physical organization could not keep +pace with the ever elastic mind; her gentle frame gave sensible +evidence that the late violent shocks had made sad inroads upon her +system. One chill was succeeded by another, until they were in their +turn followed by a burning fever. In this condition she fell again into +the hands of the physician, and all mental distress was soon lost in the +paramount demands of the suffering body. + +Toward the hour of midnight, the storm subsided. Fragments of the black +curtain which had hung over the face of the heavens, shot up from the +eastern horizon in stupendous blue masses, every now and then +illuminated to their summits with the reflection of the raging elements +beyond. The violence of the conflict in Bacon's breast had also +subsided. He rode along the banks of the Chickahominy, his charger +dripping with wet and panting with the exhaustion of fatigue. The bridle +hung loose upon his neck, and his rider bent over his mane like a +worn-out soldier. His own locks had unbent their stubborn curls to the +driving storm, and hung about his neck in drooping masses. His silken +hose were spattered with mud, and his gay bridal dress hung about his +person in lank and dripping folds. His horse had for some time followed +the bent of his own humour, and was now leading his master in the +neighbourhood of human habitations. The boughs of the tall gloomy pines +were fantastically illuminated with broad masses of light, which ever +and anon burst from the smouldering remnants of a huge pine log fire. +Its immediate precincts were surrounded by some fifty or more round +matted huts, converging toward the summit like a gothic steeple. Around +the fire, and under a rude shelter, lay some hundred warriors, wrapped +in profound slumber while one of their tribe stood sentinel over the +camp. + +When Bacon had approached within a short distance of this picturesque +group, the sentinel sprung upon his feet, and uttered a shrill +war-whoop. The horse stood still, erected his neck and pricked up his +ears, while his master folded his arms upon his breast and calmly +surveyed the scene. Those warriors who slept under the sheds near the +fire, assumed the erect attitude with a simultaneous movement, joining +in the wild chorus of the sentinel's yell as they arose. + +Hundreds of men, women, and children poured from the surrounding +huts,--most of the grown males, with their faces painted in blue and red +stripes, their heads shaved close to the cranium, except a tuft of hair +upon the crown, and all armed in readiness for battle. Bacon assumed the +command of his horse and rode into the very centre of this wild +congregation,--the fore hoofs resting upon the spent embers of the fire. + +He was greeted with another yell, after which the savages stood back and +viewed his strange and untimely appearance with wonder not unmixed with +awe. His bridle again fell from his hand, and his arms were crossed upon +his breast. His countenance was wild and haggard, and a flash of +maniacal enthusiasm shot athwart his pale features. His dress under +present circumstances was fantastical in the extreme. + +A grim old warrior with savage aspect after staring some time intensely +at the intruder, was suddenly struck with something in his appearance, +and stepping out a few paces from the mass of his companions began to +address them in his own language, now and then pointing to the horseman, +and using the most violent gesticulations. At another time the youth +would have been not a little alarmed at certain significant signs which +the speaker used when pointing to himself. These consisted in twirling +his war club round and round, as if he was engaged in the most deadly +conflict. Then he placed his hand to the side of his head and bent it +near the earth as if about to prostrate himself, and finally pointing to +Bacon. When he had done this, several of the crowd closed in toward his +horse, and seemed intensely to examine the lineaments of his +countenance. Having satisfied themselves, they set up a simultaneous +yell of savage delight. He was quickly drawn from the saddle, his hands +tied behind him, and then placed in the centre of the assembled throng. + +Their savage orgies now commenced; a procession of all the grown males +moved in a circle of some fifty feet in diameter round his person. +Several of the number beat upon rude drums, formed of large calabashes +with raw hides stretched tight and dried over the mouths; while others +dexterously rattled dried bones and shuffled with their feet to their +own music. Others chanted forth a monotonous death song; the whole +forming the rudest, wildest, and most savage spectacle imaginable. + +Bacon himself stood an unmoved spectator of all these barbarous +ceremonies. He felt a desperate and reckless indifference to what might +befall him. Human endurance had been stretched to its utmost verge, and +he felt within him a longing desire to end the vain struggle in the +sleep of death. To one like him, who had in the last few hours endured +the mental tortures of a hundred deaths, their savage cruelties had no +terrors. A faint hope indeed may have crossed his mind, that some +warrior more impetuous than his comrades, might sink his tomahawk deep +into his brain in summary vengeance for the death of their chief. But +they better understood the delights of vengeance. After performing their +rude war-dance for some time, they commenced the more immediate +preparations for the final tragedy. His hands were loosed, his person +stripped and tied to a stake, while some dozen youths of both sexes +busied themselves in splitting the rich pine knots into minute pins. +These being completed, a circular pile of finely cleft pieces of the +same material was built around his body, just near enough for the fire +to convey its tortures by slow degrees without too suddenly ending their +victim. A deafening whoop from old and young announced the commencement +of the ceremony. Each distinguished warrior present had the privilege +of inserting a given number of splinters into his flesh. The grim old +savage who had first identified Bacon as the slayer of their chief, +stepped forward and commenced the operation. He thrust in the tearing +torments with a ferocious delight, not a little enhanced by the physical +convulsive movements of his victim at every new insertion. Worn out +nature however could not endure the uninterrupted completion of the +process, and the victim swooned away. + +His body hung by the thongs which had bound his waist and hands to the +stake, his head drooping forward as if the spirit had already taken its +flight. He was immediately let down and the tenderest care observed to +resuscitate him, in order that they might not be cheated of their full +revenge. His head and throat were bathed in cold water and his parched +lips moistened through the medium of a gourd. At length he revived, and +strange as it may appear, to a keener consciousness of his situation +than he had felt since he left the church. All the wild horrors of his +fate stared him in the face. The savages screamed with delight at his +returning animation. Copious drafts of water were administered as he +called for them. The most intense pain was already experienced from the +festering wounds around each of the wooden daggers driven into his +flesh. Again he prayed that some of them might instantaneously reach his +heart, but his prayer was not destined to be granted. He was again +fastened to the stake, and the second in dignity and authority proceeded +to perform his share of the brutal exhibition. At this moment a piercing +scream rent the air, and all tongues were mute, all hands suspended. + +The sound proceeded from the extreme right of the encampment. Here a +larger hut than the rest stood in solitary dignity apart from the +others, like an officer's _marquée_ in a military encampment. In a few +moments the rude door was thrust aside and an Indian female of exquisite +proportions rushed to the scene of butchery, and threw herself between +the half immolated victim and his bloodthirsty tormentors. Upon her head +she wore a rude crown, composed of a wampum belt tightly encircling her +brows, and surmounted by a circlet of the plumes of the kingfisher, +facing outwards at the top. Around her waist was belted a short frock of +dressed deer-skin, which fell in folds about her knees, and was +ornamented around the fringed border with beads and wampum. Over her +left shoulder and bust she gracefully wore a variegated skin dressed +with the hair facing externally; from this her right arm extended, bare +to the shoulder, save a single clasp at the wrist; and she carried in +her hand a long javelin mounted at the end with a white crystal. The +remaining parts of her figure exhibited their beautiful proportions +neatly fitted with a pair of buck-skin leggins, extended and fringed on +the seam with porcupine quills, copper and glass ornaments. Similar +decorations were visible on her exquisitely proportioned feet and +ankles. Thrusting her javelin in the ground with energy, and proudly +raising her head, she cast a withering glance of scorn and indignation +upon the perpetrators of the cruelty. Her address, translated into +English, was to the following purport: "Is it for this," and she pointed +to Bacon's bleeding wounds, "that I have been invested with the +authority of my sires? Was it to witness the perpetration of these +cruelties that I have been almost dragged from the house of my pale +faced friends? Scarcely has the fire burned out which was kindled to +celebrate my arrival among you, before it is rekindled to sacrifice in +its flames him who redeemed me from captivity. Is this the return which +Chickahominies make for past favours? If so, I pray you to tear from my +person these emblems of my authority among you." + +She was immediately answered by the old warrior who had commenced the +tortures; "Did not the long knife[1] slay the chief of our nation?" + +[Footnote 1: This term originated in Virginia.] + +He was answered by a yell of savage delight from all the warriors +present. Wyanokee (for it was she, as the reader has no doubt already +surmised) continued, "Ay, he did slay King Fisher and his son--but were +they not unjustly attempting to take away the property of the pale +faces? and did they not commit the deed against their solemn promise and +treaty, and after they had smoked the pipe of peace? For shame, +warriors and men--would ye turn squaws, and murder a brave and noble +youth because he had fought for his own people and for the preservation +of his own life?" + +Her harangue was not received with the submission and respect which she +expected--many murmured at her defence, and claimed the death of the +captive as a prescriptive right and an act of retributive justice. She +advanced to cut the cords which bound the prisoner, but twenty more +powerful arms instantly arrested her movement. Tomahawks were raised in +frightful array, while deep and loud murmurs of discontent, and demands +for vengeance rent the air. She placed herself before the captive, and +elevating her person to its utmost height, and extending her hands +before him as a protection, she cried, "Strike your tomahawks here, into +the daughter of your chief, of him who led you on to battles and to +victory, but harm not the defenceless stranger." The principal warriors +held a consultation as to the fate of the prisoner. It was of but short +duration, there being few dissenting voices to the proposition of the +old savage, already mentioned as principal spokesman of the party. They +soon returned and announced to their new queen that the council of the +nation had decreed the prisoner's death. "Never, never!" exclaimed the +impassioned maiden, "unless you first cleave off these hands with which +I will protect him from your fury. Ha!" she cried, as a sudden thought +seemed to strike her; "there is one plan of redemption by your own laws. +I will be his wife!" A deep blush suffused her cheeks as she forced the +reluctant announcement from her lips. An expression of sadness and +disappointment soon spread itself over the countenances of the +revengeful warriors, for they knew that she had spoken the truth. +Another council was immediately held; at which it was determined that +their youthful queen, might according to the usages of the nation, take +the captive for her husband, in the place of her kinsman who was slain. +When this was proclaimed, Wyanokee slowly and doubtingly turned her eyes +upon Bacon to see whether the proposition met a willing response in his +breast. A single glance sufficed to convince her that it did not. +Instantly, however, recovering her self-possession, she cut the cords +and led him to her hut, where after having been reinvested with the sad +remnants of his bridal finery, we must leave him for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +"The several causes of discontent in the colony of Virginia long +nourished in secret, or manifesting themselves in partial riots and +insurrections, were now rapidly maturing, and only the slightest +incident was wanting to precipitate them into open rebellion. + +"Since the death of Opechancanough, the Indians, deprived of the +benefits of federative concert, had made but few attempts to disturb the +tranquillity of the colony. Several of the tribes had retired westward, +and those which remained, reduced in their numbers and still more in +strength by the want of a common leader, lingered on the frontiers, +exchanging their superfluous productions at stated marts with their +former enemies. A long peace, added to a deportment almost invariably +pacific, had in a great measure relaxed the vigilance of the colonists, +and the Indians were admitted to a free intercourse with the people of +all the counties. It was scarcely to be expected that during an +intercourse so irregular and extensive no grounds of uneasiness should +arise. Several thefts had been committed upon the tobacco, corn, and +other property of the colonists." + +These depredations were becoming daily more numerous and alarming, and +repeated petitions had been sent in from all parts of the colony calling +upon Sir William Berkley in the most urgent terms to afford them +protection. The Governor remained singularly deaf to these reasonable +demands, and took no steps to afford that protection to the citizens for +which government was in a great measure established. Some excuse was +offered by his friends and supporters by pleading his great age and long +services. Sir H. Chicerly, who had some time before arrived in the +colony, clothed with the authority of Lieutenant Governor, and who had +till now remained an inactive participator of the gubernatorial honours, +began to collect the militia of the state; but Sir William was no sooner +informed of these proceedings, so well calculated to allay the rising +popular ferment, than he at once construed it into an attempt to +supersede his authority, and forthwith disbanded the troops already +collected, and countermanded the orders for raising more, which had been +sent by his subordinate through the several counties. These high-handed +measures of an obstinate and superannuated man, inflamed the public +mind. Meetings were called without any previous concert in almost every +county in the province, and the most indignant remonstrances were sent +in to the Governor. These, however, only served to stimulate his +obstinacy, while the continued depredations of the Indians wrought up +the general feeling of dissatisfaction into a blaze of discontent. +While these things were in progress, a circumstance happened, which, +while it brought the contest to an immediate issue, had at the same time +an important bearing upon all the principal personages of our narrative. +On the night succeeding the melancholy catastrophe at the chapel, +related in the last chapter, the tribes of Indians which had formerly +been leagued together in the Powhatan confederacy, simultaneously rose +at dead of night and perpetrated the most horrid butcheries upon men, +women, and children, in every part of the colony. The council had +scarcely convened on the next morning before couriers from every +direction arrived with the dreadful tidings. Among others, there came +one who announced to the Governor that his own country seat had been +consumed by the fires of the savage incendiaries, and that Mrs. Fairfax, +who had been removed thither for change of scene by the advice of her +physician, was either buried in its ruins or carried away captive by the +Indians. Public indignation was roused to its highest pitch, but it was +confidently expected, now that his excellency himself was a sufferer +both in property and feelings, that he would recede from his obstinate +refusal to afford relief. But strange to say, in defiance of enemies, +and regardless of the remonstrances of his friends, he still persisted. +The result ensued which might have been expected; meetings of the +people, which had before been called from the impulse of the moment, and +without concert, were now regularly organized, and immediate steps +taken to produce uniformity of action throughout the different counties. + +While these elements of civil discord are fermenting, we will pursue the +adventures of our hero, whom we left just rescued from the hands of the +relentless savages. The new queen of the Chickahominies, after having +conducted Bacon to her own rude palace, retired for a short period in +order to allow him just time to prepare himself for her reception. An +Indian doctor was immediately summoned and directed to extract the +splinters and dress the wounds. The departure of this wild and +fantastical practitioner of the healing art was the signal for her own +entrance. Slowly and doubtfully she approached her visiter, who was +reclining almost exhausted upon a mat. Upon her entrance he attempted to +rise and profess his gratitude, but overcome with pain, sorrow, and +weakness, he fell back upon his rude couch, a grim smile and wild +expression crossing his features. She gracefully and benignantly +motioned him to desist, and at once waived all ceremony by seating +herself on a mat beside him. Both remained in a profound and painful +silence for some moments. Bacon's mind could dwell upon nothing but the +horrid images of the preceding hours of the night. Regardless of her +presence and her ignorance of those circumstances which dwelt so +painfully upon his memory, he remained in a wild abstraction, now and +then casting a glance of startled recognition and surprise at his royal +hostess. + +She examined him far more intently and with not less surprise, after the +subsidence of her first embarrassment. Her sparkling eyes ran over his +strange dress and condition, with the rapidity of thought, but evidently +with no satisfactory result. She was completely at a loss to understand +the cause of his visit, and the singular time and appearance in which he +had chosen to make it. It is not improbable that female vanity, or the +whisperings of a more tender passion, connected it in some way with her +own recent flight. These scarcely recognised impressions produced +however an evident embarrassment in her manner of proceeding. She longed +to ask if Virginia was his bride, yet dreaded to do so both on her own +account and his. She had lived long enough in civilized society to +understand the signification of his bridal dress, but she was utterly at +a loss to divine why he should appear in such a garb covered with mud, +as if he had ridden in haste, in the midst of a warlike nation, and on +the very night appointed for the celebration of his nuptials, unless +indeed she might solve the mystery in the agreeable way before +suggested. Catching one of the originally white bridal flowers of his +attire between her slender fingers, she said with a searching glance; +"Faded so soon?" He covered his face with his hands, and threw himself +prostrate upon the mat, writhing like one in the throes of expiring +agony. + +His benevolent hostess immediately called a little Indian attendant, in +order to despatch him for the doctor; but her guest shook his head and +motioned with his uplifted hand for her to desist. She reseated herself, +more at a loss than ever to account for his present appearance and +conduct. She had supposed that he was suffering from the pain of his +wounds, but she now saw that of these he was entirely regardless. She +became aware that a more deeply seated pain afflicted him. Again he +turned his face toward the roof of the hut, his hands crossed upon his +breast, and his bosom racked with unutterable misery. + +"Is the pretty Virginia dead?" + +The blackness of hell and horror was in his face as he turned a scowl +upon his interrogator, and replied, "Is this a new method of savage +torture? If so, call in the first set, they are kind and benignant +compared to you." But seeming suddenly to recollect that she was +ignorant of the pain she inflicted, he took her hand kindly and +respectfully, and continued, "Yes, Wyanokee, she is indeed dead to me. +If you regard the peace of my soul, or the preservation of my senses, +never whisper her name to the winds where it will be wafted to my ears. +Never breathe what she has taught you. Be an Indian princess, but for +God's sake look, speak, or act not in such a way as to remind me of +passed days. Tear open these wounds, inflict fresh tortures--yea, +torture others if you will, so I but horrify my mind with any other +picture than hers. O God, did ever sister rise before man's imagination +in such a damning form of loveliness? With most men, that little word +would suffice to dispel the horrid illusion! but with me, cursed as I +have been from my birth, and as I still am deeper cursed, the further I +pursue this wretched shadow called happiness, I would wed her to-morrow, +yea were the curse of the unpardonable sin denounced upon me from the +altar instead of the benediction. For her I would go forth to the world, +branded with a deeper damnation than ever encircled the brows of the +first great murderer. I would be the scorn, the jest, the by-word of +present generations, and a never dying beacon to warn those who come +after me." + +As he proceeded, Wyanokee fixed her dark penetrating eyes upon his face, +until her own countenance settled into the expression of reverential +awe, with which the Indian invariably listens to the ravings of the +maniac. At every period she moved herself backward on the mat, until at +the conclusion, she had arrived at a respectful distance, and crossed +her hands in superstitious dread. A single glance conveyed her +impressions to his mind, and he resumed, "No, no, my gentle preserver, +reason is not dethroned, she still presides here, (striking his +forehead,) a stern spectator of the unholy strife which is kept up +between her sister faculties." Leaning toward her upon his elbow, he +continued in a thrilling whisper, "You have heard me read from the +sacred volume of the tortures prepared for the damned! of a future +existence, in which the torments of ten thousand deaths shall be +inflicted, and yet the immortal sufferer find no death! His soul will +be prepared for the endurance! I have already a foretaste of that +horrible eternity! And yet you see I preserve the power to know and to +endure! Is it not a dread mystery in this frail compound of ours--and +portentous of evil to come, that this faculty of supporting misery so +long outlives the good? The wise men of our race teach us that every +pain endured is a preparation of the opposite faculty to enjoy pleasure! +that our torpid fluids would stagnate without these contrasted +stimulants; 'tis all a delusion, a miserable invention of the enemy. Man +can suffer in this life a compound of horrors, for which its pleasures +and allurements have no equivalent; yea, and he suffers them after all +chance for happiness has vanished for ever. The pleasures of the world +are like the morning glories of a sea of ice. The sun rises and sparkles +in glittering rainbows for an hour, and then sinks behind the dark blue +horizon, and leaves the late enraptured beholder, to feel the chill of +death creeping along his veins, until his heart is as cold and dead as +the icebergs around 'an atom of pleasure, and a universe of pain.'" + +His hearer sat in the most profound bewilderment; much of his discourse +was to her unintelligible, and notwithstanding his protestations to the +contrary, she still retained her first impressions as to the state of +his mind. She knew something of the various relations existing between +the most important personages of our story, and in her own mind, had +already begun to account for his present state. She supposed him to have +been rudely torn from his bride. Her object therefore in the following +words, was to learn something more of these particulars, and at the same +time to soothe the excited feelings of her guest. + +"The great Father of the white man at Jamestown will restore your bride. +Does not your good book say, 'whom the' Great Spirit 'has joined +together let no man put asunder?'" + +"Ay!" replied Bacon, "but what does it say when they are first joined +together by the ties of blood? Besides, he never did join us together in +the holy covenant. He stamped it with his curse? He denounced his veto +against it at the very foot of the altar. The same voice which thundered +upon mount Sinai spoke there. His servant stood up before him and asked, +'If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined +together let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.' +And lo, both heaven and earth interposed at the same moment. The +thunders of heaven rent the air, and that most fearful man appeared as +if by miracle." Again lowering his voice to a whisper, he continued, "As +I rode upon the storm last night, and communed with the spirits of the +air, some one whispered in my ear, that the heavens were rent asunder +and he came upon a thunderbolt. And then again as I walked upon the +waves, and the black curtains gathered around, a bright light darted +into my brain and I saw the old Roundheads who were executed the other +day, sitting upon a glorious cloud, mocking at my misery! yea, they +mouthed at me. Ha, ha, ha!" The sound of his own unnatural laughter +startled him like an electric shock--and instantly he seemed to +recollect himself. + +He covered his face with his hands, and rested them upon his knees in +silence. Some one entered and spoke to the queen in a low voice, and she +immediately informed her guest that his horse was dead. "Dead!" said he, +as he sprang upon his feet. "His last--best--most highly prized gift +dead! All on the same night--am I indeed cursed--in going out and in +coming in? Are even the poor brutes that cling to me with affection, +thus cut down? but I would see him ere he is cold." + +A torch-bearer soon appeared at the summons of his mistress, and the +royal hostess and her guest proceeded to the spot. There lay the noble +animal, his once proud neck straightened in the gaunt deformity of +death. His master threw himself upon his body and wept like an infant. +The tears, the first he had shed, humanized and soothed his harrowed +feelings. Slowly he arose, and gazing upon the lifeless beast, exclaimed +with a piteous voice, "Alas poor Bardolph, thy lot is happier than thy +master's!" + +The day was now dawning, and the morning air came fresh and invigorating +to the senses, redolent of the wild perfumes blown upon the moor and +forest, from the influence of a humid night. These reviving influences +however fell dead upon the benumbed faculties of our hero. In accordance +with the urgent solicitations of his hostess, he agreed to swallow an +Indian soporific, and try to lose his sorrows and his memory in that +nearest semblance of death. He did not fail, as he re-entered the +wigwam, to observe that the whole village (called Orapacs) was busily +preparing for some imposing ceremony, and that great accessions had been +made to the numbers of the previous night. + +Long and soundly he slept; when he awoke the sun was coursing high in +the heavens. The air was balmy and serene, and his own monomaniacal +hallucinations were dissipated, partly worn out by their own violence +and partly dispelled by many hours of uninterrupted repose. Dreadful is +that affliction which sleep will not alleviate. It is true that one +suffering under a weight of misery which no hope lightens, no reasoning +assuages, wakes to a present sense of his condition with a startling and +miserable consciousness, yet upon the whole, the violence of grief has +been soothed and moderated. So it was with our hero, and he walked forth +a new and revived creature. + +But as he stepped from the wigwam, a spectacle greeted his eye more akin +to the fantasies of the previous night than to stern reality. The +village was situated on a plain near the banks of the river. The forest +remained much as it first grew, save that the undergrowth had been +burned away and the ground afterwards overgrown with a luxuriant coat +of grass. This summary method of trimming the primitive forest gives it +much the resemblance of a noble park, cleared of its shrubs, +undergrowth, and limbs, by the careful hands of the woodman. The scene, +as Bacon looked along the woodland vista, had a wild novelty, and its +aspect would doubtless have been sedative in its effect had it not been +for the spectacle already alluded to, which we shall now endeavour to +describe. An immense concourse of Indians was collected just without the +external range of wigwams. They were seated in groups, in each of which +he recognised the distinguishing marks of separate tribes, the +representatives of each distinct nation of the peninsula having a +distinct and separate place. At the head of this warlike assemblage, on +a rude throne sat the youthful Queen of the Chickahominies. Immediately +around the foot of this elevation were seated the few grim warriors yet +remaining of that once powerful nation, and on her right hand the +Powhatans. A fantastically dressed prophet of the latter tribe, with a +curiously coloured heron's feather run through the cartilage of his nose +stood in the centre of the assembled nations, and harangued the deputies +with the most violent gesticulations, every now and then pointing in the +direction first of Jamestown, and then of Middle Plantations, (now +Williamsburg,) and in succession after these, to the other most thickly +peopled settlements of the whites. His rude eloquence seemed to have a +powerful effect upon his warlike audience, from the repeated yells of +savage cheering by which each appeal was followed. He concluded his +harangue by brandishing a bloody tomahawk over his head, and then +striking it with great dexterity into a pole erected in the centre of +the area. Numerous warriors and prophets from other tribes followed with +similar effect and like purpose, to all of whom the stern savages +listened with an eager yet respectful attention. When they had +concluded, the youthful queen of the Chickahominies descended one step +from her throne, and addressed the assembled nations; but her discourse +was received in a far different spirit from that which had attended the +eloquence of her predecessors. She was evidently maintaining the +opposite side of the question which occupied the grave assembly, and it +was apparent that the feelings of her auditors were hostile to her +wishes and opinions. No evidences of delight greeted her benevolent +counsels, and she resumed her seat almost overpowered by the loud and +general murmurs of discontent which arose at the conclusion of her +"talk." She felt herself a solitary advocate of the plainest dictates of +justice and humanity--she felt the difficulty and embarrassment of +addressing enlightened arguments to savage ears and uncultivated +understandings, and a painful sense of her own responsibility, and of +regret for having assumed her present station, pressed heavily upon +heart. + +Bacon saw only the eloquent language of their signs and gestures; but +some knowledge of the outrages already perpetrated easily enabled him to +interpret their intentions. He knew that bloodshed and murder were the +objects of their meeting, and he resolved to seize the earliest +opportunity to escape, in order to take part in the defence of his +country. His mind turned eagerly to this wholesome excitement, as the +best outlet which was now left for the warring impulses within his +breast. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The retirement of Wyanokee from her temporary presidency in the grand +council of the confederated nations, was the signal for beginning the +general carouse, by which such meetings were usually terminated. Two +huge bucks, with their throats cut, had been some time suspended from a +pole laid across a pair of stout forked saplings, driven into the ground +at the distance of a few feet from each other; these were now brought +into the centre of the area, and quickly deprived of their skins. The +neighbourhood of civilized man had already introduced that bane of +savage morals, whiskey; and plentiful supplies of this, together with +pipes and tobacco, were now served to the representatives. A general +scene of rude and savage debauch immediately followed. Meat was broiled +or roasted upon the coals--whiskey was handed round in calabashes, while +the more gay and volatile members of the assemblage found an outlet for +their animated feelings in the violent and energetic movements of the +Indian dance. The sounds which issued from the forest were a mingled din +of tinkling metals--rattling bones, and the monotonous humming of the +singers, occasionally enlivened by a sharp shrill whoop from some young +savage, as his animal spirits became excited by the exercise. The squaws +performed the part of menials, and bore wood, water, and corn, to supply +the feast for their lords and masters. + +The new queen of the nation, upon whose ground these carousals were +held, retired to her own wigwam, as much disgusted with the moral +blindness and depravity of the deputies, as with the commencing revels. +Besides her disgust of what was left behind, there was an attraction for +her in her own sylvan palace, which, till a few hours back, it had sadly +wanted in her eyes; not that she approached it with any hope that her +passion would now or ever meet with a return from its object--but still +there was a melancholy pleasure in holding communion with one so far +superior to the rude, untutored beings she had just left. She felt also +a longing desire, not only to learn more of the mysterious transactions +of which she had gathered some vague indications from Bacon's discourse, +but to take advantage of present circumstances in returning some of the +many favours heaped upon herself by her white friends. There was a +nobler motive for this than mere gratitude; she wished to show to Bacon +and Virginia, that she could sacrifice her own happiness to promote +theirs. She felt now satisfied that both of them had discovered the +existence of her passion, long before she was aware of the impropriety +of its exhibition according to civilized usages, and she was anxious to +evince to them how nobly an Indian maiden could cover this false step +with honour. Full of these ennobling, and as it proved, delusive ideas, +she entered the wigwam with a mien and step which would not have +disgraced a far more regal palace. + +Bacon was found upon a mat, reclining in melancholy mood against the +side of the apartment, intently eyeing the movements of the savages upon +the green. She followed his eye for a moment in shame and confusion for +the spectacle exhibited by the men of her own race. + +"Do you mark the difference," said Bacon, "between the dances in yonder +forest and those at Jamestown? Why do not the women join in the +merry-making? We consider them worthy to partake of all our happiness." + +"Ay, 'tis true, there is no Virginia there!" + +His brow settled into a look of stern displeasure and offence, as he +replied, "Would you renew the scenes of the last night?" + +"No, Wyanokee desires not to give pain, but to remove it--as she came +here now to show. You heard me claim you last night as a husband."--A +crimson tint struggled with the darker hue of her cheek, as she forced +herself to proceed.--"But it was only to save you from the cruel hands +of my countrymen. You may, therefore, give up all uneasiness on that +subject--I know well that the Great Spirit has decreed it otherwise than +I desired, and I submit without a murmur. It is useless for me to +conceal that I had learned too quickly to feel the difference between a +youth of your race, and one of yon rude beings; but it was more owing to +my ignorance of your customs than any want of proper maidenly reserve. +That is now passed, you are a married man, and as such I can converse +with you in confidence." + +"Yes," said Bacon, a bitter smile playing over his countenance, "I am +married to stern adversity! 'Tis a solemn contract, and binds me to a +bride from whom I may not easily be divorced. Death may cut the knot, +but no other minister of justice can. I must say too, that the +ceremonies of last night were fitting and proper. I wooed my bride +through earth, air, and water; in thunder, lightning, and in rain. Nor +was she coy or prudish. She came to my arms with a right willing grace, +and clings to me through evil and through good report. I am hers, wholly +hers for ever. It is meet that I should learn to love her at once. Ay, +and I do hug her to my heart. Is she not my own? do we not learn to love +our own deformities? then why not learn to love our own sorrows? +Doubtless we shall be very happy--a few little matrimonial bickerings at +first, perhaps, but these will soon be merged in growing congeniality. +Man cannot long live with any companion, without bestowing upon it his +affection; the snake, the spider, the toad, the scorpion, all have been +loved and cherished: shall I not then love my bride? Is there not a +hallowed memory around her birth? was she not nurtured and trained by +these very hands? Is there not wild romance too, in her adventures and +our loves? Is she not faithful and true? yea, and young too! not coy +perhaps, but constant and devoted." + +Although this language was prompted by very different states, both of +heart and head, from that of the preceding night, yet its literal +construction by the Indian maiden betrayed her into very little more +understanding of its import. She better comprehended the language of his +countenance. That, she saw, indicated the bitterness of death, but the +cause was still a mystery. She therefore continued her kind endeavours +with something more of doubt and embarrassment. "My intention was to +offer you and Virginia a home as soon as these warlike men are pacified +and gone--that you might come here and live with me until her grand +uncle will receive her and you. Oh, it will make Wyanokee very happy." + +She would, no doubt, have continued in this strain for some time, but +his impatience could be contained no longer. "Is it possible that you do +not yet understand the depth and hopelessness of my misery? Know it then +in all its horrors. I was half married last night to my own half sister! +Did fate, fortune or hell ever more ingeniously contrive to blight the +happiness of mortal man at one fell blow? View it for a moment. There +was the game beautifully contrived--the stake was apparently trifling, +but the prize glittered with India's richest rubies--the very thoughts +of them conjured up scenes of fairy land. The richest fantasies of +romance sparkled before the eye of the player. The wildest dream of +earthly happiness allured him to each renewed attempt. First a little +was staked--then another portion--then another to insure the two former, +and so on until houses and lands and goods and chattels--yea and life +itself, or all that made it valuable, were hazarded upon the throw. Lo, +he wins! Joy unutterable fills his breast--he is about to place the +jewels next his heart, but behold they turn into scorpions. Rich and +beautiful in all their former ruby colour--but there is a fearful +talismanic power in their beauty. There is a deadly poison in the sight! +They charm to kill. Lay them not near the heart or else the great +magician, the king of evil--the prince of darkness himself, has bought +you body and soul! That was my case. I won the glorious stake, I had it +here (striking his breast), yea, and have it now, and the devil is +tempting me to lay it next my heart. I have wrestled with him all the +night, but again he is at work. See that you do not help him!" + +Again she was lost in reverential awe. As his paroxysm by slow degrees +returned, she exhibited in the mirror of her own countenance the +passion, the wild enthusiasm, reflected from his, until the final charge +to herself, when she was overcome with wonder and fear. His own +preternaturally quick perceptions caught the effect produced, and he +again folded his arms and leaned back in grim and sullen silence, but +with the keen eye of the serpent watching the changing countenance of +his auditor. She was sunk in abstraction for some moments, and then, as +if rather thinking aloud than communing with another, she said, "Is it +possible?" + +"Yea, as true as that the serpent infused his poison into the ear of the +mother of mankind. As true as that man was the first creature that died +on the face of the earth by the hands of his fellow. As true as death +and hell! As true as that there is a hereafter. Happiness is negative! +Misery positive. There is always a subtle doubt lingering upon our most +substantial scenes of happiness; but with misery it is slow, certain and +enduring; the proof conclusive and damning. It is more real than our +existence, and exists when it is no more. Our nerves are strung to +vibrate to the touches of harmony and happiness only when played upon by +inspirations from above, but they vibrate in discord to the earth, the +air, the winds, the waves, the thunder--the lightning. They are rudely +handled by men, beasts, reptiles, devils, by famine, disease and death. +Am I not a wretched monument of its truth? Are not these miserable and +faded trappings, the funeral emblems of my moral decease? Am I not a +living tomb of my own soul? A memento of him that was, with an +inscription on my forehead, 'Here walks the body of Nathaniel Bacon, +whose soul was burned out on the ever memorable night of his own +wedding, by an incendiary in the mortal habiliments of his own Father, +with a torch lit up in pandemonium itself? His body still walks the +earth as a beacon and a warning to those who would commit incest!'" + +The door was darkened for a moment, and in the next the Recluse stood +before him. His giant limbs lost none of their extent or proportions as +viewed through the dim light which fell in scanty and checkered masses +from the insterstices of the sylvan walls. He stood in the light of the +only door,--his features wan and cadaverous, and his countenance +wretchedly haggard. "Why lingerest thou here in the lap of the tawny +maiden, when thy countrymen will so soon need the assistance of thy arm? +This night the torch of savage warfare and cruelty will in all +probability be lighted up in the houses of thy friends and kindred. Is +it becoming, is it manly in thee to seek these effeminate pastimes, in +order to drown the images of thy own idle fancy? If thou hast +unconsciously erred, and thereby cruelly afflicted thy nearest kindred, +is this the way to repair the evil? Set thou them the example! Be a +man--the son of a soldier. Thy father before thee has suffered tortures +of the mind, and privations of the body, to which thine are but the +feeble finger-aches of childhood as compared to the agonies of a painful +and protracted death. Rouse thyself from thy unmanly stupor, and hie +thee hence to the protection of those who should look up to thee. Be not +anxious for me, maiden; I see thy furtive glances at the besotted men +of thy race, and thence to me. I have long watched their movements. They +see me not; they will attempt no injury--and if they should their blows +would fall upon one reckless of danger--who has nought to gain or +lose,--who has long had his lights trimmed, and lamp burning, ready for +the welcome summons." + +When he first entered the wigwam, Bacon sprang upon his feet, and gazed +upon the unwelcome apparition as if he doubted his humanity; but as his +hollow and sepulchral voice fell upon his ear in the well known, deep +excited intonations of the chapel, he moved backward, his hands clasped, +until his shoulders rested against the wall. There, shuddering with +emotion, he gazed earnestly and in silence upon his visiter, whose words +fell upon an indiscriminating ear. The Recluse perceived something of +his condition as he continued, "Hearest thou not?--seest thou not? Rouse +thee from this unmanly weakness. I saw thy dead horse upon the moor. I +will leave thee mine at the head of the Chickahominy Swamp. When night +closes upon yonder brutal scene, mount and ride as if for thy life, even +then thou mayst be too late! Remember! This night be thou in Jamestown!" + +Having thus spoken, he stooped through the door, and vanished among the +trees behind the wigwam, as he had come. Bacon still gazed upon the +place where he had been, as if he still occupied the spot, his eyelids +never closing upon the distended iris, until he fell upon the floor in +a swoon. Such restoratives as an Indian wigwam afforded, were speedily +administered, and very soon the desired effect was produced. While he +lay thus worn down by the sufferings produced by the tortures of the +previous night, and the cruel excitement of his feelings, Wyanokee +discovered, as she was bathing his temples, the small gold locket, which +he had worn suspended from his neck, since the death of Mr. Fairfax. +Apparently it contained nothing but the plaited hair and the inscription +already mentioned. She caught it with childlike eagerness, and turned it +from side to side, with admiring glances, when her finger touched a +spring and it flew open; the interior exhibited to view the features of +a young and lovely female. + +At this juncture Bacon revived. His countenance was pale and haggard +from the exhaustion of mental and bodily sufferings. His perceptions +seemed clearer, but his heart was burdened and oppressed--he longed for +speedy death to terminate the wretched strife. The prospect was dark and +lowering in whatever direction he cast his thoughts; no light of hope +broke in upon his soul--all before him seemed a dreary joyless waste. In +this mood he accidentally felt the open trinket within the facings of +his doublet, and inserting his hand he drew it forth. His head was +elevated instantly, his eyes distended and his whole countenance +exhibited the utmost astonishment. His first emotion was any thing but +pleasant--as if he had drawn from his bosom one of his own figurative +scorpions, but this was speedily succeeded by one of a different nature. +The first sensation of pleasure which he had felt since he left +Jamestown beamed upon his mind; it was mingled with the most unbounded +surprise; but quick as thought the light of hope broke in upon his dark +and cheerless prospects. Again and again the picture was closely +scrutinized, but with the same conviction, never before had he beheld +that face. It was resplendent with smiles and beauty. The dark hazel +eyes seemed to beam upon him with affectionate regard. The auburn +tresses almost fluttering in the breeze, so warm and mellow were the +lights and shadows. But what rivetted his attention was the want of +resemblance in the picture to the lady whom he had been so recently and +so painfully taught to believe his mother. The latter had light flaxen +ringlets and blue eyes, and the _tout ensemble_ of the features were +totally dissimilar. He imagined he saw a far greater resemblance between +the picture and himself, and hence the ray of hope. But in the place of +despair came feverish suspense--he now longed again to meet the Recluse, +whose presence had so lately filled him with horror. His mind sought in +vain within its own resources for means to bring the question to an +immediate issue. Was he the first-born son of Mrs. Fairfax or not? +Perhaps Brian O'Reily could tell something of the picture, or had seen +the original. No sooner had this faint, glimmering prospect of +unravelling the mystery dawned upon his mind, than he was seized with +the most feverish desire to set out for Jamestown. + +The savages still kept up the carouse, but it would be hazardous in the +extreme, as he was assured by his hostess, to attempt to leave Orapacs +until the conclusion of the feast, which perhaps would last till night. +At that time they were all to proceed to the Powhatan domain. He was +compelled therefore to content himself with reading the lineaments of +the interesting countenance just opened to his view. + +Upon what a frail foundation will a despairing man build up his fallen +castles in the air. Such was the occupation of our hero until the light +of the sun had vanished over the western hills. He lay upon his mat in +the twilight gloom, indulging in vague uncertain reveries. He had +examined the picture so long, so intently, and under such a morbid +excitement of the imagination, that he supposed himself capable of +recollecting the features. He had called up dim and misty shadows of +memory (or those of the imagination nearly resembling them) from a +period wrapped in obscurity and darkness. He endeavoured to go back step +by step to his years of childhood, until his excited mind became +completely bewildered among the fading recollections of long passed +days. As the rippling waters of the purling stream mingled with the +monotonous whistling of the evening breeze, his versatile imagination +fell into a kindred train. The music of the nursery, by which his +childish struggles had been lulled to repose, floated over his memory +in the tenderest and purest melancholy. Who that has music in his soul +has not, at a like season and hour, refreshed his heart with these early +impressions? Nor are they entirely confined to an inviting melancholy +mood and the hour of twilight. In the full vigour of physical and mental +power, and when the spirits are bounding and elastic--in the midst of +dramatic representations or the wildest creations of Italian musical +genius, these stores of memory's richest treasures will suddenly flood +the soul, touched perhaps by the vibration of some kindred chord. +Bacon's harassed mind was refreshed by the tender and softened mood into +which he had fallen. Besides, he was now stimulated by the glimmering +dawn of hope. When therefore darkness had completely covered the face of +the land, he arose to go upon his mission, a different being. Although +his own emotions on parting were faint compared to those of Wyanokee, +they were yet sorrowful and tender. He lamented the lot of the Indian +maiden, and respected the virtues and accomplishments which elevated her +so far above those by whom she was surrounded. He bade her adieu with +the most heartfelt gratitude for her services, and aspirations for her +welfare. + +When he stepped from the wigwam he was astonished to see the huge fires, +upon which they had cooked the feast, still burning with undiminished +brilliancy, and still more startled to observe twenty or more savages +lying drunk around them, and half as many sober ones holding vigils +over their slumbers. He immediately changed his intended direction, and +skirted round the forest in which they lay, so as to arrive at the place +pointed out by the Recluse by a circuitous route. + +When he came opposite to the fires, and half way upon his circuit, he +was not a little alarmed to hear the astounding war-whoop yelled by one +of the sentinels. Casting his eyes in that direction he saw that all the +guard were on the _qui vive_, and some of the slumberers slowly shaking +off their stupidity. He supposed that one of the sentinels had heard his +footsteps, and thus alarmed the rest. Taking advantage of the trees, and +the distance he had already gained, he was enabled to elude their +vigilant senses. But when he came to the spot pointed out by the +Recluse, a greater difficulty presented itself. The horse was already +gone, but not taken by the one who brought him there, as he saw +evidently from the impressions of his feet in the earth, where he had +stood most of the afternoon. He soon came to the conclusion that the +Indians had found and carried him off. This was the more probable as +they adjourned their council about the time he must have been taken. His +call to Jamestown was too urgent to be postponed, and however feeble in +body he determined to exert his utmost strength to arrive there during +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Our hero reached Jamestown late on the very morning when the couriers +arrived in such rapid succession, with the startling intelligence of the +Indian massacres. All night he had wandered over the peninsula, vainly +endeavouring to discover his way; light after light shot up amidst the +surrounding gloom, and more than once he had been misled by these, +almost into the very clutches of the swarming savages. His heart sank +within him as he saw plantation after plantation, in their complete +possession; the illumination of their incendiary trophies lighting up +the whole surrounding country. It seemed indeed to his startled senses +as if the Indians had simultaneously risen upon and butchered the whole +white population of the colony. With the exception of a small remnant, +they had already once perpetrated the like horrible deed, and he again +saw in his imagination the dreadful scenes of that well remembered +night. Feeble old men, women and children indiscriminately +butchered--perhaps Virginia, whom he once again dared to think of, among +the number. True, Wyanokee had assured him otherwise, but might not the +grand council have determined upon the deed at the more appropriate +time of their nightly meeting? + +As the dawning day unfolded to his view the relative bearings of the +country, these gloomy anticipations were partly realized. Every avenue +to the city, both by land and water, was crowded with people of all +sexes, colours and conditions, flying to the protection of the Fort. +Wagons, carts, negroes, and white bondsmen, were laden with furniture, +provisions, and valuables. Ever and anon a foaming charger flew swiftly +by, bearing some Cavalier to the city, doubly armed for retributive +vengeance. By these he was greeted and cheered upon his way, as well as +informed of the depredations committed in the neighbourhood whence they +had come. From one of these also he procured a horse, and joined a +cavalcade of his associates and friends, proceeding to the same centre +of attraction. To them also he unfolded so much of his recent adventures +as related to the general interests of the colony. Long, loud, and +vindicative were their denunciations, as well of the treacherous savages +as the stubborn old man at the head of affairs in the colony. + +Although evident traces of his late bodily sufferings were perceptible +in Bacon's countenance, no vestige of his mental hallucinations on one +particular theme was perceived; his mind was intently occupied upon the +all absorbing topic of common safety. As they proceeded together to the +city, it was proposed to him to assume the command of a volunteer +regiment, which they undertook to raise as soon as they arrived in +Jamestown. His military talents and daring bravery were already well +known by most of his associates, but he doubted whether he was the most +proper person in the colony to assume so responsible a command. As to +his own personal feelings, never did fortune throw the chance of +honourable warfare more opportunely in the way of a desperate man. True, +it would have come still more seasonably twenty-four hours sooner, but +then he would only have been better qualified for some desperate deed of +personal daring, not for a command upon which hung the immediate fate of +all the colonists, and the ultimate supremacy of the whites in Virginia. +He promised, however, to accede to their proposal, provided, after the +regiment was raised, in which he must be considered a volunteer, the +majority cheerfully tendered him their suffrages. He stated the +hostility of the Governor to him personally, without enlightening them +as to its most recent cause; but they were now as resolute upon +disregarding the feelings and wishes of Sir William, as he had already +shown himself in disregarding their own. In short, they resolved at once +to assume that authority to protect their lives and property, which they +now felt, if they had never before known, was an inalienable right. Here +was sown the first germ of the American revolution. Men have read the +able arguments--the thrilling declamations, the logical defence of +natural and primitive rights, which the men of '76 put forth to the +world, with wonder at the seeming intuitive wisdom that burst so +suddenly upon the world at the very exigency which called it into +action. But in our humble opinion, the inception of these noble +sentiments was of much earlier date--their development not so miraculous +as we would like to flatter ourselves. Exactly one hundred years before +the American revolution, there was a Virginian revolution based upon +precisely similar principles. The struggle commenced between the +representatives of the people and the representatives of the king. The +former had petitioned for redress, "time after time,"--remonstrance +after remonstrance had been sent in to Sir William Berkley, but he was +deaf to all their reasonable petitions. The Cavaliers and citizens of +the colony now arrived at the infant capital, resolved to take upon +themselves as much power as was necessary for the defence of life, +freedom, and property. While the gathering multitude flocked to the +State House and public square in immense numbers, Bacon alighted at the +Berkley Arms, in order to change his dress, and before he joined them, +perform one act of duty which it would have been difficult for him to +say whether it was anticipated with most pain or pleasure. It was a +visit to Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter. He walked immediately from the +hotel to the quarters usually occupied by the servants of the Fairfax +family, in hopes of finding O'Reily--to despatch for his effects, which +he supposed he could not obtain in person, without suddenly and +unpreparedly exposing himself to the notice of the family. But the house +was silent as the tomb! No gently curling smoke issued from the chimney; +no cheering light broke in at the windows; all was dark, noiseless, and +desolate. The domestic animals still lingered around their accustomed +haunts, apparently as sad in spirit as he who stood with his arms folded +gazing upon the deserted mansion. The streets were indeed crowded with +the eager and tumultuous throng, but after the first unsuccessful essay +at the door of the servant's hall, he had passed round into the garden +of the establishment, and stood as we have described him, a melancholy +spectator of the painful scene. There hung Virginia's bird cage against +the casings of the window, perhaps placed by her own hands on the +morning of the unfortunate catastrophe, but the little songster was +lying dead upon the floor. The blooming flowers around her windows hung +in the rich maturity of summer, but seemed to mock the desolation around +with their gay liveries. The dogs indeed lazily wagged their tails at +his presence, and fawned upon him, but they too, slunk away in +succession, as if conscious of the rupture which had taken place in his +relations with the family. + +What a flood of tender recollections rushed upon his memory as he stood +thus solitary in the flower garden of her who was the sole object of his +youthful and romantic dreams, and gazed upon the well known +objects,--each one the memento of some childish sport or pleasure. There +too stood the shaded seats and bowers of more mature adventures, +redolent of the richest fruits and flowers, and teeming with the +hallowed recollection of love's young dream. Nor were tears wanting to +the memory of that early friend and patron who had given him shelter in +his helpless days, from the cold neglect and inhospitality of the world, +and thus, perhaps, saved him the degradation of a support at the public +expense. These softened and subdued emotions humanized the savage mood +which sprung up from similar reminiscences on a previous occasion. The +current of his feelings had been changed by a single ray of hope. The +fountain was not now wholly poisoned, and the sweet water turned to gall +and bitterness. The scene therefore, painful and melancholy as it was, +produced beneficial results. But he marvelled that the house should be +so totally deserted. He supposed that the lady and her daughter might be +sojourning for a time with the Governor, but what had become of their +numerous domestics? They too could not be quartered at the gubernatorial +mansion. And above all, what had become of his own Hibernian follower? +Certainly, he was not thus provided for. He knew his privileged +servant's warm partialities and hatreds too well to believe that he had +accepted any hospitality from his master's bitterest enemy. At that +moment a servant of the Berkley Arms was passing, and having called him +into the garden, Bacon raised a window leading to his own apartments, +procured such of his garments as he most needed, and despatched them to +the hotel. When he had encased himself in these, somewhat to his own +satisfaction (and most young Cavaliers in those days wore their garments +after a rakish fashion) he sallied out to perform the duty which he felt +to be most incumbent on him. He knocked at the door of Sir William +Berkley's mansion, with very different feelings from any he had before +experienced on a similar occasion. The relations so lately discovered to +exist between himself and those for whom his visit was intended, as well +as his feelings toward those who had the right of controlling in some +measure the persons admitted to visit at the mansion, awakened anxious +thoughts not little heightened by the anticipation of meeting Beverly, +with whom an unexpected interview promised few agreeable emotions. The +family seemed determined too that he should have the benefit of all +these reflections, from the length of time they kept him standing in the +street. At length the porter opened the door with many profound +inclinations of the head, still standing however full within the +entrance, and continuing his over wrought politeness. "Is Mrs. Fairfax +within?" was the inquiry. + +"She is dead! may it please your honour!" + +"Dead!" uttered Bacon with a hoarse and trembling voice. "When and how?" + +"His Excellency has just received the news--she was murdered last night +at his country seat by the Indians." + +"Was Miss----was his niece there also?" he asked with a bewildered doubt +whether he had better inquire any further. + +"No, Sir, she lies ill of a fever up stairs. Dr. Roland scarcely ever +leaves her room, except to tell Master Frank the state of his patient." + +"I will enter for a moment and speak a few words with the good doctor." + +"Pardon me, your honour, it gives me great pain to refuse any gentleman +admittance, but my orders are positive from Sir William himself to admit +no one to the sick room, and above all not to admit your honour within +these doors. I have over and over again turned away Miss Harriet, who +seems as if she would weep her eyes out, poor lady, at my young +mistress' illness and the Governor's cruelty, as she calls it." + +"I see you have a more tender heart than your master; here is gold for +you, not to bribe you against your duty or inclinations; but you will +fully earn it by informing Dr. Roland that Mr. Bacon wishes to speak +with him for five minutes at the Arms, upon business of the last +importance." + +"I will tell him, sir; but I do not think he will go, because he has +himself given the strictest injunctions that your name shall not be +whispered in the room, or even in the house. No longer than this +morning, sir, she heard them announce the death of her mother down +stairs. Her hearing is indeed extraordinary, sir, considering her so +poorly. Since that she has been much worse." + +Bacon did not choose to expose himself to the chance of insult any +longer by meeting some of the male members of the family, he therefore +took his departure from the inhospitable mansion, and skirted round the +unfrequented streets, in order to avoid the immense multitude collected +in the square and more frequented passages. He could hear the shouts and +cheering which echoed against the houses as he proceeded, but little did +he imagine that they welcomed his own nomination to the responsible +station of commander to the colonial forces. His intention was to +proceed to the Arms, and there await the arrival of the doctor; but he +no sooner entered the porch than he was seized by the hand in the well +known and sympathizing grasp of Dudley. + +While the friends were yet uttering their words of greeting, and before +they had propounded one of the many questions which they desired to ask, +Bacon was seized under each arm with a rude, but not disrespectful +familiarity--saluted by the title of General, and borne off toward the +state house in spite alike of remonstrances and entreaties. + +It was with great difficulty they could gain the square, so dense was +the barricade of ox carts loaded with furniture, and wagons thronged +with negro children; while families in carriages and on horseback, and +thousands of the multitude promiscuously huddled together, increased the +difficulty of making way. Since he had heard the startling news of the +death of Mrs. Fairfax, his mind was more than ever bent upon joining the +proposed expedition; and had it not been for the interruption to the +anticipated meeting with the Doctor, no one could have appeared upon the +rostrum with greater alacrity. + +The contumaceous conduct of the Governor toward the respectful +remonstrances and petitions of the citizens, and more especially his +unwarranted and disrespectful treatment of himself, recurred to his mind +in good time. He mounted the rude platform hastily erected in front of +the state house, burning with indignation, and glowing with +patriotism.[2] "He thanked the people for the unexpected and unmerited +honour they had just conferred upon him. He accepted the office tendered +to him with alacrity, and none the less so that yonder stubborn old man +will not endorse it with his authority, and sanction our proceeding +under the ordinary forms of law. What has produced this simultaneous +explosion in the colony? What are the circumstances which can thus array +all the wealth, intelligence and respectability of the people against +the constituted authorities. Let your crippled commerce, your taxed, +overburdened and deeply wronged citizens answer? The first has been +embarrassed by acts of parliament, which originated here, the most +severe, arbitrary and unconstitutional, while your citizens both gentle +and hardy, have been enormously and indiscriminately taxed in order to +redeem your soil from the immense and illegal grants to unworthy and +sometimes non-resident favourites. + +[Footnote 2: This is an abstract of the speech really delivered by +Bacon.] + +"There was a time when both Cavalier and yeoman dared to be free; when +your assembly, boldly just to their constituents, scrupled not to +contend with majesty itself in defence of our national and chartered +rights. But melancholy is the contrast which Virginia at this time +presents. The right of suffrage which was coeval with the existence of +the colony, which had lived through the arbitrary reign of James, and +with a short interruption through that of the first Charles, which was +again revived during the commonwealth, and was considered too sacred to +be touched even by the impure hands of the Protector, is now +sacrilegiously stolen from you during a season of profound peace and +security. + +"The mercenary soldiers, sent from the mother country at an immense +expense to each of you, fellow-citizens, where are they? Revelling upon +the fat of the land at distant and unthreatened posts, while our +fathers, and mothers, and brothers, and sisters, are butchered in cold +blood by the ruthless savage. Where is now the noble and generous +Fairfax, the favourite of the rich and the poor? Where his estimable and +benevolent lady? Murdered under the silent mouths of the rusty cannon +which surmount yonder palisade. Look at his sad and melancholy mansion, +once the scene of generous hospitality to you all--behold its deserted +halls and darkened windows. But this is only the nearest evidence before +our eyes--within the last twenty-four hours hundreds of worthy citizens +have shared the same fate. + +"Shall these things be longer borne, fellow-citizens?" + +"No! no! no!" burst from the multitude--"down with the Governor, and +extermination to the Indians." + +He continued. "Already I see a noble band of mounted youths, the sons of +your pride and your hopes--flanked by a proud little army of hardier +citizens; from these I would ask a pledge, that they never lay down +their arms, till their grievances are redressed."-- + +"We swear--we swear," responded from all, and then, three cheers for +General Bacon, made the welkin ring. At this juncture the trumpet, drum, +and fife, were heard immediately behind the crowd, and a party of the +royal guard, some fifty in number, halted upon the outskirts of the +assemblage, while their officer undertook to read a proclamation from +the Governor, ordering the mob, as he was pleased to style the meeting, +to disperse under penalty of their lives and property. The _army of the +people_, already getting under arms, immediately commenced an evolution +by which the temporary commander of the mounted force would have been +thrown directly fronting the guard, and between them and the multitude. +Bacon saw the intended movement, and instantly countermanded the orders, +"Let the people," said he, "deal with this handful of soldiers; we will +not weaken our force, and waste our energies by engaging in intestine +broils, when our strength is so much called for by the enemies of our +race upon the frontiers." The suggestion was immediately adopted; before +the hireling band could bring their weapons to the charge, the multitude +had closed in upon them, and disarmed them to a man. This accomplished, +they were taken to the beach, in spite of the remonstrances of many of +the more staid and sober of the Cavaliers and citizens, and there +soundly ducked. Very unmilitary indeed was their appearance, as they +were marshalled into battle array, all drooping and wet, and thus +marched to the music of an ignominious tune to the front of the +Governor's house. + +The frantic passion of Sir William Berkley can be more easily imagined +than described. He saw that he was left almost alone--that those +citizens most remarkable for their loyalty had deserted him. However +wilful and perverse, he saw the necessity of making temporary +concessions, although at the same time more than ever bent upon summary +vengeance against the most conspicuous leaders of the opposing party +whenever chance or fortune should again place the real power of the +colony in his hands. At present he felt that he was powerless--the very +means which he had taken to thwart and provoke the people now became +the source of the bitterest regret to himself, namely--sending the +mercenary soldiers of the crown to distant posts on fictitious +emergencies. He resolved therefore to disguise his real feelings until +the departure of the popular army, when he could recall his own regular +troops, and thus take signal vengeance upon such of the agitators as +should be left behind, and thence march immediately to the subjugation +of the force commanded by Bacon. Scarcely had the presence of the +dripping guard, as seen through his window, suggested these ideas, +before an opportunity offered of putting in practice his temporary +forbearance. + +A committee was announced, at the head of which was Mr. Harrison, his +former friend and supporter--they were the bearers of a conciliatory +letter from General Bacon. In this letter the young commander in chief, +in accordance with the suggestions of the older Cavaliers, respectfully +announced his election to the command of the volunteer army, and +concluded by requesting the Governor to heal all existing breaches by +sanctioning his own appointment, as well as that of the appended list of +young Cavaliers, to the various stations annexed to their names; and +that no delay might occur in the pursuit of the enemy, an immediate +answer was requested. The stout old Cavalier was ready to burst with ill +suppressed rage as he marked the cool and respectful tone of this +epistle, coming from one he most cordially detested and despised, both +on public and private grounds. + +The committee waited until he had penned his answer, which was cold and +formal, but polite. In it he declined signing the commissions in the +absence of the council, but promised to convene it early on the ensuing +day, when he stated that he would despatch a courier after the army, if +the council thought proper to approve of the popular proceedings. He +promised also to dismantle the distant forts, and immediately to call in +the foreign troops for the defence of the capital. + +With this answer, the committee, he to whom it was addressed, and the +populace were well satisfied. It really promised more than they had +expected of the obstinate old Governor. Little did they dream of the +lurking treachery in the old man's heart, much less did they truly +interpret the equivocal language contained in the note itself, +concerning the foreign soldiers, and the defence of the capital. Little +did they imagine that they themselves were the foes against whom he +proposed to employ the mercenaries. + +The army now took up its line of march across the bridge, amidst the +cheers and blessings of the multitude; men, women, and children +following them to the boundaries of the island. + +Part of the force was sent up the river in sloops, in order to +co-operate with the main army in their design of driving the tribes +scattered along the water courses of the peninsula, to a common point +of defence, and thus forcing them, if possible, into an open, general, +and decisive engagement. The youthful commander in chief was intimately +acquainted with all the localities between the seat of government, and +the falls of the river, (where Richmond now stands,) and he very +ingeniously arranged his forces by land and water, so that he might at +the same time drive the treacherous enemy before him through the +peninsula, and avoiding a premature battle, concentrate the enemy at the +point already indicated. It was with this general view, that one part of +his force was now sent up the river, while the other pursued the route +between the Chickahominy and the Pamunky rivers. These general views +were discussed, and the plan decided upon at a council of war, held on +the main land, immediately after the troops had passed the bridge. Bacon +having imparted to Charles Dudley, his Aid-de-Camp, such orders as the +emergency required, turned his horse's head again toward the bridge, and +retraced his steps to Jamestown. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The martial sounds of drums and trumpets had scarcely died away over the +distant hills, when Sir William Berkley despatched couriers to the +various military outposts of the colony, peremptorily ordering the +commanders to march forthwith to Jamestown with the forces under their +command. To these couriers also were given secret instructions for the +private ears of such of his loyal friends among the Cavaliers living on +their routes, as he knew would adhere to him under any circumstances, +urgently soliciting their immediate presence at the capital. After these +were despatched, he summoned a secret conclave of such friends, equally +worthy of his trust, as were yet to be found in the city. + +Thus were they engaged, as General Bacon, habited in the rich military +fashion of the day, rode along the north western skirt of the city, his +own gay attire, and the splendid trappings of his horse wretchedly +mocking the desolation within. He drew up at the back court of the +Berkley Arms, dismounted, and passed immediately into a private room. +Having despatched a servant for the landlord, he employed the time +before he made his appearance, in meditations upon the singular and +protracted absence of Brian O'Reily, the new responsibilities which he +had just assumed, and the present condition and future destinies of the +fair invalid at the gubernatorial mansion. + +When the landlord entered he quickly demanded if Doctor Roland had +inquired for him during the forenoon, and was answered that he had not. +A servant was despatched with a note to the Doctor repeating his request +for an interview of five minutes at the Arms. After he had waited some +time in the most intense impatience, the servant returned with a verbal +message stating that the doctor would wait on Gen. Bacon immediately. + +"From whom did you obtain this answer?" + +"From the porter at the door, sir." + +"Very well, you may retire!" + +As he sat impatiently listening for the heavy footsteps of the doctor, +he heard a light fairy foot tripping up the stairs, toward his room, and +in the next instant a gentle tap at the door. His heart almost leaped to +his mouth as he indistinctly bade the applicant to come in. "Can it be +possible," said he to himself, "that Virginia has escaped from her +jailers? Was the story of her illness but an invention of the +Governor's?" + +Before he had answered these questions to his own satisfaction, the door +was suddenly thrust backward and Harriet Harrison stood before him. + +She was pale, agitated, and gasping for breath, as she threw herself +unasked into a seat. Bacon was from his previous emotions scarcely more +composed, and his heart beat tumultuously against his doublet, as he +endeavoured vainly to offer the courtesies due to her sex and standing. + +"Oh, Mr. Bacon!" (gasped the agitated girl) "fly for your life." + +"On what account, my dear young lady?" + +"I'll tell you as quick as I can. I had just obtained admission to-day +to Virginia's room for the first time, when, after having spent the +time, and more, allotted to me by the doctor, as I was coming down the +stairs I had to pass the door of Sir William's library, and I +accidentally overheard him giving orders to an officer to collect some +soldiers from the barracks and make you a prisoner in this house. How he +knew you were here I know not; but I was no sooner out of the door than +I flew to the back court below, demanded of the servant holding your +horse to point out your room, and rushed in in this strange manner to +put you on your guard. Now, fly for your life--you have not a moment to +lose!" + +"One word of Virginia, your fair friend, and I am gone. Will she +survive? Is her reason unsettled? Does she believe the strange story of +the Recluse?" + +"In a word then, she is better--of sound mind, and in her heart does not +believe one word of that story, though sober reason is strangely +perplexed." + +"One word more, and I have done. Does she inquire for me?" + +"The very first word she said to me was, 'Does Nathaniel believe it?' +Now go, while yet you may. Should any new emergency arise in your +absence I will despatch a courier after you." + +"Yet one message to Virginia. Tell her that I have accidentally +discovered in the trinket preserved by her father, and worn by me in the +days of my infancy, the likeness of her whom I have every reason to +believe my mother. Tell her not to hope too sanguinely, but to give that +circumstance its weight, and trust to the developments of time; and now +I commit you both, my dearest friends, to the protection of an +overruling Providence; farewell." + +With these parting words he rushed down stairs, mounted his fleet +charger, and swiftly left the court just as the Governor's emissaries +entered the front porch of the house to arrest him. + +Harriet drew her veil closely over her face, and almost as fleetly +sought her father's dwelling. + +Our hero in a very few minutes placed the river which separates the +island from the main land between him and his pursuers. The sun was yet +above the western horizon, and the clouds which spread in fleecy and +stationary masses, were tinted with the softest hues of the violet and +the rose, filling the mind with pleasing images of repose, cheerfulness, +and hope. These soothing and delightful influences of the summer evening +were in a great measure lost however upon our hero as he pursued his +solitary way through the unbroken forest in the immediate footsteps of +the army. + +Besides the inevitable suspense attending the developments of his own +origin and destiny--there were immediate anticipations before him of no +pleasing character. He had just assumed the responsibilities of an +office, which at the very outset was attended with the most painful +embarrassments. His keen military eye ran over the ground occupied by +the enemies of his country, and perceived at once that to make his +enterprise completely and permanently successful, the savages must be +driven entirely from the peninsula. + +The very first on the list of these nations was the Chickahominy, at the +head of which was the youthful queen, who had so lately perilled her +life and her authority for his own salvation from the tortures of her +countrymen. His decisive and energetic mind perceived the stern +necessity which existed of driving these melancholy relics of once +powerful nations far distant from the haunts of the white man. The +question was not now presented to his mind, whether a foreign nation +should land upon the shores of these aboriginal possessors. That +question had long since been decided. It was now a matter of life or +death with the European settlers and their descendants--a question of +existence or no existence--permanent peace or continual murders. The +whites had tried all the conciliatory measures of which they supposed +themselves possessed. Peace after peace had succeeded to the frequent +fires and bloodshed of the savages. The calumet had been smoked time +after time, and hostage after hostage had been exchanged, yet there was +no peace and security for the white man. The right of the aboriginals to +the soil was indeed plain and indisputable; yet now that the Europeans +were in possession, whether by purchase or conquest, the absolute +necessity of offensive warfare against them was equally plain and +unquestioned in his mind. These views had been hastily communicated to +the council of officers held on the banks of the river, at the +commencement of the march, and unanimously concurred in by them. +Notwithstanding this unanimity of opinion among his associates in +command, the very first duty which presented itself in accordance with +these views, harrowed his feelings in the most painful manner. His +imagination carried him forward to the succeeding morning, when his +followers would in all probability be carrying fire and sword into the +heart of the settlement ruled by his preserver. As the refined and +feeling surgeon weeps in secret over the necessity of a painful and +dangerous operation upon a delicate female friend, yet subdues his +feelings and steels his nerves for the approaching trial, so our +youthful commander silenced the rising weakness in his heart, and urged +his steed still deeper into the forest. He determined to temper and +soften stern necessity with humanity. + +A few hours' ride brought him up with the baggage and artillery of the +army. The sun had already gone down, but a brilliant starlight, and a +balmy and serene air revived his drooping spirits, as he swiftly passed +these lumbering appendages. + +Scarcely had he placed himself at the head of the marching column, and +perceived that the flower and chivalry of his command--the mounted +Cavaliers, were still in advance of him, before the sharp quick report +of their fire-arms was heard at some three quarters of a mile distance +in advance. These were quickly succeeded by the savage war-whoop, and in +a few moments a bright red column of fire and smoke shot up towards the +heavens immediately in front. His spurs were dashed into his charger's +flanks, and he flew through the fitfully illuminated forest toward a +gently swelling hill from beyond which the light seemed to proceed. + +When he had gained this eminence, a sight greeted his eyes which +awakened all the tenderest sympathies of his nature. Orapacs, the sole +remaining village of the Chickahominies--the scene of his late +tortures--as well as his preservation, was wrapped in flames. Ever and +anon a terrified or wounded savage came darting through the forest +heedless alike of him and of the martial sounds in his rear. He reined +up his courser on the summit and sadly viewed the scene. + +His commands were no longer necessary for the existing emergency. The +deed, for which he had been so laboriously and studiously preparing his +mind was done. The royal wigwam, the very scene of his shelter, and of +Wyanokee's hospitality, was already enveloped by the devouring element. +A few struggling and desperate warriors still kept up the unequal +contest, but in a few moments, even the despairing yells of these were +hushed in the cold and everlasting silence of death. Painfully and +intently he gazed upon the crumbling walls of the once peaceful home of +his Indian friend. He could perceive no appearance of the unfortunate +queen. His imagination immediately conjured up the image of the heroic +maiden, her form bleeding and mutilated as it lay among the last +defenders of the land of her fathers. By a singular sophistry of the +mind, he consoled himself by the reflection, that the orders had not +proceeded from his lips--that his hand had no part in the matter, +although he had himself laid down the plan of the campaign, of which the +scene before him was the first result. True, he had mentioned no exact +time for the accomplishment of this measure, and the ardour of his young +companions in arms had outstripped his own intentions; nevertheless, the +design was his, however much he might soothe his own feelings by the +want of personal participation. + +By the time that the infantry and heavy artillery had arrived upon the +spot occupied by their General, the village of Orapacs was a heap of +smouldering ruins. The scene was again covered with darkness, save when +it was illuminated at intervals by a fitful gleam, as some quivering +ruin fell tardily among the smouldering embers of the walls which had +already fallen. He assumed the command of his troops, and marched them +into the plain between the place they then occupied, and the site of the +melancholy scene we have described. By his orders also, the trumpets +were ordered to command the return of the impetuous Cavaliers. Dudley +and his compatriots soon came bounding over the plain, exhilarated with +the first flush of success, and not a little surprised at the cold and +respectful salutations which greeted them from their commander. Most of +them, however, were acquainted with his late sufferings and feeble +bodily health, and to this cause they were willing to attribute his +present want of euthusiasm. + +Bacon had no sooner issued the necessary orders for the night than, +taking Dudley by the arm, he walked forth into the forest beyond the +sentinels already posted. + +"Tell me, Dudley," (said he in a hurried and agitated voice,) "was she +slain?" + +"Was who slain?" + +"The queen of these dominions!" + +"No, I believe not. I think she was borne from the scene early in the +conflict, by some of her tribe." + +"Thank God!" he fervently ejaculated, and then addressing himself to his +aid, he continued, "Return, Dudley, to the camp--superintend the +execution of the orders I have issued for our security, in person, but +follow me not, and suffer no one, either officer or soldier, to approach +the ruins. I will return in the course of a couple of hours." + +Having thus spoken, he suddenly disappeared through the forest, and his +companion returned to the camp. + +With slow and melancholy steps our hero approached the late busy and +animated scene. The beasts of prey were sending up their savage, but +plaintive notes in horrible unison with his own feelings. The cool +evening breeze fanned the dying embers, and occasionally loaded the +atmosphere with brilliant showers of sparks and flakes of fire. As these +rolled over his person and fell dead upon his garments, he folded his +arms, and contemplated the ruins of the wigwam in which he had found +protection. + +"There," said he, "was perhaps the birth-place of a hundred monarchs of +these forests. Until civilized man intruded upon these dominions, they +were in their own, and nature's way, joyous, prosperous, and happy. They +have resided amidst the shades of these venerable trees, perhaps since +time began! The very waters of the stream bubbling joyously over yonder +pebbles, have borrowed their name. Where are they all now? The last male +youth of their kingly line was slain by these hands, and the last +habitations of his race fired and plundered by soldiers owing obedience +to my commands. The plough and the harrow will soon break down alike +their hearth-stones and the scene of their council fires. Yea, and the +very monuments of their dead must be levelled to meet the ever craving +demands of civilized existence. But pshaw! is this the preparation to +steel a soldier's heart, and fire it with military ardour and +enthusiasm? Let me rather ponder upon my own sufferings on this spot. +Let me remember the groans of dying old men, women, and children, which +rent the air twelve hours since. And above all, let me bear in mind the +despairing shrieks of her, who was more than a mother to me, of her who +clothed and fed and protected me in infancy. Where is she now?" + +"She is alive and well!" answered a feeble and plaintive voice from the +wild flowers and shrubbery which grew upon an earthen monument erected +to the savage dead. + +"Who is it that speaks?" + +"One that had better have slept with those who sleep beneath!" + +"Wyanokee?" + +"Ay, who is left but Wyanokee and these mouldering bones beneath, of all +the proud race that once trod these plains unchallenged, and free as the +water that bubbles at your feet." + +He approached the rude monument as she spoke. It consisted of a +grass-grown mount some thirty feet in length, by ten in height and +breadth, and was surmounted by thick clustering briers and wild flowers. +The youthful queen was sitting upon the margin of the tumulus, her head +resting upon her hand, and it in its turn supported on her knee. As the +officer approached, she stood erect upon the mount. Her person was clad +and ornamented much as when he had last seen her, except that above one +shoulder protruded a richly carved unstrung bow, and from the other, a +quiver of feather-tipped arrows crossing the bow near her waist. The +soldier replied, + +"It is almost useless for me to profess now, how wholly, how profoundly, +I sympathize with you in witnessing this scene of desolation. Naught but +the dictates of inevitable necessity could have induced the army under +my command to perpetrate this melancholy devastation. But I trust that +the soothing influences of time, your own good sense, and the +ministrations of your kind white friends, will reconcile you to these +stern decrees of fate." + +"Kind indeed is the white man's sympathy--very kind. He applies the +torch to the wigwam of his red friend, shoots at his women and children +as they run from the destruction within, and then he weeps over the +ruins which his own hands have made." + +"It is even so, Wyanokee. I do not expect you to understand or +appreciate my feelings upon the instant; but when you are once again +peacefully settled at Jamestown with your sorrowing young friend, and +will cast your eyes over this vast and fertile country, and see to what +little ends its resources are wasted, and on the other hand, what +countless multitudes are driven hither by the crowded state of other +parts of the world, you will begin to see the necessity which is driving +your red brethren to the far west. You can then form some conception of +the now unseen power behind, which is urging them forward. You will see +the great comprehension and sublime spectacle of God's political +economy! you will see it in its beauty and its justice. You feel the +partial and limited effects of these swelling waves of the great +creation now upon yourself and your nation. I grant they are hard to be +borne, but once place yourself above these personal considerations, and +compare the demands of a world with the handful of warriors lying dead +around those ruins, and you will bow to the justice of the decree which +has gone forth against your people!" + +"Does your Great Spirit then only care for the good of his white +children? You taught me to believe that he too created the red men, and +placed them upon these hunting grounds, that he cared as much for them +as he did for their white brethren--but now it seems he is angry with +the poor red man, because he lives and hunts as he was taught, by the +Great Spirit himself. These hunting grounds are now wanted for his other +children, and those to whom he first gave them, must not only yield them +up, but they must be driven by the fire and the thunder, and the long +knives of those who have been professing themselves our brethren." + +"Your view of the case is a very natural and plausible one, yet it seems +to me you have overlooked that point in it, upon which the whole matter +turns. Let us for one moment grant the necessity of making room on your +hunting grounds for your white brethren, who are crowded out of the +older countries. There seemed at first no need to disturb the red men, +there was room enough here for all, we were content to live upon this +kind and neighbourly footing. Had your brethren been equally content, +the great purposes of the Creator would have been answered without any +destruction of his red or white children. Have the red men so demeaned +themselves toward the whites that we could all dwell here together? Let +the massacre of last night speak! You point to yonder smouldering ruins +and bloody corpses. I point to the bleeding bodies of my countrymen and +friends, and their demolished dwellings as the cause--the direct cause +of the desolation you behold." + +"The white man talks very fast--and very well--he talks for the Great +Spirit and himself too; but who talks for the poor red man, but +Wyanokee. All you say is very good for the white men upon our hunting +grounds, and the white men driven from over the great waters, and for +the white men left behind. It leaves room to hunt and plant corn _there_ +for the white men, and finds room _here_ to hunt and plant corn, but you +do not give the poor red man any hunting ground. You say we must go to +the far west, but how long will it be the far west? How many of your +white friends are coming over the big waters? How far is this place, +where the red man will not be driven from his new hunting ground? If we +cannot live and smoke the calumet of peace together, we must have +separate hunting grounds. Where are our hunting grounds? Ah, I see your +eye reaches where the clouds and the blue mountains come together--to +the end of the world, we must go, like those beneath us to the hunting +grounds of the Great Spirit." + +"Not so, Wyanokee, we would willingly spare the effusion of blood, and +when our arms have taught the men who assembled here two days ago, our +firm determination always to avenge the murder of our friends and the +plunder of their property, it is our intention to propose a fair and +permanent peace. We will endeavour to convince them of the necessity of +abandoning for ever the country between these two great rivers, and +moving their hunting grounds where the interests of the two races cannot +come in conflict." + +"O yes, you will run the long knives through their bodies, and then +smoke the calumet! You will drive us from our homes, and then you will +persuade us to give them up to the white man." + +"You are not now in a proper mood to reason upon this subject calmly, my +gentle friend, nor do I wonder at it; but the time will come when your +views of this matter will be similar to my own." + +"No, Wyanokee cannot see through the white man's eyes; she has not yet +learned to forget her kindred and her country. She came here to-night to +sit upon the graves of the great hunters and warriors who slept here +with their calumets and tomahawks beside them, long before the long +knives came among us. She will carry away from this place to night, this +little flower planted by her own hands over the graves of her fathers +and brothers. She would leave it here to spread its flowers over their +ancient war paths and their graves, but even these silent and peaceful +bones, and these harmless flowers must share the fate of them who buried +the one and planted the other. Wyanokee will never see this place +more--never again be near the bones of her fathers, until she meets them +all at the hunting ground of the Great Spirit. Farewell, home and +country and friends, and fare thee well, ungrateful man; when next the +Indian maiden steps between thee and the tomahawk of her countrymen +repay not her kindness with the torch to her wigwam and the long knife +to her heart." + +With these bitter words of parting, she descended from the mound with +dignity, and disappeared through the forest, notwithstanding the urgent +entreaties of Bacon, that she would return. She gave no other evidence +of heeding him than turning back the palm of her hand toward him, and +leaning her head in the opposite direction, as if she were exorcising an +evil spirit. He made no other attempt to stay her progress; once indeed +the thought occurred to him to hail the sentinel and arrest her for her +own sake, but the idea was as speedily abandoned. He determined to leave +her destiny wholly in the hands of him who first decreed it. For a +moment he ascended the mount and cast his eye over the wide-spread and +melancholy desolation, and then rapidly retraced his steps to the camp. +When there, his first orders were to have the slain warriors of the +expatriated tribes, buried in the tomb of their forefathers, while his +own personal attention was bestowed upon the condition of the prisoners +taken during the demolition of the village. + +They sat round the tents appropriated to their use, in stern and sullen +dignity. Wounded or whole, no sound escaped their lips; and their food +and drink remained untouched before them. They noticed the entrance of +the commander in chief no more than if he had been an insignificant +creeping reptile of the earth; no signs of recognition lighted up their +features, though most or all of them must have been present at the scene +of his own tortures. While Bacon stood no unmoved spectator of the calm +unshaken fortitude with which they bore their misfortunes, an incident +occurred that served to exhibit the stern qualities of their pride in +still bolder relief. One of the old warriors had been taken while +attempting to escape with one of his children, after having fought +until there was not a vestige of hope remaining for the preservation of +his people and their homes. He was brought into the camp, together with +his child. While the prisoners were all sitting round in sullen dignity, +and the general of the invading army stood surveying them as we have +mentioned, this little child came entreatingly to its father's knees, +and begged for the food which stood untouched before his face. He made +no verbal reply--a momentary weakness softened his countenance as he +gazed into the face of the tender petitioner, but in the next, he raised +his tomahawk and sank it deep into the brain of his child before any one +could arrest his arm. The innocent and unconscious victim fell without a +groan or struggle, and the stern old warrior reinserted the handle of +his weapon in his belt, crossed his arms upon his breast, and resumed +his former attitude of immobility. Bacon gazed at him in astonishment +and horror for an instant, and then wheeled suddenly round to retire +from an exhibition of humanity, so rude, ferocious, and appalling. But +as he was about to emerge from the portal of the tent, Wyanokee was +rudely thrust into the door, and they stood face to face. + +His first impulse was to draw his sword, and rush upon the two soldiers +who had guarded the prisoner, but a moment's reflection served to remind +him that they had but obeyed his own general orders. He returned the +half drawn weapon therefore, and stood an embarrassed spectator of the +captive maiden's searching glances, as her eyes wandered around the +room, first resting upon her unfortunate companions in captivity, next +upon the corpse of the slain infant, and lastly upon the commander +himself. He had seen her previously when her subdued manners and +lady-like deportment, inclined him in communing with her to forget her +Indian origin, but he saw her now with all her native impulses roused to +their highest tension. Her eye flashed fire as it rested upon him after +completing her survey, and she thus addressed him, stepping a few paces +backward, while her person was drawn up to its utmost height, and her +bosom heaved with struggling emotions. + +"Are you the same person who sometime since undertook to inspire noble +sentiments into the mind of the purest being that ever honoured a white +skin? Are you the same youth who aspired to her hand and renounced it on +the marriage night, because of kindred blood? Are you the youth whose +fair and deceitful form, and apparently noble nature, once made Wyanokee +look with contempt upon this heroic race of warriors? If the form, the +person be the same, the Great Spirit of evil has poisoned the fountains +of your heart, and turned your goodness and your honour to cruelty and +cunning. How far has the great light gone down behind the sea, since you +stood upon the ruins of all that Wyanokee loved, and professed sorrow +for their destruction, and sympathy in her misfortunes? When you stood +before her, and dared not lay your own hands upon her person!--you could +leave her untouched upon the grave of her great warriors--you dared not +seek to injure her, lest their spirits should return from the happy +hunting ground and kill you on the spot. But you could deceitfully order +these poor long knives to stand in her path and prevent her from taking +the last look, and heaving the last sigh that should ever be looked and +uttered in these forests." + +"I gave no orders for your arrest, Wyanokee; I have not spoken to the +sentinels since I saw you!" + +"But you could stand and mourn with Wyanokee over the ashes of her +fathers' wigwam, when you had just come from ordering these to carry her +into captivity. They told me themselves that they acted by your orders. +Oh how cruel, how deceitful is the white man! He gladdens the poor +Indian's eyes with his glittering toys, till he cheats him of all the +corn laid up for his squaws during the winter. He smokes the calumet +with the chiefs, while his own followers are burning down the houses of +their nation. You, sir, redeemed Wyanokee from captivity, to carry her +into a more galling bondage. You taught her the knowledge of the white +man, only that she might multiply her sorrows, when this long foreseen +night should come. Was it for this that she redeemed you from the red +hot tortures of these chiefs? Did you come upon their hunting ground to +learn how to torture in preparation for this occasion, and trusting to +Wyanokee's soft and foolish heart for your safe return? Lead them and +her to the stake! we will show the white warrior how to endure the +tortures of our enemies without fainting like women." + +"You will not listen to me, Wyanokee, else I could have told you long +ago, that I had given no orders to the sentinels. We do not desire your +captivity? you are free to go now whithersoever you choose, provided you +keep beyond the range of our sentinels. What our race has done against +yours, has only been done to protect their own lives and property, and +to make that protection secure and permanent. You know that we never +torture prisoners; when the war is ended and peace obtained, these +warriors shall go free and unharmed. I see that they have refused to +touch their food, under the belief that they are to suffer, but I will +leave you to undeceive them, after which you are free to go or to +remain. If the latter be your choice, a tent shall be provided for your +sole accommodation." + +Having thus spoken, he hastily left the tent and sought the marquée +occupied by the higher grade of officers and the more aristocratic of +the Cavaliers. Gay sounds of song and minstrelsy greeted his ears as he +approached the spot--Bacchanalian scraps promiscuously chimed in chorus +with more sentimental ditties, and all occasionally drowned in +boisterous shouts of laughter. These evidences of the mood in which he +should find his associates deterred him from entering, under his present +feelings, and he therefore passed on to his own solitary quarters. In a +few moments he was extended upon such a bed as a camp affords, with no +external source of interruption to his repose, save the distant cries of +the wild beasts, and the more monotonous tread of the sentinel, as he +paced his narrow limits in the performance of his duty. + +The sun rose the next morning over the ruins of Orapacs and the scene of +the late strife in unclouded splendour. The enlivening notes of drums +and trumpets had long since roused the soldiers from their slumbers, and +having despatched their morning meal, they were speedily forming into +marching order. The commander of this imposing little army mounted his +charger, and galloped along the forming battalions; his eye bright and +serene, his spirits, in comparison with the previous night, bounding and +elastic. Having detailed to his council of officers his intention of +next attacking the king of Pamunky, the orders for the march were given, +and the lines wheeled into columns, headed by the gay and brilliant +_cortége_ of youthful Cavaliers. + +The prisoners were marched into the centre of the column, and as they +assumed their station, the general ran his anxious eye eagerly over +their persons, to ascertain whether his former pupil had availed +herself of the accommodations provided by his orders. But no such +graceful form greeted his sight, and he learned from the Captain of the +guard that she had departed soon after he had himself left the +prisoners--entirely alone. A momentary sadness shaded his brow, as he +reflected upon the desolate condition of the Indian maiden, but it was +soon lost in the absorbing duties of his station. + +Toward evening, of the ensuing day, as the army pursued their route +between the Chickahominy and Pamunky Rivers, the vanguard discovered +several of the Pamunky tribe, skulking among the trees of the forest +immediately in advance of them. The general, apprehending an ambuscade, +immediately ordered the Cavaliers to fall back upon the main body of the +army, while a practised band of rangers were ordered to examine the +cover of the wood. Scarcely had these orders been transmitted to their +various destinations, before a bright beacon fire shot its spiral column +of smoke and flame high above the surrounding trees. What this new +device portended the commander could not divine, nor could the council, +which was immediately summoned, give to it a satisfactory +interpretation. The Rangers returned without discovering any signs of an +ambuscade, though they had penetrated to the huge fire which lighted up +the forest. Not an Indian was to be seen there or beyond. Bacon and his +staff rode forward to the scene in person--but the aid of a glass +enabled him to discover nothing more. + +The army was again put in motion, and every precaution used which some +experience in Indian warfare had taught the general was so necessary. +For miles they proceeded with the most watchful caution, until the +absence of the undergrowth in the forest taught them that it had been +fired, and thereby disclosed the probability of their being in the near +neighbourhood of the town of the Pamunkies. The verdant glades were +lighted up at intervals by broad masses of red light from the setting +sun, as they fell between the natural interstices of the trees. The +appearance of the woodland vista before them was romantic and +picturesque in the extreme. The forest had the aspect of a country which +had been settled for ages. The venerable trees, surmounted with green +and brown moss, were now occasionally richly bronzed with the rays of +the sun as they fell horizontally upon their hoary trunks, and the whole +more resembled an ancient and venerable park, which some wealthy +gentleman had inherited from careful and provident ancestors, than a +wild woodland, fresh from the hands of nature, in which the woodman's +axe had never been heard, and upon which no other care or culture had +been bestowed than the occasional torch of the savage. + +They were not left long to revel in these wild beauties--a more +appalling scene awaited them. The sun was fast declining behind the +river hills of the Chickahominy and darkness encircling the sombre +groves in which they rode, when suddenly a hundred fires cast a lurid +glare across their path, and the army instinctively halted on beholding +the town of the Pamunkies wrapped in flames. Again they were put in +motion, and cautiously approached the spot. Bacon fearing that some +treachery lurked beneath these unexpected measures of the Indians, could +scarcely restrain the impetuosity of his mounted force, spurred on by +curiosity to see in what new device of savage warfare they would +terminate. + +They arrived upon the skirts of the town, however, and within the +influence of the heat, without hindrance or adventure; and what no less +surprised them, not a living creature was perceptible, around or near +the conflagration. + +The first idea that suggested itself to the mind of Bacon was, that the +savages had, in despair, thrown themselves into the burning ruins of +their own dwellings. He now understood the meaning of the beacon light +on their route; "it was the signal for commencing the tragedy," he +muttered to himself as he reined up his steed and ordering his troops to +halt, brought them into line along the outskirts of the burning village, +which, like the one they had themselves fired, was constructed upon the +banks of the Pamunky river. While the troops thus stood upon their arms, +some of the officers rode through the blazing wigwams, very much +against the will of their rearing and plunging chargers. It was +completely deserted; but while they were consulting upon the measures to +be taken, a tumultuous and astounding yell burst suddenly upon their +startled ears. The intense light of the burning village rendered the +twilight gloom around as dark as midnight by the contrast, and not a +savage could anywhere be seen. The mounted troop made a wide sweep round +the alignment, but with no better success. Another astounding shout of +savage voices ascended to the clouds. Many of the frail and tottering +wigwams tumbled in at the same moment--throwing the light in a lower +line of vision over the water, so that they were enabled to discover a +large body of mounted Pamunkies drawn up like themselves on the opposite +bank of the river. Their grim and painted visages, close shaven crowns, +scalp locks, and gaudy feathers, appeared through the medium of the red +and flickering light reflected from the water, in horrible distinctness. +A legion of devils from the infernal regions, clothed in all the horrors +of German poetry, never startled the senses and aroused the imagination +more than did this spectacle its amazed beholders. With another yell and +a flourish of their tomahawks above their heads, the Indians +simultaneously wheeled their horses and flew over the plain towards the +source of the river. In a few moments all was silent as death, save the +crackling of the burning wigwams. The squaws and children seemed to have +been long since removed. Again the colonial army--or to speak more +properly, the army of the people, encamped before the ruins of an +ancient and venerable settlement. + +Here were no painful reminiscences for the sensitive but energetic +commander. The savages were flying before his as yet scarcely tried +army, in the very direction in which it was his purpose to drive them. +He knew them too well to believe that the whole peninsula would be thus +tamely abandoned, and he issued his orders, before lying down to rest, +for redoubled vigilance through the night, and an early march in the +morning toward the falls of the Powhatan, where he had every reason to +believe that the tribes of the former confederacy were again drawing to +a head. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Our hero was not deceived in his supposition, that the savage tribes +inhabiting the Peninsula would make a desperate effort to retain +possession of a country so admirably adapted to their mode of life. Two +noble rivers, one on either hand, abounding with a variety of fish, and +a fertile soil, yielding its treasures with little culture, were +considerations in the eyes of these ignorant but not misjudging sons of +the forest, not to be surrendered without a struggle. + +As the army of the colonists pursued its march toward the point already +indicated as the rendezvous of the again confederated tribes, it was +constantly harassed with alarms--signal fires and flying bodies of +mounted warriors, first cutting off their communication with the +river--now assailing the vanguard, and then hovering upon the rear. +Three weeks and more were thus consumed in partial and unsatisfactory +engagements; the skirmishers first approaching one river, upon the +representation of some treacherous savage, and then hurrying back in the +opposite direction to meet some illusive demonstration made by the +cunning enemy. The youthful commander soon perceived that this mode of +warfare was the one exactly suited to the nature and condition of his +foes, and the least adapted to the impetuous courage of his own troops. +He saw too, that the savages had the double design of wearying out their +invaders in the manner we have described, and of collecting and +concentrating their forces, at some point where their own mode of +warfare could be rendered available, without exposing themselves to the +destructive discharges of artillery which they still held in +superstitious terror. A very little reflection satisfied him that there +would be no immediate danger in pursuing the direct route between the +Powhatan and Chickahominy rivers, toward the falls of the former, where +he had already some intimation that the enemy were collecting in great +force. He was well satisfied that the tribes already dislodged had +removed all their winter provisions, and their wigwams being destroyed, +there could be little hazard to the city in disregarding their daily +demonstrations in his front, flank, and rear. Accordingly his troops +were concentrated in a solid column, and marched directly toward the +falls, entirely disregarding the petty annoyances which had already +detained them so ingloriously in the Peninsula. + +While they were marching toward the scene of the great and final +struggle for supremacy between their own race and the Aborigines, in +this narrow neck of land, which had so long been the scene of +contention, we will retrace our steps for a short space, in order to +bring up the proceedings at Jamestown to the point at which we have just +arrived. + +In doing so, however, it is not our intention to fatigue the reader with +a minute account of the long and tedious days, and still more wretched +nights, spent by our heroine after the shock given to her delicate +constitution by the painful and unexpected adventure in the chapel, and +by the subsequently reported death of her mother under peculiarly awful +and afflicting circumstances. The reader has doubtless more truly +imagined her condition during the first paroxysms of the fever, than we +could describe it. Down to the time when her favourite and confidant was +permitted to enter her room, the daily occurrences of her yet endangered +life were sad and monotonous enough, but the paramount cravings of +diseased nature once assuaged, her mental excitement once more rose in +the ascendant. Not that her reason ever became deranged, except from +violent febrile action during the height of the attack; however feeble +her physical organization, her mental powers were clear and unclouded, +and her spirits, though of necessity somewhat broken, were firm and +elastic. The truth is, that she did not believe the assertion of the +Recluse by which the nuptial ceremony was so dreadfully interrupted. She +had indeed a feeling of superstitious reverence for whatever came from +his lips, but she had also seen the wild fire of his eye when under deep +excitement, and she did not therefore give implicit confidence to any +declaration he should make. + +This questioning of his oracular authority was an after-consideration it +is true, and was itself prompted by other feelings, having their +foundation in the affections of the heart. She could not believe that +her lover was her own brother; her feelings toward him were +peculiar--powerful, and different from the love of mere kindred. +Besides, there were little almost undefinable circumstances in the +intercourse of their halcyon days, which she did not believe, could in +the nature of man, have taken place between brother and sister. She most +truly thought that her lover and herself were expressly created for each +other; that their union had been decreed in heaven. That in the first +dawnings of their mutual understanding of each other, there had been +electrical, spiritual and ever sublime transmissions of mutual +intelligence and exquisite pleasure, which could not exist between +children of the same parents. These were some of the reasonings which +first led her to doubt the infallibility of the Recluse, or rather this +was something like the process by which she arrived at firm and +undoubting conviction. She viewed the case in this light from the very +first moment of unclouded perception, but at first it was a wild +tumultuous and suffocating mixture of vague perceptions, and scarcely +permitted hopes. As she gradually analyzed her feelings, and examined +the reasons for her convictions, the truth dawned more and more clearly +upon her view. She was one day sitting, propped up on her couch, during +the three weeks in which Bacon was engaged in his Indian campaign, the +doctor sitting by her side with his finger upon her pulse. Both were +silent and abstracted. The pale beautiful countenance of the invalid was +fixed in deep and earnest thought. Her eyes wandered through an open +window, and sought a resting place upon some sunny spot of green and +refreshing nature. Her lips moved just perceptibly, as if she were +conversing with some one in an under tone. At length she slightly raised +her head, her eyes sparkled with the brilliancy of stars, waxing +brighter and brighter, and her head rising higher and higher from her +pillow, until she screamed in wild delight, "The light of heaven and +love's inspiration itself declare it false." + +The doctor rose with a grave and anxious look, and placing one hand upon +her shoulders, and with the other removing the pillows that supported +her, laid her gently down, saying, + +"I fear there is more excitement about your head to-day, my dear young +lady; if it continues you must lose blood again." + +"Oh, dear doctor, there is indeed excitement about my head and my heart +too, but it is not the excitement of fever; or if it is, it is a dear +delightful fever, which I trust in God will never leave me, for it came +just now wafted on my brain as if by the music of the spheres." + +"Your room must be darkened again, and the cold applications to your +head repeated." + +"You think I am losing my senses again, dear doctor, but I assure you I +am just regaining them, as I will show you from this time forward. I +have now done with physic. I have a medicine here," (and she laid her +hand upon her heart, while a bewitching smile played around her mouth, +that staggered the good doctor,) "which is worth more to me than all the +costly drugs of India, or the islands of the sea." + +And the event justified her words. Her mind was no sooner settled in +deep conviction, and her heart comparatively at ease, than she began +rapidly to recover. It was some days before the scene just related, when +Harriet Harrison was admitted to her presence, and when, as the reader +has already learned from that maiden herself, Virginia propounded to her +the questions touching her lover's belief in their reported +relationship, which were repeated by Miss Harrison to Bacon. + +So long as that interview continued between the two intimates, +untramelled by the presence of a third person, it was one of deep +interest; but unfortunately the heir of the house had too much reason to +suspect that Harriet's feelings were engaged in another's interest, long +to indulge them with an unbroken interview. Virginia barely had time to +ask those questions, and whisper to her friend the tidings of her own +dawning hopes, before the doctor entered, attended to the door as +Harriet perceived through the partial opening, by Frank Beverly himself; +she therefore took her leave, promising a speedy return. + +As she retired from the chamber of the invalid, she accidentally +overheard the Governor's orders for Bacon's arrest, the result of which +has already been related. Her next visit to the house was on the day of +the scene between the doctor and his patient, which we have just +attempted to describe. She was ushered into the room of state, usually +occupied by the Governor for the reception of his most distinguished +guests. No formality was neglected in duly receiving her at the door, +and conducting her to this presence chamber of his Excellency, by the +official who acted as master of ceremonies. + +"I have no business of state to communicate to the Governor, Sir Porter; +I came to see his niece!" + +The porter bowed profoundly as he replied, "But his Excellency has some +business with you, madam, as he informed me, when he directed me to +usher you into this apartment." Another profound inclination followed, +with an accompaniment of rubbing hands and shuffling his feet backward; +while the arch, but somewhat alarmed and astonished maiden, was left to +con her speech to the Governor at her leisure. After a most tedious +interval of half an hour, the formal representative of majesty made his +appearance, with such a profusion of bows that his merry master himself +would have smiled to witness them. Of course Harriet bit her lips in +order to restrain their mirthful inclinations. While the old knight drew +a chair, and after sundry hems and stroking his chin, thus gravely +addressed her: "I am informed, Madam, that you are desirous of an +interview with me; will you be so good as to enlighten me as to the +cause of the unexpected honour?" + +"Some one must have deceived you with a most egregious story, Sir +William. I desired no such thing. I came here to see my friend, Virginia +Fairfax." + +"I am exceedingly pained to inform you, Miss Harriet, that from certain +late circumstances, which it is needless to particularize, and in which +you were somewhat a participator, I, as Virginia's natural guardian, +have thought proper to end the intercourse between you at once. My niece +is destined soon to become the wife of my young kinsman, Beverly, and it +is most prudent to keep her from the sight of such persons and things as +might remind her of that most strange and disgraceful transaction of +which I will not speak more openly. I am very sorry to give you pain, +but there was no other course left for me to pursue than to be plain and +candid with you." + +"And does this marriage take place with Virginia's consent?" + +"She has not been consulted as yet; her health, in the first place, did +not admit of it, and in the second, the evidence which she so lately +gave of being utterly incapable of choosing a husband calculated to +secure her own happiness, or reflect honour upon her family and +connexions, has caused that duty to devolve on me." + +"But, Sir William, suppose she should refuse to accept the husband of +your choice? You certainly will not enforce your determination." + +"Her lamented father and myself entered long since into a covenant by +which these young people were to be united. On the very morning of his +death, we talked the matter over; he freely and fully consented to the +completion of the engagement, and forthwith it shall be carried into +execution, if sufficient authority remains to me in these turbulent and +rebellious times to enforce it." + +"But you will give her time to assuage her grief, and make up her mind +to the lot which awaits her. You surely will not precipitate her into +the celebration of these nuptials?" + +"You talk, young lady, as if it were some horrible and revolting monster +to whom I intended uniting her, instead of the presumptive heir and +nearest kinsman of Sir William Berkley, well favoured and highly +accomplished, as you must acknowledge that he is. She has had time +enough to recover her equanimity, and as soon as her health is equally +restored, the ceremony shall be performed; and whether or not, it is my +purpose to complete it before the return of that arch-rebel Bacon to the +city. Please God, however, I intend he shall return in irons to undergo +the penalty demanded by the outraged laws of his country." + +"And you will not permit me to see my friend for five minutes--only five +minutes?" + +"No! lady, you are now advised of my intentions touching the disposal of +my niece, and you may readily comprehend the reasons of your exclusion +from her presence, without my entering into further and more painful +explanations." + +With this answer, Harriet was compelled to be content, and therefore +making a reverence, more than usually formal, to his Excellency, she +withdrew. It was not in her nature, however, to resign her friend to the +fate which threatened her, without an effort to relieve her. From the +gubernatorial mansion she immediately hastened in pursuit of O'Reily, in +order to despatch him with a communication for his master. But Brian was +nowhere to be found; her own researches and those of the servant whom +she despatched in pursuit of him were of no effect; she was therefore +compelled to entrust her message to one of her father's negroes, who was +well mounted, and despatched upon his errand, within less than two hours +from the time of her interview with his Excellency. + +During the absence of the army in the Peninsula, Sir William Berkley had +not been idle, as has already been intimated. The commands borne by his +couriers to those Cavaliers throughout the colony, who were yet well +affected to his government, began now to bring them in from all +directions, and the regular soldiers stationed at the forts, which were +so offensive to the citizens, were marching rapidly upon the capital +from every quarter. Some had already arrived, and the city was once more +thronged with eager faces. Sounds of martial music were again heard +through the streets, and the more quiet citizens again disturbed with +the stern preparations for war. + +The present military and Cavalier assemblages in the capital were, +however, of a very different political character, and brought together +with very different motives from those which had preceded them. They +were not less in numbers, spirit and appointments; but their object was +not to cope with the savage--it was to measure arms in deadly strife +with their own countrymen and fellow-citizens. The army now assembling, +was intended by the Governor to suppress what he called the rebellion, +and his purpose was, as soon as his forces should all arrive, to march +at once to the Falls of the Powhatan, and while the popular army were +engaged in front with the savage enemies of their country, to fall upon +their rear, and either cut them in pieces, or compel them to surrender +as rebels found bearing arms against his majesty's authority in the +colony. + +Seldom have political parties of any country presented so strange an +aspect as did those of Virginia at this period. First, the people of the +city had been divided between the Cavaliers and Roundheads. The latter +were no sooner brought into complete subjection, than a new +amalgamation took place, by which their distinctive character was lost. +Then, growing out of the puerile obstinacy of Sir William Berkley, in +refusing to repel the incursions of the Indians merely because he had at +first maintained that there was no danger to be apprehended from their +hostility, the popular or conservative party sprang into existence. +Against these were now arrayed the loyalist faction, and most of those +descended from noble ancestors or bearing titles, headed by the Governor +himself. + +In a very few days this latter party had assembled their whole military +force in the city, and the most active preparations were made to march +against Bacon and his followers who were carrying fire and sword into +the very heart of the country occupied by the real enemies of the +colony. + +The temporary duties of the government were resigned into the hands of +Sir H. Chicherley, while Sir William Berkley, Sir Herbert Jeffries, +Francis Beverly, Philip Ludwell, and their compeers, assumed the most +important stations of command in the army of the loyalists. Much the +larger portion of the regular troops were composed of foreign +mercenaries, sent over from England to perform those very duties which +Bacon and his followers were now to be punished for assuming. The very +soldiers who ought to have protected the whites against the incursions +of the Indians were to be turned against the patriot band which had +volunteered to perform a service no longer to be deferred with safety to +the colony. It is true that the commissions of Bacon and his officers +were not legally signed by the constituted authorities; but an emergency +had arisen which threw the citizens back at once upon their original +rights and powers. The government having failed to afford them +protection for their lives and property, they had assumed that office +for themselves. This was the condition of the colony at the juncture of +which we write. + +While Sir William and his coadjutors were thus busily collecting and +disciplining their forces, the citizens of the capital were not +uninterested spectators of this unwonted succession of military +preparations. Most of those remaining in the city had friends and +relations in the ranks of the popular army, and though they dared not +openly express their disapprobation of the Governor's proceedings, their +discontent was deep and settled, and only awaited the departure of the +present overpowering force, again to burst into open resistance against +the government. + +While these preparations for civil strife were going on in the streets +of the city, a discussion of not less interesting import to some of the +leading characters of our story, was carried on within the walls of the +Governor's mansion. The stout old Cavalier had fixed upon the day +preceding the departure of his army, for the solemnization of the +marriage between his niece and his kinsman Beverly. He had himself held +several interviews with the former, but had failed to make the least +impression on her mind, either by his reasoning or his more artful +appeals to her filial duty and affections. + +In vain had he detailed her father's plans and expectations. In vain had +he appealed to her love and respect for his memory. In vain had he +descended from his dignity to reproach her with the late disastrous +occurrence at the chapel. In vain had he coarsely charged her with +desiring an alliance, contrary alike to the laws of God and man. She was +deaf to his arguments and his threats. But the time approached with +fearful rapidity, which he had appointed for the ceremony. The intended +bridegroom held an important command in the expedition now preparing, +and it was Sir William's intention that he should be married and set out +on the succeeding morning. Notwithstanding our heroine's apparent +firmness, therefore, in presence of her stern relative, every note of +preparation which was wafted into her chamber sent the blood +oppressively to her heart. Her naturally mild and gentle nature shrunk +from the contemplation of the violence which her fears and her knowledge +of her kinsman induced her to believe would be used to overcome her +resolution. + +His pretended dread of the disgrace which he charged her with desiring +to bring upon his family she knew was exactly the apology he wanted for +the arbitrary measures necessary to the completion of the plan. + +She was alone in the world. No one now stood ready to give her rescue +from the relentless hands which placed restraint upon her inclinations. +Her nearest kindred had, as she believed, fallen by the savage tomahawk, +and her only remaining relative was about to force her into a marriage +which she detested. Notwithstanding all these depressing circumstances, +her elastic mind and sanguine temperament had hitherto risen above the +accumulating weight of her misfortunes. She had still preserved the +vague yet constant hope, so natural to youth, that some fortunate +occurrence, some unexpected accident would yet take place to mar the +well laid plans of the Governor. But as the time approached, and the +preparations moved steadily forward without any evidence of coming +succour, or the fortunate event which was to release her from her +dreadful situation, her heart began to misgive her--she was compelled in +some measure to assume an humbler posture towards the stern old man in +whose hands her destiny seemed placed. Her ingenuity had turned the +subject in all its various aspects--every chance of escape was provided +against. Even the presence of her friend Harriet, upon which she had +founded most of her hopes, was rigidly and perseveringly denied to her. +As a last and desperate resort, she humbly supplicated her uncle for an +uninterrupted interview with him to whom he purposed to marry her; and +Sir William seeing nothing in this request calculated to defeat his +plans, but on the contrary hoping that it proceeded from a wavering +resolution, granted the request. + +She sat upon a large leathern-backed chair, her head leaning upon the +window sill, and her flaxen ringlets clustering around her pale and +attenuated, but still beautiful features. Her _robe de chamber_ was +white and simple in its fashion, and her hands were listlessly and +languidly twined into its folds, seeming, every now and then, as if her +delicate fingers would pierce the yielding texture. A solitary tear +seemed as if it had already departed from its pure fountain, as +tremblingly it hung upon the long dewy eyelash, the mere closing of +which dissipated it into a thin misty veil of sadness to her liquid +melancholy blue eye, as it was turned in fearful expectation towards the +door. + +At length Beverly entered. She had until this moment strenuously +resisted all endeavours to promote an interview, and once, on a former +similar occasion, had covered her face and pertinaciously resisted all +attempts on his part to lead her into conversation. He now entered with +the knowledge that the invitation came from herself; he felt his +supposed power; and a lofty smile played upon his proud but handsome +features. As he approached, she sank upon her knees, and clasped her +hands in supplication. The tears had now burst the restraints of thought +and internal oppression, and rapidly coursed each other down her cheeks +as she spoke, "You see before you, sir, a solitary female and an orphan, +bereaved suddenly and cruelly of her natural protectors--deserted or +oppressed by those who should have supplied their place. Before the +distracting grief for these afflictions has had time to lose its first +intensity, she has been cruelly beset and importuned to become a party +to a marriage, of which she had never before thought. You, sir, are the +other party! I entreat, I implore you on my knees, at least to postpone +this intended ceremony. If it is performed to-night, as my uncle has +appointed, the wrath of Heaven will be poured out upon such a +desecration of its holy institutions. You, sir, will wed a corpse or a +raving maniac! Interpose then, I pray you. Petition Sir William, as from +yourself alone, for its postponement, at least until your return from +the intended campaign, and I will pray for your happiness until the end +of my existence. I will then indeed believe that you desire mine." + +He made several attempts to raise her from her supplicating posture, +during her appeal, but she maintained her attitude. Having paused to +catch her exhausted breath, he seized the opportunity to say, "Are you +sure, madam, that there is no lurking weakness, no sinister design, in +this demand for farther time?" + +"Of what design, what weakness do you suspect me?" she exclaimed, +raising her head boldly, and losing almost instantly the subdued tone of +entreaty. + +"Of base and criminal affections for one who should be blotted from the +tablets of your memory for his villany, if not for his kindred blood!" + +She was on her feet in an instant; her ringlets wildly tossed back by a +quick motion of the head, and a corresponding effort with both hands, +which she held still clasped in her hair, as she stared at him an +instant before she replied, + +"Are you a man? A gentleman? A Cavalier? That you come here to insult +and trample upon one already deserted of all mankind? Her whom you +pretend to desire for a companion through joy and wo! How base, how +cowardly, to insult a helpless female, and that female your +kinswoman--one whom you pretend to love. Out upon you, sir, for a +dastard! Were he now here whom you so basely slander, you would not dare +employ such language!" + +"Softly, softly, my dear lady. You are only betraying your own feelings, +and counteracting the relenting mood into which your well acted appeal +was near betraying me." + +"Oh, then, forget what I have said, and be indeed the high minded, +generous Beverly, I once believed you! We were children together, +caressed by the same friends and owning a common origin. Can you then +witness unmoved my forlorn condition, without one feeling of +compassion?" + +Beverly was not wholly without tender feelings, although they were so +concentrated upon himself, that it required the touch of a master hand +to reach his heart. Selfish men, however, are sometimes easily worked +upon by allusions or appeals to their family pride. Their connexions are +a constituent part of the idol of their worship--self; and it is not the +least remarkable feature in their characters, that such men are almost +always affectionate husbands and devoted parents. These are but a part +of self; their kindred by a farther remove are generally valued in +proportion to their ability to confer honour upon the common stock. + +"He that feels not love," says Goethe, "must learn to flatter." +Doubtless the great German poet was contemplating the difficulties of +the supremely selfish man in love, when he penned this aphorism. But +Beverly was not so profoundly skilled in the human heart; he ardently +desired to possess the hand of his fair kinswoman, as well on account of +her many personal attractions, as of the rich inheritance of which she +was the heiress; but he had not learned his own harsh defects of +character, and of course could not substitute the arts of flattery for +the softer eloquence of love. He felt and enjoyed his power, as +compensating in some degree for the want of admiration of himself in his +intended bride, and such were the feelings operating upon him when he +entered her chamber; but her last appeal seemed to move his selfish +nature, as he paused to contemplate the eloquent suppliant before he +replied. + +"Suppose that I obtain from Sir William his consent for the postponement +of the ceremony, will you then give me your hand of your own free will?" + +She paused before replying. The case was desperate; no succour seemed +now within the bounds of probability. The shades of evening were fast +gathering around the gloomy precincts of her secluded apartment. She +knew her uncle's determination of character. One only chance of escape +appeared remaining open to her, and she desperately resolved to seize +it. Such was the train of reasoning by which she rapidly arrived at this +conclusion, and replied, + +"Our inclinations are not always within our own control, but if you +obtain this reprieve, I promise to give you my hand upon the return of +the present expedition, provided that nothing occurs in the mean time to +free me from the necessity. For I will be plain and honest with you, and +avow my determination to escape this marriage if I can." + +"I understand you, fair cousin; you expect deliverance at the hands of +your degraded and new found kinsman; but trust me, he will need succour +himself before that time arrives. I expect to march him through these +streets in irons on my wedding-day. Frown not--gather no storms of +indignation upon your brow--it shall be even so. But time wears apace; +so pledge yourself before Heaven, that if I obtain Sir William's consent +to this delay, you will be mine upon the return of the army." + +"Before Heaven I promise you, under the condition I have named." + +"It is then a bargain, and I will seek the Governor to fulfil my part of +it; should he consent, see that you remember your plighted faith. As for +your condition, I take no thought of that;" and with this remark he left +the room. + +It was with the greatest difficulty that she could suppress her rising +indignation, upon his again alluding to her new found kinsman; but she +did so far suppress it as to force herself through the required promise. +The door had no sooner closed upon his retreating footsteps, than she +clasped her hands, and exclaimed fervently, raising her eyes toward +heaven, "Thank God! I am now freed from the immediate apprehension of +this most hated union. Oh, if he does but come within the allotted time! +and come as my flattering hopes persuade me that he will--a conqueror! +hailed as the deliverer of his country--the champion of her oppressed +and outraged people, and the preserver of the most wretched of her +maidens! what blessings will be his! Be he brother or kinsman or lover, +he shall live for ever in this grateful heart. Brother indeed! He is a +brother in kindness, devotion, and disregard of self; but a brother in +kindred blood, my heart assures me he is not." + +The door was again opened after the lapse of a short time, and Beverly +entered to say, "I have seen Sir William, and presented my request; he +refused at first, but when I told him that you had promised to be mine +at the expiration of the required time, he yielded his consent. I +purposely concealed from him that there was any condition in the case, +first, because I take no heed to it myself, and secondly, because it +might have precluded his concurrence, and would most certainly be a +motive with him for placing you under still more rigid restraint. You +see, sweet coz, that I study your happiness far more than you give me +credit for. Why will you not freely then make me its guardian for life?" + +"How very different is the selfish man," thought Virginia, "who thus +blazons his own little acts of merest charity, for refined and delicate +attentions, from him who possesses innate benevolence and gentleness of +heart? He would have studiously concealed a hundred greater kindnesses +than this." But under present circumstances, even such unfavourable +comparisons did not prevent her from replying, + +"For every act of kindness towards me, Mr. Beverly, I am sure I try to +feel very grateful, and since I have been within these walls, my +feelings have been so little exercised in that way that it is really +refreshing to feel under their influence, even in the smallest degree. +The very servants treat me as a lost and abandoned creature. Those of my +own sex that once professed love and respect for me, fly from the +apartment when I speak to them, as if there were contamination in my +very voice. I know that some horrible tale has been told them about me: +would you but take the trouble to correct the false impression, before +you depart, my solitary lot might be greatly softened, and I would then +have double cause for gratitude." + +"With the domestic arrangements of the house I dare not interfere--Sir +William has directed all those things himself." + +"And is it by his orders too that my aunt comes not to see me, nor sends +a kind word of inquiry as to my health these long sad days, or a book to +while away the longer and more gloomy nights?" + +"It is. She has wept as many foolish tears almost as yourself, since +your confinement to this room." + +"Thank God! You have taken a load from off my heart. There is then one +soul within the house, of my own sex and blood too, who sympathises with +me during these stern severities." + +"Your trials will soon be over, my pretty coz, and then we will remove +to a house of our own, and you shall lord it over some of these +blackies, in revenge for their want of respect, to your heart's +content." Attempting to chuck her under the chin, as he spoke, she was +compelled to turn her head suddenly toward the window, for the double +purpose of placing herself beyond the reach of his hand, and of +concealing the rising flush of anger and contempt that glowed upon her +countenance. She saw that he treated her as a child--that he imagined +such conversation suited to the level of her capacity, and longed to +humble his proud self-sufficiency, but dared not under present +circumstances. For the first time in her life, she found herself +compelled to disguise her natural feelings, and suppress the bitter +words which rose upon her tongue. She therefore, by way of changing the +conversation, and knowing not what else to say, inquired, "How soon does +your army expect to return?" + +"Soon, my dear coz, very soon. In ten days at farthest, I hope to lay +some of the trophies of victory at your feet, and twine you a bridal +turban from the standard of the rebel chief." Again she was forced to +turn her head away. And the harmony of their meeting, constrained and +unnatural as it was, would probably very soon have been ruptured by the +almost bursting indignation which agitated her bosom, had not the +martial summons to the evening parade called her tormentor from her +presence. + +By dawn of day, on the morning after the interview just related, the +army under the command of Sir William Berkley took up its line of march +toward the falls of the Powhatan. + +Virginia was a sad and silent spectator of the imposing pageant. She +stood at her window facing one of the cross streets, through which their +march was directed, and examined the devices of banner after banner, as +they moved along in martial pomp, to the soul-inspiring music of the +drums and trumpets. No sympathizing emotions or half embodied +supplications to the Ruler of Nations for the safety of their persons or +the success of their arms burst from her lips. She saw the proud and +self-satisfied Beverly curvetting by on his equally proud steed; she +even saw him gayly wave his towering plumes in recognition of her +presence without an answering nod or a single indication of approval. +Her heart and hopes followed the standard of the youthful Captain who +commanded the force which these were summoned to scatter and destroy. +Long after the last ensign had passed from her sight, and the music was +heard only in faint and distant echoes as it swelled and died away upon +the air, she stood in the same spot, her eyes apparently still occupied +with passing objects. It was not so--she was endeavouring to look into +futurity. She pictured in her imagination the army of the Cavaliers, +under Bacon, struggling in the murderous ambuscade of the concentrated +savage tribes in front, and mercilessly cut down by their own countrymen +in the rear. She saw the stern and uncompromising Sir William and his +veteran compeers, brandishing their sabres over the heads of the younger +Cavaliers, and Beverly and Bacon engaged in the deadly contest of +personal rivalry and political hatred. Notwithstanding the disadvantages +of the latter's position, youthful hopes and a sanguine temperament, +awarded the victory to the cause which she believed the just one. She +had already, as by miracle, escaped a fate which she considered far more +to be deplored than death, and resolved to trust her own cause, and that +in which it was involved, to him who rules the destinies of battles. She +remembered, with feelings of adoration, that he had said that the race +was not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The army under the command of General Bacon had succeeded in +concentrating the confederated tribes of the Peninsula, which had so +long annoyed its flank and rear, at the falls of the Powhatan. Here they +had erected a rude fortification, composed of fallen trees, having an +entrenchment surrounding it, with the excavated earth thrown up as an +embankment. This was situated upon an eminence commanding the more even +ground on each side of a small stream, which ran nearly at right angles +with, and fell into the river below the falls. The army of the Colonists +arrived within sight of the Indian fires, just after the sun had sunk +behind the horizon. General Bacon's plantation[3] was situated but a +short distance from the very spot on which the savages had erected their +fort, and consequently he was well acquainted with the ground. After +halting a short time to examine the position of the enemy, he marched +his troops to the open plain beneath their strong hold, in perfect +silence. Here they bivouacked for the night, with the intention of +storming the intrenchments at the first dawning of the morrow. Every +thing was noiselessly put in readiness for this final struggle for +supremacy between the whites and the Aborigines. The latter had +collected in overwhelming numbers, and seemed determined to make a +desperate effort to regain their lost footing in the land of their +fathers, while the former, having daily improved in discipline, were in +high health, buoyant with the youthful hope and courage, and impatient +for the dawn, that they might strike a blow at once, to answer the high +expectations of their friends at home, and terminate the war. Little did +they imagine that an army of those very countrymen was treading in their +footsteps, under the command of Sir William Berkley, with the avowed +purpose of meting to them that chastisement which they were so impatient +to bestow upon the enemy before them. + +[Footnote 3: Historical.] + +Their commander was not long left in ignorance upon this point, however, +for scarcely had the columns made their arrangements for the night along +each side of the small stream, before a courier from the capital was +brought into his quarters, by one of the sentinels stationed upon the +outskirts of the encampment. He was the bearer of a proclamation, signed +by Sir William Berkley as Governor of his Majesty's Colony in Virginia, +in which Bacon and his followers were denounced as traitors and rebels, +and commanded forthwith to lay down their arms and return to their +allegiance, under pain of death, and confiscation of their property. The +surprise and indignation occasioned by this singular document had not +subsided, when another messenger was dragged into the presence of the +commander in chief. It was a negro, trembling from head to foot with +visible terror at the very uncivil treatment which he had received, and +more, perhaps, at the warlike preparations around, and the glaring +effects of the Indian fires on the hill. All attempts to gain an +intelligible account of his mission proved for a length of time, utterly +unavailing, until Bacon, recognising something of old acquaintance in +his features, dismissed his attendants. He then quickly disclosed, in +his mongrel dialect, that he had been ordered to deliver a letter into +the general's own hands, and when no person was present. A greasy and +rumpled document was then drawn from his pouch, which, notwithstanding +its hard treatment, and discoloured exterior, Bacon instantly recognised +as the writing of Harriet Harrison. The date was rather more remote than +seemed necessary for its regular transmission to its present +destination, which the sable messenger explained by stating that he had +been some days dodging in the footsteps of the army, but that as often +as he approached it he had been frightened back again by the flying +hordes of savages, hanging upon their skirts. If Bacon felt disposed to +indulge in merriment at the ludicrous detail of poor Pompey, the +contents of the note, which he now began to decipher by the light of a +lamp, speedily restored his gravity. Harriet briefly related to him the +nature of the conversation she had held with Sir William Berkley at his +own house, and the treatment which Virginia suffered at his hands; she +concluded by stating the preparations then making in Jamestown by the +Governor and his party, to pursue and capture, or cut them to pieces. +This information was truly startling to the youthful general; that +concerning Virginia was most moving; but the imminent peril of those +gallant spirits entrusted to his command required his immediate +attention. He despatched a chosen mounted band on the instant, to scout +along the late route of his army, far enough to ascertain whether that +under the command of Sir William was within such a distance, as to +enable him to interrupt the contemplated attack upon the savages at the +dawning of the coming day. + +Bacon's character was eminently prompt and decisive. He determined, +should such be the case, to commence the attack upon the instant he +should receive such information. + +Having provided for the safety and accommodation of Pompey, and ordered +the courier of the Governor into close but respectful keeping, he +sallied out along the outposts, to examine the scene of future +operations. The stars twinkled brilliantly in the heavens around the +horizon, but the glaring light of the savage fires upon the hill threw +the mellowed rays of the heavenly orbs into dim contrast immediately +round the two camps. As he walked along the margin of the little +stream, upon the borders of which his own troops were stationed, toward +the river, the night-scene presented to his view was reviving and +exciting to his imagination. The ascending columns of fire upon the hill +reflected the trees and other objects upon its brow in gigantic shadows +over the plain beneath. The bright red light fell upon the broad sheet +of water below the falls, in long horizontal rays, stretching far away +over its shining surface toward the opposite shore. The island in the +middle of the stream, a little higher up than the point at which he +stood, was clothed in verdant impenetrable shrubbery--the darkness +gathered around its shores more palpable from the contrast of the +neighbouring fires. The roar of the falls fell monotonously upon his +ear, ever and anon interrupted by the sharp shrill whoop of some +over-joyous savage, engaged in orgies within the fort surmounting the +hill. As he pensively stood upon the banks of the Powhatan, and surveyed +the illuminated scene immediately around, and the darker shadows of the +hills stretching away in the distance and skirting the margin of the +river, the shining waves beneath his feet, and the dusky outlines of the +rocks and islands beyond, it little entered his imagination that upon +that romantic spot, in future time, there should spring up a noble +city--the capital of an empire state--that the natural lawns upon which +he stood, would be exchanged for docks and quays--that the hills on his +right hand (which to a scholar might, even then, have recalled the +Acropolis) should support classic colonnades, and spires pointing to the +clouds; and that the diminutive stream upon the banks of which his +troops were bivouacked, should receive, from the sanguinary battle in +which he was about to engage, a name to outlive the very monuments of +his generation.[4] Without these deeply interesting associations, +however, the scene in its natural and unreclaimed features was eminently +captivating and romantic. No site in the country abounded more with bold +and enchanting objects. On the one hand were the picturesque hills,[5] +commanding a prospect seldom equalled, never surpassed, of landscape +varied with woodland, dell and meadow, through which the shining waters +of the Powhatan were now visible, glowing like a sheet of fire, and now +lost in the shadows of the towering forests, as it held its devious +course beyond the reach of the reflected fires in the back ground. + +[Footnote 4: The little rivulet skirting the south eastern end of +Richmond is called "Bloody Run" to this day.] + +[Footnote 5: On one of these the present capital of Virginia stands.] + +Our hero might have stood gazing upon this enchanting scene until the +sound of the reveillé in the morning had roused him from his revery, had +not his quick eye caught a glimpse of moving lights within the Indian +encampment. With hurried steps he retraced his way through the line of +sentinels, and issued immediate orders for his subordinates in command +to assemble in military council. He was satisfied in his own mind, as he +walked up the stream, that some unusual occurrence had taken place +within the palisade of the Indians--perhaps the presence of his own +stationary columns, as they stood in their dark frowning outlines, had +been discovered by the ever cunning and watchful enemy. He had more than +once stood in wonder at the apparent absence of their usual stratagems +and devices. He supposed, however, that, trusting to their immense +superiority of numbers, and the protection of their breastworks, they +had resolved to risk an engagement, in which courage and strength alone +should be the implements of victory. + +The council of war had scarcely assembled, before they were astounded +with the report of musketry in answer to the usual accompaniments of a +savage sortie, in the most remote direction of the camp. General Bacon +issued his orders promptly and decisively. The columns whose rear had +been surprised by a sortie from the enemy, were, by a prompt movement, +instantly wheeled into line, changing their front so as to face the +assailants, while the mounted Cavaliers, under the command of young +Harrison, fiercely attacked them in flank. The desperate band of +warriors were speedily driven within their breastworks. It was doubtless +only their intention to harass the outskirts of the army, and then, by +retreating, draw their pursuers within reach of the ambuscade stationed +behind the breastwork. They were pursued by the mounted troops, who had +no sooner driven them within the palisade, than they in their turn +suddenly wheeled and retreated upon the main body. + +These sallies were kept up through the first watches of the night, with +so much perseverance on the part of the enemy, and so much annoyance to +the ardent and impatient troops of the patriot army, that General Bacon +determined to give way to their martial ardour, and at once storm the +strong hold of the enemy. + +The plan of battle in this straight-forward mode of warfare was simple +in the extreme. Seldom had the Aborigines given their white enemies a +chance of testing the relative valour of the two races; and protected as +they were even now by a formidable breastwork, General Bacon did not +hesitate as to the propriety of trusting to the discipline and skill of +his soldiers, and the immense superiority of their arms, against the +greater numbers and defensive preparations of the enemy. + +The fires within the palisade were apparently flickering upon their +dying embers, and an unsteady flash, gleaming at intervals, was the only +light shed over the contemplated battle-ground. A profound quiet reigned +within the camp of the enemy, indicative to the mind of Bacon of some +new treachery or savage scheme. Having warned his officers against +these, he despatched mounted scouting parties to hover round both camps, +and took every other human precaution against surprise; orders were now +issued preparatory to a general attack upon the enemy's entrenchments. + +By a prompt evolution, his battalions of foot were wheeled into a solid +column of attack on the northern side of the stream, while the mounted +Cavaliers were stationed as a reserve on the right. The former were +marched in compact order, directly up the face of the hill, not a +trumpet or a drum disturbing the silence of the funeral-like procession. +The various colours of their plumes, as they waved in the night breeze, +and the occasional glitter of burnished arms, as a flash of light fell +athwart the solid phalanx from the flickering fires above, presented one +of the most striking scenes imaginable. + +General Bacon assumed the immediate command of his columns in person. He +sat upon his impatient charger on the right wing, and examined the +ominous appearance of the enemy's camp with intense interest. Not a +warrior's head was to be seen above the breastwork as they approached. +All was silent, gloomy, and portentous; not a sound was heard, save the +measured tramp of his own troops, as they moved through the bushes. + +Once indeed he thought he heard the wild shrill scream of a female, very +different in its intonations from the harsh voice of the savage squaw. +But so many unearthly sights and sounds had haunted both his sleeping +and waking hours of late, that he drove the impression from his mind, +to rest with hundreds of others of like import. + +When the front lines had arrived within some forty yards of the dark and +frowning breastwork, a sudden and momentary check was given to their +farther progress. A rushing sound, as of the flight of many birds, and +the clatter of Indian arrows against their arms and persons, +simultaneously struck upon their senses, followed by the fall of many +soldiers, and the short involuntary exclamations of pain, which, from +the impulse of the moment, escaped the unfortunate individuals. + +Trumpets and drums instantaneously broke the stillness of the march. +Their martial notes reverberated over the surrounding solitudes in +enlivening peals. The ill-omened birds of night flapped their wings, and +swooped through the unsteady lights of the scene in utter dismay at this +untimely invasion of their prescriptive dominions. These were quickly +followed by a discharge of musketry, poured into the formidable +palisade. It was scarcely discharged, however, before Bacon discovered +the utter uselessness of such a waste of ammunition. He saw that the +breastwork was so constructed, that, while it admitted of the discharge +of missiles from within, it afforded a secure protection to its +occupants against the musketry of their assailants. In the mean time his +soldiers were exposed to the murderous discharges of poisoned arrows. + +In this emergency no time was to be lost; placing himself, therefore, at +the head of his troops, he ordered the walls to be torn down. These, as +before related, were composed of large trees piled one upon another, +with their green boughs still protruding in many places over the shallow +intrenchment, and the earth excavated from the latter thrown up on the +outside against a rude wicker-work of fine bushes, filling up the +interstices of the trees. Trumpets sounded the charge, and the columns +moved at a quick pace to the onset. Still not a savage head was seen +until they had arrived at the very borders of the intrenchment. Here +some two hundred of the stoutest and ablest bodied of his soldiers were +marched up to the projecting limbs of the largest tree, forming the +basis of the breastwork. Bacon saw at a glance that if he could manage +to seize hold of these projecting arms and turn the tree across the +fosse, it would at once open the way for his mounted troops, and perhaps +carry with it some forty or fifty feet of the palisade, and thereby +bring the opposing armies face to face. They had already seized the +projecting limbs, and were shaking the frail protection of the savages +to its very foundations, when simultaneously a thousand lights gleamed +over forest, hill, and dale--A thousand voices united their shrill +clamours in one deafening yell of savage ferocity. The troops engaged in +tearing down the breastwork instinctively loosed their hold, and flew to +their arms, as they threw their eyes upward to the spot whence these +blinding lights and deafening noises came. It was but the work of an +instant, for little more time were they permitted to examine,--they were +called upon to act, and that vigorously, for their own preservation. In +a single instant, and apparently at a given signal, the whole of the +rude terrace surmounting the fortification literally swarmed with +painted warriors, each bearing in his left hand a pine torch, and in the +other, a tomahawk, a war-club, or a battle-axe.[6] They sprang from +their commanding position into the midst of their assailants, and +scattered themselves in every direction through that part of the army +already advanced to the breastwork. + +[Footnote 6: These were made of stones ground into the shape of our axe, +with a groove round the centre for a handle made of withe.] + +Human ingenuity could not have devised a mode of warfare better +calculated to suit their numbers, position, time, courage, and limited +means of resistance. It at once rendered the mounted troops +useless--prevented the colonists from using their fire-arms, because +those immediately engaged were at too close quarters, while those at a +greater distance were as likely to kill friends as enemies. The savages +dealt their murderous blows with wonderous rapidity and precision, and +though the hardy planters in the front ranks turned upon them with the +butt ends of their muskets, the savages had evidently the advantage. The +blazing fagots were often thrust into the very faces of their opponents, +and while writhing under the confusion and agony of the fire and smoke, +they were stricken down like helpless beasts. + +Bacon saw the imminent peril of his troops, and though he was at first +astounded by the rapidity and daring courage with which the plan was +executed, he did not despair, nor yet sit listlessly upon his horse to +see his friends and countrymen slaughtered. He saw at a glance too that +only the front columns were engaged--that a part of these must now +necessarily fall, but he determined at the same time, that their deaths +should be dearly avenged, and his remaining troops brought off +victorious. He immediately placed himself between the forces already +engaged and those rushing to the rescue. The latter he wheeled into line +immediately in front of his mounted reserve, thereby changing their +front to the flank of the contending parties, while their own right wing +rested upon the top of the hill, and the left on the little stream +already mentioned. Having completed this evolution to his satisfaction, +the mounted Cavaliers were brought round to the position just occupied +by the foot, so that they immediately faced the struggling combatants, +and the latter were ordered to give way. The retreat was sounded from +the brazen mouths of the trumpets over their heads, and Bacon in person +and his mounted aids, rode furiously and recklessly among them, crying +for them to fall back toward the line stationed on the right. + +These various movements were but the work of a few moments. Meantime the +painted and ghastly warriors, rendered still more horrible by the +flaring lights which they bore in their hands, and by the reeking +instruments of death which they swung over their head with such unerring +precision, were pouring over the walls upon the devoted band in +countless hordes. So intently were they engaged, that the evolutions of +their enemies had entirely escaped their attention; and indeed the +Colonists themselves, who were fighting hand to hand with the savages, +had not observed the movement, until the voices of their commanders +urged them to fall back upon the newly formed line. As Bacon had +calculated, no sooner were the engaged troops made to understand the +orders, and induced to recede, than a partial separation was effected, +which was fatal to the Aboriginals. The retreating Colonists were almost +immediately under the protection of the line already braced in solid +column, and standing to the charge[7] ready for the expected pursuers. A +company of the mounted Cavaliers was broken up into squads, and these +were actively engaged in hewing down the pursuers, or cutting off their +retreat to the protection of the fort. In a short time a complete line +of separation was formed between the two armies, save where, here and +there, two athletic men of the opposite races, both having lost their +arms in the contest, struggled in the death gripe. Here an iron handed +mechanist of the city clenched a warrior's throat--the eyes of the +victim protruding frightfully from his head in the glaring light, and +his tongue hanging from his mouth like that of a rabid animal, until he +fell as a lump of clay among the hundreds of both parties who had gone +before. There a grim warrior struggled with another, making desperate +efforts to reach his knife, which the soldier as constantly struggled to +prevent. Yonder among the heaps of slain, lay two of the differing +races, fallen to the earth in a mutual but deadly clasp, each holding +the other by the throat, until the struggle became one of mere +endurance, and, strange to say, the white man generally conquered. + +[Footnote 7: The bayonet was just then coming into use, but was inserted +into a round piece of wood, which was thrust into the muzzle of the +musket.] + +While, however, these desperate personal struggles were occurring, the +tide of battle was fast turning against the most numerous party. It was +with the greatest difficulty that Bacon could restrain the ardour and +impetuosity of the troops stationed in line for the protection of the +devoted corps which had led the van, the straggling members of which +were momentarily retreating behind the solid bulwark of their +countrymen's pikes and bayonets. But no sooner was this duty of humanity +performed, and a complete line of demarcation distinctly drawn, than all +restraints were removed. A volley of musketry was poured among the +scattering savages along the face of the hill, in order to convince +them that hereafter they would be kept at a respectful distance. A +simultaneous movement of horse and foot now swept the brow of the hill; +the horse charged immediately in front of the palisade, while the +infantry drove in the extended line of savages at the point of the +bayonet. The most inextricable confusion ensued in the ranks of the red +warriors. While the cavalry cut them down on one hand, and the bayonets +of the infantry transfixed them on the other, hundreds were tumbling +over hundreds as they tumultuously leaped over the palisade. Some hung +by the projecting bushes--others fell upon the terrace, and were cast +down and trodden under foot by their companions; while multitudes were +cut to pieces in making the attempt. In a short time the open field was +left in complete possession of the whites--the brow of the hill was +literally covered with the wounded and the slain, both of white and red. +Yet the battle was not ended; hundreds upon hundreds had escaped within +the fort. The savage force amounted at the commencement to something +like three thousand warriors of various tribes, and that of the +Colonists to about one thousand.[8] Bacon earnestly desired to spare the +effusion of human blood, and hazardous as the Indians were as +neighbours, either professing friendship or enmity, he resolved to send +them a flag of truce and propose a permanent peace upon condition of +their abandoning the Peninsula for ever. He knew that they understood +the sacred rights and privileges of that peaceful banner, for it had +already been recognised among some of their own tribes. Accordingly a +young and promising officer was thrust up to the top of the palisade. He +waved his flag and laid his hand upon his heart in token of friendship, +and grounded his sword in order to convince them that he came upon a +peaceful errand, but instead of sending out their interpreter or +prophet, he was treacherously murdered by a tomahawk--thrown some twenty +yards by the hand of a warrior, and buried in his brain. All hopes of +peace were now abandoned, and Bacon determined to complete the victory +which he had commenced, and won thus far at the expense of so many +valued lives. + +[Footnote 8: Burke says 600.] + +Orders were again issued for tearing down the palisade, while a chosen +band of prompt and expert marksmen were stationed at the distance of +some thirty yards, to shoot down the savages as they should show their +heads above the breastwork. Instead of the infantry being stationed to +protect the miners as before, the cavalry formed a column flanking the +marksmen, so that they could at a moment's warning, rush in between the +descending hordes and the corps engaged in pulling down the barricade. + +Again the trees composing the palisade were seized by the projecting +limbs, and a sudden wrench brought the earth piled against its outer +side tumbling into the ditch beneath, and shook the whole fabric to its +foundation. Again an ominous and inexplicable silence prevailed within +the enclosure, which was the more remarkable, as there was left no known +method of escape, and by their own treachery to the officer who had +borne the flag of truce, they were reduced to the alternative of dying +in their ditches or desperately cutting their way through the solid +phalanx which enclosed them on every side. Hitherto the marksmen +stationed in front for the purpose of clearing the terrace of the +savages, as they should mount the breastwork from the inside, had little +to do. At length a group of savages displayed their painted faces above +the barrier, apparently endeavouring to drag some unwieldy burden to the +top of the works. They were instantly shot down, but their places were +as speedily supplied by others. A faint but piercing shriek rent the +air, which promptly arrested the attention of Bacon, Dudley, and young +Harrison, who sat upon their horses superintending the operations of the +miners, and holding an occasional discourse among themselves. The voice +came evidently from a female, and reminded Bacon that he had once before +during the night heard a like sound from the same direction. He waved +his sword to the marksmen stationed on his left, to withhold their fire, +while his own attention and that of his two associates were intently +rivetted to the occupation of the group ascending the wall from the +other side. At this moment the large tree which the troops in front had +been some time shaking loose, came crashing over upon its limbs, and +bringing with it those which had been piled above, thus exposing to view +the interior of the fort, but not yet affording an uninterrupted passage +for the besiegers. The battalions of foot, however, were tumultuously +rushing toward the breach, reckless of the interposing branches and +trunks of the prostrate trees, when Bacon, in a voice of thunder +commanded them to halt! The very moment the fort gave way a sight was +revealed to his eyes, and those of his two comrades, which made the hair +rise on end upon their heads, and the blood in their veins run cold with +horror. The Indians, who had so long struggled to ascend the fort some +twenty or thirty yards from the breach, had at length succeeded, bearing +one of the objects which so powerfully arrested the attention of the +officers on horseback. Two grim warriors supported between them the body +of a woman of the European race, while a third stood behind her, on the +top of the palisade with uplifted tomahawk. With one hand he held the +weapon suspended over the head of the drooping victim, while with the +other, he pointed to the neighbouring breach in the breastwork, with a +look and gesture that seemed to say, "advance, and her fate is sealed!" +Although the light from the smouldering fires was dim and unsteady, +enough was caught of the outlines of this figure to thrill to the very +heart-strings of the three spectators; she was upheld on either side by +the mere strength of her guards--her feet seemed to have sunk from under +her--but her head was erect and turning with wonderful rapidity from +side to side, as she gazed with wild and glaring eyes upon the scene +around her. Her fair silken tresses fell unrestrained upon her shoulders +or were blown about in fluttering streams, as the unsteady light fell +now in broad masses, and then in dim and shadowy rays. Her dress was +white, and fell in ample folds around all that was left of a once +symmetrical figure. Her features were ashy pale and attenuated to the +last degree of human wretchedness, her eye shot forth the wild flashes +of a frenzied mind. She was entirely unconscious of her danger, and +though she seemed to examine the wild scene around, it was not with fear +and trembling. A sickly smile played upon her death-like features, as if +she rather took pleasure than suffered pain in these unusual sights, or +saw embodied before her in palpable form somewhat of the fleeting +phantasmagoria which had so long eluded her senses, yet she was +speechless--and so were the late combatants. + +A profound and solemn silence prevailed throughout the ranks of both +parties. The fate of battle, or the life of an individual, was suspended +upon the results of the moment. It was soon interrupted, wildly, +fearfully interrupted! The threatened victim burst into a convulsion of +frantic laughter, the wild unguided tones of a voice once rich and +musical, were borne along the still night air, and resounded through the +dark forest like some unearthly mockery of human merriment. As if a +thunderbolt from heaven had instantaneously stricken her dumb she +ceased. The sounds of her own voice startled and astonished her; perhaps +some dim rememberance of its former tones, as it rose and fell upon the +air, floated darkly through her mind. The grim old warriors who +supported her, were impressed with awe and fear, and the very +executioner was almost overcome with his native superstitious reverence. +The events we have just described occupied but a few moments of +time,--far less than we have taken to describe them. At this juncture, +and while the three stern Indians maintained their posts, Wyanokee +sprang upon the terrace, struck the tomahawk from the hands of the ready +executioner--pushed him backward over the palisade, and threw herself +recklessly upon the unfortunate lady, encircling her with her arms. At +the same instant her two astounded countrymen fell lifeless from the +terrace, pierced to the heart by the unerring balls of the sharp +shooters. + +The Colonial army now broke tumultuously into the fort. Here another +threatened victim had been held as a suspended pledge over their fires, +for the safety of this their last strong hold, but so intense had been +the interest excited in behalf of the unfortunate Mrs. Fairfax, that +little attention was bestowed upon him. It was none other than Brian +O'Reily. When the breach was made in the fort, he was discovered in the +centre of the area, tied fast to a stake driven into the ground. A +quantity of resinous pine wood was built high up around his body, and +half a dozen torch-bearers stood ready to apply the flame. The report of +the muskets had no sooner announced the death of their comrades on the +wall, than this pile was fired in a a hundred places. Already the victim +began to writhe as the intolerable heat scorched his flesh, and the +smoke rushed into his eyes and throat. As the soldiers entered through +the breach with Dudley, who had dismounted, at their head, he rushed +toward the suffering victim, and, assisted by his followers, hurled the +burning brands upon the heads of those who kindled them. + +Meanwhile Bacon had also dismounted. He saw that the contest would now +be short, and giving his orders to Dudley, he leaped upon the palisade +where Wyanokee was vainly endeavouring to support and restrain his +former patroness, who had repeatedly and fruitlessly endeavoured to +stand erect, and as often had fallen back into the arms of the Indian +maiden. As Bacon approached, his whole soul agitated with deep and +thrilling emotions, she was sitting upon the wall, forcing herself +farther and farther back, like a frighted infant, into the arms of her +protectress. Her eyes stared wildly upon the approaching youth, and the +lids fell not over the painfully distended orbs. She did not recognise +him, even when he approached within a few paces and kindly and +soothingly addressed her. At one moment she seemed about to make some +reply, but the half formed words died upon her lips--they moved as +though she held the desired discourse, but no sound was audible. The +wild noise and confusion of the onset, breaking upon her ears, she +started up and cried "Hah! see you not that the king's troops put those +of the commonwealth to the sword? Behold his giant form weltering in +gore! 'Tis gone! It was not he! No, no; I saw not the bloody hand. It +was merely one of these puppet warriors dressed out to frighten babes. +He lives! did he not tell me so, with his own lips? Do the dead tell the +living lies? That were a trick of the devil indeed." Again she burst +into a horrible and appalling laugh, fell back into the arms of +Wyanokee, and her mortal pains and sorrows were for ever ended. + +The long-disputed contest was now drawing to a close; the Indians fought +desperately, as long as there was a hope left of repulsing the troops +which rushed in at the breach, burning with ardour and roused to +indignation by their wanton cruelties; but the superior arms and skill +of the Colonists rendered the contest in a short time utterly desperate +on the part of the besieged. When farther resistance was put out of +their power, by the besiegers closing in upon them on every side, and +thus confining their exertions within a narrow space in the centre of +the fort, the stern warriors threw away their tomahawks and war-clubs, +and fell prostrate on their faces. It was a moving sight to behold these +hardy veterans of a hundred battles, gradually encompassed by a more +skilful and powerful enemy, until they were forced to surrender this +last foothold upon the land of their fathers. Their prostrate attitude +was by no means intended to express an abject petition for mercy; it was +the custom established by their people, and its impulse was utter +desperation. They neither desired nor expected quarter, but threw +themselves upon the earth, to signify their willingness to meet the +tortures of their enemies. When placed under the vigilance of the troops +appointed to guard them until dawn, they sat like statues, not a muscle +or feature expressing emotion of any kind. + +Bacon stood over the body of his late kind and unfortunate patroness, as +still and motionless as his own prisoners, contemplating the sad change +which a few short days had made upon her mild and benignant features, +until reminded by Dudley that he had other duties to perform. The latter +approached and informed him that the garrison had surrendered. He heeded +him not. He repeated his information, and touched the general upon the +shoulder. Bacon started wildly for an instant, but seeing who spoke, a +meaningless smile flitted across his features while he answered, "True, +true, Dudley, I will attend you in a moment;" and was about to relapse +into his former mood, but rousing himself, he issued orders for +pitching his own marquée, and then directed that the dead body of Mrs. +Fairfax should be borne thither and deposited under its shelter with all +due respect. Till now, Wyanokee had sat near the cold and lifeless form. +Not a tear was shed nor any other indication given that she had lost a +friend, esteemed by her one of the first of the earth. There was, +perhaps, just a perceptible expression of wildness and mystery in her +steady and abstracted gaze on vacancy, as if in thought she was +following the departed spirit to the verdant forests and blossoming +meadows of the happy hunting-ground beyond the sky. It is true that she +had been somewhat instructed in the doctrines of our religion, but he +has made little progress in the study of mankind who does not know that +the peculiar opinions--the forms of worship, whether of superstition or +religion, which have been infused into the mind in the tender years of +infancy, will ever after give a tinge to the views of the recipient. But +Wyanokee had by no means renounced the doctrines of her father's +worship, and however much her mind may have been worked upon while under +the influence of the whites, and of the imposing form and ceremonies of +the Established Church, since her abjuration of their friendship, she +had imperceptibly lapsed into most of her aboriginal notions. + +When the body of Mrs. Fairfax was laid out under the marquée of the +commander in chief, and a line of sentinels was established around its +limits, Wyanokee was the sole living tenant of the apartment. She sat +by the corpse, in precisely the same state which we have before +described. + +In a very short time from that in which Dudley announced the termination +of the conflict to his commanding officer, profound quietness reigned +over the fort and brow of the hill, so lately the scene of bloodshed and +strife, save where it was disturbed by the movements of those engaged in +burying the dead, and rescuing the wounded who lay suffering under the +weight of their dead comrades. + +Never had such a battle been fought in Virginia, either as regarded the +number of Indians engaged, the consequences depending on the result, or +the sanguinary nature of the conflict itself. It was the last struggle +for supremacy between the whites and the Indians in the Peninsula. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +General Bacon apprehending that the rising sun might disclose to view +the approaching columns of the army under Sir William Berkley, had +ordered the dismantled fort to be refitted in such a manner as to afford +some protection to his exhausted troops. The trees were again brought +round to their former position, and the limbs by which themselves had +gained entrance lopped off. The sun, however, rose above the horizon +without betraying any sign, either of the expected army, or of the +mounted scouts whom he had sent out just before the battle. This latter +circumstance gave him not a little uneasiness, as he could account for +their protracted absence in no other way than by supposing that they had +fallen into Sir William's hands. + +Most of the troops were yet indulging in repose, after the extraordinary +fatigues of the night, and were cheerfully indulged by their officers, +in the hope that they would rise with renewed ardour and courage for the +expected attack. + +At about ten o'clock in the morning, the troops having been roused from +their slumbers, and partaken of a hasty breakfast, the sentinel pacing +to and fro upon the top of the walls, announced the approach of the +expected foe. Bacon and his staff quickly mounted the breastwork to +examine the number and appointments of his confident enemy; but to his +great joy and relief, the approaching troops proved to be his own +missing scouts. He mounted his charger and galloped over the intervening +ground in order to learn the cause of their strange absence; so +impatient was he, not only on that score, but likewise to learn tidings +from his pursuers. He very soon met the advancing horsemen, who, upon +perceiving their general, halted in the road. The information +communicated by the commander of the party was not less surprising to +Bacon than was the account of the battle to the officer, who had been +absent from its dangers and its glories. The latter stated, that after +having ridden about twenty miles on the previous night, they suddenly +came upon the encampment of Sir William's army, but having discovered +their fires in sufficient time, had avoided their pickets. They scouted +round his camp for a considerable length of time, endeavouring to learn +something of his intended movements--the number of his soldiers, and +their disposition toward themselves, but found no means of gaining +information. At length they narrowly escaped being discovered and +intercepted by a foraging party, and having discovered that the troopers +composing it, had come last from the house of a planter, living not far +from the encampment, they resolved to present themselves before him, +candidly explain their business, and throw themselves upon his +patriotism for any information which he might possess. They did so, and +were fortunate enough to find that the planter was not only able, but +willing to give them important information, and was anxious for the +success of Bacon's expedition--his own son being engaged in it. The +amount of his information in few words, was, that Sir William Berkley +had that very evening received an express from Jamestown, urgently +summoning him back to the capital, with all his forces. That two +influential citizens residing in the counties south of Jamestown, by +name Walklate and Ingraham,[9] having heard of his expedition to cut off +the return of General Bacon and his army, had immediately raised a force +of horse and foot scarcely inferior to his own, and were marching upon +the capital. Nor was this all the unfavourable news communicated by the +express: it farther stated that the House of Burgesses, then in session, +(contrary to the promise of Sir William to dissolve it,) were engaged +upon some resolutions, very injurious to the reputation and farther +influence of the Governor, and that they had already approved of the +proceedings of General Bacon, and resolved to require the Governor to +sign his commission as commander in chief of the colonial forces, +besides having transmitted to the ministry at home, testimonials of his +patriotism, talents, and bravery. + +[Footnote 9: Historical.] + +The foraging party from the army of Sir William, had farther informed +the planter, that it was the intention of his excellency to break up his +camp by dawn of day, and return by forced marches, to the protection of +the capital. + +At this juncture, the Colony of Virginia presented the singular +spectacle of three distinct and independent armies, assembled at one +time. One at the falls, commanded by Bacon--another in the Peninsula, +commanded by Sir William Berkley, and the third in the south, commanded +by Generals Ingraham and Walklate. The first and last were nothing more +than disciplined assemblages of volunteers from among the people, while +that under the command of the Governor in person, was composed in part +of veteran regular troops, and partly of loyal subjects, called together +by the urgent appeals of him who had so long been the honoured organ of +his majesty's authority in the colony. + +When General Bacon returned to the camp, and had assembled his +associates in command, and communicated to them the foregoing +particulars, he also announced to them his intention of leaving the +temporary command of the army with his next in rank, and repairing in +person immediately to the capital. + +His views having met the approbation of the council of officers, the +sloop which had brought up the marine part of the expedition was +promptly put in readiness, and forty chosen men embarked for his +escort.[10] + +[Footnote 10: Historical.] + +His unfortunate valet and devoted adherent, Brian O'Reily, although much +enfeebled by long confinement and want of wholesome food, was, at his +own earnest request, added to the number. So urgent had been the various +claims upon the time of General Bacon, that he had not yet heard Brian's +account of his sufferings and privations. + +Before embarking he issued the strictest orders for the safety, comfort, +and protection of the numerous prisoners, and of Wyanokee in particular. +He directed that she should be conveyed in the same wagon, then +preparing for the purpose of transporting the remains of Mrs. Fairfax to +Jamestown. + +Before taking leave of his comrades in arms, he entered the marquée +containing the honoured remains. The sentinel was walking his solitary +rounds of monotonous duty, with solemn aspect. Strange that the +ceremonies attending the laying out and decently guarding this lifeless +body should more powerfully impress this sturdy soldier than all the +heaps of slain piled into one common grave during the night. + +Bacon entered the marquée alone. There sat the last daughter of the +kings of Chickahominy, in precisely the attitude in which he had seen +her five hours before. She was the sole mourner at the feet of her whom +in life she had most honoured. He was powerfully affected by the sight +of many little personal ornaments, not worn on the previous night, but +which had been collected by Wyanokee and placed conspicuously upon the +corpse. He was struck, too, with the delicate consideration of the +Indian maiden in these native observances in honour of the dead. +Conspicuous among the things valued by her friend while living, was a +small silver clasped pocket bible; it was spread open upon the neat +folds of her white garments, surrounded with a profusion of wild +flowers, such as he had often known her to transplant into her own +garden. + +But time pressed, and urgent circumstances called him to the capital; he +therefore lifted the covering (a white handkerchief) from her face, and +gazed for the last time upon those features impressed upon his heart and +memory from infancy. Almost involuntarily he drew from his doublet the +diminutive locket, reassured his heart by a momentary comparison of the +features--and then forced himself away and proceeded to the bank of the +river, where the sloop already spread her sails to the ready breeze. + +The prisoners taken at the battle of the Falls, or of the Bloody Run as +it was more frequently called, were placed in the centre of the army, +with the exception of Wyanokee, and the fort burnt to the ground, after +which the Colonial troops took up their line of march for the capital. +Toward this central point three separate armies were now advancing, +while the House of Burgesses were passing a series of resolutions in +which all three were deeply interested. A more important juncture in the +affairs of the Colony had never occurred, and the approach of the +various hostile parties toward the capital excited the deepest anxiety +in all the reflecting inhabitants of the city. + +The courier announcing the successful issue of Bacon's campaign against +the tribes of the Peninsula, which had so long disturbed the peace and +tranquillity of the planters, was received with general manifestations +of joy and expressions of gratitude to the youthful commander of the +expedition. + +By a resolution of the assembly, the State House was ordered to be +illuminated, and the inhabitants generally were requested to follow the +example. These, with other voluntary demonstrations of rejoicing on the +part of the citizens, were about to be carried into execution, when the +vanguard of Sir William Berkley's army, commanded by the sturdy old +knight in person, arrived at the gates of the bridge. When he was +informed of the cause of this unusual measure, and of the resolutions +which had been passed by the House of Burgesses, both in regard to +himself and his young rival in the popular favour, he burst into a most +ungovernable fit of rage--threw his sword into the river, and swore he +would embark for England the next morning. He was no sooner dissuaded +from the rash step, than he resolved upon an expedient equally +inconsiderate. It was nothing less than to march his army into the +streets of the city, and thence, with a chosen band of followers, +disperse the assembly at the point of the bayonet. It was with the +greatest difficulty, and after long efforts, that his more discreet +friends were enabled to dissuade him from this step likewise, nor even +then until they had compromised the affair, by agreeing that he should +issue a proclamation with the same view, and forthwith issue writs for a +new election. Accordingly, having marched his troops into the heart of +the city, and encamped them immediately round the State House and public +grounds, he carried his threats into execution. + +The dissolution of the assembly was immediately proclaimed, and writs +were issued for the election of their successors. To such a length had +Sir William Berkley carried his high-handed measures, from time to time, +since his reaccession to the vice-regal chair, that he imagined the +people would submit to any dictation emanating from so high a +functionary as himself--that it was only necessary to make his will and +pleasure known to the good citizens of Jamestown, at once to put an end +to all the demonstrations of joy by which his arrival was so unwelcomely +greeted. He was led into this error, partly by his own overweening +pride, and partly by the respect which so many years of unclouded +prosperity in the same station had naturally engendered in the people. +And doubtless they would have endured much, and did submit to many +oppressions, rather than resist the authority of one who had so long +held the reins of government. But the true secret of the change in the +character of that government, was in the erroneous views conceived by +the captious old knight, during the government of the commonwealth. He +had fallen with his first Royal master and risen with the second--and +thus had come into power the second time, with all the extravagant +notions of prerogative entertained by his transatlantic prototype, +without having derived any wholesome lessons of experience from the fate +of his first unfortunate master. + +The people heard the proclamation dissolving the assembly, with murmurs +indeed at the spirit and motive in which it originated, but without +feelings of opposition to the measure, because it was one which they had +themselves demanded before his departure. They therefore moodily +acquiesced, and even submitted to be bearded by the foreign mercenaries +in their streets and public walks, but when the Governor, emboldened by +this apparent tameness undertook to issue another document, proclaiming +Bacon, Dudley, Harrison, Walklate, Ingraham, and their followers, +rebels, the people could submit no longer. The muttered thunders of +popular discontent burst out into all the fury of a storm. His officers +were forcibly prevented from reading his proclamations in the streets, +and public places--a general meeting of the citizens voluntarily +assembled at the State House, surrounded as it was by his soldiers, and +there passed resolutions, condemning his recent conduct, in the most +unmeasured terms. They also appointed a large committee to wait on him +forthwith, and not only demand the suppression of the last proclamation, +but that he should sign the commissions, already prepared by the +assembly for the very persons so denounced. After making these demands +of the infatuated old man, they farther informed him that two expresses +were already mounted--one to be despatched to the army under Bacon, and +the other to that headed by Ingraham and Walklate, both of which were +probably within a short distance of the city. That besides these +preparations for any extreme measures to which he might think proper to +resort, the citizens generally were arming themselves, and even that +many members of the late House of Burgesses, which he had just +dissolved, were taking up arms, and held themselves in readiness to +assist in disarming and expelling the mercenaries under his command. Sir +William demanded two hours for deliberation and consultation with his +friends. These were soon assembled, and the committee withdrew to await +the expiration of the allotted time. + +Again the Governor was destined to be mortified. The officers assembled, +most of whom had been with him in his recent expedition, stated that +the popular spirit of revolt and insubordination, had spread among the +soldiery to such an extent that no dependence could be placed upon them +in case of a rupture with the citizens. In this emergency he was +compelled to listen to the admonitions of the friends, who advised that +he should endeavour to turn the popular current in his favour, by +signing the commissions, and withdrawing the offensive proclamations. To +this he was forced to accede, and accordingly when the committee of the +citizens returned he signed the commissions. Scarcely had he dismissed +them, however, before he began devising measures to counteract the very +purpose of his act. He ordered a representation to be immediately drawn +up for ministers, in which the now commissioned officers in question +were represented as traitors--directed the most resolute and +trust-worthy of his adherents to embark for Accomac, whither he resolved +to transfer the seat of Government until the citizens of the capital +should be taught that respect for his majesty's representative in which +they had shown themselves so deficient within the last few hours; and +commanded all the armed ships not engaged in transporting his own troops +across the bay,[11] (and there were many of them in the river,) to +cruise up the stream, in order to intercept the sloop conveying General +Bacon and his suite to the city, with strict orders to bring him dead or +alive to Accomac. Having issued these various orders, and seen them put +in a regular train of execution, he embarked the same night on board an +armed brigantine, with his own family and suite, not forgetting his +imprisoned and deeply injured niece. + +[Footnote 11: See Burke.] + +Meanwhile General Bacon was calmly reclining upon the deck of his little +sloop; it was the second night from his embarkation--the moon was +shining brightly in the heavens, and the stars sparkled brilliantly +through a hazy but not damp atmosphere, and not a breath of air filled +the white sails as they flapped idly against the mast. The vessel was +drifting slowly toward her place of destination it is true, but not with +a velocity in accordance with the ardent desires of the passengers. +Every soul on board had retired to rest except himself, Brian O'Reily, +and that part of the crew to which belonged the duty of the watch. It +was the same night the reader will remember, on which Sir William +Berkley arrived at, and afterward so suddenly departed, from the +capital. + +Brian O'Reily was for the first time explaining to his master the manner +in which he came into the hands of the Indians. Bacon had readily +surmised the whole process, but knowing that O'Reily must be indulged +with the relation at one time or another, and being unable to sleep in +his present excited state of mind, he had given the impulse to Brian's +garrulity, not inadvertently, however, by the simple question, + +"So Brian, you were in pursuit of me when the Powhatans made you a +prisoner?" + +"Ay, by St. Stephen the martyr, and the twelve Apostles, barrin one iv +them that was a thraitor, I was near bein a martyr myself, only the +bloody nagres had a notion to fatten me, and that's the rason they kept +me tied on me back all the while, jist as I used to fix the misthress's +blind calf, the saints bless her soul." + +"Fatten you, Brian, for what?" + +"To ate me, to be sure!" + +"Pshaw, O'Reily, they are not cannibals." + +"Oh the divil burn my eyes, but I saw thim roastin babies by the fire, +and ating them like pathriges, widout so much as salt to season them!" + +"You just now told me you were tied in a dark hole, and fed on parched +corn, all the time you were a prisoner." + +"Divil a word iv a lie's in that, any way, your honour, and sure enough +I didn't jist see thim kooking the young ones, but didn't I smell thim +roastin? Sure and Brian O'Reily wouldn't be after being decaived in the +smell of a pig for a sucking baby. Didn't the divil tempt me wid that +same smell any way? may be he didn't? Wasn't I starvin myself upon short +allowance iv their murtherin popped corn, and didn't the bloody nagers +roast a baby jist whin me unconscionable bowels came up into my throat +every day, begging for muttin and turnips? and didn't they want to +fatten me like the misthress's blind calf--me bowels I mane? and didn't +I put thim aff wid a half score o' parched corns? Oh! if they had only +been stilled into whiskey, may be it wouldn't iv cured the smotherin I +had about the heart." + +"I suppose, Brian, you were never sober for such a length of time +together in your life before." + +"Oh! be our Lady you may say that--there was jist nothing to ate, and +the same to dhrink, barrin the parched corn, and the babies, and may be, +an oldher sinner for Sundays, by way of a feast." + +"You travelled on foot, I suppose, from place to place, until they +concentrated at the falls!" + +"Divil a foot iv mine touched the ghround, since they pulled me off my +horse at yon town of theirs over the river. I rode on a horse ivery foot +iv the way, your haner, and had one iv the nagers to attind me; may be +he didn't ride behint me on the same baste, and put his arms around me +like a butcher taking a fat wether to the shambles." + +"You were in right good case too, when you fell into the hands of this +singular butcher, that deals in human flesh, according to your account?" + +"Ay was I, but I lost it asier than I got it--by the five crasses, but +the sweat run down to me shoes every time I looked round at the painted +divil sittin on the same baste wid me--his nose ornamented wid a lead +ring like a wild steer. Sure I thought the ghreat inimy was flyin away +wid me, before I was dacently buried." + +"What did he say to you, Brian?" + +"Say to me, your haner! By the holy father, but he addressed none iv his +discourse to me. Maybe he was talkin to the divil that was in him as big +as a sheep--didn't he grunt it all away down in his pipes like a pig in +a passion? Or may be he was talkin to the horse, for he grunted too, and +one iv thim jist discoursed as well as the t'other, to my mind." + +"Could you not tell upon what subject he spoke, from his gestures or +signs.--Did he not point to Jamestown frequently?" + +"Not he--he pointed to the colour iv me hair, more belikes, and when +they gat to yon place where your haner put so many iv thim to slape, +they all gathered round me to see it. They had their own crowns painted +the same colour, and they wonthered at the beauty iv mine, and faith, +that was the most rasonable thing I saw among thim, barrin that they +brought me the paint-pot, and wanted me to figure off one iv their +beautiful gourds like Brian O'Reily's. I towld thim it was a thing out +iv all rason, and pulled out some iv the hair to show thim, and divil +burn the bloody thaives, but they cut it all aff jist for keepsakes +among thim." + +"They left you a top-knot, I see, however." + +Before O'Reily could make a reply, the sailor on the watch cried out +that there was a large ship bearing down upon them. Bacon sprung upon +his feet, ordered Brian to alarm the soldiers, and walked hastily +forward. At the first glance, he saw a crowd of warlike heads, and +caught the reflection of the light upon their arms. A second look at the +strange movements of the vessel, and the hostile preparations of those +on board served to convince him that he was himself the object of their +pursuit. Taking two of the first soldiers who made their appearance on +deck, he silently entered the boat swinging from the tafferel of the +sloop, motioned the two soldiers to follow him, and then ordered the +boat to be let down with all silence and despatch. O'Reily seeing these +preparations as he came on deck from the performance of his orders, +sprung into the boat as one end struck the water; it was too late, and +the circumstances too urgent for his master to order him back--the frail +bark was pushed off, therefore, with muffled oars, and as much within +the shadow of the approaching vessels as their destined course would +permit. Scarcely were they without the protection of these, before they +discovered the yawl of the ship full of armed men, rapidly gliding into +the water, and in the next moment, they heard musket balls whistling +over their heads, accompanied by the momentary gleam and then the quick +report of fire-arms. Seizing an oar himself, and ordering Brian to +follow his example, they pulled with all their strength for the shore; +this once gained, he hoped that the protection of the forest and the +increasing haziness of the atmosphere settling upon the high banks of +the river, would effectually protect his retreat. But in spite of their +utmost efforts, the superior power with which the yawl was propelled +through the water was rapidly shortening the distance between them. +Brian threw off his jerkin, and strenuously exhorted his master to trust +himself to the mercy of the waves, though he knew not the nature of the +threatened danger. On this point, Bacon himself could only conjecture, +that it was some device of his old enemy to get him secretly into his +power, and hence his anxiety to reach Jamestown at the present juncture. +He knew nothing of the change which had taken place at the capital in +his favour, but he knew his own power over the populace, and he +preferred being made prisoner in public, to trusting himself to the +tender mercies of Sir William Berkley. In spite of all his exertions, +and the hopes of reward held out to the soldiers in case of success, +their boat was cut off from the shore by the pursuers interposing +between it and themselves. He saw that resistance would be madness, as +the boat now wheeling exactly in front of them contained five times +their number, and would doubtless, in case of a struggle, be promptly +sustained by assistance from the ship, which was now nearer to them than +their own vessel. His only course, therefore, was to submit with as much +philosophy as he could muster. He was deeply mortified and chagrined +however, for his presence seemed to him to be most urgently called for +at the capital. These views were founded upon the information he had +received, now two days old. Could he have known what had taken place at +Jamestown only a few hours before, and only a few miles distant from his +present position; could he have known that Sir William Berkley was at +that very moment an adventurer upon the same waters, but a few miles +below, and driven thence by the firmness of the patriotic citizens who +belonged to his own party, he would doubtless have made a desperate +resistance. Perhaps it was more fortunate for all parties that he was +thus ignorant of existing circumstances at the capital, for had he +fallen at this juncture, (which was most probable) the fate of the +Republican party in the infant state might have been very different. + +He and his party soon found themselves on board of the hostile ship, +which was commanded by Capt. Gardiner, an Englishman--a devoted loyalist +and adherent of Sir William Berkley. He was politely received by that +officer, but informed that he must consider himself a prisoner until he +could exculpate himself before the Governor in person, at Accomac. Until +this moment Bacon had been partially reconciled to his mishap, trusting +to his known popularity among the people of the city, which he knew +would not be diminished by the eclat of his Indian victories; but now +that he was informed of the present residence of the Governor, and the +destination of the ship, his hopes were totally prostrated. He began to +suspect that something was wrong with Sir William at Jamestown, from +his present singular location, and was not a little uneasy at the secret +and unusual measures he had taken to get him into his power. He knew the +turbulent and impetuous temperament of the old knight, and how little he +was given to consult right and humanity in too many of his summary +measures of what he chose to call justice, to think that he would +hesitate one moment to summon a court-martial of his own partizans--try, +condemn, and execute him and his three unfortunate followers, if not the +more numerous body, now also prisoners, in the sloop. As he stood upon +deck in the midst of his guard, weighing these various aspects of his +position, the ship was silently gliding within view of the lights from +the city. He observed that the captain steered his course as far from +the island as the channel of the river would permit, which confirmed his +previous suspicions as to the state of popular feeling in the capital, +and increased his uneasiness as to the secret designs of the Governor +upon himself. From Captain Gardiner he could gain no satisfactory +information--he merely replied to Bacon's demand for his authority, that +Governor Berkley had commanded him to bring him (Bacon) to Accomac, and +to deliver him dead or alive into his hands. + +When it was too late, Bacon saw the rashness of the councils which had +induced him to abandon his army, and trust himself among the numerous +ships floating in the river, the commanders of which were known +adherents of his enemies. + +The reflections of our hero, as he paced the quarter deck toward +morning, were bitter in the extreme. He saw all the bright hopes of his +reviving spirits vanish like a dream, as the vessel now just emerging +from the waters of the Powhatan, and propelled by a fresh morning breeze +from the land, was plunging with every swell of the buoyant waves into +the waters of the Chesapeake, and receding farther and farther at every +plunge from the objects of his highest and dearest aspirations. + +That portion of the magnificent bay into which they were now entering +immediately ahead, was expanded and lost to the eye on the limitless +waves of the ocean. On the starboard tack, like a black cloud joining +the sea and the sky together, lay Cape Henry, and on the larboard, still +more faintly pencilled against the horizon, lay Cape Charles. Between +the two, the white bordered waves of the Atlantic rolled their swelling +volumes into the Chesapeake. + +The faint yellow tinge of dawn could just be discerned, like a moving +shadow, now upon the waves and then upon the hazy clouds, dipping into +their bosom, while hundreds of aquatic birds, interposed like a black +cloud at intervals to intercept the view in the distance, or more +suddenly flapped their wings from under the very prow of the vessel as +they swooped along the surface of the stream and dipped the points of +their wings like a flash of light into the sparkling waters. + +A steady breeze was blowing from off the land, and the white sails of +the ship swelled proudly and the tapering spars bent under its +influence, as she ploughed up the waves foaming and falling in divided +masses before her prow. On any other occasion than the present, Bacon +would have enjoyed the prospect on this grandest of all inland seas, but +now his mind was oppressed with gloomy doubts and forebodings. Every +plunge of the vessel was bearing him more within the grasp of his +relentless foe. But the mishap of his own personal adventure, every way +unfortunate as it was both for himself and the cause in which he had +engaged, was not that which weighed most oppressively upon his mind. +Ever since the discovery of the miniature contained in the locket, he +had been gradually giving way to his reviving hopes, and building upon +that slender assurance bright and glorious superstructures of +imagination. He had endured and lived, and fought and conquered with +that hope, as the polar star to his otherwise dark and dreary course. +Now again his destinies were almost wrecked by a storm from a quarter in +which he had scarcely cast his eyes. How could he imagine that Sir +William Berkley would be driven from the capital, by the stern and +independent resistance of the unarmed citizens? How could he know that +being thus driven from it he would yet retain a sufficient naval force +to capture him and his escort upon the very eve of his triumphal entry +into the city? These were the reflections which made him look with a +feeling of dark misanthropy upon the glorious beauties of the +Chesapeake. His ambition, his pride, and his conscience were satisfied; +but his love for a bride, already once led to the very steps of the +altar, was again thwarted upon the eve of what he had supposed and hoped +would prove the final and happy fulfilment of his most ardent hopes. His +feelings toward the devoted and interesting maiden, who had perilled and +suffered so much on his account, were enthusiastic in the highest +degree. She stood toward him not only in the relation of his betrothed, +but his wedded bride; and the more endearing and captivating she became +to him as he contemplated her in these relations, the more he cursed in +his heart the hard-hearted and perverse old man who had been the cause +of all his troubles. + +Every chance of escape was intensely examined; not a word was suffered +to fall unheeded from Captain Gardiner and his subordinates. He noted +carefully the distribution of the prisoners in the vessel in which he +was himself confined, as well as of those in the sloop following in +their wake. He took careful observations of the most prominent objects +on their route--the state of the tide in the river which they had just +left. He examined the boats--how they were secured--the equipments and +appearance of the crew on board, and resolved if he must fall in the +midst of his reviving hopes, to die as became the conqueror of Bloody +Run and the lover of Virginia Fairfax. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Amid all his misfortunes and gloomy anticipations, Bacon discovered one +bright spot in his horizon. He had inquired of Captain Gardiner whether +Mr. Beverly had accompanied the Governor to Accomac, and was answered in +the affirmative. This was the source of rejoicing, because he believed +that Virginia was yet in Jamestown. Harriet Harrison's letter had been +perused over and over again, during the first part of the voyage, and +was one cause of that restless anxiety to escape which we have attempted +to describe. + +He chafed the more as his imagination pictured his rival leading, or +rather forcing Virginia to the altar, while he was thus ignobly +detained. But now having satisfied himself that Beverly was not left +behind, his mind was comparatively at ease on that score. Nevertheless +his desire to escape was not diminished; the state of parties might +change in the capital--Beverly might return and perpetrate his design +while he was yet in confinement. That Sir William Berkley intended more +than to keep him in temporary duress, he could not now in his cooler +moments believe--his repinings were caused by the interruption to his +own cherished schemes and ardent desires. He had hoped before this +time, to be in Jamestown--a conqueror--the accepted lover of Virginia +Fairfax, and to satisfy the Recluse himself, that he was deceived as to +his birth and parentage. That there was some mysterious knowledge of +Mrs. Fairfax's history possessed by that strange man, he doubted not; +but he doubted as little that it had led to error with regard to +himself. + +The dark shadows of night had already closed over the broad expanse of +waters on whose bosom our hero was thus far borne without chance of +escape. He could discern numerous lights flitting along the +circumscribed horizon, which he supposed to be upon the shores of +Accomac, from the dark curtain which skirted along as far as the eye +could reach, between the sky and the water. He was not left long in +doubt upon this point, for the sailors were busily engaged furling the +broad sheets of canvass and heaving over the anchor. In a few moments a +bright flash illuminated the darkness around, followed by the booming +sound of a piece of ordnance let off from the ship. This was answered by +another from the shore, and Bacon perceived the lights which had before +attracted his attention, moving, as he supposed, toward the boat +landing, there being no facilities for running the ship close in upon +the land. These he could perceive now rising and falling with the +swelling and receding waves, and very soon faintly distinguished voices +in confused murmurs as they were borne along the water, and lost amidst +the roar of the waves lashing against the sides of the vessel, and the +confused noise and merriment of the ship's crew. + +Captain Gardiner took up his trumpet and hailed the approaching boat, +after which a dead silence ensued on board, all hands listening intently +for the expected answer. Hoarse and confused sounds came sweeping on the +wind, as if the person answering spoke through his hand instead of a +trumpet, but no distinct words could be made out. Again the captain +hailed, "boat ahoy," and again with the like result. The wind was +unfavourable for the transmission of sound, and he gave up the attempt. +He had scarcely left the deck, however, before the boat came riding by +on the buoyant waves, both parties having been deceived as to the +distance, by their inability to intercommunicate. The Captain ran +eagerly upon deck, and inquired of those in the boat, whether the +Governor had arrived? The answer was in the affirmative. Bacon now +understood the anxiety of Captain Gardiner to communicate with the +shore. He learned too, from the dialogue going on, that the Governor and +himself were probably crossing the bay at the same time. + +When it was announced to the boat's crew that the rebel chief, Bacon, +was a prisoner on board, a loud huzza burst simultaneously from twenty +voices, among which Bacon distinctly recognised those of Ludwell and +Beverly. Bitter indeed were his unavailing regrets that he had left his +army, and thus fallen a prey to his most violent enemies. He now +remembered, with not less regret, that he had strictly enjoined upon his +temporary successor, not to march into Jamestown until he should rejoin +the troops. This he saw would effectually prevent his present situation +from becoming known to his friends, until, possibly it would be too late +to render him any assistance. + +The boat very soon returned in order to ascertain the Governor's +pleasure with regard to his prisoner, and Bacon waited with the most +intense anxiety for their return. His unavailing regrets were rapidly +forgotten in a fierce and burning desire to be confronted with his +enemies, alone and unsupported as he was. His noble mind could scarcely +conceive of that malignity which could trample upon a solitary and +defenceless individual, placed by accident in the hands of numerous +personal enemies. He had yet to learn a bitter lesson in the study of +human nature. His own impulses were all high and generous, and he +naturally looked even upon his foes as to some extent capable of the +like magnanimity. He imagined that Sir William Berkley, Ludwell, and +Beverly would feel and acknowledge his indignant appeals to their honour +and chivalry. How these youthful and sanguine expectations were realized +will be seen in the sequel. The boat soon returned with orders from Sir +William Berkley to detain the prisoner on board during the night, and +to send him ashore as soon in the morning as it should be announced by a +shot from a piece of ordnance, that the court had assembled. That he was +to be tried by a court-martial had barely entered his imagination. + +At dawn of day a gun from the shore announced the assembling of the +court, and Bacon was brought upon deck by the orders of the Captain. He +perceived that the ship's boat was already in the water, supported on +each side by larger ones from the shore, filled with armed soldiers. +However much he may have been surprised by these prudential +preparations, he was still more surprised, and more fully began to +realize his situation, when he perceived a man standing ready to secure +his hands in irons. At first sight of this contemplated indignity, he +shrank back instinctively with something of the natural feelings of +youth, but the impression was only momentary; he shook it off and walked +firmly to the smith, near whom stood Captain Gardiner, and a guard to do +his bidding in case of necessity. As the youthful Chieftain approached, +the hardy veteran of the seas was evidently embarrassed. He was +reluctant to offer such a needless affront to one of so bold and manly a +bearing. An indistinct apology was commenced, of which the only parts +that Bacon distinguished or cared to learn was, that the precaution was +taken by the orders of Sir William Berkley. "I doubt it not--I doubt it +not, sir," he replied; "Do your duty--I am in his power for the +present, and must submit with the best grace I can; but a day of +retribution is coming; and even should I be basely murdered upon these +distant shores, as seems not unlikely from these preparations, and the +tribunal of which I hear they are the precursors, my death will not go +unavenged." + +His hands were soon confined within the iron bands, connected by chains +some two feet in length, and then, with the assistance of the Captain +and crew, he was let down into the boat. He was not long in discovering +that the military escort in the two outer boats was commanded by Mr. +Philip Ludwell. No sign of recognition took place between them, +notwithstanding they had moved in the same circles at the Capital before +the interruption of the civil war. Bacon was too much of a soldier +himself, and too well versed in the duties of a subordinate to throw any +of the blame of his present condition upon his quondam acquaintance, and +would readily have exchanged the courtesies due from one gentleman to +another, had he not perceived a suppressed smile of triumph upon the +countenance of Ludwell as he entered the boat. Whether the latter viewed +him as rebel or patriot he felt indignant at his ungentlemanly conduct, +and folding his chained arms upon his manly chest, took no farther +notice of its author. + +As they approached the shore, and the mists of early morning began to +break away before the rising sun, Bacon recognised many landmarks which +had not altogether been unknown to him in happier days. The house at +which Sir William Berkley now exercised his vice-regal functions, +surrounded by such of the Cavaliers as still adhered to his fortunes, +became also visible. This Bacon recognised as the property of the +officer in command of the guard surrounding his own person. The shore +was covered with tents, marquées and soldiers, the latter being the +English mercenaries, and marshalled for his reception in imposing array. +Two lines were formed from the landing to the house, between which he +was now marched in the centre of his guard. + +When they arrived within the hall he found the martial tribunal ready +assembled for his trial. A long table was placed in the centre of the +room, upon which lay swords, caps, and feathers. At the farther end from +the entrance sat Sir William Berkley, as president of the court, and on +either side some eight or ten of his officers, all clad in the military +costume of the day. Their gay doublets had been exchanged for buff +coats, surmounted by the gorget alone, for the vambraces, with their +concomitants, had been abandoned during the commonwealth. Some of the +cavalry and pikemen, indeed, still wore head and back pieces, in the +king's army,[12] but the Virginian officers were generally dressed at +that time as we have described them. + +[Footnote 12: See statutes 13 and 14th Charles the 2d.] + +Among the number of officers now confronting the prisoner, sat Francis +Beverly. He seemed perfectly calm and collected, and not in the least +aware that there was any impropriety in his sitting in judgment upon the +prisoner standing at the foot of the table. + +Bacon drew himself up to his utmost height, as he again folded his arms +and ran his indignant eye over his accusers and judges; as it rested in +its course upon Beverly, a fierce indignation lighted up its clear hazel +outlines, but it was only for an instant--his glance wandered on over +the other members of the court, while his lip curled in a settled +expression of scorn and contempt. The old Cavalier at the head of the +board rose in visible agitation--his eyes flashed fire and his hands +trembled as he took the paper from the scribe and read the charge +against the prisoner. + +The merest form of an impartial trial was indecently hastened through. +Witnesses were not wanting indeed, and those too, who could testify to +every thing the Governor desired, but no time had been allowed the +prisoner to procure testimony in his own behalf, or prepare his defence. + +The times were perhaps somewhat out of joint; but the state of the +colony was by no means such as to require that a prominent citizen, +standing high in the affection of his countrymen, should be deprived of +those inestimable privileges secured by the laws of England, to every +one under accusation of high crimes and misdemeanors; and these laws +had been adopted and were in full force in the infant state. At the very +outset of the trial, Gen. Bacon objected to the military character of +the court, as well as to the indecent haste and the retired nature of +the place in which it was held. He contended that his crime, if crime he +had committed, was a civil offence, and ought to be tried by the civil +tribunals of the country. All these weighty objections were answered by +a waive of the president's hand, and the trial proceeded to its +previously well known conclusion, without farther interruption. + +Before the final vote was taken upon the question whether the prisoner +was guilty of high treason or not, he was ordered to be removed from the +court-room for a few moments, in order that their deliberations might be +uninterrupted. As the guard marched the prisoner through the house into +the back court of the establishment, his step still proud and his +carriage elevated with the sense of conscious rectitude, he was at once +brought to a stand by the sight of a spectacle which sent the blood, +chilled with horror, back to his heart. This was a gibbet or gallows, +erected in the very court to which they were conducting him, and upon it +hung two of his own soldiers![13] All evidence of vitality had long +since departed, and their bodies swung round and round, under the +impulse of the morning breeze, in horrible monotony. Bacon's first +sensation was one of unmixed horror, but this was succeeded by +indignation; not a thought for his own safety occurred to his mind while +under the first impressions of the fearful spectacle. But as fierce +indignation stirred up his torpid energies to thoughts of revenge, the +means began to present themselves, and then it was that he shook the +iron fetters which bound him, in savage and morose despair. Perhaps a +chill from some more personal feeling ran through his veins, when he +reflected how short had been the passage of his two humble followers +from the sloop which had borne them across the bay on the preceding +night, to eternity. They had evidently suffered some hours +previous--perhaps during the night. They were the two subaltern +officers--selected by himself for his expedition down the river, and +chosen for their desperate bravery at the battle of Bloody Run. And now +to see their manly proportions ignominiously exposed upon a gibbet, +after having been most inhumanly murdered, was more than he could calmly +bear. Bitter and unavailing were his reflections as he stood a spectator +of this outrage, while his own life hung suspended by a hair. + +[Footnote 13: See Sanguinary executions of Bacon's followers--without +the legal forms of trial, in the Histories of the times.] + +He was not left long a spectator of this cruel scene; the guard was +ordered to present the prisoner again before the court to receive +sentence. + +When Bacon stood once more at the foot of the table, surrounded by his +unrelenting enemies, his countenance evinced a total change. When first +he stood in the same place, he had not fully realized his situation; he +was stupified with overwatching and fatigue. The young are always slow +to apprehend the darker shadows in their own prospective, and +instinctively cling to the brighter aspect of events and circumstances, +until some sudden calamity or unexpected reverse in their own immediate +career, opens their eyes to the stern reality. When such a change is +brought immediately before the senses, then indeed the dreadful truth +speaks direct to the apprehension. Few criminals at the moment of +receiving sentence of death, realize more than a horrid and oppressive +sense of present calamity--all hope has not yet entirely forsaken them. +But could they see upon the spot a fellow criminal undergoing the last +penalty of the law, they would at once realize the truth in all its +terrors. + +The sight of his unfortunate followers had thus opened the eyes of the +youthful general, to the desperate character of his enemies, and the +awful fate which immediately awaited him, but it was not fear which now +revived his stupified powers to action. His look was bold and daring, +while a preternatural brilliancy shot from his proud eye, as the +president of the court, with an assumed calmness, pronounced upon him +the sentence of death. As the last fatal word fell from the lips of the +stern old knight, the prisoner's countenance was rigid, cold and +death-like for an instant, as he struggled to master his rebellious and +scornful feelings into such a state of discipline as would enable him +to express the little he had to say, with clearness and precision. + +Although the usual question, "if he had any thing to say why sentence of +death should not be pronounced against him," was not asked, he stepped +boldly up to the end of the board, and notwithstanding the magisterial +waive of the president's hand for silence, and a simultaneous order to +the officer of the guard to remove him--gave utterance to his feelings +in these words, and with a manner powerfully subdued, yet energetic; his +voice issuing from between his rigidly set teeth like that of one under +the influence of reckless desperation. + +"If it may so please the president, and gentlemen of the court-martial, +I will not tamely and silently submit myself to be butchered in cold +blood, without raising my voice and protesting against the jurisdiction +of the court--the time--the place--the manner of the trial--the persons +who compose the court, and especially him who presides over your +deliberations. + +"Was it treason I committed, when I boldly and openly marched from +Jamestown to Orapacks, at the head of the brave men who drove before +them the savages by whom the dwellings of the Colony had been burned, +and its women and children murdered? Did not the house of burgesses +request the Governor to sign the commission, which the people had +unanimously put into my hands? Did he not pledge his knightly word that +the commissions should be ratified? Under the authority of that +commission and that promise, have I not driven the enemies of civilized +man before me, as I marched through the Peninsula? Have I not done what +has never before been done? cut out a broad line of separation between +the habitations of the white man and the savage? Have I not avenged the +murders committed on the night of the massacre? Have I not avenged +injuries committed against more than one member of this very court, by +the bloody confederation? Have I not, with these hands, rescued the +sister-in-law of the president of this very tribunal from the murderous +tomahawk of the savages? True, it was only to die--but it was worthy of +all my poor exertions to rescue her body from their unhallowed hands, +that it might rest in consecrated ground. Have I not annihilated the +confederation itself, cut to pieces the assembled tribes--rescued the +prisoners, razed to the ground the fortifications at the falls, and made +prisoners of the brave remnant of those misguided nations who erected +it? If this be treason, then indeed am I a traitor! + +"Why is it that this great and glorious country, opened to the oppressed +and crowded nations of the old world by a kind and beneficent +Providence, must so often become the theatre of struggles for personal +aggrandizement and power? Why is it that our arms must be turned against +ourselves in fratricidal conflict, when so many enemies have been +swarming upon our frontiers, and devastating our settlements? Must the +great and evident designs of the Creator be thus constantly retarded? +the great destinies of this vast land obscured in the dawn, by the petty +struggles of contending chieftains? Who can tell how far to the mighty +west the tide of civilization and emigration would have rolled their +swelling waves, but for the scenes of personal rivalry and contention +like the present, which have disgraced our annals? + +"The rosy tints of the morning dawn of destiny have scarcely risen in +the east of this mighty continent--the boldest and the wildest +imagination cannot soar into futurity, and predict its noon-day glories, +or count up the tides and floods of human beings, that shall be wafted +to these shores, and thence roll in successive waves, to the dark and as +yet unknown west. + +"I have been but an humble instrument in the hands of the Great Mover of +these mighty currents, and for this ye seek my life. But death to this +frail body cannot arrest the great movement, in which I have been an +actor. I have indeed been the first to point out the importance of +drawing a broad line of separation between the European and the native, +the first to show the necessity of rolling to the west the savage +hordes, as the swelling numbers of our own countrymen increase upon our +hands. Future emigration must advance westward in a semicircular +wave--like a kindred billow of the watery ocean, sweeping all +obstruction before it. + +"If the natives flee before this rolling tide, and survive its +destructive progress, well and happy will it be for them; but if they +attempt to buffet the storm, ruin hangs upon their tardy footsteps. I +confess that I have been the first to maintain the impossibility of the +two species living together in peace, and to execute the primitive and +opening step in this great revolution of nations. If this be treason, +then am I a traitor. But if I fall, think not that the great movement +shall fall with me. The Great Ruler of the universe has opened these +fertile hills and dales to his oppressed creatures; and he has likewise +pointed out the necessity of driving back them who make no use of these +blessings, and who rise not from their idolatry and ignorance to a state +fitted to render glory to their Creator. The tide will move on to the +westward, in spite of such tribunals as this. If I am to die here in +this insulated neck of land, by the hands of those who are themselves +prisoners, so be it--I shall die contented in the knowledge that I have +not lived in vain, and that future generations will rescue from oblivion +the name of him who first opened an avenue to the mighty and unknown +west, and however illegally my life may be taken, I will show you that I +can die as becomes a soldier and a Cavalier. One request I would fain +make, even of them whose actions I abhor and despise; it is this; as +you have tried and condemned me by a military tribunal, that you inflict +upon me the death of a soldier. This is a request which I would alike +make to a heathen or an infidel." + +"Take him immediately to the gallows," shouted Sir William Berkley. + +The officer of the guard approached with his myrmidons, and laid hold of +the prisoner, in accordance with the mandate of the Governor; but three +or four members of the court rose at once, and expressed their +willingness to allow the prisoner until the succeeding day to prepare +for execution. + +"Away with him, away with him," again vociferated the president, at the +same time, menacing the official who stood holding the prisoner, +doubtful how to act, and apparently willing to listen to the more +merciful suggestion. By this time the whole court was in confusion and +uproar; every member was upon his feet, together with the president, +each one endeavouring to be heard. A large majority of the members were +for the longest time, and these now demanded of the Governor to submit +the question to the court; but the old knight, having probably +discovered that Ludwell and Beverly were his only supporters, +clamorously persisted in ordering the prisoner to instant execution. + +Bacon himself, during this time, at first stood with his arms folded and +a bitter smile of contempt playing upon his features, until the turmoil +growing louder and more protracted, he too attempted to obtain a +hearing. "It is perfectly indifferent to me," said he, "whether I am +murdered to-morrow, or at the next moment; let the hour come when it +may, my blood be upon your skirts!" + +His manly bearing served to reanimate those who contended for delay, and +the strife continued to grow more noisy and turbulent, until, as if by +magic, a side door of the apartment opened, and a new actor appeared +upon the scene. The court was instantaneously hushed to silence, and Sir +William Berkley stood as if he beheld an apparition, while Bacon bounded +forward and clasped Virginia, who rushed into his outstretched (but +fettered) arms. + +When she first gently pushed open the door, not one of the court or of +the attendants perceived her. She was clad in the loose folds of the +sick chamber--her blond curls fell in unheeded ringlets over her brow, +temples and shoulders--her face was pale as monumental marble, and her +frame weak and trembling, while a preternatural excitement of the moment +shot from her eyes, as she gazed through the partly opened door, to +ascertain if her ears had not deceived her. + +Not a word was uttered louder than a deep impassioned whisper, until +Virginia perceived the chains upon his hands, when seizing the iron by +the middle she stepped forward and boldly elevating her head, addressed +Sir William--"Whence these chains, sir?--tell me quickly; tell me that +they have not been put on by your orders--before I curse the hour that +united my destiny in any manner with yours!" + +"Not only were they imposed by my orders, but they were so put on in +preparation for a ceremony which shall alike cure you of your vagaries +and release me from his hated presence for ever! Guard, lead her to her +chamber, and the prisoner to execution!" + +Scarcely had the words died upon his lips, ere she sprang from the grasp +of the officer, and locked her hands around the neck of her lover, +exclaiming, "Now you may shoot him through me--no ball enters his body +but through mine. You may hack off my arms with your swords, but until +then I will never leave him!" + +The Governor and Beverly now came forward, and each of them seizing a +hand, they tore her from his embrace, in the midst of a wild hysterical +laugh, not however before Bacon had imprinted a kiss upon her pale +forehead, and uttered a brief and agonizing farewell. He then seated +himself upon a chair, and covering his face with his hands, gave himself +up to emotions which had not before been awakened during his trial. + +As they were leading Virginia from the room, she suddenly recovered her +composure, sprang from their grasp, and placing herself against the +wall, between two of the officers of the court, who were still standing, +clung to their arms while she thus addressed Frank Beverly--"And this is +the method you have taken to win your way to my favour--this is the +plan you have devised to rid yourself of a rival. And you too, his +deadly enemy--to sit in judgment upon him, and mock justice by the +cowardly device. Out upon you, sir, for a craven-hearted dastard. Is +this the way you were to meet and conquer him in battle? Where are your +trophies for my bridal turban, taken from the standards of his +followers? You take trophies from Bacon in battle! One glance of his +manly eye would drive the blood chilled to your craven heart, and wither +the muscles of your coward arm." + +Again she was seized, and dragged from the court-room by the Governor +and Beverly. In a few moments the president returned, and found the +court proceeding in his absence deliberately to take the question on +granting the prisoner until the succeeding day to prepare for death, and +allowing him the attendance of a clergyman. Sir William was fearful +perhaps, that by resisting the will of the majority, he should defeat +his purpose, and therefore acquiesced in what he could not prevent, with +more amenity than might have been expected from his previous violence. + +The prisoner had not so suddenly regained his equanimity; he was indeed +making strenuous exertions to that end, but now and then a piercing +scream from the upper chambers of the mansion thrilled through his +nerves, and more than once he suddenly sprang to his feet, and made an +attempt to rush past his vigilant keepers, but was as quickly reminded +of his helplessness by the jarring sound of his fetters, and the ready +grasp of the officials. After several such attempts, he at length folded +his arms, and gave himself up to bitter reflections--a wretched smile +flashing athwart his countenance indicating the violence of the internal +struggle and the cruel pangs that rent his bosom. + +The majority of the court having triumphed in the first matter, the +question was again raised as to the manner of his death, and Bacon's +countenance was actually lit up by a smile when he heard the decision of +the court in favour of his own request, that he might die the death of a +soldier. The guard were at the moment leading him from the court room to +his prison house, and his step became more firm and elastic, and he +could now look upon the wretched spectacle in the court, without the +same degree of horror which he had before evinced. + +When he had marched several paces in his progress round the mansion, he +halted suddenly and wheeled round to survey the dormer windows peering +through the roof, as was the fashion with the long low houses of the +time. His eye rested from its piercing and steady gaze, in sadness and +disappointment, and he threw down his chained hands with a violent +motion, as he resumed his march between the soldiers. They conducted him +to the door of a cellar at the end of the house, which was secured with +double defences; in the next moment he was rudely thrust into a damp +cellar, without a ray of light, and the door was closed and securely +bolted. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Bacon heard the rusty bolt shoot into its socket, and then the hasping +and locking of the outside door, with a sensation of utter hopelessness. +He wandered through the dark precincts of his prison, stumbling now over +an old barrel, and anon against a meat block, until he came to some dry +bundles of fodder, which seemed to have been spread out in one corner to +answer the purpose of a bed. Before throwing himself upon this rude +couch, he resolved to examine the structure of his cell. By passing his +hands along the walls, he found that they were built of brick, well +cemented by a long process of time--that the summit upon which the +basement beams of the frame rested, were entirely out of his reach, and +that in the present confined state of his hands, it would be impossible +for him to make any impression on them, and he could distinctly hear the +tramp of more than one sentinel, as they paced their monotonous rounds +about that wing of the building. There was yet much of the day +remaining, and he resolved to spend it in endeavouring to grind off the +end of the rivets to the iron bands enclosing his wrists. By rubbing +these against the bricks, he found that he could wear them away by a +tedious and laborious process. Our hero was not one of those who +surrender themselves up to despondency at the first appearance of +insurmountable difficulties; decision of character was his most striking +quality, and he knew that his devoted army only waited for him to lead +them to avenge his wrongs. He felt the difficulties which lay between +him and Jamestown, but he did not despair, however desperate his +circumstances. For many hours he persevered in grinding the rivets +against the bricks; with wrenching and great danger of dislocating his +wrists, he at length succeeded in so wearing down the iron, that he +could at any moment throw aside the manacles. Encouraged with this +success, he moved the meat-block against the wall, and made all +preparations for a breach, as soon as he should be satisfied that the +darkness of night would cover his movements. + +To while away the time usefully, he threw himself upon his rude bed, and +was soon, from the effects of great previous mental excitement and +bodily fatigue, wrapt in profound slumber. + +The shadows of night had closed around this land in the midst of waters +in sombre hues, and the prisoner still slept profoundly. + +In the mean time circumstances were in progress on the bay, which had a +most important bearing upon the fate of every one then at Accomac. + +It has already been stated that Sir William Berkley had put in +requisition such of the naval power as he could bring to bear upon his +immediate designs and pressing necessities. But, after leaving the city +in the precipitate manner which has been related, the citizens +determined to summon to their aid, such of the ships and other vessels +of war and merchandise, as yet remained in the river, within convenient +distance of the city, and make the old knight a prisoner at Accomac. + +The Governor had not long been gone before an armament superior to his +own, was seen steering in the course which he had taken. This consisted +of "one ship, a bark of four guns, a sloop and schooner." The expedition +was under the joint command of Giles Bland and William Carver, both +veteran and experienced seamen. On board of one of the vessels, and +subordinate to the officers just mentioned, was Captain Larimore; he was +one of the most devoted friends of Sir William Berkley, but his personal +predilections and loyal principles were entirely unknown, either at +Jamestown or on board the fleet. When this (at that time) formidable +armament arrived in sight of the vessels at anchor, which had borne Sir +William and his partisans to Accomac, it being now dark, (on the same +evening in which Bacon lay sleeping in his dungeon,) Capt. Larimore +proposed to his superior officers, that he would take one or two +resolute tars, and, avoiding the hostile vessels, land and reconnoitre +the position and forces of the Governor. + +His proposition was promptly acceded to, and Larimore launched his boat, +selected his men, and protected by the thickness of the fog and the +darkness of the night, succeeded in effecting his landing unperceived by +the vessels in the service of the Governor. If he had been aware of +Bacon's imprisonment and condemnation, and disposed to do so, he might +have rendered him the most important services; but whether disposed to +hazard any thing in his cause or not, both he and his superiors were +ignorant of Bacon's fate. + +When the boat containing the adventurer and his two associates struck +the shore, Larimore immediately sprang upon the beach and ordered his +subordinates to push a few yards out into the bay, and remain within +sound of his whistle. He proceeded directly towards the quarters of Sir +William Berkley, until he was challenged by one of the sentinels with +his carbine at his breast. Larimore desired the sentinel to lead him to +the Governor. As soon as he had made himself known to his Excellency, he +informed him of his disposition to advance the cause of the loyal party, +and submitted the following proposition. + +He requested the Governor to send one or two of his most daring and +trusty officers, with one hundred resolute men in boats or canoes, +during that portion of the night when he should himself be in command of +the watch--and promised that he would deliver the whole armament into +the hands of the Governor. Sir William immediately summoned his officers +and made the proposition known to them--requesting, at the same time +that any gentleman who desired to be entrusted with the expedition +would step forward. Philip Ludwell promptly acceded to the offer, and +tendered his services, which were as promptly accepted. Ludwell having +selected his supporters from the hardiest of the troops and sailors, he +held himself in readiness to push off as soon as the appointed hour +should arrive. Larimore giving the concerted signal, sprang into his +boat and returned to those who sent him, with a very different account +of Sir William's position and intentions from that we have just related. + +All this time Bacon was sleeping as soundly upon his bed of corn blades, +as if it was not to be his last sleep on earth. Criminals condemned to +death generally do sleep soundly the night preceding their execution, +and Bacon, whether criminal or not, was no exception to the rule. + +It was some hours after the sun had gone down, and about the same time +that Larimore put off to his vessel, when Bacon suddenly started up from +his rude couch, under an oppressive sense of glaring light upon his eye +balls. An aged and decrepid woman was leaning over him; she was resting +upon her knees, in one hand holding the lamp and in the other the locket +which had already exercised such an important influence upon his +destiny. She had sprung the lid, during his sleep, and was now gazing +upon the beautiful picture, with an interest and amazement not less +intense than he had himself manifested on its first discovery in the +Indian wigwam. So absorbed was her every faculty, that his sudden start +from sleep scarcely attracted her attention. Her eyes were filled with +water in the vain endeavour to decipher the outlines with convincing +accuracy. When the date and the initials and the hair were submitted to +a like scrutiny, conviction settled at once upon her mind. The feeling +operated slowly at first, but as one doubt gave way after another, her +pale and haggard features began perceptibly to assume the life and +vigour of deep excitement. The locket fell from her grasp, and she +clasped her hands--but suddenly throwing back the curling masses from +his brow she exclaimed: "Tell me, my master, are you called Nathaniel +Bacon?" + +"I am! but tell me in your turn, why do you ask?" + +She answered only by exclaiming, "O merciful Heaven! God be praised! +Wonderful are the ways of Providence!" Bacon was on his knees also, his +manacled hands laid upon her shoulders as he anxiously and hastily +inquired, "Tell me, good mother, what do you know of Nathaniel Bacon?" + +"More than he knows of himself, mayhap!" + +"Speak it quickly--moments are more precious than diamonds--say, whence +comes your knowledge? who are you? who am I? for God's sake tell me +quickly!" + +"You are the son of as worthy a gentleman as ever wore a sword. I knew +him and your honoured mother well--that is, if you are the same +mischievous boy whom I have mourned as drowned these many long and +lonesome years." + +The captive waited to hear no more, but springing upon his feet, paced +wildly round the damp cellar like one in a delirium of joy. The old +woman still maintained her humble posture, her hands again clasped, and +her long wrinkled neck turning with difficulty to follow the strange +movements of the prisoner. Suddenly, and as if stricken down by a cannon +shot, he threw himself upon the earth his whole frame convulsed with +thoughts of his present hopeless condition. "What matters it whether I +am Nathaniel Bacon or not? What will it avail, this time to-morrow, when +these limbs, now so full of life and vigour in the renewal of hope, will +be still in the cold embrace of death?" + +"Death!" the old woman screamed, rising from her knees, seizing the lamp +and thrusting it in Bacon's face--"Death, did you say, my son? or did my +old ears deceive me with the horrible word?" + +"They did not,--truer words were never spoken or heard; to-morrow, +before the sun has measured an hour in the heavens, the voice which now +addresses you, will be silenced in the everlasting sleep of death!" + +Horror struck his auditor dumb; her shrivelled lips moved with a +tremulous motion, as if she desired to speak--but she spoke not. An ashy +paleness overspread her features, and she staggered backward and would +have fallen, had she not been caught in the arms of her long-lost +foster son. A tumult of thoughts crowded upon her enfeebled mind, as she +recovered, gasping with the unusual excitement, and her aged frame +heaved as if it would burst in the effort. At length a ray of hope +seemed to dawn upon her mental vision; her eye sparkled with the +thought, as she resumed the lamp which Bacon had taken from her hand, +and placed upon the ground. "It must not, shall not be, my son. There is +your coarse food, Heaven forgive me for not offering you better, but +little did my thoughts turn upon such a godsend. I have a thousand +things to ask and tell, but as you say, life--precious life--hangs upon +every moment lost, so--" + +At this moment the sentinel advanced directly before them, and taking +the old woman rudely by the arm, said, "Come, old Tabby, the prisoner +can find the way to his mouth without the light; give him his bread and +water, and be off;" thrusting her up the steps, as he spoke, slamming +the door, and once more turning the grating bolt upon the unfortunate +prisoner. + +Bacon's late reviving hopes almost died within him as he listened to the +unwelcome sounds and the retreating footsteps of his visiters. + +He threw himself once more upon his rude couch and abandoned himself to +despair. But youthful hope never despairs utterly, however desperate the +circumstances; a few moments after saw him with his handcuffs thrown +off, and busily engaged in piling the loosened bricks upon the floor. +In less than an hour, he beheld the stars lightly twinkling in the +Heavens, through the aperture created by the removal of a single brick, +which he had taken from the outer layer before he was aware of his +progress. Cautiously and intently he listened for the footsteps of the +sentinel; strange sounds seemed to come from off the water, but all in +his immediate vicinity was as quiet as the grave, except the tumultuous +throbbing of his own heart. Again he proceeded cautiously in his work, +until he had completed an aperture sufficiently large to admit the +passage of his body. Then, bracing his nerves, he proceeded to effect +his exit through the opening, and was vigorously struggling to free +himself, when a musket ball whistled by his ear and buried itself in the +wooden sill of the house. He sprang back into the cellar, and stood in +confusion and amazement, until the short chuckling laugh of the sentinel +roused him from his delusive dream of hope. He could distinctly hear the +marksman who had exhibited such a dangerous proof of his skill, laughing +and telling his comrade, who paced before the door at the end of the +house, "how he had shaved the prisoner's head." The unfortunate captive +now abandoned himself to despair in earnest. A thousand times he cursed +his ill fated stars, for thus leading the old nurse into his cell to +rouse his dormant hopes, and give a new impulse to his desires for +freedom. + +While these matters were in progress at the prison of our hero, the +naval armament under the command of Bland, Carver and Larimore, +belonging to and put in motion by his friends among the citizens, and +which might have rendered him such effectual assistance had the two +principal officers been aware of his situation, was itself about to +perform its share in the contest. The expedition under Ludwell, as had +been promised to the traitor Larimore, was sent out at the exact time +specified, and with muffled oars skimmed along the surface of the +tranquil lake, keeping under the shadow of the ships. As they +approached, signals were exchanged, which satisfied Ludwell that +Larimore was indeed in command of the watch, and still ready to betray +his trust. Once or twice, indeed, a suspicion shot across his mind, that +Larimore might only be an agent in the hands of Bland and Carver, and +that his proposal was but a scheme laid to entrap himself and followers +into the power of the rebels, as the Governor's party were pleased to +call the patriots; but it was as speedily dissipated by the favourable +train in which every thing seemed to lie, as the traitor had promised. + +The loyal party under his command was in a very few minutes silently and +stealthily climbing up the sides of the vessels. Having gained the +decks, they proceeded at once to disarm and bind the sentinels. These +unfortunate fellows had been induced by the traitor Larimore, to believe +that the party under Ludwell were deserters from the ranks of Sir +William Berkley, and were not undeceived until they found themselves +bound hand and foot, and such other precautions taken that they could +not alarm their sleeping comrades below. In less time than we have taken +to record the transaction, the whole naval armament in the service of +the patriots, together with the officers, crews and military stores, +were delivered into the hands of Governor Berkley. The success of the +enterprise was announced to the anxious expectants on shore, by a +discharge of artillery, which was joyously answered on their part. Sir +William Berkley was transported with delight--so lately abandoned by the +majority of the citizens and soldiers of the capital, and compelled to +desert the legitimate seat of government, he now saw himself in +possession of a naval and military power, more than sufficient to +command the obedience, if he could not win the affections of the +rebellious citizens. He immediately called together his officers, and +such of the cavalier gentry as had followed his fortunes to this remote +corner of the colony, and imparted to them his determination to embark +his land forces on board the ships brought over by himself, and those +surrendered by Larimore, and sail within the hour for the capital. + +It may be readily imagined that this sudden change in their fortunes was +not received with murmurs and discontent; on the contrary preparations +were eagerly and joyously commenced. The captured and betrayed patriots +were divided among all the vessels, so as to preclude effectually any +chance of their rising upon the Governor and his party. The soldiers, +artillery and baggage were placed on board, and the signal given for the +embarkation of the old knight and his staff--family and attendants. + +Our gentle heroine was not forgotten--she too had been roused, not from +her slumbers, for she had not slept, but from her restless and feverish +pillow, and commanded to prepare for instant departure for the capital. +The stern old Cavalier, her uncle, stood in the open plot in front of +the house surrounded by his partisans, impatiently waiting her descent. +At length she appeared, leaning upon the arm of Frank Beverly on one +side, and that of her female attendant upon the other--her aunt +following in evident dejection of spirits. Virginia's countenance was +white as the spotless attire in which she was enveloped. Her eye wildly +wandered over the faces crowding around, as she emerged from the house, +but soon settled again in sullen composure as she perceived the absence +of the one sought. The pine torches, borne by the negroes, shed a +glaring and unsteady light on the objects around; the steady tramp of +the soldiers, as they marched to and embarked on board the boats, were +heard in the direction of the water, while other parties were seen in +like manner provided with torches, floating in the barks already laden, +toward the ships moored in the offing. As the party that had just +emerged from the house was about to move in the same direction, Beverly +spoke aloud to the Governor. + +"Sir William, are you going to leave the prisoner in the cellar?" + +"True--true, my boy," he replied, "I was so overjoyed at trapping so +many of his compeers, that I had entirely forgotten his generalship; but +we will care for his standing, and that right speedily. We will elevate +him--I will not say above his desert--but certainly to a position to +which he has long had eminent claims. Ho! Sir Hangman! Ludwell, order +the hangman into our presence; we need a cast of his office before we +set sail." + +"It was customary with the Romans, you know, Sir William, to offer up a +sacrifice before they embarked upon any important enterprise," said +Beverly, laughing at his own wretched attempt at wit. But there was one +countenance in the group upon which the first intimation of Beverly +concerning the neglect of the prisoner, wrought a fearful change. +Virginia threw her eyes wildly round, searching from face to face, for +some small evidence of sympathy on which to cast her hopes, but they +were all steeled in imperturbable apathy, or clad in more appalling +smiles of derision. As her eye glanced around the circle, it fell at +last upon the youth supporting her own enfeebled steps. Her knees were +just sinking under her from weakness and dismay, but the sight of Frank +Beverly's smiling countenance aroused her energies. Her muscles were +instantly braced, her eye shot forth scorn and contempt, while she threw +his arms from her, as she would have started from the touch of some +loathsome reptile. The youth, with a grim smile, folded his arms in +quiet serenity, to await the appearance of the prisoner, as if conscious +that his hour of sweet revenge was near at hand. + +Virginia threw herself at the feet, first of her uncle, and then of her +aunt, and earnestly prayed for the life of her lover, as she heard the +orders for bringing him forth, but from the first she received only a +contemptuous glance, and from the latter silent tears. She was still +kneeling upon the grass at the feet of the latter, her head fallen in +despair and exhaustion upon her bosom, when the soldiers rushed out from +the cellar, and proclaimed the escape of the prisoner. An electric +stream poured into Virginia's sinking frame could not have more suddenly +restored her to life and animation. She screamed, clasped her hands, +sprang to her feet, and fell back into the arms of her aunt in a +paroxysm of mingled joy and agitation. + +Sir William Berkley gnashed his teeth, and swearing vengeance against +the traitors who had permitted his enemy's escape, seized one of the +pine torches and rushed into the cellar to satisfy himself that he was +not concealed behind some of the rubbish of the apartment; but soon +found convincing evidence of his escape, in the irons that lay upon the +ground, and the aperture through which he had made his exit. The +sentinels were all called up, who had at any time stood guard over the +prisoner through the night. It appeared that the one who had discharged +his piece so near to the head of the prisoner, had been some time since +relieved, and that he had merely mentioned to his successor, the attempt +of Bacon to escape, with his own amusement in showing him how near he +could shoot to his head without wounding him. + +"Would to God you had lodged the ball in his skull," exclaimed the +enraged governor. The truth was, that the sentinel had supposed the +prisoner still loaded with his irons when he appeared at the breach, +having merely discovered one of the many evidences of dilapidation in +the house, and had consequently left him in the care of his successor, +with the full confidence that he would not make a second attempt. How he +was induced to make that second attempt will appear in the sequel. The +soldier on duty, at the time when he was supposed to have escaped, was +immediately ordered to be put in irons. + +Lady Berkley was about having her niece conveyed to the house, but her +enraged husband harshly ordered those supporting her now prostrate form, +to convey her to the vessel, which was accordingly done. The Governor, +his suite and followers were soon also on board, and a roar of artillery +announced their final departure from the "eastern shore." + +When Bacon threw himself upon his couch, after his last unfortunate +attempt to escape, every thought of once more gaining his liberty +abandoned him. He very naturally supposed that his failure would only +redouble the vigilance of his guards, and therefore resumed his irons, +with the desperate resolution of throwing them off, when he should be +led to execution on the following morning, and selling his life as +dearly as he might. + +He had lain for some hours in a state of mind that may be readily +imagined from the late scenes through which he had passed, when at +length he heard his own name softly whispered in his gloomy cell; the +voice appeared to be in his immediate vicinity. He arose and followed +the supposed direction of the sound, and again he heard it on the +opposite side--proceeding from the still unclosed aperture in the wall. +He answered in the same subdued whisper. "Come this way," said the voice +of the old woman, the shadow of whose head he could now perceive +darkening the partial light which broke through. "Come this way, Master +Bacon. Tim Jones, the sentinel, has gone into my cabin to eat a chicken +supper, and drink some aqua vitæ which I procured for him; his place is +supplied by a soldier whom I engaged to be ready, as if by accident. He +pretends to be asleep under the big tree yonder. Do you come forth and +proceed round the opposite end of the house to that occupied by the +other sentinel, until you come to the bushes at the end of the garden +palings--there wait until I come to you--for your life do not stir, +until I join you there." + +Bacon succeeded in avoiding the notice of the sentry and in gaining the +spot indicated by the old woman, where he had scarcely concealed +himself, before the discharge of artillery from the betrayed fleet +startled him from his recumbent posture. He supposed that his own +capture had been ascertained at Jamestown, and that vessels had been +despatched to rescue him. This idea had scarcely entered his mind, +before he sprang over the palings and was running at his utmost speed +across the garden toward the bay, for the purpose of procuring a boat, +but his attention was instantly arrested by the appearance of the +Governor and his suite collecting in the yard in front of the house. He +was on the point of running into the hands of the sentinel whose +temporary absence had afforded him the chance of escape, and who now sat +with his weapon ready for action, securely guarding, as he supposed, the +person who stood just behind him. The man hailed him as soon as he heard +the rustling among the shrubbery, but the liberated captive had seen and +heard enough to induce him to seek his hiding-place once more. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Sir William Berkley embarked on board the ships, he left a company +of picked soldiers, commanded by an officer of tried fidelity, together +with the smallest of the vessels and her crew, with orders to bring the +fugitive to Jamestown, dead or alive. In a short time that portion of +the eastern shore, lately so full of bustle and activity, was wrapped in +profound repose, unbroken save by the monotonous tramp of the sentinel, +pacing before the door of the mansion, now the solitary quarters of the +sole remaining officer. + +Bacon had perceived from his hiding-place, that some unusual commotion +was in progress between the quarters of the Governor and the ships lying +in the offing, and he was seized with the most eager desire to know what +it foreboded. For the first half hour, he lay in momentary expectation +of the commencement of a naval action; at length he saw the glaring +lights of the pine torches, skimming along the margin of the water, and +dark shadows of moving crowds, as the boats floated to their +destination. These movements he could not comprehend except by supposing +that the crafty old knight had set on foot some secret expedition, for +the capture of the newly arrived ships, the increased numbers of which +he could easily perceive. But when the whole fleet set sail, with the +exception of the small craft already mentioned, he was completely at +fault. He was revolving these strange movements in his mind, when his +kind preserver came again to his assistance. She was moving like an +unearthly spirit along the garden palings, cautiously examining every +bush, when he presented himself before her. She led him by a circuitous +route, and one the farthest removed from the sentinel, to a lone cabin +that stood some distance from the main building, and that had lately +been occupied by the inferior officers attached to Sir William's cause; +it had formerly been used as a negro cabin. After she had ushered him +into the single room which it afforded, she pointed to a seat, and began +stirring up the coals which had been left from the culinary operations +of the late occupants. She was about sitting down to hear Bacon's +account of himself, and doubtless of communicating her share of +information for filling out the history, but recollecting that he had +left his food untouched, she hastily covered the light, and went out, +carefully securing the door on the outside, but soon returned with a +remnant of Tim Jones' chicken supper, which she had no doubt preserved +for her own use. This was speedily placed upon a rude table, and the +fugitive urged to help himself in the midst of a torrent of +questions.--Now she desired to know the fate of the Irishman--where +they had landed after the shipwreck--who had so kindly nurtured and +educated him--whether he knew any thing of his relations in England--if +he remembered any thing of her features, or her home in the old country. +What was his occupation. Why Sir William Berkley disliked him, in what +position he stood with regard to the beautiful invalid, who had shown so +much grief at the prospect of his immediate execution,--how he had +managed to preserve the locket so faithfully--and a hundred other +queries of like import, with the solution to which the reader is already +acquainted, but which our hero answered with great impatience, +interposing one of his own between every two of hers, and meanwhile +doing ample justice to the provision she had set before him. The +substance of the old woman's narrative was as follows: + +"When Mrs. Fairfax, then Mrs. Whalley--" + +"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Bacon, dropping his knife and fork--"was +General Whalley her first husband? Then indeed he and the Recluse are +the same person." The nurse stared at him a moment, but presently +proceeded with her narrative. + +"When Mrs. Fairfax, then Mrs. Whalley, left her infant son in my care, +for the purpose of joining her husband, then an officer in the army of +the commonwealth, I was entirely unacquainted with the opposition of her +family to her marriage with General Whalley, and ignorant of the +clandestine manner in which that ceremony had been performed, as well as +the subsequent privacy of their movements, which they thought necessary +for their safety. + +"It was a long time after her departure from my house, and after the +time of her promised return, before I received the least account of her, +or the cause of her prolonged absence from her child. But when I did at +length receive a letter from the unfortunate lady, the whole mystery was +cleared up. In that letter she stated 'that while she was on her way to +join her husband, she was overtaken in the highway, by a party of +loyalist soldiers, commanded by her own brother. She was immediately +recognised by him, and sent under a military escort to her father's +house, not, however, before she had time to learn from one of the +prisoners under the charge of the party, the death of her husband, who, +he stated, had fallen by his side.' She made the promised remittances +for the support of her infant, and every thing went on in the usual +train, until the time arrived for the next promised letter, which indeed +arrived, by the hands of a very different messenger from the one before +employed. It was brought by the very brother who had arrested her in the +road, and sent her a prisoner to her father's house. He presented the +letter unopened, but stated that he was fully apprised of its contents, +as well as of the existence of his sister's child, which she still +supposed unknown to her family. He told me that his father was almost +broken-hearted, on account of the disgraceful marriage which his sister +had contracted, and that the sight of her infant in the house, or even +the knowledge of its existence, would drive him to phrenzy; that his +brothers and himself had therefore determined to take effectual means, +not only to remove the child from within the reach and knowledge of +their father, but of its mother also. That they were determined to take +it by force, a sufficient proof of which he showed me in a party of +armed followers, (for they were all military men,) unless I would +consent to a plan for the removal of the offensive little stranger, +which would secure all their views, and be, at the same time, more +satisfactory to himself and, he doubted not, to me. His proposition was, +that I should remove with the child to a distant residence, the means +for which he would amply provide; and that I should then wait on Mrs. +Whalley, his sister, and inform her that her child was dead. As an +inducement for me to be guilty of this deception, he informed me that +there was a young Cavalier, of good birth and connexions, who was +enamoured of his sister, but if the child was permitted to absorb her +affections, and remind her of her lost husband, they despaired of ever +seeing her married to Mr. Fairfax, and consequently of wiping out the +stigma upon their good name created by her first marriage. I was really +attached to the little boy, and fearful that they would take him by +force if I did not quietly yield, and being assured that I should watch +over him wherever he went, I consented to the plan. I waited on the +mother, and with well dissembled sorrow, told her of the death of her +darling boy. I thought at first that she would have gone distracted, but +the necessity of keeping her secret from her father and brothers, roused +her to the needful exertion. It was well that it was so, for I could not +have endured her heart-rending distress five minutes longer. The next +information I had of the unfortunate lady, was from the same young +gentleman, her brother, who came to inform me of the success of their +plans and thus relieve my conscience. His sister after a tedious delay +had married Mr. Fairfax, and sailed for the Capes of Virginia. He +assured me that the child should always be provided for, but that I must +change his name from Charles Whalley to some other, which I might choose +myself, so that he could never be able to trace his parentage. I was +firmly resolved, however, that the innocent babe should some day know +his real history. In the meantime I consented to all that the young +gentleman desired, and he left the usual supply and departed. I never +saw him again. The remittances for the support of the child were indeed +kept up for some time, but they at length became irregular, and less +frequent. My mind began to grow uneasy concerning the charge which I had +thus by a crime brought upon myself, and which I considered but a just +retribution for my evil deeds. Nor were my fears less anxious concerning +the future prospects of my innocent nursling. My health had well nigh +sunk under the accumulating load of poverty and unavailing regrets for +my wickedness, and I trust that I sincerely repented of the evil deed. +Providence at length directed to my humble dwelling one who appeared +indeed as one risen from the dead. + +"It was none other than General Whalley himself; he had really been shot +in the battle, but had recovered. Great God! what were my sensations, +when the gigantic warrior, pale and worn with mental and bodily +suffering, threw aside his disguise, and avowed himself to me. +Notwithstanding the embarrassing position into which his being still +alive was calculated to throw all parties, I fell upon my knees before +him, and my Maker, and fully acknowledged my participation in the +transactions which I have related. He had heard of the marriage of his +wife to Mr. Fairfax, before he sought me out, but even at this +comparatively remote period of time from her marriage, his huge frame +shook, and he became like an effeminate being while he listened to my +narrative. He told me that he was likewise about to sail for America; +not that he desired or intended to make himself known to his wife, but +because it was becoming unsafe for him to remain longer in the kingdom. +I have no doubt in my own mind, that he was unconsciously indulging his +desire to be near his still adored Emily, in his choice of a place of +refuge, which he now informed me, was the same to which she had gone +with her husband. He told me that it was his intention to live in the +greatest seclusion, and that his very name should be unknown in his new +abode. He proposed that I should follow him, after he should have +established himself, and made arrangements for my comfortable reception, +the time for which was specified. I felt myself impelled by an imperious +sense of duty to repair, as far as lay within my power, the injury which +I had helped to inflict upon him, and therefore consented to leave +country and home with my little charge, now become so dear to me. + +"After furnishing me with the necessary supplies for the long and +dreaded voyage, together with particular directions as to the place of +embarkation, and the course I was to pursue after arriving in Jamestown, +General Whalley left me, and I have never seen or heard of him to the +present hour. I did not consider that surprising, however, because he +informed me that he would never more be known by the name of Whalley, +and that I must school myself carefully before my departure for America, +never to drop a hint that he had ever been more than he seemed to be in +his new abode. But to proceed with my story. He had directed that I +should sail with the boy after the lapse of one year from the time of +his own departure. The most of this interval was employed in making my +own little preparations for so long a voyage, and my final separation in +this life, from all my kindred and friends. I had promised to keep my +design as secret as possible, and every precaution was indeed taken to +keep my intended departure a secret from all but my own immediate +relations. But by some means unknown to me, my design became known to +others, as I was apprised one day, by a visit from a gentleman named +Bacon!" + +The fugitive instantly dropped his knife and fork, which he had been +occasionally using as the story of the nurse ran upon those events +already known to him, but now a new name was introduced, and one which, +it may be readily imagined, did not fail to command his undivided and +breathless attention. + +"Mr. Bacon informed me that he had heard of my intended expedition, and +that I was to take out with me the tender boy then on my lap, and said +he could readily surmise that the late unfortunate civil wars were in +some way or other the cause of my undertaking so long and dangerous a +voyage. As he saw my embarrassment from not knowing how to answer him, +he hastened to assure me that he did not desire to pry into my secret. +That he was placed in somewhat similar circumstances himself, to those +which, as he supposed, operated on the parents of the boy. He informed +me that his brother and himself had both been unfortunately in the army +of the commonwealth, in which his brother had fallen, and that he had +left an only son to his care, the mother of whom had died in giving him +birth. 'Now my object in coming to you, my good woman,' said he, 'is to +procure your assistance in conveying my ward to Virginia.' + +"I readily undertook the task, and all necessary arrangements were made +for the boy's comfortable passage. Some months before the time of +embarkation, little master Bacon, or I may as well say yourself, was +brought to me, in order that you might learn to know and love me before +we set sail for this distant land. When I was on board the vessel, and +had paid for my own passage as well as for those of my little charges, +the money for which had been provided by the friends of each, I was +startled to perceive that Mr. Bacon did not join me as had been agreed +upon. My anxiety became more and more intense as the time approached for +weighing anchor, for although I was amply provided with all necessary +funds, my mind misgave me that some accident had befallen the +unfortunate gentleman. He was indeed in disguise when he came to see me, +and I doubt not, was a fugitive from the powers that then ruled our +native land. My worst apprehensions were realized--Mr. Bacon was either +made a prisoner, prevented from joining me by apprehension, or chose to +deceive me in the whole business, but I have always religiously +believed, since I have had time to reflect dispassionately on the +subject, that his absence was not a matter of choice. + +"We had a pleasant and prosperous voyage, until the first night after we +came in sight of land, when such a storm arose, as it seemed to me that +the whole world was coming to an end. Daylight found us a miserable +company of forlorn wretches, hanging upon the wreck. The boats were +already loaded to the water's edge. I prayed and entreated some of the +good gentlemen to save my two precious boys, if they left me, but alas! +every one was taking measures for his own safety. There was one poor, +ignorant, but tender-hearted Irishman, who had been a soldier, that +seemed to commiserate my helpless little charges, his name was Brian +O'Reily--a talking, blundering, merry youth he was then. At length +seeing some prospect of effecting a landing, he made a raft of parts of +the wreck, and trusted himself and you to the mercy of the treacherous +waves. That was the last I ever saw of the warm hearted Irishman, and of +you, until I accidentally discovered, while you were asleep in the +cellar, the identical locket containing your mother's likeness, which I +had placed round your neck with my own hands. I saw the resemblance, +too, which you bore to my lost boy, and was immediately satisfied that +God had preserved you, in his own way and for his own wise purposes, and +I determined also to save you, if I could, from the cruel punishment +which I learned more fully from the sentinel, the Governor intended to +inflict upon you in the morning. Thank God, I have succeeded. Now do +tell me, what I have asked you so often, what became of the Irishman, +and where you were landed and how preserved." + +"First tell me, good nurse, how you escaped the wreck, and what became +of your other ward. It is of immense importance for me to know. The +liberty which you have given me is worth nothing, without a clear +explanation of these points." + +"That I can soon inform you of--the Captain, kind and generous man that +he was, seeing the probable success of the Irishman's plan, adopted it +himself, and after making a raft, with the help of some of his crew, +placed all the females on it who chose to venture in preference to +waiting for the return of the boats. Myself with my little remaining +boy, and several other females who were steerage passengers, suffered +ourselves to be lashed to the frail machine. For four dreadful hours we +were tossed about at the mercy of the waves, the water for at least half +the time dashing over us, and, as it seemed, carrying us half way to the +bottom. At length, however, we landed upon the eastern side of this very +neck of land, where I have remained ever since. I have never set my foot +on board of any kind of water craft from that time to this. Together +with another of the females mentioned and my little boy, the son of +General Whalley, I wandered through swamps, and marshes, and sea-weeds, +until we had entirely crossed the neck--never having eaten one mouthful +until we arrived at this plantation. Here we were most kindly received +by the widowed mother of the present proprietor, Mr. Philip Ludwell; but +alas, my little boy had suffered too long and too severely from the +combined effects of the night upon the wreck, the succeeding sufferings +upon the raft, and the hunger endured before we came to this place. He +sunk rapidly, notwithstanding the humane exertions of the good lady who +had extended her kindness toward us. He died and was buried on this +plantation--I have preserved his little clothes and trinkets to this +day. Little did I think at that time that you had outlived him." + +Bacon then performed his promise, and related all that he knew of his +own and O'Reily's escape from the wreck--and likewise informed her that +the latter had been on the "eastern shore" within the last two hours, +but, he supposed had been taken as a prisoner to Jamestown by Sir +William Berkley. "But tell me," he continued, "have you never seen or +heard any thing of General Whalley, or Mrs. Fairfax, since you parted +from them in England?" + +"I have never heard a word of the General from that time to the present, +though I have questioned every body that came from Jamestown. I knew +that he intended to assume another name, and other habits, and I +therefore described his person and manners, but no one had ever seen +such a personage!" + +The hasp flew from the pine log into which it had been inserted, and the +door was driven back against the opposite wall. "Thou beholdest him now, +woman! look at me!" and he pointed to his now haggard features, "and say +whether I am that man!" + +But his gigantic figure, never to be mistaken, had scarcely darkened +the doorway, before the person he addressed began to gasp for breath, +and seized the arm of Bacon for protection--calling upon him for God's +sake to save her--her eyes meantime immoveably fixed upon the intruder's +countenance. + +"Quail not, woman; there is no one here to harm thee, if thy own +conscience condemns thee not. I have heard part of thy story, as I +listened at the door, in order to find out how many of the Governor's +minions I should have to slay before freeing the boy. Lay thy hand upon +the Holy Evangelists, woman," and he drew his clasped Bible from his +pouch and extended it across the table to her, "and swear that this boy +is not my son, whom I entrusted to thy care." + +With a trembling hand she touched the holy book, and said as distinctly +as her fears would permit, "Before God and upon his word, I testify it +as my firm and unwavering belief, that this young man who sits before +me, is Nathaniel Bacon, and not your son." + +"It was indeed my boy, then, whom thou buried upon this lone shore?" And +without waiting for an answer he threw himself into one of the rude +seats, leaned his head down upon the table, and gave himself up to +uncontrolled emotion. + +Bacon was moved to tears as he saw the stern Recluse thus overwhelmed +with grief at the breaking up of the last tie that linked him to earth. +He remembered, as he looked upon his agitated frame, how uncompromising +had been the frowns of fortune upon this now solitary being. Once he was +flushed with the joy of youth, and love, and hope, and fired with a +military ardour like himself. But now (as he supposed) he was an outlaw, +and an exile from his country--unconsciously abandoned by a doting +wife--his only heir, and the sole stay and hope of his declining years +dead and buried upon the very spot where he at last found the nurse to +whom the child had been committed. He remembered also his unwavering +kindness to himself, and his general benevolence and kindness of feeling +toward his fellow men, and he unconsciously let fall the words which +rose embodied to his tongue, as with swimming eyes he looked upon him, +"'Tis a hard and cruel fate!" + +"Rather say that retributive justice pursues and overtakes the guilty to +the ends of the earth," answered the Recluse, raising his head erect +from the table. "Oh God, how just and appropriate are thy punishments! +How true and discriminating is thy retribution. Behold here a wretch who +has fled three thousand miles from the scene of his crimes in the vain +delusion that he could flee from himself and the mysterious all seeing +eye above! Young man, there is a mysterious system of ethics which the +world understands not--the reputed wise, subtleize it, and the vainly +wicked contemn and despise it. It is comprised in the simple words +justice--probity--and benevolence! There is a power of bringing about +its own ends in the first which none but the wickedly wise know. Yea, +and bringing it about by the very weapons used against its dictates, and +if not upon the very scene of the crime, at least in a place peculiarly +appropriate. Behold here before you this worn down remnant of humanity, +summoned, as he supposed, to rescue the last of his race from the power +of the oppressor; but in truth, only to weep over the grave of his real +son, buried on this spot years ago. This hand once aided in severing the +links between father and son,--a man as innocent and unoffending as his +offspring was helpless. A royal line they were. Just heaven, how that +crime has been avenged! How strangely and how justly! Probity and +benevolence are mysteriously bringing about their own righteous +purposes, as does justice her avenging decrees. The worldly wise look +with contempt upon simple honesty, but the highest ultimatum of earthly +wisdom and experience is to have the power and the knowledge of the +wicked with the simple guide, that justice, probity and benevolence +unerringly work out their own reward. + +"The wickedly wise cunningly suppose that they are cheating their God +and their fellow men; the last they may temporarily deceive, but the +Great Political Economist of the universe so overrules their cunning, +that their own hands are forging the chains of their future captivity, +at the very moment when they suppose themselves constructing daggers +for their neighbour's throats, and keys for their strong boxes. The +mysterious power of which I speak is felt always in the latter end of +human life, but can never be described to those just entering upon the +scene. Thrice blessed is he, my son, who can fall before his Maker and +say that justice, probity and benevolence have been his ruling motives +of action--whether from the dictates of the heart or of the head. That +thou art one of those I have long believed, and if thou art not the son +of my loins, thou art of my affections. Come, my boat waits for thee; +thy presence is even now needed in Jamestown. Thy troops are encamped +but a few miles from the town, and are wondering at thy absence. The +Governor has embarked for the city to perpetrate more wrong and +oppression. By the will of Heaven this rusty weapon shall once more do +battle in a holy cause." + +As they were leaving the cabin, Bacon turned to the nurse and embracing +her said, "I go hence, good Margaret, to battle in the cause of my +country, and that right speedily. If I am successful, you will soon hear +from me, and if not, you will have the consolation of knowing that your +foster son died as became the son of a soldier. Before yon rising moon +has twice performed her circuit, I will be either the conqueror of +Jamestown or buried in its ruins." + +With hasty strides he followed the Recluse, who was already half way to +the little secluded inlet from which he had landed. As they approached +the water, Bacon could perceive two slender masts dancing in the +moonbeams, as the dark hull of a fishing smack pitched and tossed with +the swelling billows. Stepping into a log canoe, (such as surround all +water bound plantations in slave countries,) they were speedily on board +the diminutive craft, where two lounging fishermen waited their +approach. The wind was blowing fresh from off the sea across the neck of +land they had just left, and they scudded before it at a rate, if not +quite equal to the impatience of the more youthful voyager, at least +with as much rapidity as could reasonably have been expected. The +Recluse seemed as usual inclined for thoughtful silence, and as his +companion leaned against the mast of the rocking vessel, he saw the +workings of a mighty mind--wrecked, as he supposed, upon some unseen +obstacle, as it was impetuously borne along by the resistless tide of +youthful hopes and aspirations. He could not believe that the Recluse +had ever been deliberately base or cruel, as he himself had more than +hinted. "At least," said he, as he communed with himself, "he has paid +ten-fold penance for a single error." + +The Recluse at length perceived that his companion was observing him, +and arose from his half recumbent position, and stood beside him, his +arms folded for an instant, and his attenuated countenance, as it +reflected back the sickly rays of a hazy moon, settled in profound +melancholy. He took the hand of the youth, and shook it some time in +agitation before he could give utterance to his thoughts, but at length +he said in a voice which betrayed the violence of his feelings, + +"Nathaniel, canst thou forgive me for that cruel mistake at the chapel? +Oh, couldst thou know what I suffered then, and since, both on thy +account and my own, thou wouldst accept it as ample atonement for the +unintended wrong. I saw, on that dreadful night, her who was the queen +of my manhood's fondest dreams--who had basked with me in the sunshine +of youth and hope--who had given me her young affections in return for +my own, when life was in its bud, and who afterward blossomed into the +rich fruition of maternal love and beauty in these arms--her who was +torn from me by a base deception of her kindred, and married to another. +I saw her face to face, for the first time in more than twenty years, +when she was about to give the offspring of her second marriage as a +wife to the offspring of her first, as I supposed. Oh, what human +conception can realize the torrent that broke over my soul at that +fearful moment? The shadowy remembrances which had been softening and +fading in the lapse of years burst at once into life and being. Time and +place were forgotten--the passions of youth rushed into the contest, and +I stood as the frail mortal body shall stand at the final day, when its +own spirit knocks for entrance. The buried ghosts of my own passions +rose from their grave, the frail cloak of stoicism which had been woven +round me, was blasted into shreds and patches, and I stood and quailed +before a woman's eye like Belshazzar at his feast. Thou hast felt thy +heart swelling and plunging against its bony prison, but thou hast never +had it gorged and choked with the dammed up waters of bitterness, +gathered through long and dreary years. Thou hast felt the words stick +in thy throat, and refuse to leap into life, but thou wert never struck +dumb with a judgment from Heaven, like a thunderbolt scorching and +searing into the very citadel of thought and vitality! Thou hast writhed +when stung by the scorpion tongue of calumny, but thou hast never been +outlawed and abandoned of all human kind--condemned by thy own +conscience--and given up of God!" + +His eye shot forth vivid fires, and his arms, as they were flung abroad +in violent gesticulation, cast giant shadows upon the moonlit waves of +the Chesapeake. + +"You do both yourself and your friends grievous wrong," said Bacon, +after a painful pause. + +"I have indeed wronged myself--most wretchedly wronged myself, but not +now; the wrong which I did to others has recoiled ten-fold upon my own +head. I know full well thy meaning--thou wouldst say that kindly +feelings are not wholly dead within this seared heart! But thou hast +made but little progress in analyzing our moral structure, if thou dost +not know that crime committed by one whose nature would lead to good, +is the true source of that misery which surpasseth speech. + +"An intuitive villain, if there be such, or one become wholly corrupt, +plunges from transgression to transgression, until his final ruin, +without enduring any of that wretchedness which comes of a stain upon a +tenderer conscience. Such a man has no conscience; it is seared or +obliterated; but he of benevolent heart and virtuous impulses, wounds +his guardian angel by the deed. The taint corrupts and sours the sweets +of life into gall and bitterness. If that stain be but a single deed, +and that, dark, damning and indelible, the perpetrator becomes as an +angel of light in the companionship of hell. He may be likened to one +who loses the power of sight, with all the other senses perfect. He +hears what others see, but to him the grand medium of perception is dark +and dismal, and the rhapsodies of others are his own damnation. There is +but one hue to his atmosphere; it is the fearful red which only the +blood of man can dye. In his case the language of scripture is fulfilled +before its time. The moon is turned to blood, and the morning beam +dispelleth not the horrid hue." + +Bacon thought any direction of his companion's thoughts preferable to +his present mood, and therefore said "But she whom you supposed my +mother--" + +"I know it all, my son," interrupted the Recluse; "I saw the marble +features upon their last journey. For twenty years I have not envied +mortal being, but I confess to thee, that there was something in the +cessation from thought, suffering and action--and the sleep-like +serenity of death for which I longed. Nevertheless, there is an awful +mystery in that which seemeth so simple in itself. Mere lifeless clay, +moulded by the hands of man into the same stamp, speaks not to man in +the same language; it may indeed refresh the memory, but it stirreth not +up the divinity within us. Who is he that looketh upon the features of +the dead and looketh not up to the giver and recipient of life? I saw +her mortal remains laid out in the midst of a camp, and the busy world +faded away into indistinctness, while the God of the universe spoke in +the person of the beautiful corse before me and said, 'Thus far shalt +thou go and no farther.'" + +As they steered their course uninterruptedly towards the source of the +Powhatan, which they had entered as the sunbeams broke through the +morning mists, Bacon threw himself down, and slept soundly, until he was +aroused by the Recluse to inquire what direction their agents should +give the vessel when they arrived within sight of the city. + +He was roused to immediate thought and action by the question. He knew +the danger of entering the capital, now that it was in the possession of +Sir William Berkley, and therefore directed the boatmen to land him some +miles above. + +The Recluse, at his own request, was put on shore somewhat nearer the +capital, but entirely out of reach of any precautions which the +vigilance of the Governor might have instituted. + +Bacon inquired eagerly, why he left him, after his promise to draw his +sword in the cause of the people and the country, assuring him at the +same time that he intended bringing the matter to immediate issue. + +"I leave thee now, my son, to set my house in order. Trust in one who +has never failed thee in need. I will be with thee in this last +struggle--for there is something whispers me that it will be the last. +Leave the event, therefore, with him who rules the destinies of +battles." And with these words he sprang upon the shore and disappeared +in the forest. + +In a few hours more, Bacon was again at the head of his devoted troops, +who were entirely ignorant of the cause of his protracted absence, but +now that they knew its cause, were bursting with ardour to avenge his +own and his country's wrongs. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +General Bacon's ardour and decision of character were not in the least +abated by his late perils and imprisonment; on the contrary, recent +developments had relieved him from suspense and inspired him with new +motives for action, to say nothing of the redress loudly demanded, by +all classes of the citizens, for the Governor's increasing oppressions. +Scarcely was sufficient time allowed for his devoted officers to shake +him cordially by the hand, before his gallant band of patriots was +marching towards Jamestown, without music or noise of any kind. There +was a cool settled determination visible in the countenances of all, +which was admirably evinced by the order and alacrity with which they +obeyed the general's orders. Bacon's cause had now become personal with +every man in the ranks, composed as they were principally of hardy +planters and more chivalrous Cavaliers, who knew not at what moment they +might themselves be subjected to like wrongs and indignities to those +from which he had just escaped. As the chief had anticipated, the +patriot army arrived on the heights of Jamestown, just as the shades of +night were enclosing the forest. It was not his intention that Sir +William Berkley should ascertain his arrival and position, until he had +made suitable dispositions for his reception, should he feel disposed to +pay him a visit. Accordingly, the whole army was immediately employed in +digging an entrenchment, and erecting a barricade of fallen trees, for +the protection of the troops, should it be found necessary in their +future operations. These transactions took place, it will be remembered, +on the evening of the same day in which Bacon parted from the Recluse, +and landed upon the main shore. + +Meanwhile, Sir William Berkley, his family, suite and followers, of high +and low degree, had effected their landing without opposition at +Jamestown. The same night that Bacon and his patriot followers were +entrenching themselves on the heights, the Governor and his adherents +were marshalling themselves in the city. Great numbers of the citizens, +however, were decidedly opposed to Sir William and his measures; and his +arrival and military preparations were no sooner perceived, then they +betook themselves, with their families and property, under cover of +night, to the privacy of the neighbouring plantations: numbers of them +accidentally encountered the patriots at their work, and immediately +sending on their families, joined their standard. Besides the land and +naval forces now at the disposal of the Governor--and they already +outnumbered his opponents--he offered every inducement to the worthless +and dissolute loungers of the town to unite with his army; he did not +even hesitate to promise largely of the plunder, and confiscated +property of the rebels. + +On the succeeding morning, the sun rose upon the ancient city, in +unclouded splendour, for the last time it was destined ever to shine +upon the earliest erected city in North America. It was the dreaded day +to our heroine, appointed for her marriage. Her uncle had solemnly +assured her upon their landing on the previous day, that the one which +had now arrived, should see her the wife of Beverly. The latter, too, +claimed the fulfilment of her solemn promise. The distressed and +enfeebled girl knew not whither to turn for sympathy and succour; she +was beset on all sides, and not a little oppressed with the shackles of +her own promise. She did not dare to hope that her lover had already +made his way from Accomac to her own vicinity. She remembered indeed, +that the Recluse had charged her, in case of any sudden danger or +emergency, to send him a memento of the bloody seal, but she likewise +remembered, that he had since been the main cause of her separation from +one to whom she was heart and soul devoted. She was also oppressed with +unutterable sadness on account of her mother's death, the true account +of which she had just heard,--the body having been sent by the patriots +to the city for burial, immediately before her arrival. To her aunt she +appealed, with touching pathos; but alas, she could do nothing, even had +she been so disposed. Wyanokee had returned with the body of her +mother, and by her devotion to the revered remains, revived all +Virginia's former affection, but she was powerless, and withal a +prisoner, and so wrapped up in her own gloomy meditations, that she +looked more like one of the dumb idols of her own race, than a living +maiden. When spoken to, she started up as one from a trance--and without +speaking again, sought communion with her own ideal world. + +The hour was a second time fast approaching for the celebration of the +nuptials of our heroine. None of the fortunate occurrences or lucky +accidents for which she had hoped, relieved the despair of the fleeting +moments. Her uncle and Beverly had both repeatedly sent up to her +apartments, and desired to be admitted to her presence, but on various +pretences they had been as yet denied. Her aunt had again and again +urged her to prepare for the ceremony, but hour after hour flew by, and +she was still sitting in her _robe de chambre_ her neglected ringlets +hanging in loose clusters over her forehead and neck, the former of +which rested upon her hand, and it in its turn upon her knee--her head +turned slightly to one side, where Wyanokee sat, straight as an Indian +arrow, and silent and immovable as death. At length she heard her uncle +at the door, who swore that if she did not dress and descend immediately +to the parlour, where the clergyman and Beverly were in waiting, he +would have the door forced, and compel her to go through the ceremony +even should her feet refuse to sustain her. Soon after he had retired, +Lady Berkley again entered, when the distressed and bereaved maiden +clasped her round the neck and wept bitterly. "Oh, dearest aunt," she +exclaimed, "save me from this desecration--this perjury! Great and +merciful God," she cried, loosing her hold, and clasping her hands, "how +can I vow before Heaven to love, honour and obey a man that I abhor and +detest?" + +"You should have thought of that, my dear child, before you gave your +solemn promise to Frank; it is too late now to retract." + +"Is it even so? then I will swear when they come to ask me to pledge my +vows, that my love never was mine to give away; that I learned its +existence in another's possession. They shall not--they cannot force me +to swear an untruth. They may lead me through the outward forms of a +marriage ceremony, but racks and torments shall not make me in any way +accessary to the deed. If I promised otherwise, it was the last +despairing refuge of outraged nature. It was the instinct of +preservation within me, and not my free and voluntary act." Influenced +by this idea, she stood like an automaton, and suffered her women to +deck her out in bridal array, and was then mechanically led from her +room, accompanied by her aunt, Wyanokee, and her female dependants. She +found Sir William Berkley and Frank Beverly waiting her approach in the +entry. She shrunk back at the sight of the latter, but he, none the less +bold, approached at the same time with her uncle, and together they led +her toward the room where the clergyman waited, with many of the loyal +Cavaliers. When they arrived at the door, and she saw the reverend +gentleman in his robes, and the book open before him, her excited frame +could bear the tension no longer, and she fell lifeless upon the floor. +A loud roar from the brazen throat of a cannon at the same moment shook +the windows like a peal of thunder, and was succeeded by the echoing +blasts of the trumpet's charge, multiplying the bold challengers it +rolled from river to cliff. This plan of daring an opponent to battle, +was strictly in accordance with the usages of the age, and was instantly +understood by the Governor and his friends, all of whom flew to the +windows, where they beheld a sight, which soon drove softer emotions +from their hearts, if they had any. The former saw the smoke curling +over Bacon's breastwork and entrenchments, and was struck dumb with +amazement. But soon recovering his voice, and throwing up the sash, he +shouted to the guard below, "to arms, to arms--for king and country." + +Whatever were the faults of Sir William Berkley, and they will be +considered many in this refined age and renovated country, cowardice was +not one of them. In a very few moments he mounted his charger and, +together with Beverly and Ludwell, galloped swiftly along his forming +battalions rebuking the tardy and cheering on the brave. With his +superior numbers and heavier appointments, he felt as sure of victory as +if he already sat in judgment, or was pronouncing sentence upon the +chief of the rebels. That Bacon was already at the head of his army +never for a moment entered his imagination; but the knowledge would have +made no change in his arrogant calculations, even had he possessed it. + +So confident was he of an easy and speedy victory, that he scouted the +idea of remaining within the palisade, and waiting for the attack of the +patriots; and this was indeed becoming every moment more impracticable, +for the cannon balls from the heights were even now tearing through the +houses, riddling the ships and throwing his troops into confusion. No +time therefore was to be lost. He ordered the vessels to draw off into +the middle of the stream, threw open the gates, and sallied boldly out +to meet the foe. + +Virginia was borne to her apartment still senseless, and the physician +was immediately sent for, but before his arrival, she had several times +opened her eyes as her aunt with real but unavailing sorrow in her +countenance applied the usual restoratives. At every discharge of the +artillery she slightly moved; her excited imagination identified the +sound with the fearful thunder that attended the former disastrous +ceremony at the chapel. + +But when her aunt explained to her the occasion of the uproar, she +sprang up in the bed, clasped her hands, threw her eyes to Heaven, and +exclaimed,--"Merciful God, I thank thee! Providence has indeed +interposed for my preservation! Oh, if _he_ could only be there?--No, +no, no, it is better, perhaps, as it is--for cruel as my uncle is, I +could not bear to see him pierced by Bacon's sword, and he would +assuredly seek his life. Merciful Father, thou orderest all things +wisely. Aunt, let me prepare you for another turn of fortune! The +patriots will be successful! my heart assures me they will. Young Dudley +and Harrison are there, and they have lion hearts; but weep not, aunt, +they are as generous as they are brave." + +Sir William Berkley, with that blind, passionate, and impetuous courage +for which he was distinguished, scarcely delayed to organize his troops +effectually, but rushed with reckless fury against his enemies. + +Bacon, from the moment that he perceived the marshalling of the troops +outside the gate, silenced his cannon, and waked with coolness, and in +profound silence, the approach of the opposing columns. Sir William +began to calculate upon a bloodless and easy victory, and even +contemplated sending in a flag with terms of capitulation. But dearly +did he pay for his error, and terribly was he awakened from the +momentary delusion. + +Bacon had persisted in waiting the onset, notwithstanding the impetuous +ardour of his troops, until he could make every shot effective; he knew +his inferiority of numbers, and determined to compensate for his +disparity of force by coolness and precision. "Wait until you see the +white of their eyes, my fine fellows," was his often repeated answer to +the suggestions and even entreaties of his impatient cannoniers; but +when at length he did give the word "fire!" most effectually was it +echoed. The very heights seemed to the panic stricken troops of the +Governor, to pour out red hot iron and smoke. They were speedily rallied +and brought again to the charge--and again the same fearful reception +awaited their farther progress, with the addition, at the second onset, +of a volley of musketry. Dreadful was the havoc in the royal ranks, and +terrible the dismay of the soldiery. The rabble which the Governor had +hastily collected in the town, fairly took to their heels and fled to +the protection of the fort. Again the valiant old knight rode among his +troops, and cheered them to the onset, but at each succeeding attack, +some more fatal reserve was brought into action. At length the patriot +chief, standing upon his rude fortification, and looking down upon the +dismayed and retreating loyalists, began to take counsel of his youthful +ardour--he longed to measure swords with the officer whom he beheld +riding so constantly by the side of the Governor. He saw the officers of +the king, as they rode among their troops, some with tears in their eyes +endeavouring to rally them, and others swearing and rebuking their +cowardly followers; and he determined to permit them to rally and then +bear down upon them with his own high spirited and ardent soldiers. He +was quickly mounted, as were also Dudley, Harrison, and the brave band +of youthful Cavaliers who had adhered so long and so faithfully to his +fortunes. When he announced this determination to his army, the welkin +rung again with their joyous acclamations, and every heart throbbed in +unison with his own, and assured him of victory. + +"This night," said Bacon in a low voice to Dudley, as they rode over the +entrenchment--"Jamestown shall be a heap of ashes!" + +Dudley made no reply, but smote his clenched hand upon his harness with +emphasis, returning the glance of his commander with one of cordial +approval. + +Sir William Berkley and his subordinates, seeing the movement of their +opponents, were soon enabled to rally the disheartened troops, and as +the patriot army marched down the hill, the royalists in turn, raised +the cheering chorus. + +The loyal army had not at any time during the engagement, presented so +formidable an appearance, as they did at this moment, and they in their +turn silently awaited the sortie of the enemy. As Bacon's followers +debouched, they visibly accelerated their pace to double quick time, and +the two bodies came together with a shock like the explosion of a +magazine. Terrible was the _melee_, and dreadful the carnage which +ensued. As they closed, Bacon raised his voice, and addressing Beverly +by name, called upon him to sustain his late charges. Consternation was +visible in the countenances both of Beverly and the Governor at the +unexpected appearance of the patriot chief, but the former yielded to it +only for an instant--in the next the youthful champions plunged the +rowels into the flanks of their chargers, and rushed at each other like +infuriated wild beasts. The fire flew from their swords, and their eyes +flashed not less brightly, but at the first onset, Beverly's weapon +snapped off short at the guard. Bacon raised himself in the stirrups, +and was about to plunge his blade deep into the breast of his hated +rival, but it fell harmless upon the mane of his charger, and he drew +back to the command of his troops. Beverly wheeled his horse and rode +slowly from the field, deeply wounded and mortified; as much perhaps at +the contrast between Bacon's forbearance and his own late vote of +condemnation, as at the disaster and defeat he had sustained. + +As Bacon returned to reanimate his troops, he found that a new ally was +doing battle in his cause. He saw near the right wing, the flourishes of +a gigantic arm, which he had formerly seen do service. The Recluse was +indeed there; how long since, Bacon knew not, but he seemed to be +already in the thickest of the fight. He had lost his cap, and his bald +head towered amid his fellows and brightly glistened in the sun. His +right arm was bare to the shoulder, and dyed with blood to the finger +ends. He seemed striving to throw his life away, and more than once +thrust himself into the very ranks of the foe, but as often the +terror-struck loyalists gave way before him. He seemed to be perfectly +invulnerable, for not a wound had he yet received. + +The consequences of the first repulse at the assault on Bacon's +intrenchments could not be overcome by the now exhausted and dismayed +loyalists. One column after another gave way, and fled into the town, +until not more than half remained. These were the regular troops, which +had throughout adhered so firmly to the person and fortunes of the +Governor. His friends urged him to capitulate, but he was as obstinate +in battle as he had before shown himself in council. + +He was at length almost dragged from the field by his friends--as all +his troops were flying in disorder and confusion into the town. The +patriots rushed in, together with their flying foes. The Recluse had +seized some flying charger, and, still bareheaded, was dealing death to +those who came within the sweep of his terrific weapon. Bacon over and +over again, offered quarter to the flying remnant, but they fought as +they ran, keeping up something like an irregular action, the whole +distance from the field of battle to the city. + +At length both parties were within the walls, and the fight was renewed, +but the loyalists were soon driven from the field. Some escaped by boats +to the shipping--and among these, Sir William Berkley was forcibly +dragged from the city as he had been from the field. In vain he pleaded +the situation of his wife and niece; he was assured by his friends of +their safety in the hands of the victor, and still urged forward in his +flight. Many poor fellows plunged into the river, and endeavoured to +save themselves by swimming to the ships which still adhered to the +loyal cause, but numbers perished in the attempt. + +Bacon with difficulty restrained himself by a sense of duty, long enough +to see the victory complete, before he leaped from his horse, and rushed +up the stairs of the Governor's house, where, in a few moments, he was +clasped in the arms of the amazed and delighted Virginia, +notwithstanding the presence of Lady Berkley. He had no sooner exchanged +those thousand little nameless but endearing questions and answers, that +leap into life unbidden after such an absence and such a meeting, than +he turned to Lady Berkley, and said, "Madam, a safe escort to convey you +to your husband, waits your commands, at any moment you may choose to +leave the city." + +"But my niece--is she also free to go?" + +"What says my Virginia--will she accept a soldier's protection?" + +"With all my heart and soul," she answered. + +While they discoursed thus, the bells were ringing, and huge columns of +smoke shot up past the windows on every side, and burning timbers +sparkled and cracked with increasing and startling rapidity. Bacon +instantly understood the cause, and taking Virginia in his arms, and +bidding Lady Berkley and Wyanokee, who till now had scarcely been +noticed, to follow, he rushed into the street, and beheld Jamestown in +flames. In a short time it was a pile of black and scorched ruins, as it +has stood from that day to the present. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +After the battle and destruction of Jamestown, Sir William Berkley, +accompanied by his now liberated Lady and his remaining followers, +comprising the still loyal marine force, retired again to the shades of +Accomac, where we will leave him and the remaining events of his life in +the hands of the historian. + +The political power of the colony was now in the possession of the +victorious chief, so lately condemned to death. He was not long in +surrendering it to a convention of the people, summoned to meet at +Middle Plantations, (Williamsburg,) for that purpose, and in their hands +we will leave the political affairs of the future mother of states. Our +only remaining duty is to follow the fortunes of the principal +characters of our narrative. The successful general, after attending to +his military and political duties, accompanied his now betrothed bride +from the ruins of Jamestown to the new seat of government. It was a +delightful summer evening--the sun was just sinking beneath a horizon, +where the darker blue of the distant landscape softened the shades of +the azure sky, both merging in the indistinct prospect so as to form a +magnificent back ground to a panorama, bathed in a flood of golden +light. The youthful and happy pair instinctively reined up their horses, +and gazed upon the enchanting scene, until their hearts were full of +love and adoration. + +Then by one impulse they turned their horses' heads, and gazed upon one +far different, which they were leaving. The ruins of the first civilized +settlement in North America were still sending up volumes of smoke, +through which at intervals gleamed a lurid flash, as some more +combustible materials fell into the mass of living embers below. But +there were associations with this scene, to the hearts of our pilgrims, +which no tongue or pen can describe; the melancholy treasures of memory +collected through long forgotten years, came gushing back over their +hearts in a resistless torrent. The scenes of their childhood--of all +their romantic dreams, and those fairy and too unreal creations of young +life--the graves of their relations and friends, were about to be +surrendered up to the dominion of the thistle and the ivy, there to +moulder through all future generations.[14] But this was not all that +was saddening in the view before them. The Indian captives, some two +hundred in number, were ascending the heights to the very spot which +they occupied, on their way to the far west. Poor and friendless beings +they were! their worldly store they wore upon their backs, consisting +for the most part of worn out leather garments, and a few worthless +baubles carried in their wallets. They skirted along the brow of the +hill in Indian file--their steps slow and melancholy. They too were +about to leave the scenes of their long sojourn, the broad and fertile +lands which they had inherited from the beginning of time--the honoured +relics of their dead, and all the loved associations which cling to the +heart of the rudest of mankind, when about to leave for ever the shades +of home. They were just entering upon the wearisome pilgrimage of the +exile, under a combination of the most cruel and unfortunate +circumstances, and in a condition the worst calculated to subdue new +countries, and battle with hostile tribes. As they passed in review +before the youthful pair of another race, no sign of recognition +manifested itself. They moved along with the gravity and solemnity of a +funeral procession, until the last of the line stood before them. It was +Wyanokee! She paused--attempted to pass on like her predecessors, but +her feet refused to bear her from the spot, and turning to them she +cried as if the words had burst irresistibly from her heart, "Oh cruel +and treacherous is the white man! See you those braves, going down the +path of yonder hill? So they have been going ever since Powhatan made +the first peace with your race. May the Great Spirit who dwells beyond +the clouds, shower mercies upon you both, equal to the wrongs which +your people have visited upon ours." And having thus spoken she broke +away, and ran swiftly down the hill in pursuit of her countrymen. She +saw that Virginia was struggling with her emotions to speak, and she +rushed away lest she should again be compelled to listen to a subject +which was disagreeable to her. Virginia, before her own departure, had +exhausted her persuasive powers in the vain effort to induce her to +remain. A hope had till now lingered in her heart, that Wyanokee would +follow her to Middle Plantations, and once more take up her abode in her +house, but when she saw the last traces of her receding figure through +the shadowy gloom of the forest, she knew that she looked upon the +Indian maiden for the last time on earth. + +[Footnote 14: The ivy capped ruins of the old church are all that remain +to this day of the ancient city. We trust that no irreverent hands will +ever be laid upon that venerable pile; but that it may be suffered to +stand in its own melancholy grandeur, as long as its materials may cling +together.] + +With swimming eyes the lovers pursued their way across the narrow +peninsula. Virginia sobbed aloud, until she had given vent to her +overcharged heart. But an easy and gentle palfrey, and a devoted and +obsequious lover, do not often fail to revive a lady's spirits, +especially through such scenes as she now beheld, bathed as they were in +the mellow glories of a summer twilight. "Hope told a flattering tale," +and our hero and heroine would have been more or less than mortal, and +wise beyond their years, had they not listened to it. Their laughter was +not loud and joyous, it is true, they were far too happy for that; their +frames trembled with the exquisite pleasure which words warm from and +to the heart produced. Sometimes they were silent indeed, but not for +want of thoughts to interchange. Words had exhausted their power. + +They had not proceeded many miles on their way, and the sun still hung +as it were suspended beyond the purple glories of the horizon, when +Bacon pointed with his riding whip to an object before them which +quickly changed the current of his companion's thoughts. Like human +life, their short journey seemed destined to exhibit many dark and +gloomy shadows. It was the Recluse; he was leaning against a tree, +apparently waiting their approach, for as they rode up, he stepped out +into the highway and saluted them. Virginia trembled upon her saddle +with very different sensations from those to which we have just alluded, +but her lover hastily unfolded to her his name and former delusion. +"This, my young friends," said the Recluse, "is our last meeting on +earth--and I have sought it that I might bless you both, before my +departure from the land in which I have so long been a sojourner and an +exile from the haunts of men." + +"Whither are you going?" asked Bacon in astonishment. "You certainly +will not leave us, now that the very time has arrived when you may dwell +here in safety. I had even calculated upon having you as an inmate at my +house." + +"It cannot be," replied the Recluse. "My destiny calls me to a place far +north of this, where some of my old comrades and now fellow sufferers, +dwell in comparative peace and security. But it is only detaining you +after night fall, to multiply words. May God of his infinite mercy bless +and preserve you both," and thus speaking he also departed, and was seen +no more.[15] + +[Footnote 15: Our authority for assuming that one of the Regicides +secluded himself for a time near Jamestown, may be found in Stiles' +Judges, Chapter VI.] + + * * * * * + +On a certain evening, not very long after the one just spoken of, +General Bacon was married to Miss Virginia Fairfax, and at the same time +and place Charles Dudley, Esq. led to the altar Miss Harriet Harrison. + +After this happy announcement, it becomes our painful duty to cast a +melancholy blemish upon the character of one who has figured in our +narrative. On the two several occasions, namely, of his release from +captivity by the storming and capture of Jamestown, and his master's +marriage, Brian O'Reily was found hopelessly, helplessly drunk; or +according to his own explanation, in that state in which a man feels +upward for the earth. + + +THE END. + + + + +ADDENDA. + + +Should the author's humble labours continue to amuse his countrymen, he +will very soon lay before them "The Tramontane Order; or the Knights of +the Golden Horseshoe;"--an order of Knighthood in the Old Dominion, +which first planted the British standard beyond the Blue Mountains. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Cavaliers of Virginia, by William A. Caruthers + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA *** + +***** This file should be named 36753-8.txt or 36753-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/5/36753/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mark C. 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Caruthers + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cavaliers of Virginia + or, The Recluse of Jamestown. Vol. II + +Author: William A. Caruthers + +Release Date: July 16, 2011 [EBook #36753] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA,</h1> + +<h3>OR THE</h3> + +<h1>RECLUSE OF JAMESTOWN.</h1> + +<h3>AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE OLD DOMINION.</h3> + +<h2>BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK."</h2> + + +<h3>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h3> + +<h3>VOL. II.</h3> + +<h3>NEW-YORK:<br /> +PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS,<br /> +NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET,<br /> +AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT<br /> +THE UNITED STATES.</h3> + +<h3>1835.</h3> + + +<p>Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by <span class="smcap">Harper & +Brothers</span>, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern +District of New-York.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#ADDENDA">ADDENDA.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>The lightning streamed athwart the heavens in quick and vivid flashes. +One peal of thunder after another echoed from cliff to cliff, while a +driving storm of rain, wind and hail, made the face of nature black and +dismal. There was something frightfully congenial in this uproar of the +contending elements with the storm raging in Bacon's heart, as he rushed +from the scene of the catastrophe we have just witnessed. The darkness +which succeeded the lurid and sulphureous flashes was not more complete +and unfathomable than the black despair of his own soul. These vivid +contrasts of light and gloom were the only stimulants of which he was +susceptible, and they were welcomed as the light of his path! By their +guidance he wildly rushed to his stable, saddled, led forth, and mounted +his noble charger, his own head still uncovered. For once the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> gallant +animal felt himself uncontrolled master of his movements, fleet as the +wind his nimble heels measured the narrow limits of the island. A sudden +glare of intense light served for an instant to reveal both to horse and +rider that they stood upon the brink of the river, and a single +indication of the rider's will was followed by a plunge into the +troubled waves. Nobly and majestically he rose and sank with the +swelling surges. His master sat erect in the saddle and felt his +benumbed faculties revived, as he communed with the storm. The raging +elements appeared to sympathize with the tumult of his own bosom. He +laughed in horrid unison with the gambols of the lightning, and yelled +with savage delight as the muttering thunder rolled over his head.</p> + +<p>There is a sublime stimulus in despair. Bacon felt its power; he was +conscious that one of the first laws of our organization, +(self-preservation,) was suddenly dead within him.</p> + +<p>The ballast of the frail vessel was thrown overboard, and the sails were +spread to the gathering storm with reckless desperation. Compass and +rudder were alike abandoned and despised—they were for the use of those +who had hopes and fears. For himself he spread his sails and steered his +course with the very spirit of the storm itself. Nature in her wildest +moods has no terrors for those who have nothing to lose or win; no +terrors for them who laugh and play with the very elements of her +destruction; they are wildly, madly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> independent. It is the sublimity of +the maniac! Nevertheless there is a fascination in his reckless steps as +he threads the narrow and fearful windings of the precipice, or +carelessly buffets the waves of the raging waters. There are other +sensations of a high and lofty character in this disjointed state of the +faculties. The very ease and rapidity with which ordinary dangers are +surmounted, serves to keep up the delusion, and were it not for the +irresponsible condition of the mind, there would doubtless be impiety in +its developments. Such were Bacon's sensations as he wildly stemmed the +torrent. He imagined that he was absolved from the ordinary +responsibilities and hazards of humanity! and to his excited fancy, it +seemed as though petty fears and grovelling cautions were all that lay +between humanity and the superior creations of the universe! that power +also came with this absolution from the hopes, fears and penalties of +man's low estate. In imagination "he rode upon the storm and managed the +whirlwind." The monsters of the deep were his playmates, the ill-omened +birds of the night his fellows. The wolves howled in dreadful concord +with the morbid efforts of his preternaturally distorted faculties, as +the noble and panting animal first struck the shore with his forefeet.</p> + +<p>Emerging from the water, he stroked down the dripping mane with a wild +and melancholy affection. The very consciousness of such a feeling yet +remaining in his soul, which he dared indulge,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> produced for the moment +a dangerous and kindred train of emotions. These as before led him upon +forbidden ground, and again the wild tumult of his soul revived. +Striking his heels into the animal's flanks, and bending upon his neck, +he urged him over the ground at a pace in unison with the impetuosity of +his own feelings.</p> + +<p>The fire and gravel flew from his heels, as he bounded through the +trackless forests of the unsubdued wilderness. The frightened birds of +night, and beasts of prey, started in affright, wild at the appearance +upon the scene of one darker and wilder than themselves. The very +reptiles of the earth shrunk to their hiding places, as the wild +horseman and his steed invaded their prescriptive dominions.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter, according to the commands of Sir William +Berkley, were conveyed to his mansion. To them all places were now +alike. The mother after a long and death-like trance, revived to a +breathing and physical existence; but her mind was overrun with horrors. +Reason was dethroned, and her lips gave utterance to the wildest +fantasies. Events with which, and persons with whom, none of those about +her were conversant, were alluded to in all the incoherency and +unbridled impetuosity of the maniac. The depletion and anodynes of the +physician were administered in vain. The ravages upon the seat of +nervous power had rendered the ordinary remedies to the more distant +chords of communication utterly powerless. From a mild, bland, feeble +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> sickly state of melancholy, she was suddenly transformed into a +frenzied lunatic. Her muscular power seemed to have received multiplied +accessions of strength. Yet there was "a method in her madness"—the +same names and scenes frequently recurred in her raving paroxysms. That +of Charles was reiterated through the wild intonations of delusion; +sometimes madly and revengefully, but more frequently in sorrow.</p> + +<p>There was occasionally a moving and touching pathos in these latter +demonstrations—tearless it is true, but thrilling and electrifying in +the subdued whisper in which they were sometimes uttered. A flood of +pent up emotions was poured forth with a thrilling eloquence which had +their origin in the foundations of the soul. Scenes of days long past, +were revived with a graphic and affecting power, which imagination +cannot give if their mysterious source and receptacle be not previously +and abundantly stored with the richest treasures of the female heart and +mind.</p> + +<p>Because the by-standers do not happen to be in possession of all the +previous history of the sufferer, so as to put together these melancholy +and broken relics, they are generally supposed to be the creations of a +distempered fancy.</p> + +<p>So it was with Mrs. Fairfax; her detached reminiscences fell upon the +dull and uninstructed ears of her attendants as the wildest +hallucinations of the brain, yet there was more connexion in these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +flights than they imagined. They supposed that she thought herself +conversing in her most subdued and touching moments with young Dudley, +merely because his name was frequently pronounced, and that he happened +to be present at the disastrous ceremony, which resulted so dreadfully +to all parties.</p> + +<p>Among all these, Virginia's was the hardest lot—so delicately and +exquisitely organized, so gentle—so susceptible—so full of +enthusiasm—so rich in innocence and hope, and all so suddenly +prostrated. Bacon was nerved with the wild yet exalted heroism of +manhood in despair. Her mother was wrapt in a blessed oblivion of the +present, but she was sensitively and exquisitely alive to the past, +present and future. One fainting paroxysm succeeded to another in +frightful rapidity, for hours after she was removed to her uncle's +house.</p> + +<p>The painful intervals were filled up with a concentration of wretched +reflections, which none but a finely organized and cultivated female +mind could conceive or endure. No proper conception of these can be +conveyed in language, unless the reader will suffer his imagination to +grasp her whole condition at once.—Beginning at the first inception of +the unsuspected passion for the noble youth who is the hero of our +tale—in her earliest infancy; and afterwards following her as it +matured and strengthened by the reflections of riper years.—Every +faculty, both perceptive and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> intellectual, had combined to impress his +image in the most indelible colours upon her heart. He had himself +ripened these very faculties into maturity by the most assiduous +culture, and won her esteem by the most touching, delicate, and +respectful attentions.</p> + +<p>All these things in detail were painfully revolved in her mind. Every +landscape, every book, every subject, reminded her most forcibly of him +whom it was now criminal to think of. Hers was the sorrow that no +sympathy could soften, no friendship alleviate. The sight of her +intimate and confidential friend drove her mad, for her presence +instantly revived the horrid recollections of the chapel. Long after the +clouds had cleared away, the thunder still roared in her ears. The +sudden slamming of a door sounded to her nervous irritability, like the +report of a cannon. Her own shadow conjured up horrible images. The most +violent and the most acute paroxysms of the human organization, however, +have a tendency to wear themselves out, when left uninterruptedly to +their own action. Such was necessarily, in some measure, the case with +Virginia; her mother's more alarming condition calling so much more +loudly for attention, and Wyanokee having fled, and Harriet's presence +proving so evidently hurtful, she was consequently left with a single +sable domestic. Essentially she was in profound solitude; and after the +first paroxysms which we have described, her mind naturally and +irresistibly fell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> into a train of retrospective thought. Startling and +horrifying they certainly were at first, but still the mind clung to +them. Many of the circumstances of the late disastrous meeting were to +her as yet unexplained. To these she clung as to the last remnants of +hope; they were the straws at which she grasped with the desperation of +the drowning wretch. She had at first received her mother's tacit +acknowledgment of the mysterious stranger's statement, or rather the +effect produced by that statement as irresistible confirmation of its +truth. But now she doubted the propriety of her hasty conviction. She +marvelled at the effect produced upon her mother—yet there were other +means of accounting for it. Would she not have exhibited a like +sensibility, had a like statement been made, however false, under such +circumstances?—did she not deny it, positively deny it at the moment? +Such was the train of reasoning by which her mind began to reassure +itself; and it must be recollected that she had never heard more of her +mother's history, than that she was a childless widow when her father +married her. Sufficient was left however of first impressions to render +her situation one of intense suffering and suspense. She dared not ask +for Bacon, yet a restless and gnawing anxiety possessed her, to know +whether he acknowledged the truth of the dreadful tale without a murmur, +and without investigation. But her physical organization could not keep +pace with the ever elastic mind; her gentle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> frame gave sensible +evidence that the late violent shocks had made sad inroads upon her +system. One chill was succeeded by another, until they were in their +turn followed by a burning fever. In this condition she fell again into +the hands of the physician, and all mental distress was soon lost in the +paramount demands of the suffering body.</p> + +<p>Toward the hour of midnight, the storm subsided. Fragments of the black +curtain which had hung over the face of the heavens, shot up from the +eastern horizon in stupendous blue masses, every now and then +illuminated to their summits with the reflection of the raging elements +beyond. The violence of the conflict in Bacon's breast had also +subsided. He rode along the banks of the Chickahominy, his charger +dripping with wet and panting with the exhaustion of fatigue. The bridle +hung loose upon his neck, and his rider bent over his mane like a +worn-out soldier. His own locks had unbent their stubborn curls to the +driving storm, and hung about his neck in drooping masses. His silken +hose were spattered with mud, and his gay bridal dress hung about his +person in lank and dripping folds. His horse had for some time followed +the bent of his own humour, and was now leading his master in the +neighbourhood of human habitations. The boughs of the tall gloomy pines +were fantastically illuminated with broad masses of light, which ever +and anon burst from the smouldering remnants of a huge pine log fire. +Its immediate precincts were surrounded by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> some fifty or more round +matted huts, converging toward the summit like a gothic steeple. Around +the fire, and under a rude shelter, lay some hundred warriors, wrapped +in profound slumber while one of their tribe stood sentinel over the +camp.</p> + +<p>When Bacon had approached within a short distance of this picturesque +group, the sentinel sprung upon his feet, and uttered a shrill +war-whoop. The horse stood still, erected his neck and pricked up his +ears, while his master folded his arms upon his breast and calmly +surveyed the scene. Those warriors who slept under the sheds near the +fire, assumed the erect attitude with a simultaneous movement, joining +in the wild chorus of the sentinel's yell as they arose.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of men, women, and children poured from the surrounding +huts,—most of the grown males, with their faces painted in blue and red +stripes, their heads shaved close to the cranium, except a tuft of hair +upon the crown, and all armed in readiness for battle. Bacon assumed the +command of his horse and rode into the very centre of this wild +congregation,—the fore hoofs resting upon the spent embers of the fire.</p> + +<p>He was greeted with another yell, after which the savages stood back and +viewed his strange and untimely appearance with wonder not unmixed with +awe. His bridle again fell from his hand, and his arms were crossed upon +his breast. His countenance was wild and haggard, and a flash of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +maniacal enthusiasm shot athwart his pale features. His dress under +present circumstances was fantastical in the extreme.</p> + +<p>A grim old warrior with savage aspect after staring some time intensely +at the intruder, was suddenly struck with something in his appearance, +and stepping out a few paces from the mass of his companions began to +address them in his own language, now and then pointing to the horseman, +and using the most violent gesticulations. At another time the youth +would have been not a little alarmed at certain significant signs which +the speaker used when pointing to himself. These consisted in twirling +his war club round and round, as if he was engaged in the most deadly +conflict. Then he placed his hand to the side of his head and bent it +near the earth as if about to prostrate himself, and finally pointing to +Bacon. When he had done this, several of the crowd closed in toward his +horse, and seemed intensely to examine the lineaments of his +countenance. Having satisfied themselves, they set up a simultaneous +yell of savage delight. He was quickly drawn from the saddle, his hands +tied behind him, and then placed in the centre of the assembled throng.</p> + +<p>Their savage orgies now commenced; a procession of all the grown males +moved in a circle of some fifty feet in diameter round his person. +Several of the number beat upon rude drums, formed of large calabashes +with raw hides stretched tight and dried over the mouths; while others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +dexterously rattled dried bones and shuffled with their feet to their +own music. Others chanted forth a monotonous death song; the whole +forming the rudest, wildest, and most savage spectacle imaginable.</p> + +<p>Bacon himself stood an unmoved spectator of all these barbarous +ceremonies. He felt a desperate and reckless indifference to what might +befall him. Human endurance had been stretched to its utmost verge, and +he felt within him a longing desire to end the vain struggle in the +sleep of death. To one like him, who had in the last few hours endured +the mental tortures of a hundred deaths, their savage cruelties had no +terrors. A faint hope indeed may have crossed his mind, that some +warrior more impetuous than his comrades, might sink his tomahawk deep +into his brain in summary vengeance for the death of their chief. But +they better understood the delights of vengeance. After performing their +rude war-dance for some time, they commenced the more immediate +preparations for the final tragedy. His hands were loosed, his person +stripped and tied to a stake, while some dozen youths of both sexes +busied themselves in splitting the rich pine knots into minute pins. +These being completed, a circular pile of finely cleft pieces of the +same material was built around his body, just near enough for the fire +to convey its tortures by slow degrees without too suddenly ending their +victim. A deafening whoop from old and young announced the commencement +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> the ceremony. Each distinguished warrior present had the privilege +of inserting a given number of splinters into his flesh. The grim old +savage who had first identified Bacon as the slayer of their chief, +stepped forward and commenced the operation. He thrust in the tearing +torments with a ferocious delight, not a little enhanced by the physical +convulsive movements of his victim at every new insertion. Worn out +nature however could not endure the uninterrupted completion of the +process, and the victim swooned away.</p> + +<p>His body hung by the thongs which had bound his waist and hands to the +stake, his head drooping forward as if the spirit had already taken its +flight. He was immediately let down and the tenderest care observed to +resuscitate him, in order that they might not be cheated of their full +revenge. His head and throat were bathed in cold water and his parched +lips moistened through the medium of a gourd. At length he revived, and +strange as it may appear, to a keener consciousness of his situation +than he had felt since he left the church. All the wild horrors of his +fate stared him in the face. The savages screamed with delight at his +returning animation. Copious drafts of water were administered as he +called for them. The most intense pain was already experienced from the +festering wounds around each of the wooden daggers driven into his +flesh. Again he prayed that some of them might instantaneously reach his +heart, but his prayer was not destined to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> be granted. He was again +fastened to the stake, and the second in dignity and authority proceeded +to perform his share of the brutal exhibition. At this moment a piercing +scream rent the air, and all tongues were mute, all hands suspended.</p> + +<p>The sound proceeded from the extreme right of the encampment. Here a +larger hut than the rest stood in solitary dignity apart from the +others, like an officer's <i>marquée</i> in a military encampment. In a few +moments the rude door was thrust aside and an Indian female of exquisite +proportions rushed to the scene of butchery, and threw herself between +the half immolated victim and his bloodthirsty tormentors. Upon her head +she wore a rude crown, composed of a wampum belt tightly encircling her +brows, and surmounted by a circlet of the plumes of the kingfisher, +facing outwards at the top. Around her waist was belted a short frock of +dressed deer-skin, which fell in folds about her knees, and was +ornamented around the fringed border with beads and wampum. Over her +left shoulder and bust she gracefully wore a variegated skin dressed +with the hair facing externally; from this her right arm extended, bare +to the shoulder, save a single clasp at the wrist; and she carried in +her hand a long javelin mounted at the end with a white crystal. The +remaining parts of her figure exhibited their beautiful proportions +neatly fitted with a pair of buck-skin leggins, extended and fringed on +the seam with porcupine quills, copper and glass ornaments. Similar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +decorations were visible on her exquisitely proportioned feet and +ankles. Thrusting her javelin in the ground with energy, and proudly +raising her head, she cast a withering glance of scorn and indignation +upon the perpetrators of the cruelty. Her address, translated into +English, was to the following purport: "Is it for this," and she pointed +to Bacon's bleeding wounds, "that I have been invested with the +authority of my sires? Was it to witness the perpetration of these +cruelties that I have been almost dragged from the house of my pale +faced friends? Scarcely has the fire burned out which was kindled to +celebrate my arrival among you, before it is rekindled to sacrifice in +its flames him who redeemed me from captivity. Is this the return which +Chickahominies make for past favours? If so, I pray you to tear from my +person these emblems of my authority among you."</p> + +<p>She was immediately answered by the old warrior who had commenced the +tortures; "Did not the long knife<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> slay the chief of our nation?"</p> + +<p>He was answered by a yell of savage delight from all the warriors +present. Wyanokee (for it was she, as the reader has no doubt already +surmised) continued, "Ay, he did slay King Fisher and his son—but were +they not unjustly attempting to take away the property of the pale +faces? and did they not commit the deed against their solemn promise and +treaty, and after they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> smoked the pipe of peace? For shame, +warriors and men—would ye turn squaws, and murder a brave and noble +youth because he had fought for his own people and for the preservation +of his own life?"</p> + +<p>Her harangue was not received with the submission and respect which she +expected—many murmured at her defence, and claimed the death of the +captive as a prescriptive right and an act of retributive justice. She +advanced to cut the cords which bound the prisoner, but twenty more +powerful arms instantly arrested her movement. Tomahawks were raised in +frightful array, while deep and loud murmurs of discontent, and demands +for vengeance rent the air. She placed herself before the captive, and +elevating her person to its utmost height, and extending her hands +before him as a protection, she cried, "Strike your tomahawks here, into +the daughter of your chief, of him who led you on to battles and to +victory, but harm not the defenceless stranger." The principal warriors +held a consultation as to the fate of the prisoner. It was of but short +duration, there being few dissenting voices to the proposition of the +old savage, already mentioned as principal spokesman of the party. They +soon returned and announced to their new queen that the council of the +nation had decreed the prisoner's death. "Never, never!" exclaimed the +impassioned maiden, "unless you first cleave off these hands with which +I will protect him from your fury. Ha!" she cried, as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> sudden thought +seemed to strike her; "there is one plan of redemption by your own laws. +I will be his wife!" A deep blush suffused her cheeks as she forced the +reluctant announcement from her lips. An expression of sadness and +disappointment soon spread itself over the countenances of the +revengeful warriors, for they knew that she had spoken the truth. +Another council was immediately held; at which it was determined that +their youthful queen, might according to the usages of the nation, take +the captive for her husband, in the place of her kinsman who was slain. +When this was proclaimed, Wyanokee slowly and doubtingly turned her eyes +upon Bacon to see whether the proposition met a willing response in his +breast. A single glance sufficed to convince her that it did not. +Instantly, however, recovering her self-possession, she cut the cords +and led him to her hut, where after having been reinvested with the sad +remnants of his bridal finery, we must leave him for the night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>"The several causes of discontent in the colony of Virginia long +nourished in secret, or manifesting themselves in partial riots and +insurrections, were now rapidly maturing, and only the slightest +incident was wanting to precipitate them into open rebellion.</p> + +<p>"Since the death of Opechancanough, the Indians, deprived of the +benefits of federative concert, had made but few attempts to disturb the +tranquillity of the colony. Several of the tribes had retired westward, +and those which remained, reduced in their numbers and still more in +strength by the want of a common leader, lingered on the frontiers, +exchanging their superfluous productions at stated marts with their +former enemies. A long peace, added to a deportment almost invariably +pacific, had in a great measure relaxed the vigilance of the colonists, +and the Indians were admitted to a free intercourse with the people of +all the counties. It was scarcely to be expected that during an +intercourse so irregular and extensive no grounds of uneasiness should +arise. Several thefts had been committed upon the tobacco, corn, and +other property of the colonists."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>These depredations were becoming daily more numerous and alarming, and +repeated petitions had been sent in from all parts of the colony calling +upon Sir William Berkley in the most urgent terms to afford them +protection. The Governor remained singularly deaf to these reasonable +demands, and took no steps to afford that protection to the citizens for +which government was in a great measure established. Some excuse was +offered by his friends and supporters by pleading his great age and long +services. Sir H. Chicerly, who had some time before arrived in the +colony, clothed with the authority of Lieutenant Governor, and who had +till now remained an inactive participator of the gubernatorial honours, +began to collect the militia of the state; but Sir William was no sooner +informed of these proceedings, so well calculated to allay the rising +popular ferment, than he at once construed it into an attempt to +supersede his authority, and forthwith disbanded the troops already +collected, and countermanded the orders for raising more, which had been +sent by his subordinate through the several counties. These high-handed +measures of an obstinate and superannuated man, inflamed the public +mind. Meetings were called without any previous concert in almost every +county in the province, and the most indignant remonstrances were sent +in to the Governor. These, however, only served to stimulate his +obstinacy, while the continued depredations of the Indians wrought up +the general feeling of dissatisfaction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> into a blaze of discontent. +While these things were in progress, a circumstance happened, which, +while it brought the contest to an immediate issue, had at the same time +an important bearing upon all the principal personages of our narrative. +On the night succeeding the melancholy catastrophe at the chapel, +related in the last chapter, the tribes of Indians which had formerly +been leagued together in the Powhatan confederacy, simultaneously rose +at dead of night and perpetrated the most horrid butcheries upon men, +women, and children, in every part of the colony. The council had +scarcely convened on the next morning before couriers from every +direction arrived with the dreadful tidings. Among others, there came +one who announced to the Governor that his own country seat had been +consumed by the fires of the savage incendiaries, and that Mrs. Fairfax, +who had been removed thither for change of scene by the advice of her +physician, was either buried in its ruins or carried away captive by the +Indians. Public indignation was roused to its highest pitch, but it was +confidently expected, now that his excellency himself was a sufferer +both in property and feelings, that he would recede from his obstinate +refusal to afford relief. But strange to say, in defiance of enemies, +and regardless of the remonstrances of his friends, he still persisted. +The result ensued which might have been expected; meetings of the +people, which had before been called from the impulse of the moment, and +without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> concert, were now regularly organized, and immediate steps +taken to produce uniformity of action throughout the different counties.</p> + +<p>While these elements of civil discord are fermenting, we will pursue the +adventures of our hero, whom we left just rescued from the hands of the +relentless savages. The new queen of the Chickahominies, after having +conducted Bacon to her own rude palace, retired for a short period in +order to allow him just time to prepare himself for her reception. An +Indian doctor was immediately summoned and directed to extract the +splinters and dress the wounds. The departure of this wild and +fantastical practitioner of the healing art was the signal for her own +entrance. Slowly and doubtfully she approached her visiter, who was +reclining almost exhausted upon a mat. Upon her entrance he attempted to +rise and profess his gratitude, but overcome with pain, sorrow, and +weakness, he fell back upon his rude couch, a grim smile and wild +expression crossing his features. She gracefully and benignantly +motioned him to desist, and at once waived all ceremony by seating +herself on a mat beside him. Both remained in a profound and painful +silence for some moments. Bacon's mind could dwell upon nothing but the +horrid images of the preceding hours of the night. Regardless of her +presence and her ignorance of those circumstances which dwelt so +painfully upon his memory, he remained in a wild abstraction, now and +then casting a glance of startled recognition and surprise at his royal +hostess.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>She examined him far more intently and with not less surprise, after the +subsidence of her first embarrassment. Her sparkling eyes ran over his +strange dress and condition, with the rapidity of thought, but evidently +with no satisfactory result. She was completely at a loss to understand +the cause of his visit, and the singular time and appearance in which he +had chosen to make it. It is not improbable that female vanity, or the +whisperings of a more tender passion, connected it in some way with her +own recent flight. These scarcely recognised impressions produced +however an evident embarrassment in her manner of proceeding. She longed +to ask if Virginia was his bride, yet dreaded to do so both on her own +account and his. She had lived long enough in civilized society to +understand the signification of his bridal dress, but she was utterly at +a loss to divine why he should appear in such a garb covered with mud, +as if he had ridden in haste, in the midst of a warlike nation, and on +the very night appointed for the celebration of his nuptials, unless +indeed she might solve the mystery in the agreeable way before +suggested. Catching one of the originally white bridal flowers of his +attire between her slender fingers, she said with a searching glance; +"Faded so soon?" He covered his face with his hands, and threw himself +prostrate upon the mat, writhing like one in the throes of expiring +agony.</p> + +<p>His benevolent hostess immediately called a little Indian attendant, in +order to despatch him for the doctor; but her guest shook his head and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +motioned with his uplifted hand for her to desist. She reseated herself, +more at a loss than ever to account for his present appearance and +conduct. She had supposed that he was suffering from the pain of his +wounds, but she now saw that of these he was entirely regardless. She +became aware that a more deeply seated pain afflicted him. Again he +turned his face toward the roof of the hut, his hands crossed upon his +breast, and his bosom racked with unutterable misery.</p> + +<p>"Is the pretty Virginia dead?"</p> + +<p>The blackness of hell and horror was in his face as he turned a scowl +upon his interrogator, and replied, "Is this a new method of savage +torture? If so, call in the first set, they are kind and benignant +compared to you." But seeming suddenly to recollect that she was +ignorant of the pain she inflicted, he took her hand kindly and +respectfully, and continued, "Yes, Wyanokee, she is indeed dead to me. +If you regard the peace of my soul, or the preservation of my senses, +never whisper her name to the winds where it will be wafted to my ears. +Never breathe what she has taught you. Be an Indian princess, but for +God's sake look, speak, or act not in such a way as to remind me of +passed days. Tear open these wounds, inflict fresh tortures—yea, +torture others if you will, so I but horrify my mind with any other +picture than hers. O God, did ever sister rise before man's imagination +in such a damning form of loveliness? With most men, that little word +would suffice to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> dispel the horrid illusion! but with me, cursed as I +have been from my birth, and as I still am deeper cursed, the further I +pursue this wretched shadow called happiness, I would wed her to-morrow, +yea were the curse of the unpardonable sin denounced upon me from the +altar instead of the benediction. For her I would go forth to the world, +branded with a deeper damnation than ever encircled the brows of the +first great murderer. I would be the scorn, the jest, the by-word of +present generations, and a never dying beacon to warn those who come +after me."</p> + +<p>As he proceeded, Wyanokee fixed her dark penetrating eyes upon his face, +until her own countenance settled into the expression of reverential +awe, with which the Indian invariably listens to the ravings of the +maniac. At every period she moved herself backward on the mat, until at +the conclusion, she had arrived at a respectful distance, and crossed +her hands in superstitious dread. A single glance conveyed her +impressions to his mind, and he resumed, "No, no, my gentle preserver, +reason is not dethroned, she still presides here, (striking his +forehead,) a stern spectator of the unholy strife which is kept up +between her sister faculties." Leaning toward her upon his elbow, he +continued in a thrilling whisper, "You have heard me read from the +sacred volume of the tortures prepared for the damned! of a future +existence, in which the torments of ten thousand deaths shall be +inflicted, and yet the immortal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> sufferer find no death! His soul will +be prepared for the endurance! I have already a foretaste of that +horrible eternity! And yet you see I preserve the power to know and to +endure! Is it not a dread mystery in this frail compound of ours—and +portentous of evil to come, that this faculty of supporting misery so +long outlives the good? The wise men of our race teach us that every +pain endured is a preparation of the opposite faculty to enjoy pleasure! +that our torpid fluids would stagnate without these contrasted +stimulants; 'tis all a delusion, a miserable invention of the enemy. Man +can suffer in this life a compound of horrors, for which its pleasures +and allurements have no equivalent; yea, and he suffers them after all +chance for happiness has vanished for ever. The pleasures of the world +are like the morning glories of a sea of ice. The sun rises and sparkles +in glittering rainbows for an hour, and then sinks behind the dark blue +horizon, and leaves the late enraptured beholder, to feel the chill of +death creeping along his veins, until his heart is as cold and dead as +the icebergs around 'an atom of pleasure, and a universe of pain.'"</p> + +<p>His hearer sat in the most profound bewilderment; much of his discourse +was to her unintelligible, and notwithstanding his protestations to the +contrary, she still retained her first impressions as to the state of +his mind. She knew something of the various relations existing between +the most important personages of our story, and in her own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> mind, had +already begun to account for his present state. She supposed him to have +been rudely torn from his bride. Her object therefore in the following +words, was to learn something more of these particulars, and at the same +time to soothe the excited feelings of her guest.</p> + +<p>"The great Father of the white man at Jamestown will restore your bride. +Does not your good book say, 'whom the' Great Spirit 'has joined +together let no man put asunder?'"</p> + +<p>"Ay!" replied Bacon, "but what does it say when they are first joined +together by the ties of blood? Besides, he never did join us together in +the holy covenant. He stamped it with his curse? He denounced his veto +against it at the very foot of the altar. The same voice which thundered +upon mount Sinai spoke there. His servant stood up before him and asked, +'If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined +together let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.' +And lo, both heaven and earth interposed at the same moment. The +thunders of heaven rent the air, and that most fearful man appeared as +if by miracle." Again lowering his voice to a whisper, he continued, "As +I rode upon the storm last night, and communed with the spirits of the +air, some one whispered in my ear, that the heavens were rent asunder +and he came upon a thunderbolt. And then again as I walked upon the +waves, and the black curtains gathered around, a bright light darted +into my brain and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> saw the old Roundheads who were executed the other +day, sitting upon a glorious cloud, mocking at my misery! yea, they +mouthed at me. Ha, ha, ha!" The sound of his own unnatural laughter +startled him like an electric shock—and instantly he seemed to +recollect himself.</p> + +<p>He covered his face with his hands, and rested them upon his knees in +silence. Some one entered and spoke to the queen in a low voice, and she +immediately informed her guest that his horse was dead. "Dead!" said he, +as he sprang upon his feet. "His last—best—most highly prized gift +dead! All on the same night—am I indeed cursed—in going out and in +coming in? Are even the poor brutes that cling to me with affection, +thus cut down? but I would see him ere he is cold."</p> + +<p>A torch-bearer soon appeared at the summons of his mistress, and the +royal hostess and her guest proceeded to the spot. There lay the noble +animal, his once proud neck straightened in the gaunt deformity of +death. His master threw himself upon his body and wept like an infant. +The tears, the first he had shed, humanized and soothed his harrowed +feelings. Slowly he arose, and gazing upon the lifeless beast, exclaimed +with a piteous voice, "Alas poor Bardolph, thy lot is happier than thy +master's!"</p> + +<p>The day was now dawning, and the morning air came fresh and invigorating +to the senses, redolent of the wild perfumes blown upon the moor and +forest, from the influence of a humid night. These<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> reviving influences +however fell dead upon the benumbed faculties of our hero. In accordance +with the urgent solicitations of his hostess, he agreed to swallow an +Indian soporific, and try to lose his sorrows and his memory in that +nearest semblance of death. He did not fail, as he re-entered the +wigwam, to observe that the whole village (called Orapacs) was busily +preparing for some imposing ceremony, and that great accessions had been +made to the numbers of the previous night.</p> + +<p>Long and soundly he slept; when he awoke the sun was coursing high in +the heavens. The air was balmy and serene, and his own monomaniacal +hallucinations were dissipated, partly worn out by their own violence +and partly dispelled by many hours of uninterrupted repose. Dreadful is +that affliction which sleep will not alleviate. It is true that one +suffering under a weight of misery which no hope lightens, no reasoning +assuages, wakes to a present sense of his condition with a startling and +miserable consciousness, yet upon the whole, the violence of grief has +been soothed and moderated. So it was with our hero, and he walked forth +a new and revived creature.</p> + +<p>But as he stepped from the wigwam, a spectacle greeted his eye more akin +to the fantasies of the previous night than to stern reality. The +village was situated on a plain near the banks of the river. The forest +remained much as it first grew, save that the undergrowth had been +burned away and the ground afterwards overgrown with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> luxuriant coat +of grass. This summary method of trimming the primitive forest gives it +much the resemblance of a noble park, cleared of its shrubs, +undergrowth, and limbs, by the careful hands of the woodman. The scene, +as Bacon looked along the woodland vista, had a wild novelty, and its +aspect would doubtless have been sedative in its effect had it not been +for the spectacle already alluded to, which we shall now endeavour to +describe. An immense concourse of Indians was collected just without the +external range of wigwams. They were seated in groups, in each of which +he recognised the distinguishing marks of separate tribes, the +representatives of each distinct nation of the peninsula having a +distinct and separate place. At the head of this warlike assemblage, on +a rude throne sat the youthful Queen of the Chickahominies. Immediately +around the foot of this elevation were seated the few grim warriors yet +remaining of that once powerful nation, and on her right hand the +Powhatans. A fantastically dressed prophet of the latter tribe, with a +curiously coloured heron's feather run through the cartilage of his nose +stood in the centre of the assembled nations, and harangued the deputies +with the most violent gesticulations, every now and then pointing in the +direction first of Jamestown, and then of Middle Plantations, (now +Williamsburg,) and in succession after these, to the other most thickly +peopled settlements of the whites. His rude eloquence seemed to have a +powerful effect upon his warlike audience, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> the repeated yells of +savage cheering by which each appeal was followed. He concluded his +harangue by brandishing a bloody tomahawk over his head, and then +striking it with great dexterity into a pole erected in the centre of +the area. Numerous warriors and prophets from other tribes followed with +similar effect and like purpose, to all of whom the stern savages +listened with an eager yet respectful attention. When they had +concluded, the youthful queen of the Chickahominies descended one step +from her throne, and addressed the assembled nations; but her discourse +was received in a far different spirit from that which had attended the +eloquence of her predecessors. She was evidently maintaining the +opposite side of the question which occupied the grave assembly, and it +was apparent that the feelings of her auditors were hostile to her +wishes and opinions. No evidences of delight greeted her benevolent +counsels, and she resumed her seat almost overpowered by the loud and +general murmurs of discontent which arose at the conclusion of her +"talk." She felt herself a solitary advocate of the plainest dictates of +justice and humanity—she felt the difficulty and embarrassment of +addressing enlightened arguments to savage ears and uncultivated +understandings, and a painful sense of her own responsibility, and of +regret for having assumed her present station, pressed heavily upon +heart.</p> + +<p>Bacon saw only the eloquent language of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> signs and gestures; but +some knowledge of the outrages already perpetrated easily enabled him to +interpret their intentions. He knew that bloodshed and murder were the +objects of their meeting, and he resolved to seize the earliest +opportunity to escape, in order to take part in the defence of his +country. His mind turned eagerly to this wholesome excitement, as the +best outlet which was now left for the warring impulses within his +breast.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>The retirement of Wyanokee from her temporary presidency in the grand +council of the confederated nations, was the signal for beginning the +general carouse, by which such meetings were usually terminated. Two +huge bucks, with their throats cut, had been some time suspended from a +pole laid across a pair of stout forked saplings, driven into the ground +at the distance of a few feet from each other; these were now brought +into the centre of the area, and quickly deprived of their skins. The +neighbourhood of civilized man had already introduced that bane of +savage morals, whiskey; and plentiful supplies of this, together with +pipes and tobacco, were now served to the representatives. A general +scene of rude and savage debauch immediately followed. Meat was broiled +or roasted upon the coals—whiskey was handed round in calabashes, while +the more gay and volatile members of the assemblage found an outlet for +their animated feelings in the violent and energetic movements of the +Indian dance. The sounds which issued from the forest were a mingled din +of tinkling metals—rattling bones, and the monotonous humming of the +singers, occasionally enlivened by a sharp shrill whoop from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> some young +savage, as his animal spirits became excited by the exercise. The squaws +performed the part of menials, and bore wood, water, and corn, to supply +the feast for their lords and masters.</p> + +<p>The new queen of the nation, upon whose ground these carousals were +held, retired to her own wigwam, as much disgusted with the moral +blindness and depravity of the deputies, as with the commencing revels. +Besides her disgust of what was left behind, there was an attraction for +her in her own sylvan palace, which, till a few hours back, it had sadly +wanted in her eyes; not that she approached it with any hope that her +passion would now or ever meet with a return from its object—but still +there was a melancholy pleasure in holding communion with one so far +superior to the rude, untutored beings she had just left. She felt also +a longing desire, not only to learn more of the mysterious transactions +of which she had gathered some vague indications from Bacon's discourse, +but to take advantage of present circumstances in returning some of the +many favours heaped upon herself by her white friends. There was a +nobler motive for this than mere gratitude; she wished to show to Bacon +and Virginia, that she could sacrifice her own happiness to promote +theirs. She felt now satisfied that both of them had discovered the +existence of her passion, long before she was aware of the impropriety +of its exhibition according to civilized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> usages, and she was anxious to +evince to them how nobly an Indian maiden could cover this false step +with honour. Full of these ennobling, and as it proved, delusive ideas, +she entered the wigwam with a mien and step which would not have +disgraced a far more regal palace.</p> + +<p>Bacon was found upon a mat, reclining in melancholy mood against the +side of the apartment, intently eyeing the movements of the savages upon +the green. She followed his eye for a moment in shame and confusion for +the spectacle exhibited by the men of her own race.</p> + +<p>"Do you mark the difference," said Bacon, "between the dances in yonder +forest and those at Jamestown? Why do not the women join in the +merry-making? We consider them worthy to partake of all our happiness."</p> + +<p>"Ay, 'tis true, there is no Virginia there!"</p> + +<p>His brow settled into a look of stern displeasure and offence, as he +replied, "Would you renew the scenes of the last night?"</p> + +<p>"No, Wyanokee desires not to give pain, but to remove it—as she came +here now to show. You heard me claim you last night as a husband."—A +crimson tint struggled with the darker hue of her cheek, as she forced +herself to proceed.—"But it was only to save you from the cruel hands +of my countrymen. You may, therefore, give up all uneasiness on that +subject—I know well that the Great Spirit has decreed it otherwise than +I desired, and I submit without a murmur. It is useless for me to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +conceal that I had learned too quickly to feel the difference between a +youth of your race, and one of yon rude beings; but it was more owing to +my ignorance of your customs than any want of proper maidenly reserve. +That is now passed, you are a married man, and as such I can converse +with you in confidence."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Bacon, a bitter smile playing over his countenance, "I am +married to stern adversity! 'Tis a solemn contract, and binds me to a +bride from whom I may not easily be divorced. Death may cut the knot, +but no other minister of justice can. I must say too, that the +ceremonies of last night were fitting and proper. I wooed my bride +through earth, air, and water; in thunder, lightning, and in rain. Nor +was she coy or prudish. She came to my arms with a right willing grace, +and clings to me through evil and through good report. I am hers, wholly +hers for ever. It is meet that I should learn to love her at once. Ay, +and I do hug her to my heart. Is she not my own? do we not learn to love +our own deformities? then why not learn to love our own sorrows? +Doubtless we shall be very happy—a few little matrimonial bickerings at +first, perhaps, but these will soon be merged in growing congeniality. +Man cannot long live with any companion, without bestowing upon it his +affection; the snake, the spider, the toad, the scorpion, all have been +loved and cherished: shall I not then love my bride? Is there not a +hallowed memory around her birth?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> was she not nurtured and trained by +these very hands? Is there not wild romance too, in her adventures and +our loves? Is she not faithful and true? yea, and young too! not coy +perhaps, but constant and devoted."</p> + +<p>Although this language was prompted by very different states, both of +heart and head, from that of the preceding night, yet its literal +construction by the Indian maiden betrayed her into very little more +understanding of its import. She better comprehended the language of his +countenance. That, she saw, indicated the bitterness of death, but the +cause was still a mystery. She therefore continued her kind endeavours +with something more of doubt and embarrassment. "My intention was to +offer you and Virginia a home as soon as these warlike men are pacified +and gone—that you might come here and live with me until her grand +uncle will receive her and you. Oh, it will make Wyanokee very happy."</p> + +<p>She would, no doubt, have continued in this strain for some time, but +his impatience could be contained no longer. "Is it possible that you do +not yet understand the depth and hopelessness of my misery? Know it then +in all its horrors. I was half married last night to my own half sister! +Did fate, fortune or hell ever more ingeniously contrive to blight the +happiness of mortal man at one fell blow? View it for a moment. There +was the game beautifully contrived—the stake was apparently trifling, +but the prize glittered with India's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> richest rubies—the very thoughts +of them conjured up scenes of fairy land. The richest fantasies of +romance sparkled before the eye of the player. The wildest dream of +earthly happiness allured him to each renewed attempt. First a little +was staked—then another portion—then another to insure the two former, +and so on until houses and lands and goods and chattels—yea and life +itself, or all that made it valuable, were hazarded upon the throw. Lo, +he wins! Joy unutterable fills his breast—he is about to place the +jewels next his heart, but behold they turn into scorpions. Rich and +beautiful in all their former ruby colour—but there is a fearful +talismanic power in their beauty. There is a deadly poison in the sight! +They charm to kill. Lay them not near the heart or else the great +magician, the king of evil—the prince of darkness himself, has bought +you body and soul! That was my case. I won the glorious stake, I had it +here (striking his breast), yea, and have it now, and the devil is +tempting me to lay it next my heart. I have wrestled with him all the +night, but again he is at work. See that you do not help him!"</p> + +<p>Again she was lost in reverential awe. As his paroxysm by slow degrees +returned, she exhibited in the mirror of her own countenance the +passion, the wild enthusiasm, reflected from his, until the final charge +to herself, when she was overcome with wonder and fear. His own +preternaturally quick perceptions caught the effect produced, and he +again<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> folded his arms and leaned back in grim and sullen silence, but +with the keen eye of the serpent watching the changing countenance of +his auditor. She was sunk in abstraction for some moments, and then, as +if rather thinking aloud than communing with another, she said, "Is it +possible?"</p> + +<p>"Yea, as true as that the serpent infused his poison into the ear of the +mother of mankind. As true as that man was the first creature that died +on the face of the earth by the hands of his fellow. As true as death +and hell! As true as that there is a hereafter. Happiness is negative! +Misery positive. There is always a subtle doubt lingering upon our most +substantial scenes of happiness; but with misery it is slow, certain and +enduring; the proof conclusive and damning. It is more real than our +existence, and exists when it is no more. Our nerves are strung to +vibrate to the touches of harmony and happiness only when played upon by +inspirations from above, but they vibrate in discord to the earth, the +air, the winds, the waves, the thunder—the lightning. They are rudely +handled by men, beasts, reptiles, devils, by famine, disease and death. +Am I not a wretched monument of its truth? Are not these miserable and +faded trappings, the funeral emblems of my moral decease? Am I not a +living tomb of my own soul? A memento of him that was, with an +inscription on my forehead, 'Here walks the body of Nathaniel Bacon, +whose soul was burned out on the ever memorable night of his own +wedding, by an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> incendiary in the mortal habiliments of his own Father, +with a torch lit up in pandemonium itself? His body still walks the +earth as a beacon and a warning to those who would commit incest!'"</p> + +<p>The door was darkened for a moment, and in the next the Recluse stood +before him. His giant limbs lost none of their extent or proportions as +viewed through the dim light which fell in scanty and checkered masses +from the insterstices of the sylvan walls. He stood in the light of the +only door,—his features wan and cadaverous, and his countenance +wretchedly haggard. "Why lingerest thou here in the lap of the tawny +maiden, when thy countrymen will so soon need the assistance of thy arm? +This night the torch of savage warfare and cruelty will in all +probability be lighted up in the houses of thy friends and kindred. Is +it becoming, is it manly in thee to seek these effeminate pastimes, in +order to drown the images of thy own idle fancy? If thou hast +unconsciously erred, and thereby cruelly afflicted thy nearest kindred, +is this the way to repair the evil? Set thou them the example! Be a +man—the son of a soldier. Thy father before thee has suffered tortures +of the mind, and privations of the body, to which thine are but the +feeble finger-aches of childhood as compared to the agonies of a painful +and protracted death. Rouse thyself from thy unmanly stupor, and hie +thee hence to the protection of those who should look up to thee. Be not +anxious for me, maiden; I see thy furtive glances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> at the besotted men +of thy race, and thence to me. I have long watched their movements. They +see me not; they will attempt no injury—and if they should their blows +would fall upon one reckless of danger—who has nought to gain or +lose,—who has long had his lights trimmed, and lamp burning, ready for +the welcome summons."</p> + +<p>When he first entered the wigwam, Bacon sprang upon his feet, and gazed +upon the unwelcome apparition as if he doubted his humanity; but as his +hollow and sepulchral voice fell upon his ear in the well known, deep +excited intonations of the chapel, he moved backward, his hands clasped, +until his shoulders rested against the wall. There, shuddering with +emotion, he gazed earnestly and in silence upon his visiter, whose words +fell upon an indiscriminating ear. The Recluse perceived something of +his condition as he continued, "Hearest thou not?—seest thou not? Rouse +thee from this unmanly weakness. I saw thy dead horse upon the moor. I +will leave thee mine at the head of the Chickahominy Swamp. When night +closes upon yonder brutal scene, mount and ride as if for thy life, even +then thou mayst be too late! Remember! This night be thou in Jamestown!"</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, he stooped through the door, and vanished among the +trees behind the wigwam, as he had come. Bacon still gazed upon the +place where he had been, as if he still occupied the spot, his eyelids +never closing upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> distended iris, until he fell upon the floor in +a swoon. Such restoratives as an Indian wigwam afforded, were speedily +administered, and very soon the desired effect was produced. While he +lay thus worn down by the sufferings produced by the tortures of the +previous night, and the cruel excitement of his feelings, Wyanokee +discovered, as she was bathing his temples, the small gold locket, which +he had worn suspended from his neck, since the death of Mr. Fairfax. +Apparently it contained nothing but the plaited hair and the inscription +already mentioned. She caught it with childlike eagerness, and turned it +from side to side, with admiring glances, when her finger touched a +spring and it flew open; the interior exhibited to view the features of +a young and lovely female.</p> + +<p>At this juncture Bacon revived. His countenance was pale and haggard +from the exhaustion of mental and bodily sufferings. His perceptions +seemed clearer, but his heart was burdened and oppressed—he longed for +speedy death to terminate the wretched strife. The prospect was dark and +lowering in whatever direction he cast his thoughts; no light of hope +broke in upon his soul—all before him seemed a dreary joyless waste. In +this mood he accidentally felt the open trinket within the facings of +his doublet, and inserting his hand he drew it forth. His head was +elevated instantly, his eyes distended and his whole countenance +exhibited the utmost astonishment. His first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> emotion was any thing but +pleasant—as if he had drawn from his bosom one of his own figurative +scorpions, but this was speedily succeeded by one of a different nature. +The first sensation of pleasure which he had felt since he left +Jamestown beamed upon his mind; it was mingled with the most unbounded +surprise; but quick as thought the light of hope broke in upon his dark +and cheerless prospects. Again and again the picture was closely +scrutinized, but with the same conviction, never before had he beheld +that face. It was resplendent with smiles and beauty. The dark hazel +eyes seemed to beam upon him with affectionate regard. The auburn +tresses almost fluttering in the breeze, so warm and mellow were the +lights and shadows. But what rivetted his attention was the want of +resemblance in the picture to the lady whom he had been so recently and +so painfully taught to believe his mother. The latter had light flaxen +ringlets and blue eyes, and the <i>tout ensemble</i> of the features were +totally dissimilar. He imagined he saw a far greater resemblance between +the picture and himself, and hence the ray of hope. But in the place of +despair came feverish suspense—he now longed again to meet the Recluse, +whose presence had so lately filled him with horror. His mind sought in +vain within its own resources for means to bring the question to an +immediate issue. Was he the first-born son of Mrs. Fairfax or not? +Perhaps Brian O'Reily could tell something of the picture, or had seen +the original. No sooner had this faint,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> glimmering prospect of +unravelling the mystery dawned upon his mind, than he was seized with +the most feverish desire to set out for Jamestown.</p> + +<p>The savages still kept up the carouse, but it would be hazardous in the +extreme, as he was assured by his hostess, to attempt to leave Orapacs +until the conclusion of the feast, which perhaps would last till night. +At that time they were all to proceed to the Powhatan domain. He was +compelled therefore to content himself with reading the lineaments of +the interesting countenance just opened to his view.</p> + +<p>Upon what a frail foundation will a despairing man build up his fallen +castles in the air. Such was the occupation of our hero until the light +of the sun had vanished over the western hills. He lay upon his mat in +the twilight gloom, indulging in vague uncertain reveries. He had +examined the picture so long, so intently, and under such a morbid +excitement of the imagination, that he supposed himself capable of +recollecting the features. He had called up dim and misty shadows of +memory (or those of the imagination nearly resembling them) from a +period wrapped in obscurity and darkness. He endeavoured to go back step +by step to his years of childhood, until his excited mind became +completely bewildered among the fading recollections of long passed +days. As the rippling waters of the purling stream mingled with the +monotonous whistling of the evening breeze, his versatile imagination +fell into a kindred train. The music of the nursery, by which his +childish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> struggles had been lulled to repose, floated over his memory +in the tenderest and purest melancholy. Who that has music in his soul +has not, at a like season and hour, refreshed his heart with these early +impressions? Nor are they entirely confined to an inviting melancholy +mood and the hour of twilight. In the full vigour of physical and mental +power, and when the spirits are bounding and elastic—in the midst of +dramatic representations or the wildest creations of Italian musical +genius, these stores of memory's richest treasures will suddenly flood +the soul, touched perhaps by the vibration of some kindred chord. +Bacon's harassed mind was refreshed by the tender and softened mood into +which he had fallen. Besides, he was now stimulated by the glimmering +dawn of hope. When therefore darkness had completely covered the face of +the land, he arose to go upon his mission, a different being. Although +his own emotions on parting were faint compared to those of Wyanokee, +they were yet sorrowful and tender. He lamented the lot of the Indian +maiden, and respected the virtues and accomplishments which elevated her +so far above those by whom she was surrounded. He bade her adieu with +the most heartfelt gratitude for her services, and aspirations for her +welfare.</p> + +<p>When he stepped from the wigwam he was astonished to see the huge fires, +upon which they had cooked the feast, still burning with undiminished +brilliancy, and still more startled to observe twenty or more savages +lying drunk around them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> and half as many sober ones holding vigils +over their slumbers. He immediately changed his intended direction, and +skirted round the forest in which they lay, so as to arrive at the place +pointed out by the Recluse by a circuitous route.</p> + +<p>When he came opposite to the fires, and half way upon his circuit, he +was not a little alarmed to hear the astounding war-whoop yelled by one +of the sentinels. Casting his eyes in that direction he saw that all the +guard were on the <i>qui vive</i>, and some of the slumberers slowly shaking +off their stupidity. He supposed that one of the sentinels had heard his +footsteps, and thus alarmed the rest. Taking advantage of the trees, and +the distance he had already gained, he was enabled to elude their +vigilant senses. But when he came to the spot pointed out by the +Recluse, a greater difficulty presented itself. The horse was already +gone, but not taken by the one who brought him there, as he saw +evidently from the impressions of his feet in the earth, where he had +stood most of the afternoon. He soon came to the conclusion that the +Indians had found and carried him off. This was the more probable as +they adjourned their council about the time he must have been taken. His +call to Jamestown was too urgent to be postponed, and however feeble in +body he determined to exert his utmost strength to arrive there during +the night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Our hero reached Jamestown late on the very morning when the couriers +arrived in such rapid succession, with the startling intelligence of the +Indian massacres. All night he had wandered over the peninsula, vainly +endeavouring to discover his way; light after light shot up amidst the +surrounding gloom, and more than once he had been misled by these, +almost into the very clutches of the swarming savages. His heart sank +within him as he saw plantation after plantation, in their complete +possession; the illumination of their incendiary trophies lighting up +the whole surrounding country. It seemed indeed to his startled senses +as if the Indians had simultaneously risen upon and butchered the whole +white population of the colony. With the exception of a small remnant, +they had already once perpetrated the like horrible deed, and he again +saw in his imagination the dreadful scenes of that well remembered +night. Feeble old men, women and children indiscriminately +butchered—perhaps Virginia, whom he once again dared to think of, among +the number. True, Wyanokee had assured him otherwise, but might not the +grand council have determined upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> deed at the more appropriate +time of their nightly meeting?</p> + +<p>As the dawning day unfolded to his view the relative bearings of the +country, these gloomy anticipations were partly realized. Every avenue +to the city, both by land and water, was crowded with people of all +sexes, colours and conditions, flying to the protection of the Fort. +Wagons, carts, negroes, and white bondsmen, were laden with furniture, +provisions, and valuables. Ever and anon a foaming charger flew swiftly +by, bearing some Cavalier to the city, doubly armed for retributive +vengeance. By these he was greeted and cheered upon his way, as well as +informed of the depredations committed in the neighbourhood whence they +had come. From one of these also he procured a horse, and joined a +cavalcade of his associates and friends, proceeding to the same centre +of attraction. To them also he unfolded so much of his recent adventures +as related to the general interests of the colony. Long, loud, and +vindicative were their denunciations, as well of the treacherous savages +as the stubborn old man at the head of affairs in the colony.</p> + +<p>Although evident traces of his late bodily sufferings were perceptible +in Bacon's countenance, no vestige of his mental hallucinations on one +particular theme was perceived; his mind was intently occupied upon the +all absorbing topic of common safety. As they proceeded together to the +city, it was proposed to him to assume the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> command of a volunteer +regiment, which they undertook to raise as soon as they arrived in +Jamestown. His military talents and daring bravery were already well +known by most of his associates, but he doubted whether he was the most +proper person in the colony to assume so responsible a command. As to +his own personal feelings, never did fortune throw the chance of +honourable warfare more opportunely in the way of a desperate man. True, +it would have come still more seasonably twenty-four hours sooner, but +then he would only have been better qualified for some desperate deed of +personal daring, not for a command upon which hung the immediate fate of +all the colonists, and the ultimate supremacy of the whites in Virginia. +He promised, however, to accede to their proposal, provided, after the +regiment was raised, in which he must be considered a volunteer, the +majority cheerfully tendered him their suffrages. He stated the +hostility of the Governor to him personally, without enlightening them +as to its most recent cause; but they were now as resolute upon +disregarding the feelings and wishes of Sir William, as he had already +shown himself in disregarding their own. In short, they resolved at once +to assume that authority to protect their lives and property, which they +now felt, if they had never before known, was an inalienable right. Here +was sown the first germ of the American revolution. Men have read the +able arguments—the thrilling declamations, the logical defence of +natural and primitive rights,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> which the men of '76 put forth to the +world, with wonder at the seeming intuitive wisdom that burst so +suddenly upon the world at the very exigency which called it into +action. But in our humble opinion, the inception of these noble +sentiments was of much earlier date—their development not so miraculous +as we would like to flatter ourselves. Exactly one hundred years before +the American revolution, there was a Virginian revolution based upon +precisely similar principles. The struggle commenced between the +representatives of the people and the representatives of the king. The +former had petitioned for redress, "time after time,"—remonstrance +after remonstrance had been sent in to Sir William Berkley, but he was +deaf to all their reasonable petitions. The Cavaliers and citizens of +the colony now arrived at the infant capital, resolved to take upon +themselves as much power as was necessary for the defence of life, +freedom, and property. While the gathering multitude flocked to the +State House and public square in immense numbers, Bacon alighted at the +Berkley Arms, in order to change his dress, and before he joined them, +perform one act of duty which it would have been difficult for him to +say whether it was anticipated with most pain or pleasure. It was a +visit to Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter. He walked immediately from the +hotel to the quarters usually occupied by the servants of the Fairfax +family, in hopes of finding O'Reily—to despatch for his effects, which +he supposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> he could not obtain in person, without suddenly and +unpreparedly exposing himself to the notice of the family. But the house +was silent as the tomb! No gently curling smoke issued from the chimney; +no cheering light broke in at the windows; all was dark, noiseless, and +desolate. The domestic animals still lingered around their accustomed +haunts, apparently as sad in spirit as he who stood with his arms folded +gazing upon the deserted mansion. The streets were indeed crowded with +the eager and tumultuous throng, but after the first unsuccessful essay +at the door of the servant's hall, he had passed round into the garden +of the establishment, and stood as we have described him, a melancholy +spectator of the painful scene. There hung Virginia's bird cage against +the casings of the window, perhaps placed by her own hands on the +morning of the unfortunate catastrophe, but the little songster was +lying dead upon the floor. The blooming flowers around her windows hung +in the rich maturity of summer, but seemed to mock the desolation around +with their gay liveries. The dogs indeed lazily wagged their tails at +his presence, and fawned upon him, but they too, slunk away in +succession, as if conscious of the rupture which had taken place in his +relations with the family.</p> + +<p>What a flood of tender recollections rushed upon his memory as he stood +thus solitary in the flower garden of her who was the sole object of his +youthful and romantic dreams, and gazed upon the well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> known +objects,—each one the memento of some childish sport or pleasure. There +too stood the shaded seats and bowers of more mature adventures, +redolent of the richest fruits and flowers, and teeming with the +hallowed recollection of love's young dream. Nor were tears wanting to +the memory of that early friend and patron who had given him shelter in +his helpless days, from the cold neglect and inhospitality of the world, +and thus, perhaps, saved him the degradation of a support at the public +expense. These softened and subdued emotions humanized the savage mood +which sprung up from similar reminiscences on a previous occasion. The +current of his feelings had been changed by a single ray of hope. The +fountain was not now wholly poisoned, and the sweet water turned to gall +and bitterness. The scene therefore, painful and melancholy as it was, +produced beneficial results. But he marvelled that the house should be +so totally deserted. He supposed that the lady and her daughter might be +sojourning for a time with the Governor, but what had become of their +numerous domestics? They too could not be quartered at the gubernatorial +mansion. And above all, what had become of his own Hibernian follower? +Certainly, he was not thus provided for. He knew his privileged +servant's warm partialities and hatreds too well to believe that he had +accepted any hospitality from his master's bitterest enemy. At that +moment a servant of the Berkley Arms was passing, and having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> called him +into the garden, Bacon raised a window leading to his own apartments, +procured such of his garments as he most needed, and despatched them to +the hotel. When he had encased himself in these, somewhat to his own +satisfaction (and most young Cavaliers in those days wore their garments +after a rakish fashion) he sallied out to perform the duty which he felt +to be most incumbent on him. He knocked at the door of Sir William +Berkley's mansion, with very different feelings from any he had before +experienced on a similar occasion. The relations so lately discovered to +exist between himself and those for whom his visit was intended, as well +as his feelings toward those who had the right of controlling in some +measure the persons admitted to visit at the mansion, awakened anxious +thoughts not little heightened by the anticipation of meeting Beverly, +with whom an unexpected interview promised few agreeable emotions. The +family seemed determined too that he should have the benefit of all +these reflections, from the length of time they kept him standing in the +street. At length the porter opened the door with many profound +inclinations of the head, still standing however full within the +entrance, and continuing his over wrought politeness. "Is Mrs. Fairfax +within?" was the inquiry.</p> + +<p>"She is dead! may it please your honour!"</p> + +<p>"Dead!" uttered Bacon with a hoarse and trembling voice. "When and how?"</p> + +<p>"His Excellency has just received the news—she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> was murdered last night +at his country seat by the Indians."</p> + +<p>"Was Miss——was his niece there also?" he asked with a bewildered doubt +whether he had better inquire any further.</p> + +<p>"No, Sir, she lies ill of a fever up stairs. Dr. Roland scarcely ever +leaves her room, except to tell Master Frank the state of his patient."</p> + +<p>"I will enter for a moment and speak a few words with the good doctor."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, your honour, it gives me great pain to refuse any gentleman +admittance, but my orders are positive from Sir William himself to admit +no one to the sick room, and above all not to admit your honour within +these doors. I have over and over again turned away Miss Harriet, who +seems as if she would weep her eyes out, poor lady, at my young +mistress' illness and the Governor's cruelty, as she calls it."</p> + +<p>"I see you have a more tender heart than your master; here is gold for +you, not to bribe you against your duty or inclinations; but you will +fully earn it by informing Dr. Roland that Mr. Bacon wishes to speak +with him for five minutes at the Arms, upon business of the last +importance."</p> + +<p>"I will tell him, sir; but I do not think he will go, because he has +himself given the strictest injunctions that your name shall not be +whispered in the room, or even in the house. No longer than this +morning, sir, she heard them announce the death of her mother down +stairs. Her hearing is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> indeed extraordinary, sir, considering her so +poorly. Since that she has been much worse."</p> + +<p>Bacon did not choose to expose himself to the chance of insult any +longer by meeting some of the male members of the family, he therefore +took his departure from the inhospitable mansion, and skirted round the +unfrequented streets, in order to avoid the immense multitude collected +in the square and more frequented passages. He could hear the shouts and +cheering which echoed against the houses as he proceeded, but little did +he imagine that they welcomed his own nomination to the responsible +station of commander to the colonial forces. His intention was to +proceed to the Arms, and there await the arrival of the doctor; but he +no sooner entered the porch than he was seized by the hand in the well +known and sympathizing grasp of Dudley.</p> + +<p>While the friends were yet uttering their words of greeting, and before +they had propounded one of the many questions which they desired to ask, +Bacon was seized under each arm with a rude, but not disrespectful +familiarity—saluted by the title of General, and borne off toward the +state house in spite alike of remonstrances and entreaties.</p> + +<p>It was with great difficulty they could gain the square, so dense was +the barricade of ox carts loaded with furniture, and wagons thronged +with negro children; while families in carriages and on horseback, and +thousands of the multitude promiscuously huddled together, increased the +difficulty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> making way. Since he had heard the startling news of the +death of Mrs. Fairfax, his mind was more than ever bent upon joining the +proposed expedition; and had it not been for the interruption to the +anticipated meeting with the Doctor, no one could have appeared upon the +rostrum with greater alacrity.</p> + +<p>The contumaceous conduct of the Governor toward the respectful +remonstrances and petitions of the citizens, and more especially his +unwarranted and disrespectful treatment of himself, recurred to his mind +in good time. He mounted the rude platform hastily erected in front of +the state house, burning with indignation, and glowing with +patriotism.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> "He thanked the people for the unexpected and unmerited +honour they had just conferred upon him. He accepted the office tendered +to him with alacrity, and none the less so that yonder stubborn old man +will not endorse it with his authority, and sanction our proceeding +under the ordinary forms of law. What has produced this simultaneous +explosion in the colony? What are the circumstances which can thus array +all the wealth, intelligence and respectability of the people against +the constituted authorities. Let your crippled commerce, your taxed, +overburdened and deeply wronged citizens answer? The first has been +embarrassed by acts of parliament, which originated here, the most +severe, arbitrary and unconstitutional, while your citizens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> both gentle +and hardy, have been enormously and indiscriminately taxed in order to +redeem your soil from the immense and illegal grants to unworthy and +sometimes non-resident favourites.</p> + +<p>"There was a time when both Cavalier and yeoman dared to be free; when +your assembly, boldly just to their constituents, scrupled not to +contend with majesty itself in defence of our national and chartered +rights. But melancholy is the contrast which Virginia at this time +presents. The right of suffrage which was coeval with the existence of +the colony, which had lived through the arbitrary reign of James, and +with a short interruption through that of the first Charles, which was +again revived during the commonwealth, and was considered too sacred to +be touched even by the impure hands of the Protector, is now +sacrilegiously stolen from you during a season of profound peace and +security.</p> + +<p>"The mercenary soldiers, sent from the mother country at an immense +expense to each of you, fellow-citizens, where are they? Revelling upon +the fat of the land at distant and unthreatened posts, while our +fathers, and mothers, and brothers, and sisters, are butchered in cold +blood by the ruthless savage. Where is now the noble and generous +Fairfax, the favourite of the rich and the poor? Where his estimable and +benevolent lady? Murdered under the silent mouths of the rusty cannon +which surmount yonder palisade. Look at his sad and melancholy mansion, +once the scene of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> generous hospitality to you all—behold its deserted +halls and darkened windows. But this is only the nearest evidence before +our eyes—within the last twenty-four hours hundreds of worthy citizens +have shared the same fate.</p> + +<p>"Shall these things be longer borne, fellow-citizens?"</p> + +<p>"No! no! no!" burst from the multitude—"down with the Governor, and +extermination to the Indians."</p> + +<p>He continued. "Already I see a noble band of mounted youths, the sons of +your pride and your hopes—flanked by a proud little army of hardier +citizens; from these I would ask a pledge, that they never lay down +their arms, till their grievances are redressed."—</p> + +<p>"We swear—we swear," responded from all, and then, three cheers for +General Bacon, made the welkin ring. At this juncture the trumpet, drum, +and fife, were heard immediately behind the crowd, and a party of the +royal guard, some fifty in number, halted upon the outskirts of the +assemblage, while their officer undertook to read a proclamation from +the Governor, ordering the mob, as he was pleased to style the meeting, +to disperse under penalty of their lives and property. The <i>army of the +people</i>, already getting under arms, immediately commenced an evolution +by which the temporary commander of the mounted force would have been +thrown directly fronting the guard, and between them and the multitude.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +Bacon saw the intended movement, and instantly countermanded the orders, +"Let the people," said he, "deal with this handful of soldiers; we will +not weaken our force, and waste our energies by engaging in intestine +broils, when our strength is so much called for by the enemies of our +race upon the frontiers." The suggestion was immediately adopted; before +the hireling band could bring their weapons to the charge, the multitude +had closed in upon them, and disarmed them to a man. This accomplished, +they were taken to the beach, in spite of the remonstrances of many of +the more staid and sober of the Cavaliers and citizens, and there +soundly ducked. Very unmilitary indeed was their appearance, as they +were marshalled into battle array, all drooping and wet, and thus +marched to the music of an ignominious tune to the front of the +Governor's house.</p> + +<p>The frantic passion of Sir William Berkley can be more easily imagined +than described. He saw that he was left almost alone—that those +citizens most remarkable for their loyalty had deserted him. However +wilful and perverse, he saw the necessity of making temporary +concessions, although at the same time more than ever bent upon summary +vengeance against the most conspicuous leaders of the opposing party +whenever chance or fortune should again place the real power of the +colony in his hands. At present he felt that he was powerless—the very +means which he had taken to thwart and provoke the people now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> became +the source of the bitterest regret to himself, namely—sending the +mercenary soldiers of the crown to distant posts on fictitious +emergencies. He resolved therefore to disguise his real feelings until +the departure of the popular army, when he could recall his own regular +troops, and thus take signal vengeance upon such of the agitators as +should be left behind, and thence march immediately to the subjugation +of the force commanded by Bacon. Scarcely had the presence of the +dripping guard, as seen through his window, suggested these ideas, +before an opportunity offered of putting in practice his temporary +forbearance.</p> + +<p>A committee was announced, at the head of which was Mr. Harrison, his +former friend and supporter—they were the bearers of a conciliatory +letter from General Bacon. In this letter the young commander in chief, +in accordance with the suggestions of the older Cavaliers, respectfully +announced his election to the command of the volunteer army, and +concluded by requesting the Governor to heal all existing breaches by +sanctioning his own appointment, as well as that of the appended list of +young Cavaliers, to the various stations annexed to their names; and +that no delay might occur in the pursuit of the enemy, an immediate +answer was requested. The stout old Cavalier was ready to burst with ill +suppressed rage as he marked the cool and respectful tone of this +epistle, coming from one he most cordially<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> detested and despised, both +on public and private grounds.</p> + +<p>The committee waited until he had penned his answer, which was cold and +formal, but polite. In it he declined signing the commissions in the +absence of the council, but promised to convene it early on the ensuing +day, when he stated that he would despatch a courier after the army, if +the council thought proper to approve of the popular proceedings. He +promised also to dismantle the distant forts, and immediately to call in +the foreign troops for the defence of the capital.</p> + +<p>With this answer, the committee, he to whom it was addressed, and the +populace were well satisfied. It really promised more than they had +expected of the obstinate old Governor. Little did they dream of the +lurking treachery in the old man's heart, much less did they truly +interpret the equivocal language contained in the note itself, +concerning the foreign soldiers, and the defence of the capital. Little +did they imagine that they themselves were the foes against whom he +proposed to employ the mercenaries.</p> + +<p>The army now took up its line of march across the bridge, amidst the +cheers and blessings of the multitude; men, women, and children +following them to the boundaries of the island.</p> + +<p>Part of the force was sent up the river in sloops, in order to +co-operate with the main army in their design of driving the tribes +scattered along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> water courses of the peninsula, to a common point +of defence, and thus forcing them, if possible, into an open, general, +and decisive engagement. The youthful commander in chief was intimately +acquainted with all the localities between the seat of government, and +the falls of the river, (where Richmond now stands,) and he very +ingeniously arranged his forces by land and water, so that he might at +the same time drive the treacherous enemy before him through the +peninsula, and avoiding a premature battle, concentrate the enemy at the +point already indicated. It was with this general view, that one part of +his force was now sent up the river, while the other pursued the route +between the Chickahominy and the Pamunky rivers. These general views +were discussed, and the plan decided upon at a council of war, held on +the main land, immediately after the troops had passed the bridge. Bacon +having imparted to Charles Dudley, his Aid-de-Camp, such orders as the +emergency required, turned his horse's head again toward the bridge, and +retraced his steps to Jamestown.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>The martial sounds of drums and trumpets had scarcely died away over the +distant hills, when Sir William Berkley despatched couriers to the +various military outposts of the colony, peremptorily ordering the +commanders to march forthwith to Jamestown with the forces under their +command. To these couriers also were given secret instructions for the +private ears of such of his loyal friends among the Cavaliers living on +their routes, as he knew would adhere to him under any circumstances, +urgently soliciting their immediate presence at the capital. After these +were despatched, he summoned a secret conclave of such friends, equally +worthy of his trust, as were yet to be found in the city.</p> + +<p>Thus were they engaged, as General Bacon, habited in the rich military +fashion of the day, rode along the north western skirt of the city, his +own gay attire, and the splendid trappings of his horse wretchedly +mocking the desolation within. He drew up at the back court of the +Berkley Arms, dismounted, and passed immediately into a private room. +Having despatched a servant for the landlord, he employed the time +before he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> made his appearance, in meditations upon the singular and +protracted absence of Brian O'Reily, the new responsibilities which he +had just assumed, and the present condition and future destinies of the +fair invalid at the gubernatorial mansion.</p> + +<p>When the landlord entered he quickly demanded if Doctor Roland had +inquired for him during the forenoon, and was answered that he had not. +A servant was despatched with a note to the Doctor repeating his request +for an interview of five minutes at the Arms. After he had waited some +time in the most intense impatience, the servant returned with a verbal +message stating that the doctor would wait on Gen. Bacon immediately.</p> + +<p>"From whom did you obtain this answer?"</p> + +<p>"From the porter at the door, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very well, you may retire!"</p> + +<p>As he sat impatiently listening for the heavy footsteps of the doctor, +he heard a light fairy foot tripping up the stairs, toward his room, and +in the next instant a gentle tap at the door. His heart almost leaped to +his mouth as he indistinctly bade the applicant to come in. "Can it be +possible," said he to himself, "that Virginia has escaped from her +jailers? Was the story of her illness but an invention of the +Governor's?"</p> + +<p>Before he had answered these questions to his own satisfaction, the door +was suddenly thrust backward and Harriet Harrison stood before him.</p> + +<p>She was pale, agitated, and gasping for breath, as she threw herself +unasked into a seat. Bacon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> was from his previous emotions scarcely more +composed, and his heart beat tumultuously against his doublet, as he +endeavoured vainly to offer the courtesies due to her sex and standing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Bacon!" (gasped the agitated girl) "fly for your life."</p> + +<p>"On what account, my dear young lady?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you as quick as I can. I had just obtained admission to-day +to Virginia's room for the first time, when, after having spent the +time, and more, allotted to me by the doctor, as I was coming down the +stairs I had to pass the door of Sir William's library, and I +accidentally overheard him giving orders to an officer to collect some +soldiers from the barracks and make you a prisoner in this house. How he +knew you were here I know not; but I was no sooner out of the door than +I flew to the back court below, demanded of the servant holding your +horse to point out your room, and rushed in in this strange manner to +put you on your guard. Now, fly for your life—you have not a moment to +lose!"</p> + +<p>"One word of Virginia, your fair friend, and I am gone. Will she +survive? Is her reason unsettled? Does she believe the strange story of +the Recluse?"</p> + +<p>"In a word then, she is better—of sound mind, and in her heart does not +believe one word of that story, though sober reason is strangely +perplexed."</p> + +<p>"One word more, and I have done. Does she inquire for me?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The very first word she said to me was, 'Does Nathaniel believe it?' +Now go, while yet you may. Should any new emergency arise in your +absence I will despatch a courier after you."</p> + +<p>"Yet one message to Virginia. Tell her that I have accidentally +discovered in the trinket preserved by her father, and worn by me in the +days of my infancy, the likeness of her whom I have every reason to +believe my mother. Tell her not to hope too sanguinely, but to give that +circumstance its weight, and trust to the developments of time; and now +I commit you both, my dearest friends, to the protection of an +overruling Providence; farewell."</p> + +<p>With these parting words he rushed down stairs, mounted his fleet +charger, and swiftly left the court just as the Governor's emissaries +entered the front porch of the house to arrest him.</p> + +<p>Harriet drew her veil closely over her face, and almost as fleetly +sought her father's dwelling.</p> + +<p>Our hero in a very few minutes placed the river which separates the +island from the main land between him and his pursuers. The sun was yet +above the western horizon, and the clouds which spread in fleecy and +stationary masses, were tinted with the softest hues of the violet and +the rose, filling the mind with pleasing images of repose, cheerfulness, +and hope. These soothing and delightful influences of the summer evening +were in a great measure lost however upon our hero as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> pursued his +solitary way through the unbroken forest in the immediate footsteps of +the army.</p> + +<p>Besides the inevitable suspense attending the developments of his own +origin and destiny—there were immediate anticipations before him of no +pleasing character. He had just assumed the responsibilities of an +office, which at the very outset was attended with the most painful +embarrassments. His keen military eye ran over the ground occupied by +the enemies of his country, and perceived at once that to make his +enterprise completely and permanently successful, the savages must be +driven entirely from the peninsula.</p> + +<p>The very first on the list of these nations was the Chickahominy, at the +head of which was the youthful queen, who had so lately perilled her +life and her authority for his own salvation from the tortures of her +countrymen. His decisive and energetic mind perceived the stern +necessity which existed of driving these melancholy relics of once +powerful nations far distant from the haunts of the white man. The +question was not now presented to his mind, whether a foreign nation +should land upon the shores of these aboriginal possessors. That +question had long since been decided. It was now a matter of life or +death with the European settlers and their descendants—a question of +existence or no existence—permanent peace or continual murders. The +whites had tried all the conciliatory measures of which they supposed +themselves possessed. Peace after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> peace had succeeded to the frequent +fires and bloodshed of the savages. The calumet had been smoked time +after time, and hostage after hostage had been exchanged, yet there was +no peace and security for the white man. The right of the aboriginals to +the soil was indeed plain and indisputable; yet now that the Europeans +were in possession, whether by purchase or conquest, the absolute +necessity of offensive warfare against them was equally plain and +unquestioned in his mind. These views had been hastily communicated to +the council of officers held on the banks of the river, at the +commencement of the march, and unanimously concurred in by them. +Notwithstanding this unanimity of opinion among his associates in +command, the very first duty which presented itself in accordance with +these views, harrowed his feelings in the most painful manner. His +imagination carried him forward to the succeeding morning, when his +followers would in all probability be carrying fire and sword into the +heart of the settlement ruled by his preserver. As the refined and +feeling surgeon weeps in secret over the necessity of a painful and +dangerous operation upon a delicate female friend, yet subdues his +feelings and steels his nerves for the approaching trial, so our +youthful commander silenced the rising weakness in his heart, and urged +his steed still deeper into the forest. He determined to temper and +soften stern necessity with humanity.</p> + +<p>A few hours' ride brought him up with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> baggage and artillery of the +army. The sun had already gone down, but a brilliant starlight, and a +balmy and serene air revived his drooping spirits, as he swiftly passed +these lumbering appendages.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he placed himself at the head of the marching column, and +perceived that the flower and chivalry of his command—the mounted +Cavaliers, were still in advance of him, before the sharp quick report +of their fire-arms was heard at some three quarters of a mile distance +in advance. These were quickly succeeded by the savage war-whoop, and in +a few moments a bright red column of fire and smoke shot up towards the +heavens immediately in front. His spurs were dashed into his charger's +flanks, and he flew through the fitfully illuminated forest toward a +gently swelling hill from beyond which the light seemed to proceed.</p> + +<p>When he had gained this eminence, a sight greeted his eyes which +awakened all the tenderest sympathies of his nature. Orapacs, the sole +remaining village of the Chickahominies—the scene of his late +tortures—as well as his preservation, was wrapped in flames. Ever and +anon a terrified or wounded savage came darting through the forest +heedless alike of him and of the martial sounds in his rear. He reined +up his courser on the summit and sadly viewed the scene.</p> + +<p>His commands were no longer necessary for the existing emergency. The +deed, for which he had been so laboriously and studiously preparing his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +mind was done. The royal wigwam, the very scene of his shelter, and of +Wyanokee's hospitality, was already enveloped by the devouring element. +A few struggling and desperate warriors still kept up the unequal +contest, but in a few moments, even the despairing yells of these were +hushed in the cold and everlasting silence of death. Painfully and +intently he gazed upon the crumbling walls of the once peaceful home of +his Indian friend. He could perceive no appearance of the unfortunate +queen. His imagination immediately conjured up the image of the heroic +maiden, her form bleeding and mutilated as it lay among the last +defenders of the land of her fathers. By a singular sophistry of the +mind, he consoled himself by the reflection, that the orders had not +proceeded from his lips—that his hand had no part in the matter, +although he had himself laid down the plan of the campaign, of which the +scene before him was the first result. True, he had mentioned no exact +time for the accomplishment of this measure, and the ardour of his young +companions in arms had outstripped his own intentions; nevertheless, the +design was his, however much he might soothe his own feelings by the +want of personal participation.</p> + +<p>By the time that the infantry and heavy artillery had arrived upon the +spot occupied by their General, the village of Orapacs was a heap of +smouldering ruins. The scene was again covered with darkness, save when +it was illuminated at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> intervals by a fitful gleam, as some quivering +ruin fell tardily among the smouldering embers of the walls which had +already fallen. He assumed the command of his troops, and marched them +into the plain between the place they then occupied, and the site of the +melancholy scene we have described. By his orders also, the trumpets +were ordered to command the return of the impetuous Cavaliers. Dudley +and his compatriots soon came bounding over the plain, exhilarated with +the first flush of success, and not a little surprised at the cold and +respectful salutations which greeted them from their commander. Most of +them, however, were acquainted with his late sufferings and feeble +bodily health, and to this cause they were willing to attribute his +present want of euthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Bacon had no sooner issued the necessary orders for the night than, +taking Dudley by the arm, he walked forth into the forest beyond the +sentinels already posted.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Dudley," (said he in a hurried and agitated voice,) "was she +slain?"</p> + +<p>"Was who slain?"</p> + +<p>"The queen of these dominions!"</p> + +<p>"No, I believe not. I think she was borne from the scene early in the +conflict, by some of her tribe."</p> + +<p>"Thank God!" he fervently ejaculated, and then addressing himself to his +aid, he continued, "Return, Dudley, to the camp—superintend the +execution of the orders I have issued for our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> security, in person, but +follow me not, and suffer no one, either officer or soldier, to approach +the ruins. I will return in the course of a couple of hours."</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, he suddenly disappeared through the forest, and his +companion returned to the camp.</p> + +<p>With slow and melancholy steps our hero approached the late busy and +animated scene. The beasts of prey were sending up their savage, but +plaintive notes in horrible unison with his own feelings. The cool +evening breeze fanned the dying embers, and occasionally loaded the +atmosphere with brilliant showers of sparks and flakes of fire. As these +rolled over his person and fell dead upon his garments, he folded his +arms, and contemplated the ruins of the wigwam in which he had found +protection.</p> + +<p>"There," said he, "was perhaps the birth-place of a hundred monarchs of +these forests. Until civilized man intruded upon these dominions, they +were in their own, and nature's way, joyous, prosperous, and happy. They +have resided amidst the shades of these venerable trees, perhaps since +time began! The very waters of the stream bubbling joyously over yonder +pebbles, have borrowed their name. Where are they all now? The last male +youth of their kingly line was slain by these hands, and the last +habitations of his race fired and plundered by soldiers owing obedience +to my commands. The plough and the harrow will soon break down alike +their hearth-stones and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> scene of their council fires. Yea, and the +very monuments of their dead must be levelled to meet the ever craving +demands of civilized existence. But pshaw! is this the preparation to +steel a soldier's heart, and fire it with military ardour and +enthusiasm? Let me rather ponder upon my own sufferings on this spot. +Let me remember the groans of dying old men, women, and children, which +rent the air twelve hours since. And above all, let me bear in mind the +despairing shrieks of her, who was more than a mother to me, of her who +clothed and fed and protected me in infancy. Where is she now?"</p> + +<p>"She is alive and well!" answered a feeble and plaintive voice from the +wild flowers and shrubbery which grew upon an earthen monument erected +to the savage dead.</p> + +<p>"Who is it that speaks?"</p> + +<p>"One that had better have slept with those who sleep beneath!"</p> + +<p>"Wyanokee?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, who is left but Wyanokee and these mouldering bones beneath, of all +the proud race that once trod these plains unchallenged, and free as the +water that bubbles at your feet."</p> + +<p>He approached the rude monument as she spoke. It consisted of a +grass-grown mount some thirty feet in length, by ten in height and +breadth, and was surmounted by thick clustering briers and wild flowers. +The youthful queen was sitting upon the margin of the tumulus, her head +resting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> upon her hand, and it in its turn supported on her knee. As the +officer approached, she stood erect upon the mount. Her person was clad +and ornamented much as when he had last seen her, except that above one +shoulder protruded a richly carved unstrung bow, and from the other, a +quiver of feather-tipped arrows crossing the bow near her waist. The +soldier replied,</p> + +<p>"It is almost useless for me to profess now, how wholly, how profoundly, +I sympathize with you in witnessing this scene of desolation. Naught but +the dictates of inevitable necessity could have induced the army under +my command to perpetrate this melancholy devastation. But I trust that +the soothing influences of time, your own good sense, and the +ministrations of your kind white friends, will reconcile you to these +stern decrees of fate."</p> + +<p>"Kind indeed is the white man's sympathy—very kind. He applies the +torch to the wigwam of his red friend, shoots at his women and children +as they run from the destruction within, and then he weeps over the +ruins which his own hands have made."</p> + +<p>"It is even so, Wyanokee. I do not expect you to understand or +appreciate my feelings upon the instant; but when you are once again +peacefully settled at Jamestown with your sorrowing young friend, and +will cast your eyes over this vast and fertile country, and see to what +little ends its resources are wasted, and on the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> hand, what +countless multitudes are driven hither by the crowded state of other +parts of the world, you will begin to see the necessity which is driving +your red brethren to the far west. You can then form some conception of +the now unseen power behind, which is urging them forward. You will see +the great comprehension and sublime spectacle of God's political +economy! you will see it in its beauty and its justice. You feel the +partial and limited effects of these swelling waves of the great +creation now upon yourself and your nation. I grant they are hard to be +borne, but once place yourself above these personal considerations, and +compare the demands of a world with the handful of warriors lying dead +around those ruins, and you will bow to the justice of the decree which +has gone forth against your people!"</p> + +<p>"Does your Great Spirit then only care for the good of his white +children? You taught me to believe that he too created the red men, and +placed them upon these hunting grounds, that he cared as much for them +as he did for their white brethren—but now it seems he is angry with +the poor red man, because he lives and hunts as he was taught, by the +Great Spirit himself. These hunting grounds are now wanted for his other +children, and those to whom he first gave them, must not only yield them +up, but they must be driven by the fire and the thunder, and the long +knives of those who have been professing themselves our brethren."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your view of the case is a very natural and plausible one, yet it seems +to me you have overlooked that point in it, upon which the whole matter +turns. Let us for one moment grant the necessity of making room on your +hunting grounds for your white brethren, who are crowded out of the +older countries. There seemed at first no need to disturb the red men, +there was room enough here for all, we were content to live upon this +kind and neighbourly footing. Had your brethren been equally content, +the great purposes of the Creator would have been answered without any +destruction of his red or white children. Have the red men so demeaned +themselves toward the whites that we could all dwell here together? Let +the massacre of last night speak! You point to yonder smouldering ruins +and bloody corpses. I point to the bleeding bodies of my countrymen and +friends, and their demolished dwellings as the cause—the direct cause +of the desolation you behold."</p> + +<p>"The white man talks very fast—and very well—he talks for the Great +Spirit and himself too; but who talks for the poor red man, but +Wyanokee. All you say is very good for the white men upon our hunting +grounds, and the white men driven from over the great waters, and for +the white men left behind. It leaves room to hunt and plant corn <i>there</i> +for the white men, and finds room <i>here</i> to hunt and plant corn, but you +do not give the poor red man any hunting ground. You say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> we must go to +the far west, but how long will it be the far west? How many of your +white friends are coming over the big waters? How far is this place, +where the red man will not be driven from his new hunting ground? If we +cannot live and smoke the calumet of peace together, we must have +separate hunting grounds. Where are our hunting grounds? Ah, I see your +eye reaches where the clouds and the blue mountains come together—to +the end of the world, we must go, like those beneath us to the hunting +grounds of the Great Spirit."</p> + +<p>"Not so, Wyanokee, we would willingly spare the effusion of blood, and +when our arms have taught the men who assembled here two days ago, our +firm determination always to avenge the murder of our friends and the +plunder of their property, it is our intention to propose a fair and +permanent peace. We will endeavour to convince them of the necessity of +abandoning for ever the country between these two great rivers, and +moving their hunting grounds where the interests of the two races cannot +come in conflict."</p> + +<p>"O yes, you will run the long knives through their bodies, and then +smoke the calumet! You will drive us from our homes, and then you will +persuade us to give them up to the white man."</p> + +<p>"You are not now in a proper mood to reason upon this subject calmly, my +gentle friend, nor do I wonder at it; but the time will come when your +views of this matter will be similar to my own."</p> + +<p>"No, Wyanokee cannot see through the white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> man's eyes; she has not yet +learned to forget her kindred and her country. She came here to-night to +sit upon the graves of the great hunters and warriors who slept here +with their calumets and tomahawks beside them, long before the long +knives came among us. She will carry away from this place to night, this +little flower planted by her own hands over the graves of her fathers +and brothers. She would leave it here to spread its flowers over their +ancient war paths and their graves, but even these silent and peaceful +bones, and these harmless flowers must share the fate of them who buried +the one and planted the other. Wyanokee will never see this place +more—never again be near the bones of her fathers, until she meets them +all at the hunting ground of the Great Spirit. Farewell, home and +country and friends, and fare thee well, ungrateful man; when next the +Indian maiden steps between thee and the tomahawk of her countrymen +repay not her kindness with the torch to her wigwam and the long knife +to her heart."</p> + +<p>With these bitter words of parting, she descended from the mound with +dignity, and disappeared through the forest, notwithstanding the urgent +entreaties of Bacon, that she would return. She gave no other evidence +of heeding him than turning back the palm of her hand toward him, and +leaning her head in the opposite direction, as if she were exorcising an +evil spirit. He made no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> other attempt to stay her progress; once indeed +the thought occurred to him to hail the sentinel and arrest her for her +own sake, but the idea was as speedily abandoned. He determined to leave +her destiny wholly in the hands of him who first decreed it. For a +moment he ascended the mount and cast his eye over the wide-spread and +melancholy desolation, and then rapidly retraced his steps to the camp. +When there, his first orders were to have the slain warriors of the +expatriated tribes, buried in the tomb of their forefathers, while his +own personal attention was bestowed upon the condition of the prisoners +taken during the demolition of the village.</p> + +<p>They sat round the tents appropriated to their use, in stern and sullen +dignity. Wounded or whole, no sound escaped their lips; and their food +and drink remained untouched before them. They noticed the entrance of +the commander in chief no more than if he had been an insignificant +creeping reptile of the earth; no signs of recognition lighted up their +features, though most or all of them must have been present at the scene +of his own tortures. While Bacon stood no unmoved spectator of the calm +unshaken fortitude with which they bore their misfortunes, an incident +occurred that served to exhibit the stern qualities of their pride in +still bolder relief. One of the old warriors had been taken while +attempting to escape with one of his children, after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> having fought +until there was not a vestige of hope remaining for the preservation of +his people and their homes. He was brought into the camp, together with +his child. While the prisoners were all sitting round in sullen dignity, +and the general of the invading army stood surveying them as we have +mentioned, this little child came entreatingly to its father's knees, +and begged for the food which stood untouched before his face. He made +no verbal reply—a momentary weakness softened his countenance as he +gazed into the face of the tender petitioner, but in the next, he raised +his tomahawk and sank it deep into the brain of his child before any one +could arrest his arm. The innocent and unconscious victim fell without a +groan or struggle, and the stern old warrior reinserted the handle of +his weapon in his belt, crossed his arms upon his breast, and resumed +his former attitude of immobility. Bacon gazed at him in astonishment +and horror for an instant, and then wheeled suddenly round to retire +from an exhibition of humanity, so rude, ferocious, and appalling. But +as he was about to emerge from the portal of the tent, Wyanokee was +rudely thrust into the door, and they stood face to face.</p> + +<p>His first impulse was to draw his sword, and rush upon the two soldiers +who had guarded the prisoner, but a moment's reflection served to remind +him that they had but obeyed his own general orders. He returned the +half drawn weapon therefore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> and stood an embarrassed spectator of the +captive maiden's searching glances, as her eyes wandered around the +room, first resting upon her unfortunate companions in captivity, next +upon the corpse of the slain infant, and lastly upon the commander +himself. He had seen her previously when her subdued manners and +lady-like deportment, inclined him in communing with her to forget her +Indian origin, but he saw her now with all her native impulses roused to +their highest tension. Her eye flashed fire as it rested upon him after +completing her survey, and she thus addressed him, stepping a few paces +backward, while her person was drawn up to its utmost height, and her +bosom heaved with struggling emotions.</p> + +<p>"Are you the same person who sometime since undertook to inspire noble +sentiments into the mind of the purest being that ever honoured a white +skin? Are you the same youth who aspired to her hand and renounced it on +the marriage night, because of kindred blood? Are you the youth whose +fair and deceitful form, and apparently noble nature, once made Wyanokee +look with contempt upon this heroic race of warriors? If the form, the +person be the same, the Great Spirit of evil has poisoned the fountains +of your heart, and turned your goodness and your honour to cruelty and +cunning. How far has the great light gone down behind the sea, since you +stood upon the ruins of all that Wyanokee loved, and professed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> sorrow +for their destruction, and sympathy in her misfortunes? When you stood +before her, and dared not lay your own hands upon her person!—you could +leave her untouched upon the grave of her great warriors—you dared not +seek to injure her, lest their spirits should return from the happy +hunting ground and kill you on the spot. But you could deceitfully order +these poor long knives to stand in her path and prevent her from taking +the last look, and heaving the last sigh that should ever be looked and +uttered in these forests."</p> + +<p>"I gave no orders for your arrest, Wyanokee; I have not spoken to the +sentinels since I saw you!"</p> + +<p>"But you could stand and mourn with Wyanokee over the ashes of her +fathers' wigwam, when you had just come from ordering these to carry her +into captivity. They told me themselves that they acted by your orders. +Oh how cruel, how deceitful is the white man! He gladdens the poor +Indian's eyes with his glittering toys, till he cheats him of all the +corn laid up for his squaws during the winter. He smokes the calumet +with the chiefs, while his own followers are burning down the houses of +their nation. You, sir, redeemed Wyanokee from captivity, to carry her +into a more galling bondage. You taught her the knowledge of the white +man, only that she might multiply her sorrows, when this long foreseen +night should come. Was it for this that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> redeemed you from the red +hot tortures of these chiefs? Did you come upon their hunting ground to +learn how to torture in preparation for this occasion, and trusting to +Wyanokee's soft and foolish heart for your safe return? Lead them and +her to the stake! we will show the white warrior how to endure the +tortures of our enemies without fainting like women."</p> + +<p>"You will not listen to me, Wyanokee, else I could have told you long +ago, that I had given no orders to the sentinels. We do not desire your +captivity? you are free to go now whithersoever you choose, provided you +keep beyond the range of our sentinels. What our race has done against +yours, has only been done to protect their own lives and property, and +to make that protection secure and permanent. You know that we never +torture prisoners; when the war is ended and peace obtained, these +warriors shall go free and unharmed. I see that they have refused to +touch their food, under the belief that they are to suffer, but I will +leave you to undeceive them, after which you are free to go or to +remain. If the latter be your choice, a tent shall be provided for your +sole accommodation."</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, he hastily left the tent and sought the marquée +occupied by the higher grade of officers and the more aristocratic of +the Cavaliers. Gay sounds of song and minstrelsy greeted his ears as he +approached the spot—Bacchanalian scraps promiscuously chimed in chorus +with more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> sentimental ditties, and all occasionally drowned in +boisterous shouts of laughter. These evidences of the mood in which he +should find his associates deterred him from entering, under his present +feelings, and he therefore passed on to his own solitary quarters. In a +few moments he was extended upon such a bed as a camp affords, with no +external source of interruption to his repose, save the distant cries of +the wild beasts, and the more monotonous tread of the sentinel, as he +paced his narrow limits in the performance of his duty.</p> + +<p>The sun rose the next morning over the ruins of Orapacs and the scene of +the late strife in unclouded splendour. The enlivening notes of drums +and trumpets had long since roused the soldiers from their slumbers, and +having despatched their morning meal, they were speedily forming into +marching order. The commander of this imposing little army mounted his +charger, and galloped along the forming battalions; his eye bright and +serene, his spirits, in comparison with the previous night, bounding and +elastic. Having detailed to his council of officers his intention of +next attacking the king of Pamunky, the orders for the march were given, +and the lines wheeled into columns, headed by the gay and brilliant +<i>cortége</i> of youthful Cavaliers.</p> + +<p>The prisoners were marched into the centre of the column, and as they +assumed their station, the general ran his anxious eye eagerly over +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> persons, to ascertain whether his former pupil had availed +herself of the accommodations provided by his orders. But no such +graceful form greeted his sight, and he learned from the Captain of the +guard that she had departed soon after he had himself left the +prisoners—entirely alone. A momentary sadness shaded his brow, as he +reflected upon the desolate condition of the Indian maiden, but it was +soon lost in the absorbing duties of his station.</p> + +<p>Toward evening, of the ensuing day, as the army pursued their route +between the Chickahominy and Pamunky Rivers, the vanguard discovered +several of the Pamunky tribe, skulking among the trees of the forest +immediately in advance of them. The general, apprehending an ambuscade, +immediately ordered the Cavaliers to fall back upon the main body of the +army, while a practised band of rangers were ordered to examine the +cover of the wood. Scarcely had these orders been transmitted to their +various destinations, before a bright beacon fire shot its spiral column +of smoke and flame high above the surrounding trees. What this new +device portended the commander could not divine, nor could the council, +which was immediately summoned, give to it a satisfactory +interpretation. The Rangers returned without discovering any signs of an +ambuscade, though they had penetrated to the huge fire which lighted up +the forest. Not an Indian was to be seen there or beyond. Bacon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> and his +staff rode forward to the scene in person—but the aid of a glass +enabled him to discover nothing more.</p> + +<p>The army was again put in motion, and every precaution used which some +experience in Indian warfare had taught the general was so necessary. +For miles they proceeded with the most watchful caution, until the +absence of the undergrowth in the forest taught them that it had been +fired, and thereby disclosed the probability of their being in the near +neighbourhood of the town of the Pamunkies. The verdant glades were +lighted up at intervals by broad masses of red light from the setting +sun, as they fell between the natural interstices of the trees. The +appearance of the woodland vista before them was romantic and +picturesque in the extreme. The forest had the aspect of a country which +had been settled for ages. The venerable trees, surmounted with green +and brown moss, were now occasionally richly bronzed with the rays of +the sun as they fell horizontally upon their hoary trunks, and the whole +more resembled an ancient and venerable park, which some wealthy +gentleman had inherited from careful and provident ancestors, than a +wild woodland, fresh from the hands of nature, in which the woodman's +axe had never been heard, and upon which no other care or culture had +been bestowed than the occasional torch of the savage.</p> + +<p>They were not left long to revel in these wild beauties—a more +appalling scene awaited them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> The sun was fast declining behind the +river hills of the Chickahominy and darkness encircling the sombre +groves in which they rode, when suddenly a hundred fires cast a lurid +glare across their path, and the army instinctively halted on beholding +the town of the Pamunkies wrapped in flames. Again they were put in +motion, and cautiously approached the spot. Bacon fearing that some +treachery lurked beneath these unexpected measures of the Indians, could +scarcely restrain the impetuosity of his mounted force, spurred on by +curiosity to see in what new device of savage warfare they would +terminate.</p> + +<p>They arrived upon the skirts of the town, however, and within the +influence of the heat, without hindrance or adventure; and what no less +surprised them, not a living creature was perceptible, around or near +the conflagration.</p> + +<p>The first idea that suggested itself to the mind of Bacon was, that the +savages had, in despair, thrown themselves into the burning ruins of +their own dwellings. He now understood the meaning of the beacon light +on their route; "it was the signal for commencing the tragedy," he +muttered to himself as he reined up his steed and ordering his troops to +halt, brought them into line along the outskirts of the burning village, +which, like the one they had themselves fired, was constructed upon the +banks of the Pamunky river. While the troops thus stood upon their arms, +some of the officers rode through the blazing wigwams, very much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +against the will of their rearing and plunging chargers. It was +completely deserted; but while they were consulting upon the measures to +be taken, a tumultuous and astounding yell burst suddenly upon their +startled ears. The intense light of the burning village rendered the +twilight gloom around as dark as midnight by the contrast, and not a +savage could anywhere be seen. The mounted troop made a wide sweep round +the alignment, but with no better success. Another astounding shout of +savage voices ascended to the clouds. Many of the frail and tottering +wigwams tumbled in at the same moment—throwing the light in a lower +line of vision over the water, so that they were enabled to discover a +large body of mounted Pamunkies drawn up like themselves on the opposite +bank of the river. Their grim and painted visages, close shaven crowns, +scalp locks, and gaudy feathers, appeared through the medium of the red +and flickering light reflected from the water, in horrible distinctness. +A legion of devils from the infernal regions, clothed in all the horrors +of German poetry, never startled the senses and aroused the imagination +more than did this spectacle its amazed beholders. With another yell and +a flourish of their tomahawks above their heads, the Indians +simultaneously wheeled their horses and flew over the plain towards the +source of the river. In a few moments all was silent as death, save the +crackling of the burning wigwams. The squaws and children seemed to have +been long since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> removed. Again the colonial army—or to speak more +properly, the army of the people, encamped before the ruins of an +ancient and venerable settlement.</p> + +<p>Here were no painful reminiscences for the sensitive but energetic +commander. The savages were flying before his as yet scarcely tried +army, in the very direction in which it was his purpose to drive them. +He knew them too well to believe that the whole peninsula would be thus +tamely abandoned, and he issued his orders, before lying down to rest, +for redoubled vigilance through the night, and an early march in the +morning toward the falls of the Powhatan, where he had every reason to +believe that the tribes of the former confederacy were again drawing to +a head.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>Our hero was not deceived in his supposition, that the savage tribes +inhabiting the Peninsula would make a desperate effort to retain +possession of a country so admirably adapted to their mode of life. Two +noble rivers, one on either hand, abounding with a variety of fish, and +a fertile soil, yielding its treasures with little culture, were +considerations in the eyes of these ignorant but not misjudging sons of +the forest, not to be surrendered without a struggle.</p> + +<p>As the army of the colonists pursued its march toward the point already +indicated as the rendezvous of the again confederated tribes, it was +constantly harassed with alarms—signal fires and flying bodies of +mounted warriors, first cutting off their communication with the +river—now assailing the vanguard, and then hovering upon the rear. +Three weeks and more were thus consumed in partial and unsatisfactory +engagements; the skirmishers first approaching one river, upon the +representation of some treacherous savage, and then hurrying back in the +opposite direction to meet some illusive demonstration made by the +cunning enemy. The youthful commander soon perceived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> that this mode of +warfare was the one exactly suited to the nature and condition of his +foes, and the least adapted to the impetuous courage of his own troops. +He saw too, that the savages had the double design of wearying out their +invaders in the manner we have described, and of collecting and +concentrating their forces, at some point where their own mode of +warfare could be rendered available, without exposing themselves to the +destructive discharges of artillery which they still held in +superstitious terror. A very little reflection satisfied him that there +would be no immediate danger in pursuing the direct route between the +Powhatan and Chickahominy rivers, toward the falls of the former, where +he had already some intimation that the enemy were collecting in great +force. He was well satisfied that the tribes already dislodged had +removed all their winter provisions, and their wigwams being destroyed, +there could be little hazard to the city in disregarding their daily +demonstrations in his front, flank, and rear. Accordingly his troops +were concentrated in a solid column, and marched directly toward the +falls, entirely disregarding the petty annoyances which had already +detained them so ingloriously in the Peninsula.</p> + +<p>While they were marching toward the scene of the great and final +struggle for supremacy between their own race and the Aborigines, in +this narrow neck of land, which had so long been the scene of +contention, we will retrace our steps for a short<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> space, in order to +bring up the proceedings at Jamestown to the point at which we have just +arrived.</p> + +<p>In doing so, however, it is not our intention to fatigue the reader with +a minute account of the long and tedious days, and still more wretched +nights, spent by our heroine after the shock given to her delicate +constitution by the painful and unexpected adventure in the chapel, and +by the subsequently reported death of her mother under peculiarly awful +and afflicting circumstances. The reader has doubtless more truly +imagined her condition during the first paroxysms of the fever, than we +could describe it. Down to the time when her favourite and confidant was +permitted to enter her room, the daily occurrences of her yet endangered +life were sad and monotonous enough, but the paramount cravings of +diseased nature once assuaged, her mental excitement once more rose in +the ascendant. Not that her reason ever became deranged, except from +violent febrile action during the height of the attack; however feeble +her physical organization, her mental powers were clear and unclouded, +and her spirits, though of necessity somewhat broken, were firm and +elastic. The truth is, that she did not believe the assertion of the +Recluse by which the nuptial ceremony was so dreadfully interrupted. She +had indeed a feeling of superstitious reverence for whatever came from +his lips, but she had also seen the wild fire of his eye when under deep +excitement, and she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> did not therefore give implicit confidence to any +declaration he should make.</p> + +<p>This questioning of his oracular authority was an after-consideration it +is true, and was itself prompted by other feelings, having their +foundation in the affections of the heart. She could not believe that +her lover was her own brother; her feelings toward him were +peculiar—powerful, and different from the love of mere kindred. +Besides, there were little almost undefinable circumstances in the +intercourse of their halcyon days, which she did not believe, could in +the nature of man, have taken place between brother and sister. She most +truly thought that her lover and herself were expressly created for each +other; that their union had been decreed in heaven. That in the first +dawnings of their mutual understanding of each other, there had been +electrical, spiritual and ever sublime transmissions of mutual +intelligence and exquisite pleasure, which could not exist between +children of the same parents. These were some of the reasonings which +first led her to doubt the infallibility of the Recluse, or rather this +was something like the process by which she arrived at firm and +undoubting conviction. She viewed the case in this light from the very +first moment of unclouded perception, but at first it was a wild +tumultuous and suffocating mixture of vague perceptions, and scarcely +permitted hopes. As she gradually analyzed her feelings, and examined +the reasons for her convictions, the truth dawned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> more and more clearly +upon her view. She was one day sitting, propped up on her couch, during +the three weeks in which Bacon was engaged in his Indian campaign, the +doctor sitting by her side with his finger upon her pulse. Both were +silent and abstracted. The pale beautiful countenance of the invalid was +fixed in deep and earnest thought. Her eyes wandered through an open +window, and sought a resting place upon some sunny spot of green and +refreshing nature. Her lips moved just perceptibly, as if she were +conversing with some one in an under tone. At length she slightly raised +her head, her eyes sparkled with the brilliancy of stars, waxing +brighter and brighter, and her head rising higher and higher from her +pillow, until she screamed in wild delight, "The light of heaven and +love's inspiration itself declare it false."</p> + +<p>The doctor rose with a grave and anxious look, and placing one hand upon +her shoulders, and with the other removing the pillows that supported +her, laid her gently down, saying,</p> + +<p>"I fear there is more excitement about your head to-day, my dear young +lady; if it continues you must lose blood again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear doctor, there is indeed excitement about my head and my heart +too, but it is not the excitement of fever; or if it is, it is a dear +delightful fever, which I trust in God will never leave me, for it came +just now wafted on my brain as if by the music of the spheres."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your room must be darkened again, and the cold applications to your +head repeated."</p> + +<p>"You think I am losing my senses again, dear doctor, but I assure you I +am just regaining them, as I will show you from this time forward. I +have now done with physic. I have a medicine here," (and she laid her +hand upon her heart, while a bewitching smile played around her mouth, +that staggered the good doctor,) "which is worth more to me than all the +costly drugs of India, or the islands of the sea."</p> + +<p>And the event justified her words. Her mind was no sooner settled in +deep conviction, and her heart comparatively at ease, than she began +rapidly to recover. It was some days before the scene just related, when +Harriet Harrison was admitted to her presence, and when, as the reader +has already learned from that maiden herself, Virginia propounded to her +the questions touching her lover's belief in their reported +relationship, which were repeated by Miss Harrison to Bacon.</p> + +<p>So long as that interview continued between the two intimates, +untramelled by the presence of a third person, it was one of deep +interest; but unfortunately the heir of the house had too much reason to +suspect that Harriet's feelings were engaged in another's interest, long +to indulge them with an unbroken interview. Virginia barely had time to +ask those questions, and whisper to her friend the tidings of her own +dawning hopes, before the doctor entered, attended to the door<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> as +Harriet perceived through the partial opening, by Frank Beverly himself; +she therefore took her leave, promising a speedy return.</p> + +<p>As she retired from the chamber of the invalid, she accidentally +overheard the Governor's orders for Bacon's arrest, the result of which +has already been related. Her next visit to the house was on the day of +the scene between the doctor and his patient, which we have just +attempted to describe. She was ushered into the room of state, usually +occupied by the Governor for the reception of his most distinguished +guests. No formality was neglected in duly receiving her at the door, +and conducting her to this presence chamber of his Excellency, by the +official who acted as master of ceremonies.</p> + +<p>"I have no business of state to communicate to the Governor, Sir Porter; +I came to see his niece!"</p> + +<p>The porter bowed profoundly as he replied, "But his Excellency has some +business with you, madam, as he informed me, when he directed me to +usher you into this apartment." Another profound inclination followed, +with an accompaniment of rubbing hands and shuffling his feet backward; +while the arch, but somewhat alarmed and astonished maiden, was left to +con her speech to the Governor at her leisure. After a most tedious +interval of half an hour, the formal representative of majesty made his +appearance, with such a profusion of bows that his merry master himself +would have smiled to witness them. Of course Harriet bit her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> lips in +order to restrain their mirthful inclinations. While the old knight drew +a chair, and after sundry hems and stroking his chin, thus gravely +addressed her: "I am informed, Madam, that you are desirous of an +interview with me; will you be so good as to enlighten me as to the +cause of the unexpected honour?"</p> + +<p>"Some one must have deceived you with a most egregious story, Sir +William. I desired no such thing. I came here to see my friend, Virginia +Fairfax."</p> + +<p>"I am exceedingly pained to inform you, Miss Harriet, that from certain +late circumstances, which it is needless to particularize, and in which +you were somewhat a participator, I, as Virginia's natural guardian, +have thought proper to end the intercourse between you at once. My niece +is destined soon to become the wife of my young kinsman, Beverly, and it +is most prudent to keep her from the sight of such persons and things as +might remind her of that most strange and disgraceful transaction of +which I will not speak more openly. I am very sorry to give you pain, +but there was no other course left for me to pursue than to be plain and +candid with you."</p> + +<p>"And does this marriage take place with Virginia's consent?"</p> + +<p>"She has not been consulted as yet; her health, in the first place, did +not admit of it, and in the second, the evidence which she so lately +gave of being utterly incapable of choosing a husband<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> calculated to +secure her own happiness, or reflect honour upon her family and +connexions, has caused that duty to devolve on me."</p> + +<p>"But, Sir William, suppose she should refuse to accept the husband of +your choice? You certainly will not enforce your determination."</p> + +<p>"Her lamented father and myself entered long since into a covenant by +which these young people were to be united. On the very morning of his +death, we talked the matter over; he freely and fully consented to the +completion of the engagement, and forthwith it shall be carried into +execution, if sufficient authority remains to me in these turbulent and +rebellious times to enforce it."</p> + +<p>"But you will give her time to assuage her grief, and make up her mind +to the lot which awaits her. You surely will not precipitate her into +the celebration of these nuptials?"</p> + +<p>"You talk, young lady, as if it were some horrible and revolting monster +to whom I intended uniting her, instead of the presumptive heir and +nearest kinsman of Sir William Berkley, well favoured and highly +accomplished, as you must acknowledge that he is. She has had time +enough to recover her equanimity, and as soon as her health is equally +restored, the ceremony shall be performed; and whether or not, it is my +purpose to complete it before the return of that arch-rebel Bacon to the +city. Please God, however, I intend he shall return in irons to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> undergo +the penalty demanded by the outraged laws of his country."</p> + +<p>"And you will not permit me to see my friend for five minutes—only five +minutes?"</p> + +<p>"No! lady, you are now advised of my intentions touching the disposal of +my niece, and you may readily comprehend the reasons of your exclusion +from her presence, without my entering into further and more painful +explanations."</p> + +<p>With this answer, Harriet was compelled to be content, and therefore +making a reverence, more than usually formal, to his Excellency, she +withdrew. It was not in her nature, however, to resign her friend to the +fate which threatened her, without an effort to relieve her. From the +gubernatorial mansion she immediately hastened in pursuit of O'Reily, in +order to despatch him with a communication for his master. But Brian was +nowhere to be found; her own researches and those of the servant whom +she despatched in pursuit of him were of no effect; she was therefore +compelled to entrust her message to one of her father's negroes, who was +well mounted, and despatched upon his errand, within less than two hours +from the time of her interview with his Excellency.</p> + +<p>During the absence of the army in the Peninsula, Sir William Berkley had +not been idle, as has already been intimated. The commands borne by his +couriers to those Cavaliers throughout the colony, who were yet well +affected to his government, began now to bring them in from all +directions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> and the regular soldiers stationed at the forts, which were +so offensive to the citizens, were marching rapidly upon the capital +from every quarter. Some had already arrived, and the city was once more +thronged with eager faces. Sounds of martial music were again heard +through the streets, and the more quiet citizens again disturbed with +the stern preparations for war.</p> + +<p>The present military and Cavalier assemblages in the capital were, +however, of a very different political character, and brought together +with very different motives from those which had preceded them. They +were not less in numbers, spirit and appointments; but their object was +not to cope with the savage—it was to measure arms in deadly strife +with their own countrymen and fellow-citizens. The army now assembling, +was intended by the Governor to suppress what he called the rebellion, +and his purpose was, as soon as his forces should all arrive, to march +at once to the Falls of the Powhatan, and while the popular army were +engaged in front with the savage enemies of their country, to fall upon +their rear, and either cut them in pieces, or compel them to surrender +as rebels found bearing arms against his majesty's authority in the +colony.</p> + +<p>Seldom have political parties of any country presented so strange an +aspect as did those of Virginia at this period. First, the people of the +city had been divided between the Cavaliers and Roundheads. The latter +were no sooner brought into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> complete subjection, than a new +amalgamation took place, by which their distinctive character was lost. +Then, growing out of the puerile obstinacy of Sir William Berkley, in +refusing to repel the incursions of the Indians merely because he had at +first maintained that there was no danger to be apprehended from their +hostility, the popular or conservative party sprang into existence. +Against these were now arrayed the loyalist faction, and most of those +descended from noble ancestors or bearing titles, headed by the Governor +himself.</p> + +<p>In a very few days this latter party had assembled their whole military +force in the city, and the most active preparations were made to march +against Bacon and his followers who were carrying fire and sword into +the very heart of the country occupied by the real enemies of the +colony.</p> + +<p>The temporary duties of the government were resigned into the hands of +Sir H. Chicherley, while Sir William Berkley, Sir Herbert Jeffries, +Francis Beverly, Philip Ludwell, and their compeers, assumed the most +important stations of command in the army of the loyalists. Much the +larger portion of the regular troops were composed of foreign +mercenaries, sent over from England to perform those very duties which +Bacon and his followers were now to be punished for assuming. The very +soldiers who ought to have protected the whites against the incursions +of the Indians were to be turned against the patriot band which had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +volunteered to perform a service no longer to be deferred with safety to +the colony. It is true that the commissions of Bacon and his officers +were not legally signed by the constituted authorities; but an emergency +had arisen which threw the citizens back at once upon their original +rights and powers. The government having failed to afford them +protection for their lives and property, they had assumed that office +for themselves. This was the condition of the colony at the juncture of +which we write.</p> + +<p>While Sir William and his coadjutors were thus busily collecting and +disciplining their forces, the citizens of the capital were not +uninterested spectators of this unwonted succession of military +preparations. Most of those remaining in the city had friends and +relations in the ranks of the popular army, and though they dared not +openly express their disapprobation of the Governor's proceedings, their +discontent was deep and settled, and only awaited the departure of the +present overpowering force, again to burst into open resistance against +the government.</p> + +<p>While these preparations for civil strife were going on in the streets +of the city, a discussion of not less interesting import to some of the +leading characters of our story, was carried on within the walls of the +Governor's mansion. The stout old Cavalier had fixed upon the day +preceding the departure of his army, for the solemnization of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +marriage between his niece and his kinsman Beverly. He had himself held +several interviews with the former, but had failed to make the least +impression on her mind, either by his reasoning or his more artful +appeals to her filial duty and affections.</p> + +<p>In vain had he detailed her father's plans and expectations. In vain had +he appealed to her love and respect for his memory. In vain had he +descended from his dignity to reproach her with the late disastrous +occurrence at the chapel. In vain had he coarsely charged her with +desiring an alliance, contrary alike to the laws of God and man. She was +deaf to his arguments and his threats. But the time approached with +fearful rapidity, which he had appointed for the ceremony. The intended +bridegroom held an important command in the expedition now preparing, +and it was Sir William's intention that he should be married and set out +on the succeeding morning. Notwithstanding our heroine's apparent +firmness, therefore, in presence of her stern relative, every note of +preparation which was wafted into her chamber sent the blood +oppressively to her heart. Her naturally mild and gentle nature shrunk +from the contemplation of the violence which her fears and her knowledge +of her kinsman induced her to believe would be used to overcome her +resolution.</p> + +<p>His pretended dread of the disgrace which he charged her with desiring +to bring upon his family<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> she knew was exactly the apology he wanted for +the arbitrary measures necessary to the completion of the plan.</p> + +<p>She was alone in the world. No one now stood ready to give her rescue +from the relentless hands which placed restraint upon her inclinations. +Her nearest kindred had, as she believed, fallen by the savage tomahawk, +and her only remaining relative was about to force her into a marriage +which she detested. Notwithstanding all these depressing circumstances, +her elastic mind and sanguine temperament had hitherto risen above the +accumulating weight of her misfortunes. She had still preserved the +vague yet constant hope, so natural to youth, that some fortunate +occurrence, some unexpected accident would yet take place to mar the +well laid plans of the Governor. But as the time approached, and the +preparations moved steadily forward without any evidence of coming +succour, or the fortunate event which was to release her from her +dreadful situation, her heart began to misgive her—she was compelled in +some measure to assume an humbler posture towards the stern old man in +whose hands her destiny seemed placed. Her ingenuity had turned the +subject in all its various aspects—every chance of escape was provided +against. Even the presence of her friend Harriet, upon which she had +founded most of her hopes, was rigidly and perseveringly denied to her. +As a last and desperate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> resort, she humbly supplicated her uncle for an +uninterrupted interview with him to whom he purposed to marry her; and +Sir William seeing nothing in this request calculated to defeat his +plans, but on the contrary hoping that it proceeded from a wavering +resolution, granted the request.</p> + +<p>She sat upon a large leathern-backed chair, her head leaning upon the +window sill, and her flaxen ringlets clustering around her pale and +attenuated, but still beautiful features. Her <i>robe de chamber</i> was +white and simple in its fashion, and her hands were listlessly and +languidly twined into its folds, seeming, every now and then, as if her +delicate fingers would pierce the yielding texture. A solitary tear +seemed as if it had already departed from its pure fountain, as +tremblingly it hung upon the long dewy eyelash, the mere closing of +which dissipated it into a thin misty veil of sadness to her liquid +melancholy blue eye, as it was turned in fearful expectation towards the +door.</p> + +<p>At length Beverly entered. She had until this moment strenuously +resisted all endeavours to promote an interview, and once, on a former +similar occasion, had covered her face and pertinaciously resisted all +attempts on his part to lead her into conversation. He now entered with +the knowledge that the invitation came from herself; he felt his +supposed power; and a lofty smile played upon his proud but handsome +features. As he approached, she sank upon her knees, and clasped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> her +hands in supplication. The tears had now burst the restraints of thought +and internal oppression, and rapidly coursed each other down her cheeks +as she spoke, "You see before you, sir, a solitary female and an orphan, +bereaved suddenly and cruelly of her natural protectors—deserted or +oppressed by those who should have supplied their place. Before the +distracting grief for these afflictions has had time to lose its first +intensity, she has been cruelly beset and importuned to become a party +to a marriage, of which she had never before thought. You, sir, are the +other party! I entreat, I implore you on my knees, at least to postpone +this intended ceremony. If it is performed to-night, as my uncle has +appointed, the wrath of Heaven will be poured out upon such a +desecration of its holy institutions. You, sir, will wed a corpse or a +raving maniac! Interpose then, I pray you. Petition Sir William, as from +yourself alone, for its postponement, at least until your return from +the intended campaign, and I will pray for your happiness until the end +of my existence. I will then indeed believe that you desire mine."</p> + +<p>He made several attempts to raise her from her supplicating posture, +during her appeal, but she maintained her attitude. Having paused to +catch her exhausted breath, he seized the opportunity to say, "Are you +sure, madam, that there is no lurking weakness, no sinister design, in +this demand for farther time?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of what design, what weakness do you suspect me?" she exclaimed, +raising her head boldly, and losing almost instantly the subdued tone of +entreaty.</p> + +<p>"Of base and criminal affections for one who should be blotted from the +tablets of your memory for his villany, if not for his kindred blood!"</p> + +<p>She was on her feet in an instant; her ringlets wildly tossed back by a +quick motion of the head, and a corresponding effort with both hands, +which she held still clasped in her hair, as she stared at him an +instant before she replied,</p> + +<p>"Are you a man? A gentleman? A Cavalier? That you come here to insult +and trample upon one already deserted of all mankind? Her whom you +pretend to desire for a companion through joy and wo! How base, how +cowardly, to insult a helpless female, and that female your +kinswoman—one whom you pretend to love. Out upon you, sir, for a +dastard! Were he now here whom you so basely slander, you would not dare +employ such language!"</p> + +<p>"Softly, softly, my dear lady. You are only betraying your own feelings, +and counteracting the relenting mood into which your well acted appeal +was near betraying me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then, forget what I have said, and be indeed the high minded, +generous Beverly, I once believed you! We were children together, +caressed by the same friends and owning a common origin. Can you then +witness unmoved my forlorn condition, without one feeling of +compassion?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>Beverly was not wholly without tender feelings, although they were so +concentrated upon himself, that it required the touch of a master hand +to reach his heart. Selfish men, however, are sometimes easily worked +upon by allusions or appeals to their family pride. Their connexions are +a constituent part of the idol of their worship—self; and it is not the +least remarkable feature in their characters, that such men are almost +always affectionate husbands and devoted parents. These are but a part +of self; their kindred by a farther remove are generally valued in +proportion to their ability to confer honour upon the common stock.</p> + +<p>"He that feels not love," says Goethe, "must learn to flatter." +Doubtless the great German poet was contemplating the difficulties of +the supremely selfish man in love, when he penned this aphorism. But +Beverly was not so profoundly skilled in the human heart; he ardently +desired to possess the hand of his fair kinswoman, as well on account of +her many personal attractions, as of the rich inheritance of which she +was the heiress; but he had not learned his own harsh defects of +character, and of course could not substitute the arts of flattery for +the softer eloquence of love. He felt and enjoyed his power, as +compensating in some degree for the want of admiration of himself in his +intended bride, and such were the feelings operating upon him when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +entered her chamber; but her last appeal seemed to move his selfish +nature, as he paused to contemplate the eloquent suppliant before he +replied.</p> + +<p>"Suppose that I obtain from Sir William his consent for the postponement +of the ceremony, will you then give me your hand of your own free will?"</p> + +<p>She paused before replying. The case was desperate; no succour seemed +now within the bounds of probability. The shades of evening were fast +gathering around the gloomy precincts of her secluded apartment. She +knew her uncle's determination of character. One only chance of escape +appeared remaining open to her, and she desperately resolved to seize +it. Such was the train of reasoning by which she rapidly arrived at this +conclusion, and replied,</p> + +<p>"Our inclinations are not always within our own control, but if you +obtain this reprieve, I promise to give you my hand upon the return of +the present expedition, provided that nothing occurs in the mean time to +free me from the necessity. For I will be plain and honest with you, and +avow my determination to escape this marriage if I can."</p> + +<p>"I understand you, fair cousin; you expect deliverance at the hands of +your degraded and new found kinsman; but trust me, he will need succour +himself before that time arrives. I expect to march him through these +streets in irons on my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> wedding-day. Frown not—gather no storms of +indignation upon your brow—it shall be even so. But time wears apace; +so pledge yourself before Heaven, that if I obtain Sir William's consent +to this delay, you will be mine upon the return of the army."</p> + +<p>"Before Heaven I promise you, under the condition I have named."</p> + +<p>"It is then a bargain, and I will seek the Governor to fulfil my part of +it; should he consent, see that you remember your plighted faith. As for +your condition, I take no thought of that;" and with this remark he left +the room.</p> + +<p>It was with the greatest difficulty that she could suppress her rising +indignation, upon his again alluding to her new found kinsman; but she +did so far suppress it as to force herself through the required promise. +The door had no sooner closed upon his retreating footsteps, than she +clasped her hands, and exclaimed fervently, raising her eyes toward +heaven, "Thank God! I am now freed from the immediate apprehension of +this most hated union. Oh, if he does but come within the allotted time! +and come as my flattering hopes persuade me that he will—a conqueror! +hailed as the deliverer of his country—the champion of her oppressed +and outraged people, and the preserver of the most wretched of her +maidens! what blessings will be his! Be he brother or kinsman or lover, +he shall live for ever in this grateful heart. Brother indeed! He is a +brother in kindness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> devotion, and disregard of self; but a brother in +kindred blood, my heart assures me he is not."</p> + +<p>The door was again opened after the lapse of a short time, and Beverly +entered to say, "I have seen Sir William, and presented my request; he +refused at first, but when I told him that you had promised to be mine +at the expiration of the required time, he yielded his consent. I +purposely concealed from him that there was any condition in the case, +first, because I take no heed to it myself, and secondly, because it +might have precluded his concurrence, and would most certainly be a +motive with him for placing you under still more rigid restraint. You +see, sweet coz, that I study your happiness far more than you give me +credit for. Why will you not freely then make me its guardian for life?"</p> + +<p>"How very different is the selfish man," thought Virginia, "who thus +blazons his own little acts of merest charity, for refined and delicate +attentions, from him who possesses innate benevolence and gentleness of +heart? He would have studiously concealed a hundred greater kindnesses +than this." But under present circumstances, even such unfavourable +comparisons did not prevent her from replying,</p> + +<p>"For every act of kindness towards me, Mr. Beverly, I am sure I try to +feel very grateful, and since I have been within these walls, my +feelings have been so little exercised in that way that it is really +refreshing to feel under their influence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> even in the smallest degree. +The very servants treat me as a lost and abandoned creature. Those of my +own sex that once professed love and respect for me, fly from the +apartment when I speak to them, as if there were contamination in my +very voice. I know that some horrible tale has been told them about me: +would you but take the trouble to correct the false impression, before +you depart, my solitary lot might be greatly softened, and I would then +have double cause for gratitude."</p> + +<p>"With the domestic arrangements of the house I dare not interfere—Sir +William has directed all those things himself."</p> + +<p>"And is it by his orders too that my aunt comes not to see me, nor sends +a kind word of inquiry as to my health these long sad days, or a book to +while away the longer and more gloomy nights?"</p> + +<p>"It is. She has wept as many foolish tears almost as yourself, since +your confinement to this room."</p> + +<p>"Thank God! You have taken a load from off my heart. There is then one +soul within the house, of my own sex and blood too, who sympathises with +me during these stern severities."</p> + +<p>"Your trials will soon be over, my pretty coz, and then we will remove +to a house of our own, and you shall lord it over some of these +blackies, in revenge for their want of respect, to your heart's +content." Attempting to chuck her under the chin, as he spoke, she was +compelled to turn her head suddenly toward the window, for the double +purpose of placing herself beyond the reach of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> hand, and of +concealing the rising flush of anger and contempt that glowed upon her +countenance. She saw that he treated her as a child—that he imagined +such conversation suited to the level of her capacity, and longed to +humble his proud self-sufficiency, but dared not under present +circumstances. For the first time in her life, she found herself +compelled to disguise her natural feelings, and suppress the bitter +words which rose upon her tongue. She therefore, by way of changing the +conversation, and knowing not what else to say, inquired, "How soon does +your army expect to return?"</p> + +<p>"Soon, my dear coz, very soon. In ten days at farthest, I hope to lay +some of the trophies of victory at your feet, and twine you a bridal +turban from the standard of the rebel chief." Again she was forced to +turn her head away. And the harmony of their meeting, constrained and +unnatural as it was, would probably very soon have been ruptured by the +almost bursting indignation which agitated her bosom, had not the +martial summons to the evening parade called her tormentor from her +presence.</p> + +<p>By dawn of day, on the morning after the interview just related, the +army under the command of Sir William Berkley took up its line of march +toward the falls of the Powhatan.</p> + +<p>Virginia was a sad and silent spectator of the imposing pageant. She +stood at her window facing one of the cross streets, through which their +march<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> was directed, and examined the devices of banner after banner, as +they moved along in martial pomp, to the soul-inspiring music of the +drums and trumpets. No sympathizing emotions or half embodied +supplications to the Ruler of Nations for the safety of their persons or +the success of their arms burst from her lips. She saw the proud and +self-satisfied Beverly curvetting by on his equally proud steed; she +even saw him gayly wave his towering plumes in recognition of her +presence without an answering nod or a single indication of approval. +Her heart and hopes followed the standard of the youthful Captain who +commanded the force which these were summoned to scatter and destroy. +Long after the last ensign had passed from her sight, and the music was +heard only in faint and distant echoes as it swelled and died away upon +the air, she stood in the same spot, her eyes apparently still occupied +with passing objects. It was not so—she was endeavouring to look into +futurity. She pictured in her imagination the army of the Cavaliers, +under Bacon, struggling in the murderous ambuscade of the concentrated +savage tribes in front, and mercilessly cut down by their own countrymen +in the rear. She saw the stern and uncompromising Sir William and his +veteran compeers, brandishing their sabres over the heads of the younger +Cavaliers, and Beverly and Bacon engaged in the deadly contest of +personal rivalry and political hatred. Notwithstanding the disadvantages +of the latter's position, youthful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> hopes and a sanguine temperament, +awarded the victory to the cause which she believed the just one. She +had already, as by miracle, escaped a fate which she considered far more +to be deplored than death, and resolved to trust her own cause, and that +in which it was involved, to him who rules the destinies of battles. She +remembered, with feelings of adoration, that he had said that the race +was not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>The army under the command of General Bacon had succeeded in +concentrating the confederated tribes of the Peninsula, which had so +long annoyed its flank and rear, at the falls of the Powhatan. Here they +had erected a rude fortification, composed of fallen trees, having an +entrenchment surrounding it, with the excavated earth thrown up as an +embankment. This was situated upon an eminence commanding the more even +ground on each side of a small stream, which ran nearly at right angles +with, and fell into the river below the falls. The army of the Colonists +arrived within sight of the Indian fires, just after the sun had sunk +behind the horizon. General Bacon's plantation<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> was situated but a +short distance from the very spot on which the savages had erected their +fort, and consequently he was well acquainted with the ground. After +halting a short time to examine the position of the enemy, he marched +his troops to the open plain beneath their strong hold, in perfect +silence. Here they bivouacked for the night, with the intention of +storming the intrenchments at the first dawning of the morrow. Every +thing was noiselessly put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> in readiness for this final struggle for +supremacy between the whites and the Aborigines. The latter had +collected in overwhelming numbers, and seemed determined to make a +desperate effort to regain their lost footing in the land of their +fathers, while the former, having daily improved in discipline, were in +high health, buoyant with the youthful hope and courage, and impatient +for the dawn, that they might strike a blow at once, to answer the high +expectations of their friends at home, and terminate the war. Little did +they imagine that an army of those very countrymen was treading in their +footsteps, under the command of Sir William Berkley, with the avowed +purpose of meting to them that chastisement which they were so impatient +to bestow upon the enemy before them.</p> + +<p>Their commander was not long left in ignorance upon this point, however, +for scarcely had the columns made their arrangements for the night along +each side of the small stream, before a courier from the capital was +brought into his quarters, by one of the sentinels stationed upon the +outskirts of the encampment. He was the bearer of a proclamation, signed +by Sir William Berkley as Governor of his Majesty's Colony in Virginia, +in which Bacon and his followers were denounced as traitors and rebels, +and commanded forthwith to lay down their arms and return to their +allegiance, under pain of death, and confiscation of their property. The +surprise and indignation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> occasioned by this singular document had not +subsided, when another messenger was dragged into the presence of the +commander in chief. It was a negro, trembling from head to foot with +visible terror at the very uncivil treatment which he had received, and +more, perhaps, at the warlike preparations around, and the glaring +effects of the Indian fires on the hill. All attempts to gain an +intelligible account of his mission proved for a length of time, utterly +unavailing, until Bacon, recognising something of old acquaintance in +his features, dismissed his attendants. He then quickly disclosed, in +his mongrel dialect, that he had been ordered to deliver a letter into +the general's own hands, and when no person was present. A greasy and +rumpled document was then drawn from his pouch, which, notwithstanding +its hard treatment, and discoloured exterior, Bacon instantly recognised +as the writing of Harriet Harrison. The date was rather more remote than +seemed necessary for its regular transmission to its present +destination, which the sable messenger explained by stating that he had +been some days dodging in the footsteps of the army, but that as often +as he approached it he had been frightened back again by the flying +hordes of savages, hanging upon their skirts. If Bacon felt disposed to +indulge in merriment at the ludicrous detail of poor Pompey, the +contents of the note, which he now began to decipher by the light of a +lamp, speedily restored his gravity. Harriet briefly related to him the +nature of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> conversation she had held with Sir William Berkley at his +own house, and the treatment which Virginia suffered at his hands; she +concluded by stating the preparations then making in Jamestown by the +Governor and his party, to pursue and capture, or cut them to pieces. +This information was truly startling to the youthful general; that +concerning Virginia was most moving; but the imminent peril of those +gallant spirits entrusted to his command required his immediate +attention. He despatched a chosen mounted band on the instant, to scout +along the late route of his army, far enough to ascertain whether that +under the command of Sir William was within such a distance, as to +enable him to interrupt the contemplated attack upon the savages at the +dawning of the coming day.</p> + +<p>Bacon's character was eminently prompt and decisive. He determined, +should such be the case, to commence the attack upon the instant he +should receive such information.</p> + +<p>Having provided for the safety and accommodation of Pompey, and ordered +the courier of the Governor into close but respectful keeping, he +sallied out along the outposts, to examine the scene of future +operations. The stars twinkled brilliantly in the heavens around the +horizon, but the glaring light of the savage fires upon the hill threw +the mellowed rays of the heavenly orbs into dim contrast immediately +round the two camps. As he walked along the margin of the little +stream,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> upon the borders of which his own troops were stationed, toward +the river, the night-scene presented to his view was reviving and +exciting to his imagination. The ascending columns of fire upon the hill +reflected the trees and other objects upon its brow in gigantic shadows +over the plain beneath. The bright red light fell upon the broad sheet +of water below the falls, in long horizontal rays, stretching far away +over its shining surface toward the opposite shore. The island in the +middle of the stream, a little higher up than the point at which he +stood, was clothed in verdant impenetrable shrubbery—the darkness +gathered around its shores more palpable from the contrast of the +neighbouring fires. The roar of the falls fell monotonously upon his +ear, ever and anon interrupted by the sharp shrill whoop of some +over-joyous savage, engaged in orgies within the fort surmounting the +hill. As he pensively stood upon the banks of the Powhatan, and surveyed +the illuminated scene immediately around, and the darker shadows of the +hills stretching away in the distance and skirting the margin of the +river, the shining waves beneath his feet, and the dusky outlines of the +rocks and islands beyond, it little entered his imagination that upon +that romantic spot, in future time, there should spring up a noble +city—the capital of an empire state—that the natural lawns upon which +he stood, would be exchanged for docks and quays—that the hills on his +right hand (which to a scholar might, even then, have recalled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> the +Acropolis) should support classic colonnades, and spires pointing to the +clouds; and that the diminutive stream upon the banks of which his +troops were bivouacked, should receive, from the sanguinary battle in +which he was about to engage, a name to outlive the very monuments of +his generation.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Without these deeply interesting associations, +however, the scene in its natural and unreclaimed features was eminently +captivating and romantic. No site in the country abounded more with bold +and enchanting objects. On the one hand were the picturesque hills,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +commanding a prospect seldom equalled, never surpassed, of landscape +varied with woodland, dell and meadow, through which the shining waters +of the Powhatan were now visible, glowing like a sheet of fire, and now +lost in the shadows of the towering forests, as it held its devious +course beyond the reach of the reflected fires in the back ground.</p> + +<p>Our hero might have stood gazing upon this enchanting scene until the +sound of the reveillé in the morning had roused him from his revery, had +not his quick eye caught a glimpse of moving lights within the Indian +encampment. With hurried steps he retraced his way through the line of +sentinels, and issued immediate orders for his subordinates in command +to assemble in military council. He was satisfied in his own mind, as he +walked up the stream, that some unusual occurrence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> had taken place +within the palisade of the Indians—perhaps the presence of his own +stationary columns, as they stood in their dark frowning outlines, had +been discovered by the ever cunning and watchful enemy. He had more than +once stood in wonder at the apparent absence of their usual stratagems +and devices. He supposed, however, that, trusting to their immense +superiority of numbers, and the protection of their breastworks, they +had resolved to risk an engagement, in which courage and strength alone +should be the implements of victory.</p> + +<p>The council of war had scarcely assembled, before they were astounded +with the report of musketry in answer to the usual accompaniments of a +savage sortie, in the most remote direction of the camp. General Bacon +issued his orders promptly and decisively. The columns whose rear had +been surprised by a sortie from the enemy, were, by a prompt movement, +instantly wheeled into line, changing their front so as to face the +assailants, while the mounted Cavaliers, under the command of young +Harrison, fiercely attacked them in flank. The desperate band of +warriors were speedily driven within their breastworks. It was doubtless +only their intention to harass the outskirts of the army, and then, by +retreating, draw their pursuers within reach of the ambuscade stationed +behind the breastwork. They were pursued by the mounted troops, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> had +no sooner driven them within the palisade, than they in their turn +suddenly wheeled and retreated upon the main body.</p> + +<p>These sallies were kept up through the first watches of the night, with +so much perseverance on the part of the enemy, and so much annoyance to +the ardent and impatient troops of the patriot army, that General Bacon +determined to give way to their martial ardour, and at once storm the +strong hold of the enemy.</p> + +<p>The plan of battle in this straight-forward mode of warfare was simple +in the extreme. Seldom had the Aborigines given their white enemies a +chance of testing the relative valour of the two races; and protected as +they were even now by a formidable breastwork, General Bacon did not +hesitate as to the propriety of trusting to the discipline and skill of +his soldiers, and the immense superiority of their arms, against the +greater numbers and defensive preparations of the enemy.</p> + +<p>The fires within the palisade were apparently flickering upon their +dying embers, and an unsteady flash, gleaming at intervals, was the only +light shed over the contemplated battle-ground. A profound quiet reigned +within the camp of the enemy, indicative to the mind of Bacon of some +new treachery or savage scheme. Having warned his officers against +these, he despatched mounted scouting parties to hover round both camps, +and took every other human precaution<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> against surprise; orders were now +issued preparatory to a general attack upon the enemy's entrenchments.</p> + +<p>By a prompt evolution, his battalions of foot were wheeled into a solid +column of attack on the northern side of the stream, while the mounted +Cavaliers were stationed as a reserve on the right. The former were +marched in compact order, directly up the face of the hill, not a +trumpet or a drum disturbing the silence of the funeral-like procession. +The various colours of their plumes, as they waved in the night breeze, +and the occasional glitter of burnished arms, as a flash of light fell +athwart the solid phalanx from the flickering fires above, presented one +of the most striking scenes imaginable.</p> + +<p>General Bacon assumed the immediate command of his columns in person. He +sat upon his impatient charger on the right wing, and examined the +ominous appearance of the enemy's camp with intense interest. Not a +warrior's head was to be seen above the breastwork as they approached. +All was silent, gloomy, and portentous; not a sound was heard, save the +measured tramp of his own troops, as they moved through the bushes.</p> + +<p>Once indeed he thought he heard the wild shrill scream of a female, very +different in its intonations from the harsh voice of the savage squaw. +But so many unearthly sights and sounds had haunted both his sleeping +and waking hours of late, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> he drove the impression from his mind, +to rest with hundreds of others of like import.</p> + +<p>When the front lines had arrived within some forty yards of the dark and +frowning breastwork, a sudden and momentary check was given to their +farther progress. A rushing sound, as of the flight of many birds, and +the clatter of Indian arrows against their arms and persons, +simultaneously struck upon their senses, followed by the fall of many +soldiers, and the short involuntary exclamations of pain, which, from +the impulse of the moment, escaped the unfortunate individuals.</p> + +<p>Trumpets and drums instantaneously broke the stillness of the march. +Their martial notes reverberated over the surrounding solitudes in +enlivening peals. The ill-omened birds of night flapped their wings, and +swooped through the unsteady lights of the scene in utter dismay at this +untimely invasion of their prescriptive dominions. These were quickly +followed by a discharge of musketry, poured into the formidable +palisade. It was scarcely discharged, however, before Bacon discovered +the utter uselessness of such a waste of ammunition. He saw that the +breastwork was so constructed, that, while it admitted of the discharge +of missiles from within, it afforded a secure protection to its +occupants against the musketry of their assailants. In the mean time his +soldiers were exposed to the murderous discharges of poisoned arrows.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<p>In this emergency no time was to be lost; placing himself, therefore, at +the head of his troops, he ordered the walls to be torn down. These, as +before related, were composed of large trees piled one upon another, +with their green boughs still protruding in many places over the shallow +intrenchment, and the earth excavated from the latter thrown up on the +outside against a rude wicker-work of fine bushes, filling up the +interstices of the trees. Trumpets sounded the charge, and the columns +moved at a quick pace to the onset. Still not a savage head was seen +until they had arrived at the very borders of the intrenchment. Here +some two hundred of the stoutest and ablest bodied of his soldiers were +marched up to the projecting limbs of the largest tree, forming the +basis of the breastwork. Bacon saw at a glance that if he could manage +to seize hold of these projecting arms and turn the tree across the +fosse, it would at once open the way for his mounted troops, and perhaps +carry with it some forty or fifty feet of the palisade, and thereby +bring the opposing armies face to face. They had already seized the +projecting limbs, and were shaking the frail protection of the savages +to its very foundations, when simultaneously a thousand lights gleamed +over forest, hill, and dale—A thousand voices united their shrill +clamours in one deafening yell of savage ferocity. The troops engaged in +tearing down the breastwork instinctively loosed their hold, and flew to +their arms, as they threw their eyes upward to the spot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> whence these +blinding lights and deafening noises came. It was but the work of an +instant, for little more time were they permitted to examine,—they were +called upon to act, and that vigorously, for their own preservation. In +a single instant, and apparently at a given signal, the whole of the +rude terrace surmounting the fortification literally swarmed with +painted warriors, each bearing in his left hand a pine torch, and in the +other, a tomahawk, a war-club, or a battle-axe.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> They sprang from +their commanding position into the midst of their assailants, and +scattered themselves in every direction through that part of the army +already advanced to the breastwork.</p> + +<p>Human ingenuity could not have devised a mode of warfare better +calculated to suit their numbers, position, time, courage, and limited +means of resistance. It at once rendered the mounted troops +useless—prevented the colonists from using their fire-arms, because +those immediately engaged were at too close quarters, while those at a +greater distance were as likely to kill friends as enemies. The savages +dealt their murderous blows with wonderous rapidity and precision, and +though the hardy planters in the front ranks turned upon them with the +butt ends of their muskets, the savages had evidently the advantage. The +blazing fagots were often thrust into the very faces of their opponents, +and while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> writhing under the confusion and agony of the fire and smoke, +they were stricken down like helpless beasts.</p> + +<p>Bacon saw the imminent peril of his troops, and though he was at first +astounded by the rapidity and daring courage with which the plan was +executed, he did not despair, nor yet sit listlessly upon his horse to +see his friends and countrymen slaughtered. He saw at a glance too that +only the front columns were engaged—that a part of these must now +necessarily fall, but he determined at the same time, that their deaths +should be dearly avenged, and his remaining troops brought off +victorious. He immediately placed himself between the forces already +engaged and those rushing to the rescue. The latter he wheeled into line +immediately in front of his mounted reserve, thereby changing their +front to the flank of the contending parties, while their own right wing +rested upon the top of the hill, and the left on the little stream +already mentioned. Having completed this evolution to his satisfaction, +the mounted Cavaliers were brought round to the position just occupied +by the foot, so that they immediately faced the struggling combatants, +and the latter were ordered to give way. The retreat was sounded from +the brazen mouths of the trumpets over their heads, and Bacon in person +and his mounted aids, rode furiously and recklessly among them, crying +for them to fall back toward the line stationed on the right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>These various movements were but the work of a few moments. Meantime the +painted and ghastly warriors, rendered still more horrible by the +flaring lights which they bore in their hands, and by the reeking +instruments of death which they swung over their head with such unerring +precision, were pouring over the walls upon the devoted band in +countless hordes. So intently were they engaged, that the evolutions of +their enemies had entirely escaped their attention; and indeed the +Colonists themselves, who were fighting hand to hand with the savages, +had not observed the movement, until the voices of their commanders +urged them to fall back upon the newly formed line. As Bacon had +calculated, no sooner were the engaged troops made to understand the +orders, and induced to recede, than a partial separation was effected, +which was fatal to the Aboriginals. The retreating Colonists were almost +immediately under the protection of the line already braced in solid +column, and standing to the charge<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> ready for the expected pursuers. A +company of the mounted Cavaliers was broken up into squads, and these +were actively engaged in hewing down the pursuers, or cutting off their +retreat to the protection of the fort. In a short time a complete line +of separation was formed between the two armies, save where, here and +there, two athletic men of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> opposite races, both having lost their +arms in the contest, struggled in the death gripe. Here an iron handed +mechanist of the city clenched a warrior's throat—the eyes of the +victim protruding frightfully from his head in the glaring light, and +his tongue hanging from his mouth like that of a rabid animal, until he +fell as a lump of clay among the hundreds of both parties who had gone +before. There a grim warrior struggled with another, making desperate +efforts to reach his knife, which the soldier as constantly struggled to +prevent. Yonder among the heaps of slain, lay two of the differing +races, fallen to the earth in a mutual but deadly clasp, each holding +the other by the throat, until the struggle became one of mere +endurance, and, strange to say, the white man generally conquered.</p> + +<p>While, however, these desperate personal struggles were occurring, the +tide of battle was fast turning against the most numerous party. It was +with the greatest difficulty that Bacon could restrain the ardour and +impetuosity of the troops stationed in line for the protection of the +devoted corps which had led the van, the straggling members of which +were momentarily retreating behind the solid bulwark of their +countrymen's pikes and bayonets. But no sooner was this duty of humanity +performed, and a complete line of demarcation distinctly drawn, than all +restraints were removed. A volley of musketry was poured among the +scattering savages along the face of the hill, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> order to convince +them that hereafter they would be kept at a respectful distance. A +simultaneous movement of horse and foot now swept the brow of the hill; +the horse charged immediately in front of the palisade, while the +infantry drove in the extended line of savages at the point of the +bayonet. The most inextricable confusion ensued in the ranks of the red +warriors. While the cavalry cut them down on one hand, and the bayonets +of the infantry transfixed them on the other, hundreds were tumbling +over hundreds as they tumultuously leaped over the palisade. Some hung +by the projecting bushes—others fell upon the terrace, and were cast +down and trodden under foot by their companions; while multitudes were +cut to pieces in making the attempt. In a short time the open field was +left in complete possession of the whites—the brow of the hill was +literally covered with the wounded and the slain, both of white and red. +Yet the battle was not ended; hundreds upon hundreds had escaped within +the fort. The savage force amounted at the commencement to something +like three thousand warriors of various tribes, and that of the +Colonists to about one thousand.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Bacon earnestly desired to spare the +effusion of human blood, and hazardous as the Indians were as +neighbours, either professing friendship or enmity, he resolved to send +them a flag of truce and propose a permanent peace upon condition of +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> abandoning the Peninsula for ever. He knew that they understood +the sacred rights and privileges of that peaceful banner, for it had +already been recognised among some of their own tribes. Accordingly a +young and promising officer was thrust up to the top of the palisade. He +waved his flag and laid his hand upon his heart in token of friendship, +and grounded his sword in order to convince them that he came upon a +peaceful errand, but instead of sending out their interpreter or +prophet, he was treacherously murdered by a tomahawk—thrown some twenty +yards by the hand of a warrior, and buried in his brain. All hopes of +peace were now abandoned, and Bacon determined to complete the victory +which he had commenced, and won thus far at the expense of so many +valued lives.</p> + +<p>Orders were again issued for tearing down the palisade, while a chosen +band of prompt and expert marksmen were stationed at the distance of +some thirty yards, to shoot down the savages as they should show their +heads above the breastwork. Instead of the infantry being stationed to +protect the miners as before, the cavalry formed a column flanking the +marksmen, so that they could at a moment's warning, rush in between the +descending hordes and the corps engaged in pulling down the barricade.</p> + +<p>Again the trees composing the palisade were seized by the projecting +limbs, and a sudden wrench brought the earth piled against its outer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +side tumbling into the ditch beneath, and shook the whole fabric to its +foundation. Again an ominous and inexplicable silence prevailed within +the enclosure, which was the more remarkable, as there was left no known +method of escape, and by their own treachery to the officer who had +borne the flag of truce, they were reduced to the alternative of dying +in their ditches or desperately cutting their way through the solid +phalanx which enclosed them on every side. Hitherto the marksmen +stationed in front for the purpose of clearing the terrace of the +savages, as they should mount the breastwork from the inside, had little +to do. At length a group of savages displayed their painted faces above +the barrier, apparently endeavouring to drag some unwieldy burden to the +top of the works. They were instantly shot down, but their places were +as speedily supplied by others. A faint but piercing shriek rent the +air, which promptly arrested the attention of Bacon, Dudley, and young +Harrison, who sat upon their horses superintending the operations of the +miners, and holding an occasional discourse among themselves. The voice +came evidently from a female, and reminded Bacon that he had once before +during the night heard a like sound from the same direction. He waved +his sword to the marksmen stationed on his left, to withhold their fire, +while his own attention and that of his two associates were intently +rivetted to the occupation of the group ascending the wall from the +other side. At this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> moment the large tree which the troops in front had +been some time shaking loose, came crashing over upon its limbs, and +bringing with it those which had been piled above, thus exposing to view +the interior of the fort, but not yet affording an uninterrupted passage +for the besiegers. The battalions of foot, however, were tumultuously +rushing toward the breach, reckless of the interposing branches and +trunks of the prostrate trees, when Bacon, in a voice of thunder +commanded them to halt! The very moment the fort gave way a sight was +revealed to his eyes, and those of his two comrades, which made the hair +rise on end upon their heads, and the blood in their veins run cold with +horror. The Indians, who had so long struggled to ascend the fort some +twenty or thirty yards from the breach, had at length succeeded, bearing +one of the objects which so powerfully arrested the attention of the +officers on horseback. Two grim warriors supported between them the body +of a woman of the European race, while a third stood behind her, on the +top of the palisade with uplifted tomahawk. With one hand he held the +weapon suspended over the head of the drooping victim, while with the +other, he pointed to the neighbouring breach in the breastwork, with a +look and gesture that seemed to say, "advance, and her fate is sealed!" +Although the light from the smouldering fires was dim and unsteady, +enough was caught of the outlines of this figure to thrill to the very +heart-strings of the three spectators; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> was upheld on either side by +the mere strength of her guards—her feet seemed to have sunk from under +her—but her head was erect and turning with wonderful rapidity from +side to side, as she gazed with wild and glaring eyes upon the scene +around her. Her fair silken tresses fell unrestrained upon her shoulders +or were blown about in fluttering streams, as the unsteady light fell +now in broad masses, and then in dim and shadowy rays. Her dress was +white, and fell in ample folds around all that was left of a once +symmetrical figure. Her features were ashy pale and attenuated to the +last degree of human wretchedness, her eye shot forth the wild flashes +of a frenzied mind. She was entirely unconscious of her danger, and +though she seemed to examine the wild scene around, it was not with fear +and trembling. A sickly smile played upon her death-like features, as if +she rather took pleasure than suffered pain in these unusual sights, or +saw embodied before her in palpable form somewhat of the fleeting +phantasmagoria which had so long eluded her senses, yet she was +speechless—and so were the late combatants.</p> + +<p>A profound and solemn silence prevailed throughout the ranks of both +parties. The fate of battle, or the life of an individual, was suspended +upon the results of the moment. It was soon interrupted, wildly, +fearfully interrupted! The threatened victim burst into a convulsion of +frantic laughter, the wild unguided tones of a voice once rich and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +musical, were borne along the still night air, and resounded through the +dark forest like some unearthly mockery of human merriment. As if a +thunderbolt from heaven had instantaneously stricken her dumb she +ceased. The sounds of her own voice startled and astonished her; perhaps +some dim rememberance of its former tones, as it rose and fell upon the +air, floated darkly through her mind. The grim old warriors who +supported her, were impressed with awe and fear, and the very +executioner was almost overcome with his native superstitious reverence. +The events we have just described occupied but a few moments of +time,—far less than we have taken to describe them. At this juncture, +and while the three stern Indians maintained their posts, Wyanokee +sprang upon the terrace, struck the tomahawk from the hands of the ready +executioner—pushed him backward over the palisade, and threw herself +recklessly upon the unfortunate lady, encircling her with her arms. At +the same instant her two astounded countrymen fell lifeless from the +terrace, pierced to the heart by the unerring balls of the sharp +shooters.</p> + +<p>The Colonial army now broke tumultuously into the fort. Here another +threatened victim had been held as a suspended pledge over their fires, +for the safety of this their last strong hold, but so intense had been +the interest excited in behalf of the unfortunate Mrs. Fairfax, that +little attention was bestowed upon him. It was none other than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> Brian +O'Reily. When the breach was made in the fort, he was discovered in the +centre of the area, tied fast to a stake driven into the ground. A +quantity of resinous pine wood was built high up around his body, and +half a dozen torch-bearers stood ready to apply the flame. The report of +the muskets had no sooner announced the death of their comrades on the +wall, than this pile was fired in a a hundred places. Already the victim +began to writhe as the intolerable heat scorched his flesh, and the +smoke rushed into his eyes and throat. As the soldiers entered through +the breach with Dudley, who had dismounted, at their head, he rushed +toward the suffering victim, and, assisted by his followers, hurled the +burning brands upon the heads of those who kindled them.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Bacon had also dismounted. He saw that the contest would now +be short, and giving his orders to Dudley, he leaped upon the palisade +where Wyanokee was vainly endeavouring to support and restrain his +former patroness, who had repeatedly and fruitlessly endeavoured to +stand erect, and as often had fallen back into the arms of the Indian +maiden. As Bacon approached, his whole soul agitated with deep and +thrilling emotions, she was sitting upon the wall, forcing herself +farther and farther back, like a frighted infant, into the arms of her +protectress. Her eyes stared wildly upon the approaching youth, and the +lids fell not over the painfully distended orbs. She did not recognise +him, even when he approached within a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> few paces and kindly and +soothingly addressed her. At one moment she seemed about to make some +reply, but the half formed words died upon her lips—they moved as +though she held the desired discourse, but no sound was audible. The +wild noise and confusion of the onset, breaking upon her ears, she +started up and cried "Hah! see you not that the king's troops put those +of the commonwealth to the sword? Behold his giant form weltering in +gore! 'Tis gone! It was not he! No, no; I saw not the bloody hand. It +was merely one of these puppet warriors dressed out to frighten babes. +He lives! did he not tell me so, with his own lips? Do the dead tell the +living lies? That were a trick of the devil indeed." Again she burst +into a horrible and appalling laugh, fell back into the arms of +Wyanokee, and her mortal pains and sorrows were for ever ended.</p> + +<p>The long-disputed contest was now drawing to a close; the Indians fought +desperately, as long as there was a hope left of repulsing the troops +which rushed in at the breach, burning with ardour and roused to +indignation by their wanton cruelties; but the superior arms and skill +of the Colonists rendered the contest in a short time utterly desperate +on the part of the besieged. When farther resistance was put out of +their power, by the besiegers closing in upon them on every side, and +thus confining their exertions within a narrow space in the centre of +the fort, the stern warriors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> threw away their tomahawks and war-clubs, +and fell prostrate on their faces. It was a moving sight to behold these +hardy veterans of a hundred battles, gradually encompassed by a more +skilful and powerful enemy, until they were forced to surrender this +last foothold upon the land of their fathers. Their prostrate attitude +was by no means intended to express an abject petition for mercy; it was +the custom established by their people, and its impulse was utter +desperation. They neither desired nor expected quarter, but threw +themselves upon the earth, to signify their willingness to meet the +tortures of their enemies. When placed under the vigilance of the troops +appointed to guard them until dawn, they sat like statues, not a muscle +or feature expressing emotion of any kind.</p> + +<p>Bacon stood over the body of his late kind and unfortunate patroness, as +still and motionless as his own prisoners, contemplating the sad change +which a few short days had made upon her mild and benignant features, +until reminded by Dudley that he had other duties to perform. The latter +approached and informed him that the garrison had surrendered. He heeded +him not. He repeated his information, and touched the general upon the +shoulder. Bacon started wildly for an instant, but seeing who spoke, a +meaningless smile flitted across his features while he answered, "True, +true, Dudley, I will attend you in a moment;" and was about to relapse +into his former mood, but rousing himself, he issued orders for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +pitching his own marquée, and then directed that the dead body of Mrs. +Fairfax should be borne thither and deposited under its shelter with all +due respect. Till now, Wyanokee had sat near the cold and lifeless form. +Not a tear was shed nor any other indication given that she had lost a +friend, esteemed by her one of the first of the earth. There was, +perhaps, just a perceptible expression of wildness and mystery in her +steady and abstracted gaze on vacancy, as if in thought she was +following the departed spirit to the verdant forests and blossoming +meadows of the happy hunting-ground beyond the sky. It is true that she +had been somewhat instructed in the doctrines of our religion, but he +has made little progress in the study of mankind who does not know that +the peculiar opinions—the forms of worship, whether of superstition or +religion, which have been infused into the mind in the tender years of +infancy, will ever after give a tinge to the views of the recipient. But +Wyanokee had by no means renounced the doctrines of her father's +worship, and however much her mind may have been worked upon while under +the influence of the whites, and of the imposing form and ceremonies of +the Established Church, since her abjuration of their friendship, she +had imperceptibly lapsed into most of her aboriginal notions.</p> + +<p>When the body of Mrs. Fairfax was laid out under the marquée of the +commander in chief, and a line of sentinels was established around its +limits,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> Wyanokee was the sole living tenant of the apartment. She sat +by the corpse, in precisely the same state which we have before +described.</p> + +<p>In a very short time from that in which Dudley announced the termination +of the conflict to his commanding officer, profound quietness reigned +over the fort and brow of the hill, so lately the scene of bloodshed and +strife, save where it was disturbed by the movements of those engaged in +burying the dead, and rescuing the wounded who lay suffering under the +weight of their dead comrades.</p> + +<p>Never had such a battle been fought in Virginia, either as regarded the +number of Indians engaged, the consequences depending on the result, or +the sanguinary nature of the conflict itself. It was the last struggle +for supremacy between the whites and the Indians in the Peninsula.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>General Bacon apprehending that the rising sun might disclose to view +the approaching columns of the army under Sir William Berkley, had +ordered the dismantled fort to be refitted in such a manner as to afford +some protection to his exhausted troops. The trees were again brought +round to their former position, and the limbs by which themselves had +gained entrance lopped off. The sun, however, rose above the horizon +without betraying any sign, either of the expected army, or of the +mounted scouts whom he had sent out just before the battle. This latter +circumstance gave him not a little uneasiness, as he could account for +their protracted absence in no other way than by supposing that they had +fallen into Sir William's hands.</p> + +<p>Most of the troops were yet indulging in repose, after the extraordinary +fatigues of the night, and were cheerfully indulged by their officers, +in the hope that they would rise with renewed ardour and courage for the +expected attack.</p> + +<p>At about ten o'clock in the morning, the troops having been roused from +their slumbers, and partaken of a hasty breakfast, the sentinel pacing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +to and fro upon the top of the walls, announced the approach of the +expected foe. Bacon and his staff quickly mounted the breastwork to +examine the number and appointments of his confident enemy; but to his +great joy and relief, the approaching troops proved to be his own +missing scouts. He mounted his charger and galloped over the intervening +ground in order to learn the cause of their strange absence; so +impatient was he, not only on that score, but likewise to learn tidings +from his pursuers. He very soon met the advancing horsemen, who, upon +perceiving their general, halted in the road. The information +communicated by the commander of the party was not less surprising to +Bacon than was the account of the battle to the officer, who had been +absent from its dangers and its glories. The latter stated, that after +having ridden about twenty miles on the previous night, they suddenly +came upon the encampment of Sir William's army, but having discovered +their fires in sufficient time, had avoided their pickets. They scouted +round his camp for a considerable length of time, endeavouring to learn +something of his intended movements—the number of his soldiers, and +their disposition toward themselves, but found no means of gaining +information. At length they narrowly escaped being discovered and +intercepted by a foraging party, and having discovered that the troopers +composing it, had come last from the house of a planter, living not far +from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> encampment, they resolved to present themselves before him, +candidly explain their business, and throw themselves upon his +patriotism for any information which he might possess. They did so, and +were fortunate enough to find that the planter was not only able, but +willing to give them important information, and was anxious for the +success of Bacon's expedition—his own son being engaged in it. The +amount of his information in few words, was, that Sir William Berkley +had that very evening received an express from Jamestown, urgently +summoning him back to the capital, with all his forces. That two +influential citizens residing in the counties south of Jamestown, by +name Walklate and Ingraham,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> having heard of his expedition to cut off +the return of General Bacon and his army, had immediately raised a force +of horse and foot scarcely inferior to his own, and were marching upon +the capital. Nor was this all the unfavourable news communicated by the +express: it farther stated that the House of Burgesses, then in session, +(contrary to the promise of Sir William to dissolve it,) were engaged +upon some resolutions, very injurious to the reputation and farther +influence of the Governor, and that they had already approved of the +proceedings of General Bacon, and resolved to require the Governor to +sign his commission as commander in chief of the colonial forces, +besides having transmitted to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> ministry at home, testimonials of his +patriotism, talents, and bravery.</p> + +<p>The foraging party from the army of Sir William, had farther informed +the planter, that it was the intention of his excellency to break up his +camp by dawn of day, and return by forced marches, to the protection of +the capital.</p> + +<p>At this juncture, the Colony of Virginia presented the singular +spectacle of three distinct and independent armies, assembled at one +time. One at the falls, commanded by Bacon—another in the Peninsula, +commanded by Sir William Berkley, and the third in the south, commanded +by Generals Ingraham and Walklate. The first and last were nothing more +than disciplined assemblages of volunteers from among the people, while +that under the command of the Governor in person, was composed in part +of veteran regular troops, and partly of loyal subjects, called together +by the urgent appeals of him who had so long been the honoured organ of +his majesty's authority in the colony.</p> + +<p>When General Bacon returned to the camp, and had assembled his +associates in command, and communicated to them the foregoing +particulars, he also announced to them his intention of leaving the +temporary command of the army with his next in rank, and repairing in +person immediately to the capital.</p> + +<p>His views having met the approbation of the council of officers, the +sloop which had brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> up the marine part of the expedition was +promptly put in readiness, and forty chosen men embarked for his +escort.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>His unfortunate valet and devoted adherent, Brian O'Reily, although much +enfeebled by long confinement and want of wholesome food, was, at his +own earnest request, added to the number. So urgent had been the various +claims upon the time of General Bacon, that he had not yet heard Brian's +account of his sufferings and privations.</p> + +<p>Before embarking he issued the strictest orders for the safety, comfort, +and protection of the numerous prisoners, and of Wyanokee in particular. +He directed that she should be conveyed in the same wagon, then +preparing for the purpose of transporting the remains of Mrs. Fairfax to +Jamestown.</p> + +<p>Before taking leave of his comrades in arms, he entered the marquée +containing the honoured remains. The sentinel was walking his solitary +rounds of monotonous duty, with solemn aspect. Strange that the +ceremonies attending the laying out and decently guarding this lifeless +body should more powerfully impress this sturdy soldier than all the +heaps of slain piled into one common grave during the night.</p> + +<p>Bacon entered the marquée alone. There sat the last daughter of the +kings of Chickahominy, in precisely the attitude in which he had seen +her five hours before. She was the sole mourner at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the feet of her whom +in life she had most honoured. He was powerfully affected by the sight +of many little personal ornaments, not worn on the previous night, but +which had been collected by Wyanokee and placed conspicuously upon the +corpse. He was struck, too, with the delicate consideration of the +Indian maiden in these native observances in honour of the dead. +Conspicuous among the things valued by her friend while living, was a +small silver clasped pocket bible; it was spread open upon the neat +folds of her white garments, surrounded with a profusion of wild +flowers, such as he had often known her to transplant into her own +garden.</p> + +<p>But time pressed, and urgent circumstances called him to the capital; he +therefore lifted the covering (a white handkerchief) from her face, and +gazed for the last time upon those features impressed upon his heart and +memory from infancy. Almost involuntarily he drew from his doublet the +diminutive locket, reassured his heart by a momentary comparison of the +features—and then forced himself away and proceeded to the bank of the +river, where the sloop already spread her sails to the ready breeze.</p> + +<p>The prisoners taken at the battle of the Falls, or of the Bloody Run as +it was more frequently called, were placed in the centre of the army, +with the exception of Wyanokee, and the fort burnt to the ground, after +which the Colonial troops took up their line of march for the capital.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +Toward this central point three separate armies were now advancing, +while the House of Burgesses were passing a series of resolutions in +which all three were deeply interested. A more important juncture in the +affairs of the Colony had never occurred, and the approach of the +various hostile parties toward the capital excited the deepest anxiety +in all the reflecting inhabitants of the city.</p> + +<p>The courier announcing the successful issue of Bacon's campaign against +the tribes of the Peninsula, which had so long disturbed the peace and +tranquillity of the planters, was received with general manifestations +of joy and expressions of gratitude to the youthful commander of the +expedition.</p> + +<p>By a resolution of the assembly, the State House was ordered to be +illuminated, and the inhabitants generally were requested to follow the +example. These, with other voluntary demonstrations of rejoicing on the +part of the citizens, were about to be carried into execution, when the +vanguard of Sir William Berkley's army, commanded by the sturdy old +knight in person, arrived at the gates of the bridge. When he was +informed of the cause of this unusual measure, and of the resolutions +which had been passed by the House of Burgesses, both in regard to +himself and his young rival in the popular favour, he burst into a most +ungovernable fit of rage—threw his sword into the river, and swore he +would embark for England the next morning. He was no sooner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> dissuaded +from the rash step, than he resolved upon an expedient equally +inconsiderate. It was nothing less than to march his army into the +streets of the city, and thence, with a chosen band of followers, +disperse the assembly at the point of the bayonet. It was with the +greatest difficulty, and after long efforts, that his more discreet +friends were enabled to dissuade him from this step likewise, nor even +then until they had compromised the affair, by agreeing that he should +issue a proclamation with the same view, and forthwith issue writs for a +new election. Accordingly, having marched his troops into the heart of +the city, and encamped them immediately round the State House and public +grounds, he carried his threats into execution.</p> + +<p>The dissolution of the assembly was immediately proclaimed, and writs +were issued for the election of their successors. To such a length had +Sir William Berkley carried his high-handed measures, from time to time, +since his reaccession to the vice-regal chair, that he imagined the +people would submit to any dictation emanating from so high a +functionary as himself—that it was only necessary to make his will and +pleasure known to the good citizens of Jamestown, at once to put an end +to all the demonstrations of joy by which his arrival was so unwelcomely +greeted. He was led into this error, partly by his own overweening +pride, and partly by the respect which so many years of unclouded +prosperity in the same station had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> naturally engendered in the people. +And doubtless they would have endured much, and did submit to many +oppressions, rather than resist the authority of one who had so long +held the reins of government. But the true secret of the change in the +character of that government, was in the erroneous views conceived by +the captious old knight, during the government of the commonwealth. He +had fallen with his first Royal master and risen with the second—and +thus had come into power the second time, with all the extravagant +notions of prerogative entertained by his transatlantic prototype, +without having derived any wholesome lessons of experience from the fate +of his first unfortunate master.</p> + +<p>The people heard the proclamation dissolving the assembly, with murmurs +indeed at the spirit and motive in which it originated, but without +feelings of opposition to the measure, because it was one which they had +themselves demanded before his departure. They therefore moodily +acquiesced, and even submitted to be bearded by the foreign mercenaries +in their streets and public walks, but when the Governor, emboldened by +this apparent tameness undertook to issue another document, proclaiming +Bacon, Dudley, Harrison, Walklate, Ingraham, and their followers, +rebels, the people could submit no longer. The muttered thunders of +popular discontent burst out into all the fury of a storm. His officers +were forcibly prevented from reading his proclamations in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> streets, +and public places—a general meeting of the citizens voluntarily +assembled at the State House, surrounded as it was by his soldiers, and +there passed resolutions, condemning his recent conduct, in the most +unmeasured terms. They also appointed a large committee to wait on him +forthwith, and not only demand the suppression of the last proclamation, +but that he should sign the commissions, already prepared by the +assembly for the very persons so denounced. After making these demands +of the infatuated old man, they farther informed him that two expresses +were already mounted—one to be despatched to the army under Bacon, and +the other to that headed by Ingraham and Walklate, both of which were +probably within a short distance of the city. That besides these +preparations for any extreme measures to which he might think proper to +resort, the citizens generally were arming themselves, and even that +many members of the late House of Burgesses, which he had just +dissolved, were taking up arms, and held themselves in readiness to +assist in disarming and expelling the mercenaries under his command. Sir +William demanded two hours for deliberation and consultation with his +friends. These were soon assembled, and the committee withdrew to await +the expiration of the allotted time.</p> + +<p>Again the Governor was destined to be mortified. The officers assembled, +most of whom had been with him in his recent expedition, stated that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +the popular spirit of revolt and insubordination, had spread among the +soldiery to such an extent that no dependence could be placed upon them +in case of a rupture with the citizens. In this emergency he was +compelled to listen to the admonitions of the friends, who advised that +he should endeavour to turn the popular current in his favour, by +signing the commissions, and withdrawing the offensive proclamations. To +this he was forced to accede, and accordingly when the committee of the +citizens returned he signed the commissions. Scarcely had he dismissed +them, however, before he began devising measures to counteract the very +purpose of his act. He ordered a representation to be immediately drawn +up for ministers, in which the now commissioned officers in question +were represented as traitors—directed the most resolute and +trust-worthy of his adherents to embark for Accomac, whither he resolved +to transfer the seat of Government until the citizens of the capital +should be taught that respect for his majesty's representative in which +they had shown themselves so deficient within the last few hours; and +commanded all the armed ships not engaged in transporting his own troops +across the bay,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> (and there were many of them in the river,) to +cruise up the stream, in order to intercept the sloop conveying General +Bacon and his suite to the city, with strict orders to bring him dead or +alive to Accomac. Having issued these various orders, and seen them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> put +in a regular train of execution, he embarked the same night on board an +armed brigantine, with his own family and suite, not forgetting his +imprisoned and deeply injured niece.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile General Bacon was calmly reclining upon the deck of his little +sloop; it was the second night from his embarkation—the moon was +shining brightly in the heavens, and the stars sparkled brilliantly +through a hazy but not damp atmosphere, and not a breath of air filled +the white sails as they flapped idly against the mast. The vessel was +drifting slowly toward her place of destination it is true, but not with +a velocity in accordance with the ardent desires of the passengers. +Every soul on board had retired to rest except himself, Brian O'Reily, +and that part of the crew to which belonged the duty of the watch. It +was the same night the reader will remember, on which Sir William +Berkley arrived at, and afterward so suddenly departed, from the +capital.</p> + +<p>Brian O'Reily was for the first time explaining to his master the manner +in which he came into the hands of the Indians. Bacon had readily +surmised the whole process, but knowing that O'Reily must be indulged +with the relation at one time or another, and being unable to sleep in +his present excited state of mind, he had given the impulse to Brian's +garrulity, not inadvertently, however, by the simple question,</p> + +<p>"So Brian, you were in pursuit of me when the Powhatans made you a +prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, by St. Stephen the martyr, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> twelve Apostles, barrin one iv +them that was a thraitor, I was near bein a martyr myself, only the +bloody nagres had a notion to fatten me, and that's the rason they kept +me tied on me back all the while, jist as I used to fix the misthress's +blind calf, the saints bless her soul."</p> + +<p>"Fatten you, Brian, for what?"</p> + +<p>"To ate me, to be sure!"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, O'Reily, they are not cannibals."</p> + +<p>"Oh the divil burn my eyes, but I saw thim roastin babies by the fire, +and ating them like pathriges, widout so much as salt to season them!"</p> + +<p>"You just now told me you were tied in a dark hole, and fed on parched +corn, all the time you were a prisoner."</p> + +<p>"Divil a word iv a lie's in that, any way, your honour, and sure enough +I didn't jist see thim kooking the young ones, but didn't I smell thim +roastin? Sure and Brian O'Reily wouldn't be after being decaived in the +smell of a pig for a sucking baby. Didn't the divil tempt me wid that +same smell any way? may be he didn't? Wasn't I starvin myself upon short +allowance iv their murtherin popped corn, and didn't the bloody nagers +roast a baby jist whin me unconscionable bowels came up into my throat +every day, begging for muttin and turnips? and didn't they want to +fatten me like the misthress's blind calf—me bowels I mane? and didn't +I put thim aff wid a half score o' parched corns? Oh! if they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> only +been stilled into whiskey, may be it wouldn't iv cured the smotherin I +had about the heart."</p> + +<p>"I suppose, Brian, you were never sober for such a length of time +together in your life before."</p> + +<p>"Oh! be our Lady you may say that—there was jist nothing to ate, and +the same to dhrink, barrin the parched corn, and the babies, and may be, +an oldher sinner for Sundays, by way of a feast."</p> + +<p>"You travelled on foot, I suppose, from place to place, until they +concentrated at the falls!"</p> + +<p>"Divil a foot iv mine touched the ghround, since they pulled me off my +horse at yon town of theirs over the river. I rode on a horse ivery foot +iv the way, your haner, and had one iv the nagers to attind me; may be +he didn't ride behint me on the same baste, and put his arms around me +like a butcher taking a fat wether to the shambles."</p> + +<p>"You were in right good case too, when you fell into the hands of this +singular butcher, that deals in human flesh, according to your account?"</p> + +<p>"Ay was I, but I lost it asier than I got it—by the five crasses, but +the sweat run down to me shoes every time I looked round at the painted +divil sittin on the same baste wid me—his nose ornamented wid a lead +ring like a wild steer. Sure I thought the ghreat inimy was flyin away +wid me, before I was dacently buried."</p> + +<p>"What did he say to you, Brian?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Say to me, your haner! By the holy father, but he addressed none iv his +discourse to me. Maybe he was talkin to the divil that was in him as big +as a sheep—didn't he grunt it all away down in his pipes like a pig in +a passion? Or may be he was talkin to the horse, for he grunted too, and +one iv thim jist discoursed as well as the t'other, to my mind."</p> + +<p>"Could you not tell upon what subject he spoke, from his gestures or +signs.—Did he not point to Jamestown frequently?"</p> + +<p>"Not he—he pointed to the colour iv me hair, more belikes, and when +they gat to yon place where your haner put so many iv thim to slape, +they all gathered round me to see it. They had their own crowns painted +the same colour, and they wonthered at the beauty iv mine, and faith, +that was the most rasonable thing I saw among thim, barrin that they +brought me the paint-pot, and wanted me to figure off one iv their +beautiful gourds like Brian O'Reily's. I towld thim it was a thing out +iv all rason, and pulled out some iv the hair to show thim, and divil +burn the bloody thaives, but they cut it all aff jist for keepsakes +among thim."</p> + +<p>"They left you a top-knot, I see, however."</p> + +<p>Before O'Reily could make a reply, the sailor on the watch cried out +that there was a large ship bearing down upon them. Bacon sprung upon +his feet, ordered Brian to alarm the soldiers, and walked hastily +forward. At the first glance, he saw a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> crowd of warlike heads, and +caught the reflection of the light upon their arms. A second look at the +strange movements of the vessel, and the hostile preparations of those +on board served to convince him that he was himself the object of their +pursuit. Taking two of the first soldiers who made their appearance on +deck, he silently entered the boat swinging from the tafferel of the +sloop, motioned the two soldiers to follow him, and then ordered the +boat to be let down with all silence and despatch. O'Reily seeing these +preparations as he came on deck from the performance of his orders, +sprung into the boat as one end struck the water; it was too late, and +the circumstances too urgent for his master to order him back—the frail +bark was pushed off, therefore, with muffled oars, and as much within +the shadow of the approaching vessels as their destined course would +permit. Scarcely were they without the protection of these, before they +discovered the yawl of the ship full of armed men, rapidly gliding into +the water, and in the next moment, they heard musket balls whistling +over their heads, accompanied by the momentary gleam and then the quick +report of fire-arms. Seizing an oar himself, and ordering Brian to +follow his example, they pulled with all their strength for the shore; +this once gained, he hoped that the protection of the forest and the +increasing haziness of the atmosphere settling upon the high banks of +the river, would effectually protect his retreat. But in spite of their +utmost efforts, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> superior power with which the yawl was propelled +through the water was rapidly shortening the distance between them. +Brian threw off his jerkin, and strenuously exhorted his master to trust +himself to the mercy of the waves, though he knew not the nature of the +threatened danger. On this point, Bacon himself could only conjecture, +that it was some device of his old enemy to get him secretly into his +power, and hence his anxiety to reach Jamestown at the present juncture. +He knew nothing of the change which had taken place at the capital in +his favour, but he knew his own power over the populace, and he +preferred being made prisoner in public, to trusting himself to the +tender mercies of Sir William Berkley. In spite of all his exertions, +and the hopes of reward held out to the soldiers in case of success, +their boat was cut off from the shore by the pursuers interposing +between it and themselves. He saw that resistance would be madness, as +the boat now wheeling exactly in front of them contained five times +their number, and would doubtless, in case of a struggle, be promptly +sustained by assistance from the ship, which was now nearer to them than +their own vessel. His only course, therefore, was to submit with as much +philosophy as he could muster. He was deeply mortified and chagrined +however, for his presence seemed to him to be most urgently called for +at the capital. These views were founded upon the information he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +received, now two days old. Could he have known what had taken place at +Jamestown only a few hours before, and only a few miles distant from his +present position; could he have known that Sir William Berkley was at +that very moment an adventurer upon the same waters, but a few miles +below, and driven thence by the firmness of the patriotic citizens who +belonged to his own party, he would doubtless have made a desperate +resistance. Perhaps it was more fortunate for all parties that he was +thus ignorant of existing circumstances at the capital, for had he +fallen at this juncture, (which was most probable) the fate of the +Republican party in the infant state might have been very different.</p> + +<p>He and his party soon found themselves on board of the hostile ship, +which was commanded by Capt. Gardiner, an Englishman—a devoted loyalist +and adherent of Sir William Berkley. He was politely received by that +officer, but informed that he must consider himself a prisoner until he +could exculpate himself before the Governor in person, at Accomac. Until +this moment Bacon had been partially reconciled to his mishap, trusting +to his known popularity among the people of the city, which he knew +would not be diminished by the eclat of his Indian victories; but now +that he was informed of the present residence of the Governor, and the +destination of the ship, his hopes were totally prostrated. He began to +suspect that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> something was wrong with Sir William at Jamestown, from +his present singular location, and was not a little uneasy at the secret +and unusual measures he had taken to get him into his power. He knew the +turbulent and impetuous temperament of the old knight, and how little he +was given to consult right and humanity in too many of his summary +measures of what he chose to call justice, to think that he would +hesitate one moment to summon a court-martial of his own partizans—try, +condemn, and execute him and his three unfortunate followers, if not the +more numerous body, now also prisoners, in the sloop. As he stood upon +deck in the midst of his guard, weighing these various aspects of his +position, the ship was silently gliding within view of the lights from +the city. He observed that the captain steered his course as far from +the island as the channel of the river would permit, which confirmed his +previous suspicions as to the state of popular feeling in the capital, +and increased his uneasiness as to the secret designs of the Governor +upon himself. From Captain Gardiner he could gain no satisfactory +information—he merely replied to Bacon's demand for his authority, that +Governor Berkley had commanded him to bring him (Bacon) to Accomac, and +to deliver him dead or alive into his hands.</p> + +<p>When it was too late, Bacon saw the rashness of the councils which had +induced him to abandon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> his army, and trust himself among the numerous +ships floating in the river, the commanders of which were known +adherents of his enemies.</p> + +<p>The reflections of our hero, as he paced the quarter deck toward +morning, were bitter in the extreme. He saw all the bright hopes of his +reviving spirits vanish like a dream, as the vessel now just emerging +from the waters of the Powhatan, and propelled by a fresh morning breeze +from the land, was plunging with every swell of the buoyant waves into +the waters of the Chesapeake, and receding farther and farther at every +plunge from the objects of his highest and dearest aspirations.</p> + +<p>That portion of the magnificent bay into which they were now entering +immediately ahead, was expanded and lost to the eye on the limitless +waves of the ocean. On the starboard tack, like a black cloud joining +the sea and the sky together, lay Cape Henry, and on the larboard, still +more faintly pencilled against the horizon, lay Cape Charles. Between +the two, the white bordered waves of the Atlantic rolled their swelling +volumes into the Chesapeake.</p> + +<p>The faint yellow tinge of dawn could just be discerned, like a moving +shadow, now upon the waves and then upon the hazy clouds, dipping into +their bosom, while hundreds of aquatic birds, interposed like a black +cloud at intervals to intercept the view in the distance, or more +suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> flapped their wings from under the very prow of the vessel as +they swooped along the surface of the stream and dipped the points of +their wings like a flash of light into the sparkling waters.</p> + +<p>A steady breeze was blowing from off the land, and the white sails of +the ship swelled proudly and the tapering spars bent under its +influence, as she ploughed up the waves foaming and falling in divided +masses before her prow. On any other occasion than the present, Bacon +would have enjoyed the prospect on this grandest of all inland seas, but +now his mind was oppressed with gloomy doubts and forebodings. Every +plunge of the vessel was bearing him more within the grasp of his +relentless foe. But the mishap of his own personal adventure, every way +unfortunate as it was both for himself and the cause in which he had +engaged, was not that which weighed most oppressively upon his mind. +Ever since the discovery of the miniature contained in the locket, he +had been gradually giving way to his reviving hopes, and building upon +that slender assurance bright and glorious superstructures of +imagination. He had endured and lived, and fought and conquered with +that hope, as the polar star to his otherwise dark and dreary course. +Now again his destinies were almost wrecked by a storm from a quarter in +which he had scarcely cast his eyes. How could he imagine that Sir +William Berkley would be driven from the capital, by the stern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> and +independent resistance of the unarmed citizens? How could he know that +being thus driven from it he would yet retain a sufficient naval force +to capture him and his escort upon the very eve of his triumphal entry +into the city? These were the reflections which made him look with a +feeling of dark misanthropy upon the glorious beauties of the +Chesapeake. His ambition, his pride, and his conscience were satisfied; +but his love for a bride, already once led to the very steps of the +altar, was again thwarted upon the eve of what he had supposed and hoped +would prove the final and happy fulfilment of his most ardent hopes. His +feelings toward the devoted and interesting maiden, who had perilled and +suffered so much on his account, were enthusiastic in the highest +degree. She stood toward him not only in the relation of his betrothed, +but his wedded bride; and the more endearing and captivating she became +to him as he contemplated her in these relations, the more he cursed in +his heart the hard-hearted and perverse old man who had been the cause +of all his troubles.</p> + +<p>Every chance of escape was intensely examined; not a word was suffered +to fall unheeded from Captain Gardiner and his subordinates. He noted +carefully the distribution of the prisoners in the vessel in which he +was himself confined, as well as of those in the sloop following in +their wake. He took careful observations of the most prominent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> objects +on their route—the state of the tide in the river which they had just +left. He examined the boats—how they were secured—the equipments and +appearance of the crew on board, and resolved if he must fall in the +midst of his reviving hopes, to die as became the conqueror of Bloody +Run and the lover of Virginia Fairfax.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>Amid all his misfortunes and gloomy anticipations, Bacon discovered one +bright spot in his horizon. He had inquired of Captain Gardiner whether +Mr. Beverly had accompanied the Governor to Accomac, and was answered in +the affirmative. This was the source of rejoicing, because he believed +that Virginia was yet in Jamestown. Harriet Harrison's letter had been +perused over and over again, during the first part of the voyage, and +was one cause of that restless anxiety to escape which we have attempted +to describe.</p> + +<p>He chafed the more as his imagination pictured his rival leading, or +rather forcing Virginia to the altar, while he was thus ignobly +detained. But now having satisfied himself that Beverly was not left +behind, his mind was comparatively at ease on that score. Nevertheless +his desire to escape was not diminished; the state of parties might +change in the capital—Beverly might return and perpetrate his design +while he was yet in confinement. That Sir William Berkley intended more +than to keep him in temporary duress, he could not now in his cooler +moments believe—his repinings were caused by the interruption to his +own cherished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> schemes and ardent desires. He had hoped before this +time, to be in Jamestown—a conqueror—the accepted lover of Virginia +Fairfax, and to satisfy the Recluse himself, that he was deceived as to +his birth and parentage. That there was some mysterious knowledge of +Mrs. Fairfax's history possessed by that strange man, he doubted not; +but he doubted as little that it had led to error with regard to +himself.</p> + +<p>The dark shadows of night had already closed over the broad expanse of +waters on whose bosom our hero was thus far borne without chance of +escape. He could discern numerous lights flitting along the +circumscribed horizon, which he supposed to be upon the shores of +Accomac, from the dark curtain which skirted along as far as the eye +could reach, between the sky and the water. He was not left long in +doubt upon this point, for the sailors were busily engaged furling the +broad sheets of canvass and heaving over the anchor. In a few moments a +bright flash illuminated the darkness around, followed by the booming +sound of a piece of ordnance let off from the ship. This was answered by +another from the shore, and Bacon perceived the lights which had before +attracted his attention, moving, as he supposed, toward the boat +landing, there being no facilities for running the ship close in upon +the land. These he could perceive now rising and falling with the +swelling and receding waves, and very soon faintly distinguished voices +in confused murmurs as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> they were borne along the water, and lost amidst +the roar of the waves lashing against the sides of the vessel, and the +confused noise and merriment of the ship's crew.</p> + +<p>Captain Gardiner took up his trumpet and hailed the approaching boat, +after which a dead silence ensued on board, all hands listening intently +for the expected answer. Hoarse and confused sounds came sweeping on the +wind, as if the person answering spoke through his hand instead of a +trumpet, but no distinct words could be made out. Again the captain +hailed, "boat ahoy," and again with the like result. The wind was +unfavourable for the transmission of sound, and he gave up the attempt. +He had scarcely left the deck, however, before the boat came riding by +on the buoyant waves, both parties having been deceived as to the +distance, by their inability to intercommunicate. The Captain ran +eagerly upon deck, and inquired of those in the boat, whether the +Governor had arrived? The answer was in the affirmative. Bacon now +understood the anxiety of Captain Gardiner to communicate with the +shore. He learned too, from the dialogue going on, that the Governor and +himself were probably crossing the bay at the same time.</p> + +<p>When it was announced to the boat's crew that the rebel chief, Bacon, +was a prisoner on board, a loud huzza burst simultaneously from twenty +voices, among which Bacon distinctly recognised those of Ludwell and +Beverly. Bitter indeed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> were his unavailing regrets that he had left his +army, and thus fallen a prey to his most violent enemies. He now +remembered, with not less regret, that he had strictly enjoined upon his +temporary successor, not to march into Jamestown until he should rejoin +the troops. This he saw would effectually prevent his present situation +from becoming known to his friends, until, possibly it would be too late +to render him any assistance.</p> + +<p>The boat very soon returned in order to ascertain the Governor's +pleasure with regard to his prisoner, and Bacon waited with the most +intense anxiety for their return. His unavailing regrets were rapidly +forgotten in a fierce and burning desire to be confronted with his +enemies, alone and unsupported as he was. His noble mind could scarcely +conceive of that malignity which could trample upon a solitary and +defenceless individual, placed by accident in the hands of numerous +personal enemies. He had yet to learn a bitter lesson in the study of +human nature. His own impulses were all high and generous, and he +naturally looked even upon his foes as to some extent capable of the +like magnanimity. He imagined that Sir William Berkley, Ludwell, and +Beverly would feel and acknowledge his indignant appeals to their honour +and chivalry. How these youthful and sanguine expectations were realized +will be seen in the sequel. The boat soon returned with orders from Sir +William Berkley to detain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> the prisoner on board during the night, and +to send him ashore as soon in the morning as it should be announced by a +shot from a piece of ordnance, that the court had assembled. That he was +to be tried by a court-martial had barely entered his imagination.</p> + +<p>At dawn of day a gun from the shore announced the assembling of the +court, and Bacon was brought upon deck by the orders of the Captain. He +perceived that the ship's boat was already in the water, supported on +each side by larger ones from the shore, filled with armed soldiers. +However much he may have been surprised by these prudential +preparations, he was still more surprised, and more fully began to +realize his situation, when he perceived a man standing ready to secure +his hands in irons. At first sight of this contemplated indignity, he +shrank back instinctively with something of the natural feelings of +youth, but the impression was only momentary; he shook it off and walked +firmly to the smith, near whom stood Captain Gardiner, and a guard to do +his bidding in case of necessity. As the youthful Chieftain approached, +the hardy veteran of the seas was evidently embarrassed. He was +reluctant to offer such a needless affront to one of so bold and manly a +bearing. An indistinct apology was commenced, of which the only parts +that Bacon distinguished or cared to learn was, that the precaution was +taken by the orders of Sir William Berkley. "I doubt it not—I doubt it +not, sir," he replied;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> "Do your duty—I am in his power for the +present, and must submit with the best grace I can; but a day of +retribution is coming; and even should I be basely murdered upon these +distant shores, as seems not unlikely from these preparations, and the +tribunal of which I hear they are the precursors, my death will not go +unavenged."</p> + +<p>His hands were soon confined within the iron bands, connected by chains +some two feet in length, and then, with the assistance of the Captain +and crew, he was let down into the boat. He was not long in discovering +that the military escort in the two outer boats was commanded by Mr. +Philip Ludwell. No sign of recognition took place between them, +notwithstanding they had moved in the same circles at the Capital before +the interruption of the civil war. Bacon was too much of a soldier +himself, and too well versed in the duties of a subordinate to throw any +of the blame of his present condition upon his quondam acquaintance, and +would readily have exchanged the courtesies due from one gentleman to +another, had he not perceived a suppressed smile of triumph upon the +countenance of Ludwell as he entered the boat. Whether the latter viewed +him as rebel or patriot he felt indignant at his ungentlemanly conduct, +and folding his chained arms upon his manly chest, took no farther +notice of its author.</p> + +<p>As they approached the shore, and the mists of early morning began to +break away before the rising sun, Bacon recognised many landmarks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> which +had not altogether been unknown to him in happier days. The house at +which Sir William Berkley now exercised his vice-regal functions, +surrounded by such of the Cavaliers as still adhered to his fortunes, +became also visible. This Bacon recognised as the property of the +officer in command of the guard surrounding his own person. The shore +was covered with tents, marquées and soldiers, the latter being the +English mercenaries, and marshalled for his reception in imposing array. +Two lines were formed from the landing to the house, between which he +was now marched in the centre of his guard.</p> + +<p>When they arrived within the hall he found the martial tribunal ready +assembled for his trial. A long table was placed in the centre of the +room, upon which lay swords, caps, and feathers. At the farther end from +the entrance sat Sir William Berkley, as president of the court, and on +either side some eight or ten of his officers, all clad in the military +costume of the day. Their gay doublets had been exchanged for buff +coats, surmounted by the gorget alone, for the vambraces, with their +concomitants, had been abandoned during the commonwealth. Some of the +cavalry and pikemen, indeed, still wore head and back pieces, in the +king's army,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> but the Virginian officers were generally dressed at +that time as we have described them.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> +<p>Among the number of officers now confronting the prisoner, sat Francis +Beverly. He seemed perfectly calm and collected, and not in the least +aware that there was any impropriety in his sitting in judgment upon the +prisoner standing at the foot of the table.</p> + +<p>Bacon drew himself up to his utmost height, as he again folded his arms +and ran his indignant eye over his accusers and judges; as it rested in +its course upon Beverly, a fierce indignation lighted up its clear hazel +outlines, but it was only for an instant—his glance wandered on over +the other members of the court, while his lip curled in a settled +expression of scorn and contempt. The old Cavalier at the head of the +board rose in visible agitation—his eyes flashed fire and his hands +trembled as he took the paper from the scribe and read the charge +against the prisoner.</p> + +<p>The merest form of an impartial trial was indecently hastened through. +Witnesses were not wanting indeed, and those too, who could testify to +every thing the Governor desired, but no time had been allowed the +prisoner to procure testimony in his own behalf, or prepare his defence.</p> + +<p>The times were perhaps somewhat out of joint; but the state of the +colony was by no means such as to require that a prominent citizen, +standing high in the affection of his countrymen, should be deprived of +those inestimable privileges secured by the laws of England, to every +one under accusation of high crimes and misdemeanors; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> these laws +had been adopted and were in full force in the infant state. At the very +outset of the trial, Gen. Bacon objected to the military character of +the court, as well as to the indecent haste and the retired nature of +the place in which it was held. He contended that his crime, if crime he +had committed, was a civil offence, and ought to be tried by the civil +tribunals of the country. All these weighty objections were answered by +a waive of the president's hand, and the trial proceeded to its +previously well known conclusion, without farther interruption.</p> + +<p>Before the final vote was taken upon the question whether the prisoner +was guilty of high treason or not, he was ordered to be removed from the +court-room for a few moments, in order that their deliberations might be +uninterrupted. As the guard marched the prisoner through the house into +the back court of the establishment, his step still proud and his +carriage elevated with the sense of conscious rectitude, he was at once +brought to a stand by the sight of a spectacle which sent the blood, +chilled with horror, back to his heart. This was a gibbet or gallows, +erected in the very court to which they were conducting him, and upon it +hung two of his own soldiers!<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> All evidence of vitality had long +since departed, and their bodies swung round and round, under the +impulse of the morning breeze, in horrible monotony. Bacon's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> first +sensation was one of unmixed horror, but this was succeeded by +indignation; not a thought for his own safety occurred to his mind while +under the first impressions of the fearful spectacle. But as fierce +indignation stirred up his torpid energies to thoughts of revenge, the +means began to present themselves, and then it was that he shook the +iron fetters which bound him, in savage and morose despair. Perhaps a +chill from some more personal feeling ran through his veins, when he +reflected how short had been the passage of his two humble followers +from the sloop which had borne them across the bay on the preceding +night, to eternity. They had evidently suffered some hours +previous—perhaps during the night. They were the two subaltern +officers—selected by himself for his expedition down the river, and +chosen for their desperate bravery at the battle of Bloody Run. And now +to see their manly proportions ignominiously exposed upon a gibbet, +after having been most inhumanly murdered, was more than he could calmly +bear. Bitter and unavailing were his reflections as he stood a spectator +of this outrage, while his own life hung suspended by a hair.</p> + +<p>He was not left long a spectator of this cruel scene; the guard was +ordered to present the prisoner again before the court to receive +sentence.</p> + +<p>When Bacon stood once more at the foot of the table, surrounded by his +unrelenting enemies, his countenance evinced a total change. When first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +he stood in the same place, he had not fully realized his situation; he +was stupified with overwatching and fatigue. The young are always slow +to apprehend the darker shadows in their own prospective, and +instinctively cling to the brighter aspect of events and circumstances, +until some sudden calamity or unexpected reverse in their own immediate +career, opens their eyes to the stern reality. When such a change is +brought immediately before the senses, then indeed the dreadful truth +speaks direct to the apprehension. Few criminals at the moment of +receiving sentence of death, realize more than a horrid and oppressive +sense of present calamity—all hope has not yet entirely forsaken them. +But could they see upon the spot a fellow criminal undergoing the last +penalty of the law, they would at once realize the truth in all its +terrors.</p> + +<p>The sight of his unfortunate followers had thus opened the eyes of the +youthful general, to the desperate character of his enemies, and the +awful fate which immediately awaited him, but it was not fear which now +revived his stupified powers to action. His look was bold and daring, +while a preternatural brilliancy shot from his proud eye, as the +president of the court, with an assumed calmness, pronounced upon him +the sentence of death. As the last fatal word fell from the lips of the +stern old knight, the prisoner's countenance was rigid, cold and +death-like for an instant, as he struggled to master his rebellious and +scornful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> feelings into such a state of discipline as would enable him +to express the little he had to say, with clearness and precision.</p> + +<p>Although the usual question, "if he had any thing to say why sentence of +death should not be pronounced against him," was not asked, he stepped +boldly up to the end of the board, and notwithstanding the magisterial +waive of the president's hand for silence, and a simultaneous order to +the officer of the guard to remove him—gave utterance to his feelings +in these words, and with a manner powerfully subdued, yet energetic; his +voice issuing from between his rigidly set teeth like that of one under +the influence of reckless desperation.</p> + +<p>"If it may so please the president, and gentlemen of the court-martial, +I will not tamely and silently submit myself to be butchered in cold +blood, without raising my voice and protesting against the jurisdiction +of the court—the time—the place—the manner of the trial—the persons +who compose the court, and especially him who presides over your +deliberations.</p> + +<p>"Was it treason I committed, when I boldly and openly marched from +Jamestown to Orapacks, at the head of the brave men who drove before +them the savages by whom the dwellings of the Colony had been burned, +and its women and children murdered? Did not the house of burgesses +request the Governor to sign the commission, which the people had +unanimously put into my hands? Did he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> not pledge his knightly word that +the commissions should be ratified? Under the authority of that +commission and that promise, have I not driven the enemies of civilized +man before me, as I marched through the Peninsula? Have I not done what +has never before been done? cut out a broad line of separation between +the habitations of the white man and the savage? Have I not avenged the +murders committed on the night of the massacre? Have I not avenged +injuries committed against more than one member of this very court, by +the bloody confederation? Have I not, with these hands, rescued the +sister-in-law of the president of this very tribunal from the murderous +tomahawk of the savages? True, it was only to die—but it was worthy of +all my poor exertions to rescue her body from their unhallowed hands, +that it might rest in consecrated ground. Have I not annihilated the +confederation itself, cut to pieces the assembled tribes—rescued the +prisoners, razed to the ground the fortifications at the falls, and made +prisoners of the brave remnant of those misguided nations who erected +it? If this be treason, then indeed am I a traitor!</p> + +<p>"Why is it that this great and glorious country, opened to the oppressed +and crowded nations of the old world by a kind and beneficent +Providence, must so often become the theatre of struggles for personal +aggrandizement and power? Why is it that our arms must be turned against +ourselves in fratricidal conflict, when so many enemies have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> been +swarming upon our frontiers, and devastating our settlements? Must the +great and evident designs of the Creator be thus constantly retarded? +the great destinies of this vast land obscured in the dawn, by the petty +struggles of contending chieftains? Who can tell how far to the mighty +west the tide of civilization and emigration would have rolled their +swelling waves, but for the scenes of personal rivalry and contention +like the present, which have disgraced our annals?</p> + +<p>"The rosy tints of the morning dawn of destiny have scarcely risen in +the east of this mighty continent—the boldest and the wildest +imagination cannot soar into futurity, and predict its noon-day glories, +or count up the tides and floods of human beings, that shall be wafted +to these shores, and thence roll in successive waves, to the dark and as +yet unknown west.</p> + +<p>"I have been but an humble instrument in the hands of the Great Mover of +these mighty currents, and for this ye seek my life. But death to this +frail body cannot arrest the great movement, in which I have been an +actor. I have indeed been the first to point out the importance of +drawing a broad line of separation between the European and the native, +the first to show the necessity of rolling to the west the savage +hordes, as the swelling numbers of our own countrymen increase upon our +hands. Future emigration must advance westward in a semicircular +wave—like a kindred billow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> of the watery ocean, sweeping all +obstruction before it.</p> + +<p>"If the natives flee before this rolling tide, and survive its +destructive progress, well and happy will it be for them; but if they +attempt to buffet the storm, ruin hangs upon their tardy footsteps. I +confess that I have been the first to maintain the impossibility of the +two species living together in peace, and to execute the primitive and +opening step in this great revolution of nations. If this be treason, +then am I a traitor. But if I fall, think not that the great movement +shall fall with me. The Great Ruler of the universe has opened these +fertile hills and dales to his oppressed creatures; and he has likewise +pointed out the necessity of driving back them who make no use of these +blessings, and who rise not from their idolatry and ignorance to a state +fitted to render glory to their Creator. The tide will move on to the +westward, in spite of such tribunals as this. If I am to die here in +this insulated neck of land, by the hands of those who are themselves +prisoners, so be it—I shall die contented in the knowledge that I have +not lived in vain, and that future generations will rescue from oblivion +the name of him who first opened an avenue to the mighty and unknown +west, and however illegally my life may be taken, I will show you that I +can die as becomes a soldier and a Cavalier. One request I would fain +make, even of them whose actions I abhor and despise;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> it is this; as +you have tried and condemned me by a military tribunal, that you inflict +upon me the death of a soldier. This is a request which I would alike +make to a heathen or an infidel."</p> + +<p>"Take him immediately to the gallows," shouted Sir William Berkley.</p> + +<p>The officer of the guard approached with his myrmidons, and laid hold of +the prisoner, in accordance with the mandate of the Governor; but three +or four members of the court rose at once, and expressed their +willingness to allow the prisoner until the succeeding day to prepare +for execution.</p> + +<p>"Away with him, away with him," again vociferated the president, at the +same time, menacing the official who stood holding the prisoner, +doubtful how to act, and apparently willing to listen to the more +merciful suggestion. By this time the whole court was in confusion and +uproar; every member was upon his feet, together with the president, +each one endeavouring to be heard. A large majority of the members were +for the longest time, and these now demanded of the Governor to submit +the question to the court; but the old knight, having probably +discovered that Ludwell and Beverly were his only supporters, +clamorously persisted in ordering the prisoner to instant execution.</p> + +<p>Bacon himself, during this time, at first stood with his arms folded and +a bitter smile of contempt playing upon his features, until the turmoil +growing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> louder and more protracted, he too attempted to obtain a +hearing. "It is perfectly indifferent to me," said he, "whether I am +murdered to-morrow, or at the next moment; let the hour come when it +may, my blood be upon your skirts!"</p> + +<p>His manly bearing served to reanimate those who contended for delay, and +the strife continued to grow more noisy and turbulent, until, as if by +magic, a side door of the apartment opened, and a new actor appeared +upon the scene. The court was instantaneously hushed to silence, and Sir +William Berkley stood as if he beheld an apparition, while Bacon bounded +forward and clasped Virginia, who rushed into his outstretched (but +fettered) arms.</p> + +<p>When she first gently pushed open the door, not one of the court or of +the attendants perceived her. She was clad in the loose folds of the +sick chamber—her blond curls fell in unheeded ringlets over her brow, +temples and shoulders—her face was pale as monumental marble, and her +frame weak and trembling, while a preternatural excitement of the moment +shot from her eyes, as she gazed through the partly opened door, to +ascertain if her ears had not deceived her.</p> + +<p>Not a word was uttered louder than a deep impassioned whisper, until +Virginia perceived the chains upon his hands, when seizing the iron by +the middle she stepped forward and boldly elevating her head, addressed +Sir William—"Whence these chains, sir?—tell me quickly; tell me that +they have not been put on by your orders—before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> I curse the hour that +united my destiny in any manner with yours!"</p> + +<p>"Not only were they imposed by my orders, but they were so put on in +preparation for a ceremony which shall alike cure you of your vagaries +and release me from his hated presence for ever! Guard, lead her to her +chamber, and the prisoner to execution!"</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the words died upon his lips, ere she sprang from the grasp +of the officer, and locked her hands around the neck of her lover, +exclaiming, "Now you may shoot him through me—no ball enters his body +but through mine. You may hack off my arms with your swords, but until +then I will never leave him!"</p> + +<p>The Governor and Beverly now came forward, and each of them seizing a +hand, they tore her from his embrace, in the midst of a wild hysterical +laugh, not however before Bacon had imprinted a kiss upon her pale +forehead, and uttered a brief and agonizing farewell. He then seated +himself upon a chair, and covering his face with his hands, gave himself +up to emotions which had not before been awakened during his trial.</p> + +<p>As they were leading Virginia from the room, she suddenly recovered her +composure, sprang from their grasp, and placing herself against the +wall, between two of the officers of the court, who were still standing, +clung to their arms while she thus addressed Frank Beverly—"And this is +the method you have taken to win your way to my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> favour—this is the +plan you have devised to rid yourself of a rival. And you too, his +deadly enemy—to sit in judgment upon him, and mock justice by the +cowardly device. Out upon you, sir, for a craven-hearted dastard. Is +this the way you were to meet and conquer him in battle? Where are your +trophies for my bridal turban, taken from the standards of his +followers? You take trophies from Bacon in battle! One glance of his +manly eye would drive the blood chilled to your craven heart, and wither +the muscles of your coward arm."</p> + +<p>Again she was seized, and dragged from the court-room by the Governor +and Beverly. In a few moments the president returned, and found the +court proceeding in his absence deliberately to take the question on +granting the prisoner until the succeeding day to prepare for death, and +allowing him the attendance of a clergyman. Sir William was fearful +perhaps, that by resisting the will of the majority, he should defeat +his purpose, and therefore acquiesced in what he could not prevent, with +more amenity than might have been expected from his previous violence.</p> + +<p>The prisoner had not so suddenly regained his equanimity; he was indeed +making strenuous exertions to that end, but now and then a piercing +scream from the upper chambers of the mansion thrilled through his +nerves, and more than once he suddenly sprang to his feet, and made an +attempt to rush past his vigilant keepers, but was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> as quickly reminded +of his helplessness by the jarring sound of his fetters, and the ready +grasp of the officials. After several such attempts, he at length folded +his arms, and gave himself up to bitter reflections—a wretched smile +flashing athwart his countenance indicating the violence of the internal +struggle and the cruel pangs that rent his bosom.</p> + +<p>The majority of the court having triumphed in the first matter, the +question was again raised as to the manner of his death, and Bacon's +countenance was actually lit up by a smile when he heard the decision of +the court in favour of his own request, that he might die the death of a +soldier. The guard were at the moment leading him from the court room to +his prison house, and his step became more firm and elastic, and he +could now look upon the wretched spectacle in the court, without the +same degree of horror which he had before evinced.</p> + +<p>When he had marched several paces in his progress round the mansion, he +halted suddenly and wheeled round to survey the dormer windows peering +through the roof, as was the fashion with the long low houses of the +time. His eye rested from its piercing and steady gaze, in sadness and +disappointment, and he threw down his chained hands with a violent +motion, as he resumed his march between the soldiers. They conducted him +to the door of a cellar at the end of the house,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> which was secured with +double defences; in the next moment he was rudely thrust into a damp +cellar, without a ray of light, and the door was closed and securely +bolted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>Bacon heard the rusty bolt shoot into its socket, and then the hasping +and locking of the outside door, with a sensation of utter hopelessness. +He wandered through the dark precincts of his prison, stumbling now over +an old barrel, and anon against a meat block, until he came to some dry +bundles of fodder, which seemed to have been spread out in one corner to +answer the purpose of a bed. Before throwing himself upon this rude +couch, he resolved to examine the structure of his cell. By passing his +hands along the walls, he found that they were built of brick, well +cemented by a long process of time—that the summit upon which the +basement beams of the frame rested, were entirely out of his reach, and +that in the present confined state of his hands, it would be impossible +for him to make any impression on them, and he could distinctly hear the +tramp of more than one sentinel, as they paced their monotonous rounds +about that wing of the building. There was yet much of the day +remaining, and he resolved to spend it in endeavouring to grind off the +end of the rivets to the iron bands enclosing his wrists. By rubbing +these against the bricks, he found that he could wear them away by a +tedious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> and laborious process. Our hero was not one of those who +surrender themselves up to despondency at the first appearance of +insurmountable difficulties; decision of character was his most striking +quality, and he knew that his devoted army only waited for him to lead +them to avenge his wrongs. He felt the difficulties which lay between +him and Jamestown, but he did not despair, however desperate his +circumstances. For many hours he persevered in grinding the rivets +against the bricks; with wrenching and great danger of dislocating his +wrists, he at length succeeded in so wearing down the iron, that he +could at any moment throw aside the manacles. Encouraged with this +success, he moved the meat-block against the wall, and made all +preparations for a breach, as soon as he should be satisfied that the +darkness of night would cover his movements.</p> + +<p>To while away the time usefully, he threw himself upon his rude bed, and +was soon, from the effects of great previous mental excitement and +bodily fatigue, wrapt in profound slumber.</p> + +<p>The shadows of night had closed around this land in the midst of waters +in sombre hues, and the prisoner still slept profoundly.</p> + +<p>In the mean time circumstances were in progress on the bay, which had a +most important bearing upon the fate of every one then at Accomac.</p> + +<p>It has already been stated that Sir William Berkley had put in +requisition such of the naval power as he could bring to bear upon his +immediate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> designs and pressing necessities. But, after leaving the city +in the precipitate manner which has been related, the citizens +determined to summon to their aid, such of the ships and other vessels +of war and merchandise, as yet remained in the river, within convenient +distance of the city, and make the old knight a prisoner at Accomac.</p> + +<p>The Governor had not long been gone before an armament superior to his +own, was seen steering in the course which he had taken. This consisted +of "one ship, a bark of four guns, a sloop and schooner." The expedition +was under the joint command of Giles Bland and William Carver, both +veteran and experienced seamen. On board of one of the vessels, and +subordinate to the officers just mentioned, was Captain Larimore; he was +one of the most devoted friends of Sir William Berkley, but his personal +predilections and loyal principles were entirely unknown, either at +Jamestown or on board the fleet. When this (at that time) formidable +armament arrived in sight of the vessels at anchor, which had borne Sir +William and his partisans to Accomac, it being now dark, (on the same +evening in which Bacon lay sleeping in his dungeon,) Capt. Larimore +proposed to his superior officers, that he would take one or two +resolute tars, and, avoiding the hostile vessels, land and reconnoitre +the position and forces of the Governor.</p> + +<p>His proposition was promptly acceded to, and Larimore launched his boat, +selected his men, and protected by the thickness of the fog and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +darkness of the night, succeeded in effecting his landing unperceived by +the vessels in the service of the Governor. If he had been aware of +Bacon's imprisonment and condemnation, and disposed to do so, he might +have rendered him the most important services; but whether disposed to +hazard any thing in his cause or not, both he and his superiors were +ignorant of Bacon's fate.</p> + +<p>When the boat containing the adventurer and his two associates struck +the shore, Larimore immediately sprang upon the beach and ordered his +subordinates to push a few yards out into the bay, and remain within +sound of his whistle. He proceeded directly towards the quarters of Sir +William Berkley, until he was challenged by one of the sentinels with +his carbine at his breast. Larimore desired the sentinel to lead him to +the Governor. As soon as he had made himself known to his Excellency, he +informed him of his disposition to advance the cause of the loyal party, +and submitted the following proposition.</p> + +<p>He requested the Governor to send one or two of his most daring and +trusty officers, with one hundred resolute men in boats or canoes, +during that portion of the night when he should himself be in command of +the watch—and promised that he would deliver the whole armament into +the hands of the Governor. Sir William immediately summoned his officers +and made the proposition known to them—requesting, at the same time +that any gentleman who desired to be entrusted with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> the expedition +would step forward. Philip Ludwell promptly acceded to the offer, and +tendered his services, which were as promptly accepted. Ludwell having +selected his supporters from the hardiest of the troops and sailors, he +held himself in readiness to push off as soon as the appointed hour +should arrive. Larimore giving the concerted signal, sprang into his +boat and returned to those who sent him, with a very different account +of Sir William's position and intentions from that we have just related.</p> + +<p>All this time Bacon was sleeping as soundly upon his bed of corn blades, +as if it was not to be his last sleep on earth. Criminals condemned to +death generally do sleep soundly the night preceding their execution, +and Bacon, whether criminal or not, was no exception to the rule.</p> + +<p>It was some hours after the sun had gone down, and about the same time +that Larimore put off to his vessel, when Bacon suddenly started up from +his rude couch, under an oppressive sense of glaring light upon his eye +balls. An aged and decrepid woman was leaning over him; she was resting +upon her knees, in one hand holding the lamp and in the other the locket +which had already exercised such an important influence upon his +destiny. She had sprung the lid, during his sleep, and was now gazing +upon the beautiful picture, with an interest and amazement not less +intense than he had himself manifested on its first discovery in the +Indian wigwam. So absorbed was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> her every faculty, that his sudden start +from sleep scarcely attracted her attention. Her eyes were filled with +water in the vain endeavour to decipher the outlines with convincing +accuracy. When the date and the initials and the hair were submitted to +a like scrutiny, conviction settled at once upon her mind. The feeling +operated slowly at first, but as one doubt gave way after another, her +pale and haggard features began perceptibly to assume the life and +vigour of deep excitement. The locket fell from her grasp, and she +clasped her hands—but suddenly throwing back the curling masses from +his brow she exclaimed: "Tell me, my master, are you called Nathaniel +Bacon?"</p> + +<p>"I am! but tell me in your turn, why do you ask?"</p> + +<p>She answered only by exclaiming, "O merciful Heaven! God be praised! +Wonderful are the ways of Providence!" Bacon was on his knees also, his +manacled hands laid upon her shoulders as he anxiously and hastily +inquired, "Tell me, good mother, what do you know of Nathaniel Bacon?"</p> + +<p>"More than he knows of himself, mayhap!"</p> + +<p>"Speak it quickly—moments are more precious than diamonds—say, whence +comes your knowledge? who are you? who am I? for God's sake tell me +quickly!"</p> + +<p>"You are the son of as worthy a gentleman as ever wore a sword. I knew +him and your honoured mother well—that is, if you are the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +mischievous boy whom I have mourned as drowned these many long and +lonesome years."</p> + +<p>The captive waited to hear no more, but springing upon his feet, paced +wildly round the damp cellar like one in a delirium of joy. The old +woman still maintained her humble posture, her hands again clasped, and +her long wrinkled neck turning with difficulty to follow the strange +movements of the prisoner. Suddenly, and as if stricken down by a cannon +shot, he threw himself upon the earth his whole frame convulsed with +thoughts of his present hopeless condition. "What matters it whether I +am Nathaniel Bacon or not? What will it avail, this time to-morrow, when +these limbs, now so full of life and vigour in the renewal of hope, will +be still in the cold embrace of death?"</p> + +<p>"Death!" the old woman screamed, rising from her knees, seizing the lamp +and thrusting it in Bacon's face—"Death, did you say, my son? or did my +old ears deceive me with the horrible word?"</p> + +<p>"They did not,—truer words were never spoken or heard; to-morrow, +before the sun has measured an hour in the heavens, the voice which now +addresses you, will be silenced in the everlasting sleep of death!"</p> + +<p>Horror struck his auditor dumb; her shrivelled lips moved with a +tremulous motion, as if she desired to speak—but she spoke not. An ashy +paleness overspread her features, and she staggered backward and would +have fallen, had she not been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> caught in the arms of her long-lost +foster son. A tumult of thoughts crowded upon her enfeebled mind, as she +recovered, gasping with the unusual excitement, and her aged frame +heaved as if it would burst in the effort. At length a ray of hope +seemed to dawn upon her mental vision; her eye sparkled with the +thought, as she resumed the lamp which Bacon had taken from her hand, +and placed upon the ground. "It must not, shall not be, my son. There is +your coarse food, Heaven forgive me for not offering you better, but +little did my thoughts turn upon such a godsend. I have a thousand +things to ask and tell, but as you say, life—precious life—hangs upon +every moment lost, so—"</p> + +<p>At this moment the sentinel advanced directly before them, and taking +the old woman rudely by the arm, said, "Come, old Tabby, the prisoner +can find the way to his mouth without the light; give him his bread and +water, and be off;" thrusting her up the steps, as he spoke, slamming +the door, and once more turning the grating bolt upon the unfortunate +prisoner.</p> + +<p>Bacon's late reviving hopes almost died within him as he listened to the +unwelcome sounds and the retreating footsteps of his visiters.</p> + +<p>He threw himself once more upon his rude couch and abandoned himself to +despair. But youthful hope never despairs utterly, however desperate the +circumstances; a few moments after saw him with his handcuffs thrown +off, and busily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> engaged in piling the loosened bricks upon the floor. +In less than an hour, he beheld the stars lightly twinkling in the +Heavens, through the aperture created by the removal of a single brick, +which he had taken from the outer layer before he was aware of his +progress. Cautiously and intently he listened for the footsteps of the +sentinel; strange sounds seemed to come from off the water, but all in +his immediate vicinity was as quiet as the grave, except the tumultuous +throbbing of his own heart. Again he proceeded cautiously in his work, +until he had completed an aperture sufficiently large to admit the +passage of his body. Then, bracing his nerves, he proceeded to effect +his exit through the opening, and was vigorously struggling to free +himself, when a musket ball whistled by his ear and buried itself in the +wooden sill of the house. He sprang back into the cellar, and stood in +confusion and amazement, until the short chuckling laugh of the sentinel +roused him from his delusive dream of hope. He could distinctly hear the +marksman who had exhibited such a dangerous proof of his skill, laughing +and telling his comrade, who paced before the door at the end of the +house, "how he had shaved the prisoner's head." The unfortunate captive +now abandoned himself to despair in earnest. A thousand times he cursed +his ill fated stars, for thus leading the old nurse into his cell to +rouse his dormant hopes, and give a new impulse to his desires for +freedom.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<p>While these matters were in progress at the prison of our hero, the +naval armament under the command of Bland, Carver and Larimore, +belonging to and put in motion by his friends among the citizens, and +which might have rendered him such effectual assistance had the two +principal officers been aware of his situation, was itself about to +perform its share in the contest. The expedition under Ludwell, as had +been promised to the traitor Larimore, was sent out at the exact time +specified, and with muffled oars skimmed along the surface of the +tranquil lake, keeping under the shadow of the ships. As they +approached, signals were exchanged, which satisfied Ludwell that +Larimore was indeed in command of the watch, and still ready to betray +his trust. Once or twice, indeed, a suspicion shot across his mind, that +Larimore might only be an agent in the hands of Bland and Carver, and +that his proposal was but a scheme laid to entrap himself and followers +into the power of the rebels, as the Governor's party were pleased to +call the patriots; but it was as speedily dissipated by the favourable +train in which every thing seemed to lie, as the traitor had promised.</p> + +<p>The loyal party under his command was in a very few minutes silently and +stealthily climbing up the sides of the vessels. Having gained the +decks, they proceeded at once to disarm and bind the sentinels. These +unfortunate fellows had been induced by the traitor Larimore, to believe +that the party under Ludwell were deserters from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> ranks of Sir +William Berkley, and were not undeceived until they found themselves +bound hand and foot, and such other precautions taken that they could +not alarm their sleeping comrades below. In less time than we have taken +to record the transaction, the whole naval armament in the service of +the patriots, together with the officers, crews and military stores, +were delivered into the hands of Governor Berkley. The success of the +enterprise was announced to the anxious expectants on shore, by a +discharge of artillery, which was joyously answered on their part. Sir +William Berkley was transported with delight—so lately abandoned by the +majority of the citizens and soldiers of the capital, and compelled to +desert the legitimate seat of government, he now saw himself in +possession of a naval and military power, more than sufficient to +command the obedience, if he could not win the affections of the +rebellious citizens. He immediately called together his officers, and +such of the cavalier gentry as had followed his fortunes to this remote +corner of the colony, and imparted to them his determination to embark +his land forces on board the ships brought over by himself, and those +surrendered by Larimore, and sail within the hour for the capital.</p> + +<p>It may be readily imagined that this sudden change in their fortunes was +not received with murmurs and discontent; on the contrary preparations +were eagerly and joyously commenced. The captured and betrayed patriots +were divided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> among all the vessels, so as to preclude effectually any +chance of their rising upon the Governor and his party. The soldiers, +artillery and baggage were placed on board, and the signal given for the +embarkation of the old knight and his staff—family and attendants.</p> + +<p>Our gentle heroine was not forgotten—she too had been roused, not from +her slumbers, for she had not slept, but from her restless and feverish +pillow, and commanded to prepare for instant departure for the capital. +The stern old Cavalier, her uncle, stood in the open plot in front of +the house surrounded by his partisans, impatiently waiting her descent. +At length she appeared, leaning upon the arm of Frank Beverly on one +side, and that of her female attendant upon the other—her aunt +following in evident dejection of spirits. Virginia's countenance was +white as the spotless attire in which she was enveloped. Her eye wildly +wandered over the faces crowding around, as she emerged from the house, +but soon settled again in sullen composure as she perceived the absence +of the one sought. The pine torches, borne by the negroes, shed a +glaring and unsteady light on the objects around; the steady tramp of +the soldiers, as they marched to and embarked on board the boats, were +heard in the direction of the water, while other parties were seen in +like manner provided with torches, floating in the barks already laden, +toward the ships moored in the offing. As the party that had just +emerged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> from the house was about to move in the same direction, Beverly +spoke aloud to the Governor.</p> + +<p>"Sir William, are you going to leave the prisoner in the cellar?"</p> + +<p>"True—true, my boy," he replied, "I was so overjoyed at trapping so +many of his compeers, that I had entirely forgotten his generalship; but +we will care for his standing, and that right speedily. We will elevate +him—I will not say above his desert—but certainly to a position to +which he has long had eminent claims. Ho! Sir Hangman! Ludwell, order +the hangman into our presence; we need a cast of his office before we +set sail."</p> + +<p>"It was customary with the Romans, you know, Sir William, to offer up a +sacrifice before they embarked upon any important enterprise," said +Beverly, laughing at his own wretched attempt at wit. But there was one +countenance in the group upon which the first intimation of Beverly +concerning the neglect of the prisoner, wrought a fearful change. +Virginia threw her eyes wildly round, searching from face to face, for +some small evidence of sympathy on which to cast her hopes, but they +were all steeled in imperturbable apathy, or clad in more appalling +smiles of derision. As her eye glanced around the circle, it fell at +last upon the youth supporting her own enfeebled steps. Her knees were +just sinking under her from weakness and dismay, but the sight of Frank +Beverly's smiling countenance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> aroused her energies. Her muscles were +instantly braced, her eye shot forth scorn and contempt, while she threw +his arms from her, as she would have started from the touch of some +loathsome reptile. The youth, with a grim smile, folded his arms in +quiet serenity, to await the appearance of the prisoner, as if conscious +that his hour of sweet revenge was near at hand.</p> + +<p>Virginia threw herself at the feet, first of her uncle, and then of her +aunt, and earnestly prayed for the life of her lover, as she heard the +orders for bringing him forth, but from the first she received only a +contemptuous glance, and from the latter silent tears. She was still +kneeling upon the grass at the feet of the latter, her head fallen in +despair and exhaustion upon her bosom, when the soldiers rushed out from +the cellar, and proclaimed the escape of the prisoner. An electric +stream poured into Virginia's sinking frame could not have more suddenly +restored her to life and animation. She screamed, clasped her hands, +sprang to her feet, and fell back into the arms of her aunt in a +paroxysm of mingled joy and agitation.</p> + +<p>Sir William Berkley gnashed his teeth, and swearing vengeance against +the traitors who had permitted his enemy's escape, seized one of the +pine torches and rushed into the cellar to satisfy himself that he was +not concealed behind some of the rubbish of the apartment; but soon +found convincing evidence of his escape, in the irons that lay upon the +ground, and the aperture through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> which he had made his exit. The +sentinels were all called up, who had at any time stood guard over the +prisoner through the night. It appeared that the one who had discharged +his piece so near to the head of the prisoner, had been some time since +relieved, and that he had merely mentioned to his successor, the attempt +of Bacon to escape, with his own amusement in showing him how near he +could shoot to his head without wounding him.</p> + +<p>"Would to God you had lodged the ball in his skull," exclaimed the +enraged governor. The truth was, that the sentinel had supposed the +prisoner still loaded with his irons when he appeared at the breach, +having merely discovered one of the many evidences of dilapidation in +the house, and had consequently left him in the care of his successor, +with the full confidence that he would not make a second attempt. How he +was induced to make that second attempt will appear in the sequel. The +soldier on duty, at the time when he was supposed to have escaped, was +immediately ordered to be put in irons.</p> + +<p>Lady Berkley was about having her niece conveyed to the house, but her +enraged husband harshly ordered those supporting her now prostrate form, +to convey her to the vessel, which was accordingly done. The Governor, +his suite and followers were soon also on board, and a roar of artillery +announced their final departure from the "eastern shore."</p> + +<p>When Bacon threw himself upon his couch, after his last unfortunate +attempt to escape, every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> thought of once more gaining his liberty +abandoned him. He very naturally supposed that his failure would only +redouble the vigilance of his guards, and therefore resumed his irons, +with the desperate resolution of throwing them off, when he should be +led to execution on the following morning, and selling his life as +dearly as he might.</p> + +<p>He had lain for some hours in a state of mind that may be readily +imagined from the late scenes through which he had passed, when at +length he heard his own name softly whispered in his gloomy cell; the +voice appeared to be in his immediate vicinity. He arose and followed +the supposed direction of the sound, and again he heard it on the +opposite side—proceeding from the still unclosed aperture in the wall. +He answered in the same subdued whisper. "Come this way," said the voice +of the old woman, the shadow of whose head he could now perceive +darkening the partial light which broke through. "Come this way, Master +Bacon. Tim Jones, the sentinel, has gone into my cabin to eat a chicken +supper, and drink some aqua vitæ which I procured for him; his place is +supplied by a soldier whom I engaged to be ready, as if by accident. He +pretends to be asleep under the big tree yonder. Do you come forth and +proceed round the opposite end of the house to that occupied by the +other sentinel, until you come to the bushes at the end of the garden +palings—there wait until I come to you—for your life do not stir, +until I join you there."</p> + +<p>Bacon succeeded in avoiding the notice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> sentry and in gaining the +spot indicated by the old woman, where he had scarcely concealed +himself, before the discharge of artillery from the betrayed fleet +startled him from his recumbent posture. He supposed that his own +capture had been ascertained at Jamestown, and that vessels had been +despatched to rescue him. This idea had scarcely entered his mind, +before he sprang over the palings and was running at his utmost speed +across the garden toward the bay, for the purpose of procuring a boat, +but his attention was instantly arrested by the appearance of the +Governor and his suite collecting in the yard in front of the house. He +was on the point of running into the hands of the sentinel whose +temporary absence had afforded him the chance of escape, and who now sat +with his weapon ready for action, securely guarding, as he supposed, the +person who stood just behind him. The man hailed him as soon as he heard +the rustling among the shrubbery, but the liberated captive had seen and +heard enough to induce him to seek his hiding-place once more.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>When Sir William Berkley embarked on board the ships, he left a company +of picked soldiers, commanded by an officer of tried fidelity, together +with the smallest of the vessels and her crew, with orders to bring the +fugitive to Jamestown, dead or alive. In a short time that portion of +the eastern shore, lately so full of bustle and activity, was wrapped in +profound repose, unbroken save by the monotonous tramp of the sentinel, +pacing before the door of the mansion, now the solitary quarters of the +sole remaining officer.</p> + +<p>Bacon had perceived from his hiding-place, that some unusual commotion +was in progress between the quarters of the Governor and the ships lying +in the offing, and he was seized with the most eager desire to know what +it foreboded. For the first half hour, he lay in momentary expectation +of the commencement of a naval action; at length he saw the glaring +lights of the pine torches, skimming along the margin of the water, and +dark shadows of moving crowds, as the boats floated to their +destination. These movements he could not comprehend except by supposing +that the crafty old knight had set on foot some secret expedition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> for +the capture of the newly arrived ships, the increased numbers of which +he could easily perceive. But when the whole fleet set sail, with the +exception of the small craft already mentioned, he was completely at +fault. He was revolving these strange movements in his mind, when his +kind preserver came again to his assistance. She was moving like an +unearthly spirit along the garden palings, cautiously examining every +bush, when he presented himself before her. She led him by a circuitous +route, and one the farthest removed from the sentinel, to a lone cabin +that stood some distance from the main building, and that had lately +been occupied by the inferior officers attached to Sir William's cause; +it had formerly been used as a negro cabin. After she had ushered him +into the single room which it afforded, she pointed to a seat, and began +stirring up the coals which had been left from the culinary operations +of the late occupants. She was about sitting down to hear Bacon's +account of himself, and doubtless of communicating her share of +information for filling out the history, but recollecting that he had +left his food untouched, she hastily covered the light, and went out, +carefully securing the door on the outside, but soon returned with a +remnant of Tim Jones' chicken supper, which she had no doubt preserved +for her own use. This was speedily placed upon a rude table, and the +fugitive urged to help himself in the midst of a torrent of +questions.—Now she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> desired to know the fate of the Irishman—where +they had landed after the shipwreck—who had so kindly nurtured and +educated him—whether he knew any thing of his relations in England—if +he remembered any thing of her features, or her home in the old country. +What was his occupation. Why Sir William Berkley disliked him, in what +position he stood with regard to the beautiful invalid, who had shown so +much grief at the prospect of his immediate execution,—how he had +managed to preserve the locket so faithfully—and a hundred other +queries of like import, with the solution to which the reader is already +acquainted, but which our hero answered with great impatience, +interposing one of his own between every two of hers, and meanwhile +doing ample justice to the provision she had set before him. The +substance of the old woman's narrative was as follows:</p> + +<p>"When Mrs. Fairfax, then Mrs. Whalley—"</p> + +<p>"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Bacon, dropping his knife and fork—"was +General Whalley her first husband? Then indeed he and the Recluse are +the same person." The nurse stared at him a moment, but presently +proceeded with her narrative.</p> + +<p>"When Mrs. Fairfax, then Mrs. Whalley, left her infant son in my care, +for the purpose of joining her husband, then an officer in the army of +the commonwealth, I was entirely unacquainted with the opposition of her +family to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> marriage with General Whalley, and ignorant of the +clandestine manner in which that ceremony had been performed, as well as +the subsequent privacy of their movements, which they thought necessary +for their safety.</p> + +<p>"It was a long time after her departure from my house, and after the +time of her promised return, before I received the least account of her, +or the cause of her prolonged absence from her child. But when I did at +length receive a letter from the unfortunate lady, the whole mystery was +cleared up. In that letter she stated 'that while she was on her way to +join her husband, she was overtaken in the highway, by a party of +loyalist soldiers, commanded by her own brother. She was immediately +recognised by him, and sent under a military escort to her father's +house, not, however, before she had time to learn from one of the +prisoners under the charge of the party, the death of her husband, who, +he stated, had fallen by his side.' She made the promised remittances +for the support of her infant, and every thing went on in the usual +train, until the time arrived for the next promised letter, which indeed +arrived, by the hands of a very different messenger from the one before +employed. It was brought by the very brother who had arrested her in the +road, and sent her a prisoner to her father's house. He presented the +letter unopened, but stated that he was fully apprised of its contents, +as well as of the existence of his sister's child, which she still +supposed unknown to her family. He told me that his father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> was almost +broken-hearted, on account of the disgraceful marriage which his sister +had contracted, and that the sight of her infant in the house, or even +the knowledge of its existence, would drive him to phrenzy; that his +brothers and himself had therefore determined to take effectual means, +not only to remove the child from within the reach and knowledge of +their father, but of its mother also. That they were determined to take +it by force, a sufficient proof of which he showed me in a party of +armed followers, (for they were all military men,) unless I would +consent to a plan for the removal of the offensive little stranger, +which would secure all their views, and be, at the same time, more +satisfactory to himself and, he doubted not, to me. His proposition was, +that I should remove with the child to a distant residence, the means +for which he would amply provide; and that I should then wait on Mrs. +Whalley, his sister, and inform her that her child was dead. As an +inducement for me to be guilty of this deception, he informed me that +there was a young Cavalier, of good birth and connexions, who was +enamoured of his sister, but if the child was permitted to absorb her +affections, and remind her of her lost husband, they despaired of ever +seeing her married to Mr. Fairfax, and consequently of wiping out the +stigma upon their good name created by her first marriage. I was really +attached to the little boy, and fearful that they would take him by +force if I did not quietly yield, and being assured that I should watch +over him wherever he went,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> I consented to the plan. I waited on the +mother, and with well dissembled sorrow, told her of the death of her +darling boy. I thought at first that she would have gone distracted, but +the necessity of keeping her secret from her father and brothers, roused +her to the needful exertion. It was well that it was so, for I could not +have endured her heart-rending distress five minutes longer. The next +information I had of the unfortunate lady, was from the same young +gentleman, her brother, who came to inform me of the success of their +plans and thus relieve my conscience. His sister after a tedious delay +had married Mr. Fairfax, and sailed for the Capes of Virginia. He +assured me that the child should always be provided for, but that I must +change his name from Charles Whalley to some other, which I might choose +myself, so that he could never be able to trace his parentage. I was +firmly resolved, however, that the innocent babe should some day know +his real history. In the meantime I consented to all that the young +gentleman desired, and he left the usual supply and departed. I never +saw him again. The remittances for the support of the child were indeed +kept up for some time, but they at length became irregular, and less +frequent. My mind began to grow uneasy concerning the charge which I had +thus by a crime brought upon myself, and which I considered but a just +retribution for my evil deeds. Nor were my fears less anxious concerning +the future prospects of my innocent nursling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> My health had well nigh +sunk under the accumulating load of poverty and unavailing regrets for +my wickedness, and I trust that I sincerely repented of the evil deed. +Providence at length directed to my humble dwelling one who appeared +indeed as one risen from the dead.</p> + +<p>"It was none other than General Whalley himself; he had really been shot +in the battle, but had recovered. Great God! what were my sensations, +when the gigantic warrior, pale and worn with mental and bodily +suffering, threw aside his disguise, and avowed himself to me. +Notwithstanding the embarrassing position into which his being still +alive was calculated to throw all parties, I fell upon my knees before +him, and my Maker, and fully acknowledged my participation in the +transactions which I have related. He had heard of the marriage of his +wife to Mr. Fairfax, before he sought me out, but even at this +comparatively remote period of time from her marriage, his huge frame +shook, and he became like an effeminate being while he listened to my +narrative. He told me that he was likewise about to sail for America; +not that he desired or intended to make himself known to his wife, but +because it was becoming unsafe for him to remain longer in the kingdom. +I have no doubt in my own mind, that he was unconsciously indulging his +desire to be near his still adored Emily, in his choice of a place of +refuge, which he now informed me, was the same to which she had gone +with her husband. He told me that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> it was his intention to live in the +greatest seclusion, and that his very name should be unknown in his new +abode. He proposed that I should follow him, after he should have +established himself, and made arrangements for my comfortable reception, +the time for which was specified. I felt myself impelled by an imperious +sense of duty to repair, as far as lay within my power, the injury which +I had helped to inflict upon him, and therefore consented to leave +country and home with my little charge, now become so dear to me.</p> + +<p>"After furnishing me with the necessary supplies for the long and +dreaded voyage, together with particular directions as to the place of +embarkation, and the course I was to pursue after arriving in Jamestown, +General Whalley left me, and I have never seen or heard of him to the +present hour. I did not consider that surprising, however, because he +informed me that he would never more be known by the name of Whalley, +and that I must school myself carefully before my departure for America, +never to drop a hint that he had ever been more than he seemed to be in +his new abode. But to proceed with my story. He had directed that I +should sail with the boy after the lapse of one year from the time of +his own departure. The most of this interval was employed in making my +own little preparations for so long a voyage, and my final separation in +this life, from all my kindred and friends. I had promised to keep my +design as secret as possible, and every precaution was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> indeed taken to +keep my intended departure a secret from all but my own immediate +relations. But by some means unknown to me, my design became known to +others, as I was apprised one day, by a visit from a gentleman named +Bacon!"</p> + +<p>The fugitive instantly dropped his knife and fork, which he had been +occasionally using as the story of the nurse ran upon those events +already known to him, but now a new name was introduced, and one which, +it may be readily imagined, did not fail to command his undivided and +breathless attention.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bacon informed me that he had heard of my intended expedition, and +that I was to take out with me the tender boy then on my lap, and said +he could readily surmise that the late unfortunate civil wars were in +some way or other the cause of my undertaking so long and dangerous a +voyage. As he saw my embarrassment from not knowing how to answer him, +he hastened to assure me that he did not desire to pry into my secret. +That he was placed in somewhat similar circumstances himself, to those +which, as he supposed, operated on the parents of the boy. He informed +me that his brother and himself had both been unfortunately in the army +of the commonwealth, in which his brother had fallen, and that he had +left an only son to his care, the mother of whom had died in giving him +birth. 'Now my object in coming to you, my good woman,' said he, 'is to +procure your assistance in conveying my ward to Virginia.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I readily undertook the task, and all necessary arrangements were made +for the boy's comfortable passage. Some months before the time of +embarkation, little master Bacon, or I may as well say yourself, was +brought to me, in order that you might learn to know and love me before +we set sail for this distant land. When I was on board the vessel, and +had paid for my own passage as well as for those of my little charges, +the money for which had been provided by the friends of each, I was +startled to perceive that Mr. Bacon did not join me as had been agreed +upon. My anxiety became more and more intense as the time approached for +weighing anchor, for although I was amply provided with all necessary +funds, my mind misgave me that some accident had befallen the +unfortunate gentleman. He was indeed in disguise when he came to see me, +and I doubt not, was a fugitive from the powers that then ruled our +native land. My worst apprehensions were realized—Mr. Bacon was either +made a prisoner, prevented from joining me by apprehension, or chose to +deceive me in the whole business, but I have always religiously +believed, since I have had time to reflect dispassionately on the +subject, that his absence was not a matter of choice.</p> + +<p>"We had a pleasant and prosperous voyage, until the first night after we +came in sight of land, when such a storm arose, as it seemed to me that +the whole world was coming to an end. Daylight found us a miserable +company of forlorn wretches,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> hanging upon the wreck. The boats were +already loaded to the water's edge. I prayed and entreated some of the +good gentlemen to save my two precious boys, if they left me, but alas! +every one was taking measures for his own safety. There was one poor, +ignorant, but tender-hearted Irishman, who had been a soldier, that +seemed to commiserate my helpless little charges, his name was Brian +O'Reily—a talking, blundering, merry youth he was then. At length +seeing some prospect of effecting a landing, he made a raft of parts of +the wreck, and trusted himself and you to the mercy of the treacherous +waves. That was the last I ever saw of the warm hearted Irishman, and of +you, until I accidentally discovered, while you were asleep in the +cellar, the identical locket containing your mother's likeness, which I +had placed round your neck with my own hands. I saw the resemblance, +too, which you bore to my lost boy, and was immediately satisfied that +God had preserved you, in his own way and for his own wise purposes, and +I determined also to save you, if I could, from the cruel punishment +which I learned more fully from the sentinel, the Governor intended to +inflict upon you in the morning. Thank God, I have succeeded. Now do +tell me, what I have asked you so often, what became of the Irishman, +and where you were landed and how preserved."</p> + +<p>"First tell me, good nurse, how you escaped the wreck, and what became +of your other ward. It is of immense importance for me to know. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +liberty which you have given me is worth nothing, without a clear +explanation of these points."</p> + +<p>"That I can soon inform you of—the Captain, kind and generous man that +he was, seeing the probable success of the Irishman's plan, adopted it +himself, and after making a raft, with the help of some of his crew, +placed all the females on it who chose to venture in preference to +waiting for the return of the boats. Myself with my little remaining +boy, and several other females who were steerage passengers, suffered +ourselves to be lashed to the frail machine. For four dreadful hours we +were tossed about at the mercy of the waves, the water for at least half +the time dashing over us, and, as it seemed, carrying us half way to the +bottom. At length, however, we landed upon the eastern side of this very +neck of land, where I have remained ever since. I have never set my foot +on board of any kind of water craft from that time to this. Together +with another of the females mentioned and my little boy, the son of +General Whalley, I wandered through swamps, and marshes, and sea-weeds, +until we had entirely crossed the neck—never having eaten one mouthful +until we arrived at this plantation. Here we were most kindly received +by the widowed mother of the present proprietor, Mr. Philip Ludwell; but +alas, my little boy had suffered too long and too severely from the +combined effects of the night upon the wreck, the succeeding sufferings +upon the raft, and the hunger endured before we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> came to this place. He +sunk rapidly, notwithstanding the humane exertions of the good lady who +had extended her kindness toward us. He died and was buried on this +plantation—I have preserved his little clothes and trinkets to this +day. Little did I think at that time that you had outlived him."</p> + +<p>Bacon then performed his promise, and related all that he knew of his +own and O'Reily's escape from the wreck—and likewise informed her that +the latter had been on the "eastern shore" within the last two hours, +but, he supposed had been taken as a prisoner to Jamestown by Sir +William Berkley. "But tell me," he continued, "have you never seen or +heard any thing of General Whalley, or Mrs. Fairfax, since you parted +from them in England?"</p> + +<p>"I have never heard a word of the General from that time to the present, +though I have questioned every body that came from Jamestown. I knew +that he intended to assume another name, and other habits, and I +therefore described his person and manners, but no one had ever seen +such a personage!"</p> + +<p>The hasp flew from the pine log into which it had been inserted, and the +door was driven back against the opposite wall. "Thou beholdest him now, +woman! look at me!" and he pointed to his now haggard features, "and say +whether I am that man!"</p> + +<p>But his gigantic figure, never to be mistaken,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> had scarcely darkened +the doorway, before the person he addressed began to gasp for breath, +and seized the arm of Bacon for protection—calling upon him for God's +sake to save her—her eyes meantime immoveably fixed upon the intruder's +countenance.</p> + +<p>"Quail not, woman; there is no one here to harm thee, if thy own +conscience condemns thee not. I have heard part of thy story, as I +listened at the door, in order to find out how many of the Governor's +minions I should have to slay before freeing the boy. Lay thy hand upon +the Holy Evangelists, woman," and he drew his clasped Bible from his +pouch and extended it across the table to her, "and swear that this boy +is not my son, whom I entrusted to thy care."</p> + +<p>With a trembling hand she touched the holy book, and said as distinctly +as her fears would permit, "Before God and upon his word, I testify it +as my firm and unwavering belief, that this young man who sits before +me, is Nathaniel Bacon, and not your son."</p> + +<p>"It was indeed my boy, then, whom thou buried upon this lone shore?" And +without waiting for an answer he threw himself into one of the rude +seats, leaned his head down upon the table, and gave himself up to +uncontrolled emotion.</p> + +<p>Bacon was moved to tears as he saw the stern Recluse thus overwhelmed +with grief at the breaking up of the last tie that linked him to earth. +He remembered, as he looked upon his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> agitated frame, how uncompromising +had been the frowns of fortune upon this now solitary being. Once he was +flushed with the joy of youth, and love, and hope, and fired with a +military ardour like himself. But now (as he supposed) he was an outlaw, +and an exile from his country—unconsciously abandoned by a doting +wife—his only heir, and the sole stay and hope of his declining years +dead and buried upon the very spot where he at last found the nurse to +whom the child had been committed. He remembered also his unwavering +kindness to himself, and his general benevolence and kindness of feeling +toward his fellow men, and he unconsciously let fall the words which +rose embodied to his tongue, as with swimming eyes he looked upon him, +"'Tis a hard and cruel fate!"</p> + +<p>"Rather say that retributive justice pursues and overtakes the guilty to +the ends of the earth," answered the Recluse, raising his head erect +from the table. "Oh God, how just and appropriate are thy punishments! +How true and discriminating is thy retribution. Behold here a wretch who +has fled three thousand miles from the scene of his crimes in the vain +delusion that he could flee from himself and the mysterious all seeing +eye above! Young man, there is a mysterious system of ethics which the +world understands not—the reputed wise, subtleize it, and the vainly +wicked contemn and despise it. It is comprised in the simple words +justice—probity—and benevolence! There is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> power of bringing about +its own ends in the first which none but the wickedly wise know. Yea, +and bringing it about by the very weapons used against its dictates, and +if not upon the very scene of the crime, at least in a place peculiarly +appropriate. Behold here before you this worn down remnant of humanity, +summoned, as he supposed, to rescue the last of his race from the power +of the oppressor; but in truth, only to weep over the grave of his real +son, buried on this spot years ago. This hand once aided in severing the +links between father and son,—a man as innocent and unoffending as his +offspring was helpless. A royal line they were. Just heaven, how that +crime has been avenged! How strangely and how justly! Probity and +benevolence are mysteriously bringing about their own righteous +purposes, as does justice her avenging decrees. The worldly wise look +with contempt upon simple honesty, but the highest ultimatum of earthly +wisdom and experience is to have the power and the knowledge of the +wicked with the simple guide, that justice, probity and benevolence +unerringly work out their own reward.</p> + +<p>"The wickedly wise cunningly suppose that they are cheating their God +and their fellow men; the last they may temporarily deceive, but the +Great Political Economist of the universe so overrules their cunning, +that their own hands are forging the chains of their future captivity, +at the very moment when they suppose themselves constructing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> daggers +for their neighbour's throats, and keys for their strong boxes. The +mysterious power of which I speak is felt always in the latter end of +human life, but can never be described to those just entering upon the +scene. Thrice blessed is he, my son, who can fall before his Maker and +say that justice, probity and benevolence have been his ruling motives +of action—whether from the dictates of the heart or of the head. That +thou art one of those I have long believed, and if thou art not the son +of my loins, thou art of my affections. Come, my boat waits for thee; +thy presence is even now needed in Jamestown. Thy troops are encamped +but a few miles from the town, and are wondering at thy absence. The +Governor has embarked for the city to perpetrate more wrong and +oppression. By the will of Heaven this rusty weapon shall once more do +battle in a holy cause."</p> + +<p>As they were leaving the cabin, Bacon turned to the nurse and embracing +her said, "I go hence, good Margaret, to battle in the cause of my +country, and that right speedily. If I am successful, you will soon hear +from me, and if not, you will have the consolation of knowing that your +foster son died as became the son of a soldier. Before yon rising moon +has twice performed her circuit, I will be either the conqueror of +Jamestown or buried in its ruins."</p> + +<p>With hasty strides he followed the Recluse, who was already half way to +the little secluded inlet from which he had landed. As they approached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +the water, Bacon could perceive two slender masts dancing in the +moonbeams, as the dark hull of a fishing smack pitched and tossed with +the swelling billows. Stepping into a log canoe, (such as surround all +water bound plantations in slave countries,) they were speedily on board +the diminutive craft, where two lounging fishermen waited their +approach. The wind was blowing fresh from off the sea across the neck of +land they had just left, and they scudded before it at a rate, if not +quite equal to the impatience of the more youthful voyager, at least +with as much rapidity as could reasonably have been expected. The +Recluse seemed as usual inclined for thoughtful silence, and as his +companion leaned against the mast of the rocking vessel, he saw the +workings of a mighty mind—wrecked, as he supposed, upon some unseen +obstacle, as it was impetuously borne along by the resistless tide of +youthful hopes and aspirations. He could not believe that the Recluse +had ever been deliberately base or cruel, as he himself had more than +hinted. "At least," said he, as he communed with himself, "he has paid +ten-fold penance for a single error."</p> + +<p>The Recluse at length perceived that his companion was observing him, +and arose from his half recumbent position, and stood beside him, his +arms folded for an instant, and his attenuated countenance, as it +reflected back the sickly rays of a hazy moon, settled in profound +melancholy. He took the hand of the youth, and shook it some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> time in +agitation before he could give utterance to his thoughts, but at length +he said in a voice which betrayed the violence of his feelings,</p> + +<p>"Nathaniel, canst thou forgive me for that cruel mistake at the chapel? +Oh, couldst thou know what I suffered then, and since, both on thy +account and my own, thou wouldst accept it as ample atonement for the +unintended wrong. I saw, on that dreadful night, her who was the queen +of my manhood's fondest dreams—who had basked with me in the sunshine +of youth and hope—who had given me her young affections in return for +my own, when life was in its bud, and who afterward blossomed into the +rich fruition of maternal love and beauty in these arms—her who was +torn from me by a base deception of her kindred, and married to another. +I saw her face to face, for the first time in more than twenty years, +when she was about to give the offspring of her second marriage as a +wife to the offspring of her first, as I supposed. Oh, what human +conception can realize the torrent that broke over my soul at that +fearful moment? The shadowy remembrances which had been softening and +fading in the lapse of years burst at once into life and being. Time and +place were forgotten—the passions of youth rushed into the contest, and +I stood as the frail mortal body shall stand at the final day, when its +own spirit knocks for entrance. The buried ghosts of my own passions +rose from their grave, the frail cloak of stoicism which had been woven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +round me, was blasted into shreds and patches, and I stood and quailed +before a woman's eye like Belshazzar at his feast. Thou hast felt thy +heart swelling and plunging against its bony prison, but thou hast never +had it gorged and choked with the dammed up waters of bitterness, +gathered through long and dreary years. Thou hast felt the words stick +in thy throat, and refuse to leap into life, but thou wert never struck +dumb with a judgment from Heaven, like a thunderbolt scorching and +searing into the very citadel of thought and vitality! Thou hast writhed +when stung by the scorpion tongue of calumny, but thou hast never been +outlawed and abandoned of all human kind—condemned by thy own +conscience—and given up of God!"</p> + +<p>His eye shot forth vivid fires, and his arms, as they were flung abroad +in violent gesticulation, cast giant shadows upon the moonlit waves of +the Chesapeake.</p> + +<p>"You do both yourself and your friends grievous wrong," said Bacon, +after a painful pause.</p> + +<p>"I have indeed wronged myself—most wretchedly wronged myself, but not +now; the wrong which I did to others has recoiled ten-fold upon my own +head. I know full well thy meaning—thou wouldst say that kindly +feelings are not wholly dead within this seared heart! But thou hast +made but little progress in analyzing our moral structure, if thou dost +not know that crime committed by one whose nature would lead to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> good, +is the true source of that misery which surpasseth speech.</p> + +<p>"An intuitive villain, if there be such, or one become wholly corrupt, +plunges from transgression to transgression, until his final ruin, +without enduring any of that wretchedness which comes of a stain upon a +tenderer conscience. Such a man has no conscience; it is seared or +obliterated; but he of benevolent heart and virtuous impulses, wounds +his guardian angel by the deed. The taint corrupts and sours the sweets +of life into gall and bitterness. If that stain be but a single deed, +and that, dark, damning and indelible, the perpetrator becomes as an +angel of light in the companionship of hell. He may be likened to one +who loses the power of sight, with all the other senses perfect. He +hears what others see, but to him the grand medium of perception is dark +and dismal, and the rhapsodies of others are his own damnation. There is +but one hue to his atmosphere; it is the fearful red which only the +blood of man can dye. In his case the language of scripture is fulfilled +before its time. The moon is turned to blood, and the morning beam +dispelleth not the horrid hue."</p> + +<p>Bacon thought any direction of his companion's thoughts preferable to +his present mood, and therefore said "But she whom you supposed my +mother—"</p> + +<p>"I know it all, my son," interrupted the Recluse; "I saw the marble +features upon their last journey. For twenty years I have not envied +mortal being,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> but I confess to thee, that there was something in the +cessation from thought, suffering and action—and the sleep-like +serenity of death for which I longed. Nevertheless, there is an awful +mystery in that which seemeth so simple in itself. Mere lifeless clay, +moulded by the hands of man into the same stamp, speaks not to man in +the same language; it may indeed refresh the memory, but it stirreth not +up the divinity within us. Who is he that looketh upon the features of +the dead and looketh not up to the giver and recipient of life? I saw +her mortal remains laid out in the midst of a camp, and the busy world +faded away into indistinctness, while the God of the universe spoke in +the person of the beautiful corse before me and said, 'Thus far shalt +thou go and no farther.'"</p> + +<p>As they steered their course uninterruptedly towards the source of the +Powhatan, which they had entered as the sunbeams broke through the +morning mists, Bacon threw himself down, and slept soundly, until he was +aroused by the Recluse to inquire what direction their agents should +give the vessel when they arrived within sight of the city.</p> + +<p>He was roused to immediate thought and action by the question. He knew +the danger of entering the capital, now that it was in the possession of +Sir William Berkley, and therefore directed the boatmen to land him some +miles above.</p> + +<p>The Recluse, at his own request, was put on shore somewhat nearer the +capital, but entirely out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> of reach of any precautions which the +vigilance of the Governor might have instituted.</p> + +<p>Bacon inquired eagerly, why he left him, after his promise to draw his +sword in the cause of the people and the country, assuring him at the +same time that he intended bringing the matter to immediate issue.</p> + +<p>"I leave thee now, my son, to set my house in order. Trust in one who +has never failed thee in need. I will be with thee in this last +struggle—for there is something whispers me that it will be the last. +Leave the event, therefore, with him who rules the destinies of +battles." And with these words he sprang upon the shore and disappeared +in the forest.</p> + +<p>In a few hours more, Bacon was again at the head of his devoted troops, +who were entirely ignorant of the cause of his protracted absence, but +now that they knew its cause, were bursting with ardour to avenge his +own and his country's wrongs.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>General Bacon's ardour and decision of character were not in the least +abated by his late perils and imprisonment; on the contrary, recent +developments had relieved him from suspense and inspired him with new +motives for action, to say nothing of the redress loudly demanded, by +all classes of the citizens, for the Governor's increasing oppressions. +Scarcely was sufficient time allowed for his devoted officers to shake +him cordially by the hand, before his gallant band of patriots was +marching towards Jamestown, without music or noise of any kind. There +was a cool settled determination visible in the countenances of all, +which was admirably evinced by the order and alacrity with which they +obeyed the general's orders. Bacon's cause had now become personal with +every man in the ranks, composed as they were principally of hardy +planters and more chivalrous Cavaliers, who knew not at what moment they +might themselves be subjected to like wrongs and indignities to those +from which he had just escaped. As the chief had anticipated, the +patriot army arrived on the heights of Jamestown, just as the shades of +night were enclosing the forest. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> not his intention that Sir +William Berkley should ascertain his arrival and position, until he had +made suitable dispositions for his reception, should he feel disposed to +pay him a visit. Accordingly, the whole army was immediately employed in +digging an entrenchment, and erecting a barricade of fallen trees, for +the protection of the troops, should it be found necessary in their +future operations. These transactions took place, it will be remembered, +on the evening of the same day in which Bacon parted from the Recluse, +and landed upon the main shore.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Sir William Berkley, his family, suite and followers, of high +and low degree, had effected their landing without opposition at +Jamestown. The same night that Bacon and his patriot followers were +entrenching themselves on the heights, the Governor and his adherents +were marshalling themselves in the city. Great numbers of the citizens, +however, were decidedly opposed to Sir William and his measures; and his +arrival and military preparations were no sooner perceived, then they +betook themselves, with their families and property, under cover of +night, to the privacy of the neighbouring plantations: numbers of them +accidentally encountered the patriots at their work, and immediately +sending on their families, joined their standard. Besides the land and +naval forces now at the disposal of the Governor—and they already +outnumbered his opponents—he offered every inducement to the worthless +and dissolute loungers of the town to unite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> with his army; he did not +even hesitate to promise largely of the plunder, and confiscated +property of the rebels.</p> + +<p>On the succeeding morning, the sun rose upon the ancient city, in +unclouded splendour, for the last time it was destined ever to shine +upon the earliest erected city in North America. It was the dreaded day +to our heroine, appointed for her marriage. Her uncle had solemnly +assured her upon their landing on the previous day, that the one which +had now arrived, should see her the wife of Beverly. The latter, too, +claimed the fulfilment of her solemn promise. The distressed and +enfeebled girl knew not whither to turn for sympathy and succour; she +was beset on all sides, and not a little oppressed with the shackles of +her own promise. She did not dare to hope that her lover had already +made his way from Accomac to her own vicinity. She remembered indeed, +that the Recluse had charged her, in case of any sudden danger or +emergency, to send him a memento of the bloody seal, but she likewise +remembered, that he had since been the main cause of her separation from +one to whom she was heart and soul devoted. She was also oppressed with +unutterable sadness on account of her mother's death, the true account +of which she had just heard,—the body having been sent by the patriots +to the city for burial, immediately before her arrival. To her aunt she +appealed, with touching pathos; but alas, she could do nothing, even had +she been so disposed. Wyanokee had returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> with the body of her +mother, and by her devotion to the revered remains, revived all +Virginia's former affection, but she was powerless, and withal a +prisoner, and so wrapped up in her own gloomy meditations, that she +looked more like one of the dumb idols of her own race, than a living +maiden. When spoken to, she started up as one from a trance—and without +speaking again, sought communion with her own ideal world.</p> + +<p>The hour was a second time fast approaching for the celebration of the +nuptials of our heroine. None of the fortunate occurrences or lucky +accidents for which she had hoped, relieved the despair of the fleeting +moments. Her uncle and Beverly had both repeatedly sent up to her +apartments, and desired to be admitted to her presence, but on various +pretences they had been as yet denied. Her aunt had again and again +urged her to prepare for the ceremony, but hour after hour flew by, and +she was still sitting in her <i>robe de chambre</i> her neglected ringlets +hanging in loose clusters over her forehead and neck, the former of +which rested upon her hand, and it in its turn upon her knee—her head +turned slightly to one side, where Wyanokee sat, straight as an Indian +arrow, and silent and immovable as death. At length she heard her uncle +at the door, who swore that if she did not dress and descend immediately +to the parlour, where the clergyman and Beverly were in waiting, he +would have the door forced, and compel her to go through the ceremony +even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> should her feet refuse to sustain her. Soon after he had retired, +Lady Berkley again entered, when the distressed and bereaved maiden +clasped her round the neck and wept bitterly. "Oh, dearest aunt," she +exclaimed, "save me from this desecration—this perjury! Great and +merciful God," she cried, loosing her hold, and clasping her hands, "how +can I vow before Heaven to love, honour and obey a man that I abhor and +detest?"</p> + +<p>"You should have thought of that, my dear child, before you gave your +solemn promise to Frank; it is too late now to retract."</p> + +<p>"Is it even so? then I will swear when they come to ask me to pledge my +vows, that my love never was mine to give away; that I learned its +existence in another's possession. They shall not—they cannot force me +to swear an untruth. They may lead me through the outward forms of a +marriage ceremony, but racks and torments shall not make me in any way +accessary to the deed. If I promised otherwise, it was the last +despairing refuge of outraged nature. It was the instinct of +preservation within me, and not my free and voluntary act." Influenced +by this idea, she stood like an automaton, and suffered her women to +deck her out in bridal array, and was then mechanically led from her +room, accompanied by her aunt, Wyanokee, and her female dependants. She +found Sir William Berkley and Frank Beverly waiting her approach in the +entry. She shrunk back at the sight of the latter, but he, none the less +bold, approached at the same time with her uncle, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> together they led +her toward the room where the clergyman waited, with many of the loyal +Cavaliers. When they arrived at the door, and she saw the reverend +gentleman in his robes, and the book open before him, her excited frame +could bear the tension no longer, and she fell lifeless upon the floor. +A loud roar from the brazen throat of a cannon at the same moment shook +the windows like a peal of thunder, and was succeeded by the echoing +blasts of the trumpet's charge, multiplying the bold challengers it +rolled from river to cliff. This plan of daring an opponent to battle, +was strictly in accordance with the usages of the age, and was instantly +understood by the Governor and his friends, all of whom flew to the +windows, where they beheld a sight, which soon drove softer emotions +from their hearts, if they had any. The former saw the smoke curling +over Bacon's breastwork and entrenchments, and was struck dumb with +amazement. But soon recovering his voice, and throwing up the sash, he +shouted to the guard below, "to arms, to arms—for king and country."</p> + +<p>Whatever were the faults of Sir William Berkley, and they will be +considered many in this refined age and renovated country, cowardice was +not one of them. In a very few moments he mounted his charger and, +together with Beverly and Ludwell, galloped swiftly along his forming +battalions rebuking the tardy and cheering on the brave. With his +superior numbers and heavier appointments, he felt as sure of victory as +if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> already sat in judgment, or was pronouncing sentence upon the +chief of the rebels. That Bacon was already at the head of his army +never for a moment entered his imagination; but the knowledge would have +made no change in his arrogant calculations, even had he possessed it.</p> + +<p>So confident was he of an easy and speedy victory, that he scouted the +idea of remaining within the palisade, and waiting for the attack of the +patriots; and this was indeed becoming every moment more impracticable, +for the cannon balls from the heights were even now tearing through the +houses, riddling the ships and throwing his troops into confusion. No +time therefore was to be lost. He ordered the vessels to draw off into +the middle of the stream, threw open the gates, and sallied boldly out +to meet the foe.</p> + +<p>Virginia was borne to her apartment still senseless, and the physician +was immediately sent for, but before his arrival, she had several times +opened her eyes as her aunt with real but unavailing sorrow in her +countenance applied the usual restoratives. At every discharge of the +artillery she slightly moved; her excited imagination identified the +sound with the fearful thunder that attended the former disastrous +ceremony at the chapel.</p> + +<p>But when her aunt explained to her the occasion of the uproar, she +sprang up in the bed, clasped her hands, threw her eyes to Heaven, and +exclaimed,—"Merciful God, I thank thee! Providence has indeed +interposed for my preservation! Oh, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> <i>he</i> could only be there?—No, +no, no, it is better, perhaps, as it is—for cruel as my uncle is, I +could not bear to see him pierced by Bacon's sword, and he would +assuredly seek his life. Merciful Father, thou orderest all things +wisely. Aunt, let me prepare you for another turn of fortune! The +patriots will be successful! my heart assures me they will. Young Dudley +and Harrison are there, and they have lion hearts; but weep not, aunt, +they are as generous as they are brave."</p> + +<p>Sir William Berkley, with that blind, passionate, and impetuous courage +for which he was distinguished, scarcely delayed to organize his troops +effectually, but rushed with reckless fury against his enemies.</p> + +<p>Bacon, from the moment that he perceived the marshalling of the troops +outside the gate, silenced his cannon, and waked with coolness, and in +profound silence, the approach of the opposing columns. Sir William +began to calculate upon a bloodless and easy victory, and even +contemplated sending in a flag with terms of capitulation. But dearly +did he pay for his error, and terribly was he awakened from the +momentary delusion.</p> + +<p>Bacon had persisted in waiting the onset, notwithstanding the impetuous +ardour of his troops, until he could make every shot effective; he knew +his inferiority of numbers, and determined to compensate for his +disparity of force by coolness and precision. "Wait until you see the +white of their eyes, my fine fellows," was his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> often repeated answer to +the suggestions and even entreaties of his impatient cannoniers; but +when at length he did give the word "fire!" most effectually was it +echoed. The very heights seemed to the panic stricken troops of the +Governor, to pour out red hot iron and smoke. They were speedily rallied +and brought again to the charge—and again the same fearful reception +awaited their farther progress, with the addition, at the second onset, +of a volley of musketry. Dreadful was the havoc in the royal ranks, and +terrible the dismay of the soldiery. The rabble which the Governor had +hastily collected in the town, fairly took to their heels and fled to +the protection of the fort. Again the valiant old knight rode among his +troops, and cheered them to the onset, but at each succeeding attack, +some more fatal reserve was brought into action. At length the patriot +chief, standing upon his rude fortification, and looking down upon the +dismayed and retreating loyalists, began to take counsel of his youthful +ardour—he longed to measure swords with the officer whom he beheld +riding so constantly by the side of the Governor. He saw the officers of +the king, as they rode among their troops, some with tears in their eyes +endeavouring to rally them, and others swearing and rebuking their +cowardly followers; and he determined to permit them to rally and then +bear down upon them with his own high spirited and ardent soldiers. He +was quickly mounted, as were also Dudley, Harrison, and the brave band +of youthful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Cavaliers who had adhered so long and so faithfully to his +fortunes. When he announced this determination to his army, the welkin +rung again with their joyous acclamations, and every heart throbbed in +unison with his own, and assured him of victory.</p> + +<p>"This night," said Bacon in a low voice to Dudley, as they rode over the +entrenchment—"Jamestown shall be a heap of ashes!"</p> + +<p>Dudley made no reply, but smote his clenched hand upon his harness with +emphasis, returning the glance of his commander with one of cordial +approval.</p> + +<p>Sir William Berkley and his subordinates, seeing the movement of their +opponents, were soon enabled to rally the disheartened troops, and as +the patriot army marched down the hill, the royalists in turn, raised +the cheering chorus.</p> + +<p>The loyal army had not at any time during the engagement, presented so +formidable an appearance, as they did at this moment, and they in their +turn silently awaited the sortie of the enemy. As Bacon's followers +debouched, they visibly accelerated their pace to double quick time, and +the two bodies came together with a shock like the explosion of a +magazine. Terrible was the <i>melee</i>, and dreadful the carnage which +ensued. As they closed, Bacon raised his voice, and addressing Beverly +by name, called upon him to sustain his late charges. Consternation was +visible in the countenances both of Beverly and the Governor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> at the +unexpected appearance of the patriot chief, but the former yielded to it +only for an instant—in the next the youthful champions plunged the +rowels into the flanks of their chargers, and rushed at each other like +infuriated wild beasts. The fire flew from their swords, and their eyes +flashed not less brightly, but at the first onset, Beverly's weapon +snapped off short at the guard. Bacon raised himself in the stirrups, +and was about to plunge his blade deep into the breast of his hated +rival, but it fell harmless upon the mane of his charger, and he drew +back to the command of his troops. Beverly wheeled his horse and rode +slowly from the field, deeply wounded and mortified; as much perhaps at +the contrast between Bacon's forbearance and his own late vote of +condemnation, as at the disaster and defeat he had sustained.</p> + +<p>As Bacon returned to reanimate his troops, he found that a new ally was +doing battle in his cause. He saw near the right wing, the flourishes of +a gigantic arm, which he had formerly seen do service. The Recluse was +indeed there; how long since, Bacon knew not, but he seemed to be +already in the thickest of the fight. He had lost his cap, and his bald +head towered amid his fellows and brightly glistened in the sun. His +right arm was bare to the shoulder, and dyed with blood to the finger +ends. He seemed striving to throw his life away, and more than once +thrust himself into the very ranks of the foe, but as often the +terror-struck loyalists gave way before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> him. He seemed to be perfectly +invulnerable, for not a wound had he yet received.</p> + +<p>The consequences of the first repulse at the assault on Bacon's +intrenchments could not be overcome by the now exhausted and dismayed +loyalists. One column after another gave way, and fled into the town, +until not more than half remained. These were the regular troops, which +had throughout adhered so firmly to the person and fortunes of the +Governor. His friends urged him to capitulate, but he was as obstinate +in battle as he had before shown himself in council.</p> + +<p>He was at length almost dragged from the field by his friends—as all +his troops were flying in disorder and confusion into the town. The +patriots rushed in, together with their flying foes. The Recluse had +seized some flying charger, and, still bareheaded, was dealing death to +those who came within the sweep of his terrific weapon. Bacon over and +over again, offered quarter to the flying remnant, but they fought as +they ran, keeping up something like an irregular action, the whole +distance from the field of battle to the city.</p> + +<p>At length both parties were within the walls, and the fight was renewed, +but the loyalists were soon driven from the field. Some escaped by boats +to the shipping—and among these, Sir William Berkley was forcibly +dragged from the city as he had been from the field. In vain he pleaded +the situation of his wife and niece; he was assured by his friends of +their safety in the hands of the victor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> and still urged forward in his +flight. Many poor fellows plunged into the river, and endeavoured to +save themselves by swimming to the ships which still adhered to the +loyal cause, but numbers perished in the attempt.</p> + +<p>Bacon with difficulty restrained himself by a sense of duty, long enough +to see the victory complete, before he leaped from his horse, and rushed +up the stairs of the Governor's house, where, in a few moments, he was +clasped in the arms of the amazed and delighted Virginia, +notwithstanding the presence of Lady Berkley. He had no sooner exchanged +those thousand little nameless but endearing questions and answers, that +leap into life unbidden after such an absence and such a meeting, than +he turned to Lady Berkley, and said, "Madam, a safe escort to convey you +to your husband, waits your commands, at any moment you may choose to +leave the city."</p> + +<p>"But my niece—is she also free to go?"</p> + +<p>"What says my Virginia—will she accept a soldier's protection?"</p> + +<p>"With all my heart and soul," she answered.</p> + +<p>While they discoursed thus, the bells were ringing, and huge columns of +smoke shot up past the windows on every side, and burning timbers +sparkled and cracked with increasing and startling rapidity. Bacon +instantly understood the cause, and taking Virginia in his arms, and +bidding Lady Berkley and Wyanokee, who till now had scarcely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> been +noticed, to follow, he rushed into the street, and beheld Jamestown in +flames. In a short time it was a pile of black and scorched ruins, as it +has stood from that day to the present.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>After the battle and destruction of Jamestown, Sir William Berkley, +accompanied by his now liberated Lady and his remaining followers, +comprising the still loyal marine force, retired again to the shades of +Accomac, where we will leave him and the remaining events of his life in +the hands of the historian.</p> + +<p>The political power of the colony was now in the possession of the +victorious chief, so lately condemned to death. He was not long in +surrendering it to a convention of the people, summoned to meet at +Middle Plantations, (Williamsburg,) for that purpose, and in their hands +we will leave the political affairs of the future mother of states. Our +only remaining duty is to follow the fortunes of the principal +characters of our narrative. The successful general, after attending to +his military and political duties, accompanied his now betrothed bride +from the ruins of Jamestown to the new seat of government. It was a +delightful summer evening—the sun was just sinking beneath a horizon, +where the darker blue of the distant landscape softened the shades of +the azure sky, both merging in the indistinct prospect so as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> to form a +magnificent back ground to a panorama, bathed in a flood of golden +light. The youthful and happy pair instinctively reined up their horses, +and gazed upon the enchanting scene, until their hearts were full of +love and adoration.</p> + +<p>Then by one impulse they turned their horses' heads, and gazed upon one +far different, which they were leaving. The ruins of the first civilized +settlement in North America were still sending up volumes of smoke, +through which at intervals gleamed a lurid flash, as some more +combustible materials fell into the mass of living embers below. But +there were associations with this scene, to the hearts of our pilgrims, +which no tongue or pen can describe; the melancholy treasures of memory +collected through long forgotten years, came gushing back over their +hearts in a resistless torrent. The scenes of their childhood—of all +their romantic dreams, and those fairy and too unreal creations of young +life—the graves of their relations and friends, were about to be +surrendered up to the dominion of the thistle and the ivy, there to +moulder through all future generations.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> But this was not all that +was saddening in the view before them. The Indian captives, some two +hundred in number, were ascending the heights to the very spot which +they occupied, on their way to the far west.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> Poor and friendless beings +they were! their worldly store they wore upon their backs, consisting +for the most part of worn out leather garments, and a few worthless +baubles carried in their wallets. They skirted along the brow of the +hill in Indian file—their steps slow and melancholy. They too were +about to leave the scenes of their long sojourn, the broad and fertile +lands which they had inherited from the beginning of time—the honoured +relics of their dead, and all the loved associations which cling to the +heart of the rudest of mankind, when about to leave for ever the shades +of home. They were just entering upon the wearisome pilgrimage of the +exile, under a combination of the most cruel and unfortunate +circumstances, and in a condition the worst calculated to subdue new +countries, and battle with hostile tribes. As they passed in review +before the youthful pair of another race, no sign of recognition +manifested itself. They moved along with the gravity and solemnity of a +funeral procession, until the last of the line stood before them. It was +Wyanokee! She paused—attempted to pass on like her predecessors, but +her feet refused to bear her from the spot, and turning to them she +cried as if the words had burst irresistibly from her heart, "Oh cruel +and treacherous is the white man! See you those braves, going down the +path of yonder hill? So they have been going ever since Powhatan made +the first peace with your race. May the Great Spirit who dwells beyond +the clouds, shower mercies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> upon you both, equal to the wrongs which +your people have visited upon ours." And having thus spoken she broke +away, and ran swiftly down the hill in pursuit of her countrymen. She +saw that Virginia was struggling with her emotions to speak, and she +rushed away lest she should again be compelled to listen to a subject +which was disagreeable to her. Virginia, before her own departure, had +exhausted her persuasive powers in the vain effort to induce her to +remain. A hope had till now lingered in her heart, that Wyanokee would +follow her to Middle Plantations, and once more take up her abode in her +house, but when she saw the last traces of her receding figure through +the shadowy gloom of the forest, she knew that she looked upon the +Indian maiden for the last time on earth.</p> + +<p>With swimming eyes the lovers pursued their way across the narrow +peninsula. Virginia sobbed aloud, until she had given vent to her +overcharged heart. But an easy and gentle palfrey, and a devoted and +obsequious lover, do not often fail to revive a lady's spirits, +especially through such scenes as she now beheld, bathed as they were in +the mellow glories of a summer twilight. "Hope told a flattering tale," +and our hero and heroine would have been more or less than mortal, and +wise beyond their years, had they not listened to it. Their laughter was +not loud and joyous, it is true, they were far too happy for that; their +frames trembled with the exquisite pleasure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> which words warm from and +to the heart produced. Sometimes they were silent indeed, but not for +want of thoughts to interchange. Words had exhausted their power.</p> + +<p>They had not proceeded many miles on their way, and the sun still hung +as it were suspended beyond the purple glories of the horizon, when +Bacon pointed with his riding whip to an object before them which +quickly changed the current of his companion's thoughts. Like human +life, their short journey seemed destined to exhibit many dark and +gloomy shadows. It was the Recluse; he was leaning against a tree, +apparently waiting their approach, for as they rode up, he stepped out +into the highway and saluted them. Virginia trembled upon her saddle +with very different sensations from those to which we have just alluded, +but her lover hastily unfolded to her his name and former delusion. +"This, my young friends," said the Recluse, "is our last meeting on +earth—and I have sought it that I might bless you both, before my +departure from the land in which I have so long been a sojourner and an +exile from the haunts of men."</p> + +<p>"Whither are you going?" asked Bacon in astonishment. "You certainly +will not leave us, now that the very time has arrived when you may dwell +here in safety. I had even calculated upon having you as an inmate at my +house."</p> + +<p>"It cannot be," replied the Recluse. "My destiny calls me to a place far +north of this, where some of my old comrades and now fellow sufferers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +dwell in comparative peace and security. But it is only detaining you +after night fall, to multiply words. May God of his infinite mercy bless +and preserve you both," and thus speaking he also departed, and was seen +no more.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On a certain evening, not very long after the one just spoken of, +General Bacon was married to Miss Virginia Fairfax, and at the same time +and place Charles Dudley, Esq. led to the altar Miss Harriet Harrison.</p> + +<p>After this happy announcement, it becomes our painful duty to cast a +melancholy blemish upon the character of one who has figured in our +narrative. On the two several occasions, namely, of his release from +captivity by the storming and capture of Jamestown, and his master's +marriage, Brian O'Reily was found hopelessly, helplessly drunk; or +according to his own explanation, in that state in which a man feels +upward for the earth.</p> + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="ADDENDA" id="ADDENDA"></a>ADDENDA.</h2> + + +<p>Should the author's humble labours continue to amuse his countrymen, he +will very soon lay before them "The Tramontane Order; or the Knights of +the Golden Horseshoe;"—an order of Knighthood in the Old Dominion, +which first planted the British standard beyond the Blue Mountains.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This term originated in Virginia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This is an abstract of the speech really delivered by +Bacon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Historical.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The little rivulet skirting the south eastern end of +Richmond is called "Bloody Run" to this day.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> On one of these the present capital of Virginia stands.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> These were made of stones ground into the shape of our axe, +with a groove round the centre for a handle made of withe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The bayonet was just then coming into use, but was inserted +into a round piece of wood, which was thrust into the muzzle of the +musket.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Burke says 600.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Historical.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Historical.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> See Burke.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See statutes 13 and 14th Charles the 2d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> See Sanguinary executions of Bacon's followers—without +the legal forms of trial, in the Histories of the times.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The ivy capped ruins of the old church are all that remain +to this day of the ancient city. We trust that no irreverent hands will +ever be laid upon that venerable pile; but that it may be suffered to +stand in its own melancholy grandeur, as long as its materials may cling +together.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Our authority for assuming that one of the Regicides +secluded himself for a time near Jamestown, may be found in Stiles' +Judges, Chapter VI.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Cavaliers of Virginia, by William A. Caruthers + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA *** + +***** This file should be named 36753-h.htm or 36753-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/5/36753/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mark C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cavaliers of Virginia + or, The Recluse of Jamestown. Vol. II + +Author: William A. Caruthers + +Release Date: July 16, 2011 [EBook #36753] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA, + + OR THE + + RECLUSE OF JAMESTOWN. + + AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE OLD DOMINION. + + BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK." + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + NEW-YORK: + PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, + NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET, + AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT + THE UNITED STATES. + + 1835. + + +Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by HARPER & +BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern +District of New-York. + + + + +THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +The lightning streamed athwart the heavens in quick and vivid flashes. +One peal of thunder after another echoed from cliff to cliff, while a +driving storm of rain, wind and hail, made the face of nature black and +dismal. There was something frightfully congenial in this uproar of the +contending elements with the storm raging in Bacon's heart, as he rushed +from the scene of the catastrophe we have just witnessed. The darkness +which succeeded the lurid and sulphureous flashes was not more complete +and unfathomable than the black despair of his own soul. These vivid +contrasts of light and gloom were the only stimulants of which he was +susceptible, and they were welcomed as the light of his path! By their +guidance he wildly rushed to his stable, saddled, led forth, and mounted +his noble charger, his own head still uncovered. For once the gallant +animal felt himself uncontrolled master of his movements, fleet as the +wind his nimble heels measured the narrow limits of the island. A sudden +glare of intense light served for an instant to reveal both to horse and +rider that they stood upon the brink of the river, and a single +indication of the rider's will was followed by a plunge into the +troubled waves. Nobly and majestically he rose and sank with the +swelling surges. His master sat erect in the saddle and felt his +benumbed faculties revived, as he communed with the storm. The raging +elements appeared to sympathize with the tumult of his own bosom. He +laughed in horrid unison with the gambols of the lightning, and yelled +with savage delight as the muttering thunder rolled over his head. + +There is a sublime stimulus in despair. Bacon felt its power; he was +conscious that one of the first laws of our organization, +(self-preservation,) was suddenly dead within him. + +The ballast of the frail vessel was thrown overboard, and the sails were +spread to the gathering storm with reckless desperation. Compass and +rudder were alike abandoned and despised--they were for the use of those +who had hopes and fears. For himself he spread his sails and steered his +course with the very spirit of the storm itself. Nature in her wildest +moods has no terrors for those who have nothing to lose or win; no +terrors for them who laugh and play with the very elements of her +destruction; they are wildly, madly independent. It is the sublimity of +the maniac! Nevertheless there is a fascination in his reckless steps as +he threads the narrow and fearful windings of the precipice, or +carelessly buffets the waves of the raging waters. There are other +sensations of a high and lofty character in this disjointed state of the +faculties. The very ease and rapidity with which ordinary dangers are +surmounted, serves to keep up the delusion, and were it not for the +irresponsible condition of the mind, there would doubtless be impiety in +its developments. Such were Bacon's sensations as he wildly stemmed the +torrent. He imagined that he was absolved from the ordinary +responsibilities and hazards of humanity! and to his excited fancy, it +seemed as though petty fears and grovelling cautions were all that lay +between humanity and the superior creations of the universe! that power +also came with this absolution from the hopes, fears and penalties of +man's low estate. In imagination "he rode upon the storm and managed the +whirlwind." The monsters of the deep were his playmates, the ill-omened +birds of the night his fellows. The wolves howled in dreadful concord +with the morbid efforts of his preternaturally distorted faculties, as +the noble and panting animal first struck the shore with his forefeet. + +Emerging from the water, he stroked down the dripping mane with a wild +and melancholy affection. The very consciousness of such a feeling yet +remaining in his soul, which he dared indulge, produced for the moment +a dangerous and kindred train of emotions. These as before led him upon +forbidden ground, and again the wild tumult of his soul revived. +Striking his heels into the animal's flanks, and bending upon his neck, +he urged him over the ground at a pace in unison with the impetuosity of +his own feelings. + +The fire and gravel flew from his heels, as he bounded through the +trackless forests of the unsubdued wilderness. The frightened birds of +night, and beasts of prey, started in affright, wild at the appearance +upon the scene of one darker and wilder than themselves. The very +reptiles of the earth shrunk to their hiding places, as the wild +horseman and his steed invaded their prescriptive dominions. + +Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter, according to the commands of Sir William +Berkley, were conveyed to his mansion. To them all places were now +alike. The mother after a long and death-like trance, revived to a +breathing and physical existence; but her mind was overrun with horrors. +Reason was dethroned, and her lips gave utterance to the wildest +fantasies. Events with which, and persons with whom, none of those about +her were conversant, were alluded to in all the incoherency and +unbridled impetuosity of the maniac. The depletion and anodynes of the +physician were administered in vain. The ravages upon the seat of +nervous power had rendered the ordinary remedies to the more distant +chords of communication utterly powerless. From a mild, bland, feeble +and sickly state of melancholy, she was suddenly transformed into a +frenzied lunatic. Her muscular power seemed to have received multiplied +accessions of strength. Yet there was "a method in her madness"--the +same names and scenes frequently recurred in her raving paroxysms. That +of Charles was reiterated through the wild intonations of delusion; +sometimes madly and revengefully, but more frequently in sorrow. + +There was occasionally a moving and touching pathos in these latter +demonstrations--tearless it is true, but thrilling and electrifying in +the subdued whisper in which they were sometimes uttered. A flood of +pent up emotions was poured forth with a thrilling eloquence which had +their origin in the foundations of the soul. Scenes of days long past, +were revived with a graphic and affecting power, which imagination +cannot give if their mysterious source and receptacle be not previously +and abundantly stored with the richest treasures of the female heart and +mind. + +Because the by-standers do not happen to be in possession of all the +previous history of the sufferer, so as to put together these melancholy +and broken relics, they are generally supposed to be the creations of a +distempered fancy. + +So it was with Mrs. Fairfax; her detached reminiscences fell upon the +dull and uninstructed ears of her attendants as the wildest +hallucinations of the brain, yet there was more connexion in these +flights than they imagined. They supposed that she thought herself +conversing in her most subdued and touching moments with young Dudley, +merely because his name was frequently pronounced, and that he happened +to be present at the disastrous ceremony, which resulted so dreadfully +to all parties. + +Among all these, Virginia's was the hardest lot--so delicately and +exquisitely organized, so gentle--so susceptible--so full of +enthusiasm--so rich in innocence and hope, and all so suddenly +prostrated. Bacon was nerved with the wild yet exalted heroism of +manhood in despair. Her mother was wrapt in a blessed oblivion of the +present, but she was sensitively and exquisitely alive to the past, +present and future. One fainting paroxysm succeeded to another in +frightful rapidity, for hours after she was removed to her uncle's +house. + +The painful intervals were filled up with a concentration of wretched +reflections, which none but a finely organized and cultivated female +mind could conceive or endure. No proper conception of these can be +conveyed in language, unless the reader will suffer his imagination to +grasp her whole condition at once.--Beginning at the first inception of +the unsuspected passion for the noble youth who is the hero of our +tale--in her earliest infancy; and afterwards following her as it +matured and strengthened by the reflections of riper years.--Every +faculty, both perceptive and intellectual, had combined to impress his +image in the most indelible colours upon her heart. He had himself +ripened these very faculties into maturity by the most assiduous +culture, and won her esteem by the most touching, delicate, and +respectful attentions. + +All these things in detail were painfully revolved in her mind. Every +landscape, every book, every subject, reminded her most forcibly of him +whom it was now criminal to think of. Hers was the sorrow that no +sympathy could soften, no friendship alleviate. The sight of her +intimate and confidential friend drove her mad, for her presence +instantly revived the horrid recollections of the chapel. Long after the +clouds had cleared away, the thunder still roared in her ears. The +sudden slamming of a door sounded to her nervous irritability, like the +report of a cannon. Her own shadow conjured up horrible images. The most +violent and the most acute paroxysms of the human organization, however, +have a tendency to wear themselves out, when left uninterruptedly to +their own action. Such was necessarily, in some measure, the case with +Virginia; her mother's more alarming condition calling so much more +loudly for attention, and Wyanokee having fled, and Harriet's presence +proving so evidently hurtful, she was consequently left with a single +sable domestic. Essentially she was in profound solitude; and after the +first paroxysms which we have described, her mind naturally and +irresistibly fell into a train of retrospective thought. Startling and +horrifying they certainly were at first, but still the mind clung to +them. Many of the circumstances of the late disastrous meeting were to +her as yet unexplained. To these she clung as to the last remnants of +hope; they were the straws at which she grasped with the desperation of +the drowning wretch. She had at first received her mother's tacit +acknowledgment of the mysterious stranger's statement, or rather the +effect produced by that statement as irresistible confirmation of its +truth. But now she doubted the propriety of her hasty conviction. She +marvelled at the effect produced upon her mother--yet there were other +means of accounting for it. Would she not have exhibited a like +sensibility, had a like statement been made, however false, under such +circumstances?--did she not deny it, positively deny it at the moment? +Such was the train of reasoning by which her mind began to reassure +itself; and it must be recollected that she had never heard more of her +mother's history, than that she was a childless widow when her father +married her. Sufficient was left however of first impressions to render +her situation one of intense suffering and suspense. She dared not ask +for Bacon, yet a restless and gnawing anxiety possessed her, to know +whether he acknowledged the truth of the dreadful tale without a murmur, +and without investigation. But her physical organization could not keep +pace with the ever elastic mind; her gentle frame gave sensible +evidence that the late violent shocks had made sad inroads upon her +system. One chill was succeeded by another, until they were in their +turn followed by a burning fever. In this condition she fell again into +the hands of the physician, and all mental distress was soon lost in the +paramount demands of the suffering body. + +Toward the hour of midnight, the storm subsided. Fragments of the black +curtain which had hung over the face of the heavens, shot up from the +eastern horizon in stupendous blue masses, every now and then +illuminated to their summits with the reflection of the raging elements +beyond. The violence of the conflict in Bacon's breast had also +subsided. He rode along the banks of the Chickahominy, his charger +dripping with wet and panting with the exhaustion of fatigue. The bridle +hung loose upon his neck, and his rider bent over his mane like a +worn-out soldier. His own locks had unbent their stubborn curls to the +driving storm, and hung about his neck in drooping masses. His silken +hose were spattered with mud, and his gay bridal dress hung about his +person in lank and dripping folds. His horse had for some time followed +the bent of his own humour, and was now leading his master in the +neighbourhood of human habitations. The boughs of the tall gloomy pines +were fantastically illuminated with broad masses of light, which ever +and anon burst from the smouldering remnants of a huge pine log fire. +Its immediate precincts were surrounded by some fifty or more round +matted huts, converging toward the summit like a gothic steeple. Around +the fire, and under a rude shelter, lay some hundred warriors, wrapped +in profound slumber while one of their tribe stood sentinel over the +camp. + +When Bacon had approached within a short distance of this picturesque +group, the sentinel sprung upon his feet, and uttered a shrill +war-whoop. The horse stood still, erected his neck and pricked up his +ears, while his master folded his arms upon his breast and calmly +surveyed the scene. Those warriors who slept under the sheds near the +fire, assumed the erect attitude with a simultaneous movement, joining +in the wild chorus of the sentinel's yell as they arose. + +Hundreds of men, women, and children poured from the surrounding +huts,--most of the grown males, with their faces painted in blue and red +stripes, their heads shaved close to the cranium, except a tuft of hair +upon the crown, and all armed in readiness for battle. Bacon assumed the +command of his horse and rode into the very centre of this wild +congregation,--the fore hoofs resting upon the spent embers of the fire. + +He was greeted with another yell, after which the savages stood back and +viewed his strange and untimely appearance with wonder not unmixed with +awe. His bridle again fell from his hand, and his arms were crossed upon +his breast. His countenance was wild and haggard, and a flash of +maniacal enthusiasm shot athwart his pale features. His dress under +present circumstances was fantastical in the extreme. + +A grim old warrior with savage aspect after staring some time intensely +at the intruder, was suddenly struck with something in his appearance, +and stepping out a few paces from the mass of his companions began to +address them in his own language, now and then pointing to the horseman, +and using the most violent gesticulations. At another time the youth +would have been not a little alarmed at certain significant signs which +the speaker used when pointing to himself. These consisted in twirling +his war club round and round, as if he was engaged in the most deadly +conflict. Then he placed his hand to the side of his head and bent it +near the earth as if about to prostrate himself, and finally pointing to +Bacon. When he had done this, several of the crowd closed in toward his +horse, and seemed intensely to examine the lineaments of his +countenance. Having satisfied themselves, they set up a simultaneous +yell of savage delight. He was quickly drawn from the saddle, his hands +tied behind him, and then placed in the centre of the assembled throng. + +Their savage orgies now commenced; a procession of all the grown males +moved in a circle of some fifty feet in diameter round his person. +Several of the number beat upon rude drums, formed of large calabashes +with raw hides stretched tight and dried over the mouths; while others +dexterously rattled dried bones and shuffled with their feet to their +own music. Others chanted forth a monotonous death song; the whole +forming the rudest, wildest, and most savage spectacle imaginable. + +Bacon himself stood an unmoved spectator of all these barbarous +ceremonies. He felt a desperate and reckless indifference to what might +befall him. Human endurance had been stretched to its utmost verge, and +he felt within him a longing desire to end the vain struggle in the +sleep of death. To one like him, who had in the last few hours endured +the mental tortures of a hundred deaths, their savage cruelties had no +terrors. A faint hope indeed may have crossed his mind, that some +warrior more impetuous than his comrades, might sink his tomahawk deep +into his brain in summary vengeance for the death of their chief. But +they better understood the delights of vengeance. After performing their +rude war-dance for some time, they commenced the more immediate +preparations for the final tragedy. His hands were loosed, his person +stripped and tied to a stake, while some dozen youths of both sexes +busied themselves in splitting the rich pine knots into minute pins. +These being completed, a circular pile of finely cleft pieces of the +same material was built around his body, just near enough for the fire +to convey its tortures by slow degrees without too suddenly ending their +victim. A deafening whoop from old and young announced the commencement +of the ceremony. Each distinguished warrior present had the privilege +of inserting a given number of splinters into his flesh. The grim old +savage who had first identified Bacon as the slayer of their chief, +stepped forward and commenced the operation. He thrust in the tearing +torments with a ferocious delight, not a little enhanced by the physical +convulsive movements of his victim at every new insertion. Worn out +nature however could not endure the uninterrupted completion of the +process, and the victim swooned away. + +His body hung by the thongs which had bound his waist and hands to the +stake, his head drooping forward as if the spirit had already taken its +flight. He was immediately let down and the tenderest care observed to +resuscitate him, in order that they might not be cheated of their full +revenge. His head and throat were bathed in cold water and his parched +lips moistened through the medium of a gourd. At length he revived, and +strange as it may appear, to a keener consciousness of his situation +than he had felt since he left the church. All the wild horrors of his +fate stared him in the face. The savages screamed with delight at his +returning animation. Copious drafts of water were administered as he +called for them. The most intense pain was already experienced from the +festering wounds around each of the wooden daggers driven into his +flesh. Again he prayed that some of them might instantaneously reach his +heart, but his prayer was not destined to be granted. He was again +fastened to the stake, and the second in dignity and authority proceeded +to perform his share of the brutal exhibition. At this moment a piercing +scream rent the air, and all tongues were mute, all hands suspended. + +The sound proceeded from the extreme right of the encampment. Here a +larger hut than the rest stood in solitary dignity apart from the +others, like an officer's _marquee_ in a military encampment. In a few +moments the rude door was thrust aside and an Indian female of exquisite +proportions rushed to the scene of butchery, and threw herself between +the half immolated victim and his bloodthirsty tormentors. Upon her head +she wore a rude crown, composed of a wampum belt tightly encircling her +brows, and surmounted by a circlet of the plumes of the kingfisher, +facing outwards at the top. Around her waist was belted a short frock of +dressed deer-skin, which fell in folds about her knees, and was +ornamented around the fringed border with beads and wampum. Over her +left shoulder and bust she gracefully wore a variegated skin dressed +with the hair facing externally; from this her right arm extended, bare +to the shoulder, save a single clasp at the wrist; and she carried in +her hand a long javelin mounted at the end with a white crystal. The +remaining parts of her figure exhibited their beautiful proportions +neatly fitted with a pair of buck-skin leggins, extended and fringed on +the seam with porcupine quills, copper and glass ornaments. Similar +decorations were visible on her exquisitely proportioned feet and +ankles. Thrusting her javelin in the ground with energy, and proudly +raising her head, she cast a withering glance of scorn and indignation +upon the perpetrators of the cruelty. Her address, translated into +English, was to the following purport: "Is it for this," and she pointed +to Bacon's bleeding wounds, "that I have been invested with the +authority of my sires? Was it to witness the perpetration of these +cruelties that I have been almost dragged from the house of my pale +faced friends? Scarcely has the fire burned out which was kindled to +celebrate my arrival among you, before it is rekindled to sacrifice in +its flames him who redeemed me from captivity. Is this the return which +Chickahominies make for past favours? If so, I pray you to tear from my +person these emblems of my authority among you." + +She was immediately answered by the old warrior who had commenced the +tortures; "Did not the long knife[1] slay the chief of our nation?" + +[Footnote 1: This term originated in Virginia.] + +He was answered by a yell of savage delight from all the warriors +present. Wyanokee (for it was she, as the reader has no doubt already +surmised) continued, "Ay, he did slay King Fisher and his son--but were +they not unjustly attempting to take away the property of the pale +faces? and did they not commit the deed against their solemn promise and +treaty, and after they had smoked the pipe of peace? For shame, +warriors and men--would ye turn squaws, and murder a brave and noble +youth because he had fought for his own people and for the preservation +of his own life?" + +Her harangue was not received with the submission and respect which she +expected--many murmured at her defence, and claimed the death of the +captive as a prescriptive right and an act of retributive justice. She +advanced to cut the cords which bound the prisoner, but twenty more +powerful arms instantly arrested her movement. Tomahawks were raised in +frightful array, while deep and loud murmurs of discontent, and demands +for vengeance rent the air. She placed herself before the captive, and +elevating her person to its utmost height, and extending her hands +before him as a protection, she cried, "Strike your tomahawks here, into +the daughter of your chief, of him who led you on to battles and to +victory, but harm not the defenceless stranger." The principal warriors +held a consultation as to the fate of the prisoner. It was of but short +duration, there being few dissenting voices to the proposition of the +old savage, already mentioned as principal spokesman of the party. They +soon returned and announced to their new queen that the council of the +nation had decreed the prisoner's death. "Never, never!" exclaimed the +impassioned maiden, "unless you first cleave off these hands with which +I will protect him from your fury. Ha!" she cried, as a sudden thought +seemed to strike her; "there is one plan of redemption by your own laws. +I will be his wife!" A deep blush suffused her cheeks as she forced the +reluctant announcement from her lips. An expression of sadness and +disappointment soon spread itself over the countenances of the +revengeful warriors, for they knew that she had spoken the truth. +Another council was immediately held; at which it was determined that +their youthful queen, might according to the usages of the nation, take +the captive for her husband, in the place of her kinsman who was slain. +When this was proclaimed, Wyanokee slowly and doubtingly turned her eyes +upon Bacon to see whether the proposition met a willing response in his +breast. A single glance sufficed to convince her that it did not. +Instantly, however, recovering her self-possession, she cut the cords +and led him to her hut, where after having been reinvested with the sad +remnants of his bridal finery, we must leave him for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +"The several causes of discontent in the colony of Virginia long +nourished in secret, or manifesting themselves in partial riots and +insurrections, were now rapidly maturing, and only the slightest +incident was wanting to precipitate them into open rebellion. + +"Since the death of Opechancanough, the Indians, deprived of the +benefits of federative concert, had made but few attempts to disturb the +tranquillity of the colony. Several of the tribes had retired westward, +and those which remained, reduced in their numbers and still more in +strength by the want of a common leader, lingered on the frontiers, +exchanging their superfluous productions at stated marts with their +former enemies. A long peace, added to a deportment almost invariably +pacific, had in a great measure relaxed the vigilance of the colonists, +and the Indians were admitted to a free intercourse with the people of +all the counties. It was scarcely to be expected that during an +intercourse so irregular and extensive no grounds of uneasiness should +arise. Several thefts had been committed upon the tobacco, corn, and +other property of the colonists." + +These depredations were becoming daily more numerous and alarming, and +repeated petitions had been sent in from all parts of the colony calling +upon Sir William Berkley in the most urgent terms to afford them +protection. The Governor remained singularly deaf to these reasonable +demands, and took no steps to afford that protection to the citizens for +which government was in a great measure established. Some excuse was +offered by his friends and supporters by pleading his great age and long +services. Sir H. Chicerly, who had some time before arrived in the +colony, clothed with the authority of Lieutenant Governor, and who had +till now remained an inactive participator of the gubernatorial honours, +began to collect the militia of the state; but Sir William was no sooner +informed of these proceedings, so well calculated to allay the rising +popular ferment, than he at once construed it into an attempt to +supersede his authority, and forthwith disbanded the troops already +collected, and countermanded the orders for raising more, which had been +sent by his subordinate through the several counties. These high-handed +measures of an obstinate and superannuated man, inflamed the public +mind. Meetings were called without any previous concert in almost every +county in the province, and the most indignant remonstrances were sent +in to the Governor. These, however, only served to stimulate his +obstinacy, while the continued depredations of the Indians wrought up +the general feeling of dissatisfaction into a blaze of discontent. +While these things were in progress, a circumstance happened, which, +while it brought the contest to an immediate issue, had at the same time +an important bearing upon all the principal personages of our narrative. +On the night succeeding the melancholy catastrophe at the chapel, +related in the last chapter, the tribes of Indians which had formerly +been leagued together in the Powhatan confederacy, simultaneously rose +at dead of night and perpetrated the most horrid butcheries upon men, +women, and children, in every part of the colony. The council had +scarcely convened on the next morning before couriers from every +direction arrived with the dreadful tidings. Among others, there came +one who announced to the Governor that his own country seat had been +consumed by the fires of the savage incendiaries, and that Mrs. Fairfax, +who had been removed thither for change of scene by the advice of her +physician, was either buried in its ruins or carried away captive by the +Indians. Public indignation was roused to its highest pitch, but it was +confidently expected, now that his excellency himself was a sufferer +both in property and feelings, that he would recede from his obstinate +refusal to afford relief. But strange to say, in defiance of enemies, +and regardless of the remonstrances of his friends, he still persisted. +The result ensued which might have been expected; meetings of the +people, which had before been called from the impulse of the moment, and +without concert, were now regularly organized, and immediate steps +taken to produce uniformity of action throughout the different counties. + +While these elements of civil discord are fermenting, we will pursue the +adventures of our hero, whom we left just rescued from the hands of the +relentless savages. The new queen of the Chickahominies, after having +conducted Bacon to her own rude palace, retired for a short period in +order to allow him just time to prepare himself for her reception. An +Indian doctor was immediately summoned and directed to extract the +splinters and dress the wounds. The departure of this wild and +fantastical practitioner of the healing art was the signal for her own +entrance. Slowly and doubtfully she approached her visiter, who was +reclining almost exhausted upon a mat. Upon her entrance he attempted to +rise and profess his gratitude, but overcome with pain, sorrow, and +weakness, he fell back upon his rude couch, a grim smile and wild +expression crossing his features. She gracefully and benignantly +motioned him to desist, and at once waived all ceremony by seating +herself on a mat beside him. Both remained in a profound and painful +silence for some moments. Bacon's mind could dwell upon nothing but the +horrid images of the preceding hours of the night. Regardless of her +presence and her ignorance of those circumstances which dwelt so +painfully upon his memory, he remained in a wild abstraction, now and +then casting a glance of startled recognition and surprise at his royal +hostess. + +She examined him far more intently and with not less surprise, after the +subsidence of her first embarrassment. Her sparkling eyes ran over his +strange dress and condition, with the rapidity of thought, but evidently +with no satisfactory result. She was completely at a loss to understand +the cause of his visit, and the singular time and appearance in which he +had chosen to make it. It is not improbable that female vanity, or the +whisperings of a more tender passion, connected it in some way with her +own recent flight. These scarcely recognised impressions produced +however an evident embarrassment in her manner of proceeding. She longed +to ask if Virginia was his bride, yet dreaded to do so both on her own +account and his. She had lived long enough in civilized society to +understand the signification of his bridal dress, but she was utterly at +a loss to divine why he should appear in such a garb covered with mud, +as if he had ridden in haste, in the midst of a warlike nation, and on +the very night appointed for the celebration of his nuptials, unless +indeed she might solve the mystery in the agreeable way before +suggested. Catching one of the originally white bridal flowers of his +attire between her slender fingers, she said with a searching glance; +"Faded so soon?" He covered his face with his hands, and threw himself +prostrate upon the mat, writhing like one in the throes of expiring +agony. + +His benevolent hostess immediately called a little Indian attendant, in +order to despatch him for the doctor; but her guest shook his head and +motioned with his uplifted hand for her to desist. She reseated herself, +more at a loss than ever to account for his present appearance and +conduct. She had supposed that he was suffering from the pain of his +wounds, but she now saw that of these he was entirely regardless. She +became aware that a more deeply seated pain afflicted him. Again he +turned his face toward the roof of the hut, his hands crossed upon his +breast, and his bosom racked with unutterable misery. + +"Is the pretty Virginia dead?" + +The blackness of hell and horror was in his face as he turned a scowl +upon his interrogator, and replied, "Is this a new method of savage +torture? If so, call in the first set, they are kind and benignant +compared to you." But seeming suddenly to recollect that she was +ignorant of the pain she inflicted, he took her hand kindly and +respectfully, and continued, "Yes, Wyanokee, she is indeed dead to me. +If you regard the peace of my soul, or the preservation of my senses, +never whisper her name to the winds where it will be wafted to my ears. +Never breathe what she has taught you. Be an Indian princess, but for +God's sake look, speak, or act not in such a way as to remind me of +passed days. Tear open these wounds, inflict fresh tortures--yea, +torture others if you will, so I but horrify my mind with any other +picture than hers. O God, did ever sister rise before man's imagination +in such a damning form of loveliness? With most men, that little word +would suffice to dispel the horrid illusion! but with me, cursed as I +have been from my birth, and as I still am deeper cursed, the further I +pursue this wretched shadow called happiness, I would wed her to-morrow, +yea were the curse of the unpardonable sin denounced upon me from the +altar instead of the benediction. For her I would go forth to the world, +branded with a deeper damnation than ever encircled the brows of the +first great murderer. I would be the scorn, the jest, the by-word of +present generations, and a never dying beacon to warn those who come +after me." + +As he proceeded, Wyanokee fixed her dark penetrating eyes upon his face, +until her own countenance settled into the expression of reverential +awe, with which the Indian invariably listens to the ravings of the +maniac. At every period she moved herself backward on the mat, until at +the conclusion, she had arrived at a respectful distance, and crossed +her hands in superstitious dread. A single glance conveyed her +impressions to his mind, and he resumed, "No, no, my gentle preserver, +reason is not dethroned, she still presides here, (striking his +forehead,) a stern spectator of the unholy strife which is kept up +between her sister faculties." Leaning toward her upon his elbow, he +continued in a thrilling whisper, "You have heard me read from the +sacred volume of the tortures prepared for the damned! of a future +existence, in which the torments of ten thousand deaths shall be +inflicted, and yet the immortal sufferer find no death! His soul will +be prepared for the endurance! I have already a foretaste of that +horrible eternity! And yet you see I preserve the power to know and to +endure! Is it not a dread mystery in this frail compound of ours--and +portentous of evil to come, that this faculty of supporting misery so +long outlives the good? The wise men of our race teach us that every +pain endured is a preparation of the opposite faculty to enjoy pleasure! +that our torpid fluids would stagnate without these contrasted +stimulants; 'tis all a delusion, a miserable invention of the enemy. Man +can suffer in this life a compound of horrors, for which its pleasures +and allurements have no equivalent; yea, and he suffers them after all +chance for happiness has vanished for ever. The pleasures of the world +are like the morning glories of a sea of ice. The sun rises and sparkles +in glittering rainbows for an hour, and then sinks behind the dark blue +horizon, and leaves the late enraptured beholder, to feel the chill of +death creeping along his veins, until his heart is as cold and dead as +the icebergs around 'an atom of pleasure, and a universe of pain.'" + +His hearer sat in the most profound bewilderment; much of his discourse +was to her unintelligible, and notwithstanding his protestations to the +contrary, she still retained her first impressions as to the state of +his mind. She knew something of the various relations existing between +the most important personages of our story, and in her own mind, had +already begun to account for his present state. She supposed him to have +been rudely torn from his bride. Her object therefore in the following +words, was to learn something more of these particulars, and at the same +time to soothe the excited feelings of her guest. + +"The great Father of the white man at Jamestown will restore your bride. +Does not your good book say, 'whom the' Great Spirit 'has joined +together let no man put asunder?'" + +"Ay!" replied Bacon, "but what does it say when they are first joined +together by the ties of blood? Besides, he never did join us together in +the holy covenant. He stamped it with his curse? He denounced his veto +against it at the very foot of the altar. The same voice which thundered +upon mount Sinai spoke there. His servant stood up before him and asked, +'If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined +together let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.' +And lo, both heaven and earth interposed at the same moment. The +thunders of heaven rent the air, and that most fearful man appeared as +if by miracle." Again lowering his voice to a whisper, he continued, "As +I rode upon the storm last night, and communed with the spirits of the +air, some one whispered in my ear, that the heavens were rent asunder +and he came upon a thunderbolt. And then again as I walked upon the +waves, and the black curtains gathered around, a bright light darted +into my brain and I saw the old Roundheads who were executed the other +day, sitting upon a glorious cloud, mocking at my misery! yea, they +mouthed at me. Ha, ha, ha!" The sound of his own unnatural laughter +startled him like an electric shock--and instantly he seemed to +recollect himself. + +He covered his face with his hands, and rested them upon his knees in +silence. Some one entered and spoke to the queen in a low voice, and she +immediately informed her guest that his horse was dead. "Dead!" said he, +as he sprang upon his feet. "His last--best--most highly prized gift +dead! All on the same night--am I indeed cursed--in going out and in +coming in? Are even the poor brutes that cling to me with affection, +thus cut down? but I would see him ere he is cold." + +A torch-bearer soon appeared at the summons of his mistress, and the +royal hostess and her guest proceeded to the spot. There lay the noble +animal, his once proud neck straightened in the gaunt deformity of +death. His master threw himself upon his body and wept like an infant. +The tears, the first he had shed, humanized and soothed his harrowed +feelings. Slowly he arose, and gazing upon the lifeless beast, exclaimed +with a piteous voice, "Alas poor Bardolph, thy lot is happier than thy +master's!" + +The day was now dawning, and the morning air came fresh and invigorating +to the senses, redolent of the wild perfumes blown upon the moor and +forest, from the influence of a humid night. These reviving influences +however fell dead upon the benumbed faculties of our hero. In accordance +with the urgent solicitations of his hostess, he agreed to swallow an +Indian soporific, and try to lose his sorrows and his memory in that +nearest semblance of death. He did not fail, as he re-entered the +wigwam, to observe that the whole village (called Orapacs) was busily +preparing for some imposing ceremony, and that great accessions had been +made to the numbers of the previous night. + +Long and soundly he slept; when he awoke the sun was coursing high in +the heavens. The air was balmy and serene, and his own monomaniacal +hallucinations were dissipated, partly worn out by their own violence +and partly dispelled by many hours of uninterrupted repose. Dreadful is +that affliction which sleep will not alleviate. It is true that one +suffering under a weight of misery which no hope lightens, no reasoning +assuages, wakes to a present sense of his condition with a startling and +miserable consciousness, yet upon the whole, the violence of grief has +been soothed and moderated. So it was with our hero, and he walked forth +a new and revived creature. + +But as he stepped from the wigwam, a spectacle greeted his eye more akin +to the fantasies of the previous night than to stern reality. The +village was situated on a plain near the banks of the river. The forest +remained much as it first grew, save that the undergrowth had been +burned away and the ground afterwards overgrown with a luxuriant coat +of grass. This summary method of trimming the primitive forest gives it +much the resemblance of a noble park, cleared of its shrubs, +undergrowth, and limbs, by the careful hands of the woodman. The scene, +as Bacon looked along the woodland vista, had a wild novelty, and its +aspect would doubtless have been sedative in its effect had it not been +for the spectacle already alluded to, which we shall now endeavour to +describe. An immense concourse of Indians was collected just without the +external range of wigwams. They were seated in groups, in each of which +he recognised the distinguishing marks of separate tribes, the +representatives of each distinct nation of the peninsula having a +distinct and separate place. At the head of this warlike assemblage, on +a rude throne sat the youthful Queen of the Chickahominies. Immediately +around the foot of this elevation were seated the few grim warriors yet +remaining of that once powerful nation, and on her right hand the +Powhatans. A fantastically dressed prophet of the latter tribe, with a +curiously coloured heron's feather run through the cartilage of his nose +stood in the centre of the assembled nations, and harangued the deputies +with the most violent gesticulations, every now and then pointing in the +direction first of Jamestown, and then of Middle Plantations, (now +Williamsburg,) and in succession after these, to the other most thickly +peopled settlements of the whites. His rude eloquence seemed to have a +powerful effect upon his warlike audience, from the repeated yells of +savage cheering by which each appeal was followed. He concluded his +harangue by brandishing a bloody tomahawk over his head, and then +striking it with great dexterity into a pole erected in the centre of +the area. Numerous warriors and prophets from other tribes followed with +similar effect and like purpose, to all of whom the stern savages +listened with an eager yet respectful attention. When they had +concluded, the youthful queen of the Chickahominies descended one step +from her throne, and addressed the assembled nations; but her discourse +was received in a far different spirit from that which had attended the +eloquence of her predecessors. She was evidently maintaining the +opposite side of the question which occupied the grave assembly, and it +was apparent that the feelings of her auditors were hostile to her +wishes and opinions. No evidences of delight greeted her benevolent +counsels, and she resumed her seat almost overpowered by the loud and +general murmurs of discontent which arose at the conclusion of her +"talk." She felt herself a solitary advocate of the plainest dictates of +justice and humanity--she felt the difficulty and embarrassment of +addressing enlightened arguments to savage ears and uncultivated +understandings, and a painful sense of her own responsibility, and of +regret for having assumed her present station, pressed heavily upon +heart. + +Bacon saw only the eloquent language of their signs and gestures; but +some knowledge of the outrages already perpetrated easily enabled him to +interpret their intentions. He knew that bloodshed and murder were the +objects of their meeting, and he resolved to seize the earliest +opportunity to escape, in order to take part in the defence of his +country. His mind turned eagerly to this wholesome excitement, as the +best outlet which was now left for the warring impulses within his +breast. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The retirement of Wyanokee from her temporary presidency in the grand +council of the confederated nations, was the signal for beginning the +general carouse, by which such meetings were usually terminated. Two +huge bucks, with their throats cut, had been some time suspended from a +pole laid across a pair of stout forked saplings, driven into the ground +at the distance of a few feet from each other; these were now brought +into the centre of the area, and quickly deprived of their skins. The +neighbourhood of civilized man had already introduced that bane of +savage morals, whiskey; and plentiful supplies of this, together with +pipes and tobacco, were now served to the representatives. A general +scene of rude and savage debauch immediately followed. Meat was broiled +or roasted upon the coals--whiskey was handed round in calabashes, while +the more gay and volatile members of the assemblage found an outlet for +their animated feelings in the violent and energetic movements of the +Indian dance. The sounds which issued from the forest were a mingled din +of tinkling metals--rattling bones, and the monotonous humming of the +singers, occasionally enlivened by a sharp shrill whoop from some young +savage, as his animal spirits became excited by the exercise. The squaws +performed the part of menials, and bore wood, water, and corn, to supply +the feast for their lords and masters. + +The new queen of the nation, upon whose ground these carousals were +held, retired to her own wigwam, as much disgusted with the moral +blindness and depravity of the deputies, as with the commencing revels. +Besides her disgust of what was left behind, there was an attraction for +her in her own sylvan palace, which, till a few hours back, it had sadly +wanted in her eyes; not that she approached it with any hope that her +passion would now or ever meet with a return from its object--but still +there was a melancholy pleasure in holding communion with one so far +superior to the rude, untutored beings she had just left. She felt also +a longing desire, not only to learn more of the mysterious transactions +of which she had gathered some vague indications from Bacon's discourse, +but to take advantage of present circumstances in returning some of the +many favours heaped upon herself by her white friends. There was a +nobler motive for this than mere gratitude; she wished to show to Bacon +and Virginia, that she could sacrifice her own happiness to promote +theirs. She felt now satisfied that both of them had discovered the +existence of her passion, long before she was aware of the impropriety +of its exhibition according to civilized usages, and she was anxious to +evince to them how nobly an Indian maiden could cover this false step +with honour. Full of these ennobling, and as it proved, delusive ideas, +she entered the wigwam with a mien and step which would not have +disgraced a far more regal palace. + +Bacon was found upon a mat, reclining in melancholy mood against the +side of the apartment, intently eyeing the movements of the savages upon +the green. She followed his eye for a moment in shame and confusion for +the spectacle exhibited by the men of her own race. + +"Do you mark the difference," said Bacon, "between the dances in yonder +forest and those at Jamestown? Why do not the women join in the +merry-making? We consider them worthy to partake of all our happiness." + +"Ay, 'tis true, there is no Virginia there!" + +His brow settled into a look of stern displeasure and offence, as he +replied, "Would you renew the scenes of the last night?" + +"No, Wyanokee desires not to give pain, but to remove it--as she came +here now to show. You heard me claim you last night as a husband."--A +crimson tint struggled with the darker hue of her cheek, as she forced +herself to proceed.--"But it was only to save you from the cruel hands +of my countrymen. You may, therefore, give up all uneasiness on that +subject--I know well that the Great Spirit has decreed it otherwise than +I desired, and I submit without a murmur. It is useless for me to +conceal that I had learned too quickly to feel the difference between a +youth of your race, and one of yon rude beings; but it was more owing to +my ignorance of your customs than any want of proper maidenly reserve. +That is now passed, you are a married man, and as such I can converse +with you in confidence." + +"Yes," said Bacon, a bitter smile playing over his countenance, "I am +married to stern adversity! 'Tis a solemn contract, and binds me to a +bride from whom I may not easily be divorced. Death may cut the knot, +but no other minister of justice can. I must say too, that the +ceremonies of last night were fitting and proper. I wooed my bride +through earth, air, and water; in thunder, lightning, and in rain. Nor +was she coy or prudish. She came to my arms with a right willing grace, +and clings to me through evil and through good report. I am hers, wholly +hers for ever. It is meet that I should learn to love her at once. Ay, +and I do hug her to my heart. Is she not my own? do we not learn to love +our own deformities? then why not learn to love our own sorrows? +Doubtless we shall be very happy--a few little matrimonial bickerings at +first, perhaps, but these will soon be merged in growing congeniality. +Man cannot long live with any companion, without bestowing upon it his +affection; the snake, the spider, the toad, the scorpion, all have been +loved and cherished: shall I not then love my bride? Is there not a +hallowed memory around her birth? was she not nurtured and trained by +these very hands? Is there not wild romance too, in her adventures and +our loves? Is she not faithful and true? yea, and young too! not coy +perhaps, but constant and devoted." + +Although this language was prompted by very different states, both of +heart and head, from that of the preceding night, yet its literal +construction by the Indian maiden betrayed her into very little more +understanding of its import. She better comprehended the language of his +countenance. That, she saw, indicated the bitterness of death, but the +cause was still a mystery. She therefore continued her kind endeavours +with something more of doubt and embarrassment. "My intention was to +offer you and Virginia a home as soon as these warlike men are pacified +and gone--that you might come here and live with me until her grand +uncle will receive her and you. Oh, it will make Wyanokee very happy." + +She would, no doubt, have continued in this strain for some time, but +his impatience could be contained no longer. "Is it possible that you do +not yet understand the depth and hopelessness of my misery? Know it then +in all its horrors. I was half married last night to my own half sister! +Did fate, fortune or hell ever more ingeniously contrive to blight the +happiness of mortal man at one fell blow? View it for a moment. There +was the game beautifully contrived--the stake was apparently trifling, +but the prize glittered with India's richest rubies--the very thoughts +of them conjured up scenes of fairy land. The richest fantasies of +romance sparkled before the eye of the player. The wildest dream of +earthly happiness allured him to each renewed attempt. First a little +was staked--then another portion--then another to insure the two former, +and so on until houses and lands and goods and chattels--yea and life +itself, or all that made it valuable, were hazarded upon the throw. Lo, +he wins! Joy unutterable fills his breast--he is about to place the +jewels next his heart, but behold they turn into scorpions. Rich and +beautiful in all their former ruby colour--but there is a fearful +talismanic power in their beauty. There is a deadly poison in the sight! +They charm to kill. Lay them not near the heart or else the great +magician, the king of evil--the prince of darkness himself, has bought +you body and soul! That was my case. I won the glorious stake, I had it +here (striking his breast), yea, and have it now, and the devil is +tempting me to lay it next my heart. I have wrestled with him all the +night, but again he is at work. See that you do not help him!" + +Again she was lost in reverential awe. As his paroxysm by slow degrees +returned, she exhibited in the mirror of her own countenance the +passion, the wild enthusiasm, reflected from his, until the final charge +to herself, when she was overcome with wonder and fear. His own +preternaturally quick perceptions caught the effect produced, and he +again folded his arms and leaned back in grim and sullen silence, but +with the keen eye of the serpent watching the changing countenance of +his auditor. She was sunk in abstraction for some moments, and then, as +if rather thinking aloud than communing with another, she said, "Is it +possible?" + +"Yea, as true as that the serpent infused his poison into the ear of the +mother of mankind. As true as that man was the first creature that died +on the face of the earth by the hands of his fellow. As true as death +and hell! As true as that there is a hereafter. Happiness is negative! +Misery positive. There is always a subtle doubt lingering upon our most +substantial scenes of happiness; but with misery it is slow, certain and +enduring; the proof conclusive and damning. It is more real than our +existence, and exists when it is no more. Our nerves are strung to +vibrate to the touches of harmony and happiness only when played upon by +inspirations from above, but they vibrate in discord to the earth, the +air, the winds, the waves, the thunder--the lightning. They are rudely +handled by men, beasts, reptiles, devils, by famine, disease and death. +Am I not a wretched monument of its truth? Are not these miserable and +faded trappings, the funeral emblems of my moral decease? Am I not a +living tomb of my own soul? A memento of him that was, with an +inscription on my forehead, 'Here walks the body of Nathaniel Bacon, +whose soul was burned out on the ever memorable night of his own +wedding, by an incendiary in the mortal habiliments of his own Father, +with a torch lit up in pandemonium itself? His body still walks the +earth as a beacon and a warning to those who would commit incest!'" + +The door was darkened for a moment, and in the next the Recluse stood +before him. His giant limbs lost none of their extent or proportions as +viewed through the dim light which fell in scanty and checkered masses +from the insterstices of the sylvan walls. He stood in the light of the +only door,--his features wan and cadaverous, and his countenance +wretchedly haggard. "Why lingerest thou here in the lap of the tawny +maiden, when thy countrymen will so soon need the assistance of thy arm? +This night the torch of savage warfare and cruelty will in all +probability be lighted up in the houses of thy friends and kindred. Is +it becoming, is it manly in thee to seek these effeminate pastimes, in +order to drown the images of thy own idle fancy? If thou hast +unconsciously erred, and thereby cruelly afflicted thy nearest kindred, +is this the way to repair the evil? Set thou them the example! Be a +man--the son of a soldier. Thy father before thee has suffered tortures +of the mind, and privations of the body, to which thine are but the +feeble finger-aches of childhood as compared to the agonies of a painful +and protracted death. Rouse thyself from thy unmanly stupor, and hie +thee hence to the protection of those who should look up to thee. Be not +anxious for me, maiden; I see thy furtive glances at the besotted men +of thy race, and thence to me. I have long watched their movements. They +see me not; they will attempt no injury--and if they should their blows +would fall upon one reckless of danger--who has nought to gain or +lose,--who has long had his lights trimmed, and lamp burning, ready for +the welcome summons." + +When he first entered the wigwam, Bacon sprang upon his feet, and gazed +upon the unwelcome apparition as if he doubted his humanity; but as his +hollow and sepulchral voice fell upon his ear in the well known, deep +excited intonations of the chapel, he moved backward, his hands clasped, +until his shoulders rested against the wall. There, shuddering with +emotion, he gazed earnestly and in silence upon his visiter, whose words +fell upon an indiscriminating ear. The Recluse perceived something of +his condition as he continued, "Hearest thou not?--seest thou not? Rouse +thee from this unmanly weakness. I saw thy dead horse upon the moor. I +will leave thee mine at the head of the Chickahominy Swamp. When night +closes upon yonder brutal scene, mount and ride as if for thy life, even +then thou mayst be too late! Remember! This night be thou in Jamestown!" + +Having thus spoken, he stooped through the door, and vanished among the +trees behind the wigwam, as he had come. Bacon still gazed upon the +place where he had been, as if he still occupied the spot, his eyelids +never closing upon the distended iris, until he fell upon the floor in +a swoon. Such restoratives as an Indian wigwam afforded, were speedily +administered, and very soon the desired effect was produced. While he +lay thus worn down by the sufferings produced by the tortures of the +previous night, and the cruel excitement of his feelings, Wyanokee +discovered, as she was bathing his temples, the small gold locket, which +he had worn suspended from his neck, since the death of Mr. Fairfax. +Apparently it contained nothing but the plaited hair and the inscription +already mentioned. She caught it with childlike eagerness, and turned it +from side to side, with admiring glances, when her finger touched a +spring and it flew open; the interior exhibited to view the features of +a young and lovely female. + +At this juncture Bacon revived. His countenance was pale and haggard +from the exhaustion of mental and bodily sufferings. His perceptions +seemed clearer, but his heart was burdened and oppressed--he longed for +speedy death to terminate the wretched strife. The prospect was dark and +lowering in whatever direction he cast his thoughts; no light of hope +broke in upon his soul--all before him seemed a dreary joyless waste. In +this mood he accidentally felt the open trinket within the facings of +his doublet, and inserting his hand he drew it forth. His head was +elevated instantly, his eyes distended and his whole countenance +exhibited the utmost astonishment. His first emotion was any thing but +pleasant--as if he had drawn from his bosom one of his own figurative +scorpions, but this was speedily succeeded by one of a different nature. +The first sensation of pleasure which he had felt since he left +Jamestown beamed upon his mind; it was mingled with the most unbounded +surprise; but quick as thought the light of hope broke in upon his dark +and cheerless prospects. Again and again the picture was closely +scrutinized, but with the same conviction, never before had he beheld +that face. It was resplendent with smiles and beauty. The dark hazel +eyes seemed to beam upon him with affectionate regard. The auburn +tresses almost fluttering in the breeze, so warm and mellow were the +lights and shadows. But what rivetted his attention was the want of +resemblance in the picture to the lady whom he had been so recently and +so painfully taught to believe his mother. The latter had light flaxen +ringlets and blue eyes, and the _tout ensemble_ of the features were +totally dissimilar. He imagined he saw a far greater resemblance between +the picture and himself, and hence the ray of hope. But in the place of +despair came feverish suspense--he now longed again to meet the Recluse, +whose presence had so lately filled him with horror. His mind sought in +vain within its own resources for means to bring the question to an +immediate issue. Was he the first-born son of Mrs. Fairfax or not? +Perhaps Brian O'Reily could tell something of the picture, or had seen +the original. No sooner had this faint, glimmering prospect of +unravelling the mystery dawned upon his mind, than he was seized with +the most feverish desire to set out for Jamestown. + +The savages still kept up the carouse, but it would be hazardous in the +extreme, as he was assured by his hostess, to attempt to leave Orapacs +until the conclusion of the feast, which perhaps would last till night. +At that time they were all to proceed to the Powhatan domain. He was +compelled therefore to content himself with reading the lineaments of +the interesting countenance just opened to his view. + +Upon what a frail foundation will a despairing man build up his fallen +castles in the air. Such was the occupation of our hero until the light +of the sun had vanished over the western hills. He lay upon his mat in +the twilight gloom, indulging in vague uncertain reveries. He had +examined the picture so long, so intently, and under such a morbid +excitement of the imagination, that he supposed himself capable of +recollecting the features. He had called up dim and misty shadows of +memory (or those of the imagination nearly resembling them) from a +period wrapped in obscurity and darkness. He endeavoured to go back step +by step to his years of childhood, until his excited mind became +completely bewildered among the fading recollections of long passed +days. As the rippling waters of the purling stream mingled with the +monotonous whistling of the evening breeze, his versatile imagination +fell into a kindred train. The music of the nursery, by which his +childish struggles had been lulled to repose, floated over his memory +in the tenderest and purest melancholy. Who that has music in his soul +has not, at a like season and hour, refreshed his heart with these early +impressions? Nor are they entirely confined to an inviting melancholy +mood and the hour of twilight. In the full vigour of physical and mental +power, and when the spirits are bounding and elastic--in the midst of +dramatic representations or the wildest creations of Italian musical +genius, these stores of memory's richest treasures will suddenly flood +the soul, touched perhaps by the vibration of some kindred chord. +Bacon's harassed mind was refreshed by the tender and softened mood into +which he had fallen. Besides, he was now stimulated by the glimmering +dawn of hope. When therefore darkness had completely covered the face of +the land, he arose to go upon his mission, a different being. Although +his own emotions on parting were faint compared to those of Wyanokee, +they were yet sorrowful and tender. He lamented the lot of the Indian +maiden, and respected the virtues and accomplishments which elevated her +so far above those by whom she was surrounded. He bade her adieu with +the most heartfelt gratitude for her services, and aspirations for her +welfare. + +When he stepped from the wigwam he was astonished to see the huge fires, +upon which they had cooked the feast, still burning with undiminished +brilliancy, and still more startled to observe twenty or more savages +lying drunk around them, and half as many sober ones holding vigils +over their slumbers. He immediately changed his intended direction, and +skirted round the forest in which they lay, so as to arrive at the place +pointed out by the Recluse by a circuitous route. + +When he came opposite to the fires, and half way upon his circuit, he +was not a little alarmed to hear the astounding war-whoop yelled by one +of the sentinels. Casting his eyes in that direction he saw that all the +guard were on the _qui vive_, and some of the slumberers slowly shaking +off their stupidity. He supposed that one of the sentinels had heard his +footsteps, and thus alarmed the rest. Taking advantage of the trees, and +the distance he had already gained, he was enabled to elude their +vigilant senses. But when he came to the spot pointed out by the +Recluse, a greater difficulty presented itself. The horse was already +gone, but not taken by the one who brought him there, as he saw +evidently from the impressions of his feet in the earth, where he had +stood most of the afternoon. He soon came to the conclusion that the +Indians had found and carried him off. This was the more probable as +they adjourned their council about the time he must have been taken. His +call to Jamestown was too urgent to be postponed, and however feeble in +body he determined to exert his utmost strength to arrive there during +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Our hero reached Jamestown late on the very morning when the couriers +arrived in such rapid succession, with the startling intelligence of the +Indian massacres. All night he had wandered over the peninsula, vainly +endeavouring to discover his way; light after light shot up amidst the +surrounding gloom, and more than once he had been misled by these, +almost into the very clutches of the swarming savages. His heart sank +within him as he saw plantation after plantation, in their complete +possession; the illumination of their incendiary trophies lighting up +the whole surrounding country. It seemed indeed to his startled senses +as if the Indians had simultaneously risen upon and butchered the whole +white population of the colony. With the exception of a small remnant, +they had already once perpetrated the like horrible deed, and he again +saw in his imagination the dreadful scenes of that well remembered +night. Feeble old men, women and children indiscriminately +butchered--perhaps Virginia, whom he once again dared to think of, among +the number. True, Wyanokee had assured him otherwise, but might not the +grand council have determined upon the deed at the more appropriate +time of their nightly meeting? + +As the dawning day unfolded to his view the relative bearings of the +country, these gloomy anticipations were partly realized. Every avenue +to the city, both by land and water, was crowded with people of all +sexes, colours and conditions, flying to the protection of the Fort. +Wagons, carts, negroes, and white bondsmen, were laden with furniture, +provisions, and valuables. Ever and anon a foaming charger flew swiftly +by, bearing some Cavalier to the city, doubly armed for retributive +vengeance. By these he was greeted and cheered upon his way, as well as +informed of the depredations committed in the neighbourhood whence they +had come. From one of these also he procured a horse, and joined a +cavalcade of his associates and friends, proceeding to the same centre +of attraction. To them also he unfolded so much of his recent adventures +as related to the general interests of the colony. Long, loud, and +vindicative were their denunciations, as well of the treacherous savages +as the stubborn old man at the head of affairs in the colony. + +Although evident traces of his late bodily sufferings were perceptible +in Bacon's countenance, no vestige of his mental hallucinations on one +particular theme was perceived; his mind was intently occupied upon the +all absorbing topic of common safety. As they proceeded together to the +city, it was proposed to him to assume the command of a volunteer +regiment, which they undertook to raise as soon as they arrived in +Jamestown. His military talents and daring bravery were already well +known by most of his associates, but he doubted whether he was the most +proper person in the colony to assume so responsible a command. As to +his own personal feelings, never did fortune throw the chance of +honourable warfare more opportunely in the way of a desperate man. True, +it would have come still more seasonably twenty-four hours sooner, but +then he would only have been better qualified for some desperate deed of +personal daring, not for a command upon which hung the immediate fate of +all the colonists, and the ultimate supremacy of the whites in Virginia. +He promised, however, to accede to their proposal, provided, after the +regiment was raised, in which he must be considered a volunteer, the +majority cheerfully tendered him their suffrages. He stated the +hostility of the Governor to him personally, without enlightening them +as to its most recent cause; but they were now as resolute upon +disregarding the feelings and wishes of Sir William, as he had already +shown himself in disregarding their own. In short, they resolved at once +to assume that authority to protect their lives and property, which they +now felt, if they had never before known, was an inalienable right. Here +was sown the first germ of the American revolution. Men have read the +able arguments--the thrilling declamations, the logical defence of +natural and primitive rights, which the men of '76 put forth to the +world, with wonder at the seeming intuitive wisdom that burst so +suddenly upon the world at the very exigency which called it into +action. But in our humble opinion, the inception of these noble +sentiments was of much earlier date--their development not so miraculous +as we would like to flatter ourselves. Exactly one hundred years before +the American revolution, there was a Virginian revolution based upon +precisely similar principles. The struggle commenced between the +representatives of the people and the representatives of the king. The +former had petitioned for redress, "time after time,"--remonstrance +after remonstrance had been sent in to Sir William Berkley, but he was +deaf to all their reasonable petitions. The Cavaliers and citizens of +the colony now arrived at the infant capital, resolved to take upon +themselves as much power as was necessary for the defence of life, +freedom, and property. While the gathering multitude flocked to the +State House and public square in immense numbers, Bacon alighted at the +Berkley Arms, in order to change his dress, and before he joined them, +perform one act of duty which it would have been difficult for him to +say whether it was anticipated with most pain or pleasure. It was a +visit to Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter. He walked immediately from the +hotel to the quarters usually occupied by the servants of the Fairfax +family, in hopes of finding O'Reily--to despatch for his effects, which +he supposed he could not obtain in person, without suddenly and +unpreparedly exposing himself to the notice of the family. But the house +was silent as the tomb! No gently curling smoke issued from the chimney; +no cheering light broke in at the windows; all was dark, noiseless, and +desolate. The domestic animals still lingered around their accustomed +haunts, apparently as sad in spirit as he who stood with his arms folded +gazing upon the deserted mansion. The streets were indeed crowded with +the eager and tumultuous throng, but after the first unsuccessful essay +at the door of the servant's hall, he had passed round into the garden +of the establishment, and stood as we have described him, a melancholy +spectator of the painful scene. There hung Virginia's bird cage against +the casings of the window, perhaps placed by her own hands on the +morning of the unfortunate catastrophe, but the little songster was +lying dead upon the floor. The blooming flowers around her windows hung +in the rich maturity of summer, but seemed to mock the desolation around +with their gay liveries. The dogs indeed lazily wagged their tails at +his presence, and fawned upon him, but they too, slunk away in +succession, as if conscious of the rupture which had taken place in his +relations with the family. + +What a flood of tender recollections rushed upon his memory as he stood +thus solitary in the flower garden of her who was the sole object of his +youthful and romantic dreams, and gazed upon the well known +objects,--each one the memento of some childish sport or pleasure. There +too stood the shaded seats and bowers of more mature adventures, +redolent of the richest fruits and flowers, and teeming with the +hallowed recollection of love's young dream. Nor were tears wanting to +the memory of that early friend and patron who had given him shelter in +his helpless days, from the cold neglect and inhospitality of the world, +and thus, perhaps, saved him the degradation of a support at the public +expense. These softened and subdued emotions humanized the savage mood +which sprung up from similar reminiscences on a previous occasion. The +current of his feelings had been changed by a single ray of hope. The +fountain was not now wholly poisoned, and the sweet water turned to gall +and bitterness. The scene therefore, painful and melancholy as it was, +produced beneficial results. But he marvelled that the house should be +so totally deserted. He supposed that the lady and her daughter might be +sojourning for a time with the Governor, but what had become of their +numerous domestics? They too could not be quartered at the gubernatorial +mansion. And above all, what had become of his own Hibernian follower? +Certainly, he was not thus provided for. He knew his privileged +servant's warm partialities and hatreds too well to believe that he had +accepted any hospitality from his master's bitterest enemy. At that +moment a servant of the Berkley Arms was passing, and having called him +into the garden, Bacon raised a window leading to his own apartments, +procured such of his garments as he most needed, and despatched them to +the hotel. When he had encased himself in these, somewhat to his own +satisfaction (and most young Cavaliers in those days wore their garments +after a rakish fashion) he sallied out to perform the duty which he felt +to be most incumbent on him. He knocked at the door of Sir William +Berkley's mansion, with very different feelings from any he had before +experienced on a similar occasion. The relations so lately discovered to +exist between himself and those for whom his visit was intended, as well +as his feelings toward those who had the right of controlling in some +measure the persons admitted to visit at the mansion, awakened anxious +thoughts not little heightened by the anticipation of meeting Beverly, +with whom an unexpected interview promised few agreeable emotions. The +family seemed determined too that he should have the benefit of all +these reflections, from the length of time they kept him standing in the +street. At length the porter opened the door with many profound +inclinations of the head, still standing however full within the +entrance, and continuing his over wrought politeness. "Is Mrs. Fairfax +within?" was the inquiry. + +"She is dead! may it please your honour!" + +"Dead!" uttered Bacon with a hoarse and trembling voice. "When and how?" + +"His Excellency has just received the news--she was murdered last night +at his country seat by the Indians." + +"Was Miss----was his niece there also?" he asked with a bewildered doubt +whether he had better inquire any further. + +"No, Sir, she lies ill of a fever up stairs. Dr. Roland scarcely ever +leaves her room, except to tell Master Frank the state of his patient." + +"I will enter for a moment and speak a few words with the good doctor." + +"Pardon me, your honour, it gives me great pain to refuse any gentleman +admittance, but my orders are positive from Sir William himself to admit +no one to the sick room, and above all not to admit your honour within +these doors. I have over and over again turned away Miss Harriet, who +seems as if she would weep her eyes out, poor lady, at my young +mistress' illness and the Governor's cruelty, as she calls it." + +"I see you have a more tender heart than your master; here is gold for +you, not to bribe you against your duty or inclinations; but you will +fully earn it by informing Dr. Roland that Mr. Bacon wishes to speak +with him for five minutes at the Arms, upon business of the last +importance." + +"I will tell him, sir; but I do not think he will go, because he has +himself given the strictest injunctions that your name shall not be +whispered in the room, or even in the house. No longer than this +morning, sir, she heard them announce the death of her mother down +stairs. Her hearing is indeed extraordinary, sir, considering her so +poorly. Since that she has been much worse." + +Bacon did not choose to expose himself to the chance of insult any +longer by meeting some of the male members of the family, he therefore +took his departure from the inhospitable mansion, and skirted round the +unfrequented streets, in order to avoid the immense multitude collected +in the square and more frequented passages. He could hear the shouts and +cheering which echoed against the houses as he proceeded, but little did +he imagine that they welcomed his own nomination to the responsible +station of commander to the colonial forces. His intention was to +proceed to the Arms, and there await the arrival of the doctor; but he +no sooner entered the porch than he was seized by the hand in the well +known and sympathizing grasp of Dudley. + +While the friends were yet uttering their words of greeting, and before +they had propounded one of the many questions which they desired to ask, +Bacon was seized under each arm with a rude, but not disrespectful +familiarity--saluted by the title of General, and borne off toward the +state house in spite alike of remonstrances and entreaties. + +It was with great difficulty they could gain the square, so dense was +the barricade of ox carts loaded with furniture, and wagons thronged +with negro children; while families in carriages and on horseback, and +thousands of the multitude promiscuously huddled together, increased the +difficulty of making way. Since he had heard the startling news of the +death of Mrs. Fairfax, his mind was more than ever bent upon joining the +proposed expedition; and had it not been for the interruption to the +anticipated meeting with the Doctor, no one could have appeared upon the +rostrum with greater alacrity. + +The contumaceous conduct of the Governor toward the respectful +remonstrances and petitions of the citizens, and more especially his +unwarranted and disrespectful treatment of himself, recurred to his mind +in good time. He mounted the rude platform hastily erected in front of +the state house, burning with indignation, and glowing with +patriotism.[2] "He thanked the people for the unexpected and unmerited +honour they had just conferred upon him. He accepted the office tendered +to him with alacrity, and none the less so that yonder stubborn old man +will not endorse it with his authority, and sanction our proceeding +under the ordinary forms of law. What has produced this simultaneous +explosion in the colony? What are the circumstances which can thus array +all the wealth, intelligence and respectability of the people against +the constituted authorities. Let your crippled commerce, your taxed, +overburdened and deeply wronged citizens answer? The first has been +embarrassed by acts of parliament, which originated here, the most +severe, arbitrary and unconstitutional, while your citizens both gentle +and hardy, have been enormously and indiscriminately taxed in order to +redeem your soil from the immense and illegal grants to unworthy and +sometimes non-resident favourites. + +[Footnote 2: This is an abstract of the speech really delivered by +Bacon.] + +"There was a time when both Cavalier and yeoman dared to be free; when +your assembly, boldly just to their constituents, scrupled not to +contend with majesty itself in defence of our national and chartered +rights. But melancholy is the contrast which Virginia at this time +presents. The right of suffrage which was coeval with the existence of +the colony, which had lived through the arbitrary reign of James, and +with a short interruption through that of the first Charles, which was +again revived during the commonwealth, and was considered too sacred to +be touched even by the impure hands of the Protector, is now +sacrilegiously stolen from you during a season of profound peace and +security. + +"The mercenary soldiers, sent from the mother country at an immense +expense to each of you, fellow-citizens, where are they? Revelling upon +the fat of the land at distant and unthreatened posts, while our +fathers, and mothers, and brothers, and sisters, are butchered in cold +blood by the ruthless savage. Where is now the noble and generous +Fairfax, the favourite of the rich and the poor? Where his estimable and +benevolent lady? Murdered under the silent mouths of the rusty cannon +which surmount yonder palisade. Look at his sad and melancholy mansion, +once the scene of generous hospitality to you all--behold its deserted +halls and darkened windows. But this is only the nearest evidence before +our eyes--within the last twenty-four hours hundreds of worthy citizens +have shared the same fate. + +"Shall these things be longer borne, fellow-citizens?" + +"No! no! no!" burst from the multitude--"down with the Governor, and +extermination to the Indians." + +He continued. "Already I see a noble band of mounted youths, the sons of +your pride and your hopes--flanked by a proud little army of hardier +citizens; from these I would ask a pledge, that they never lay down +their arms, till their grievances are redressed."-- + +"We swear--we swear," responded from all, and then, three cheers for +General Bacon, made the welkin ring. At this juncture the trumpet, drum, +and fife, were heard immediately behind the crowd, and a party of the +royal guard, some fifty in number, halted upon the outskirts of the +assemblage, while their officer undertook to read a proclamation from +the Governor, ordering the mob, as he was pleased to style the meeting, +to disperse under penalty of their lives and property. The _army of the +people_, already getting under arms, immediately commenced an evolution +by which the temporary commander of the mounted force would have been +thrown directly fronting the guard, and between them and the multitude. +Bacon saw the intended movement, and instantly countermanded the orders, +"Let the people," said he, "deal with this handful of soldiers; we will +not weaken our force, and waste our energies by engaging in intestine +broils, when our strength is so much called for by the enemies of our +race upon the frontiers." The suggestion was immediately adopted; before +the hireling band could bring their weapons to the charge, the multitude +had closed in upon them, and disarmed them to a man. This accomplished, +they were taken to the beach, in spite of the remonstrances of many of +the more staid and sober of the Cavaliers and citizens, and there +soundly ducked. Very unmilitary indeed was their appearance, as they +were marshalled into battle array, all drooping and wet, and thus +marched to the music of an ignominious tune to the front of the +Governor's house. + +The frantic passion of Sir William Berkley can be more easily imagined +than described. He saw that he was left almost alone--that those +citizens most remarkable for their loyalty had deserted him. However +wilful and perverse, he saw the necessity of making temporary +concessions, although at the same time more than ever bent upon summary +vengeance against the most conspicuous leaders of the opposing party +whenever chance or fortune should again place the real power of the +colony in his hands. At present he felt that he was powerless--the very +means which he had taken to thwart and provoke the people now became +the source of the bitterest regret to himself, namely--sending the +mercenary soldiers of the crown to distant posts on fictitious +emergencies. He resolved therefore to disguise his real feelings until +the departure of the popular army, when he could recall his own regular +troops, and thus take signal vengeance upon such of the agitators as +should be left behind, and thence march immediately to the subjugation +of the force commanded by Bacon. Scarcely had the presence of the +dripping guard, as seen through his window, suggested these ideas, +before an opportunity offered of putting in practice his temporary +forbearance. + +A committee was announced, at the head of which was Mr. Harrison, his +former friend and supporter--they were the bearers of a conciliatory +letter from General Bacon. In this letter the young commander in chief, +in accordance with the suggestions of the older Cavaliers, respectfully +announced his election to the command of the volunteer army, and +concluded by requesting the Governor to heal all existing breaches by +sanctioning his own appointment, as well as that of the appended list of +young Cavaliers, to the various stations annexed to their names; and +that no delay might occur in the pursuit of the enemy, an immediate +answer was requested. The stout old Cavalier was ready to burst with ill +suppressed rage as he marked the cool and respectful tone of this +epistle, coming from one he most cordially detested and despised, both +on public and private grounds. + +The committee waited until he had penned his answer, which was cold and +formal, but polite. In it he declined signing the commissions in the +absence of the council, but promised to convene it early on the ensuing +day, when he stated that he would despatch a courier after the army, if +the council thought proper to approve of the popular proceedings. He +promised also to dismantle the distant forts, and immediately to call in +the foreign troops for the defence of the capital. + +With this answer, the committee, he to whom it was addressed, and the +populace were well satisfied. It really promised more than they had +expected of the obstinate old Governor. Little did they dream of the +lurking treachery in the old man's heart, much less did they truly +interpret the equivocal language contained in the note itself, +concerning the foreign soldiers, and the defence of the capital. Little +did they imagine that they themselves were the foes against whom he +proposed to employ the mercenaries. + +The army now took up its line of march across the bridge, amidst the +cheers and blessings of the multitude; men, women, and children +following them to the boundaries of the island. + +Part of the force was sent up the river in sloops, in order to +co-operate with the main army in their design of driving the tribes +scattered along the water courses of the peninsula, to a common point +of defence, and thus forcing them, if possible, into an open, general, +and decisive engagement. The youthful commander in chief was intimately +acquainted with all the localities between the seat of government, and +the falls of the river, (where Richmond now stands,) and he very +ingeniously arranged his forces by land and water, so that he might at +the same time drive the treacherous enemy before him through the +peninsula, and avoiding a premature battle, concentrate the enemy at the +point already indicated. It was with this general view, that one part of +his force was now sent up the river, while the other pursued the route +between the Chickahominy and the Pamunky rivers. These general views +were discussed, and the plan decided upon at a council of war, held on +the main land, immediately after the troops had passed the bridge. Bacon +having imparted to Charles Dudley, his Aid-de-Camp, such orders as the +emergency required, turned his horse's head again toward the bridge, and +retraced his steps to Jamestown. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The martial sounds of drums and trumpets had scarcely died away over the +distant hills, when Sir William Berkley despatched couriers to the +various military outposts of the colony, peremptorily ordering the +commanders to march forthwith to Jamestown with the forces under their +command. To these couriers also were given secret instructions for the +private ears of such of his loyal friends among the Cavaliers living on +their routes, as he knew would adhere to him under any circumstances, +urgently soliciting their immediate presence at the capital. After these +were despatched, he summoned a secret conclave of such friends, equally +worthy of his trust, as were yet to be found in the city. + +Thus were they engaged, as General Bacon, habited in the rich military +fashion of the day, rode along the north western skirt of the city, his +own gay attire, and the splendid trappings of his horse wretchedly +mocking the desolation within. He drew up at the back court of the +Berkley Arms, dismounted, and passed immediately into a private room. +Having despatched a servant for the landlord, he employed the time +before he made his appearance, in meditations upon the singular and +protracted absence of Brian O'Reily, the new responsibilities which he +had just assumed, and the present condition and future destinies of the +fair invalid at the gubernatorial mansion. + +When the landlord entered he quickly demanded if Doctor Roland had +inquired for him during the forenoon, and was answered that he had not. +A servant was despatched with a note to the Doctor repeating his request +for an interview of five minutes at the Arms. After he had waited some +time in the most intense impatience, the servant returned with a verbal +message stating that the doctor would wait on Gen. Bacon immediately. + +"From whom did you obtain this answer?" + +"From the porter at the door, sir." + +"Very well, you may retire!" + +As he sat impatiently listening for the heavy footsteps of the doctor, +he heard a light fairy foot tripping up the stairs, toward his room, and +in the next instant a gentle tap at the door. His heart almost leaped to +his mouth as he indistinctly bade the applicant to come in. "Can it be +possible," said he to himself, "that Virginia has escaped from her +jailers? Was the story of her illness but an invention of the +Governor's?" + +Before he had answered these questions to his own satisfaction, the door +was suddenly thrust backward and Harriet Harrison stood before him. + +She was pale, agitated, and gasping for breath, as she threw herself +unasked into a seat. Bacon was from his previous emotions scarcely more +composed, and his heart beat tumultuously against his doublet, as he +endeavoured vainly to offer the courtesies due to her sex and standing. + +"Oh, Mr. Bacon!" (gasped the agitated girl) "fly for your life." + +"On what account, my dear young lady?" + +"I'll tell you as quick as I can. I had just obtained admission to-day +to Virginia's room for the first time, when, after having spent the +time, and more, allotted to me by the doctor, as I was coming down the +stairs I had to pass the door of Sir William's library, and I +accidentally overheard him giving orders to an officer to collect some +soldiers from the barracks and make you a prisoner in this house. How he +knew you were here I know not; but I was no sooner out of the door than +I flew to the back court below, demanded of the servant holding your +horse to point out your room, and rushed in in this strange manner to +put you on your guard. Now, fly for your life--you have not a moment to +lose!" + +"One word of Virginia, your fair friend, and I am gone. Will she +survive? Is her reason unsettled? Does she believe the strange story of +the Recluse?" + +"In a word then, she is better--of sound mind, and in her heart does not +believe one word of that story, though sober reason is strangely +perplexed." + +"One word more, and I have done. Does she inquire for me?" + +"The very first word she said to me was, 'Does Nathaniel believe it?' +Now go, while yet you may. Should any new emergency arise in your +absence I will despatch a courier after you." + +"Yet one message to Virginia. Tell her that I have accidentally +discovered in the trinket preserved by her father, and worn by me in the +days of my infancy, the likeness of her whom I have every reason to +believe my mother. Tell her not to hope too sanguinely, but to give that +circumstance its weight, and trust to the developments of time; and now +I commit you both, my dearest friends, to the protection of an +overruling Providence; farewell." + +With these parting words he rushed down stairs, mounted his fleet +charger, and swiftly left the court just as the Governor's emissaries +entered the front porch of the house to arrest him. + +Harriet drew her veil closely over her face, and almost as fleetly +sought her father's dwelling. + +Our hero in a very few minutes placed the river which separates the +island from the main land between him and his pursuers. The sun was yet +above the western horizon, and the clouds which spread in fleecy and +stationary masses, were tinted with the softest hues of the violet and +the rose, filling the mind with pleasing images of repose, cheerfulness, +and hope. These soothing and delightful influences of the summer evening +were in a great measure lost however upon our hero as he pursued his +solitary way through the unbroken forest in the immediate footsteps of +the army. + +Besides the inevitable suspense attending the developments of his own +origin and destiny--there were immediate anticipations before him of no +pleasing character. He had just assumed the responsibilities of an +office, which at the very outset was attended with the most painful +embarrassments. His keen military eye ran over the ground occupied by +the enemies of his country, and perceived at once that to make his +enterprise completely and permanently successful, the savages must be +driven entirely from the peninsula. + +The very first on the list of these nations was the Chickahominy, at the +head of which was the youthful queen, who had so lately perilled her +life and her authority for his own salvation from the tortures of her +countrymen. His decisive and energetic mind perceived the stern +necessity which existed of driving these melancholy relics of once +powerful nations far distant from the haunts of the white man. The +question was not now presented to his mind, whether a foreign nation +should land upon the shores of these aboriginal possessors. That +question had long since been decided. It was now a matter of life or +death with the European settlers and their descendants--a question of +existence or no existence--permanent peace or continual murders. The +whites had tried all the conciliatory measures of which they supposed +themselves possessed. Peace after peace had succeeded to the frequent +fires and bloodshed of the savages. The calumet had been smoked time +after time, and hostage after hostage had been exchanged, yet there was +no peace and security for the white man. The right of the aboriginals to +the soil was indeed plain and indisputable; yet now that the Europeans +were in possession, whether by purchase or conquest, the absolute +necessity of offensive warfare against them was equally plain and +unquestioned in his mind. These views had been hastily communicated to +the council of officers held on the banks of the river, at the +commencement of the march, and unanimously concurred in by them. +Notwithstanding this unanimity of opinion among his associates in +command, the very first duty which presented itself in accordance with +these views, harrowed his feelings in the most painful manner. His +imagination carried him forward to the succeeding morning, when his +followers would in all probability be carrying fire and sword into the +heart of the settlement ruled by his preserver. As the refined and +feeling surgeon weeps in secret over the necessity of a painful and +dangerous operation upon a delicate female friend, yet subdues his +feelings and steels his nerves for the approaching trial, so our +youthful commander silenced the rising weakness in his heart, and urged +his steed still deeper into the forest. He determined to temper and +soften stern necessity with humanity. + +A few hours' ride brought him up with the baggage and artillery of the +army. The sun had already gone down, but a brilliant starlight, and a +balmy and serene air revived his drooping spirits, as he swiftly passed +these lumbering appendages. + +Scarcely had he placed himself at the head of the marching column, and +perceived that the flower and chivalry of his command--the mounted +Cavaliers, were still in advance of him, before the sharp quick report +of their fire-arms was heard at some three quarters of a mile distance +in advance. These were quickly succeeded by the savage war-whoop, and in +a few moments a bright red column of fire and smoke shot up towards the +heavens immediately in front. His spurs were dashed into his charger's +flanks, and he flew through the fitfully illuminated forest toward a +gently swelling hill from beyond which the light seemed to proceed. + +When he had gained this eminence, a sight greeted his eyes which +awakened all the tenderest sympathies of his nature. Orapacs, the sole +remaining village of the Chickahominies--the scene of his late +tortures--as well as his preservation, was wrapped in flames. Ever and +anon a terrified or wounded savage came darting through the forest +heedless alike of him and of the martial sounds in his rear. He reined +up his courser on the summit and sadly viewed the scene. + +His commands were no longer necessary for the existing emergency. The +deed, for which he had been so laboriously and studiously preparing his +mind was done. The royal wigwam, the very scene of his shelter, and of +Wyanokee's hospitality, was already enveloped by the devouring element. +A few struggling and desperate warriors still kept up the unequal +contest, but in a few moments, even the despairing yells of these were +hushed in the cold and everlasting silence of death. Painfully and +intently he gazed upon the crumbling walls of the once peaceful home of +his Indian friend. He could perceive no appearance of the unfortunate +queen. His imagination immediately conjured up the image of the heroic +maiden, her form bleeding and mutilated as it lay among the last +defenders of the land of her fathers. By a singular sophistry of the +mind, he consoled himself by the reflection, that the orders had not +proceeded from his lips--that his hand had no part in the matter, +although he had himself laid down the plan of the campaign, of which the +scene before him was the first result. True, he had mentioned no exact +time for the accomplishment of this measure, and the ardour of his young +companions in arms had outstripped his own intentions; nevertheless, the +design was his, however much he might soothe his own feelings by the +want of personal participation. + +By the time that the infantry and heavy artillery had arrived upon the +spot occupied by their General, the village of Orapacs was a heap of +smouldering ruins. The scene was again covered with darkness, save when +it was illuminated at intervals by a fitful gleam, as some quivering +ruin fell tardily among the smouldering embers of the walls which had +already fallen. He assumed the command of his troops, and marched them +into the plain between the place they then occupied, and the site of the +melancholy scene we have described. By his orders also, the trumpets +were ordered to command the return of the impetuous Cavaliers. Dudley +and his compatriots soon came bounding over the plain, exhilarated with +the first flush of success, and not a little surprised at the cold and +respectful salutations which greeted them from their commander. Most of +them, however, were acquainted with his late sufferings and feeble +bodily health, and to this cause they were willing to attribute his +present want of euthusiasm. + +Bacon had no sooner issued the necessary orders for the night than, +taking Dudley by the arm, he walked forth into the forest beyond the +sentinels already posted. + +"Tell me, Dudley," (said he in a hurried and agitated voice,) "was she +slain?" + +"Was who slain?" + +"The queen of these dominions!" + +"No, I believe not. I think she was borne from the scene early in the +conflict, by some of her tribe." + +"Thank God!" he fervently ejaculated, and then addressing himself to his +aid, he continued, "Return, Dudley, to the camp--superintend the +execution of the orders I have issued for our security, in person, but +follow me not, and suffer no one, either officer or soldier, to approach +the ruins. I will return in the course of a couple of hours." + +Having thus spoken, he suddenly disappeared through the forest, and his +companion returned to the camp. + +With slow and melancholy steps our hero approached the late busy and +animated scene. The beasts of prey were sending up their savage, but +plaintive notes in horrible unison with his own feelings. The cool +evening breeze fanned the dying embers, and occasionally loaded the +atmosphere with brilliant showers of sparks and flakes of fire. As these +rolled over his person and fell dead upon his garments, he folded his +arms, and contemplated the ruins of the wigwam in which he had found +protection. + +"There," said he, "was perhaps the birth-place of a hundred monarchs of +these forests. Until civilized man intruded upon these dominions, they +were in their own, and nature's way, joyous, prosperous, and happy. They +have resided amidst the shades of these venerable trees, perhaps since +time began! The very waters of the stream bubbling joyously over yonder +pebbles, have borrowed their name. Where are they all now? The last male +youth of their kingly line was slain by these hands, and the last +habitations of his race fired and plundered by soldiers owing obedience +to my commands. The plough and the harrow will soon break down alike +their hearth-stones and the scene of their council fires. Yea, and the +very monuments of their dead must be levelled to meet the ever craving +demands of civilized existence. But pshaw! is this the preparation to +steel a soldier's heart, and fire it with military ardour and +enthusiasm? Let me rather ponder upon my own sufferings on this spot. +Let me remember the groans of dying old men, women, and children, which +rent the air twelve hours since. And above all, let me bear in mind the +despairing shrieks of her, who was more than a mother to me, of her who +clothed and fed and protected me in infancy. Where is she now?" + +"She is alive and well!" answered a feeble and plaintive voice from the +wild flowers and shrubbery which grew upon an earthen monument erected +to the savage dead. + +"Who is it that speaks?" + +"One that had better have slept with those who sleep beneath!" + +"Wyanokee?" + +"Ay, who is left but Wyanokee and these mouldering bones beneath, of all +the proud race that once trod these plains unchallenged, and free as the +water that bubbles at your feet." + +He approached the rude monument as she spoke. It consisted of a +grass-grown mount some thirty feet in length, by ten in height and +breadth, and was surmounted by thick clustering briers and wild flowers. +The youthful queen was sitting upon the margin of the tumulus, her head +resting upon her hand, and it in its turn supported on her knee. As the +officer approached, she stood erect upon the mount. Her person was clad +and ornamented much as when he had last seen her, except that above one +shoulder protruded a richly carved unstrung bow, and from the other, a +quiver of feather-tipped arrows crossing the bow near her waist. The +soldier replied, + +"It is almost useless for me to profess now, how wholly, how profoundly, +I sympathize with you in witnessing this scene of desolation. Naught but +the dictates of inevitable necessity could have induced the army under +my command to perpetrate this melancholy devastation. But I trust that +the soothing influences of time, your own good sense, and the +ministrations of your kind white friends, will reconcile you to these +stern decrees of fate." + +"Kind indeed is the white man's sympathy--very kind. He applies the +torch to the wigwam of his red friend, shoots at his women and children +as they run from the destruction within, and then he weeps over the +ruins which his own hands have made." + +"It is even so, Wyanokee. I do not expect you to understand or +appreciate my feelings upon the instant; but when you are once again +peacefully settled at Jamestown with your sorrowing young friend, and +will cast your eyes over this vast and fertile country, and see to what +little ends its resources are wasted, and on the other hand, what +countless multitudes are driven hither by the crowded state of other +parts of the world, you will begin to see the necessity which is driving +your red brethren to the far west. You can then form some conception of +the now unseen power behind, which is urging them forward. You will see +the great comprehension and sublime spectacle of God's political +economy! you will see it in its beauty and its justice. You feel the +partial and limited effects of these swelling waves of the great +creation now upon yourself and your nation. I grant they are hard to be +borne, but once place yourself above these personal considerations, and +compare the demands of a world with the handful of warriors lying dead +around those ruins, and you will bow to the justice of the decree which +has gone forth against your people!" + +"Does your Great Spirit then only care for the good of his white +children? You taught me to believe that he too created the red men, and +placed them upon these hunting grounds, that he cared as much for them +as he did for their white brethren--but now it seems he is angry with +the poor red man, because he lives and hunts as he was taught, by the +Great Spirit himself. These hunting grounds are now wanted for his other +children, and those to whom he first gave them, must not only yield them +up, but they must be driven by the fire and the thunder, and the long +knives of those who have been professing themselves our brethren." + +"Your view of the case is a very natural and plausible one, yet it seems +to me you have overlooked that point in it, upon which the whole matter +turns. Let us for one moment grant the necessity of making room on your +hunting grounds for your white brethren, who are crowded out of the +older countries. There seemed at first no need to disturb the red men, +there was room enough here for all, we were content to live upon this +kind and neighbourly footing. Had your brethren been equally content, +the great purposes of the Creator would have been answered without any +destruction of his red or white children. Have the red men so demeaned +themselves toward the whites that we could all dwell here together? Let +the massacre of last night speak! You point to yonder smouldering ruins +and bloody corpses. I point to the bleeding bodies of my countrymen and +friends, and their demolished dwellings as the cause--the direct cause +of the desolation you behold." + +"The white man talks very fast--and very well--he talks for the Great +Spirit and himself too; but who talks for the poor red man, but +Wyanokee. All you say is very good for the white men upon our hunting +grounds, and the white men driven from over the great waters, and for +the white men left behind. It leaves room to hunt and plant corn _there_ +for the white men, and finds room _here_ to hunt and plant corn, but you +do not give the poor red man any hunting ground. You say we must go to +the far west, but how long will it be the far west? How many of your +white friends are coming over the big waters? How far is this place, +where the red man will not be driven from his new hunting ground? If we +cannot live and smoke the calumet of peace together, we must have +separate hunting grounds. Where are our hunting grounds? Ah, I see your +eye reaches where the clouds and the blue mountains come together--to +the end of the world, we must go, like those beneath us to the hunting +grounds of the Great Spirit." + +"Not so, Wyanokee, we would willingly spare the effusion of blood, and +when our arms have taught the men who assembled here two days ago, our +firm determination always to avenge the murder of our friends and the +plunder of their property, it is our intention to propose a fair and +permanent peace. We will endeavour to convince them of the necessity of +abandoning for ever the country between these two great rivers, and +moving their hunting grounds where the interests of the two races cannot +come in conflict." + +"O yes, you will run the long knives through their bodies, and then +smoke the calumet! You will drive us from our homes, and then you will +persuade us to give them up to the white man." + +"You are not now in a proper mood to reason upon this subject calmly, my +gentle friend, nor do I wonder at it; but the time will come when your +views of this matter will be similar to my own." + +"No, Wyanokee cannot see through the white man's eyes; she has not yet +learned to forget her kindred and her country. She came here to-night to +sit upon the graves of the great hunters and warriors who slept here +with their calumets and tomahawks beside them, long before the long +knives came among us. She will carry away from this place to night, this +little flower planted by her own hands over the graves of her fathers +and brothers. She would leave it here to spread its flowers over their +ancient war paths and their graves, but even these silent and peaceful +bones, and these harmless flowers must share the fate of them who buried +the one and planted the other. Wyanokee will never see this place +more--never again be near the bones of her fathers, until she meets them +all at the hunting ground of the Great Spirit. Farewell, home and +country and friends, and fare thee well, ungrateful man; when next the +Indian maiden steps between thee and the tomahawk of her countrymen +repay not her kindness with the torch to her wigwam and the long knife +to her heart." + +With these bitter words of parting, she descended from the mound with +dignity, and disappeared through the forest, notwithstanding the urgent +entreaties of Bacon, that she would return. She gave no other evidence +of heeding him than turning back the palm of her hand toward him, and +leaning her head in the opposite direction, as if she were exorcising an +evil spirit. He made no other attempt to stay her progress; once indeed +the thought occurred to him to hail the sentinel and arrest her for her +own sake, but the idea was as speedily abandoned. He determined to leave +her destiny wholly in the hands of him who first decreed it. For a +moment he ascended the mount and cast his eye over the wide-spread and +melancholy desolation, and then rapidly retraced his steps to the camp. +When there, his first orders were to have the slain warriors of the +expatriated tribes, buried in the tomb of their forefathers, while his +own personal attention was bestowed upon the condition of the prisoners +taken during the demolition of the village. + +They sat round the tents appropriated to their use, in stern and sullen +dignity. Wounded or whole, no sound escaped their lips; and their food +and drink remained untouched before them. They noticed the entrance of +the commander in chief no more than if he had been an insignificant +creeping reptile of the earth; no signs of recognition lighted up their +features, though most or all of them must have been present at the scene +of his own tortures. While Bacon stood no unmoved spectator of the calm +unshaken fortitude with which they bore their misfortunes, an incident +occurred that served to exhibit the stern qualities of their pride in +still bolder relief. One of the old warriors had been taken while +attempting to escape with one of his children, after having fought +until there was not a vestige of hope remaining for the preservation of +his people and their homes. He was brought into the camp, together with +his child. While the prisoners were all sitting round in sullen dignity, +and the general of the invading army stood surveying them as we have +mentioned, this little child came entreatingly to its father's knees, +and begged for the food which stood untouched before his face. He made +no verbal reply--a momentary weakness softened his countenance as he +gazed into the face of the tender petitioner, but in the next, he raised +his tomahawk and sank it deep into the brain of his child before any one +could arrest his arm. The innocent and unconscious victim fell without a +groan or struggle, and the stern old warrior reinserted the handle of +his weapon in his belt, crossed his arms upon his breast, and resumed +his former attitude of immobility. Bacon gazed at him in astonishment +and horror for an instant, and then wheeled suddenly round to retire +from an exhibition of humanity, so rude, ferocious, and appalling. But +as he was about to emerge from the portal of the tent, Wyanokee was +rudely thrust into the door, and they stood face to face. + +His first impulse was to draw his sword, and rush upon the two soldiers +who had guarded the prisoner, but a moment's reflection served to remind +him that they had but obeyed his own general orders. He returned the +half drawn weapon therefore, and stood an embarrassed spectator of the +captive maiden's searching glances, as her eyes wandered around the +room, first resting upon her unfortunate companions in captivity, next +upon the corpse of the slain infant, and lastly upon the commander +himself. He had seen her previously when her subdued manners and +lady-like deportment, inclined him in communing with her to forget her +Indian origin, but he saw her now with all her native impulses roused to +their highest tension. Her eye flashed fire as it rested upon him after +completing her survey, and she thus addressed him, stepping a few paces +backward, while her person was drawn up to its utmost height, and her +bosom heaved with struggling emotions. + +"Are you the same person who sometime since undertook to inspire noble +sentiments into the mind of the purest being that ever honoured a white +skin? Are you the same youth who aspired to her hand and renounced it on +the marriage night, because of kindred blood? Are you the youth whose +fair and deceitful form, and apparently noble nature, once made Wyanokee +look with contempt upon this heroic race of warriors? If the form, the +person be the same, the Great Spirit of evil has poisoned the fountains +of your heart, and turned your goodness and your honour to cruelty and +cunning. How far has the great light gone down behind the sea, since you +stood upon the ruins of all that Wyanokee loved, and professed sorrow +for their destruction, and sympathy in her misfortunes? When you stood +before her, and dared not lay your own hands upon her person!--you could +leave her untouched upon the grave of her great warriors--you dared not +seek to injure her, lest their spirits should return from the happy +hunting ground and kill you on the spot. But you could deceitfully order +these poor long knives to stand in her path and prevent her from taking +the last look, and heaving the last sigh that should ever be looked and +uttered in these forests." + +"I gave no orders for your arrest, Wyanokee; I have not spoken to the +sentinels since I saw you!" + +"But you could stand and mourn with Wyanokee over the ashes of her +fathers' wigwam, when you had just come from ordering these to carry her +into captivity. They told me themselves that they acted by your orders. +Oh how cruel, how deceitful is the white man! He gladdens the poor +Indian's eyes with his glittering toys, till he cheats him of all the +corn laid up for his squaws during the winter. He smokes the calumet +with the chiefs, while his own followers are burning down the houses of +their nation. You, sir, redeemed Wyanokee from captivity, to carry her +into a more galling bondage. You taught her the knowledge of the white +man, only that she might multiply her sorrows, when this long foreseen +night should come. Was it for this that she redeemed you from the red +hot tortures of these chiefs? Did you come upon their hunting ground to +learn how to torture in preparation for this occasion, and trusting to +Wyanokee's soft and foolish heart for your safe return? Lead them and +her to the stake! we will show the white warrior how to endure the +tortures of our enemies without fainting like women." + +"You will not listen to me, Wyanokee, else I could have told you long +ago, that I had given no orders to the sentinels. We do not desire your +captivity? you are free to go now whithersoever you choose, provided you +keep beyond the range of our sentinels. What our race has done against +yours, has only been done to protect their own lives and property, and +to make that protection secure and permanent. You know that we never +torture prisoners; when the war is ended and peace obtained, these +warriors shall go free and unharmed. I see that they have refused to +touch their food, under the belief that they are to suffer, but I will +leave you to undeceive them, after which you are free to go or to +remain. If the latter be your choice, a tent shall be provided for your +sole accommodation." + +Having thus spoken, he hastily left the tent and sought the marquee +occupied by the higher grade of officers and the more aristocratic of +the Cavaliers. Gay sounds of song and minstrelsy greeted his ears as he +approached the spot--Bacchanalian scraps promiscuously chimed in chorus +with more sentimental ditties, and all occasionally drowned in +boisterous shouts of laughter. These evidences of the mood in which he +should find his associates deterred him from entering, under his present +feelings, and he therefore passed on to his own solitary quarters. In a +few moments he was extended upon such a bed as a camp affords, with no +external source of interruption to his repose, save the distant cries of +the wild beasts, and the more monotonous tread of the sentinel, as he +paced his narrow limits in the performance of his duty. + +The sun rose the next morning over the ruins of Orapacs and the scene of +the late strife in unclouded splendour. The enlivening notes of drums +and trumpets had long since roused the soldiers from their slumbers, and +having despatched their morning meal, they were speedily forming into +marching order. The commander of this imposing little army mounted his +charger, and galloped along the forming battalions; his eye bright and +serene, his spirits, in comparison with the previous night, bounding and +elastic. Having detailed to his council of officers his intention of +next attacking the king of Pamunky, the orders for the march were given, +and the lines wheeled into columns, headed by the gay and brilliant +_cortege_ of youthful Cavaliers. + +The prisoners were marched into the centre of the column, and as they +assumed their station, the general ran his anxious eye eagerly over +their persons, to ascertain whether his former pupil had availed +herself of the accommodations provided by his orders. But no such +graceful form greeted his sight, and he learned from the Captain of the +guard that she had departed soon after he had himself left the +prisoners--entirely alone. A momentary sadness shaded his brow, as he +reflected upon the desolate condition of the Indian maiden, but it was +soon lost in the absorbing duties of his station. + +Toward evening, of the ensuing day, as the army pursued their route +between the Chickahominy and Pamunky Rivers, the vanguard discovered +several of the Pamunky tribe, skulking among the trees of the forest +immediately in advance of them. The general, apprehending an ambuscade, +immediately ordered the Cavaliers to fall back upon the main body of the +army, while a practised band of rangers were ordered to examine the +cover of the wood. Scarcely had these orders been transmitted to their +various destinations, before a bright beacon fire shot its spiral column +of smoke and flame high above the surrounding trees. What this new +device portended the commander could not divine, nor could the council, +which was immediately summoned, give to it a satisfactory +interpretation. The Rangers returned without discovering any signs of an +ambuscade, though they had penetrated to the huge fire which lighted up +the forest. Not an Indian was to be seen there or beyond. Bacon and his +staff rode forward to the scene in person--but the aid of a glass +enabled him to discover nothing more. + +The army was again put in motion, and every precaution used which some +experience in Indian warfare had taught the general was so necessary. +For miles they proceeded with the most watchful caution, until the +absence of the undergrowth in the forest taught them that it had been +fired, and thereby disclosed the probability of their being in the near +neighbourhood of the town of the Pamunkies. The verdant glades were +lighted up at intervals by broad masses of red light from the setting +sun, as they fell between the natural interstices of the trees. The +appearance of the woodland vista before them was romantic and +picturesque in the extreme. The forest had the aspect of a country which +had been settled for ages. The venerable trees, surmounted with green +and brown moss, were now occasionally richly bronzed with the rays of +the sun as they fell horizontally upon their hoary trunks, and the whole +more resembled an ancient and venerable park, which some wealthy +gentleman had inherited from careful and provident ancestors, than a +wild woodland, fresh from the hands of nature, in which the woodman's +axe had never been heard, and upon which no other care or culture had +been bestowed than the occasional torch of the savage. + +They were not left long to revel in these wild beauties--a more +appalling scene awaited them. The sun was fast declining behind the +river hills of the Chickahominy and darkness encircling the sombre +groves in which they rode, when suddenly a hundred fires cast a lurid +glare across their path, and the army instinctively halted on beholding +the town of the Pamunkies wrapped in flames. Again they were put in +motion, and cautiously approached the spot. Bacon fearing that some +treachery lurked beneath these unexpected measures of the Indians, could +scarcely restrain the impetuosity of his mounted force, spurred on by +curiosity to see in what new device of savage warfare they would +terminate. + +They arrived upon the skirts of the town, however, and within the +influence of the heat, without hindrance or adventure; and what no less +surprised them, not a living creature was perceptible, around or near +the conflagration. + +The first idea that suggested itself to the mind of Bacon was, that the +savages had, in despair, thrown themselves into the burning ruins of +their own dwellings. He now understood the meaning of the beacon light +on their route; "it was the signal for commencing the tragedy," he +muttered to himself as he reined up his steed and ordering his troops to +halt, brought them into line along the outskirts of the burning village, +which, like the one they had themselves fired, was constructed upon the +banks of the Pamunky river. While the troops thus stood upon their arms, +some of the officers rode through the blazing wigwams, very much +against the will of their rearing and plunging chargers. It was +completely deserted; but while they were consulting upon the measures to +be taken, a tumultuous and astounding yell burst suddenly upon their +startled ears. The intense light of the burning village rendered the +twilight gloom around as dark as midnight by the contrast, and not a +savage could anywhere be seen. The mounted troop made a wide sweep round +the alignment, but with no better success. Another astounding shout of +savage voices ascended to the clouds. Many of the frail and tottering +wigwams tumbled in at the same moment--throwing the light in a lower +line of vision over the water, so that they were enabled to discover a +large body of mounted Pamunkies drawn up like themselves on the opposite +bank of the river. Their grim and painted visages, close shaven crowns, +scalp locks, and gaudy feathers, appeared through the medium of the red +and flickering light reflected from the water, in horrible distinctness. +A legion of devils from the infernal regions, clothed in all the horrors +of German poetry, never startled the senses and aroused the imagination +more than did this spectacle its amazed beholders. With another yell and +a flourish of their tomahawks above their heads, the Indians +simultaneously wheeled their horses and flew over the plain towards the +source of the river. In a few moments all was silent as death, save the +crackling of the burning wigwams. The squaws and children seemed to have +been long since removed. Again the colonial army--or to speak more +properly, the army of the people, encamped before the ruins of an +ancient and venerable settlement. + +Here were no painful reminiscences for the sensitive but energetic +commander. The savages were flying before his as yet scarcely tried +army, in the very direction in which it was his purpose to drive them. +He knew them too well to believe that the whole peninsula would be thus +tamely abandoned, and he issued his orders, before lying down to rest, +for redoubled vigilance through the night, and an early march in the +morning toward the falls of the Powhatan, where he had every reason to +believe that the tribes of the former confederacy were again drawing to +a head. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Our hero was not deceived in his supposition, that the savage tribes +inhabiting the Peninsula would make a desperate effort to retain +possession of a country so admirably adapted to their mode of life. Two +noble rivers, one on either hand, abounding with a variety of fish, and +a fertile soil, yielding its treasures with little culture, were +considerations in the eyes of these ignorant but not misjudging sons of +the forest, not to be surrendered without a struggle. + +As the army of the colonists pursued its march toward the point already +indicated as the rendezvous of the again confederated tribes, it was +constantly harassed with alarms--signal fires and flying bodies of +mounted warriors, first cutting off their communication with the +river--now assailing the vanguard, and then hovering upon the rear. +Three weeks and more were thus consumed in partial and unsatisfactory +engagements; the skirmishers first approaching one river, upon the +representation of some treacherous savage, and then hurrying back in the +opposite direction to meet some illusive demonstration made by the +cunning enemy. The youthful commander soon perceived that this mode of +warfare was the one exactly suited to the nature and condition of his +foes, and the least adapted to the impetuous courage of his own troops. +He saw too, that the savages had the double design of wearying out their +invaders in the manner we have described, and of collecting and +concentrating their forces, at some point where their own mode of +warfare could be rendered available, without exposing themselves to the +destructive discharges of artillery which they still held in +superstitious terror. A very little reflection satisfied him that there +would be no immediate danger in pursuing the direct route between the +Powhatan and Chickahominy rivers, toward the falls of the former, where +he had already some intimation that the enemy were collecting in great +force. He was well satisfied that the tribes already dislodged had +removed all their winter provisions, and their wigwams being destroyed, +there could be little hazard to the city in disregarding their daily +demonstrations in his front, flank, and rear. Accordingly his troops +were concentrated in a solid column, and marched directly toward the +falls, entirely disregarding the petty annoyances which had already +detained them so ingloriously in the Peninsula. + +While they were marching toward the scene of the great and final +struggle for supremacy between their own race and the Aborigines, in +this narrow neck of land, which had so long been the scene of +contention, we will retrace our steps for a short space, in order to +bring up the proceedings at Jamestown to the point at which we have just +arrived. + +In doing so, however, it is not our intention to fatigue the reader with +a minute account of the long and tedious days, and still more wretched +nights, spent by our heroine after the shock given to her delicate +constitution by the painful and unexpected adventure in the chapel, and +by the subsequently reported death of her mother under peculiarly awful +and afflicting circumstances. The reader has doubtless more truly +imagined her condition during the first paroxysms of the fever, than we +could describe it. Down to the time when her favourite and confidant was +permitted to enter her room, the daily occurrences of her yet endangered +life were sad and monotonous enough, but the paramount cravings of +diseased nature once assuaged, her mental excitement once more rose in +the ascendant. Not that her reason ever became deranged, except from +violent febrile action during the height of the attack; however feeble +her physical organization, her mental powers were clear and unclouded, +and her spirits, though of necessity somewhat broken, were firm and +elastic. The truth is, that she did not believe the assertion of the +Recluse by which the nuptial ceremony was so dreadfully interrupted. She +had indeed a feeling of superstitious reverence for whatever came from +his lips, but she had also seen the wild fire of his eye when under deep +excitement, and she did not therefore give implicit confidence to any +declaration he should make. + +This questioning of his oracular authority was an after-consideration it +is true, and was itself prompted by other feelings, having their +foundation in the affections of the heart. She could not believe that +her lover was her own brother; her feelings toward him were +peculiar--powerful, and different from the love of mere kindred. +Besides, there were little almost undefinable circumstances in the +intercourse of their halcyon days, which she did not believe, could in +the nature of man, have taken place between brother and sister. She most +truly thought that her lover and herself were expressly created for each +other; that their union had been decreed in heaven. That in the first +dawnings of their mutual understanding of each other, there had been +electrical, spiritual and ever sublime transmissions of mutual +intelligence and exquisite pleasure, which could not exist between +children of the same parents. These were some of the reasonings which +first led her to doubt the infallibility of the Recluse, or rather this +was something like the process by which she arrived at firm and +undoubting conviction. She viewed the case in this light from the very +first moment of unclouded perception, but at first it was a wild +tumultuous and suffocating mixture of vague perceptions, and scarcely +permitted hopes. As she gradually analyzed her feelings, and examined +the reasons for her convictions, the truth dawned more and more clearly +upon her view. She was one day sitting, propped up on her couch, during +the three weeks in which Bacon was engaged in his Indian campaign, the +doctor sitting by her side with his finger upon her pulse. Both were +silent and abstracted. The pale beautiful countenance of the invalid was +fixed in deep and earnest thought. Her eyes wandered through an open +window, and sought a resting place upon some sunny spot of green and +refreshing nature. Her lips moved just perceptibly, as if she were +conversing with some one in an under tone. At length she slightly raised +her head, her eyes sparkled with the brilliancy of stars, waxing +brighter and brighter, and her head rising higher and higher from her +pillow, until she screamed in wild delight, "The light of heaven and +love's inspiration itself declare it false." + +The doctor rose with a grave and anxious look, and placing one hand upon +her shoulders, and with the other removing the pillows that supported +her, laid her gently down, saying, + +"I fear there is more excitement about your head to-day, my dear young +lady; if it continues you must lose blood again." + +"Oh, dear doctor, there is indeed excitement about my head and my heart +too, but it is not the excitement of fever; or if it is, it is a dear +delightful fever, which I trust in God will never leave me, for it came +just now wafted on my brain as if by the music of the spheres." + +"Your room must be darkened again, and the cold applications to your +head repeated." + +"You think I am losing my senses again, dear doctor, but I assure you I +am just regaining them, as I will show you from this time forward. I +have now done with physic. I have a medicine here," (and she laid her +hand upon her heart, while a bewitching smile played around her mouth, +that staggered the good doctor,) "which is worth more to me than all the +costly drugs of India, or the islands of the sea." + +And the event justified her words. Her mind was no sooner settled in +deep conviction, and her heart comparatively at ease, than she began +rapidly to recover. It was some days before the scene just related, when +Harriet Harrison was admitted to her presence, and when, as the reader +has already learned from that maiden herself, Virginia propounded to her +the questions touching her lover's belief in their reported +relationship, which were repeated by Miss Harrison to Bacon. + +So long as that interview continued between the two intimates, +untramelled by the presence of a third person, it was one of deep +interest; but unfortunately the heir of the house had too much reason to +suspect that Harriet's feelings were engaged in another's interest, long +to indulge them with an unbroken interview. Virginia barely had time to +ask those questions, and whisper to her friend the tidings of her own +dawning hopes, before the doctor entered, attended to the door as +Harriet perceived through the partial opening, by Frank Beverly himself; +she therefore took her leave, promising a speedy return. + +As she retired from the chamber of the invalid, she accidentally +overheard the Governor's orders for Bacon's arrest, the result of which +has already been related. Her next visit to the house was on the day of +the scene between the doctor and his patient, which we have just +attempted to describe. She was ushered into the room of state, usually +occupied by the Governor for the reception of his most distinguished +guests. No formality was neglected in duly receiving her at the door, +and conducting her to this presence chamber of his Excellency, by the +official who acted as master of ceremonies. + +"I have no business of state to communicate to the Governor, Sir Porter; +I came to see his niece!" + +The porter bowed profoundly as he replied, "But his Excellency has some +business with you, madam, as he informed me, when he directed me to +usher you into this apartment." Another profound inclination followed, +with an accompaniment of rubbing hands and shuffling his feet backward; +while the arch, but somewhat alarmed and astonished maiden, was left to +con her speech to the Governor at her leisure. After a most tedious +interval of half an hour, the formal representative of majesty made his +appearance, with such a profusion of bows that his merry master himself +would have smiled to witness them. Of course Harriet bit her lips in +order to restrain their mirthful inclinations. While the old knight drew +a chair, and after sundry hems and stroking his chin, thus gravely +addressed her: "I am informed, Madam, that you are desirous of an +interview with me; will you be so good as to enlighten me as to the +cause of the unexpected honour?" + +"Some one must have deceived you with a most egregious story, Sir +William. I desired no such thing. I came here to see my friend, Virginia +Fairfax." + +"I am exceedingly pained to inform you, Miss Harriet, that from certain +late circumstances, which it is needless to particularize, and in which +you were somewhat a participator, I, as Virginia's natural guardian, +have thought proper to end the intercourse between you at once. My niece +is destined soon to become the wife of my young kinsman, Beverly, and it +is most prudent to keep her from the sight of such persons and things as +might remind her of that most strange and disgraceful transaction of +which I will not speak more openly. I am very sorry to give you pain, +but there was no other course left for me to pursue than to be plain and +candid with you." + +"And does this marriage take place with Virginia's consent?" + +"She has not been consulted as yet; her health, in the first place, did +not admit of it, and in the second, the evidence which she so lately +gave of being utterly incapable of choosing a husband calculated to +secure her own happiness, or reflect honour upon her family and +connexions, has caused that duty to devolve on me." + +"But, Sir William, suppose she should refuse to accept the husband of +your choice? You certainly will not enforce your determination." + +"Her lamented father and myself entered long since into a covenant by +which these young people were to be united. On the very morning of his +death, we talked the matter over; he freely and fully consented to the +completion of the engagement, and forthwith it shall be carried into +execution, if sufficient authority remains to me in these turbulent and +rebellious times to enforce it." + +"But you will give her time to assuage her grief, and make up her mind +to the lot which awaits her. You surely will not precipitate her into +the celebration of these nuptials?" + +"You talk, young lady, as if it were some horrible and revolting monster +to whom I intended uniting her, instead of the presumptive heir and +nearest kinsman of Sir William Berkley, well favoured and highly +accomplished, as you must acknowledge that he is. She has had time +enough to recover her equanimity, and as soon as her health is equally +restored, the ceremony shall be performed; and whether or not, it is my +purpose to complete it before the return of that arch-rebel Bacon to the +city. Please God, however, I intend he shall return in irons to undergo +the penalty demanded by the outraged laws of his country." + +"And you will not permit me to see my friend for five minutes--only five +minutes?" + +"No! lady, you are now advised of my intentions touching the disposal of +my niece, and you may readily comprehend the reasons of your exclusion +from her presence, without my entering into further and more painful +explanations." + +With this answer, Harriet was compelled to be content, and therefore +making a reverence, more than usually formal, to his Excellency, she +withdrew. It was not in her nature, however, to resign her friend to the +fate which threatened her, without an effort to relieve her. From the +gubernatorial mansion she immediately hastened in pursuit of O'Reily, in +order to despatch him with a communication for his master. But Brian was +nowhere to be found; her own researches and those of the servant whom +she despatched in pursuit of him were of no effect; she was therefore +compelled to entrust her message to one of her father's negroes, who was +well mounted, and despatched upon his errand, within less than two hours +from the time of her interview with his Excellency. + +During the absence of the army in the Peninsula, Sir William Berkley had +not been idle, as has already been intimated. The commands borne by his +couriers to those Cavaliers throughout the colony, who were yet well +affected to his government, began now to bring them in from all +directions, and the regular soldiers stationed at the forts, which were +so offensive to the citizens, were marching rapidly upon the capital +from every quarter. Some had already arrived, and the city was once more +thronged with eager faces. Sounds of martial music were again heard +through the streets, and the more quiet citizens again disturbed with +the stern preparations for war. + +The present military and Cavalier assemblages in the capital were, +however, of a very different political character, and brought together +with very different motives from those which had preceded them. They +were not less in numbers, spirit and appointments; but their object was +not to cope with the savage--it was to measure arms in deadly strife +with their own countrymen and fellow-citizens. The army now assembling, +was intended by the Governor to suppress what he called the rebellion, +and his purpose was, as soon as his forces should all arrive, to march +at once to the Falls of the Powhatan, and while the popular army were +engaged in front with the savage enemies of their country, to fall upon +their rear, and either cut them in pieces, or compel them to surrender +as rebels found bearing arms against his majesty's authority in the +colony. + +Seldom have political parties of any country presented so strange an +aspect as did those of Virginia at this period. First, the people of the +city had been divided between the Cavaliers and Roundheads. The latter +were no sooner brought into complete subjection, than a new +amalgamation took place, by which their distinctive character was lost. +Then, growing out of the puerile obstinacy of Sir William Berkley, in +refusing to repel the incursions of the Indians merely because he had at +first maintained that there was no danger to be apprehended from their +hostility, the popular or conservative party sprang into existence. +Against these were now arrayed the loyalist faction, and most of those +descended from noble ancestors or bearing titles, headed by the Governor +himself. + +In a very few days this latter party had assembled their whole military +force in the city, and the most active preparations were made to march +against Bacon and his followers who were carrying fire and sword into +the very heart of the country occupied by the real enemies of the +colony. + +The temporary duties of the government were resigned into the hands of +Sir H. Chicherley, while Sir William Berkley, Sir Herbert Jeffries, +Francis Beverly, Philip Ludwell, and their compeers, assumed the most +important stations of command in the army of the loyalists. Much the +larger portion of the regular troops were composed of foreign +mercenaries, sent over from England to perform those very duties which +Bacon and his followers were now to be punished for assuming. The very +soldiers who ought to have protected the whites against the incursions +of the Indians were to be turned against the patriot band which had +volunteered to perform a service no longer to be deferred with safety to +the colony. It is true that the commissions of Bacon and his officers +were not legally signed by the constituted authorities; but an emergency +had arisen which threw the citizens back at once upon their original +rights and powers. The government having failed to afford them +protection for their lives and property, they had assumed that office +for themselves. This was the condition of the colony at the juncture of +which we write. + +While Sir William and his coadjutors were thus busily collecting and +disciplining their forces, the citizens of the capital were not +uninterested spectators of this unwonted succession of military +preparations. Most of those remaining in the city had friends and +relations in the ranks of the popular army, and though they dared not +openly express their disapprobation of the Governor's proceedings, their +discontent was deep and settled, and only awaited the departure of the +present overpowering force, again to burst into open resistance against +the government. + +While these preparations for civil strife were going on in the streets +of the city, a discussion of not less interesting import to some of the +leading characters of our story, was carried on within the walls of the +Governor's mansion. The stout old Cavalier had fixed upon the day +preceding the departure of his army, for the solemnization of the +marriage between his niece and his kinsman Beverly. He had himself held +several interviews with the former, but had failed to make the least +impression on her mind, either by his reasoning or his more artful +appeals to her filial duty and affections. + +In vain had he detailed her father's plans and expectations. In vain had +he appealed to her love and respect for his memory. In vain had he +descended from his dignity to reproach her with the late disastrous +occurrence at the chapel. In vain had he coarsely charged her with +desiring an alliance, contrary alike to the laws of God and man. She was +deaf to his arguments and his threats. But the time approached with +fearful rapidity, which he had appointed for the ceremony. The intended +bridegroom held an important command in the expedition now preparing, +and it was Sir William's intention that he should be married and set out +on the succeeding morning. Notwithstanding our heroine's apparent +firmness, therefore, in presence of her stern relative, every note of +preparation which was wafted into her chamber sent the blood +oppressively to her heart. Her naturally mild and gentle nature shrunk +from the contemplation of the violence which her fears and her knowledge +of her kinsman induced her to believe would be used to overcome her +resolution. + +His pretended dread of the disgrace which he charged her with desiring +to bring upon his family she knew was exactly the apology he wanted for +the arbitrary measures necessary to the completion of the plan. + +She was alone in the world. No one now stood ready to give her rescue +from the relentless hands which placed restraint upon her inclinations. +Her nearest kindred had, as she believed, fallen by the savage tomahawk, +and her only remaining relative was about to force her into a marriage +which she detested. Notwithstanding all these depressing circumstances, +her elastic mind and sanguine temperament had hitherto risen above the +accumulating weight of her misfortunes. She had still preserved the +vague yet constant hope, so natural to youth, that some fortunate +occurrence, some unexpected accident would yet take place to mar the +well laid plans of the Governor. But as the time approached, and the +preparations moved steadily forward without any evidence of coming +succour, or the fortunate event which was to release her from her +dreadful situation, her heart began to misgive her--she was compelled in +some measure to assume an humbler posture towards the stern old man in +whose hands her destiny seemed placed. Her ingenuity had turned the +subject in all its various aspects--every chance of escape was provided +against. Even the presence of her friend Harriet, upon which she had +founded most of her hopes, was rigidly and perseveringly denied to her. +As a last and desperate resort, she humbly supplicated her uncle for an +uninterrupted interview with him to whom he purposed to marry her; and +Sir William seeing nothing in this request calculated to defeat his +plans, but on the contrary hoping that it proceeded from a wavering +resolution, granted the request. + +She sat upon a large leathern-backed chair, her head leaning upon the +window sill, and her flaxen ringlets clustering around her pale and +attenuated, but still beautiful features. Her _robe de chamber_ was +white and simple in its fashion, and her hands were listlessly and +languidly twined into its folds, seeming, every now and then, as if her +delicate fingers would pierce the yielding texture. A solitary tear +seemed as if it had already departed from its pure fountain, as +tremblingly it hung upon the long dewy eyelash, the mere closing of +which dissipated it into a thin misty veil of sadness to her liquid +melancholy blue eye, as it was turned in fearful expectation towards the +door. + +At length Beverly entered. She had until this moment strenuously +resisted all endeavours to promote an interview, and once, on a former +similar occasion, had covered her face and pertinaciously resisted all +attempts on his part to lead her into conversation. He now entered with +the knowledge that the invitation came from herself; he felt his +supposed power; and a lofty smile played upon his proud but handsome +features. As he approached, she sank upon her knees, and clasped her +hands in supplication. The tears had now burst the restraints of thought +and internal oppression, and rapidly coursed each other down her cheeks +as she spoke, "You see before you, sir, a solitary female and an orphan, +bereaved suddenly and cruelly of her natural protectors--deserted or +oppressed by those who should have supplied their place. Before the +distracting grief for these afflictions has had time to lose its first +intensity, she has been cruelly beset and importuned to become a party +to a marriage, of which she had never before thought. You, sir, are the +other party! I entreat, I implore you on my knees, at least to postpone +this intended ceremony. If it is performed to-night, as my uncle has +appointed, the wrath of Heaven will be poured out upon such a +desecration of its holy institutions. You, sir, will wed a corpse or a +raving maniac! Interpose then, I pray you. Petition Sir William, as from +yourself alone, for its postponement, at least until your return from +the intended campaign, and I will pray for your happiness until the end +of my existence. I will then indeed believe that you desire mine." + +He made several attempts to raise her from her supplicating posture, +during her appeal, but she maintained her attitude. Having paused to +catch her exhausted breath, he seized the opportunity to say, "Are you +sure, madam, that there is no lurking weakness, no sinister design, in +this demand for farther time?" + +"Of what design, what weakness do you suspect me?" she exclaimed, +raising her head boldly, and losing almost instantly the subdued tone of +entreaty. + +"Of base and criminal affections for one who should be blotted from the +tablets of your memory for his villany, if not for his kindred blood!" + +She was on her feet in an instant; her ringlets wildly tossed back by a +quick motion of the head, and a corresponding effort with both hands, +which she held still clasped in her hair, as she stared at him an +instant before she replied, + +"Are you a man? A gentleman? A Cavalier? That you come here to insult +and trample upon one already deserted of all mankind? Her whom you +pretend to desire for a companion through joy and wo! How base, how +cowardly, to insult a helpless female, and that female your +kinswoman--one whom you pretend to love. Out upon you, sir, for a +dastard! Were he now here whom you so basely slander, you would not dare +employ such language!" + +"Softly, softly, my dear lady. You are only betraying your own feelings, +and counteracting the relenting mood into which your well acted appeal +was near betraying me." + +"Oh, then, forget what I have said, and be indeed the high minded, +generous Beverly, I once believed you! We were children together, +caressed by the same friends and owning a common origin. Can you then +witness unmoved my forlorn condition, without one feeling of +compassion?" + +Beverly was not wholly without tender feelings, although they were so +concentrated upon himself, that it required the touch of a master hand +to reach his heart. Selfish men, however, are sometimes easily worked +upon by allusions or appeals to their family pride. Their connexions are +a constituent part of the idol of their worship--self; and it is not the +least remarkable feature in their characters, that such men are almost +always affectionate husbands and devoted parents. These are but a part +of self; their kindred by a farther remove are generally valued in +proportion to their ability to confer honour upon the common stock. + +"He that feels not love," says Goethe, "must learn to flatter." +Doubtless the great German poet was contemplating the difficulties of +the supremely selfish man in love, when he penned this aphorism. But +Beverly was not so profoundly skilled in the human heart; he ardently +desired to possess the hand of his fair kinswoman, as well on account of +her many personal attractions, as of the rich inheritance of which she +was the heiress; but he had not learned his own harsh defects of +character, and of course could not substitute the arts of flattery for +the softer eloquence of love. He felt and enjoyed his power, as +compensating in some degree for the want of admiration of himself in his +intended bride, and such were the feelings operating upon him when he +entered her chamber; but her last appeal seemed to move his selfish +nature, as he paused to contemplate the eloquent suppliant before he +replied. + +"Suppose that I obtain from Sir William his consent for the postponement +of the ceremony, will you then give me your hand of your own free will?" + +She paused before replying. The case was desperate; no succour seemed +now within the bounds of probability. The shades of evening were fast +gathering around the gloomy precincts of her secluded apartment. She +knew her uncle's determination of character. One only chance of escape +appeared remaining open to her, and she desperately resolved to seize +it. Such was the train of reasoning by which she rapidly arrived at this +conclusion, and replied, + +"Our inclinations are not always within our own control, but if you +obtain this reprieve, I promise to give you my hand upon the return of +the present expedition, provided that nothing occurs in the mean time to +free me from the necessity. For I will be plain and honest with you, and +avow my determination to escape this marriage if I can." + +"I understand you, fair cousin; you expect deliverance at the hands of +your degraded and new found kinsman; but trust me, he will need succour +himself before that time arrives. I expect to march him through these +streets in irons on my wedding-day. Frown not--gather no storms of +indignation upon your brow--it shall be even so. But time wears apace; +so pledge yourself before Heaven, that if I obtain Sir William's consent +to this delay, you will be mine upon the return of the army." + +"Before Heaven I promise you, under the condition I have named." + +"It is then a bargain, and I will seek the Governor to fulfil my part of +it; should he consent, see that you remember your plighted faith. As for +your condition, I take no thought of that;" and with this remark he left +the room. + +It was with the greatest difficulty that she could suppress her rising +indignation, upon his again alluding to her new found kinsman; but she +did so far suppress it as to force herself through the required promise. +The door had no sooner closed upon his retreating footsteps, than she +clasped her hands, and exclaimed fervently, raising her eyes toward +heaven, "Thank God! I am now freed from the immediate apprehension of +this most hated union. Oh, if he does but come within the allotted time! +and come as my flattering hopes persuade me that he will--a conqueror! +hailed as the deliverer of his country--the champion of her oppressed +and outraged people, and the preserver of the most wretched of her +maidens! what blessings will be his! Be he brother or kinsman or lover, +he shall live for ever in this grateful heart. Brother indeed! He is a +brother in kindness, devotion, and disregard of self; but a brother in +kindred blood, my heart assures me he is not." + +The door was again opened after the lapse of a short time, and Beverly +entered to say, "I have seen Sir William, and presented my request; he +refused at first, but when I told him that you had promised to be mine +at the expiration of the required time, he yielded his consent. I +purposely concealed from him that there was any condition in the case, +first, because I take no heed to it myself, and secondly, because it +might have precluded his concurrence, and would most certainly be a +motive with him for placing you under still more rigid restraint. You +see, sweet coz, that I study your happiness far more than you give me +credit for. Why will you not freely then make me its guardian for life?" + +"How very different is the selfish man," thought Virginia, "who thus +blazons his own little acts of merest charity, for refined and delicate +attentions, from him who possesses innate benevolence and gentleness of +heart? He would have studiously concealed a hundred greater kindnesses +than this." But under present circumstances, even such unfavourable +comparisons did not prevent her from replying, + +"For every act of kindness towards me, Mr. Beverly, I am sure I try to +feel very grateful, and since I have been within these walls, my +feelings have been so little exercised in that way that it is really +refreshing to feel under their influence, even in the smallest degree. +The very servants treat me as a lost and abandoned creature. Those of my +own sex that once professed love and respect for me, fly from the +apartment when I speak to them, as if there were contamination in my +very voice. I know that some horrible tale has been told them about me: +would you but take the trouble to correct the false impression, before +you depart, my solitary lot might be greatly softened, and I would then +have double cause for gratitude." + +"With the domestic arrangements of the house I dare not interfere--Sir +William has directed all those things himself." + +"And is it by his orders too that my aunt comes not to see me, nor sends +a kind word of inquiry as to my health these long sad days, or a book to +while away the longer and more gloomy nights?" + +"It is. She has wept as many foolish tears almost as yourself, since +your confinement to this room." + +"Thank God! You have taken a load from off my heart. There is then one +soul within the house, of my own sex and blood too, who sympathises with +me during these stern severities." + +"Your trials will soon be over, my pretty coz, and then we will remove +to a house of our own, and you shall lord it over some of these +blackies, in revenge for their want of respect, to your heart's +content." Attempting to chuck her under the chin, as he spoke, she was +compelled to turn her head suddenly toward the window, for the double +purpose of placing herself beyond the reach of his hand, and of +concealing the rising flush of anger and contempt that glowed upon her +countenance. She saw that he treated her as a child--that he imagined +such conversation suited to the level of her capacity, and longed to +humble his proud self-sufficiency, but dared not under present +circumstances. For the first time in her life, she found herself +compelled to disguise her natural feelings, and suppress the bitter +words which rose upon her tongue. She therefore, by way of changing the +conversation, and knowing not what else to say, inquired, "How soon does +your army expect to return?" + +"Soon, my dear coz, very soon. In ten days at farthest, I hope to lay +some of the trophies of victory at your feet, and twine you a bridal +turban from the standard of the rebel chief." Again she was forced to +turn her head away. And the harmony of their meeting, constrained and +unnatural as it was, would probably very soon have been ruptured by the +almost bursting indignation which agitated her bosom, had not the +martial summons to the evening parade called her tormentor from her +presence. + +By dawn of day, on the morning after the interview just related, the +army under the command of Sir William Berkley took up its line of march +toward the falls of the Powhatan. + +Virginia was a sad and silent spectator of the imposing pageant. She +stood at her window facing one of the cross streets, through which their +march was directed, and examined the devices of banner after banner, as +they moved along in martial pomp, to the soul-inspiring music of the +drums and trumpets. No sympathizing emotions or half embodied +supplications to the Ruler of Nations for the safety of their persons or +the success of their arms burst from her lips. She saw the proud and +self-satisfied Beverly curvetting by on his equally proud steed; she +even saw him gayly wave his towering plumes in recognition of her +presence without an answering nod or a single indication of approval. +Her heart and hopes followed the standard of the youthful Captain who +commanded the force which these were summoned to scatter and destroy. +Long after the last ensign had passed from her sight, and the music was +heard only in faint and distant echoes as it swelled and died away upon +the air, she stood in the same spot, her eyes apparently still occupied +with passing objects. It was not so--she was endeavouring to look into +futurity. She pictured in her imagination the army of the Cavaliers, +under Bacon, struggling in the murderous ambuscade of the concentrated +savage tribes in front, and mercilessly cut down by their own countrymen +in the rear. She saw the stern and uncompromising Sir William and his +veteran compeers, brandishing their sabres over the heads of the younger +Cavaliers, and Beverly and Bacon engaged in the deadly contest of +personal rivalry and political hatred. Notwithstanding the disadvantages +of the latter's position, youthful hopes and a sanguine temperament, +awarded the victory to the cause which she believed the just one. She +had already, as by miracle, escaped a fate which she considered far more +to be deplored than death, and resolved to trust her own cause, and that +in which it was involved, to him who rules the destinies of battles. She +remembered, with feelings of adoration, that he had said that the race +was not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The army under the command of General Bacon had succeeded in +concentrating the confederated tribes of the Peninsula, which had so +long annoyed its flank and rear, at the falls of the Powhatan. Here they +had erected a rude fortification, composed of fallen trees, having an +entrenchment surrounding it, with the excavated earth thrown up as an +embankment. This was situated upon an eminence commanding the more even +ground on each side of a small stream, which ran nearly at right angles +with, and fell into the river below the falls. The army of the Colonists +arrived within sight of the Indian fires, just after the sun had sunk +behind the horizon. General Bacon's plantation[3] was situated but a +short distance from the very spot on which the savages had erected their +fort, and consequently he was well acquainted with the ground. After +halting a short time to examine the position of the enemy, he marched +his troops to the open plain beneath their strong hold, in perfect +silence. Here they bivouacked for the night, with the intention of +storming the intrenchments at the first dawning of the morrow. Every +thing was noiselessly put in readiness for this final struggle for +supremacy between the whites and the Aborigines. The latter had +collected in overwhelming numbers, and seemed determined to make a +desperate effort to regain their lost footing in the land of their +fathers, while the former, having daily improved in discipline, were in +high health, buoyant with the youthful hope and courage, and impatient +for the dawn, that they might strike a blow at once, to answer the high +expectations of their friends at home, and terminate the war. Little did +they imagine that an army of those very countrymen was treading in their +footsteps, under the command of Sir William Berkley, with the avowed +purpose of meting to them that chastisement which they were so impatient +to bestow upon the enemy before them. + +[Footnote 3: Historical.] + +Their commander was not long left in ignorance upon this point, however, +for scarcely had the columns made their arrangements for the night along +each side of the small stream, before a courier from the capital was +brought into his quarters, by one of the sentinels stationed upon the +outskirts of the encampment. He was the bearer of a proclamation, signed +by Sir William Berkley as Governor of his Majesty's Colony in Virginia, +in which Bacon and his followers were denounced as traitors and rebels, +and commanded forthwith to lay down their arms and return to their +allegiance, under pain of death, and confiscation of their property. The +surprise and indignation occasioned by this singular document had not +subsided, when another messenger was dragged into the presence of the +commander in chief. It was a negro, trembling from head to foot with +visible terror at the very uncivil treatment which he had received, and +more, perhaps, at the warlike preparations around, and the glaring +effects of the Indian fires on the hill. All attempts to gain an +intelligible account of his mission proved for a length of time, utterly +unavailing, until Bacon, recognising something of old acquaintance in +his features, dismissed his attendants. He then quickly disclosed, in +his mongrel dialect, that he had been ordered to deliver a letter into +the general's own hands, and when no person was present. A greasy and +rumpled document was then drawn from his pouch, which, notwithstanding +its hard treatment, and discoloured exterior, Bacon instantly recognised +as the writing of Harriet Harrison. The date was rather more remote than +seemed necessary for its regular transmission to its present +destination, which the sable messenger explained by stating that he had +been some days dodging in the footsteps of the army, but that as often +as he approached it he had been frightened back again by the flying +hordes of savages, hanging upon their skirts. If Bacon felt disposed to +indulge in merriment at the ludicrous detail of poor Pompey, the +contents of the note, which he now began to decipher by the light of a +lamp, speedily restored his gravity. Harriet briefly related to him the +nature of the conversation she had held with Sir William Berkley at his +own house, and the treatment which Virginia suffered at his hands; she +concluded by stating the preparations then making in Jamestown by the +Governor and his party, to pursue and capture, or cut them to pieces. +This information was truly startling to the youthful general; that +concerning Virginia was most moving; but the imminent peril of those +gallant spirits entrusted to his command required his immediate +attention. He despatched a chosen mounted band on the instant, to scout +along the late route of his army, far enough to ascertain whether that +under the command of Sir William was within such a distance, as to +enable him to interrupt the contemplated attack upon the savages at the +dawning of the coming day. + +Bacon's character was eminently prompt and decisive. He determined, +should such be the case, to commence the attack upon the instant he +should receive such information. + +Having provided for the safety and accommodation of Pompey, and ordered +the courier of the Governor into close but respectful keeping, he +sallied out along the outposts, to examine the scene of future +operations. The stars twinkled brilliantly in the heavens around the +horizon, but the glaring light of the savage fires upon the hill threw +the mellowed rays of the heavenly orbs into dim contrast immediately +round the two camps. As he walked along the margin of the little +stream, upon the borders of which his own troops were stationed, toward +the river, the night-scene presented to his view was reviving and +exciting to his imagination. The ascending columns of fire upon the hill +reflected the trees and other objects upon its brow in gigantic shadows +over the plain beneath. The bright red light fell upon the broad sheet +of water below the falls, in long horizontal rays, stretching far away +over its shining surface toward the opposite shore. The island in the +middle of the stream, a little higher up than the point at which he +stood, was clothed in verdant impenetrable shrubbery--the darkness +gathered around its shores more palpable from the contrast of the +neighbouring fires. The roar of the falls fell monotonously upon his +ear, ever and anon interrupted by the sharp shrill whoop of some +over-joyous savage, engaged in orgies within the fort surmounting the +hill. As he pensively stood upon the banks of the Powhatan, and surveyed +the illuminated scene immediately around, and the darker shadows of the +hills stretching away in the distance and skirting the margin of the +river, the shining waves beneath his feet, and the dusky outlines of the +rocks and islands beyond, it little entered his imagination that upon +that romantic spot, in future time, there should spring up a noble +city--the capital of an empire state--that the natural lawns upon which +he stood, would be exchanged for docks and quays--that the hills on his +right hand (which to a scholar might, even then, have recalled the +Acropolis) should support classic colonnades, and spires pointing to the +clouds; and that the diminutive stream upon the banks of which his +troops were bivouacked, should receive, from the sanguinary battle in +which he was about to engage, a name to outlive the very monuments of +his generation.[4] Without these deeply interesting associations, +however, the scene in its natural and unreclaimed features was eminently +captivating and romantic. No site in the country abounded more with bold +and enchanting objects. On the one hand were the picturesque hills,[5] +commanding a prospect seldom equalled, never surpassed, of landscape +varied with woodland, dell and meadow, through which the shining waters +of the Powhatan were now visible, glowing like a sheet of fire, and now +lost in the shadows of the towering forests, as it held its devious +course beyond the reach of the reflected fires in the back ground. + +[Footnote 4: The little rivulet skirting the south eastern end of +Richmond is called "Bloody Run" to this day.] + +[Footnote 5: On one of these the present capital of Virginia stands.] + +Our hero might have stood gazing upon this enchanting scene until the +sound of the reveille in the morning had roused him from his revery, had +not his quick eye caught a glimpse of moving lights within the Indian +encampment. With hurried steps he retraced his way through the line of +sentinels, and issued immediate orders for his subordinates in command +to assemble in military council. He was satisfied in his own mind, as he +walked up the stream, that some unusual occurrence had taken place +within the palisade of the Indians--perhaps the presence of his own +stationary columns, as they stood in their dark frowning outlines, had +been discovered by the ever cunning and watchful enemy. He had more than +once stood in wonder at the apparent absence of their usual stratagems +and devices. He supposed, however, that, trusting to their immense +superiority of numbers, and the protection of their breastworks, they +had resolved to risk an engagement, in which courage and strength alone +should be the implements of victory. + +The council of war had scarcely assembled, before they were astounded +with the report of musketry in answer to the usual accompaniments of a +savage sortie, in the most remote direction of the camp. General Bacon +issued his orders promptly and decisively. The columns whose rear had +been surprised by a sortie from the enemy, were, by a prompt movement, +instantly wheeled into line, changing their front so as to face the +assailants, while the mounted Cavaliers, under the command of young +Harrison, fiercely attacked them in flank. The desperate band of +warriors were speedily driven within their breastworks. It was doubtless +only their intention to harass the outskirts of the army, and then, by +retreating, draw their pursuers within reach of the ambuscade stationed +behind the breastwork. They were pursued by the mounted troops, who had +no sooner driven them within the palisade, than they in their turn +suddenly wheeled and retreated upon the main body. + +These sallies were kept up through the first watches of the night, with +so much perseverance on the part of the enemy, and so much annoyance to +the ardent and impatient troops of the patriot army, that General Bacon +determined to give way to their martial ardour, and at once storm the +strong hold of the enemy. + +The plan of battle in this straight-forward mode of warfare was simple +in the extreme. Seldom had the Aborigines given their white enemies a +chance of testing the relative valour of the two races; and protected as +they were even now by a formidable breastwork, General Bacon did not +hesitate as to the propriety of trusting to the discipline and skill of +his soldiers, and the immense superiority of their arms, against the +greater numbers and defensive preparations of the enemy. + +The fires within the palisade were apparently flickering upon their +dying embers, and an unsteady flash, gleaming at intervals, was the only +light shed over the contemplated battle-ground. A profound quiet reigned +within the camp of the enemy, indicative to the mind of Bacon of some +new treachery or savage scheme. Having warned his officers against +these, he despatched mounted scouting parties to hover round both camps, +and took every other human precaution against surprise; orders were now +issued preparatory to a general attack upon the enemy's entrenchments. + +By a prompt evolution, his battalions of foot were wheeled into a solid +column of attack on the northern side of the stream, while the mounted +Cavaliers were stationed as a reserve on the right. The former were +marched in compact order, directly up the face of the hill, not a +trumpet or a drum disturbing the silence of the funeral-like procession. +The various colours of their plumes, as they waved in the night breeze, +and the occasional glitter of burnished arms, as a flash of light fell +athwart the solid phalanx from the flickering fires above, presented one +of the most striking scenes imaginable. + +General Bacon assumed the immediate command of his columns in person. He +sat upon his impatient charger on the right wing, and examined the +ominous appearance of the enemy's camp with intense interest. Not a +warrior's head was to be seen above the breastwork as they approached. +All was silent, gloomy, and portentous; not a sound was heard, save the +measured tramp of his own troops, as they moved through the bushes. + +Once indeed he thought he heard the wild shrill scream of a female, very +different in its intonations from the harsh voice of the savage squaw. +But so many unearthly sights and sounds had haunted both his sleeping +and waking hours of late, that he drove the impression from his mind, +to rest with hundreds of others of like import. + +When the front lines had arrived within some forty yards of the dark and +frowning breastwork, a sudden and momentary check was given to their +farther progress. A rushing sound, as of the flight of many birds, and +the clatter of Indian arrows against their arms and persons, +simultaneously struck upon their senses, followed by the fall of many +soldiers, and the short involuntary exclamations of pain, which, from +the impulse of the moment, escaped the unfortunate individuals. + +Trumpets and drums instantaneously broke the stillness of the march. +Their martial notes reverberated over the surrounding solitudes in +enlivening peals. The ill-omened birds of night flapped their wings, and +swooped through the unsteady lights of the scene in utter dismay at this +untimely invasion of their prescriptive dominions. These were quickly +followed by a discharge of musketry, poured into the formidable +palisade. It was scarcely discharged, however, before Bacon discovered +the utter uselessness of such a waste of ammunition. He saw that the +breastwork was so constructed, that, while it admitted of the discharge +of missiles from within, it afforded a secure protection to its +occupants against the musketry of their assailants. In the mean time his +soldiers were exposed to the murderous discharges of poisoned arrows. + +In this emergency no time was to be lost; placing himself, therefore, at +the head of his troops, he ordered the walls to be torn down. These, as +before related, were composed of large trees piled one upon another, +with their green boughs still protruding in many places over the shallow +intrenchment, and the earth excavated from the latter thrown up on the +outside against a rude wicker-work of fine bushes, filling up the +interstices of the trees. Trumpets sounded the charge, and the columns +moved at a quick pace to the onset. Still not a savage head was seen +until they had arrived at the very borders of the intrenchment. Here +some two hundred of the stoutest and ablest bodied of his soldiers were +marched up to the projecting limbs of the largest tree, forming the +basis of the breastwork. Bacon saw at a glance that if he could manage +to seize hold of these projecting arms and turn the tree across the +fosse, it would at once open the way for his mounted troops, and perhaps +carry with it some forty or fifty feet of the palisade, and thereby +bring the opposing armies face to face. They had already seized the +projecting limbs, and were shaking the frail protection of the savages +to its very foundations, when simultaneously a thousand lights gleamed +over forest, hill, and dale--A thousand voices united their shrill +clamours in one deafening yell of savage ferocity. The troops engaged in +tearing down the breastwork instinctively loosed their hold, and flew to +their arms, as they threw their eyes upward to the spot whence these +blinding lights and deafening noises came. It was but the work of an +instant, for little more time were they permitted to examine,--they were +called upon to act, and that vigorously, for their own preservation. In +a single instant, and apparently at a given signal, the whole of the +rude terrace surmounting the fortification literally swarmed with +painted warriors, each bearing in his left hand a pine torch, and in the +other, a tomahawk, a war-club, or a battle-axe.[6] They sprang from +their commanding position into the midst of their assailants, and +scattered themselves in every direction through that part of the army +already advanced to the breastwork. + +[Footnote 6: These were made of stones ground into the shape of our axe, +with a groove round the centre for a handle made of withe.] + +Human ingenuity could not have devised a mode of warfare better +calculated to suit their numbers, position, time, courage, and limited +means of resistance. It at once rendered the mounted troops +useless--prevented the colonists from using their fire-arms, because +those immediately engaged were at too close quarters, while those at a +greater distance were as likely to kill friends as enemies. The savages +dealt their murderous blows with wonderous rapidity and precision, and +though the hardy planters in the front ranks turned upon them with the +butt ends of their muskets, the savages had evidently the advantage. The +blazing fagots were often thrust into the very faces of their opponents, +and while writhing under the confusion and agony of the fire and smoke, +they were stricken down like helpless beasts. + +Bacon saw the imminent peril of his troops, and though he was at first +astounded by the rapidity and daring courage with which the plan was +executed, he did not despair, nor yet sit listlessly upon his horse to +see his friends and countrymen slaughtered. He saw at a glance too that +only the front columns were engaged--that a part of these must now +necessarily fall, but he determined at the same time, that their deaths +should be dearly avenged, and his remaining troops brought off +victorious. He immediately placed himself between the forces already +engaged and those rushing to the rescue. The latter he wheeled into line +immediately in front of his mounted reserve, thereby changing their +front to the flank of the contending parties, while their own right wing +rested upon the top of the hill, and the left on the little stream +already mentioned. Having completed this evolution to his satisfaction, +the mounted Cavaliers were brought round to the position just occupied +by the foot, so that they immediately faced the struggling combatants, +and the latter were ordered to give way. The retreat was sounded from +the brazen mouths of the trumpets over their heads, and Bacon in person +and his mounted aids, rode furiously and recklessly among them, crying +for them to fall back toward the line stationed on the right. + +These various movements were but the work of a few moments. Meantime the +painted and ghastly warriors, rendered still more horrible by the +flaring lights which they bore in their hands, and by the reeking +instruments of death which they swung over their head with such unerring +precision, were pouring over the walls upon the devoted band in +countless hordes. So intently were they engaged, that the evolutions of +their enemies had entirely escaped their attention; and indeed the +Colonists themselves, who were fighting hand to hand with the savages, +had not observed the movement, until the voices of their commanders +urged them to fall back upon the newly formed line. As Bacon had +calculated, no sooner were the engaged troops made to understand the +orders, and induced to recede, than a partial separation was effected, +which was fatal to the Aboriginals. The retreating Colonists were almost +immediately under the protection of the line already braced in solid +column, and standing to the charge[7] ready for the expected pursuers. A +company of the mounted Cavaliers was broken up into squads, and these +were actively engaged in hewing down the pursuers, or cutting off their +retreat to the protection of the fort. In a short time a complete line +of separation was formed between the two armies, save where, here and +there, two athletic men of the opposite races, both having lost their +arms in the contest, struggled in the death gripe. Here an iron handed +mechanist of the city clenched a warrior's throat--the eyes of the +victim protruding frightfully from his head in the glaring light, and +his tongue hanging from his mouth like that of a rabid animal, until he +fell as a lump of clay among the hundreds of both parties who had gone +before. There a grim warrior struggled with another, making desperate +efforts to reach his knife, which the soldier as constantly struggled to +prevent. Yonder among the heaps of slain, lay two of the differing +races, fallen to the earth in a mutual but deadly clasp, each holding +the other by the throat, until the struggle became one of mere +endurance, and, strange to say, the white man generally conquered. + +[Footnote 7: The bayonet was just then coming into use, but was inserted +into a round piece of wood, which was thrust into the muzzle of the +musket.] + +While, however, these desperate personal struggles were occurring, the +tide of battle was fast turning against the most numerous party. It was +with the greatest difficulty that Bacon could restrain the ardour and +impetuosity of the troops stationed in line for the protection of the +devoted corps which had led the van, the straggling members of which +were momentarily retreating behind the solid bulwark of their +countrymen's pikes and bayonets. But no sooner was this duty of humanity +performed, and a complete line of demarcation distinctly drawn, than all +restraints were removed. A volley of musketry was poured among the +scattering savages along the face of the hill, in order to convince +them that hereafter they would be kept at a respectful distance. A +simultaneous movement of horse and foot now swept the brow of the hill; +the horse charged immediately in front of the palisade, while the +infantry drove in the extended line of savages at the point of the +bayonet. The most inextricable confusion ensued in the ranks of the red +warriors. While the cavalry cut them down on one hand, and the bayonets +of the infantry transfixed them on the other, hundreds were tumbling +over hundreds as they tumultuously leaped over the palisade. Some hung +by the projecting bushes--others fell upon the terrace, and were cast +down and trodden under foot by their companions; while multitudes were +cut to pieces in making the attempt. In a short time the open field was +left in complete possession of the whites--the brow of the hill was +literally covered with the wounded and the slain, both of white and red. +Yet the battle was not ended; hundreds upon hundreds had escaped within +the fort. The savage force amounted at the commencement to something +like three thousand warriors of various tribes, and that of the +Colonists to about one thousand.[8] Bacon earnestly desired to spare the +effusion of human blood, and hazardous as the Indians were as +neighbours, either professing friendship or enmity, he resolved to send +them a flag of truce and propose a permanent peace upon condition of +their abandoning the Peninsula for ever. He knew that they understood +the sacred rights and privileges of that peaceful banner, for it had +already been recognised among some of their own tribes. Accordingly a +young and promising officer was thrust up to the top of the palisade. He +waved his flag and laid his hand upon his heart in token of friendship, +and grounded his sword in order to convince them that he came upon a +peaceful errand, but instead of sending out their interpreter or +prophet, he was treacherously murdered by a tomahawk--thrown some twenty +yards by the hand of a warrior, and buried in his brain. All hopes of +peace were now abandoned, and Bacon determined to complete the victory +which he had commenced, and won thus far at the expense of so many +valued lives. + +[Footnote 8: Burke says 600.] + +Orders were again issued for tearing down the palisade, while a chosen +band of prompt and expert marksmen were stationed at the distance of +some thirty yards, to shoot down the savages as they should show their +heads above the breastwork. Instead of the infantry being stationed to +protect the miners as before, the cavalry formed a column flanking the +marksmen, so that they could at a moment's warning, rush in between the +descending hordes and the corps engaged in pulling down the barricade. + +Again the trees composing the palisade were seized by the projecting +limbs, and a sudden wrench brought the earth piled against its outer +side tumbling into the ditch beneath, and shook the whole fabric to its +foundation. Again an ominous and inexplicable silence prevailed within +the enclosure, which was the more remarkable, as there was left no known +method of escape, and by their own treachery to the officer who had +borne the flag of truce, they were reduced to the alternative of dying +in their ditches or desperately cutting their way through the solid +phalanx which enclosed them on every side. Hitherto the marksmen +stationed in front for the purpose of clearing the terrace of the +savages, as they should mount the breastwork from the inside, had little +to do. At length a group of savages displayed their painted faces above +the barrier, apparently endeavouring to drag some unwieldy burden to the +top of the works. They were instantly shot down, but their places were +as speedily supplied by others. A faint but piercing shriek rent the +air, which promptly arrested the attention of Bacon, Dudley, and young +Harrison, who sat upon their horses superintending the operations of the +miners, and holding an occasional discourse among themselves. The voice +came evidently from a female, and reminded Bacon that he had once before +during the night heard a like sound from the same direction. He waved +his sword to the marksmen stationed on his left, to withhold their fire, +while his own attention and that of his two associates were intently +rivetted to the occupation of the group ascending the wall from the +other side. At this moment the large tree which the troops in front had +been some time shaking loose, came crashing over upon its limbs, and +bringing with it those which had been piled above, thus exposing to view +the interior of the fort, but not yet affording an uninterrupted passage +for the besiegers. The battalions of foot, however, were tumultuously +rushing toward the breach, reckless of the interposing branches and +trunks of the prostrate trees, when Bacon, in a voice of thunder +commanded them to halt! The very moment the fort gave way a sight was +revealed to his eyes, and those of his two comrades, which made the hair +rise on end upon their heads, and the blood in their veins run cold with +horror. The Indians, who had so long struggled to ascend the fort some +twenty or thirty yards from the breach, had at length succeeded, bearing +one of the objects which so powerfully arrested the attention of the +officers on horseback. Two grim warriors supported between them the body +of a woman of the European race, while a third stood behind her, on the +top of the palisade with uplifted tomahawk. With one hand he held the +weapon suspended over the head of the drooping victim, while with the +other, he pointed to the neighbouring breach in the breastwork, with a +look and gesture that seemed to say, "advance, and her fate is sealed!" +Although the light from the smouldering fires was dim and unsteady, +enough was caught of the outlines of this figure to thrill to the very +heart-strings of the three spectators; she was upheld on either side by +the mere strength of her guards--her feet seemed to have sunk from under +her--but her head was erect and turning with wonderful rapidity from +side to side, as she gazed with wild and glaring eyes upon the scene +around her. Her fair silken tresses fell unrestrained upon her shoulders +or were blown about in fluttering streams, as the unsteady light fell +now in broad masses, and then in dim and shadowy rays. Her dress was +white, and fell in ample folds around all that was left of a once +symmetrical figure. Her features were ashy pale and attenuated to the +last degree of human wretchedness, her eye shot forth the wild flashes +of a frenzied mind. She was entirely unconscious of her danger, and +though she seemed to examine the wild scene around, it was not with fear +and trembling. A sickly smile played upon her death-like features, as if +she rather took pleasure than suffered pain in these unusual sights, or +saw embodied before her in palpable form somewhat of the fleeting +phantasmagoria which had so long eluded her senses, yet she was +speechless--and so were the late combatants. + +A profound and solemn silence prevailed throughout the ranks of both +parties. The fate of battle, or the life of an individual, was suspended +upon the results of the moment. It was soon interrupted, wildly, +fearfully interrupted! The threatened victim burst into a convulsion of +frantic laughter, the wild unguided tones of a voice once rich and +musical, were borne along the still night air, and resounded through the +dark forest like some unearthly mockery of human merriment. As if a +thunderbolt from heaven had instantaneously stricken her dumb she +ceased. The sounds of her own voice startled and astonished her; perhaps +some dim rememberance of its former tones, as it rose and fell upon the +air, floated darkly through her mind. The grim old warriors who +supported her, were impressed with awe and fear, and the very +executioner was almost overcome with his native superstitious reverence. +The events we have just described occupied but a few moments of +time,--far less than we have taken to describe them. At this juncture, +and while the three stern Indians maintained their posts, Wyanokee +sprang upon the terrace, struck the tomahawk from the hands of the ready +executioner--pushed him backward over the palisade, and threw herself +recklessly upon the unfortunate lady, encircling her with her arms. At +the same instant her two astounded countrymen fell lifeless from the +terrace, pierced to the heart by the unerring balls of the sharp +shooters. + +The Colonial army now broke tumultuously into the fort. Here another +threatened victim had been held as a suspended pledge over their fires, +for the safety of this their last strong hold, but so intense had been +the interest excited in behalf of the unfortunate Mrs. Fairfax, that +little attention was bestowed upon him. It was none other than Brian +O'Reily. When the breach was made in the fort, he was discovered in the +centre of the area, tied fast to a stake driven into the ground. A +quantity of resinous pine wood was built high up around his body, and +half a dozen torch-bearers stood ready to apply the flame. The report of +the muskets had no sooner announced the death of their comrades on the +wall, than this pile was fired in a a hundred places. Already the victim +began to writhe as the intolerable heat scorched his flesh, and the +smoke rushed into his eyes and throat. As the soldiers entered through +the breach with Dudley, who had dismounted, at their head, he rushed +toward the suffering victim, and, assisted by his followers, hurled the +burning brands upon the heads of those who kindled them. + +Meanwhile Bacon had also dismounted. He saw that the contest would now +be short, and giving his orders to Dudley, he leaped upon the palisade +where Wyanokee was vainly endeavouring to support and restrain his +former patroness, who had repeatedly and fruitlessly endeavoured to +stand erect, and as often had fallen back into the arms of the Indian +maiden. As Bacon approached, his whole soul agitated with deep and +thrilling emotions, she was sitting upon the wall, forcing herself +farther and farther back, like a frighted infant, into the arms of her +protectress. Her eyes stared wildly upon the approaching youth, and the +lids fell not over the painfully distended orbs. She did not recognise +him, even when he approached within a few paces and kindly and +soothingly addressed her. At one moment she seemed about to make some +reply, but the half formed words died upon her lips--they moved as +though she held the desired discourse, but no sound was audible. The +wild noise and confusion of the onset, breaking upon her ears, she +started up and cried "Hah! see you not that the king's troops put those +of the commonwealth to the sword? Behold his giant form weltering in +gore! 'Tis gone! It was not he! No, no; I saw not the bloody hand. It +was merely one of these puppet warriors dressed out to frighten babes. +He lives! did he not tell me so, with his own lips? Do the dead tell the +living lies? That were a trick of the devil indeed." Again she burst +into a horrible and appalling laugh, fell back into the arms of +Wyanokee, and her mortal pains and sorrows were for ever ended. + +The long-disputed contest was now drawing to a close; the Indians fought +desperately, as long as there was a hope left of repulsing the troops +which rushed in at the breach, burning with ardour and roused to +indignation by their wanton cruelties; but the superior arms and skill +of the Colonists rendered the contest in a short time utterly desperate +on the part of the besieged. When farther resistance was put out of +their power, by the besiegers closing in upon them on every side, and +thus confining their exertions within a narrow space in the centre of +the fort, the stern warriors threw away their tomahawks and war-clubs, +and fell prostrate on their faces. It was a moving sight to behold these +hardy veterans of a hundred battles, gradually encompassed by a more +skilful and powerful enemy, until they were forced to surrender this +last foothold upon the land of their fathers. Their prostrate attitude +was by no means intended to express an abject petition for mercy; it was +the custom established by their people, and its impulse was utter +desperation. They neither desired nor expected quarter, but threw +themselves upon the earth, to signify their willingness to meet the +tortures of their enemies. When placed under the vigilance of the troops +appointed to guard them until dawn, they sat like statues, not a muscle +or feature expressing emotion of any kind. + +Bacon stood over the body of his late kind and unfortunate patroness, as +still and motionless as his own prisoners, contemplating the sad change +which a few short days had made upon her mild and benignant features, +until reminded by Dudley that he had other duties to perform. The latter +approached and informed him that the garrison had surrendered. He heeded +him not. He repeated his information, and touched the general upon the +shoulder. Bacon started wildly for an instant, but seeing who spoke, a +meaningless smile flitted across his features while he answered, "True, +true, Dudley, I will attend you in a moment;" and was about to relapse +into his former mood, but rousing himself, he issued orders for +pitching his own marquee, and then directed that the dead body of Mrs. +Fairfax should be borne thither and deposited under its shelter with all +due respect. Till now, Wyanokee had sat near the cold and lifeless form. +Not a tear was shed nor any other indication given that she had lost a +friend, esteemed by her one of the first of the earth. There was, +perhaps, just a perceptible expression of wildness and mystery in her +steady and abstracted gaze on vacancy, as if in thought she was +following the departed spirit to the verdant forests and blossoming +meadows of the happy hunting-ground beyond the sky. It is true that she +had been somewhat instructed in the doctrines of our religion, but he +has made little progress in the study of mankind who does not know that +the peculiar opinions--the forms of worship, whether of superstition or +religion, which have been infused into the mind in the tender years of +infancy, will ever after give a tinge to the views of the recipient. But +Wyanokee had by no means renounced the doctrines of her father's +worship, and however much her mind may have been worked upon while under +the influence of the whites, and of the imposing form and ceremonies of +the Established Church, since her abjuration of their friendship, she +had imperceptibly lapsed into most of her aboriginal notions. + +When the body of Mrs. Fairfax was laid out under the marquee of the +commander in chief, and a line of sentinels was established around its +limits, Wyanokee was the sole living tenant of the apartment. She sat +by the corpse, in precisely the same state which we have before +described. + +In a very short time from that in which Dudley announced the termination +of the conflict to his commanding officer, profound quietness reigned +over the fort and brow of the hill, so lately the scene of bloodshed and +strife, save where it was disturbed by the movements of those engaged in +burying the dead, and rescuing the wounded who lay suffering under the +weight of their dead comrades. + +Never had such a battle been fought in Virginia, either as regarded the +number of Indians engaged, the consequences depending on the result, or +the sanguinary nature of the conflict itself. It was the last struggle +for supremacy between the whites and the Indians in the Peninsula. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +General Bacon apprehending that the rising sun might disclose to view +the approaching columns of the army under Sir William Berkley, had +ordered the dismantled fort to be refitted in such a manner as to afford +some protection to his exhausted troops. The trees were again brought +round to their former position, and the limbs by which themselves had +gained entrance lopped off. The sun, however, rose above the horizon +without betraying any sign, either of the expected army, or of the +mounted scouts whom he had sent out just before the battle. This latter +circumstance gave him not a little uneasiness, as he could account for +their protracted absence in no other way than by supposing that they had +fallen into Sir William's hands. + +Most of the troops were yet indulging in repose, after the extraordinary +fatigues of the night, and were cheerfully indulged by their officers, +in the hope that they would rise with renewed ardour and courage for the +expected attack. + +At about ten o'clock in the morning, the troops having been roused from +their slumbers, and partaken of a hasty breakfast, the sentinel pacing +to and fro upon the top of the walls, announced the approach of the +expected foe. Bacon and his staff quickly mounted the breastwork to +examine the number and appointments of his confident enemy; but to his +great joy and relief, the approaching troops proved to be his own +missing scouts. He mounted his charger and galloped over the intervening +ground in order to learn the cause of their strange absence; so +impatient was he, not only on that score, but likewise to learn tidings +from his pursuers. He very soon met the advancing horsemen, who, upon +perceiving their general, halted in the road. The information +communicated by the commander of the party was not less surprising to +Bacon than was the account of the battle to the officer, who had been +absent from its dangers and its glories. The latter stated, that after +having ridden about twenty miles on the previous night, they suddenly +came upon the encampment of Sir William's army, but having discovered +their fires in sufficient time, had avoided their pickets. They scouted +round his camp for a considerable length of time, endeavouring to learn +something of his intended movements--the number of his soldiers, and +their disposition toward themselves, but found no means of gaining +information. At length they narrowly escaped being discovered and +intercepted by a foraging party, and having discovered that the troopers +composing it, had come last from the house of a planter, living not far +from the encampment, they resolved to present themselves before him, +candidly explain their business, and throw themselves upon his +patriotism for any information which he might possess. They did so, and +were fortunate enough to find that the planter was not only able, but +willing to give them important information, and was anxious for the +success of Bacon's expedition--his own son being engaged in it. The +amount of his information in few words, was, that Sir William Berkley +had that very evening received an express from Jamestown, urgently +summoning him back to the capital, with all his forces. That two +influential citizens residing in the counties south of Jamestown, by +name Walklate and Ingraham,[9] having heard of his expedition to cut off +the return of General Bacon and his army, had immediately raised a force +of horse and foot scarcely inferior to his own, and were marching upon +the capital. Nor was this all the unfavourable news communicated by the +express: it farther stated that the House of Burgesses, then in session, +(contrary to the promise of Sir William to dissolve it,) were engaged +upon some resolutions, very injurious to the reputation and farther +influence of the Governor, and that they had already approved of the +proceedings of General Bacon, and resolved to require the Governor to +sign his commission as commander in chief of the colonial forces, +besides having transmitted to the ministry at home, testimonials of his +patriotism, talents, and bravery. + +[Footnote 9: Historical.] + +The foraging party from the army of Sir William, had farther informed +the planter, that it was the intention of his excellency to break up his +camp by dawn of day, and return by forced marches, to the protection of +the capital. + +At this juncture, the Colony of Virginia presented the singular +spectacle of three distinct and independent armies, assembled at one +time. One at the falls, commanded by Bacon--another in the Peninsula, +commanded by Sir William Berkley, and the third in the south, commanded +by Generals Ingraham and Walklate. The first and last were nothing more +than disciplined assemblages of volunteers from among the people, while +that under the command of the Governor in person, was composed in part +of veteran regular troops, and partly of loyal subjects, called together +by the urgent appeals of him who had so long been the honoured organ of +his majesty's authority in the colony. + +When General Bacon returned to the camp, and had assembled his +associates in command, and communicated to them the foregoing +particulars, he also announced to them his intention of leaving the +temporary command of the army with his next in rank, and repairing in +person immediately to the capital. + +His views having met the approbation of the council of officers, the +sloop which had brought up the marine part of the expedition was +promptly put in readiness, and forty chosen men embarked for his +escort.[10] + +[Footnote 10: Historical.] + +His unfortunate valet and devoted adherent, Brian O'Reily, although much +enfeebled by long confinement and want of wholesome food, was, at his +own earnest request, added to the number. So urgent had been the various +claims upon the time of General Bacon, that he had not yet heard Brian's +account of his sufferings and privations. + +Before embarking he issued the strictest orders for the safety, comfort, +and protection of the numerous prisoners, and of Wyanokee in particular. +He directed that she should be conveyed in the same wagon, then +preparing for the purpose of transporting the remains of Mrs. Fairfax to +Jamestown. + +Before taking leave of his comrades in arms, he entered the marquee +containing the honoured remains. The sentinel was walking his solitary +rounds of monotonous duty, with solemn aspect. Strange that the +ceremonies attending the laying out and decently guarding this lifeless +body should more powerfully impress this sturdy soldier than all the +heaps of slain piled into one common grave during the night. + +Bacon entered the marquee alone. There sat the last daughter of the +kings of Chickahominy, in precisely the attitude in which he had seen +her five hours before. She was the sole mourner at the feet of her whom +in life she had most honoured. He was powerfully affected by the sight +of many little personal ornaments, not worn on the previous night, but +which had been collected by Wyanokee and placed conspicuously upon the +corpse. He was struck, too, with the delicate consideration of the +Indian maiden in these native observances in honour of the dead. +Conspicuous among the things valued by her friend while living, was a +small silver clasped pocket bible; it was spread open upon the neat +folds of her white garments, surrounded with a profusion of wild +flowers, such as he had often known her to transplant into her own +garden. + +But time pressed, and urgent circumstances called him to the capital; he +therefore lifted the covering (a white handkerchief) from her face, and +gazed for the last time upon those features impressed upon his heart and +memory from infancy. Almost involuntarily he drew from his doublet the +diminutive locket, reassured his heart by a momentary comparison of the +features--and then forced himself away and proceeded to the bank of the +river, where the sloop already spread her sails to the ready breeze. + +The prisoners taken at the battle of the Falls, or of the Bloody Run as +it was more frequently called, were placed in the centre of the army, +with the exception of Wyanokee, and the fort burnt to the ground, after +which the Colonial troops took up their line of march for the capital. +Toward this central point three separate armies were now advancing, +while the House of Burgesses were passing a series of resolutions in +which all three were deeply interested. A more important juncture in the +affairs of the Colony had never occurred, and the approach of the +various hostile parties toward the capital excited the deepest anxiety +in all the reflecting inhabitants of the city. + +The courier announcing the successful issue of Bacon's campaign against +the tribes of the Peninsula, which had so long disturbed the peace and +tranquillity of the planters, was received with general manifestations +of joy and expressions of gratitude to the youthful commander of the +expedition. + +By a resolution of the assembly, the State House was ordered to be +illuminated, and the inhabitants generally were requested to follow the +example. These, with other voluntary demonstrations of rejoicing on the +part of the citizens, were about to be carried into execution, when the +vanguard of Sir William Berkley's army, commanded by the sturdy old +knight in person, arrived at the gates of the bridge. When he was +informed of the cause of this unusual measure, and of the resolutions +which had been passed by the House of Burgesses, both in regard to +himself and his young rival in the popular favour, he burst into a most +ungovernable fit of rage--threw his sword into the river, and swore he +would embark for England the next morning. He was no sooner dissuaded +from the rash step, than he resolved upon an expedient equally +inconsiderate. It was nothing less than to march his army into the +streets of the city, and thence, with a chosen band of followers, +disperse the assembly at the point of the bayonet. It was with the +greatest difficulty, and after long efforts, that his more discreet +friends were enabled to dissuade him from this step likewise, nor even +then until they had compromised the affair, by agreeing that he should +issue a proclamation with the same view, and forthwith issue writs for a +new election. Accordingly, having marched his troops into the heart of +the city, and encamped them immediately round the State House and public +grounds, he carried his threats into execution. + +The dissolution of the assembly was immediately proclaimed, and writs +were issued for the election of their successors. To such a length had +Sir William Berkley carried his high-handed measures, from time to time, +since his reaccession to the vice-regal chair, that he imagined the +people would submit to any dictation emanating from so high a +functionary as himself--that it was only necessary to make his will and +pleasure known to the good citizens of Jamestown, at once to put an end +to all the demonstrations of joy by which his arrival was so unwelcomely +greeted. He was led into this error, partly by his own overweening +pride, and partly by the respect which so many years of unclouded +prosperity in the same station had naturally engendered in the people. +And doubtless they would have endured much, and did submit to many +oppressions, rather than resist the authority of one who had so long +held the reins of government. But the true secret of the change in the +character of that government, was in the erroneous views conceived by +the captious old knight, during the government of the commonwealth. He +had fallen with his first Royal master and risen with the second--and +thus had come into power the second time, with all the extravagant +notions of prerogative entertained by his transatlantic prototype, +without having derived any wholesome lessons of experience from the fate +of his first unfortunate master. + +The people heard the proclamation dissolving the assembly, with murmurs +indeed at the spirit and motive in which it originated, but without +feelings of opposition to the measure, because it was one which they had +themselves demanded before his departure. They therefore moodily +acquiesced, and even submitted to be bearded by the foreign mercenaries +in their streets and public walks, but when the Governor, emboldened by +this apparent tameness undertook to issue another document, proclaiming +Bacon, Dudley, Harrison, Walklate, Ingraham, and their followers, +rebels, the people could submit no longer. The muttered thunders of +popular discontent burst out into all the fury of a storm. His officers +were forcibly prevented from reading his proclamations in the streets, +and public places--a general meeting of the citizens voluntarily +assembled at the State House, surrounded as it was by his soldiers, and +there passed resolutions, condemning his recent conduct, in the most +unmeasured terms. They also appointed a large committee to wait on him +forthwith, and not only demand the suppression of the last proclamation, +but that he should sign the commissions, already prepared by the +assembly for the very persons so denounced. After making these demands +of the infatuated old man, they farther informed him that two expresses +were already mounted--one to be despatched to the army under Bacon, and +the other to that headed by Ingraham and Walklate, both of which were +probably within a short distance of the city. That besides these +preparations for any extreme measures to which he might think proper to +resort, the citizens generally were arming themselves, and even that +many members of the late House of Burgesses, which he had just +dissolved, were taking up arms, and held themselves in readiness to +assist in disarming and expelling the mercenaries under his command. Sir +William demanded two hours for deliberation and consultation with his +friends. These were soon assembled, and the committee withdrew to await +the expiration of the allotted time. + +Again the Governor was destined to be mortified. The officers assembled, +most of whom had been with him in his recent expedition, stated that +the popular spirit of revolt and insubordination, had spread among the +soldiery to such an extent that no dependence could be placed upon them +in case of a rupture with the citizens. In this emergency he was +compelled to listen to the admonitions of the friends, who advised that +he should endeavour to turn the popular current in his favour, by +signing the commissions, and withdrawing the offensive proclamations. To +this he was forced to accede, and accordingly when the committee of the +citizens returned he signed the commissions. Scarcely had he dismissed +them, however, before he began devising measures to counteract the very +purpose of his act. He ordered a representation to be immediately drawn +up for ministers, in which the now commissioned officers in question +were represented as traitors--directed the most resolute and +trust-worthy of his adherents to embark for Accomac, whither he resolved +to transfer the seat of Government until the citizens of the capital +should be taught that respect for his majesty's representative in which +they had shown themselves so deficient within the last few hours; and +commanded all the armed ships not engaged in transporting his own troops +across the bay,[11] (and there were many of them in the river,) to +cruise up the stream, in order to intercept the sloop conveying General +Bacon and his suite to the city, with strict orders to bring him dead or +alive to Accomac. Having issued these various orders, and seen them put +in a regular train of execution, he embarked the same night on board an +armed brigantine, with his own family and suite, not forgetting his +imprisoned and deeply injured niece. + +[Footnote 11: See Burke.] + +Meanwhile General Bacon was calmly reclining upon the deck of his little +sloop; it was the second night from his embarkation--the moon was +shining brightly in the heavens, and the stars sparkled brilliantly +through a hazy but not damp atmosphere, and not a breath of air filled +the white sails as they flapped idly against the mast. The vessel was +drifting slowly toward her place of destination it is true, but not with +a velocity in accordance with the ardent desires of the passengers. +Every soul on board had retired to rest except himself, Brian O'Reily, +and that part of the crew to which belonged the duty of the watch. It +was the same night the reader will remember, on which Sir William +Berkley arrived at, and afterward so suddenly departed, from the +capital. + +Brian O'Reily was for the first time explaining to his master the manner +in which he came into the hands of the Indians. Bacon had readily +surmised the whole process, but knowing that O'Reily must be indulged +with the relation at one time or another, and being unable to sleep in +his present excited state of mind, he had given the impulse to Brian's +garrulity, not inadvertently, however, by the simple question, + +"So Brian, you were in pursuit of me when the Powhatans made you a +prisoner?" + +"Ay, by St. Stephen the martyr, and the twelve Apostles, barrin one iv +them that was a thraitor, I was near bein a martyr myself, only the +bloody nagres had a notion to fatten me, and that's the rason they kept +me tied on me back all the while, jist as I used to fix the misthress's +blind calf, the saints bless her soul." + +"Fatten you, Brian, for what?" + +"To ate me, to be sure!" + +"Pshaw, O'Reily, they are not cannibals." + +"Oh the divil burn my eyes, but I saw thim roastin babies by the fire, +and ating them like pathriges, widout so much as salt to season them!" + +"You just now told me you were tied in a dark hole, and fed on parched +corn, all the time you were a prisoner." + +"Divil a word iv a lie's in that, any way, your honour, and sure enough +I didn't jist see thim kooking the young ones, but didn't I smell thim +roastin? Sure and Brian O'Reily wouldn't be after being decaived in the +smell of a pig for a sucking baby. Didn't the divil tempt me wid that +same smell any way? may be he didn't? Wasn't I starvin myself upon short +allowance iv their murtherin popped corn, and didn't the bloody nagers +roast a baby jist whin me unconscionable bowels came up into my throat +every day, begging for muttin and turnips? and didn't they want to +fatten me like the misthress's blind calf--me bowels I mane? and didn't +I put thim aff wid a half score o' parched corns? Oh! if they had only +been stilled into whiskey, may be it wouldn't iv cured the smotherin I +had about the heart." + +"I suppose, Brian, you were never sober for such a length of time +together in your life before." + +"Oh! be our Lady you may say that--there was jist nothing to ate, and +the same to dhrink, barrin the parched corn, and the babies, and may be, +an oldher sinner for Sundays, by way of a feast." + +"You travelled on foot, I suppose, from place to place, until they +concentrated at the falls!" + +"Divil a foot iv mine touched the ghround, since they pulled me off my +horse at yon town of theirs over the river. I rode on a horse ivery foot +iv the way, your haner, and had one iv the nagers to attind me; may be +he didn't ride behint me on the same baste, and put his arms around me +like a butcher taking a fat wether to the shambles." + +"You were in right good case too, when you fell into the hands of this +singular butcher, that deals in human flesh, according to your account?" + +"Ay was I, but I lost it asier than I got it--by the five crasses, but +the sweat run down to me shoes every time I looked round at the painted +divil sittin on the same baste wid me--his nose ornamented wid a lead +ring like a wild steer. Sure I thought the ghreat inimy was flyin away +wid me, before I was dacently buried." + +"What did he say to you, Brian?" + +"Say to me, your haner! By the holy father, but he addressed none iv his +discourse to me. Maybe he was talkin to the divil that was in him as big +as a sheep--didn't he grunt it all away down in his pipes like a pig in +a passion? Or may be he was talkin to the horse, for he grunted too, and +one iv thim jist discoursed as well as the t'other, to my mind." + +"Could you not tell upon what subject he spoke, from his gestures or +signs.--Did he not point to Jamestown frequently?" + +"Not he--he pointed to the colour iv me hair, more belikes, and when +they gat to yon place where your haner put so many iv thim to slape, +they all gathered round me to see it. They had their own crowns painted +the same colour, and they wonthered at the beauty iv mine, and faith, +that was the most rasonable thing I saw among thim, barrin that they +brought me the paint-pot, and wanted me to figure off one iv their +beautiful gourds like Brian O'Reily's. I towld thim it was a thing out +iv all rason, and pulled out some iv the hair to show thim, and divil +burn the bloody thaives, but they cut it all aff jist for keepsakes +among thim." + +"They left you a top-knot, I see, however." + +Before O'Reily could make a reply, the sailor on the watch cried out +that there was a large ship bearing down upon them. Bacon sprung upon +his feet, ordered Brian to alarm the soldiers, and walked hastily +forward. At the first glance, he saw a crowd of warlike heads, and +caught the reflection of the light upon their arms. A second look at the +strange movements of the vessel, and the hostile preparations of those +on board served to convince him that he was himself the object of their +pursuit. Taking two of the first soldiers who made their appearance on +deck, he silently entered the boat swinging from the tafferel of the +sloop, motioned the two soldiers to follow him, and then ordered the +boat to be let down with all silence and despatch. O'Reily seeing these +preparations as he came on deck from the performance of his orders, +sprung into the boat as one end struck the water; it was too late, and +the circumstances too urgent for his master to order him back--the frail +bark was pushed off, therefore, with muffled oars, and as much within +the shadow of the approaching vessels as their destined course would +permit. Scarcely were they without the protection of these, before they +discovered the yawl of the ship full of armed men, rapidly gliding into +the water, and in the next moment, they heard musket balls whistling +over their heads, accompanied by the momentary gleam and then the quick +report of fire-arms. Seizing an oar himself, and ordering Brian to +follow his example, they pulled with all their strength for the shore; +this once gained, he hoped that the protection of the forest and the +increasing haziness of the atmosphere settling upon the high banks of +the river, would effectually protect his retreat. But in spite of their +utmost efforts, the superior power with which the yawl was propelled +through the water was rapidly shortening the distance between them. +Brian threw off his jerkin, and strenuously exhorted his master to trust +himself to the mercy of the waves, though he knew not the nature of the +threatened danger. On this point, Bacon himself could only conjecture, +that it was some device of his old enemy to get him secretly into his +power, and hence his anxiety to reach Jamestown at the present juncture. +He knew nothing of the change which had taken place at the capital in +his favour, but he knew his own power over the populace, and he +preferred being made prisoner in public, to trusting himself to the +tender mercies of Sir William Berkley. In spite of all his exertions, +and the hopes of reward held out to the soldiers in case of success, +their boat was cut off from the shore by the pursuers interposing +between it and themselves. He saw that resistance would be madness, as +the boat now wheeling exactly in front of them contained five times +their number, and would doubtless, in case of a struggle, be promptly +sustained by assistance from the ship, which was now nearer to them than +their own vessel. His only course, therefore, was to submit with as much +philosophy as he could muster. He was deeply mortified and chagrined +however, for his presence seemed to him to be most urgently called for +at the capital. These views were founded upon the information he had +received, now two days old. Could he have known what had taken place at +Jamestown only a few hours before, and only a few miles distant from his +present position; could he have known that Sir William Berkley was at +that very moment an adventurer upon the same waters, but a few miles +below, and driven thence by the firmness of the patriotic citizens who +belonged to his own party, he would doubtless have made a desperate +resistance. Perhaps it was more fortunate for all parties that he was +thus ignorant of existing circumstances at the capital, for had he +fallen at this juncture, (which was most probable) the fate of the +Republican party in the infant state might have been very different. + +He and his party soon found themselves on board of the hostile ship, +which was commanded by Capt. Gardiner, an Englishman--a devoted loyalist +and adherent of Sir William Berkley. He was politely received by that +officer, but informed that he must consider himself a prisoner until he +could exculpate himself before the Governor in person, at Accomac. Until +this moment Bacon had been partially reconciled to his mishap, trusting +to his known popularity among the people of the city, which he knew +would not be diminished by the eclat of his Indian victories; but now +that he was informed of the present residence of the Governor, and the +destination of the ship, his hopes were totally prostrated. He began to +suspect that something was wrong with Sir William at Jamestown, from +his present singular location, and was not a little uneasy at the secret +and unusual measures he had taken to get him into his power. He knew the +turbulent and impetuous temperament of the old knight, and how little he +was given to consult right and humanity in too many of his summary +measures of what he chose to call justice, to think that he would +hesitate one moment to summon a court-martial of his own partizans--try, +condemn, and execute him and his three unfortunate followers, if not the +more numerous body, now also prisoners, in the sloop. As he stood upon +deck in the midst of his guard, weighing these various aspects of his +position, the ship was silently gliding within view of the lights from +the city. He observed that the captain steered his course as far from +the island as the channel of the river would permit, which confirmed his +previous suspicions as to the state of popular feeling in the capital, +and increased his uneasiness as to the secret designs of the Governor +upon himself. From Captain Gardiner he could gain no satisfactory +information--he merely replied to Bacon's demand for his authority, that +Governor Berkley had commanded him to bring him (Bacon) to Accomac, and +to deliver him dead or alive into his hands. + +When it was too late, Bacon saw the rashness of the councils which had +induced him to abandon his army, and trust himself among the numerous +ships floating in the river, the commanders of which were known +adherents of his enemies. + +The reflections of our hero, as he paced the quarter deck toward +morning, were bitter in the extreme. He saw all the bright hopes of his +reviving spirits vanish like a dream, as the vessel now just emerging +from the waters of the Powhatan, and propelled by a fresh morning breeze +from the land, was plunging with every swell of the buoyant waves into +the waters of the Chesapeake, and receding farther and farther at every +plunge from the objects of his highest and dearest aspirations. + +That portion of the magnificent bay into which they were now entering +immediately ahead, was expanded and lost to the eye on the limitless +waves of the ocean. On the starboard tack, like a black cloud joining +the sea and the sky together, lay Cape Henry, and on the larboard, still +more faintly pencilled against the horizon, lay Cape Charles. Between +the two, the white bordered waves of the Atlantic rolled their swelling +volumes into the Chesapeake. + +The faint yellow tinge of dawn could just be discerned, like a moving +shadow, now upon the waves and then upon the hazy clouds, dipping into +their bosom, while hundreds of aquatic birds, interposed like a black +cloud at intervals to intercept the view in the distance, or more +suddenly flapped their wings from under the very prow of the vessel as +they swooped along the surface of the stream and dipped the points of +their wings like a flash of light into the sparkling waters. + +A steady breeze was blowing from off the land, and the white sails of +the ship swelled proudly and the tapering spars bent under its +influence, as she ploughed up the waves foaming and falling in divided +masses before her prow. On any other occasion than the present, Bacon +would have enjoyed the prospect on this grandest of all inland seas, but +now his mind was oppressed with gloomy doubts and forebodings. Every +plunge of the vessel was bearing him more within the grasp of his +relentless foe. But the mishap of his own personal adventure, every way +unfortunate as it was both for himself and the cause in which he had +engaged, was not that which weighed most oppressively upon his mind. +Ever since the discovery of the miniature contained in the locket, he +had been gradually giving way to his reviving hopes, and building upon +that slender assurance bright and glorious superstructures of +imagination. He had endured and lived, and fought and conquered with +that hope, as the polar star to his otherwise dark and dreary course. +Now again his destinies were almost wrecked by a storm from a quarter in +which he had scarcely cast his eyes. How could he imagine that Sir +William Berkley would be driven from the capital, by the stern and +independent resistance of the unarmed citizens? How could he know that +being thus driven from it he would yet retain a sufficient naval force +to capture him and his escort upon the very eve of his triumphal entry +into the city? These were the reflections which made him look with a +feeling of dark misanthropy upon the glorious beauties of the +Chesapeake. His ambition, his pride, and his conscience were satisfied; +but his love for a bride, already once led to the very steps of the +altar, was again thwarted upon the eve of what he had supposed and hoped +would prove the final and happy fulfilment of his most ardent hopes. His +feelings toward the devoted and interesting maiden, who had perilled and +suffered so much on his account, were enthusiastic in the highest +degree. She stood toward him not only in the relation of his betrothed, +but his wedded bride; and the more endearing and captivating she became +to him as he contemplated her in these relations, the more he cursed in +his heart the hard-hearted and perverse old man who had been the cause +of all his troubles. + +Every chance of escape was intensely examined; not a word was suffered +to fall unheeded from Captain Gardiner and his subordinates. He noted +carefully the distribution of the prisoners in the vessel in which he +was himself confined, as well as of those in the sloop following in +their wake. He took careful observations of the most prominent objects +on their route--the state of the tide in the river which they had just +left. He examined the boats--how they were secured--the equipments and +appearance of the crew on board, and resolved if he must fall in the +midst of his reviving hopes, to die as became the conqueror of Bloody +Run and the lover of Virginia Fairfax. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Amid all his misfortunes and gloomy anticipations, Bacon discovered one +bright spot in his horizon. He had inquired of Captain Gardiner whether +Mr. Beverly had accompanied the Governor to Accomac, and was answered in +the affirmative. This was the source of rejoicing, because he believed +that Virginia was yet in Jamestown. Harriet Harrison's letter had been +perused over and over again, during the first part of the voyage, and +was one cause of that restless anxiety to escape which we have attempted +to describe. + +He chafed the more as his imagination pictured his rival leading, or +rather forcing Virginia to the altar, while he was thus ignobly +detained. But now having satisfied himself that Beverly was not left +behind, his mind was comparatively at ease on that score. Nevertheless +his desire to escape was not diminished; the state of parties might +change in the capital--Beverly might return and perpetrate his design +while he was yet in confinement. That Sir William Berkley intended more +than to keep him in temporary duress, he could not now in his cooler +moments believe--his repinings were caused by the interruption to his +own cherished schemes and ardent desires. He had hoped before this +time, to be in Jamestown--a conqueror--the accepted lover of Virginia +Fairfax, and to satisfy the Recluse himself, that he was deceived as to +his birth and parentage. That there was some mysterious knowledge of +Mrs. Fairfax's history possessed by that strange man, he doubted not; +but he doubted as little that it had led to error with regard to +himself. + +The dark shadows of night had already closed over the broad expanse of +waters on whose bosom our hero was thus far borne without chance of +escape. He could discern numerous lights flitting along the +circumscribed horizon, which he supposed to be upon the shores of +Accomac, from the dark curtain which skirted along as far as the eye +could reach, between the sky and the water. He was not left long in +doubt upon this point, for the sailors were busily engaged furling the +broad sheets of canvass and heaving over the anchor. In a few moments a +bright flash illuminated the darkness around, followed by the booming +sound of a piece of ordnance let off from the ship. This was answered by +another from the shore, and Bacon perceived the lights which had before +attracted his attention, moving, as he supposed, toward the boat +landing, there being no facilities for running the ship close in upon +the land. These he could perceive now rising and falling with the +swelling and receding waves, and very soon faintly distinguished voices +in confused murmurs as they were borne along the water, and lost amidst +the roar of the waves lashing against the sides of the vessel, and the +confused noise and merriment of the ship's crew. + +Captain Gardiner took up his trumpet and hailed the approaching boat, +after which a dead silence ensued on board, all hands listening intently +for the expected answer. Hoarse and confused sounds came sweeping on the +wind, as if the person answering spoke through his hand instead of a +trumpet, but no distinct words could be made out. Again the captain +hailed, "boat ahoy," and again with the like result. The wind was +unfavourable for the transmission of sound, and he gave up the attempt. +He had scarcely left the deck, however, before the boat came riding by +on the buoyant waves, both parties having been deceived as to the +distance, by their inability to intercommunicate. The Captain ran +eagerly upon deck, and inquired of those in the boat, whether the +Governor had arrived? The answer was in the affirmative. Bacon now +understood the anxiety of Captain Gardiner to communicate with the +shore. He learned too, from the dialogue going on, that the Governor and +himself were probably crossing the bay at the same time. + +When it was announced to the boat's crew that the rebel chief, Bacon, +was a prisoner on board, a loud huzza burst simultaneously from twenty +voices, among which Bacon distinctly recognised those of Ludwell and +Beverly. Bitter indeed were his unavailing regrets that he had left his +army, and thus fallen a prey to his most violent enemies. He now +remembered, with not less regret, that he had strictly enjoined upon his +temporary successor, not to march into Jamestown until he should rejoin +the troops. This he saw would effectually prevent his present situation +from becoming known to his friends, until, possibly it would be too late +to render him any assistance. + +The boat very soon returned in order to ascertain the Governor's +pleasure with regard to his prisoner, and Bacon waited with the most +intense anxiety for their return. His unavailing regrets were rapidly +forgotten in a fierce and burning desire to be confronted with his +enemies, alone and unsupported as he was. His noble mind could scarcely +conceive of that malignity which could trample upon a solitary and +defenceless individual, placed by accident in the hands of numerous +personal enemies. He had yet to learn a bitter lesson in the study of +human nature. His own impulses were all high and generous, and he +naturally looked even upon his foes as to some extent capable of the +like magnanimity. He imagined that Sir William Berkley, Ludwell, and +Beverly would feel and acknowledge his indignant appeals to their honour +and chivalry. How these youthful and sanguine expectations were realized +will be seen in the sequel. The boat soon returned with orders from Sir +William Berkley to detain the prisoner on board during the night, and +to send him ashore as soon in the morning as it should be announced by a +shot from a piece of ordnance, that the court had assembled. That he was +to be tried by a court-martial had barely entered his imagination. + +At dawn of day a gun from the shore announced the assembling of the +court, and Bacon was brought upon deck by the orders of the Captain. He +perceived that the ship's boat was already in the water, supported on +each side by larger ones from the shore, filled with armed soldiers. +However much he may have been surprised by these prudential +preparations, he was still more surprised, and more fully began to +realize his situation, when he perceived a man standing ready to secure +his hands in irons. At first sight of this contemplated indignity, he +shrank back instinctively with something of the natural feelings of +youth, but the impression was only momentary; he shook it off and walked +firmly to the smith, near whom stood Captain Gardiner, and a guard to do +his bidding in case of necessity. As the youthful Chieftain approached, +the hardy veteran of the seas was evidently embarrassed. He was +reluctant to offer such a needless affront to one of so bold and manly a +bearing. An indistinct apology was commenced, of which the only parts +that Bacon distinguished or cared to learn was, that the precaution was +taken by the orders of Sir William Berkley. "I doubt it not--I doubt it +not, sir," he replied; "Do your duty--I am in his power for the +present, and must submit with the best grace I can; but a day of +retribution is coming; and even should I be basely murdered upon these +distant shores, as seems not unlikely from these preparations, and the +tribunal of which I hear they are the precursors, my death will not go +unavenged." + +His hands were soon confined within the iron bands, connected by chains +some two feet in length, and then, with the assistance of the Captain +and crew, he was let down into the boat. He was not long in discovering +that the military escort in the two outer boats was commanded by Mr. +Philip Ludwell. No sign of recognition took place between them, +notwithstanding they had moved in the same circles at the Capital before +the interruption of the civil war. Bacon was too much of a soldier +himself, and too well versed in the duties of a subordinate to throw any +of the blame of his present condition upon his quondam acquaintance, and +would readily have exchanged the courtesies due from one gentleman to +another, had he not perceived a suppressed smile of triumph upon the +countenance of Ludwell as he entered the boat. Whether the latter viewed +him as rebel or patriot he felt indignant at his ungentlemanly conduct, +and folding his chained arms upon his manly chest, took no farther +notice of its author. + +As they approached the shore, and the mists of early morning began to +break away before the rising sun, Bacon recognised many landmarks which +had not altogether been unknown to him in happier days. The house at +which Sir William Berkley now exercised his vice-regal functions, +surrounded by such of the Cavaliers as still adhered to his fortunes, +became also visible. This Bacon recognised as the property of the +officer in command of the guard surrounding his own person. The shore +was covered with tents, marquees and soldiers, the latter being the +English mercenaries, and marshalled for his reception in imposing array. +Two lines were formed from the landing to the house, between which he +was now marched in the centre of his guard. + +When they arrived within the hall he found the martial tribunal ready +assembled for his trial. A long table was placed in the centre of the +room, upon which lay swords, caps, and feathers. At the farther end from +the entrance sat Sir William Berkley, as president of the court, and on +either side some eight or ten of his officers, all clad in the military +costume of the day. Their gay doublets had been exchanged for buff +coats, surmounted by the gorget alone, for the vambraces, with their +concomitants, had been abandoned during the commonwealth. Some of the +cavalry and pikemen, indeed, still wore head and back pieces, in the +king's army,[12] but the Virginian officers were generally dressed at +that time as we have described them. + +[Footnote 12: See statutes 13 and 14th Charles the 2d.] + +Among the number of officers now confronting the prisoner, sat Francis +Beverly. He seemed perfectly calm and collected, and not in the least +aware that there was any impropriety in his sitting in judgment upon the +prisoner standing at the foot of the table. + +Bacon drew himself up to his utmost height, as he again folded his arms +and ran his indignant eye over his accusers and judges; as it rested in +its course upon Beverly, a fierce indignation lighted up its clear hazel +outlines, but it was only for an instant--his glance wandered on over +the other members of the court, while his lip curled in a settled +expression of scorn and contempt. The old Cavalier at the head of the +board rose in visible agitation--his eyes flashed fire and his hands +trembled as he took the paper from the scribe and read the charge +against the prisoner. + +The merest form of an impartial trial was indecently hastened through. +Witnesses were not wanting indeed, and those too, who could testify to +every thing the Governor desired, but no time had been allowed the +prisoner to procure testimony in his own behalf, or prepare his defence. + +The times were perhaps somewhat out of joint; but the state of the +colony was by no means such as to require that a prominent citizen, +standing high in the affection of his countrymen, should be deprived of +those inestimable privileges secured by the laws of England, to every +one under accusation of high crimes and misdemeanors; and these laws +had been adopted and were in full force in the infant state. At the very +outset of the trial, Gen. Bacon objected to the military character of +the court, as well as to the indecent haste and the retired nature of +the place in which it was held. He contended that his crime, if crime he +had committed, was a civil offence, and ought to be tried by the civil +tribunals of the country. All these weighty objections were answered by +a waive of the president's hand, and the trial proceeded to its +previously well known conclusion, without farther interruption. + +Before the final vote was taken upon the question whether the prisoner +was guilty of high treason or not, he was ordered to be removed from the +court-room for a few moments, in order that their deliberations might be +uninterrupted. As the guard marched the prisoner through the house into +the back court of the establishment, his step still proud and his +carriage elevated with the sense of conscious rectitude, he was at once +brought to a stand by the sight of a spectacle which sent the blood, +chilled with horror, back to his heart. This was a gibbet or gallows, +erected in the very court to which they were conducting him, and upon it +hung two of his own soldiers![13] All evidence of vitality had long +since departed, and their bodies swung round and round, under the +impulse of the morning breeze, in horrible monotony. Bacon's first +sensation was one of unmixed horror, but this was succeeded by +indignation; not a thought for his own safety occurred to his mind while +under the first impressions of the fearful spectacle. But as fierce +indignation stirred up his torpid energies to thoughts of revenge, the +means began to present themselves, and then it was that he shook the +iron fetters which bound him, in savage and morose despair. Perhaps a +chill from some more personal feeling ran through his veins, when he +reflected how short had been the passage of his two humble followers +from the sloop which had borne them across the bay on the preceding +night, to eternity. They had evidently suffered some hours +previous--perhaps during the night. They were the two subaltern +officers--selected by himself for his expedition down the river, and +chosen for their desperate bravery at the battle of Bloody Run. And now +to see their manly proportions ignominiously exposed upon a gibbet, +after having been most inhumanly murdered, was more than he could calmly +bear. Bitter and unavailing were his reflections as he stood a spectator +of this outrage, while his own life hung suspended by a hair. + +[Footnote 13: See Sanguinary executions of Bacon's followers--without +the legal forms of trial, in the Histories of the times.] + +He was not left long a spectator of this cruel scene; the guard was +ordered to present the prisoner again before the court to receive +sentence. + +When Bacon stood once more at the foot of the table, surrounded by his +unrelenting enemies, his countenance evinced a total change. When first +he stood in the same place, he had not fully realized his situation; he +was stupified with overwatching and fatigue. The young are always slow +to apprehend the darker shadows in their own prospective, and +instinctively cling to the brighter aspect of events and circumstances, +until some sudden calamity or unexpected reverse in their own immediate +career, opens their eyes to the stern reality. When such a change is +brought immediately before the senses, then indeed the dreadful truth +speaks direct to the apprehension. Few criminals at the moment of +receiving sentence of death, realize more than a horrid and oppressive +sense of present calamity--all hope has not yet entirely forsaken them. +But could they see upon the spot a fellow criminal undergoing the last +penalty of the law, they would at once realize the truth in all its +terrors. + +The sight of his unfortunate followers had thus opened the eyes of the +youthful general, to the desperate character of his enemies, and the +awful fate which immediately awaited him, but it was not fear which now +revived his stupified powers to action. His look was bold and daring, +while a preternatural brilliancy shot from his proud eye, as the +president of the court, with an assumed calmness, pronounced upon him +the sentence of death. As the last fatal word fell from the lips of the +stern old knight, the prisoner's countenance was rigid, cold and +death-like for an instant, as he struggled to master his rebellious and +scornful feelings into such a state of discipline as would enable him +to express the little he had to say, with clearness and precision. + +Although the usual question, "if he had any thing to say why sentence of +death should not be pronounced against him," was not asked, he stepped +boldly up to the end of the board, and notwithstanding the magisterial +waive of the president's hand for silence, and a simultaneous order to +the officer of the guard to remove him--gave utterance to his feelings +in these words, and with a manner powerfully subdued, yet energetic; his +voice issuing from between his rigidly set teeth like that of one under +the influence of reckless desperation. + +"If it may so please the president, and gentlemen of the court-martial, +I will not tamely and silently submit myself to be butchered in cold +blood, without raising my voice and protesting against the jurisdiction +of the court--the time--the place--the manner of the trial--the persons +who compose the court, and especially him who presides over your +deliberations. + +"Was it treason I committed, when I boldly and openly marched from +Jamestown to Orapacks, at the head of the brave men who drove before +them the savages by whom the dwellings of the Colony had been burned, +and its women and children murdered? Did not the house of burgesses +request the Governor to sign the commission, which the people had +unanimously put into my hands? Did he not pledge his knightly word that +the commissions should be ratified? Under the authority of that +commission and that promise, have I not driven the enemies of civilized +man before me, as I marched through the Peninsula? Have I not done what +has never before been done? cut out a broad line of separation between +the habitations of the white man and the savage? Have I not avenged the +murders committed on the night of the massacre? Have I not avenged +injuries committed against more than one member of this very court, by +the bloody confederation? Have I not, with these hands, rescued the +sister-in-law of the president of this very tribunal from the murderous +tomahawk of the savages? True, it was only to die--but it was worthy of +all my poor exertions to rescue her body from their unhallowed hands, +that it might rest in consecrated ground. Have I not annihilated the +confederation itself, cut to pieces the assembled tribes--rescued the +prisoners, razed to the ground the fortifications at the falls, and made +prisoners of the brave remnant of those misguided nations who erected +it? If this be treason, then indeed am I a traitor! + +"Why is it that this great and glorious country, opened to the oppressed +and crowded nations of the old world by a kind and beneficent +Providence, must so often become the theatre of struggles for personal +aggrandizement and power? Why is it that our arms must be turned against +ourselves in fratricidal conflict, when so many enemies have been +swarming upon our frontiers, and devastating our settlements? Must the +great and evident designs of the Creator be thus constantly retarded? +the great destinies of this vast land obscured in the dawn, by the petty +struggles of contending chieftains? Who can tell how far to the mighty +west the tide of civilization and emigration would have rolled their +swelling waves, but for the scenes of personal rivalry and contention +like the present, which have disgraced our annals? + +"The rosy tints of the morning dawn of destiny have scarcely risen in +the east of this mighty continent--the boldest and the wildest +imagination cannot soar into futurity, and predict its noon-day glories, +or count up the tides and floods of human beings, that shall be wafted +to these shores, and thence roll in successive waves, to the dark and as +yet unknown west. + +"I have been but an humble instrument in the hands of the Great Mover of +these mighty currents, and for this ye seek my life. But death to this +frail body cannot arrest the great movement, in which I have been an +actor. I have indeed been the first to point out the importance of +drawing a broad line of separation between the European and the native, +the first to show the necessity of rolling to the west the savage +hordes, as the swelling numbers of our own countrymen increase upon our +hands. Future emigration must advance westward in a semicircular +wave--like a kindred billow of the watery ocean, sweeping all +obstruction before it. + +"If the natives flee before this rolling tide, and survive its +destructive progress, well and happy will it be for them; but if they +attempt to buffet the storm, ruin hangs upon their tardy footsteps. I +confess that I have been the first to maintain the impossibility of the +two species living together in peace, and to execute the primitive and +opening step in this great revolution of nations. If this be treason, +then am I a traitor. But if I fall, think not that the great movement +shall fall with me. The Great Ruler of the universe has opened these +fertile hills and dales to his oppressed creatures; and he has likewise +pointed out the necessity of driving back them who make no use of these +blessings, and who rise not from their idolatry and ignorance to a state +fitted to render glory to their Creator. The tide will move on to the +westward, in spite of such tribunals as this. If I am to die here in +this insulated neck of land, by the hands of those who are themselves +prisoners, so be it--I shall die contented in the knowledge that I have +not lived in vain, and that future generations will rescue from oblivion +the name of him who first opened an avenue to the mighty and unknown +west, and however illegally my life may be taken, I will show you that I +can die as becomes a soldier and a Cavalier. One request I would fain +make, even of them whose actions I abhor and despise; it is this; as +you have tried and condemned me by a military tribunal, that you inflict +upon me the death of a soldier. This is a request which I would alike +make to a heathen or an infidel." + +"Take him immediately to the gallows," shouted Sir William Berkley. + +The officer of the guard approached with his myrmidons, and laid hold of +the prisoner, in accordance with the mandate of the Governor; but three +or four members of the court rose at once, and expressed their +willingness to allow the prisoner until the succeeding day to prepare +for execution. + +"Away with him, away with him," again vociferated the president, at the +same time, menacing the official who stood holding the prisoner, +doubtful how to act, and apparently willing to listen to the more +merciful suggestion. By this time the whole court was in confusion and +uproar; every member was upon his feet, together with the president, +each one endeavouring to be heard. A large majority of the members were +for the longest time, and these now demanded of the Governor to submit +the question to the court; but the old knight, having probably +discovered that Ludwell and Beverly were his only supporters, +clamorously persisted in ordering the prisoner to instant execution. + +Bacon himself, during this time, at first stood with his arms folded and +a bitter smile of contempt playing upon his features, until the turmoil +growing louder and more protracted, he too attempted to obtain a +hearing. "It is perfectly indifferent to me," said he, "whether I am +murdered to-morrow, or at the next moment; let the hour come when it +may, my blood be upon your skirts!" + +His manly bearing served to reanimate those who contended for delay, and +the strife continued to grow more noisy and turbulent, until, as if by +magic, a side door of the apartment opened, and a new actor appeared +upon the scene. The court was instantaneously hushed to silence, and Sir +William Berkley stood as if he beheld an apparition, while Bacon bounded +forward and clasped Virginia, who rushed into his outstretched (but +fettered) arms. + +When she first gently pushed open the door, not one of the court or of +the attendants perceived her. She was clad in the loose folds of the +sick chamber--her blond curls fell in unheeded ringlets over her brow, +temples and shoulders--her face was pale as monumental marble, and her +frame weak and trembling, while a preternatural excitement of the moment +shot from her eyes, as she gazed through the partly opened door, to +ascertain if her ears had not deceived her. + +Not a word was uttered louder than a deep impassioned whisper, until +Virginia perceived the chains upon his hands, when seizing the iron by +the middle she stepped forward and boldly elevating her head, addressed +Sir William--"Whence these chains, sir?--tell me quickly; tell me that +they have not been put on by your orders--before I curse the hour that +united my destiny in any manner with yours!" + +"Not only were they imposed by my orders, but they were so put on in +preparation for a ceremony which shall alike cure you of your vagaries +and release me from his hated presence for ever! Guard, lead her to her +chamber, and the prisoner to execution!" + +Scarcely had the words died upon his lips, ere she sprang from the grasp +of the officer, and locked her hands around the neck of her lover, +exclaiming, "Now you may shoot him through me--no ball enters his body +but through mine. You may hack off my arms with your swords, but until +then I will never leave him!" + +The Governor and Beverly now came forward, and each of them seizing a +hand, they tore her from his embrace, in the midst of a wild hysterical +laugh, not however before Bacon had imprinted a kiss upon her pale +forehead, and uttered a brief and agonizing farewell. He then seated +himself upon a chair, and covering his face with his hands, gave himself +up to emotions which had not before been awakened during his trial. + +As they were leading Virginia from the room, she suddenly recovered her +composure, sprang from their grasp, and placing herself against the +wall, between two of the officers of the court, who were still standing, +clung to their arms while she thus addressed Frank Beverly--"And this is +the method you have taken to win your way to my favour--this is the +plan you have devised to rid yourself of a rival. And you too, his +deadly enemy--to sit in judgment upon him, and mock justice by the +cowardly device. Out upon you, sir, for a craven-hearted dastard. Is +this the way you were to meet and conquer him in battle? Where are your +trophies for my bridal turban, taken from the standards of his +followers? You take trophies from Bacon in battle! One glance of his +manly eye would drive the blood chilled to your craven heart, and wither +the muscles of your coward arm." + +Again she was seized, and dragged from the court-room by the Governor +and Beverly. In a few moments the president returned, and found the +court proceeding in his absence deliberately to take the question on +granting the prisoner until the succeeding day to prepare for death, and +allowing him the attendance of a clergyman. Sir William was fearful +perhaps, that by resisting the will of the majority, he should defeat +his purpose, and therefore acquiesced in what he could not prevent, with +more amenity than might have been expected from his previous violence. + +The prisoner had not so suddenly regained his equanimity; he was indeed +making strenuous exertions to that end, but now and then a piercing +scream from the upper chambers of the mansion thrilled through his +nerves, and more than once he suddenly sprang to his feet, and made an +attempt to rush past his vigilant keepers, but was as quickly reminded +of his helplessness by the jarring sound of his fetters, and the ready +grasp of the officials. After several such attempts, he at length folded +his arms, and gave himself up to bitter reflections--a wretched smile +flashing athwart his countenance indicating the violence of the internal +struggle and the cruel pangs that rent his bosom. + +The majority of the court having triumphed in the first matter, the +question was again raised as to the manner of his death, and Bacon's +countenance was actually lit up by a smile when he heard the decision of +the court in favour of his own request, that he might die the death of a +soldier. The guard were at the moment leading him from the court room to +his prison house, and his step became more firm and elastic, and he +could now look upon the wretched spectacle in the court, without the +same degree of horror which he had before evinced. + +When he had marched several paces in his progress round the mansion, he +halted suddenly and wheeled round to survey the dormer windows peering +through the roof, as was the fashion with the long low houses of the +time. His eye rested from its piercing and steady gaze, in sadness and +disappointment, and he threw down his chained hands with a violent +motion, as he resumed his march between the soldiers. They conducted him +to the door of a cellar at the end of the house, which was secured with +double defences; in the next moment he was rudely thrust into a damp +cellar, without a ray of light, and the door was closed and securely +bolted. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Bacon heard the rusty bolt shoot into its socket, and then the hasping +and locking of the outside door, with a sensation of utter hopelessness. +He wandered through the dark precincts of his prison, stumbling now over +an old barrel, and anon against a meat block, until he came to some dry +bundles of fodder, which seemed to have been spread out in one corner to +answer the purpose of a bed. Before throwing himself upon this rude +couch, he resolved to examine the structure of his cell. By passing his +hands along the walls, he found that they were built of brick, well +cemented by a long process of time--that the summit upon which the +basement beams of the frame rested, were entirely out of his reach, and +that in the present confined state of his hands, it would be impossible +for him to make any impression on them, and he could distinctly hear the +tramp of more than one sentinel, as they paced their monotonous rounds +about that wing of the building. There was yet much of the day +remaining, and he resolved to spend it in endeavouring to grind off the +end of the rivets to the iron bands enclosing his wrists. By rubbing +these against the bricks, he found that he could wear them away by a +tedious and laborious process. Our hero was not one of those who +surrender themselves up to despondency at the first appearance of +insurmountable difficulties; decision of character was his most striking +quality, and he knew that his devoted army only waited for him to lead +them to avenge his wrongs. He felt the difficulties which lay between +him and Jamestown, but he did not despair, however desperate his +circumstances. For many hours he persevered in grinding the rivets +against the bricks; with wrenching and great danger of dislocating his +wrists, he at length succeeded in so wearing down the iron, that he +could at any moment throw aside the manacles. Encouraged with this +success, he moved the meat-block against the wall, and made all +preparations for a breach, as soon as he should be satisfied that the +darkness of night would cover his movements. + +To while away the time usefully, he threw himself upon his rude bed, and +was soon, from the effects of great previous mental excitement and +bodily fatigue, wrapt in profound slumber. + +The shadows of night had closed around this land in the midst of waters +in sombre hues, and the prisoner still slept profoundly. + +In the mean time circumstances were in progress on the bay, which had a +most important bearing upon the fate of every one then at Accomac. + +It has already been stated that Sir William Berkley had put in +requisition such of the naval power as he could bring to bear upon his +immediate designs and pressing necessities. But, after leaving the city +in the precipitate manner which has been related, the citizens +determined to summon to their aid, such of the ships and other vessels +of war and merchandise, as yet remained in the river, within convenient +distance of the city, and make the old knight a prisoner at Accomac. + +The Governor had not long been gone before an armament superior to his +own, was seen steering in the course which he had taken. This consisted +of "one ship, a bark of four guns, a sloop and schooner." The expedition +was under the joint command of Giles Bland and William Carver, both +veteran and experienced seamen. On board of one of the vessels, and +subordinate to the officers just mentioned, was Captain Larimore; he was +one of the most devoted friends of Sir William Berkley, but his personal +predilections and loyal principles were entirely unknown, either at +Jamestown or on board the fleet. When this (at that time) formidable +armament arrived in sight of the vessels at anchor, which had borne Sir +William and his partisans to Accomac, it being now dark, (on the same +evening in which Bacon lay sleeping in his dungeon,) Capt. Larimore +proposed to his superior officers, that he would take one or two +resolute tars, and, avoiding the hostile vessels, land and reconnoitre +the position and forces of the Governor. + +His proposition was promptly acceded to, and Larimore launched his boat, +selected his men, and protected by the thickness of the fog and the +darkness of the night, succeeded in effecting his landing unperceived by +the vessels in the service of the Governor. If he had been aware of +Bacon's imprisonment and condemnation, and disposed to do so, he might +have rendered him the most important services; but whether disposed to +hazard any thing in his cause or not, both he and his superiors were +ignorant of Bacon's fate. + +When the boat containing the adventurer and his two associates struck +the shore, Larimore immediately sprang upon the beach and ordered his +subordinates to push a few yards out into the bay, and remain within +sound of his whistle. He proceeded directly towards the quarters of Sir +William Berkley, until he was challenged by one of the sentinels with +his carbine at his breast. Larimore desired the sentinel to lead him to +the Governor. As soon as he had made himself known to his Excellency, he +informed him of his disposition to advance the cause of the loyal party, +and submitted the following proposition. + +He requested the Governor to send one or two of his most daring and +trusty officers, with one hundred resolute men in boats or canoes, +during that portion of the night when he should himself be in command of +the watch--and promised that he would deliver the whole armament into +the hands of the Governor. Sir William immediately summoned his officers +and made the proposition known to them--requesting, at the same time +that any gentleman who desired to be entrusted with the expedition +would step forward. Philip Ludwell promptly acceded to the offer, and +tendered his services, which were as promptly accepted. Ludwell having +selected his supporters from the hardiest of the troops and sailors, he +held himself in readiness to push off as soon as the appointed hour +should arrive. Larimore giving the concerted signal, sprang into his +boat and returned to those who sent him, with a very different account +of Sir William's position and intentions from that we have just related. + +All this time Bacon was sleeping as soundly upon his bed of corn blades, +as if it was not to be his last sleep on earth. Criminals condemned to +death generally do sleep soundly the night preceding their execution, +and Bacon, whether criminal or not, was no exception to the rule. + +It was some hours after the sun had gone down, and about the same time +that Larimore put off to his vessel, when Bacon suddenly started up from +his rude couch, under an oppressive sense of glaring light upon his eye +balls. An aged and decrepid woman was leaning over him; she was resting +upon her knees, in one hand holding the lamp and in the other the locket +which had already exercised such an important influence upon his +destiny. She had sprung the lid, during his sleep, and was now gazing +upon the beautiful picture, with an interest and amazement not less +intense than he had himself manifested on its first discovery in the +Indian wigwam. So absorbed was her every faculty, that his sudden start +from sleep scarcely attracted her attention. Her eyes were filled with +water in the vain endeavour to decipher the outlines with convincing +accuracy. When the date and the initials and the hair were submitted to +a like scrutiny, conviction settled at once upon her mind. The feeling +operated slowly at first, but as one doubt gave way after another, her +pale and haggard features began perceptibly to assume the life and +vigour of deep excitement. The locket fell from her grasp, and she +clasped her hands--but suddenly throwing back the curling masses from +his brow she exclaimed: "Tell me, my master, are you called Nathaniel +Bacon?" + +"I am! but tell me in your turn, why do you ask?" + +She answered only by exclaiming, "O merciful Heaven! God be praised! +Wonderful are the ways of Providence!" Bacon was on his knees also, his +manacled hands laid upon her shoulders as he anxiously and hastily +inquired, "Tell me, good mother, what do you know of Nathaniel Bacon?" + +"More than he knows of himself, mayhap!" + +"Speak it quickly--moments are more precious than diamonds--say, whence +comes your knowledge? who are you? who am I? for God's sake tell me +quickly!" + +"You are the son of as worthy a gentleman as ever wore a sword. I knew +him and your honoured mother well--that is, if you are the same +mischievous boy whom I have mourned as drowned these many long and +lonesome years." + +The captive waited to hear no more, but springing upon his feet, paced +wildly round the damp cellar like one in a delirium of joy. The old +woman still maintained her humble posture, her hands again clasped, and +her long wrinkled neck turning with difficulty to follow the strange +movements of the prisoner. Suddenly, and as if stricken down by a cannon +shot, he threw himself upon the earth his whole frame convulsed with +thoughts of his present hopeless condition. "What matters it whether I +am Nathaniel Bacon or not? What will it avail, this time to-morrow, when +these limbs, now so full of life and vigour in the renewal of hope, will +be still in the cold embrace of death?" + +"Death!" the old woman screamed, rising from her knees, seizing the lamp +and thrusting it in Bacon's face--"Death, did you say, my son? or did my +old ears deceive me with the horrible word?" + +"They did not,--truer words were never spoken or heard; to-morrow, +before the sun has measured an hour in the heavens, the voice which now +addresses you, will be silenced in the everlasting sleep of death!" + +Horror struck his auditor dumb; her shrivelled lips moved with a +tremulous motion, as if she desired to speak--but she spoke not. An ashy +paleness overspread her features, and she staggered backward and would +have fallen, had she not been caught in the arms of her long-lost +foster son. A tumult of thoughts crowded upon her enfeebled mind, as she +recovered, gasping with the unusual excitement, and her aged frame +heaved as if it would burst in the effort. At length a ray of hope +seemed to dawn upon her mental vision; her eye sparkled with the +thought, as she resumed the lamp which Bacon had taken from her hand, +and placed upon the ground. "It must not, shall not be, my son. There is +your coarse food, Heaven forgive me for not offering you better, but +little did my thoughts turn upon such a godsend. I have a thousand +things to ask and tell, but as you say, life--precious life--hangs upon +every moment lost, so--" + +At this moment the sentinel advanced directly before them, and taking +the old woman rudely by the arm, said, "Come, old Tabby, the prisoner +can find the way to his mouth without the light; give him his bread and +water, and be off;" thrusting her up the steps, as he spoke, slamming +the door, and once more turning the grating bolt upon the unfortunate +prisoner. + +Bacon's late reviving hopes almost died within him as he listened to the +unwelcome sounds and the retreating footsteps of his visiters. + +He threw himself once more upon his rude couch and abandoned himself to +despair. But youthful hope never despairs utterly, however desperate the +circumstances; a few moments after saw him with his handcuffs thrown +off, and busily engaged in piling the loosened bricks upon the floor. +In less than an hour, he beheld the stars lightly twinkling in the +Heavens, through the aperture created by the removal of a single brick, +which he had taken from the outer layer before he was aware of his +progress. Cautiously and intently he listened for the footsteps of the +sentinel; strange sounds seemed to come from off the water, but all in +his immediate vicinity was as quiet as the grave, except the tumultuous +throbbing of his own heart. Again he proceeded cautiously in his work, +until he had completed an aperture sufficiently large to admit the +passage of his body. Then, bracing his nerves, he proceeded to effect +his exit through the opening, and was vigorously struggling to free +himself, when a musket ball whistled by his ear and buried itself in the +wooden sill of the house. He sprang back into the cellar, and stood in +confusion and amazement, until the short chuckling laugh of the sentinel +roused him from his delusive dream of hope. He could distinctly hear the +marksman who had exhibited such a dangerous proof of his skill, laughing +and telling his comrade, who paced before the door at the end of the +house, "how he had shaved the prisoner's head." The unfortunate captive +now abandoned himself to despair in earnest. A thousand times he cursed +his ill fated stars, for thus leading the old nurse into his cell to +rouse his dormant hopes, and give a new impulse to his desires for +freedom. + +While these matters were in progress at the prison of our hero, the +naval armament under the command of Bland, Carver and Larimore, +belonging to and put in motion by his friends among the citizens, and +which might have rendered him such effectual assistance had the two +principal officers been aware of his situation, was itself about to +perform its share in the contest. The expedition under Ludwell, as had +been promised to the traitor Larimore, was sent out at the exact time +specified, and with muffled oars skimmed along the surface of the +tranquil lake, keeping under the shadow of the ships. As they +approached, signals were exchanged, which satisfied Ludwell that +Larimore was indeed in command of the watch, and still ready to betray +his trust. Once or twice, indeed, a suspicion shot across his mind, that +Larimore might only be an agent in the hands of Bland and Carver, and +that his proposal was but a scheme laid to entrap himself and followers +into the power of the rebels, as the Governor's party were pleased to +call the patriots; but it was as speedily dissipated by the favourable +train in which every thing seemed to lie, as the traitor had promised. + +The loyal party under his command was in a very few minutes silently and +stealthily climbing up the sides of the vessels. Having gained the +decks, they proceeded at once to disarm and bind the sentinels. These +unfortunate fellows had been induced by the traitor Larimore, to believe +that the party under Ludwell were deserters from the ranks of Sir +William Berkley, and were not undeceived until they found themselves +bound hand and foot, and such other precautions taken that they could +not alarm their sleeping comrades below. In less time than we have taken +to record the transaction, the whole naval armament in the service of +the patriots, together with the officers, crews and military stores, +were delivered into the hands of Governor Berkley. The success of the +enterprise was announced to the anxious expectants on shore, by a +discharge of artillery, which was joyously answered on their part. Sir +William Berkley was transported with delight--so lately abandoned by the +majority of the citizens and soldiers of the capital, and compelled to +desert the legitimate seat of government, he now saw himself in +possession of a naval and military power, more than sufficient to +command the obedience, if he could not win the affections of the +rebellious citizens. He immediately called together his officers, and +such of the cavalier gentry as had followed his fortunes to this remote +corner of the colony, and imparted to them his determination to embark +his land forces on board the ships brought over by himself, and those +surrendered by Larimore, and sail within the hour for the capital. + +It may be readily imagined that this sudden change in their fortunes was +not received with murmurs and discontent; on the contrary preparations +were eagerly and joyously commenced. The captured and betrayed patriots +were divided among all the vessels, so as to preclude effectually any +chance of their rising upon the Governor and his party. The soldiers, +artillery and baggage were placed on board, and the signal given for the +embarkation of the old knight and his staff--family and attendants. + +Our gentle heroine was not forgotten--she too had been roused, not from +her slumbers, for she had not slept, but from her restless and feverish +pillow, and commanded to prepare for instant departure for the capital. +The stern old Cavalier, her uncle, stood in the open plot in front of +the house surrounded by his partisans, impatiently waiting her descent. +At length she appeared, leaning upon the arm of Frank Beverly on one +side, and that of her female attendant upon the other--her aunt +following in evident dejection of spirits. Virginia's countenance was +white as the spotless attire in which she was enveloped. Her eye wildly +wandered over the faces crowding around, as she emerged from the house, +but soon settled again in sullen composure as she perceived the absence +of the one sought. The pine torches, borne by the negroes, shed a +glaring and unsteady light on the objects around; the steady tramp of +the soldiers, as they marched to and embarked on board the boats, were +heard in the direction of the water, while other parties were seen in +like manner provided with torches, floating in the barks already laden, +toward the ships moored in the offing. As the party that had just +emerged from the house was about to move in the same direction, Beverly +spoke aloud to the Governor. + +"Sir William, are you going to leave the prisoner in the cellar?" + +"True--true, my boy," he replied, "I was so overjoyed at trapping so +many of his compeers, that I had entirely forgotten his generalship; but +we will care for his standing, and that right speedily. We will elevate +him--I will not say above his desert--but certainly to a position to +which he has long had eminent claims. Ho! Sir Hangman! Ludwell, order +the hangman into our presence; we need a cast of his office before we +set sail." + +"It was customary with the Romans, you know, Sir William, to offer up a +sacrifice before they embarked upon any important enterprise," said +Beverly, laughing at his own wretched attempt at wit. But there was one +countenance in the group upon which the first intimation of Beverly +concerning the neglect of the prisoner, wrought a fearful change. +Virginia threw her eyes wildly round, searching from face to face, for +some small evidence of sympathy on which to cast her hopes, but they +were all steeled in imperturbable apathy, or clad in more appalling +smiles of derision. As her eye glanced around the circle, it fell at +last upon the youth supporting her own enfeebled steps. Her knees were +just sinking under her from weakness and dismay, but the sight of Frank +Beverly's smiling countenance aroused her energies. Her muscles were +instantly braced, her eye shot forth scorn and contempt, while she threw +his arms from her, as she would have started from the touch of some +loathsome reptile. The youth, with a grim smile, folded his arms in +quiet serenity, to await the appearance of the prisoner, as if conscious +that his hour of sweet revenge was near at hand. + +Virginia threw herself at the feet, first of her uncle, and then of her +aunt, and earnestly prayed for the life of her lover, as she heard the +orders for bringing him forth, but from the first she received only a +contemptuous glance, and from the latter silent tears. She was still +kneeling upon the grass at the feet of the latter, her head fallen in +despair and exhaustion upon her bosom, when the soldiers rushed out from +the cellar, and proclaimed the escape of the prisoner. An electric +stream poured into Virginia's sinking frame could not have more suddenly +restored her to life and animation. She screamed, clasped her hands, +sprang to her feet, and fell back into the arms of her aunt in a +paroxysm of mingled joy and agitation. + +Sir William Berkley gnashed his teeth, and swearing vengeance against +the traitors who had permitted his enemy's escape, seized one of the +pine torches and rushed into the cellar to satisfy himself that he was +not concealed behind some of the rubbish of the apartment; but soon +found convincing evidence of his escape, in the irons that lay upon the +ground, and the aperture through which he had made his exit. The +sentinels were all called up, who had at any time stood guard over the +prisoner through the night. It appeared that the one who had discharged +his piece so near to the head of the prisoner, had been some time since +relieved, and that he had merely mentioned to his successor, the attempt +of Bacon to escape, with his own amusement in showing him how near he +could shoot to his head without wounding him. + +"Would to God you had lodged the ball in his skull," exclaimed the +enraged governor. The truth was, that the sentinel had supposed the +prisoner still loaded with his irons when he appeared at the breach, +having merely discovered one of the many evidences of dilapidation in +the house, and had consequently left him in the care of his successor, +with the full confidence that he would not make a second attempt. How he +was induced to make that second attempt will appear in the sequel. The +soldier on duty, at the time when he was supposed to have escaped, was +immediately ordered to be put in irons. + +Lady Berkley was about having her niece conveyed to the house, but her +enraged husband harshly ordered those supporting her now prostrate form, +to convey her to the vessel, which was accordingly done. The Governor, +his suite and followers were soon also on board, and a roar of artillery +announced their final departure from the "eastern shore." + +When Bacon threw himself upon his couch, after his last unfortunate +attempt to escape, every thought of once more gaining his liberty +abandoned him. He very naturally supposed that his failure would only +redouble the vigilance of his guards, and therefore resumed his irons, +with the desperate resolution of throwing them off, when he should be +led to execution on the following morning, and selling his life as +dearly as he might. + +He had lain for some hours in a state of mind that may be readily +imagined from the late scenes through which he had passed, when at +length he heard his own name softly whispered in his gloomy cell; the +voice appeared to be in his immediate vicinity. He arose and followed +the supposed direction of the sound, and again he heard it on the +opposite side--proceeding from the still unclosed aperture in the wall. +He answered in the same subdued whisper. "Come this way," said the voice +of the old woman, the shadow of whose head he could now perceive +darkening the partial light which broke through. "Come this way, Master +Bacon. Tim Jones, the sentinel, has gone into my cabin to eat a chicken +supper, and drink some aqua vitae which I procured for him; his place is +supplied by a soldier whom I engaged to be ready, as if by accident. He +pretends to be asleep under the big tree yonder. Do you come forth and +proceed round the opposite end of the house to that occupied by the +other sentinel, until you come to the bushes at the end of the garden +palings--there wait until I come to you--for your life do not stir, +until I join you there." + +Bacon succeeded in avoiding the notice of the sentry and in gaining the +spot indicated by the old woman, where he had scarcely concealed +himself, before the discharge of artillery from the betrayed fleet +startled him from his recumbent posture. He supposed that his own +capture had been ascertained at Jamestown, and that vessels had been +despatched to rescue him. This idea had scarcely entered his mind, +before he sprang over the palings and was running at his utmost speed +across the garden toward the bay, for the purpose of procuring a boat, +but his attention was instantly arrested by the appearance of the +Governor and his suite collecting in the yard in front of the house. He +was on the point of running into the hands of the sentinel whose +temporary absence had afforded him the chance of escape, and who now sat +with his weapon ready for action, securely guarding, as he supposed, the +person who stood just behind him. The man hailed him as soon as he heard +the rustling among the shrubbery, but the liberated captive had seen and +heard enough to induce him to seek his hiding-place once more. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Sir William Berkley embarked on board the ships, he left a company +of picked soldiers, commanded by an officer of tried fidelity, together +with the smallest of the vessels and her crew, with orders to bring the +fugitive to Jamestown, dead or alive. In a short time that portion of +the eastern shore, lately so full of bustle and activity, was wrapped in +profound repose, unbroken save by the monotonous tramp of the sentinel, +pacing before the door of the mansion, now the solitary quarters of the +sole remaining officer. + +Bacon had perceived from his hiding-place, that some unusual commotion +was in progress between the quarters of the Governor and the ships lying +in the offing, and he was seized with the most eager desire to know what +it foreboded. For the first half hour, he lay in momentary expectation +of the commencement of a naval action; at length he saw the glaring +lights of the pine torches, skimming along the margin of the water, and +dark shadows of moving crowds, as the boats floated to their +destination. These movements he could not comprehend except by supposing +that the crafty old knight had set on foot some secret expedition, for +the capture of the newly arrived ships, the increased numbers of which +he could easily perceive. But when the whole fleet set sail, with the +exception of the small craft already mentioned, he was completely at +fault. He was revolving these strange movements in his mind, when his +kind preserver came again to his assistance. She was moving like an +unearthly spirit along the garden palings, cautiously examining every +bush, when he presented himself before her. She led him by a circuitous +route, and one the farthest removed from the sentinel, to a lone cabin +that stood some distance from the main building, and that had lately +been occupied by the inferior officers attached to Sir William's cause; +it had formerly been used as a negro cabin. After she had ushered him +into the single room which it afforded, she pointed to a seat, and began +stirring up the coals which had been left from the culinary operations +of the late occupants. She was about sitting down to hear Bacon's +account of himself, and doubtless of communicating her share of +information for filling out the history, but recollecting that he had +left his food untouched, she hastily covered the light, and went out, +carefully securing the door on the outside, but soon returned with a +remnant of Tim Jones' chicken supper, which she had no doubt preserved +for her own use. This was speedily placed upon a rude table, and the +fugitive urged to help himself in the midst of a torrent of +questions.--Now she desired to know the fate of the Irishman--where +they had landed after the shipwreck--who had so kindly nurtured and +educated him--whether he knew any thing of his relations in England--if +he remembered any thing of her features, or her home in the old country. +What was his occupation. Why Sir William Berkley disliked him, in what +position he stood with regard to the beautiful invalid, who had shown so +much grief at the prospect of his immediate execution,--how he had +managed to preserve the locket so faithfully--and a hundred other +queries of like import, with the solution to which the reader is already +acquainted, but which our hero answered with great impatience, +interposing one of his own between every two of hers, and meanwhile +doing ample justice to the provision she had set before him. The +substance of the old woman's narrative was as follows: + +"When Mrs. Fairfax, then Mrs. Whalley--" + +"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Bacon, dropping his knife and fork--"was +General Whalley her first husband? Then indeed he and the Recluse are +the same person." The nurse stared at him a moment, but presently +proceeded with her narrative. + +"When Mrs. Fairfax, then Mrs. Whalley, left her infant son in my care, +for the purpose of joining her husband, then an officer in the army of +the commonwealth, I was entirely unacquainted with the opposition of her +family to her marriage with General Whalley, and ignorant of the +clandestine manner in which that ceremony had been performed, as well as +the subsequent privacy of their movements, which they thought necessary +for their safety. + +"It was a long time after her departure from my house, and after the +time of her promised return, before I received the least account of her, +or the cause of her prolonged absence from her child. But when I did at +length receive a letter from the unfortunate lady, the whole mystery was +cleared up. In that letter she stated 'that while she was on her way to +join her husband, she was overtaken in the highway, by a party of +loyalist soldiers, commanded by her own brother. She was immediately +recognised by him, and sent under a military escort to her father's +house, not, however, before she had time to learn from one of the +prisoners under the charge of the party, the death of her husband, who, +he stated, had fallen by his side.' She made the promised remittances +for the support of her infant, and every thing went on in the usual +train, until the time arrived for the next promised letter, which indeed +arrived, by the hands of a very different messenger from the one before +employed. It was brought by the very brother who had arrested her in the +road, and sent her a prisoner to her father's house. He presented the +letter unopened, but stated that he was fully apprised of its contents, +as well as of the existence of his sister's child, which she still +supposed unknown to her family. He told me that his father was almost +broken-hearted, on account of the disgraceful marriage which his sister +had contracted, and that the sight of her infant in the house, or even +the knowledge of its existence, would drive him to phrenzy; that his +brothers and himself had therefore determined to take effectual means, +not only to remove the child from within the reach and knowledge of +their father, but of its mother also. That they were determined to take +it by force, a sufficient proof of which he showed me in a party of +armed followers, (for they were all military men,) unless I would +consent to a plan for the removal of the offensive little stranger, +which would secure all their views, and be, at the same time, more +satisfactory to himself and, he doubted not, to me. His proposition was, +that I should remove with the child to a distant residence, the means +for which he would amply provide; and that I should then wait on Mrs. +Whalley, his sister, and inform her that her child was dead. As an +inducement for me to be guilty of this deception, he informed me that +there was a young Cavalier, of good birth and connexions, who was +enamoured of his sister, but if the child was permitted to absorb her +affections, and remind her of her lost husband, they despaired of ever +seeing her married to Mr. Fairfax, and consequently of wiping out the +stigma upon their good name created by her first marriage. I was really +attached to the little boy, and fearful that they would take him by +force if I did not quietly yield, and being assured that I should watch +over him wherever he went, I consented to the plan. I waited on the +mother, and with well dissembled sorrow, told her of the death of her +darling boy. I thought at first that she would have gone distracted, but +the necessity of keeping her secret from her father and brothers, roused +her to the needful exertion. It was well that it was so, for I could not +have endured her heart-rending distress five minutes longer. The next +information I had of the unfortunate lady, was from the same young +gentleman, her brother, who came to inform me of the success of their +plans and thus relieve my conscience. His sister after a tedious delay +had married Mr. Fairfax, and sailed for the Capes of Virginia. He +assured me that the child should always be provided for, but that I must +change his name from Charles Whalley to some other, which I might choose +myself, so that he could never be able to trace his parentage. I was +firmly resolved, however, that the innocent babe should some day know +his real history. In the meantime I consented to all that the young +gentleman desired, and he left the usual supply and departed. I never +saw him again. The remittances for the support of the child were indeed +kept up for some time, but they at length became irregular, and less +frequent. My mind began to grow uneasy concerning the charge which I had +thus by a crime brought upon myself, and which I considered but a just +retribution for my evil deeds. Nor were my fears less anxious concerning +the future prospects of my innocent nursling. My health had well nigh +sunk under the accumulating load of poverty and unavailing regrets for +my wickedness, and I trust that I sincerely repented of the evil deed. +Providence at length directed to my humble dwelling one who appeared +indeed as one risen from the dead. + +"It was none other than General Whalley himself; he had really been shot +in the battle, but had recovered. Great God! what were my sensations, +when the gigantic warrior, pale and worn with mental and bodily +suffering, threw aside his disguise, and avowed himself to me. +Notwithstanding the embarrassing position into which his being still +alive was calculated to throw all parties, I fell upon my knees before +him, and my Maker, and fully acknowledged my participation in the +transactions which I have related. He had heard of the marriage of his +wife to Mr. Fairfax, before he sought me out, but even at this +comparatively remote period of time from her marriage, his huge frame +shook, and he became like an effeminate being while he listened to my +narrative. He told me that he was likewise about to sail for America; +not that he desired or intended to make himself known to his wife, but +because it was becoming unsafe for him to remain longer in the kingdom. +I have no doubt in my own mind, that he was unconsciously indulging his +desire to be near his still adored Emily, in his choice of a place of +refuge, which he now informed me, was the same to which she had gone +with her husband. He told me that it was his intention to live in the +greatest seclusion, and that his very name should be unknown in his new +abode. He proposed that I should follow him, after he should have +established himself, and made arrangements for my comfortable reception, +the time for which was specified. I felt myself impelled by an imperious +sense of duty to repair, as far as lay within my power, the injury which +I had helped to inflict upon him, and therefore consented to leave +country and home with my little charge, now become so dear to me. + +"After furnishing me with the necessary supplies for the long and +dreaded voyage, together with particular directions as to the place of +embarkation, and the course I was to pursue after arriving in Jamestown, +General Whalley left me, and I have never seen or heard of him to the +present hour. I did not consider that surprising, however, because he +informed me that he would never more be known by the name of Whalley, +and that I must school myself carefully before my departure for America, +never to drop a hint that he had ever been more than he seemed to be in +his new abode. But to proceed with my story. He had directed that I +should sail with the boy after the lapse of one year from the time of +his own departure. The most of this interval was employed in making my +own little preparations for so long a voyage, and my final separation in +this life, from all my kindred and friends. I had promised to keep my +design as secret as possible, and every precaution was indeed taken to +keep my intended departure a secret from all but my own immediate +relations. But by some means unknown to me, my design became known to +others, as I was apprised one day, by a visit from a gentleman named +Bacon!" + +The fugitive instantly dropped his knife and fork, which he had been +occasionally using as the story of the nurse ran upon those events +already known to him, but now a new name was introduced, and one which, +it may be readily imagined, did not fail to command his undivided and +breathless attention. + +"Mr. Bacon informed me that he had heard of my intended expedition, and +that I was to take out with me the tender boy then on my lap, and said +he could readily surmise that the late unfortunate civil wars were in +some way or other the cause of my undertaking so long and dangerous a +voyage. As he saw my embarrassment from not knowing how to answer him, +he hastened to assure me that he did not desire to pry into my secret. +That he was placed in somewhat similar circumstances himself, to those +which, as he supposed, operated on the parents of the boy. He informed +me that his brother and himself had both been unfortunately in the army +of the commonwealth, in which his brother had fallen, and that he had +left an only son to his care, the mother of whom had died in giving him +birth. 'Now my object in coming to you, my good woman,' said he, 'is to +procure your assistance in conveying my ward to Virginia.' + +"I readily undertook the task, and all necessary arrangements were made +for the boy's comfortable passage. Some months before the time of +embarkation, little master Bacon, or I may as well say yourself, was +brought to me, in order that you might learn to know and love me before +we set sail for this distant land. When I was on board the vessel, and +had paid for my own passage as well as for those of my little charges, +the money for which had been provided by the friends of each, I was +startled to perceive that Mr. Bacon did not join me as had been agreed +upon. My anxiety became more and more intense as the time approached for +weighing anchor, for although I was amply provided with all necessary +funds, my mind misgave me that some accident had befallen the +unfortunate gentleman. He was indeed in disguise when he came to see me, +and I doubt not, was a fugitive from the powers that then ruled our +native land. My worst apprehensions were realized--Mr. Bacon was either +made a prisoner, prevented from joining me by apprehension, or chose to +deceive me in the whole business, but I have always religiously +believed, since I have had time to reflect dispassionately on the +subject, that his absence was not a matter of choice. + +"We had a pleasant and prosperous voyage, until the first night after we +came in sight of land, when such a storm arose, as it seemed to me that +the whole world was coming to an end. Daylight found us a miserable +company of forlorn wretches, hanging upon the wreck. The boats were +already loaded to the water's edge. I prayed and entreated some of the +good gentlemen to save my two precious boys, if they left me, but alas! +every one was taking measures for his own safety. There was one poor, +ignorant, but tender-hearted Irishman, who had been a soldier, that +seemed to commiserate my helpless little charges, his name was Brian +O'Reily--a talking, blundering, merry youth he was then. At length +seeing some prospect of effecting a landing, he made a raft of parts of +the wreck, and trusted himself and you to the mercy of the treacherous +waves. That was the last I ever saw of the warm hearted Irishman, and of +you, until I accidentally discovered, while you were asleep in the +cellar, the identical locket containing your mother's likeness, which I +had placed round your neck with my own hands. I saw the resemblance, +too, which you bore to my lost boy, and was immediately satisfied that +God had preserved you, in his own way and for his own wise purposes, and +I determined also to save you, if I could, from the cruel punishment +which I learned more fully from the sentinel, the Governor intended to +inflict upon you in the morning. Thank God, I have succeeded. Now do +tell me, what I have asked you so often, what became of the Irishman, +and where you were landed and how preserved." + +"First tell me, good nurse, how you escaped the wreck, and what became +of your other ward. It is of immense importance for me to know. The +liberty which you have given me is worth nothing, without a clear +explanation of these points." + +"That I can soon inform you of--the Captain, kind and generous man that +he was, seeing the probable success of the Irishman's plan, adopted it +himself, and after making a raft, with the help of some of his crew, +placed all the females on it who chose to venture in preference to +waiting for the return of the boats. Myself with my little remaining +boy, and several other females who were steerage passengers, suffered +ourselves to be lashed to the frail machine. For four dreadful hours we +were tossed about at the mercy of the waves, the water for at least half +the time dashing over us, and, as it seemed, carrying us half way to the +bottom. At length, however, we landed upon the eastern side of this very +neck of land, where I have remained ever since. I have never set my foot +on board of any kind of water craft from that time to this. Together +with another of the females mentioned and my little boy, the son of +General Whalley, I wandered through swamps, and marshes, and sea-weeds, +until we had entirely crossed the neck--never having eaten one mouthful +until we arrived at this plantation. Here we were most kindly received +by the widowed mother of the present proprietor, Mr. Philip Ludwell; but +alas, my little boy had suffered too long and too severely from the +combined effects of the night upon the wreck, the succeeding sufferings +upon the raft, and the hunger endured before we came to this place. He +sunk rapidly, notwithstanding the humane exertions of the good lady who +had extended her kindness toward us. He died and was buried on this +plantation--I have preserved his little clothes and trinkets to this +day. Little did I think at that time that you had outlived him." + +Bacon then performed his promise, and related all that he knew of his +own and O'Reily's escape from the wreck--and likewise informed her that +the latter had been on the "eastern shore" within the last two hours, +but, he supposed had been taken as a prisoner to Jamestown by Sir +William Berkley. "But tell me," he continued, "have you never seen or +heard any thing of General Whalley, or Mrs. Fairfax, since you parted +from them in England?" + +"I have never heard a word of the General from that time to the present, +though I have questioned every body that came from Jamestown. I knew +that he intended to assume another name, and other habits, and I +therefore described his person and manners, but no one had ever seen +such a personage!" + +The hasp flew from the pine log into which it had been inserted, and the +door was driven back against the opposite wall. "Thou beholdest him now, +woman! look at me!" and he pointed to his now haggard features, "and say +whether I am that man!" + +But his gigantic figure, never to be mistaken, had scarcely darkened +the doorway, before the person he addressed began to gasp for breath, +and seized the arm of Bacon for protection--calling upon him for God's +sake to save her--her eyes meantime immoveably fixed upon the intruder's +countenance. + +"Quail not, woman; there is no one here to harm thee, if thy own +conscience condemns thee not. I have heard part of thy story, as I +listened at the door, in order to find out how many of the Governor's +minions I should have to slay before freeing the boy. Lay thy hand upon +the Holy Evangelists, woman," and he drew his clasped Bible from his +pouch and extended it across the table to her, "and swear that this boy +is not my son, whom I entrusted to thy care." + +With a trembling hand she touched the holy book, and said as distinctly +as her fears would permit, "Before God and upon his word, I testify it +as my firm and unwavering belief, that this young man who sits before +me, is Nathaniel Bacon, and not your son." + +"It was indeed my boy, then, whom thou buried upon this lone shore?" And +without waiting for an answer he threw himself into one of the rude +seats, leaned his head down upon the table, and gave himself up to +uncontrolled emotion. + +Bacon was moved to tears as he saw the stern Recluse thus overwhelmed +with grief at the breaking up of the last tie that linked him to earth. +He remembered, as he looked upon his agitated frame, how uncompromising +had been the frowns of fortune upon this now solitary being. Once he was +flushed with the joy of youth, and love, and hope, and fired with a +military ardour like himself. But now (as he supposed) he was an outlaw, +and an exile from his country--unconsciously abandoned by a doting +wife--his only heir, and the sole stay and hope of his declining years +dead and buried upon the very spot where he at last found the nurse to +whom the child had been committed. He remembered also his unwavering +kindness to himself, and his general benevolence and kindness of feeling +toward his fellow men, and he unconsciously let fall the words which +rose embodied to his tongue, as with swimming eyes he looked upon him, +"'Tis a hard and cruel fate!" + +"Rather say that retributive justice pursues and overtakes the guilty to +the ends of the earth," answered the Recluse, raising his head erect +from the table. "Oh God, how just and appropriate are thy punishments! +How true and discriminating is thy retribution. Behold here a wretch who +has fled three thousand miles from the scene of his crimes in the vain +delusion that he could flee from himself and the mysterious all seeing +eye above! Young man, there is a mysterious system of ethics which the +world understands not--the reputed wise, subtleize it, and the vainly +wicked contemn and despise it. It is comprised in the simple words +justice--probity--and benevolence! There is a power of bringing about +its own ends in the first which none but the wickedly wise know. Yea, +and bringing it about by the very weapons used against its dictates, and +if not upon the very scene of the crime, at least in a place peculiarly +appropriate. Behold here before you this worn down remnant of humanity, +summoned, as he supposed, to rescue the last of his race from the power +of the oppressor; but in truth, only to weep over the grave of his real +son, buried on this spot years ago. This hand once aided in severing the +links between father and son,--a man as innocent and unoffending as his +offspring was helpless. A royal line they were. Just heaven, how that +crime has been avenged! How strangely and how justly! Probity and +benevolence are mysteriously bringing about their own righteous +purposes, as does justice her avenging decrees. The worldly wise look +with contempt upon simple honesty, but the highest ultimatum of earthly +wisdom and experience is to have the power and the knowledge of the +wicked with the simple guide, that justice, probity and benevolence +unerringly work out their own reward. + +"The wickedly wise cunningly suppose that they are cheating their God +and their fellow men; the last they may temporarily deceive, but the +Great Political Economist of the universe so overrules their cunning, +that their own hands are forging the chains of their future captivity, +at the very moment when they suppose themselves constructing daggers +for their neighbour's throats, and keys for their strong boxes. The +mysterious power of which I speak is felt always in the latter end of +human life, but can never be described to those just entering upon the +scene. Thrice blessed is he, my son, who can fall before his Maker and +say that justice, probity and benevolence have been his ruling motives +of action--whether from the dictates of the heart or of the head. That +thou art one of those I have long believed, and if thou art not the son +of my loins, thou art of my affections. Come, my boat waits for thee; +thy presence is even now needed in Jamestown. Thy troops are encamped +but a few miles from the town, and are wondering at thy absence. The +Governor has embarked for the city to perpetrate more wrong and +oppression. By the will of Heaven this rusty weapon shall once more do +battle in a holy cause." + +As they were leaving the cabin, Bacon turned to the nurse and embracing +her said, "I go hence, good Margaret, to battle in the cause of my +country, and that right speedily. If I am successful, you will soon hear +from me, and if not, you will have the consolation of knowing that your +foster son died as became the son of a soldier. Before yon rising moon +has twice performed her circuit, I will be either the conqueror of +Jamestown or buried in its ruins." + +With hasty strides he followed the Recluse, who was already half way to +the little secluded inlet from which he had landed. As they approached +the water, Bacon could perceive two slender masts dancing in the +moonbeams, as the dark hull of a fishing smack pitched and tossed with +the swelling billows. Stepping into a log canoe, (such as surround all +water bound plantations in slave countries,) they were speedily on board +the diminutive craft, where two lounging fishermen waited their +approach. The wind was blowing fresh from off the sea across the neck of +land they had just left, and they scudded before it at a rate, if not +quite equal to the impatience of the more youthful voyager, at least +with as much rapidity as could reasonably have been expected. The +Recluse seemed as usual inclined for thoughtful silence, and as his +companion leaned against the mast of the rocking vessel, he saw the +workings of a mighty mind--wrecked, as he supposed, upon some unseen +obstacle, as it was impetuously borne along by the resistless tide of +youthful hopes and aspirations. He could not believe that the Recluse +had ever been deliberately base or cruel, as he himself had more than +hinted. "At least," said he, as he communed with himself, "he has paid +ten-fold penance for a single error." + +The Recluse at length perceived that his companion was observing him, +and arose from his half recumbent position, and stood beside him, his +arms folded for an instant, and his attenuated countenance, as it +reflected back the sickly rays of a hazy moon, settled in profound +melancholy. He took the hand of the youth, and shook it some time in +agitation before he could give utterance to his thoughts, but at length +he said in a voice which betrayed the violence of his feelings, + +"Nathaniel, canst thou forgive me for that cruel mistake at the chapel? +Oh, couldst thou know what I suffered then, and since, both on thy +account and my own, thou wouldst accept it as ample atonement for the +unintended wrong. I saw, on that dreadful night, her who was the queen +of my manhood's fondest dreams--who had basked with me in the sunshine +of youth and hope--who had given me her young affections in return for +my own, when life was in its bud, and who afterward blossomed into the +rich fruition of maternal love and beauty in these arms--her who was +torn from me by a base deception of her kindred, and married to another. +I saw her face to face, for the first time in more than twenty years, +when she was about to give the offspring of her second marriage as a +wife to the offspring of her first, as I supposed. Oh, what human +conception can realize the torrent that broke over my soul at that +fearful moment? The shadowy remembrances which had been softening and +fading in the lapse of years burst at once into life and being. Time and +place were forgotten--the passions of youth rushed into the contest, and +I stood as the frail mortal body shall stand at the final day, when its +own spirit knocks for entrance. The buried ghosts of my own passions +rose from their grave, the frail cloak of stoicism which had been woven +round me, was blasted into shreds and patches, and I stood and quailed +before a woman's eye like Belshazzar at his feast. Thou hast felt thy +heart swelling and plunging against its bony prison, but thou hast never +had it gorged and choked with the dammed up waters of bitterness, +gathered through long and dreary years. Thou hast felt the words stick +in thy throat, and refuse to leap into life, but thou wert never struck +dumb with a judgment from Heaven, like a thunderbolt scorching and +searing into the very citadel of thought and vitality! Thou hast writhed +when stung by the scorpion tongue of calumny, but thou hast never been +outlawed and abandoned of all human kind--condemned by thy own +conscience--and given up of God!" + +His eye shot forth vivid fires, and his arms, as they were flung abroad +in violent gesticulation, cast giant shadows upon the moonlit waves of +the Chesapeake. + +"You do both yourself and your friends grievous wrong," said Bacon, +after a painful pause. + +"I have indeed wronged myself--most wretchedly wronged myself, but not +now; the wrong which I did to others has recoiled ten-fold upon my own +head. I know full well thy meaning--thou wouldst say that kindly +feelings are not wholly dead within this seared heart! But thou hast +made but little progress in analyzing our moral structure, if thou dost +not know that crime committed by one whose nature would lead to good, +is the true source of that misery which surpasseth speech. + +"An intuitive villain, if there be such, or one become wholly corrupt, +plunges from transgression to transgression, until his final ruin, +without enduring any of that wretchedness which comes of a stain upon a +tenderer conscience. Such a man has no conscience; it is seared or +obliterated; but he of benevolent heart and virtuous impulses, wounds +his guardian angel by the deed. The taint corrupts and sours the sweets +of life into gall and bitterness. If that stain be but a single deed, +and that, dark, damning and indelible, the perpetrator becomes as an +angel of light in the companionship of hell. He may be likened to one +who loses the power of sight, with all the other senses perfect. He +hears what others see, but to him the grand medium of perception is dark +and dismal, and the rhapsodies of others are his own damnation. There is +but one hue to his atmosphere; it is the fearful red which only the +blood of man can dye. In his case the language of scripture is fulfilled +before its time. The moon is turned to blood, and the morning beam +dispelleth not the horrid hue." + +Bacon thought any direction of his companion's thoughts preferable to +his present mood, and therefore said "But she whom you supposed my +mother--" + +"I know it all, my son," interrupted the Recluse; "I saw the marble +features upon their last journey. For twenty years I have not envied +mortal being, but I confess to thee, that there was something in the +cessation from thought, suffering and action--and the sleep-like +serenity of death for which I longed. Nevertheless, there is an awful +mystery in that which seemeth so simple in itself. Mere lifeless clay, +moulded by the hands of man into the same stamp, speaks not to man in +the same language; it may indeed refresh the memory, but it stirreth not +up the divinity within us. Who is he that looketh upon the features of +the dead and looketh not up to the giver and recipient of life? I saw +her mortal remains laid out in the midst of a camp, and the busy world +faded away into indistinctness, while the God of the universe spoke in +the person of the beautiful corse before me and said, 'Thus far shalt +thou go and no farther.'" + +As they steered their course uninterruptedly towards the source of the +Powhatan, which they had entered as the sunbeams broke through the +morning mists, Bacon threw himself down, and slept soundly, until he was +aroused by the Recluse to inquire what direction their agents should +give the vessel when they arrived within sight of the city. + +He was roused to immediate thought and action by the question. He knew +the danger of entering the capital, now that it was in the possession of +Sir William Berkley, and therefore directed the boatmen to land him some +miles above. + +The Recluse, at his own request, was put on shore somewhat nearer the +capital, but entirely out of reach of any precautions which the +vigilance of the Governor might have instituted. + +Bacon inquired eagerly, why he left him, after his promise to draw his +sword in the cause of the people and the country, assuring him at the +same time that he intended bringing the matter to immediate issue. + +"I leave thee now, my son, to set my house in order. Trust in one who +has never failed thee in need. I will be with thee in this last +struggle--for there is something whispers me that it will be the last. +Leave the event, therefore, with him who rules the destinies of +battles." And with these words he sprang upon the shore and disappeared +in the forest. + +In a few hours more, Bacon was again at the head of his devoted troops, +who were entirely ignorant of the cause of his protracted absence, but +now that they knew its cause, were bursting with ardour to avenge his +own and his country's wrongs. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +General Bacon's ardour and decision of character were not in the least +abated by his late perils and imprisonment; on the contrary, recent +developments had relieved him from suspense and inspired him with new +motives for action, to say nothing of the redress loudly demanded, by +all classes of the citizens, for the Governor's increasing oppressions. +Scarcely was sufficient time allowed for his devoted officers to shake +him cordially by the hand, before his gallant band of patriots was +marching towards Jamestown, without music or noise of any kind. There +was a cool settled determination visible in the countenances of all, +which was admirably evinced by the order and alacrity with which they +obeyed the general's orders. Bacon's cause had now become personal with +every man in the ranks, composed as they were principally of hardy +planters and more chivalrous Cavaliers, who knew not at what moment they +might themselves be subjected to like wrongs and indignities to those +from which he had just escaped. As the chief had anticipated, the +patriot army arrived on the heights of Jamestown, just as the shades of +night were enclosing the forest. It was not his intention that Sir +William Berkley should ascertain his arrival and position, until he had +made suitable dispositions for his reception, should he feel disposed to +pay him a visit. Accordingly, the whole army was immediately employed in +digging an entrenchment, and erecting a barricade of fallen trees, for +the protection of the troops, should it be found necessary in their +future operations. These transactions took place, it will be remembered, +on the evening of the same day in which Bacon parted from the Recluse, +and landed upon the main shore. + +Meanwhile, Sir William Berkley, his family, suite and followers, of high +and low degree, had effected their landing without opposition at +Jamestown. The same night that Bacon and his patriot followers were +entrenching themselves on the heights, the Governor and his adherents +were marshalling themselves in the city. Great numbers of the citizens, +however, were decidedly opposed to Sir William and his measures; and his +arrival and military preparations were no sooner perceived, then they +betook themselves, with their families and property, under cover of +night, to the privacy of the neighbouring plantations: numbers of them +accidentally encountered the patriots at their work, and immediately +sending on their families, joined their standard. Besides the land and +naval forces now at the disposal of the Governor--and they already +outnumbered his opponents--he offered every inducement to the worthless +and dissolute loungers of the town to unite with his army; he did not +even hesitate to promise largely of the plunder, and confiscated +property of the rebels. + +On the succeeding morning, the sun rose upon the ancient city, in +unclouded splendour, for the last time it was destined ever to shine +upon the earliest erected city in North America. It was the dreaded day +to our heroine, appointed for her marriage. Her uncle had solemnly +assured her upon their landing on the previous day, that the one which +had now arrived, should see her the wife of Beverly. The latter, too, +claimed the fulfilment of her solemn promise. The distressed and +enfeebled girl knew not whither to turn for sympathy and succour; she +was beset on all sides, and not a little oppressed with the shackles of +her own promise. She did not dare to hope that her lover had already +made his way from Accomac to her own vicinity. She remembered indeed, +that the Recluse had charged her, in case of any sudden danger or +emergency, to send him a memento of the bloody seal, but she likewise +remembered, that he had since been the main cause of her separation from +one to whom she was heart and soul devoted. She was also oppressed with +unutterable sadness on account of her mother's death, the true account +of which she had just heard,--the body having been sent by the patriots +to the city for burial, immediately before her arrival. To her aunt she +appealed, with touching pathos; but alas, she could do nothing, even had +she been so disposed. Wyanokee had returned with the body of her +mother, and by her devotion to the revered remains, revived all +Virginia's former affection, but she was powerless, and withal a +prisoner, and so wrapped up in her own gloomy meditations, that she +looked more like one of the dumb idols of her own race, than a living +maiden. When spoken to, she started up as one from a trance--and without +speaking again, sought communion with her own ideal world. + +The hour was a second time fast approaching for the celebration of the +nuptials of our heroine. None of the fortunate occurrences or lucky +accidents for which she had hoped, relieved the despair of the fleeting +moments. Her uncle and Beverly had both repeatedly sent up to her +apartments, and desired to be admitted to her presence, but on various +pretences they had been as yet denied. Her aunt had again and again +urged her to prepare for the ceremony, but hour after hour flew by, and +she was still sitting in her _robe de chambre_ her neglected ringlets +hanging in loose clusters over her forehead and neck, the former of +which rested upon her hand, and it in its turn upon her knee--her head +turned slightly to one side, where Wyanokee sat, straight as an Indian +arrow, and silent and immovable as death. At length she heard her uncle +at the door, who swore that if she did not dress and descend immediately +to the parlour, where the clergyman and Beverly were in waiting, he +would have the door forced, and compel her to go through the ceremony +even should her feet refuse to sustain her. Soon after he had retired, +Lady Berkley again entered, when the distressed and bereaved maiden +clasped her round the neck and wept bitterly. "Oh, dearest aunt," she +exclaimed, "save me from this desecration--this perjury! Great and +merciful God," she cried, loosing her hold, and clasping her hands, "how +can I vow before Heaven to love, honour and obey a man that I abhor and +detest?" + +"You should have thought of that, my dear child, before you gave your +solemn promise to Frank; it is too late now to retract." + +"Is it even so? then I will swear when they come to ask me to pledge my +vows, that my love never was mine to give away; that I learned its +existence in another's possession. They shall not--they cannot force me +to swear an untruth. They may lead me through the outward forms of a +marriage ceremony, but racks and torments shall not make me in any way +accessary to the deed. If I promised otherwise, it was the last +despairing refuge of outraged nature. It was the instinct of +preservation within me, and not my free and voluntary act." Influenced +by this idea, she stood like an automaton, and suffered her women to +deck her out in bridal array, and was then mechanically led from her +room, accompanied by her aunt, Wyanokee, and her female dependants. She +found Sir William Berkley and Frank Beverly waiting her approach in the +entry. She shrunk back at the sight of the latter, but he, none the less +bold, approached at the same time with her uncle, and together they led +her toward the room where the clergyman waited, with many of the loyal +Cavaliers. When they arrived at the door, and she saw the reverend +gentleman in his robes, and the book open before him, her excited frame +could bear the tension no longer, and she fell lifeless upon the floor. +A loud roar from the brazen throat of a cannon at the same moment shook +the windows like a peal of thunder, and was succeeded by the echoing +blasts of the trumpet's charge, multiplying the bold challengers it +rolled from river to cliff. This plan of daring an opponent to battle, +was strictly in accordance with the usages of the age, and was instantly +understood by the Governor and his friends, all of whom flew to the +windows, where they beheld a sight, which soon drove softer emotions +from their hearts, if they had any. The former saw the smoke curling +over Bacon's breastwork and entrenchments, and was struck dumb with +amazement. But soon recovering his voice, and throwing up the sash, he +shouted to the guard below, "to arms, to arms--for king and country." + +Whatever were the faults of Sir William Berkley, and they will be +considered many in this refined age and renovated country, cowardice was +not one of them. In a very few moments he mounted his charger and, +together with Beverly and Ludwell, galloped swiftly along his forming +battalions rebuking the tardy and cheering on the brave. With his +superior numbers and heavier appointments, he felt as sure of victory as +if he already sat in judgment, or was pronouncing sentence upon the +chief of the rebels. That Bacon was already at the head of his army +never for a moment entered his imagination; but the knowledge would have +made no change in his arrogant calculations, even had he possessed it. + +So confident was he of an easy and speedy victory, that he scouted the +idea of remaining within the palisade, and waiting for the attack of the +patriots; and this was indeed becoming every moment more impracticable, +for the cannon balls from the heights were even now tearing through the +houses, riddling the ships and throwing his troops into confusion. No +time therefore was to be lost. He ordered the vessels to draw off into +the middle of the stream, threw open the gates, and sallied boldly out +to meet the foe. + +Virginia was borne to her apartment still senseless, and the physician +was immediately sent for, but before his arrival, she had several times +opened her eyes as her aunt with real but unavailing sorrow in her +countenance applied the usual restoratives. At every discharge of the +artillery she slightly moved; her excited imagination identified the +sound with the fearful thunder that attended the former disastrous +ceremony at the chapel. + +But when her aunt explained to her the occasion of the uproar, she +sprang up in the bed, clasped her hands, threw her eyes to Heaven, and +exclaimed,--"Merciful God, I thank thee! Providence has indeed +interposed for my preservation! Oh, if _he_ could only be there?--No, +no, no, it is better, perhaps, as it is--for cruel as my uncle is, I +could not bear to see him pierced by Bacon's sword, and he would +assuredly seek his life. Merciful Father, thou orderest all things +wisely. Aunt, let me prepare you for another turn of fortune! The +patriots will be successful! my heart assures me they will. Young Dudley +and Harrison are there, and they have lion hearts; but weep not, aunt, +they are as generous as they are brave." + +Sir William Berkley, with that blind, passionate, and impetuous courage +for which he was distinguished, scarcely delayed to organize his troops +effectually, but rushed with reckless fury against his enemies. + +Bacon, from the moment that he perceived the marshalling of the troops +outside the gate, silenced his cannon, and waked with coolness, and in +profound silence, the approach of the opposing columns. Sir William +began to calculate upon a bloodless and easy victory, and even +contemplated sending in a flag with terms of capitulation. But dearly +did he pay for his error, and terribly was he awakened from the +momentary delusion. + +Bacon had persisted in waiting the onset, notwithstanding the impetuous +ardour of his troops, until he could make every shot effective; he knew +his inferiority of numbers, and determined to compensate for his +disparity of force by coolness and precision. "Wait until you see the +white of their eyes, my fine fellows," was his often repeated answer to +the suggestions and even entreaties of his impatient cannoniers; but +when at length he did give the word "fire!" most effectually was it +echoed. The very heights seemed to the panic stricken troops of the +Governor, to pour out red hot iron and smoke. They were speedily rallied +and brought again to the charge--and again the same fearful reception +awaited their farther progress, with the addition, at the second onset, +of a volley of musketry. Dreadful was the havoc in the royal ranks, and +terrible the dismay of the soldiery. The rabble which the Governor had +hastily collected in the town, fairly took to their heels and fled to +the protection of the fort. Again the valiant old knight rode among his +troops, and cheered them to the onset, but at each succeeding attack, +some more fatal reserve was brought into action. At length the patriot +chief, standing upon his rude fortification, and looking down upon the +dismayed and retreating loyalists, began to take counsel of his youthful +ardour--he longed to measure swords with the officer whom he beheld +riding so constantly by the side of the Governor. He saw the officers of +the king, as they rode among their troops, some with tears in their eyes +endeavouring to rally them, and others swearing and rebuking their +cowardly followers; and he determined to permit them to rally and then +bear down upon them with his own high spirited and ardent soldiers. He +was quickly mounted, as were also Dudley, Harrison, and the brave band +of youthful Cavaliers who had adhered so long and so faithfully to his +fortunes. When he announced this determination to his army, the welkin +rung again with their joyous acclamations, and every heart throbbed in +unison with his own, and assured him of victory. + +"This night," said Bacon in a low voice to Dudley, as they rode over the +entrenchment--"Jamestown shall be a heap of ashes!" + +Dudley made no reply, but smote his clenched hand upon his harness with +emphasis, returning the glance of his commander with one of cordial +approval. + +Sir William Berkley and his subordinates, seeing the movement of their +opponents, were soon enabled to rally the disheartened troops, and as +the patriot army marched down the hill, the royalists in turn, raised +the cheering chorus. + +The loyal army had not at any time during the engagement, presented so +formidable an appearance, as they did at this moment, and they in their +turn silently awaited the sortie of the enemy. As Bacon's followers +debouched, they visibly accelerated their pace to double quick time, and +the two bodies came together with a shock like the explosion of a +magazine. Terrible was the _melee_, and dreadful the carnage which +ensued. As they closed, Bacon raised his voice, and addressing Beverly +by name, called upon him to sustain his late charges. Consternation was +visible in the countenances both of Beverly and the Governor at the +unexpected appearance of the patriot chief, but the former yielded to it +only for an instant--in the next the youthful champions plunged the +rowels into the flanks of their chargers, and rushed at each other like +infuriated wild beasts. The fire flew from their swords, and their eyes +flashed not less brightly, but at the first onset, Beverly's weapon +snapped off short at the guard. Bacon raised himself in the stirrups, +and was about to plunge his blade deep into the breast of his hated +rival, but it fell harmless upon the mane of his charger, and he drew +back to the command of his troops. Beverly wheeled his horse and rode +slowly from the field, deeply wounded and mortified; as much perhaps at +the contrast between Bacon's forbearance and his own late vote of +condemnation, as at the disaster and defeat he had sustained. + +As Bacon returned to reanimate his troops, he found that a new ally was +doing battle in his cause. He saw near the right wing, the flourishes of +a gigantic arm, which he had formerly seen do service. The Recluse was +indeed there; how long since, Bacon knew not, but he seemed to be +already in the thickest of the fight. He had lost his cap, and his bald +head towered amid his fellows and brightly glistened in the sun. His +right arm was bare to the shoulder, and dyed with blood to the finger +ends. He seemed striving to throw his life away, and more than once +thrust himself into the very ranks of the foe, but as often the +terror-struck loyalists gave way before him. He seemed to be perfectly +invulnerable, for not a wound had he yet received. + +The consequences of the first repulse at the assault on Bacon's +intrenchments could not be overcome by the now exhausted and dismayed +loyalists. One column after another gave way, and fled into the town, +until not more than half remained. These were the regular troops, which +had throughout adhered so firmly to the person and fortunes of the +Governor. His friends urged him to capitulate, but he was as obstinate +in battle as he had before shown himself in council. + +He was at length almost dragged from the field by his friends--as all +his troops were flying in disorder and confusion into the town. The +patriots rushed in, together with their flying foes. The Recluse had +seized some flying charger, and, still bareheaded, was dealing death to +those who came within the sweep of his terrific weapon. Bacon over and +over again, offered quarter to the flying remnant, but they fought as +they ran, keeping up something like an irregular action, the whole +distance from the field of battle to the city. + +At length both parties were within the walls, and the fight was renewed, +but the loyalists were soon driven from the field. Some escaped by boats +to the shipping--and among these, Sir William Berkley was forcibly +dragged from the city as he had been from the field. In vain he pleaded +the situation of his wife and niece; he was assured by his friends of +their safety in the hands of the victor, and still urged forward in his +flight. Many poor fellows plunged into the river, and endeavoured to +save themselves by swimming to the ships which still adhered to the +loyal cause, but numbers perished in the attempt. + +Bacon with difficulty restrained himself by a sense of duty, long enough +to see the victory complete, before he leaped from his horse, and rushed +up the stairs of the Governor's house, where, in a few moments, he was +clasped in the arms of the amazed and delighted Virginia, +notwithstanding the presence of Lady Berkley. He had no sooner exchanged +those thousand little nameless but endearing questions and answers, that +leap into life unbidden after such an absence and such a meeting, than +he turned to Lady Berkley, and said, "Madam, a safe escort to convey you +to your husband, waits your commands, at any moment you may choose to +leave the city." + +"But my niece--is she also free to go?" + +"What says my Virginia--will she accept a soldier's protection?" + +"With all my heart and soul," she answered. + +While they discoursed thus, the bells were ringing, and huge columns of +smoke shot up past the windows on every side, and burning timbers +sparkled and cracked with increasing and startling rapidity. Bacon +instantly understood the cause, and taking Virginia in his arms, and +bidding Lady Berkley and Wyanokee, who till now had scarcely been +noticed, to follow, he rushed into the street, and beheld Jamestown in +flames. In a short time it was a pile of black and scorched ruins, as it +has stood from that day to the present. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +After the battle and destruction of Jamestown, Sir William Berkley, +accompanied by his now liberated Lady and his remaining followers, +comprising the still loyal marine force, retired again to the shades of +Accomac, where we will leave him and the remaining events of his life in +the hands of the historian. + +The political power of the colony was now in the possession of the +victorious chief, so lately condemned to death. He was not long in +surrendering it to a convention of the people, summoned to meet at +Middle Plantations, (Williamsburg,) for that purpose, and in their hands +we will leave the political affairs of the future mother of states. Our +only remaining duty is to follow the fortunes of the principal +characters of our narrative. The successful general, after attending to +his military and political duties, accompanied his now betrothed bride +from the ruins of Jamestown to the new seat of government. It was a +delightful summer evening--the sun was just sinking beneath a horizon, +where the darker blue of the distant landscape softened the shades of +the azure sky, both merging in the indistinct prospect so as to form a +magnificent back ground to a panorama, bathed in a flood of golden +light. The youthful and happy pair instinctively reined up their horses, +and gazed upon the enchanting scene, until their hearts were full of +love and adoration. + +Then by one impulse they turned their horses' heads, and gazed upon one +far different, which they were leaving. The ruins of the first civilized +settlement in North America were still sending up volumes of smoke, +through which at intervals gleamed a lurid flash, as some more +combustible materials fell into the mass of living embers below. But +there were associations with this scene, to the hearts of our pilgrims, +which no tongue or pen can describe; the melancholy treasures of memory +collected through long forgotten years, came gushing back over their +hearts in a resistless torrent. The scenes of their childhood--of all +their romantic dreams, and those fairy and too unreal creations of young +life--the graves of their relations and friends, were about to be +surrendered up to the dominion of the thistle and the ivy, there to +moulder through all future generations.[14] But this was not all that +was saddening in the view before them. The Indian captives, some two +hundred in number, were ascending the heights to the very spot which +they occupied, on their way to the far west. Poor and friendless beings +they were! their worldly store they wore upon their backs, consisting +for the most part of worn out leather garments, and a few worthless +baubles carried in their wallets. They skirted along the brow of the +hill in Indian file--their steps slow and melancholy. They too were +about to leave the scenes of their long sojourn, the broad and fertile +lands which they had inherited from the beginning of time--the honoured +relics of their dead, and all the loved associations which cling to the +heart of the rudest of mankind, when about to leave for ever the shades +of home. They were just entering upon the wearisome pilgrimage of the +exile, under a combination of the most cruel and unfortunate +circumstances, and in a condition the worst calculated to subdue new +countries, and battle with hostile tribes. As they passed in review +before the youthful pair of another race, no sign of recognition +manifested itself. They moved along with the gravity and solemnity of a +funeral procession, until the last of the line stood before them. It was +Wyanokee! She paused--attempted to pass on like her predecessors, but +her feet refused to bear her from the spot, and turning to them she +cried as if the words had burst irresistibly from her heart, "Oh cruel +and treacherous is the white man! See you those braves, going down the +path of yonder hill? So they have been going ever since Powhatan made +the first peace with your race. May the Great Spirit who dwells beyond +the clouds, shower mercies upon you both, equal to the wrongs which +your people have visited upon ours." And having thus spoken she broke +away, and ran swiftly down the hill in pursuit of her countrymen. She +saw that Virginia was struggling with her emotions to speak, and she +rushed away lest she should again be compelled to listen to a subject +which was disagreeable to her. Virginia, before her own departure, had +exhausted her persuasive powers in the vain effort to induce her to +remain. A hope had till now lingered in her heart, that Wyanokee would +follow her to Middle Plantations, and once more take up her abode in her +house, but when she saw the last traces of her receding figure through +the shadowy gloom of the forest, she knew that she looked upon the +Indian maiden for the last time on earth. + +[Footnote 14: The ivy capped ruins of the old church are all that remain +to this day of the ancient city. We trust that no irreverent hands will +ever be laid upon that venerable pile; but that it may be suffered to +stand in its own melancholy grandeur, as long as its materials may cling +together.] + +With swimming eyes the lovers pursued their way across the narrow +peninsula. Virginia sobbed aloud, until she had given vent to her +overcharged heart. But an easy and gentle palfrey, and a devoted and +obsequious lover, do not often fail to revive a lady's spirits, +especially through such scenes as she now beheld, bathed as they were in +the mellow glories of a summer twilight. "Hope told a flattering tale," +and our hero and heroine would have been more or less than mortal, and +wise beyond their years, had they not listened to it. Their laughter was +not loud and joyous, it is true, they were far too happy for that; their +frames trembled with the exquisite pleasure which words warm from and +to the heart produced. Sometimes they were silent indeed, but not for +want of thoughts to interchange. Words had exhausted their power. + +They had not proceeded many miles on their way, and the sun still hung +as it were suspended beyond the purple glories of the horizon, when +Bacon pointed with his riding whip to an object before them which +quickly changed the current of his companion's thoughts. Like human +life, their short journey seemed destined to exhibit many dark and +gloomy shadows. It was the Recluse; he was leaning against a tree, +apparently waiting their approach, for as they rode up, he stepped out +into the highway and saluted them. Virginia trembled upon her saddle +with very different sensations from those to which we have just alluded, +but her lover hastily unfolded to her his name and former delusion. +"This, my young friends," said the Recluse, "is our last meeting on +earth--and I have sought it that I might bless you both, before my +departure from the land in which I have so long been a sojourner and an +exile from the haunts of men." + +"Whither are you going?" asked Bacon in astonishment. "You certainly +will not leave us, now that the very time has arrived when you may dwell +here in safety. I had even calculated upon having you as an inmate at my +house." + +"It cannot be," replied the Recluse. "My destiny calls me to a place far +north of this, where some of my old comrades and now fellow sufferers, +dwell in comparative peace and security. But it is only detaining you +after night fall, to multiply words. May God of his infinite mercy bless +and preserve you both," and thus speaking he also departed, and was seen +no more.[15] + +[Footnote 15: Our authority for assuming that one of the Regicides +secluded himself for a time near Jamestown, may be found in Stiles' +Judges, Chapter VI.] + + * * * * * + +On a certain evening, not very long after the one just spoken of, +General Bacon was married to Miss Virginia Fairfax, and at the same time +and place Charles Dudley, Esq. led to the altar Miss Harriet Harrison. + +After this happy announcement, it becomes our painful duty to cast a +melancholy blemish upon the character of one who has figured in our +narrative. On the two several occasions, namely, of his release from +captivity by the storming and capture of Jamestown, and his master's +marriage, Brian O'Reily was found hopelessly, helplessly drunk; or +according to his own explanation, in that state in which a man feels +upward for the earth. + + +THE END. + + + + +ADDENDA. + + +Should the author's humble labours continue to amuse his countrymen, he +will very soon lay before them "The Tramontane Order; or the Knights of +the Golden Horseshoe;"--an order of Knighthood in the Old Dominion, +which first planted the British standard beyond the Blue Mountains. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Cavaliers of Virginia, by William A. Caruthers + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAVALIERS OF VIRGINIA *** + +***** This file should be named 36753.txt or 36753.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/5/36753/ + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mark C. 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