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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10387 ***
+
+THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME VI, A CENTURY TOO SOON
+
+The Age of Tyranny
+
+By
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+FREELAND A. CARTER
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+MY WIFE,
+
+WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,
+
+THIS BOOK
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+BY
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a "century too soon," being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.
+
+In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in "Pocahontas." The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK.
+
+KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.      THE DUCKING STOOL
+CHAPTER II.     SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE
+CHAPTER III.    THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD
+CHAPTER IV.     THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK
+CHAPTER V.      JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE
+CHAPTER VI.     THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION
+CHAPTER VII.    IN WIDOW'S WEEDS
+CHAPTER VIII.   THE STEPFATHER
+CHAPTER IX.     THE MOVING WORLD
+CHAPTER X.      THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD
+CHAPTER XI.     TYRANNY AND FLIGHT
+CHAPTER XII.    THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE
+CHAPTER XIII.   LEFT ALONE
+CHAPTER XIV.    THE TREASURE SHIP
+CHAPTER XV.     THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE
+CHAPTER XVI.    KING PHILIP'S WAR
+CHAPTER XVII.   NEARING THE VERGE
+CHAPTER XVIII.  THE SWORD OF DEFENCE
+CHAPTER XIX.    THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
+CHAPTER XX.     BACON A REBEL
+CHAPTER XXI.    BURNING OF JAMESTOWN
+CHAPTER XXII.   VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE
+CHAPTER XXIII.  CONCLUSION
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX
+
+CHRONOLOGY
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
+
+
+His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly
+
+Ducking stool
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!"
+
+Once more he bent over the sleeping children
+
+Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams
+
+Stuyvesant
+
+The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life
+
+Blanche could not utter a word of consolation
+
+Oliver Cromwell
+
+"Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+   into pieces
+
+Tomb of Stuyvesant
+
+The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+   the scene
+
+His temper flamed out in word
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+Sir Henry Vane
+
+"Our journey is not one half over!"
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!"
+
+He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him
+
+He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Ruins of Jamestown
+
+The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+   splashing up a jet of water
+
+Map of the period
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURY TOO SOON.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DUCKING-STOOL.
+
+     Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
+     You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
+     Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
+     You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
+     Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
+     Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
+     Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.
+                                        --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+[Illustration: ducking stool]
+
+A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+"ducking-stool." The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.
+
+Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+"Commonwealth" in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or "Roundheads," as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.
+
+The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.
+
+There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.
+
+It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.
+
+Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.
+
+The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.
+
+There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.
+
+"Good morrow, Roger!" said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.
+
+"Good morrow, Hugh," Roger answered.
+
+"What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?" asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. "I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear."
+
+"The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked."
+
+"Marry! what hath she done?"
+
+"Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages."
+
+Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:
+
+"Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water."
+
+"It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you."
+
+"You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?"
+
+"They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How is Sir William Berkeley?"
+
+"He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne."
+
+"Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?"
+
+"Sh--! speak not so loud," said Hugh in an undertone. "There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts."
+
+The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.
+
+"Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger," said Hugh when they were
+seated. "Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored."
+
+"The rule of the Roundheads is mild."
+
+"Mild, bah!" interrupted Hugh, in contempt. "They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle."
+
+"But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses."
+
+"That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired," and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, "It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head."
+
+While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.
+
+"Good wives," said a hard-featured dame of fifty, "I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!"
+
+"Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment," interposed a more cautious sister.
+
+Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:
+
+"I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults."
+
+"Verily, she hath," interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.
+
+"And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?" continued
+dame Woodley,
+
+"Little the pity for him, though," interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.
+
+"Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?"
+
+"The more fool he to maintain such a creature."
+
+"Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved."
+
+"I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle," interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.
+
+"Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall."
+
+At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes."
+
+A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.
+
+"I will give ye a piece of my mind," she declared to her guards.
+
+"Hold your peace, Ann!" cried the eldest of the guards.
+
+"Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought."
+
+"Marry! I wish you were silent."
+
+"Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?"
+
+"No, by the mass, it will not," answered his companion.
+
+"Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!"
+
+"I am not a papist."
+
+"Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with," put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.
+
+The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.
+
+"I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!" she screamed at the
+top of her voice.
+
+"Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat."
+
+"Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm."
+
+"Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground."
+
+The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:
+
+"Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!" she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.
+
+"Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath," cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.
+
+The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:
+
+"It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!"
+
+"Marry! we will be more damp than you," said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.
+
+"Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?"
+
+"Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform."
+
+"Duty; but such a duty!"
+
+She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.
+
+"Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed."
+
+"I am in no hurry," she answered.
+
+"I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over."
+
+The urchins and older persons began to cry:
+
+"Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees."
+
+"I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.
+
+"Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to
+his companion.
+
+The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.
+
+"See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown," said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.
+
+"'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this," she cried. "Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows."
+
+Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.
+
+At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:
+
+"No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court."
+
+Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: "Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?"
+
+"For shame!" whispered Sarah Drummond.
+
+"Yea, verily."
+
+"I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done."
+
+At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:
+
+"They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked."
+
+"John Stevens is a godly man," remarked still another. "He would not
+wrong any one."
+
+"If he were my dearest foe," whispered goodwife Woodley, "he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens."
+
+"Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely," whispered Sarah
+Drummond, "for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall."
+
+All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.
+
+"Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death."
+
+"Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!" she screamed in
+her shrill voice.
+
+"Peace, dame; be still!"
+
+"I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,"
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. "I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood."
+
+Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:
+
+"The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court."
+
+Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:
+
+"It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye."
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, Ann!" said the sheriff.
+
+"I will not," she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.
+
+"Then you shall be plunged hot."
+
+"I care not."
+
+"It may be your death."
+
+"That's what ye want."
+
+"We don't."
+
+"Ye lie, ye wretch!"
+
+"Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace."
+
+"You are a wretch!" she screamed.
+
+The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.
+
+"You are a white-livered wretch!" the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. "I'll scratch
+your eyes out!"
+
+"Let her down," commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.
+
+"I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!" shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.
+
+She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:
+
+"Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?"
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!" she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, "She's a hussy!"
+
+Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:
+
+"You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower."
+
+As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:
+
+"It's true! She is a hussy!"
+
+Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: "She's a hussy!" The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:
+
+"Put her on shore."
+
+The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.
+
+John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:
+
+"Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--"
+
+At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.
+
+     On peace and rest my mind was bent,
+       And fool I was I married;
+     But never honest man's intent
+       As cursedly miscarried.
+                                --BURNS.
+
+In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.
+
+John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the "28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known." He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.
+
+He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.
+
+Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.
+
+In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, "and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church," and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+"Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king."
+
+From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.
+
+John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.
+
+In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.
+
+Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.
+
+Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.
+
+In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.
+
+On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.
+
+John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.
+
+"Were you more prudent, Dorothe," said John, "we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children."
+
+"Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?"
+
+"But other men have helpmates in their wives."
+
+This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.
+
+After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.
+
+"I am going to economize," she declared. "I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed."
+
+Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.
+
+One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:
+
+"Our family has a fortune in Florida."
+
+At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.
+
+"If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?" she asked.
+
+"We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going," he made
+answer.
+
+"And wherefore can you not?"
+
+"St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property."
+
+"Can you not get it? Can you not get it?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Try."
+
+"We have thought to try it."
+
+His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.
+
+There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.
+
+The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.
+
+John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:
+
+"Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?"
+
+"By all means, go to London," answered Drummond.
+
+"Ought I to leave my wife and children?"
+
+"Wherefore not?"
+
+"If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for."
+
+"Your father was a sailor."
+
+"But his son is not."
+
+"Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage."
+
+John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:
+
+"Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?"
+
+"True, yet why shrink from this voyage?"
+
+"A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea."
+
+At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.
+
+"Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy," was Drummond's advice.
+
+"If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,"
+interposed Cheeseman.
+
+"How much is involved?" asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.
+
+"Eight hundred pounds."
+
+"Quite a sum."
+
+"Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for."
+
+"Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them."
+
+With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.
+
+"By all means, go," Hugh advised. "It is your duty to go."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:
+
+"You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society."
+
+"I do not," he answered.
+
+"Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another."
+
+"Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living," answered John, with a
+sigh.
+
+"They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair."
+
+"Women do the same," John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.
+
+"Not so often as the men."
+
+Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.
+
+"My friends all declare that it is my duty to go," he said.
+
+"Your friends! who are your friends?"
+
+"Drummond."
+
+"An ignorant Scotchman."
+
+Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"Mr. Lawerence advises it."
+
+"He is a canting hypocrite."
+
+"Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable."
+
+"Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it."
+
+"Hugh Price agrees with them."
+
+"Does he?" asked Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"He does."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.
+
+"Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it."
+
+The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.
+
+"John," she said, "if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds."
+
+John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go."
+
+"Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries."
+
+"Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return."
+
+"Wherefore not?" cried Mrs. Stevens. "Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate."
+
+Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the "green-eyed
+monster" to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:
+
+"The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave."
+
+"Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you."
+
+Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:
+
+"She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door." But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.
+
+John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.
+
+The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:
+
+"God bless you!"
+
+"Shall I awake them?" his wife asked.
+
+"No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.
+
+"Dear, I do so regret your going!" sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long."
+
+"I will go with you to the boat," she said, hurriedly dressing herself.
+
+John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:
+
+"I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome."
+
+[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]
+
+John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.
+
+Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.
+
+"Farewell, little darling!" and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.
+
+                                       We love
+     The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,
+     And reigns content within them; him we serve
+     Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:
+     But recollecting still that he is a man,
+     We trust him not too far.
+                                              --COWPER.
+
+The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.
+
+The governor, who cared little for the "customs of the race," determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might "make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony," and reproached him with selfish cowardice.
+
+"It is all well for you," they said, "who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places."
+
+The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.
+
+These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.
+
+Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.
+
+One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at "Colaer's Hook," who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. "Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe," says Brodhead, "were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers."
+
+[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]
+
+It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.
+
+Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.
+
+By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the "governor"
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.
+
+Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to "keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together."
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the "Nine." The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this "imprudent entrusting of power with the people."
+
+Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.
+
+The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:
+
+"I have no powder. What can I do?"
+
+After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.
+
+Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused "by that
+infamous surrender." On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.
+
+[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]
+
+On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.
+
+[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]
+
+The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages "after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors." After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.
+
+The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the "Articles of Confederation," each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.
+
+Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a "perfect republic." It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+"silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States."
+
+There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the _Mayflower_
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.
+
+Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his "brother's
+keeper," whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, "except to and from
+church" on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for "suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness," was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+"take heed of his light carriage." The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to "be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly." The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.
+
+In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.
+
+While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.
+
+That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.
+
+All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+"Governor of Carolinia." The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, "freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt." The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+"proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia," promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.
+
+Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+
+                                     The wind
+     Increased at night, until it blew a gale;
+       And though 'twas not much to naval mind,
+     Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,
+       For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:
+     At sunset they began to take in sail.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.
+
+The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft _Silverwing_; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.
+
+His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.
+
+All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.
+
+John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.
+
+The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.
+
+"Surely I will die," he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+"Surely I will die."
+
+The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.
+
+He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.
+
+"Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?" asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.
+
+"My head hurts," John gasped.
+
+"Verily, I ache all over," returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.
+
+At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:
+
+"Good morrow, stranger!"
+
+John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay; the fall was not violent."
+
+The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:
+
+"Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach."
+
+"I am not sick," the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. "I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over."
+
+"I trust so," groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.
+
+"But the sea runs high," the old man said, "let us go in."
+
+John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:
+
+"You do not belong at Jamestown."
+
+"No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown."
+
+"You came in the last ship?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"You did not come alone?"
+
+"No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have."
+
+John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.
+
+From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.
+
+She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.
+
+That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.
+
+Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:
+
+"I want to talk with you."
+
+They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: "We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours."
+
+There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:
+
+"Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm."
+
+"I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector."
+
+John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.
+
+Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.
+
+"It is coming," Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.
+
+"We are going to have a terrible storm," John answered.
+
+"Yes; remember your promise."
+
+"I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest."
+
+"No, no," Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, "I
+have an impression that my time has surely come."
+
+John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.
+
+"Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!" the poor fellow was
+groaning. "Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down."
+
+He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.
+
+John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.
+
+About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:
+
+"Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy." Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.
+
+Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.
+
+At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.
+
+"The storm is terrible," said the old man. "The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it."
+
+"Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart," urged John.
+
+"Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?"
+
+"If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives," said
+John.
+
+"Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near."
+
+John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.
+
+"Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo," he
+cried, "and set the pumps a-going."
+
+Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.
+
+At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.
+
+John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.
+
+"Are we going down?" she asked.
+
+"God grant that it be not so!" he answered.
+
+"But such fearful noises, such hideous sights."
+
+"Be brave, young maid," he urged. "Where is your father?"
+
+"His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless."
+
+At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.
+
+"Aye, my friend, the worst is coming," he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. "I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him."
+
+A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.
+
+At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.
+
+The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.
+
+"We will never reach it," said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.
+
+"Do not despair," said John.
+
+"But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves."
+
+A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+_Silverwing_. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.
+
+John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.
+
+It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.
+
+"It will soon be over," said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. "Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon."
+
+Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.
+
+"Take her! take her!" cried Mr. Holmes frantically. "I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer."
+
+A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.
+
+It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.
+
+John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.
+
+"Father--father!" she faintly murmured.
+
+"He is gone," John answered.
+
+"Is this you?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cling to me."
+
+"I will. We will survive or perish together."
+
+Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.
+
+     The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,
+       The furrow followed free;
+     We were the first that ever burst
+       Into that silent sea.
+
+     Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
+       'Twas sad as sad could be;
+     And we did speak only to break
+       The silence of the sea.
+                                         --COLERIDGE.
+
+Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.
+
+John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.
+
+Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.
+
+Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.
+
+"Are we all?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was no one saved?"
+
+"None but ourselves."
+
+"And the ship?"
+
+"Is a hopeless wreck on the sands," he answered.
+
+As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.
+
+Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:
+
+"Do you know where we are?"
+
+"No."
+
+The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.
+
+John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.
+
+They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.
+
+It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.
+
+"Is this country inhabited?" asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.
+
+"I fear not," he answered; "or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages."
+
+"Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate."
+
+"I will not desert you," he answered.
+
+They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.
+
+"We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts," said John.
+
+"Can we not go back for them?"
+
+"Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?" he asked.
+
+She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.
+
+"You won't be long gone?" she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.
+
+"No."
+
+He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.
+
+A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.
+
+Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:
+
+"Have you seen any one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I have brought some food."
+
+"It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty," she said.
+
+"We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water," he said
+hopefully.
+
+John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.
+
+"It might have been worse," she thought. "While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land."
+
+Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.
+
+"Heaven help us ere we perish," he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. "If we don't find water soon she will die."
+
+He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.
+
+All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:
+
+"I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring."
+
+She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.
+
+John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.
+
+Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.
+
+"Now let us have food," said John.
+
+The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.
+
+"Can we from there determine what land we are on?" she asked.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"If there be cities, will we see them?"
+
+"We shall," he answered.
+
+"Have you no hopes nor fears?"
+
+"I have both."
+
+"What are your hopes?"
+
+"My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands."
+
+"And your fears?"
+
+"That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards."
+
+"Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?"
+
+"No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were."
+
+"Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth," reasoned Blanche.
+
+"Are you strong enough for the walk?"
+
+She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.
+
+The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.
+
+John called a halt and asked:
+
+"Shall we go on, or return to the beach?"
+
+Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.
+
+They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.
+
+"Will it not be carried off?" Blanche asked.
+
+"No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out."
+
+John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.
+
+They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.
+
+"Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?" asked John.
+
+"No, we have nothing to fear."
+
+"I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited."
+
+She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.
+
+A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.
+
+"If a beast," he thought, "it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast."
+
+From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.
+
+"Blanche will be lonesome," he thought. "Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can."
+
+Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.
+
+He searched the ground, and saw footprints.
+
+"Some animals have been here," he thought. "They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone."
+
+It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.
+
+He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.
+
+"Then there are animals on the land," she said.
+
+"Yes; but they are not dangerous," he returned. "These animals may
+prove useful to us for food."
+
+"I hope so."
+
+After several moments, she asked:
+
+"How long must we stay?"
+
+"I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?"
+
+"No, not to-night," she answered with a shudder. "I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night."
+
+He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.
+
+Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.
+
+As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?
+
+"Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me," he prayed.
+
+His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:
+
+"The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns."
+
+John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.
+
+In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:
+
+"What was it? Are we attacked?"
+
+"Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,"
+assured John.
+
+The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.
+
+     I am monarch of all I survey,
+       My right there is none to dispute:
+     From the centre all round to the sea
+       I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
+     O Solitude! where are the charms
+       That sages have seen in thy face?
+     Better dwell in the midst of alarms
+       Than reign in this horrible place.
+                                        --COWPER.
+
+Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.
+
+He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.
+
+Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.
+
+"What are they?" she asked.
+
+"I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them."
+
+Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.
+
+"It is a goat," he said. "The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them."
+
+A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.
+
+The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.
+
+Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.
+
+Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.
+
+"We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck," he said, "and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.
+
+"How long will that stay be?" she asked.
+
+"God in heaven alone can tell."
+
+"Surely some passing ship will see us."
+
+He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.
+
+Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.
+
+The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.
+
+The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.
+
+At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.
+
+Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.
+
+Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.
+
+Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.
+
+John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.
+
+Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.
+
+It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.
+
+"Read more," she said when he had finished the page. "What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us."
+
+"Verily, it is a comfort."
+
+"Should we die here, He will be with us."
+
+"God is everywhere. He will not desert us," John said.
+
+"But I hope we will yet be rescued."
+
+"I trust so."
+
+He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.
+
+"You are stronger than I," she said, "why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us."
+
+The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:
+
+"God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance."
+
+"My burden is greater than I can bear."
+
+"Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength."
+
+"You are all alone in the world, Blanche."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have not a relative living."
+
+"No, my father was lost."
+
+"I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home."
+
+"Helpless--"
+
+"My wife and children."
+
+Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.
+
+"I left them to better my fortune," he continued. "They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!"
+
+His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:
+
+"Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along."
+
+"I did not care to burden you with my griefs."
+
+"Trust in God."
+
+"I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children."
+
+"They have their mother."
+
+"She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector."
+
+[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]
+
+Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.
+
+The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.
+
+He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?
+
+"Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?"
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.
+
+"If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it."
+
+"How is our own boat?"
+
+"Too frail. The boards are almost rotten."
+
+"Then why not make one?"
+
+The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.
+
+Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:
+
+"Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted."
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.
+
+The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.
+
+With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.
+
+Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.
+
+One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.
+
+Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:
+
+"God send some ship to deliver me!"
+
+Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.
+
+"How could I live here without you, Blanche?" he said one day.
+
+"Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," she answered. "Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse." Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.
+
+In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.
+
+"I went to the cliff this morning," she said, "thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed."
+
+"Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!"
+
+After a long silence, he asked:
+
+"Blanche, how long have we been here?"
+
+"Ten years," she answered.
+
+Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.
+
+Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.
+
+"Blanche, would ten years change a baby?" John asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then my baby is a baby no longer," sighed the father.
+
+"No; she is a pretty little girl now."
+
+"And has no recollection of her father?"
+
+"How could she?"
+
+"But my little boy?"
+
+"He was five when you left home?"
+
+"No, not quite; four and some months."
+
+"Then he would remember you."
+
+"He is a good-sized boy."
+
+"Almost fifteen," she answered.
+
+"Heaven grant I may yet see them!"
+
+"Amen!" replied Blanche. "God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard."
+
+John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.
+
+"When he talks of them," Blanche thought, "he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation."
+
+Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.
+
+     Go; you may call it madness, folly;
+     You may not chase my gloom away.
+     There's such a charm in melancholy,
+     I would not, if I could, be gay.
+                                    --ROGERS.
+
+Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.
+
+Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.
+
+Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship _Silverwing_; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.
+
+"I must do something," she declared, "to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually."
+
+Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.
+
+Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.
+
+"Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?" one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.
+
+"No."
+
+"He has been a long time gone."
+
+"Yes; but he will return."
+
+"The _Silverwing_ has not yet reached London."
+
+"How know you that?" she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.
+
+"The _Ocean Star_ hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+_Silverwing_."
+
+"It left before the _Silverwing_ arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure," and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.
+
+Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.
+
+When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.
+
+"Why don't John come back with the money?" she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. "I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live."
+
+"You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens," one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. "Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:
+
+"She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy."
+
+No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.
+
+"When John comes back, all will change," she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the _Silverwing_ was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.
+
+Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.
+
+She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.
+
+"You are welcome. Come and share our home," was the response.
+
+Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.
+
+Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.
+
+In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]
+
+The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that "might makes
+right" justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the "last argument of kings," to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.
+
+Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.
+
+The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.
+
+Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.
+
+"Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it," he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:
+
+"Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds."
+
+The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of "Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:
+
+"Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon."
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]
+
+The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:
+
+"I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers," and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:
+
+"I had much rather be carried out dead."
+
+At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had "a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,"
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.
+
+The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.
+
+The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.
+
+So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.
+
+Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+"unsettled persons," libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.
+
+Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.
+
+The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+"unclothed souls of the people." Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.
+
+Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+"harboring Quakers," imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.
+
+Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.
+
+The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.
+
+A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.
+
+Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.
+
+The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.
+
+The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.
+
+The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the "Old Dominion" from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.
+
+In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+"Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful." The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.
+
+No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.
+
+For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.
+
+"It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price", said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. "The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored."
+
+The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STEPFATHER.
+
+               Mother, for the love of grace
+     Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
+     That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
+     It will skin and film the ulcerous place;
+     While rank corruption, winning all within,
+     Infects unseen--
+                                      --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.
+
+"Hugh Price will surely wed her," said Sarah Drummond.
+
+No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.
+
+He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.
+
+"Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him."
+
+Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:
+
+"Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?"
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)
+
+"No!" cried the boy, indignantly.
+
+"By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?"
+
+Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:
+
+"I will kill him!"
+
+William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:
+
+"Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master."
+
+Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.
+
+Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would "speak his mind." The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.
+
+Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.
+
+It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--"
+
+Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?"
+
+"It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot."
+
+"So it is," Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+"Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you."
+
+"Indeed it has," answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--"
+
+Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.
+
+Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:
+
+"Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given," and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.
+
+Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:
+
+"I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so," replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.
+
+"Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?" He was getting at it
+at last.
+
+"Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!" said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. "Oh, what a
+question!"
+
+The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.
+
+That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:
+
+"You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens."
+
+"Lonely, oh, so lonely!" and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.
+
+"I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care."
+
+By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.
+
+At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.
+
+Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:
+
+"She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house."
+
+"Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will."
+
+"I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her."
+
+"Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains."
+
+On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.
+
+"It will be better to let her have her way," he concluded. "Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!"
+
+The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.
+
+[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]
+
+Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:
+
+"I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control."
+
+Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.
+
+Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.
+
+It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.
+
+Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.
+
+One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.
+
+"I am so glad we are going," said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. "Mother was good to let us go."
+
+"I am s'prised at the missus," the negro said, shaking his head.
+"Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen."
+
+"Why?" asked Robert.
+
+"Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen."
+
+Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:
+
+"Is there any danger of Indians?"
+
+So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.
+
+"Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come."
+
+"But they must not come."
+
+"No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um."
+
+Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.
+
+Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:
+
+"Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now."
+
+Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.
+
+Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.
+
+The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.
+
+One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:
+
+"Ho! master Robert, I have news for you," he called to the lad.
+
+"William Stump, when did you come?" he asked.
+
+"But this day," was the answer.
+
+"Where are you from?"
+
+"Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?"
+
+"I have heard nothing."
+
+"Your mother hath married," cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.
+
+"It is false!" cried Robert.
+
+"By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier," and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. "It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow," and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.
+
+On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:
+
+"Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?"
+
+She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.
+
+"Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was he like Mr. Price?"
+
+"No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart."
+
+"Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?" she asked.
+
+Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.
+
+"Yes, he cannot drive us from home," he said.
+
+"But mother will love us no longer."
+
+"She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love."
+
+Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.
+
+Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.
+
+Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:
+
+"I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um."
+
+The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.
+
+Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.
+
+Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.
+
+"Where is mother, Dinah?" she asked her mother's housekeeper.
+
+"In de house, chile, waitin' for you," she answered.
+
+Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.
+
+"Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you."
+
+It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:
+
+"I cannot call him father."
+
+"You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile.
+
+"Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother.
+
+Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:
+
+"Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!"
+
+"You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE MOVING WORLD.
+
+     If we could look down the long vista of ages,
+       And witness the changes of time,
+     Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages
+       A key to this vision sublime;
+     We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,
+       And all its magnificence trace,
+     Give honor to man for his genius and might,
+       And glory to God for his grace.
+                                           --PAXTON.
+
+After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.
+
+Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his _bowerie_ or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.
+
+The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: "Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague."
+
+Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should "have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes." This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.
+
+The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.
+
+With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.
+
+The Dutch had taken New York.
+
+The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.
+
+The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.
+
+In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.
+
+After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+"Nova Caesarea or New Jersey," in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.
+
+Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: "The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there." It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. "Christian servants" were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.
+
+It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:
+
+"Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.
+
+"Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'"
+
+The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.
+
+In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.
+
+The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.
+
+After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.
+
+Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the _alluvion_ of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.
+
+Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.
+
+Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.
+
+The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.
+
+The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.
+
+"Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.
+
+"The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal."
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]
+
+Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: "Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal," and it was added: "all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations."
+
+In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.
+
+The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.
+
+     "Adieu! adieu! My native shore
+       Fades o'er the waters blue.
+     The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,
+       And shrieks the wild sea-mew."
+
+At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.
+
+No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.
+
+The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.
+
+The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.
+
+There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:
+
+"God save the King!"
+
+No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.
+
+The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:
+
+"I am very hungry."
+
+He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.
+
+The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:
+
+"Have you money to pay for that which you ask?"
+
+"I have," and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:
+
+"You can have what you ask!"
+
+The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:
+
+"Will supper be ready soon?"
+
+"Directly."
+
+The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.
+
+"Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!"
+
+"Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?"
+
+She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:
+
+"How know you this?"
+
+"Mrs. Johnson hath told me."
+
+The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:
+
+"What must be done?"
+
+"Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay."
+
+The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:
+
+"I cannot make room for you!"
+
+Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:
+
+"What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread," and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:
+
+"Nay, it is not that."
+
+"Pray, what is it?"
+
+"I doubt not that you have the money."
+
+"Then why refuse me what I ask?"
+
+"I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken."
+
+The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:
+
+"Put us in the stables; we are used to it."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that."
+
+The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:
+
+"The horses take up all the room."
+
+The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:
+
+"We will find some corner in which to lie after supper."
+
+"I will give you no supper."
+
+This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.
+
+"Can you, a Christian, speak thus?" he cried. "We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food."
+
+"I have none for you," said the landlord.
+
+"What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?"
+
+"It is all ordered."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam."
+
+"You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving."
+
+The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative "Ahem!" from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:
+
+"I have not a morsel to spare."
+
+"I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,"
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:
+
+"Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured."
+
+He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:
+
+"I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off."
+
+For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.
+
+Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.
+
+"Who is there?" the landlord asked.
+
+"A traveller and his child who want supper and bed."
+
+"Very good. They are to be had here."
+
+A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.
+
+The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.
+
+"What would I better do?" asked the landlord in amazement.
+
+"Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such."
+
+This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:
+
+"You must be off."
+
+At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:
+
+"You know me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"We were turned away from the other inn."
+
+"So you will be from this."
+
+"Where would you have us go?"
+
+"Anywhere so you leave my house."
+
+The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:
+
+"Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?"
+
+"No, I will have none of you with me."
+
+"But she hath done no wrong," persisted the father.
+
+The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:
+
+"It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you."
+
+The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:
+
+"Ester!"
+
+She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.
+
+"We must go," the father said, sadly.
+
+She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.
+
+They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.
+
+"Papa, I am so hungry and so tired," she whispered. "Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?"
+
+Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:
+
+"I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?"
+
+"Who are you?" asked the smith.
+
+"We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us."
+
+The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a _regicide_ might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:
+
+"Why do you not go to one of the inns?"
+
+"There is no room there."
+
+"Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?"
+
+"I have been to all."
+
+"Well?"
+
+The traveller continued with some hesitation, "I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in."
+
+The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: "It is the same, a man with a child." Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:
+
+"Be off."
+
+The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:
+
+"No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber."
+
+He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.
+
+"I am so hungry," murmured Ester. "If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree."
+
+He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:
+
+"If I am made a savage let all the world beware."
+
+They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:
+
+"Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?"
+
+"I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us."
+
+"Surely not all!"
+
+"I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution."
+
+"Have you called at that house?" she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.
+
+"No, who lives there?"
+
+"Mathew Stevens, a very good old man."
+
+"Has he a heart? Is he brave?"
+
+"He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions."
+
+The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.
+
+     "Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
+     Some boundless contiguity of shade,
+     Where rumor of oppression and deceit,
+     Of successful or unsuccessful war,
+     Might never reach me more."
+                                     --Cowper.
+
+When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the "Oliverian Plot" was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to "anticipate the period of their
+freedom," and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.
+
+Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.
+
+At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.
+
+When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.
+
+"Robert," he said, pressing his lips firmly together, "do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?"
+
+"No," was the answer.
+
+"I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him."
+
+Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:
+
+"If you beat me I will kill you."
+
+For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:
+
+"Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable."
+
+Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.
+
+On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.
+
+When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:
+
+"Oh, Robert, I heard it all!"
+
+"Mother, I mean it!" he answered.
+
+"No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert."
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not."
+
+Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.
+
+Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.
+
+Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.
+
+It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.
+
+One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.
+
+That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:
+
+"I may as well do it now as ever."
+
+Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:
+
+"Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!"
+
+Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:
+
+"The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house."
+
+"Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future."
+
+"No, no, indeed, Robert!" he answered. "The time has come to convince
+you that I am master."
+
+He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.
+
+It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.
+
+After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.
+
+He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.
+
+"Where is Rebecca?" he asked.
+
+"Waiten," was the answer.
+
+"Waiting for what?"
+
+"For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away."
+
+"Where?"
+
+The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.
+
+"When are we to go, Dinah?"
+
+"To-morrow, Massa."
+
+"Is that why Mr. Price left?"
+
+"Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again."
+
+"Shall I see mother?"
+
+"Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober."
+
+Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.
+
+Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.
+
+Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.
+
+He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.
+
+"Are you favorable to royalty?" he asked Robert one day. "Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?"
+
+"I certainly do," Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.
+
+"So do I--ahem--so do I;" and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. "Would you fight for such principles?"
+
+"I would."
+
+"So would I--ahem, so would I," cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. "I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne."
+
+Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.
+
+"Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you."
+
+"Hang me! I defy him!" cried Mr. Peram.
+
+His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked Giles. "Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power."
+
+"Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes," answered
+Robert.
+
+Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.
+
+At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.
+
+"Fear him not, my lord," said Hugh. "He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you."
+
+Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.
+
+"Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley."
+
+Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.
+
+Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:
+
+"Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet."
+
+His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.
+
+One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.
+
+"Of what offence am I accused?" he asked.
+
+"Treason."
+
+"Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason."
+
+The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.
+
+Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.
+
+One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.
+
+They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.
+
+"Friends," a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. "We have come to liberate you."
+
+He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.
+
+"There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston," said Mr.
+Lawerence. "You will go aboard of her and escape."
+
+"Can I see my mother and sister before I go?"
+
+"They are waiting on the beach," Drummond answered.
+
+Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.
+
+"I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right."
+
+"Have you money?" asked Mr. Drummond.
+
+"None."
+
+"Here is some," and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.
+
+"My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?"
+
+"Talk not of repayment," Drummond answered, "but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness."
+
+The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.
+
+     When thy beauty appears
+     In its graces and airs,
+       All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky
+     At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,
+       So strangely you dazzle my eyes.
+                                             --PARNELL.
+
+One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.
+
+He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:
+
+"Come, any who will, and fight me with swords."
+
+Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.
+
+"I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?"
+
+"I will," a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.
+
+This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Some madman."
+
+"Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage," cried another.
+
+But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," was the answer.
+
+"Guard!"
+
+He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.
+
+[Illustration: "ARE YOU READY?"]
+
+"Zounds! master what are you about?" cried the fencing-master.
+
+"Marry! I am teaching you new tactics." Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:
+
+"I will have it out with you with these."
+
+At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:
+
+"Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life."
+
+The alarmed fencing-master cried out:
+
+"Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me."
+
+In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.
+
+Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.
+
+John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.
+
+Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to "the glorious cause" of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.
+
+[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]
+
+After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. "He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come." When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:
+
+"Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?"
+
+"I stand single," Vane defiantly answered. "Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood."
+
+Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:
+
+"Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way."
+
+Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:
+
+"I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it." His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. "The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father."
+
+His farewell counsel was:
+
+"Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God." When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: "I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart."
+
+He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.
+
+He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express "purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England."
+
+Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.
+
+Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.
+
+It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.
+
+"Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?" he asked, taking his hand.
+
+"No, sir, I just came in on the vessel."
+
+"Whom do you wish to see?"
+
+"Some relatives named Stevens."
+
+"Is your name Stevens?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"And you are from Virginia?" the old man asked.
+
+"Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?"
+
+Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:
+
+"Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?"
+
+"John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young."
+
+"And your grandfather was--"
+
+"Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith."
+
+"I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives." He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.
+
+"Surely you have no one to fear?" said Robert.
+
+"Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat."
+
+"But he said something. He called you a name."
+
+"What name?"
+
+"Goffe."
+
+"What know you of Goffe, pray?"
+
+"I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide."
+
+The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:
+
+"Do you know what a regicide is?"
+
+"A king-killer."
+
+"Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?"
+
+"He should," cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. "A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm."
+
+"Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?"
+
+"No; I left my colony because I could not abide there."
+
+"What! a fugitive?"
+
+"I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston."
+
+"And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?"
+
+"On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted."
+
+General Goffe shook his white locks and said:
+
+"So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time."
+
+They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.
+
+Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:
+
+"Father, father, father!"
+
+"Ester, my child," the swordsman returned, "have you been happy?"
+
+"Happy as one could be with father away."
+
+"Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more."
+
+All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:
+
+"Whom have we here?"
+
+The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.
+
+"This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia."
+
+"Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea."
+
+"He was," Robert answered sadly.
+
+"And your mother?"
+
+"Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier."
+
+Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.
+
+When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.
+
+Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.
+
+The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.
+
+"He is gone," she answered. "The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped."
+
+"Whither has he gone?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"What would be his fate if he should be taken?"
+
+"He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide."
+
+"You must suffer uneasiness."
+
+"I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power."
+
+Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.
+
+The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.
+
+There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.
+
+Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:
+
+"The king's men are coming."
+
+In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.
+
+"Do not surrender; I will defend you," cried Robert.
+
+He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.
+
+It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.
+
+Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LEFT ALONE.
+
+     Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream
+       Of life will vanish from my brain;
+     And death my wearied spirit will redeem
+       From this wild region of unvaried pain.
+                                           --WHITE.
+
+For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.
+
+For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.
+
+One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.
+
+"Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them."
+
+Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:
+
+"It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy."
+
+Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.
+
+"You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home," she said.
+
+"No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here."
+
+She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:
+
+"I am sorry for you."
+
+"Are you not sorry for yourself?"
+
+"No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am." Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:
+
+"Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have."
+
+"Do not blame yourself," she sighed. "Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration."
+
+"But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness."
+
+His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.
+
+In order to change the subject, he said:
+
+"Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top." (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) "It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail."
+
+The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.
+
+"When do you think of going?" she asked.
+
+"The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready."
+
+"I will go with you."
+
+"No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance."
+
+With a smile, she answered:
+
+"Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this."
+
+"Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength."
+
+"I can go wherever you do," she answered.
+
+He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.
+
+Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.
+
+The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.
+
+On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.
+
+At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.
+
+"Are you tired?" John asked.
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Let us sit and rest."
+
+"The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain."
+
+"Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche."
+
+They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.
+
+John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.
+
+Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.
+
+Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.
+
+There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.
+
+"Blanche, are you cold?" he asked.
+
+She, smiling, answered:
+
+"Never mind me, I can stand it."
+
+"The air is chill."
+
+"It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain."
+
+"The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"It seems almost perpendicular."
+
+"So it does."
+
+"I see no way to scale it from here."
+
+"Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach."
+
+When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.
+
+The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.
+
+When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.
+
+[Illustration: "OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER."]
+
+Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.
+
+"Do you feel equal to the task?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Our journey is not one-half over."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"And the last half will be more trying than the first."
+
+"I will go with you," she answered cheerfully.
+
+To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.
+
+Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.
+
+"Here it is," John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.
+
+A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.
+
+"Do you see any sail?" she asked.
+
+"None."
+
+"Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered."
+
+"I know not where we are."
+
+The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.
+
+"We cannot return home to-night," said Blanche.
+
+"No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain."
+
+The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.
+
+"I am freezing," said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.
+
+All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.
+
+"No, no; I can walk," she said.
+
+"But you are so chilled and so weak."
+
+"Exercise will warm me and give me strength," she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.
+
+"I don't care to venture up there again," said John.
+
+"Nor do I," sighed his companion. "So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it."
+
+"I am, likewise."
+
+For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:
+
+"Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother."
+
+"Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone," said
+John.
+
+She went on:
+
+"And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!"
+
+"I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!"
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever."
+
+She laughingly answered:
+
+"It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top."
+
+He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.
+
+In a moment he was at her side.
+
+"What is the matter, Blanche?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"I have a pain in my side."
+
+He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!" said John.
+
+"I am so hot, I burn with thirst," she answered.
+
+"You shall have water." There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.
+
+"It is so good of you," the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.
+
+John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:
+
+"You can do no more."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche," he almost sobbed, "Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang."
+
+"I know it," she answered.
+
+"What will you have me do?"
+
+"Sit by my side."
+
+He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.
+
+"Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near."
+
+He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.
+
+Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.
+
+John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.
+
+"Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?" he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:
+
+"It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this."
+
+"No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going."
+
+She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:
+
+"Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Your wife--"
+
+"Blanche!"
+
+"Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going."
+
+He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live."
+
+"No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over."
+
+"I shall not, Blanche; I shall not," cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.
+
+"It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother."
+
+"God grant that I may, poor girl."
+
+"Pray with me."
+
+He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:
+
+"Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'"
+
+An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.
+
+Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:
+
+"Alone--left alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TREASURE SHIP.
+
+     "O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)
+       That blowest to the west,
+     Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings
+       To the land that I love best,
+     How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,
+       Like a sea-bird I would sail."
+                                  --PRINGLE.
+
+When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.
+
+Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?"
+
+John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:
+
+"Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun." To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.
+
+He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.
+
+Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.
+
+It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.
+
+He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.
+
+To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.
+
+At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.
+
+Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.
+
+Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.
+
+One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy "Boom!"
+
+The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.
+
+"Boom!"
+
+A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.
+
+"God in heaven! can it be cannon?" cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.
+
+"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
+
+Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.
+
+Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.
+
+John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.
+
+The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.
+
+John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.
+
+The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.
+
+Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.
+
+While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.
+
+For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.
+
+Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.
+
+It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.
+
+Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.
+
+Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.
+
+After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.
+
+A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.
+
+The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.
+
+John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.
+
+Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:
+
+"Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!"
+
+John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.
+
+Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.
+
+He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.
+
+The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.
+
+"What can it contain, that is so heavy?" he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.
+
+John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.
+
+Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.
+
+After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.
+
+Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:
+
+"O God, why is such a fate mine?"
+
+Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+     Strange that when nature loved to trace
+     As if for God a dwelling place,
+     And every charm of grace hath mixed
+     Within the paradise she fixed,
+     There man, enamoured of distress,
+     Should mar it into wilderness.
+                                     --BYRON.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.
+
+Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:
+
+"Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?"
+
+"I do, sire," Clarendon answered.
+
+"It shall be done," said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.
+
+The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.
+
+While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.
+
+Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.
+
+It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.
+
+Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that "all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God." Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; "so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island." Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.
+
+Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the "sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people," the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.
+
+Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.
+
+For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.
+
+When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.
+
+Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for "the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties," and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.
+
+"Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age."
+
+So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.
+
+Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.
+
+As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:
+
+"DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.
+
+"A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.
+
+"If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.
+
+"If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.
+
+"God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.
+
+"It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations."
+
+The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.
+
+From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.
+
+Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for "irreverent speeches."
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts "as traitors and
+rebels against the king"; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.
+
+The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+"which nature could desire or wit invent"; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.
+
+Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was "a great
+trade in deal boards."
+
+A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those "wrecks of humanity," by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.
+
+The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.
+
+The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.
+
+Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.
+
+The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.
+
+They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.
+
+"We are lost! We are lost!" some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!" he cried.
+
+"Who is he?" was the general query, which no one could answer save: "He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us."
+
+It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.
+
+When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+KING PHILIP'S WAR.
+
+                    Oh, there be some
+     Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength
+     Of grappling agony, do stare at you,
+     With their dead eyes half opened.
+     And there be some struck through with bristling darts
+     Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;
+     Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.
+                                                 --BAILLIE.
+
+Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.
+
+But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.
+
+There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.
+
+The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.
+
+Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as "most suitable and
+convenient for them," where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.
+
+Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that "many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English."
+
+There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his "English arms," and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.
+
+The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.
+
+King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as "a slow firing gun" compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.
+
+The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.
+
+Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.
+
+Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.
+
+Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.
+
+At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.
+
+Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:
+
+"Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!" The boats took him
+at his word.
+
+The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.
+
+Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.
+
+The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.
+
+They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.
+
+A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.
+
+About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called "Muddy Brook." Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, "the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.
+
+Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.
+
+The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.
+
+King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.
+
+After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.
+
+Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.
+
+Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.
+
+At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.
+
+After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.
+
+On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. "Quickly," says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, "it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water."
+
+Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.
+
+Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.
+
+The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.
+
+The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.
+
+On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.
+
+The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.
+
+In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.
+
+On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.
+
+Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.
+
+Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.
+
+"There comes the devil Philip now!" cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.
+
+The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NEARING THE VERGE.
+
+     At times there come, as come there ought,
+     Grave moments of sedater thought.
+     When fortune frowns, nor lends our night
+     One gleam of her inconstant light:
+     And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,
+     Shines like the rainbow through the shower.
+                                      --CUNNINGHAM.
+
+Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.
+
+"How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!" were among the
+exclamations of his mother.
+
+Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:
+
+"I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough."
+
+When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.
+
+It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.
+
+The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:
+
+"Robert, I want to see you in my study."
+
+His "study" was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:
+
+"Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you."
+
+Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.
+
+"Robert, you have come back," began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. "I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me."
+
+Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:
+
+"We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice."
+
+"I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia," Robert
+answered.
+
+"Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed."
+
+Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.
+
+"Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold."
+
+The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:
+
+"The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them."
+
+"The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing," Robert ventured
+to put in.
+
+"Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?"
+
+"The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses."
+
+At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:
+
+"I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!"
+
+Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+"Virginia" in regard to some of them:
+
+"The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families."
+
+With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:
+
+"Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated."
+
+"He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being," Robert answered.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate."
+
+"I hardly comprehend you."
+
+"There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously."
+
+"Why does he not?"
+
+"He has good reasons."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted."
+
+Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:
+
+"Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?"
+
+"Such talk is treason," cried Price. "It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?"
+
+"I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before."
+
+"Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them."
+
+Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.
+
+His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.
+
+"Hold your peace, my son," plead the mother, "and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother."
+
+Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:
+
+"Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger."
+
+"But your stepfather and you?"
+
+"We have had no new quarrel."
+
+He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.
+
+"Good day, good people," he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. "I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him."
+
+Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:
+
+"Do you allow him to come here?"
+
+"We must," she whispered.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon."
+
+"You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor."
+
+"He is the governor's secretary."
+
+"I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here."
+
+The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:
+
+"Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?"
+
+"Why do you dare enter this house?" demanded Robert, fiercely.
+
+"Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.
+
+"Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?"
+
+"Perhaps it is Mr. Price!" the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:
+
+"Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor."
+
+He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.
+
+Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.
+
+He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.
+
+"I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment," he said in a fit of anger.
+
+It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:
+
+"I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis."
+
+"What is the crisis?" Robert asked.
+
+"We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us."
+
+"I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?"
+
+Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen."
+
+"Is it such a great grievance to the people?"
+
+"It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'"
+
+"To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons," put in
+Mr. Drummond.
+
+"Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians," added Mr. Cheeseman. "These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony."
+
+"What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?" asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:
+
+"Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people."
+
+"Are they?" asked Robert.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why does he not send an army against them?"
+
+"He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war."
+
+"Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?"
+
+"With him, it is."
+
+Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.
+
+     He stood--some dread was on his face,
+     Soon hatred settled in its place:
+     It rose not with the reddening flush
+     Of transient anger's hasty blush,
+     But pale as marble o'er the tomb,
+     Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.
+                                          --BYRON.
+
+Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.
+
+Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:
+
+"_Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!_"
+
+Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.
+
+"His office is for life," sighed Robert. "And too much power hath made
+him mad."
+
+Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:
+
+"No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you."
+
+"Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?"
+
+"No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not."
+
+"But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you."
+
+At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.
+
+Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!" his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.
+
+"You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?" cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:
+
+"Where is mother?"
+
+"She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings."
+
+"And left you alone?"
+
+"It was thought you would come."
+
+Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.
+
+"Have you suffered annoyances from him before?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Does mother know of it?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"And makes no effort to protect you?"
+
+[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]
+
+"She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage."
+
+"I think I understand why you were left," said Robert, bitterly; "but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's."
+
+"Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died."
+
+"But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure."
+
+With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.
+
+Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.
+
+The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.
+
+"If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds."
+
+At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:
+
+"Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense."
+
+"Which is very extraordinary," put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.
+
+Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.
+
+Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.
+
+That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, going to the window.
+
+"I am Drummond," was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.
+
+"What will you, Mr. Drummond?"
+
+"Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them."
+
+Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:
+
+"The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives."
+
+Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.
+
+"You will have aid," assured Mr. Drummond. "The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians."
+
+"Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?"
+
+"We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir."
+
+"Has he ability for a leader?" asked Robert.
+
+"He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council."
+
+This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, "of a precipitate disposition."
+
+Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as "Bacon's Quarter Branch." His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.
+
+When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:
+
+"If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission."
+
+The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.
+
+In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.
+
+Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.
+
+It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.
+
+He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"It is your brother," he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.
+
+Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.
+
+"Who is that man?" Robert asked.
+
+"Nathaniel Bacon," was the answer.
+
+This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.
+
+Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.
+
+"Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled," Bacon said, "that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold."
+
+All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.
+
+"I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians," Robert
+explained, "and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort."
+
+"Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia."
+
+Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.
+
+Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
+
+Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
+
+The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.
+
+John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.
+
+The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:
+
+"There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!"
+
+Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.
+
+"There are the enemy; storm the fort!" cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.
+
+Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.
+
+Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.
+
+The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the "Battle of Bloody Run," so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.
+
+The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.
+
+Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.
+
+When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.
+
+The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.
+
+"Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?" the governor asked.
+
+"No, may it please your honor," Bacon answered, quite coolly.
+
+"Then I will take your parole," said Berkeley.
+
+Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only "appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.
+
+     'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?
+       Have you met with that dreadful old man?
+     If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;
+       For catch you he must and he can.'
+                                                 --HOLMES.
+
+Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.
+
+"How are you, Robert--ahem?" began Giles. "This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you."
+
+"You can spare yourself any tears on my account," the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:
+
+"Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?"
+
+"I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance."
+
+"I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is."
+
+"It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty."
+
+It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.
+
+Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:
+
+"Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace." Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:
+
+"God forgive you; I forgive you," and three times he repeated the words.
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.
+
+Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:
+
+"Yes, and all that were with him." As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: "Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there," pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.
+
+The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at "the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.
+
+One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.
+
+Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:
+
+"DESPAIR."
+
+What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.
+
+Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.
+
+The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:
+
+"This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown."
+
+That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.
+
+When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.
+
+The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.
+
+After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.
+
+The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.
+
+The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.
+
+Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:
+
+"Whence came you, stranger?"
+
+"From Liverpool."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship _Despair_, which
+lies at anchor in your bay."
+
+"But surely you are not of England?"
+
+"I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death."
+
+The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion."
+
+Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:
+
+"Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship."
+
+"But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?"
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed."
+
+There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:
+
+"It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine."
+
+"But the king?"
+
+"They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years."
+
+The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.
+
+"Have you ever been in Virginia before?" the governor asked.
+
+"Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then."
+
+"How long will you stay?"
+
+"I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me."
+
+"What is your wish, Sir Albert?"
+
+"I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance," and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.
+
+"This is strange," said the governor. "An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time."
+
+"I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally." The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.
+
+For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.
+
+"Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst," said the stranger.
+
+Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:
+
+"Have you lived long in Virginia?"
+
+"I was born here, good sir."
+
+"Then you must know all of Jamestown?"
+
+"Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England."
+
+"Your home is still here?"
+
+With a sigh, Robert answered:
+
+"It is, though I do not live in it now."
+
+Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.
+
+All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the _Despair_.
+
+After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:
+
+"Oh, how extraordinary!"
+
+Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:
+
+"Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns."
+
+Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:
+
+"For what is that ugly machine used?"
+
+"It is a ducking-stool for scolds," was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+"Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed."
+
+"For whom was it built?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water."
+
+The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. "But to the last," the narrator
+resumed, "she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually."
+
+Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.
+
+No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.
+
+"Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love."
+
+"Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!"
+
+"Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name."
+
+In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:
+
+"Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you."
+
+She gazed up at the kind face and asked:
+
+"Are you the owner of the ship _Despair_?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Albert," she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:
+
+"Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm."
+
+While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.
+
+"The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear," sighed the little maid.
+"The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor."
+
+"He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother."
+
+He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:
+
+"God bless you! There, I must go."
+
+He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.
+
+There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:
+
+"Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!"
+
+The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BACON A REBEL.
+
+     "Hark! 'tis the sound that charms
+     The war-steed's wakening ears.
+     Oh! many a mother folds her arms
+     Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,
+     And though her fond heart sink with fears,
+     Is proud to feel his young pulse bound
+     With valor's fervor at the sound."
+                                             --MOORE.
+
+The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship _Despair_ and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.
+
+The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.
+
+She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:
+
+"Is she a relative of yours, young maid?" asked the man of whom she
+inquired.
+
+"No; I know of her, and would see her."
+
+"Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother."
+
+The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.
+
+"Do you travel alone, young maid?" asked the man whom she had addressed.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Where is your mother?"
+
+"Dead," she answered sadly,
+
+"Then you are an orphan?"
+
+"I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia."
+
+She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:
+
+"I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here."
+
+"Ester--Ester Goffe," stammered Rebecca. "Then you are my brother's
+affianced."
+
+"I am."
+
+In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:
+
+"I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?" and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.
+
+"Where is he--where is Robert?"
+
+Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.
+
+"Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another." Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:
+
+"You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin."
+
+"But can I see him?" asked Ester.
+
+"Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?"
+
+"Robert."
+
+A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.
+
+"Have you no faithful servant?"
+
+There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+"cross Master Price," he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:
+
+"Sam, could you find my brother?"
+
+"I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could."
+
+"Would you take a small bit of writing to him?"
+
+"If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back."
+
+Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:
+
+DEAR BROTHER;--
+
+Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.
+
+Your sister,
+
+REBECCA.
+
+Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.
+
+Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.
+
+The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:
+
+"No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go."
+
+Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:
+
+"We will have it! We will have it!" (Meaning the commission.)
+
+One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:
+
+"You shall have it! You shall have it!"
+
+The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:
+
+"D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!"
+
+The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.
+
+A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.
+
+"Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!"
+
+It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.
+
+After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:
+
+"Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!" The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.
+
+Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.
+
+Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:
+
+"It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible."
+
+"Brother, do not place yourself in his power," said his sister.
+
+"Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?"
+
+"At the governor's."
+
+"Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born."
+
+"We will keep the secret, brother."
+
+"When do you go?" asked Ester.
+
+"The army marches against the Indians on the morrow." He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.
+
+"Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?"
+
+"I knew not that you were a member of the house."
+
+Peram, blushing, answered:
+
+"Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it." With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.
+
+Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:
+
+"'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place."
+
+Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: "It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face."
+
+Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.
+
+Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.
+
+Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was "in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots." Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:
+
+"It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast."
+
+Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.
+
+Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:
+
+"Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia."
+
+This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, "What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?"
+
+The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.
+
+Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.
+
+The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.
+
+This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.
+
+"Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world," they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:
+
+"The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country." And when a person by her side
+said, "We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin," Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:
+
+"I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough."
+
+The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.
+
+While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel _Despair_. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:
+
+"I feared you had gone, never to come back."
+
+"Did you want to see me again, child?" he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.
+
+"I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you."
+
+"The war rages again?"
+
+"It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men."
+
+"If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship."
+
+"But my brother--oh, my brother!"
+
+"He, also, will be safe."
+
+"Would you take us all, and Ester, too?"
+
+"Who is Ester?"
+
+She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:
+
+"You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid."
+
+Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.
+
+He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked the half-fainting woman.
+
+"No."
+
+"You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?"
+
+"I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the _Despair_, are you not?" asked
+Dorothe Price.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir."
+
+"Shall I see you home?"
+
+"If not too much trouble."
+
+As they walked along the road, he asked:
+
+"Are you Mrs. Price?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"When did your first husband die?"
+
+"Many years ago. He was lost at sea."
+
+"Did he leave two children?"
+
+"Yes, sir, two," she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:
+
+"Was he a good man?"
+
+"Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!" Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.
+
+"Are you happy now?"
+
+"Alas, no. I am miserable."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican."
+
+"Is your son with Bacon?"
+
+"He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could."
+
+"He shall not hang him."
+
+"If he captures him, who will prevent it?"
+
+"I will." They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:
+
+"Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.
+
+     "At every turn, Morena's dusky height
+     Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,
+     And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,
+     The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,
+     The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,
+     The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,
+     The magazine in rocky durance stand,
+     The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,
+     The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match."
+                                              --BYRON.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship _Despair_.
+
+Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.
+
+"You must be very rich," she said to Sir Albert.
+
+"This represents but a small part of my possessions."
+
+"I would I were your heiress."
+
+"You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me."
+
+"Have you no wife--no children?"
+
+He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.
+
+Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.
+
+Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.
+
+Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.
+
+The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.
+
+Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship _Despair_. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.
+
+"Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives," said Bacon. "We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame."
+
+Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them "in the forefront of his
+workmen," during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.
+
+No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.
+
+"They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!" he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.
+
+There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.
+
+"Come down, general!" cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. "You endanger
+your life up there."
+
+Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:
+
+"Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!"
+
+A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.
+
+"Don't fire, until I give you the command," said Bacon, coolly. "We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear."
+
+He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.
+
+Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.
+
+Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.
+
+Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.
+
+"We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price," he said as the sun was setting.
+
+"No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night."
+
+"I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?"
+
+"He hath taken refuge under the church."
+
+"Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands."
+
+A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.
+
+The ship _Despair_, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.
+
+That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.
+
+"Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you," said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.
+
+"You intrude--you disturb us!" cried Cheeseman. "We want no spy on our
+deliberations."
+
+"Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting."
+
+His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:
+
+"'Fore God, who are you?"
+
+"A man like you," was the answer; "a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you."
+
+He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.
+
+"What meaneth this?" Drummond asked when he regained his voice. "Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young."
+
+Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:
+
+"Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune."
+
+The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:
+
+"God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? _It is John Stevens_!"
+
+"It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh," he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.
+
+"Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death," he concluded.
+
+"Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?"
+
+"Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children."
+
+Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:
+
+"'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--"
+
+"Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love," and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.
+
+"Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty," said Drummond. "I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered."
+
+"I know all," John sobbed.
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?"
+
+"What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live."
+
+Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:
+
+"And will you leave her to him?"
+
+"Yes," was the low, meek answer.
+
+"Will you not seek revenge?"
+
+"'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'"
+
+Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:
+
+"Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?"
+
+"They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven."
+
+"But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?"
+
+"Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?"
+
+Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.
+
+"Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret."
+
+They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.
+
+"Why sit you here?" cried the general. "Have you not heard the news?"
+
+"No; what is it?"
+
+"Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town."
+
+Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.
+
+"Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?" asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.
+
+"No," answered Bacon.
+
+"Then we must abandon it."
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]
+
+"They shall not find the town when they come," cried Bacon. "D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!"
+
+What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.
+
+"But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned," cried
+Robert.
+
+"I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,"
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:
+
+"What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us."
+
+"Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home," said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.
+
+"Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the _Despair_," cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, "Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?"
+
+Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:
+
+"I will, I swear by the God we all worship!"
+
+Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:
+
+"Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants."
+
+Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.
+
+Bacon and his army retreated up the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.
+
+     The longer life, the more offence;
+       The more offence, the greater pain;
+     The greater pain, the less defence;
+       The less defence, the greater gain:
+     The loss of gain long ill doth try,
+       Wherefore, come death and let me die.
+                                           --WYAT.
+
+Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.
+
+With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.
+
+"You do not look well," said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. "Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever."
+
+Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.
+
+"I shall be better soon," he answered. "When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort."
+
+"Have a care for your health."
+
+"I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown."
+
+Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his "Mandates" to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.
+
+On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.
+
+"Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick," said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.
+
+"Are you better, general?" he asked.
+
+"I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning."
+
+As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.
+
+"General Bacon is dead," they said.
+
+"What! dead?" cried Robert.
+
+"Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate."
+
+It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.
+
+Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.
+
+"Thomas Hansford," cried Berkeley, "I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!"
+
+Colonel Hansford answered, "I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog."
+
+The governor replied, "You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel."
+
+Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:
+
+"Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country."
+
+Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.
+
+Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.
+
+One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.
+
+"There he is, Giles; now slay him!" cried the stepfather.
+
+Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.
+
+"Come on, Giles; he is unarmed," cried Mr. Price.
+
+"Oh, are you quite sure?" cried Giles.
+
+"I am sure. He is out of ammunition."
+
+"That is extraordinary, very extraordinary." Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.
+
+"He is heading for the river!" cried Price.
+
+"Can he cross?"
+
+"No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him."
+
+Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.
+
+It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.
+
+"He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!" cried Price.
+
+The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.
+
+Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.
+
+It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. "We will have him yet. He shall hang!" said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.
+
+They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:
+
+"My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done," she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, "was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned."
+
+The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:
+
+"Away with you!" adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]
+
+So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.
+
+For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.
+
+"Mr. Drummond," he said, "you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour."
+
+"What your honor pleases," Mr. Drummond boldly answered. "I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression."
+
+He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.
+
+Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.
+
+Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that "Bacon and Bland must die," and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:
+
+"That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father."
+
+Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.
+
+Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+_Despair_, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.
+
+Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration," said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+"Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me."
+
+"That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he been tried?"
+
+"He has and has been condemned."
+
+"To hang?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has the sentence been executed?" asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Then your life is saved."
+
+"But he will be hanged at ten o'clock."
+
+"He shall not!"
+
+"Why, who are you, that dare defy me?"
+
+"Governor Berkeley," said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. "Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!"
+
+Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:
+
+"You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.
+
+"The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens," said Mr. Price.
+
+"Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it," put in Giles, a smile on his face.
+
+Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:
+
+"Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution."
+
+Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:
+
+"Sign, sir."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A pardon for Robert Stevens."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.
+
+"Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!" cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.
+
+Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:
+
+"Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!" and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:
+
+"Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself."
+
+Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:
+
+"Have you signed the pardon, governor?"
+
+"Here it is."
+
+"Now order his release."
+
+Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.
+
+"I owe this to you, kind sir," he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.
+
+"I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise."
+
+"Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?"
+
+"All are safe aboard my vessel."
+
+"Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me."
+
+"Do you remember your father?"
+
+"I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?"
+
+"Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well."
+
+"Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great."
+
+"We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well."
+
+"How know you this?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing."
+
+"Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace."
+
+"Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his."
+
+When they went on board the _Despair_, there was a general rejoicing.
+
+"Heaven bless you, our deliverer!" cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.
+
+Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+     So live, that when thy summons comes to join
+     The innumerable caravan, that moves
+     To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
+     His chamber in the silent halls of death,
+     Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
+     Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
+     By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
+     Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
+     About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
+                                               --BRYANT.
+
+That strange ship _Despair_ still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.
+
+"What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?" asked the governor.
+
+"'Fore God, I know not, governor," put in Hugh Price. "I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one."
+
+As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:
+
+"Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time."
+
+"But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?"
+
+"Harm him not."
+
+"He will harm me, I trow."
+
+"No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not."
+
+Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.
+
+Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.
+
+"It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!" declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.
+
+"Where is your wife?"
+
+"On board the ship _Despair_."
+
+"Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion."
+
+"I will."
+
+After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the _Despair_, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.
+
+When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:
+
+"Shall I go?"
+
+"The place of a good wife is with her husband," he answered.
+
+Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:
+
+"Must I obey Hugh Price?"
+
+"Is he your father?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You are of age?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River."
+
+"I will live with my brother."
+
+Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:
+
+"The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail."
+
+"Shall I take you in mine?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"Will you?"
+
+"If you desire it."
+
+The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:
+
+"Pull ashore."
+
+It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.
+
+The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.
+
+The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.
+
+Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.
+
+Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.
+
+When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.
+
+All winter long, Captain Small of the _Despair_ remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.
+
+"He also gave you the ship _Despair_," concluded the captain.
+
+"This is very strange." said Robert. "I can scarcely believe it."
+
+Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.
+
+"Now what will you do with the ship?" the captain asked.
+
+"What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters."
+
+"She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits."
+
+"No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth."
+
+Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name _Despair_ was changed to _Hope_. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.
+
+Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.
+
+Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.
+
+One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:
+
+"Do you not know me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Lawrence," the stranger whispered.
+
+"What! Mr. Lawrence?"
+
+"Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you."
+
+Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.
+
+"I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know."
+
+Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" again.
+
+A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:
+
+"_Father and mother sleep here_."
+
+Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, "I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone."
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.
+
+All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+Ye End.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King
+  Charles II
+Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor
+Alderman, slayer of King Philip
+Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the
+  surrender of New York
+Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook
+Angel of deliverance
+Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon
+Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia
+Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels
+Attack on the swamp fort
+Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker
+Bacon, Nathaniel
+Bacon's "Quarter Branch"
+Bacon's threat
+Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission
+Bacon defeats the Indians
+Bacon arrested
+Bacon's confession
+Bacon's flight
+Bacon rousing his friends
+Bacon marching on Jamestown
+Bacon captures Jamestown
+Bacon and Berkeley meet
+Bacon commissioned by Berkeley
+Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy
+Bacon urged to depose Berkeley
+Bacon's Indian campaign
+Bacon again rallying his hosts
+Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields
+Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen
+Bacon besieges Jamestown
+Bacon enters Jamestown
+Bacon burns Jamestown
+Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac
+Bacon ill
+Bacon's death a mystery
+Bacon rebels attainted of treason
+Bacon's laws repealed
+Baconites deserting Ingram
+Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac
+Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654
+Battle of Brookfield
+Battle of Bloody Run
+Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley
+Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia
+Berkeley, Sir William, character of
+Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors
+Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia
+Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to
+  Greenspring Manor
+Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.
+Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing
+Berkeley informs home government that all trouble
+  with the Indians is happily over
+Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission
+Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel
+Berkeley pardons Bacon
+Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon
+Berkeley and Bacon meet
+Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces
+  him a rebel
+Berkeley in possession of Jamestown
+Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown
+Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works
+Berkeley's tyranny at York
+Berkeley's departure from Virginia
+Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York
+Bland, execution of
+Brent reported advancing
+Buckingham succeeds Clarendon
+Burning of Jamestown
+Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630
+Calvert, Governor of Maryland
+Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of
+Carolinia settled by New Englanders
+Carolinia constitution
+Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to
+Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder
+Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed
+Census of New England in 1675
+Charles I. beheaded in 1649
+Charles II. declared king of England in 1660
+Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father
+Charles II., character of
+Charles II. profligate and careless
+Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley
+Cheeseman, trial of
+Cheeseman's death
+Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley
+Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset
+Clarendon in exile
+Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island
+Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam
+Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands
+  within limits of Rhode Island charter
+Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter
+Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop
+Connecticut after the restoration
+Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution
+Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector
+Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son
+  Richard as his successor
+Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II.
+  grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years
+Curles, Bacon's home
+Death of Nathaniel Bacon
+De Vries robbed by the Indians
+De Vries chosen president of popular assembly
+Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I
+Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia
+  in 1666
+Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the
+  world
+Drummond before Berkeley
+Drummond, execution of
+Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children
+Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne
+Dutch capture New York
+Dyer, Mary, execution of
+Effect of the restoration on Virginia
+Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret
+Elliott, John, missionary among Indians
+Emigrants to Carolinia
+Emigrants to New Jersey from New England
+English government in a state of chaos after the death
+  of Cromwell
+Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts
+Execution of Robinson and Stevenson
+Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts
+Forebodings of war
+Gathering of Virginians at Curles
+Goffe and the fencing-master
+Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned
+  Charles I
+Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men
+Gorges recovers his claim
+Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness
+Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence
+Grievances of Virginians
+Hadley attacked by the Indians
+Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley
+Hansford abandons Jamestown
+Hansford hung
+Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629
+Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert
+Hawley, Governor of Carolinia
+Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of
+  Virginia
+Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken
+Indian war of 1644
+Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey
+Indian advancement in education
+Indians' lands taken from them
+Ingram chosen in place of Bacon
+Ingram's surrender
+James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted
+  to him by his brother Charles II
+Jamestown besieged by Bacon
+Jamestown captured by Bacon
+Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt
+Judges who tried and condemned Charles I
+Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer
+  of the wheelwright
+Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians
+Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland
+King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and
+  Northampton
+King's men, character of
+Lancaster attacked by Indians
+Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia
+Law against Quakers repealed in 1661
+Laws made by Bacon repealed
+_Longtail_, Claybourne's trading ship
+Lovelace appointed Governor of New York
+Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy
+Massachusetts' charter threatened
+Massachusetts after the restoration
+Massachusetts not punished for her defiance
+Massasoit, death of, 1661
+Matapoiset, attack on
+Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls
+Middle Plantation oath
+Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652
+Muddy Brook, fight at
+Narragansetts, Philip among
+Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances
+New Amsterdam granted a government like the free
+  cities of Holland
+New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed
+  to New York
+New England confederation
+New England, growth of
+New England colonies slandered
+New Haven colony
+New Jersey, how effected by change
+New Jersey charter
+New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants
+New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch
+New York not represented in Parliament
+New York attacked by the Dutch
+New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam
+Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam
+Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor
+  of New York
+Nipmucks, Philip among
+North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666
+Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go
+  to
+Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of
+Oliverian plot
+Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred
+  years old and assassinated
+Orange changed to Albany
+Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650
+Pavonia, the territory of Pauw
+Philip's, King, opposition to war
+Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's
+  blood has been shed
+Philip, King, among the Nipmucks
+Philip, King, pursued
+Philip, King, death of
+Pokanokets rejected Christianity
+Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam
+Population of Virginia
+Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware
+Puritans of New England
+Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts
+Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey
+Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch
+Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644
+Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663
+Rising, John, on the Delaware
+Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653
+Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house
+Royalists, triumph of
+Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the
+  plans of Philip
+Savage sent to Mount Hope
+South Kingston, Indians at
+Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England
+Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware
+Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer
+Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender
+Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant goes to Holland
+Stuyvesant returns to New York
+Sudbury, attack on
+Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II
+Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on
+Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with
+Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it
+Fort Trinity
+Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard
+Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation
+Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration
+Vane, Sir Henry, executed
+Virginia divided into eight shires
+Virginia restored to monarchy
+Virginia threatened with civil war
+Virginia, home ruled
+Virginia's defence, 1675
+Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing
+  a flag of truce
+Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals
+Wheelwright murdered by Indians
+Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Windsor, Indian attack on
+Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant
+Winthrop, John, and Charles II.
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.
+
+A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.
+
+1644. SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+  killed,--April 18.
+
+1645. CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+  fled to Virginia.
+
+1649. CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.
+
+1650. FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+  Chowan River, near Edenton.
+
+1653. OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+  Great Britain,--Dec. 16.
+
+1655. RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+  and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.
+
+1656. QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+  by Puritans.
+
+1660. MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+  king,--May 29.
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.
+
+1663. CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+  24. (This grant extended from 30° to
+  36° lat., and from ocean to ocean.)
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+  granted,--July 8.
+
+1664. NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+  and Albany,--March 12.
+
+NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.
+
+STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).
+
+FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.
+
+ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.
+
+1665. CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+  name of Connecticut,--May.
+
+SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+  to 29° lat.,--June 30.
+
+CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+  settled.
+
+1670. DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.
+
+1671. MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+  at Michilimackinac.
+
+1673. VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.
+
+1674. MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.
+
+1675. MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.
+
+1676. BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+  one hundred years before independence.
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+  and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.
+  41° 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10387 ***
diff --git a/10387-8.txt b/10387-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..339c171
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A
+Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick
+
+
+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 Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A Century Too Soon (A Story
+of Bacon's Rebellion)
+
+Author: John R. Musick
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10387]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE,
+VOLUME 6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME VI, A CENTURY TOO SOON
+
+The Age of Tyranny
+
+By
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+FREELAND A. CARTER
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+MY WIFE,
+
+WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,
+
+THIS BOOK
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+BY
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a "century too soon," being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.
+
+In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in "Pocahontas." The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK.
+
+KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.      THE DUCKING STOOL
+CHAPTER II.     SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE
+CHAPTER III.    THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD
+CHAPTER IV.     THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK
+CHAPTER V.      JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE
+CHAPTER VI.     THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION
+CHAPTER VII.    IN WIDOW'S WEEDS
+CHAPTER VIII.   THE STEPFATHER
+CHAPTER IX.     THE MOVING WORLD
+CHAPTER X.      THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD
+CHAPTER XI.     TYRANNY AND FLIGHT
+CHAPTER XII.    THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE
+CHAPTER XIII.   LEFT ALONE
+CHAPTER XIV.    THE TREASURE SHIP
+CHAPTER XV.     THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE
+CHAPTER XVI.    KING PHILIP'S WAR
+CHAPTER XVII.   NEARING THE VERGE
+CHAPTER XVIII.  THE SWORD OF DEFENCE
+CHAPTER XIX.    THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
+CHAPTER XX.     BACON A REBEL
+CHAPTER XXI.    BURNING OF JAMESTOWN
+CHAPTER XXII.   VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE
+CHAPTER XXIII.  CONCLUSION
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX
+
+CHRONOLOGY
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
+
+
+His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly
+
+Ducking stool
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!"
+
+Once more he bent over the sleeping children
+
+Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams
+
+Stuyvesant
+
+The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life
+
+Blanche could not utter a word of consolation
+
+Oliver Cromwell
+
+"Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+   into pieces
+
+Tomb of Stuyvesant
+
+The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+   the scene
+
+His temper flamed out in word
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+Sir Henry Vane
+
+"Our journey is not one half over!"
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!"
+
+He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him
+
+He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Ruins of Jamestown
+
+The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+   splashing up a jet of water
+
+Map of the period
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURY TOO SOON.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DUCKING-STOOL.
+
+     Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
+     You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
+     Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
+     You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
+     Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
+     Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
+     Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.
+                                        --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+[Illustration: ducking stool]
+
+A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+"ducking-stool." The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.
+
+Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+"Commonwealth" in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or "Roundheads," as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.
+
+The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.
+
+There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.
+
+It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.
+
+Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.
+
+The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.
+
+There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.
+
+"Good morrow, Roger!" said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.
+
+"Good morrow, Hugh," Roger answered.
+
+"What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?" asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. "I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear."
+
+"The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked."
+
+"Marry! what hath she done?"
+
+"Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages."
+
+Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:
+
+"Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water."
+
+"It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you."
+
+"You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?"
+
+"They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How is Sir William Berkeley?"
+
+"He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne."
+
+"Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?"
+
+"Sh--! speak not so loud," said Hugh in an undertone. "There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts."
+
+The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.
+
+"Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger," said Hugh when they were
+seated. "Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored."
+
+"The rule of the Roundheads is mild."
+
+"Mild, bah!" interrupted Hugh, in contempt. "They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle."
+
+"But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses."
+
+"That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired," and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, "It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head."
+
+While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.
+
+"Good wives," said a hard-featured dame of fifty, "I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!"
+
+"Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment," interposed a more cautious sister.
+
+Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:
+
+"I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults."
+
+"Verily, she hath," interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.
+
+"And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?" continued
+dame Woodley,
+
+"Little the pity for him, though," interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.
+
+"Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?"
+
+"The more fool he to maintain such a creature."
+
+"Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved."
+
+"I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle," interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.
+
+"Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall."
+
+At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes."
+
+A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.
+
+"I will give ye a piece of my mind," she declared to her guards.
+
+"Hold your peace, Ann!" cried the eldest of the guards.
+
+"Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought."
+
+"Marry! I wish you were silent."
+
+"Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?"
+
+"No, by the mass, it will not," answered his companion.
+
+"Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!"
+
+"I am not a papist."
+
+"Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with," put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.
+
+The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.
+
+"I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!" she screamed at the
+top of her voice.
+
+"Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat."
+
+"Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm."
+
+"Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground."
+
+The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:
+
+"Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!" she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.
+
+"Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath," cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.
+
+The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:
+
+"It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!"
+
+"Marry! we will be more damp than you," said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.
+
+"Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?"
+
+"Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform."
+
+"Duty; but such a duty!"
+
+She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.
+
+"Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed."
+
+"I am in no hurry," she answered.
+
+"I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over."
+
+The urchins and older persons began to cry:
+
+"Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees."
+
+"I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.
+
+"Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to
+his companion.
+
+The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.
+
+"See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown," said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.
+
+"'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this," she cried. "Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows."
+
+Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.
+
+At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:
+
+"No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court."
+
+Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: "Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?"
+
+"For shame!" whispered Sarah Drummond.
+
+"Yea, verily."
+
+"I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done."
+
+At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:
+
+"They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked."
+
+"John Stevens is a godly man," remarked still another. "He would not
+wrong any one."
+
+"If he were my dearest foe," whispered goodwife Woodley, "he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens."
+
+"Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely," whispered Sarah
+Drummond, "for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall."
+
+All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.
+
+"Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death."
+
+"Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!" she screamed in
+her shrill voice.
+
+"Peace, dame; be still!"
+
+"I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,"
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. "I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood."
+
+Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:
+
+"The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court."
+
+Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:
+
+"It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye."
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, Ann!" said the sheriff.
+
+"I will not," she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.
+
+"Then you shall be plunged hot."
+
+"I care not."
+
+"It may be your death."
+
+"That's what ye want."
+
+"We don't."
+
+"Ye lie, ye wretch!"
+
+"Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace."
+
+"You are a wretch!" she screamed.
+
+The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.
+
+"You are a white-livered wretch!" the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. "I'll scratch
+your eyes out!"
+
+"Let her down," commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.
+
+"I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!" shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.
+
+She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:
+
+"Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?"
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!" she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, "She's a hussy!"
+
+Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:
+
+"You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower."
+
+As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:
+
+"It's true! She is a hussy!"
+
+Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: "She's a hussy!" The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:
+
+"Put her on shore."
+
+The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.
+
+John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:
+
+"Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--"
+
+At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.
+
+     On peace and rest my mind was bent,
+       And fool I was I married;
+     But never honest man's intent
+       As cursedly miscarried.
+                                --BURNS.
+
+In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.
+
+John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the "28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known." He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.
+
+He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.
+
+Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.
+
+In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, "and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church," and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+"Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king."
+
+From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.
+
+John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.
+
+In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.
+
+Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.
+
+Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.
+
+In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.
+
+On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.
+
+John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.
+
+"Were you more prudent, Dorothe," said John, "we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children."
+
+"Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?"
+
+"But other men have helpmates in their wives."
+
+This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.
+
+After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.
+
+"I am going to economize," she declared. "I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed."
+
+Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.
+
+One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:
+
+"Our family has a fortune in Florida."
+
+At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.
+
+"If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?" she asked.
+
+"We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going," he made
+answer.
+
+"And wherefore can you not?"
+
+"St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property."
+
+"Can you not get it? Can you not get it?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Try."
+
+"We have thought to try it."
+
+His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.
+
+There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.
+
+The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.
+
+John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:
+
+"Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?"
+
+"By all means, go to London," answered Drummond.
+
+"Ought I to leave my wife and children?"
+
+"Wherefore not?"
+
+"If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for."
+
+"Your father was a sailor."
+
+"But his son is not."
+
+"Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage."
+
+John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:
+
+"Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?"
+
+"True, yet why shrink from this voyage?"
+
+"A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea."
+
+At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.
+
+"Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy," was Drummond's advice.
+
+"If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,"
+interposed Cheeseman.
+
+"How much is involved?" asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.
+
+"Eight hundred pounds."
+
+"Quite a sum."
+
+"Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for."
+
+"Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them."
+
+With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.
+
+"By all means, go," Hugh advised. "It is your duty to go."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:
+
+"You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society."
+
+"I do not," he answered.
+
+"Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another."
+
+"Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living," answered John, with a
+sigh.
+
+"They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair."
+
+"Women do the same," John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.
+
+"Not so often as the men."
+
+Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.
+
+"My friends all declare that it is my duty to go," he said.
+
+"Your friends! who are your friends?"
+
+"Drummond."
+
+"An ignorant Scotchman."
+
+Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"Mr. Lawerence advises it."
+
+"He is a canting hypocrite."
+
+"Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable."
+
+"Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it."
+
+"Hugh Price agrees with them."
+
+"Does he?" asked Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"He does."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.
+
+"Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it."
+
+The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.
+
+"John," she said, "if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds."
+
+John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go."
+
+"Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries."
+
+"Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return."
+
+"Wherefore not?" cried Mrs. Stevens. "Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate."
+
+Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the "green-eyed
+monster" to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:
+
+"The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave."
+
+"Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you."
+
+Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:
+
+"She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door." But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.
+
+John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.
+
+The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:
+
+"God bless you!"
+
+"Shall I awake them?" his wife asked.
+
+"No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.
+
+"Dear, I do so regret your going!" sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long."
+
+"I will go with you to the boat," she said, hurriedly dressing herself.
+
+John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:
+
+"I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome."
+
+[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]
+
+John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.
+
+Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.
+
+"Farewell, little darling!" and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.
+
+                                       We love
+     The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,
+     And reigns content within them; him we serve
+     Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:
+     But recollecting still that he is a man,
+     We trust him not too far.
+                                              --COWPER.
+
+The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.
+
+The governor, who cared little for the "customs of the race," determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might "make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony," and reproached him with selfish cowardice.
+
+"It is all well for you," they said, "who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places."
+
+The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.
+
+These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.
+
+Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.
+
+One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at "Colaer's Hook," who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. "Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe," says Brodhead, "were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers."
+
+[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]
+
+It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.
+
+Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.
+
+By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the "governor"
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.
+
+Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to "keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together."
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the "Nine." The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this "imprudent entrusting of power with the people."
+
+Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.
+
+The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:
+
+"I have no powder. What can I do?"
+
+After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.
+
+Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused "by that
+infamous surrender." On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.
+
+[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]
+
+On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.
+
+[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]
+
+The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages "after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors." After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.
+
+The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the "Articles of Confederation," each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.
+
+Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a "perfect republic." It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+"silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States."
+
+There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the _Mayflower_
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.
+
+Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his "brother's
+keeper," whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, "except to and from
+church" on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for "suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness," was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+"take heed of his light carriage." The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to "be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly." The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.
+
+In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.
+
+While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.
+
+That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.
+
+All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+"Governor of Carolinia." The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, "freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt." The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+"proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia," promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.
+
+Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+
+                                     The wind
+     Increased at night, until it blew a gale;
+       And though 'twas not much to naval mind,
+     Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,
+       For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:
+     At sunset they began to take in sail.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.
+
+The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft _Silverwing_; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.
+
+His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.
+
+All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.
+
+John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.
+
+The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.
+
+"Surely I will die," he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+"Surely I will die."
+
+The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.
+
+He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.
+
+"Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?" asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.
+
+"My head hurts," John gasped.
+
+"Verily, I ache all over," returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.
+
+At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:
+
+"Good morrow, stranger!"
+
+John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay; the fall was not violent."
+
+The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:
+
+"Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach."
+
+"I am not sick," the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. "I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over."
+
+"I trust so," groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.
+
+"But the sea runs high," the old man said, "let us go in."
+
+John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:
+
+"You do not belong at Jamestown."
+
+"No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown."
+
+"You came in the last ship?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"You did not come alone?"
+
+"No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have."
+
+John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.
+
+From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.
+
+She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.
+
+That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.
+
+Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:
+
+"I want to talk with you."
+
+They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: "We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours."
+
+There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:
+
+"Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm."
+
+"I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector."
+
+John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.
+
+Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.
+
+"It is coming," Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.
+
+"We are going to have a terrible storm," John answered.
+
+"Yes; remember your promise."
+
+"I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest."
+
+"No, no," Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, "I
+have an impression that my time has surely come."
+
+John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.
+
+"Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!" the poor fellow was
+groaning. "Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down."
+
+He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.
+
+John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.
+
+About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:
+
+"Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy." Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.
+
+Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.
+
+At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.
+
+"The storm is terrible," said the old man. "The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it."
+
+"Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart," urged John.
+
+"Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?"
+
+"If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives," said
+John.
+
+"Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near."
+
+John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.
+
+"Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo," he
+cried, "and set the pumps a-going."
+
+Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.
+
+At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.
+
+John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.
+
+"Are we going down?" she asked.
+
+"God grant that it be not so!" he answered.
+
+"But such fearful noises, such hideous sights."
+
+"Be brave, young maid," he urged. "Where is your father?"
+
+"His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless."
+
+At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.
+
+"Aye, my friend, the worst is coming," he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. "I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him."
+
+A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.
+
+At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.
+
+The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.
+
+"We will never reach it," said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.
+
+"Do not despair," said John.
+
+"But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves."
+
+A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+_Silverwing_. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.
+
+John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.
+
+It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.
+
+"It will soon be over," said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. "Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon."
+
+Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.
+
+"Take her! take her!" cried Mr. Holmes frantically. "I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer."
+
+A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.
+
+It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.
+
+John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.
+
+"Father--father!" she faintly murmured.
+
+"He is gone," John answered.
+
+"Is this you?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cling to me."
+
+"I will. We will survive or perish together."
+
+Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.
+
+     The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,
+       The furrow followed free;
+     We were the first that ever burst
+       Into that silent sea.
+
+     Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
+       'Twas sad as sad could be;
+     And we did speak only to break
+       The silence of the sea.
+                                         --COLERIDGE.
+
+Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.
+
+John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.
+
+Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.
+
+Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.
+
+"Are we all?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was no one saved?"
+
+"None but ourselves."
+
+"And the ship?"
+
+"Is a hopeless wreck on the sands," he answered.
+
+As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.
+
+Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:
+
+"Do you know where we are?"
+
+"No."
+
+The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.
+
+John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.
+
+They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.
+
+It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.
+
+"Is this country inhabited?" asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.
+
+"I fear not," he answered; "or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages."
+
+"Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate."
+
+"I will not desert you," he answered.
+
+They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.
+
+"We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts," said John.
+
+"Can we not go back for them?"
+
+"Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?" he asked.
+
+She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.
+
+"You won't be long gone?" she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.
+
+"No."
+
+He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.
+
+A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.
+
+Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:
+
+"Have you seen any one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I have brought some food."
+
+"It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty," she said.
+
+"We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water," he said
+hopefully.
+
+John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.
+
+"It might have been worse," she thought. "While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land."
+
+Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.
+
+"Heaven help us ere we perish," he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. "If we don't find water soon she will die."
+
+He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.
+
+All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:
+
+"I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring."
+
+She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.
+
+John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.
+
+Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.
+
+"Now let us have food," said John.
+
+The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.
+
+"Can we from there determine what land we are on?" she asked.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"If there be cities, will we see them?"
+
+"We shall," he answered.
+
+"Have you no hopes nor fears?"
+
+"I have both."
+
+"What are your hopes?"
+
+"My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands."
+
+"And your fears?"
+
+"That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards."
+
+"Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?"
+
+"No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were."
+
+"Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth," reasoned Blanche.
+
+"Are you strong enough for the walk?"
+
+She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.
+
+The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.
+
+John called a halt and asked:
+
+"Shall we go on, or return to the beach?"
+
+Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.
+
+They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.
+
+"Will it not be carried off?" Blanche asked.
+
+"No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out."
+
+John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.
+
+They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.
+
+"Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?" asked John.
+
+"No, we have nothing to fear."
+
+"I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited."
+
+She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.
+
+A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.
+
+"If a beast," he thought, "it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast."
+
+From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.
+
+"Blanche will be lonesome," he thought. "Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can."
+
+Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.
+
+He searched the ground, and saw footprints.
+
+"Some animals have been here," he thought. "They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone."
+
+It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.
+
+He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.
+
+"Then there are animals on the land," she said.
+
+"Yes; but they are not dangerous," he returned. "These animals may
+prove useful to us for food."
+
+"I hope so."
+
+After several moments, she asked:
+
+"How long must we stay?"
+
+"I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?"
+
+"No, not to-night," she answered with a shudder. "I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night."
+
+He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.
+
+Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.
+
+As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?
+
+"Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me," he prayed.
+
+His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:
+
+"The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns."
+
+John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.
+
+In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:
+
+"What was it? Are we attacked?"
+
+"Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,"
+assured John.
+
+The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.
+
+     I am monarch of all I survey,
+       My right there is none to dispute:
+     From the centre all round to the sea
+       I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
+     O Solitude! where are the charms
+       That sages have seen in thy face?
+     Better dwell in the midst of alarms
+       Than reign in this horrible place.
+                                        --COWPER.
+
+Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.
+
+He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.
+
+Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.
+
+"What are they?" she asked.
+
+"I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them."
+
+Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.
+
+"It is a goat," he said. "The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them."
+
+A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.
+
+The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.
+
+Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.
+
+Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.
+
+"We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck," he said, "and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.
+
+"How long will that stay be?" she asked.
+
+"God in heaven alone can tell."
+
+"Surely some passing ship will see us."
+
+He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.
+
+Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.
+
+The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.
+
+The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.
+
+At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.
+
+Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.
+
+Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.
+
+Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.
+
+John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.
+
+Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.
+
+It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.
+
+"Read more," she said when he had finished the page. "What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us."
+
+"Verily, it is a comfort."
+
+"Should we die here, He will be with us."
+
+"God is everywhere. He will not desert us," John said.
+
+"But I hope we will yet be rescued."
+
+"I trust so."
+
+He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.
+
+"You are stronger than I," she said, "why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us."
+
+The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:
+
+"God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance."
+
+"My burden is greater than I can bear."
+
+"Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength."
+
+"You are all alone in the world, Blanche."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have not a relative living."
+
+"No, my father was lost."
+
+"I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home."
+
+"Helpless--"
+
+"My wife and children."
+
+Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.
+
+"I left them to better my fortune," he continued. "They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!"
+
+His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:
+
+"Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along."
+
+"I did not care to burden you with my griefs."
+
+"Trust in God."
+
+"I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children."
+
+"They have their mother."
+
+"She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector."
+
+[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]
+
+Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.
+
+The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.
+
+He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?
+
+"Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?"
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.
+
+"If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it."
+
+"How is our own boat?"
+
+"Too frail. The boards are almost rotten."
+
+"Then why not make one?"
+
+The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.
+
+Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:
+
+"Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted."
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.
+
+The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.
+
+With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.
+
+Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.
+
+One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.
+
+Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:
+
+"God send some ship to deliver me!"
+
+Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.
+
+"How could I live here without you, Blanche?" he said one day.
+
+"Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," she answered. "Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse." Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.
+
+In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.
+
+"I went to the cliff this morning," she said, "thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed."
+
+"Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!"
+
+After a long silence, he asked:
+
+"Blanche, how long have we been here?"
+
+"Ten years," she answered.
+
+Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.
+
+Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.
+
+"Blanche, would ten years change a baby?" John asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then my baby is a baby no longer," sighed the father.
+
+"No; she is a pretty little girl now."
+
+"And has no recollection of her father?"
+
+"How could she?"
+
+"But my little boy?"
+
+"He was five when you left home?"
+
+"No, not quite; four and some months."
+
+"Then he would remember you."
+
+"He is a good-sized boy."
+
+"Almost fifteen," she answered.
+
+"Heaven grant I may yet see them!"
+
+"Amen!" replied Blanche. "God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard."
+
+John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.
+
+"When he talks of them," Blanche thought, "he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation."
+
+Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.
+
+     Go; you may call it madness, folly;
+     You may not chase my gloom away.
+     There's such a charm in melancholy,
+     I would not, if I could, be gay.
+                                    --ROGERS.
+
+Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.
+
+Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.
+
+Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship _Silverwing_; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.
+
+"I must do something," she declared, "to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually."
+
+Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.
+
+Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.
+
+"Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?" one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.
+
+"No."
+
+"He has been a long time gone."
+
+"Yes; but he will return."
+
+"The _Silverwing_ has not yet reached London."
+
+"How know you that?" she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.
+
+"The _Ocean Star_ hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+_Silverwing_."
+
+"It left before the _Silverwing_ arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure," and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.
+
+Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.
+
+When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.
+
+"Why don't John come back with the money?" she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. "I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live."
+
+"You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens," one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. "Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:
+
+"She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy."
+
+No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.
+
+"When John comes back, all will change," she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the _Silverwing_ was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.
+
+Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.
+
+She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.
+
+"You are welcome. Come and share our home," was the response.
+
+Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.
+
+Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.
+
+In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]
+
+The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that "might makes
+right" justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the "last argument of kings," to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.
+
+Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.
+
+The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.
+
+Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.
+
+"Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it," he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:
+
+"Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds."
+
+The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of "Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:
+
+"Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon."
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]
+
+The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:
+
+"I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers," and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:
+
+"I had much rather be carried out dead."
+
+At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had "a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,"
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.
+
+The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.
+
+The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.
+
+So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.
+
+Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+"unsettled persons," libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.
+
+Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.
+
+The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+"unclothed souls of the people." Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.
+
+Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+"harboring Quakers," imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.
+
+Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.
+
+The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.
+
+A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.
+
+Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.
+
+The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.
+
+The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.
+
+The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the "Old Dominion" from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.
+
+In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+"Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful." The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.
+
+No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.
+
+For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.
+
+"It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price", said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. "The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored."
+
+The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STEPFATHER.
+
+               Mother, for the love of grace
+     Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
+     That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
+     It will skin and film the ulcerous place;
+     While rank corruption, winning all within,
+     Infects unseen--
+                                      --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.
+
+"Hugh Price will surely wed her," said Sarah Drummond.
+
+No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.
+
+He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.
+
+"Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him."
+
+Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:
+
+"Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?"
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)
+
+"No!" cried the boy, indignantly.
+
+"By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?"
+
+Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:
+
+"I will kill him!"
+
+William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:
+
+"Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master."
+
+Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.
+
+Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would "speak his mind." The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.
+
+Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.
+
+It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--"
+
+Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?"
+
+"It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot."
+
+"So it is," Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+"Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you."
+
+"Indeed it has," answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--"
+
+Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.
+
+Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:
+
+"Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given," and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.
+
+Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:
+
+"I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so," replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.
+
+"Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?" He was getting at it
+at last.
+
+"Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!" said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. "Oh, what a
+question!"
+
+The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.
+
+That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:
+
+"You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens."
+
+"Lonely, oh, so lonely!" and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.
+
+"I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care."
+
+By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.
+
+At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.
+
+Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:
+
+"She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house."
+
+"Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will."
+
+"I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her."
+
+"Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains."
+
+On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.
+
+"It will be better to let her have her way," he concluded. "Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!"
+
+The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.
+
+[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]
+
+Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:
+
+"I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control."
+
+Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.
+
+Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.
+
+It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.
+
+Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.
+
+One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.
+
+"I am so glad we are going," said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. "Mother was good to let us go."
+
+"I am s'prised at the missus," the negro said, shaking his head.
+"Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen."
+
+"Why?" asked Robert.
+
+"Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen."
+
+Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:
+
+"Is there any danger of Indians?"
+
+So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.
+
+"Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come."
+
+"But they must not come."
+
+"No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um."
+
+Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.
+
+Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:
+
+"Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now."
+
+Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.
+
+Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.
+
+The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.
+
+One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:
+
+"Ho! master Robert, I have news for you," he called to the lad.
+
+"William Stump, when did you come?" he asked.
+
+"But this day," was the answer.
+
+"Where are you from?"
+
+"Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?"
+
+"I have heard nothing."
+
+"Your mother hath married," cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.
+
+"It is false!" cried Robert.
+
+"By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier," and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. "It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow," and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.
+
+On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:
+
+"Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?"
+
+She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.
+
+"Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was he like Mr. Price?"
+
+"No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart."
+
+"Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?" she asked.
+
+Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.
+
+"Yes, he cannot drive us from home," he said.
+
+"But mother will love us no longer."
+
+"She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love."
+
+Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.
+
+Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.
+
+Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:
+
+"I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um."
+
+The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.
+
+Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.
+
+Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.
+
+"Where is mother, Dinah?" she asked her mother's housekeeper.
+
+"In de house, chile, waitin' for you," she answered.
+
+Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.
+
+"Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you."
+
+It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:
+
+"I cannot call him father."
+
+"You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile.
+
+"Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother.
+
+Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:
+
+"Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!"
+
+"You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE MOVING WORLD.
+
+     If we could look down the long vista of ages,
+       And witness the changes of time,
+     Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages
+       A key to this vision sublime;
+     We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,
+       And all its magnificence trace,
+     Give honor to man for his genius and might,
+       And glory to God for his grace.
+                                           --PAXTON.
+
+After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.
+
+Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his _bowerie_ or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.
+
+The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: "Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague."
+
+Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should "have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes." This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.
+
+The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.
+
+With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.
+
+The Dutch had taken New York.
+
+The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.
+
+The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.
+
+In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.
+
+After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+"Nova Caesarea or New Jersey," in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.
+
+Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: "The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there." It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. "Christian servants" were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.
+
+It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:
+
+"Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.
+
+"Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'"
+
+The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.
+
+In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.
+
+The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.
+
+After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.
+
+Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the _alluvion_ of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.
+
+Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.
+
+Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.
+
+The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.
+
+The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.
+
+"Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.
+
+"The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal."
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]
+
+Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: "Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal," and it was added: "all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations."
+
+In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.
+
+The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.
+
+     "Adieu! adieu! My native shore
+       Fades o'er the waters blue.
+     The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,
+       And shrieks the wild sea-mew."
+
+At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.
+
+No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.
+
+The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.
+
+The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.
+
+There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:
+
+"God save the King!"
+
+No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.
+
+The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:
+
+"I am very hungry."
+
+He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.
+
+The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:
+
+"Have you money to pay for that which you ask?"
+
+"I have," and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:
+
+"You can have what you ask!"
+
+The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:
+
+"Will supper be ready soon?"
+
+"Directly."
+
+The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.
+
+"Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!"
+
+"Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?"
+
+She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:
+
+"How know you this?"
+
+"Mrs. Johnson hath told me."
+
+The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:
+
+"What must be done?"
+
+"Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay."
+
+The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:
+
+"I cannot make room for you!"
+
+Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:
+
+"What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread," and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:
+
+"Nay, it is not that."
+
+"Pray, what is it?"
+
+"I doubt not that you have the money."
+
+"Then why refuse me what I ask?"
+
+"I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken."
+
+The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:
+
+"Put us in the stables; we are used to it."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that."
+
+The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:
+
+"The horses take up all the room."
+
+The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:
+
+"We will find some corner in which to lie after supper."
+
+"I will give you no supper."
+
+This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.
+
+"Can you, a Christian, speak thus?" he cried. "We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food."
+
+"I have none for you," said the landlord.
+
+"What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?"
+
+"It is all ordered."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam."
+
+"You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving."
+
+The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative "Ahem!" from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:
+
+"I have not a morsel to spare."
+
+"I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,"
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:
+
+"Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured."
+
+He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:
+
+"I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off."
+
+For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.
+
+Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.
+
+"Who is there?" the landlord asked.
+
+"A traveller and his child who want supper and bed."
+
+"Very good. They are to be had here."
+
+A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.
+
+The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.
+
+"What would I better do?" asked the landlord in amazement.
+
+"Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such."
+
+This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:
+
+"You must be off."
+
+At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:
+
+"You know me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"We were turned away from the other inn."
+
+"So you will be from this."
+
+"Where would you have us go?"
+
+"Anywhere so you leave my house."
+
+The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:
+
+"Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?"
+
+"No, I will have none of you with me."
+
+"But she hath done no wrong," persisted the father.
+
+The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:
+
+"It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you."
+
+The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:
+
+"Ester!"
+
+She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.
+
+"We must go," the father said, sadly.
+
+She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.
+
+They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.
+
+"Papa, I am so hungry and so tired," she whispered. "Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?"
+
+Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:
+
+"I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?"
+
+"Who are you?" asked the smith.
+
+"We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us."
+
+The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a _regicide_ might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:
+
+"Why do you not go to one of the inns?"
+
+"There is no room there."
+
+"Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?"
+
+"I have been to all."
+
+"Well?"
+
+The traveller continued with some hesitation, "I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in."
+
+The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: "It is the same, a man with a child." Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:
+
+"Be off."
+
+The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:
+
+"No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber."
+
+He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.
+
+"I am so hungry," murmured Ester. "If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree."
+
+He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:
+
+"If I am made a savage let all the world beware."
+
+They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:
+
+"Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?"
+
+"I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us."
+
+"Surely not all!"
+
+"I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution."
+
+"Have you called at that house?" she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.
+
+"No, who lives there?"
+
+"Mathew Stevens, a very good old man."
+
+"Has he a heart? Is he brave?"
+
+"He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions."
+
+The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.
+
+     "Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
+     Some boundless contiguity of shade,
+     Where rumor of oppression and deceit,
+     Of successful or unsuccessful war,
+     Might never reach me more."
+                                     --Cowper.
+
+When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the "Oliverian Plot" was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to "anticipate the period of their
+freedom," and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.
+
+Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.
+
+At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.
+
+When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.
+
+"Robert," he said, pressing his lips firmly together, "do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?"
+
+"No," was the answer.
+
+"I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him."
+
+Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:
+
+"If you beat me I will kill you."
+
+For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:
+
+"Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable."
+
+Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.
+
+On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.
+
+When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:
+
+"Oh, Robert, I heard it all!"
+
+"Mother, I mean it!" he answered.
+
+"No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert."
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not."
+
+Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.
+
+Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.
+
+Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.
+
+It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.
+
+One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.
+
+That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:
+
+"I may as well do it now as ever."
+
+Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:
+
+"Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!"
+
+Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:
+
+"The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house."
+
+"Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future."
+
+"No, no, indeed, Robert!" he answered. "The time has come to convince
+you that I am master."
+
+He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.
+
+It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.
+
+After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.
+
+He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.
+
+"Where is Rebecca?" he asked.
+
+"Waiten," was the answer.
+
+"Waiting for what?"
+
+"For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away."
+
+"Where?"
+
+The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.
+
+"When are we to go, Dinah?"
+
+"To-morrow, Massa."
+
+"Is that why Mr. Price left?"
+
+"Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again."
+
+"Shall I see mother?"
+
+"Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober."
+
+Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.
+
+Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.
+
+Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.
+
+He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.
+
+"Are you favorable to royalty?" he asked Robert one day. "Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?"
+
+"I certainly do," Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.
+
+"So do I--ahem--so do I;" and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. "Would you fight for such principles?"
+
+"I would."
+
+"So would I--ahem, so would I," cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. "I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne."
+
+Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.
+
+"Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you."
+
+"Hang me! I defy him!" cried Mr. Peram.
+
+His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked Giles. "Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power."
+
+"Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes," answered
+Robert.
+
+Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.
+
+At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.
+
+"Fear him not, my lord," said Hugh. "He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you."
+
+Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.
+
+"Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley."
+
+Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.
+
+Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:
+
+"Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet."
+
+His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.
+
+One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.
+
+"Of what offence am I accused?" he asked.
+
+"Treason."
+
+"Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason."
+
+The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.
+
+Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.
+
+One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.
+
+They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.
+
+"Friends," a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. "We have come to liberate you."
+
+He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.
+
+"There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston," said Mr.
+Lawerence. "You will go aboard of her and escape."
+
+"Can I see my mother and sister before I go?"
+
+"They are waiting on the beach," Drummond answered.
+
+Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.
+
+"I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right."
+
+"Have you money?" asked Mr. Drummond.
+
+"None."
+
+"Here is some," and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.
+
+"My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?"
+
+"Talk not of repayment," Drummond answered, "but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness."
+
+The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.
+
+     When thy beauty appears
+     In its graces and airs,
+       All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky
+     At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,
+       So strangely you dazzle my eyes.
+                                             --PARNELL.
+
+One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.
+
+He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:
+
+"Come, any who will, and fight me with swords."
+
+Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.
+
+"I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?"
+
+"I will," a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.
+
+This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Some madman."
+
+"Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage," cried another.
+
+But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," was the answer.
+
+"Guard!"
+
+He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.
+
+[Illustration: "ARE YOU READY?"]
+
+"Zounds! master what are you about?" cried the fencing-master.
+
+"Marry! I am teaching you new tactics." Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:
+
+"I will have it out with you with these."
+
+At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:
+
+"Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life."
+
+The alarmed fencing-master cried out:
+
+"Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me."
+
+In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.
+
+Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.
+
+John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.
+
+Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to "the glorious cause" of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.
+
+[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]
+
+After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. "He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come." When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:
+
+"Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?"
+
+"I stand single," Vane defiantly answered. "Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood."
+
+Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:
+
+"Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way."
+
+Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:
+
+"I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it." His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. "The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father."
+
+His farewell counsel was:
+
+"Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God." When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: "I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart."
+
+He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.
+
+He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express "purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England."
+
+Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.
+
+Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.
+
+It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.
+
+"Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?" he asked, taking his hand.
+
+"No, sir, I just came in on the vessel."
+
+"Whom do you wish to see?"
+
+"Some relatives named Stevens."
+
+"Is your name Stevens?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"And you are from Virginia?" the old man asked.
+
+"Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?"
+
+Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:
+
+"Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?"
+
+"John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young."
+
+"And your grandfather was--"
+
+"Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith."
+
+"I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives." He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.
+
+"Surely you have no one to fear?" said Robert.
+
+"Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat."
+
+"But he said something. He called you a name."
+
+"What name?"
+
+"Goffe."
+
+"What know you of Goffe, pray?"
+
+"I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide."
+
+The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:
+
+"Do you know what a regicide is?"
+
+"A king-killer."
+
+"Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?"
+
+"He should," cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. "A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm."
+
+"Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?"
+
+"No; I left my colony because I could not abide there."
+
+"What! a fugitive?"
+
+"I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston."
+
+"And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?"
+
+"On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted."
+
+General Goffe shook his white locks and said:
+
+"So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time."
+
+They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.
+
+Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:
+
+"Father, father, father!"
+
+"Ester, my child," the swordsman returned, "have you been happy?"
+
+"Happy as one could be with father away."
+
+"Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more."
+
+All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:
+
+"Whom have we here?"
+
+The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.
+
+"This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia."
+
+"Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea."
+
+"He was," Robert answered sadly.
+
+"And your mother?"
+
+"Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier."
+
+Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.
+
+When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.
+
+Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.
+
+The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.
+
+"He is gone," she answered. "The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped."
+
+"Whither has he gone?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"What would be his fate if he should be taken?"
+
+"He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide."
+
+"You must suffer uneasiness."
+
+"I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power."
+
+Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.
+
+The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.
+
+There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.
+
+Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:
+
+"The king's men are coming."
+
+In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.
+
+"Do not surrender; I will defend you," cried Robert.
+
+He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.
+
+It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.
+
+Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LEFT ALONE.
+
+     Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream
+       Of life will vanish from my brain;
+     And death my wearied spirit will redeem
+       From this wild region of unvaried pain.
+                                           --WHITE.
+
+For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.
+
+For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.
+
+One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.
+
+"Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them."
+
+Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:
+
+"It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy."
+
+Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.
+
+"You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home," she said.
+
+"No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here."
+
+She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:
+
+"I am sorry for you."
+
+"Are you not sorry for yourself?"
+
+"No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am." Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:
+
+"Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have."
+
+"Do not blame yourself," she sighed. "Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration."
+
+"But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness."
+
+His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.
+
+In order to change the subject, he said:
+
+"Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top." (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) "It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail."
+
+The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.
+
+"When do you think of going?" she asked.
+
+"The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready."
+
+"I will go with you."
+
+"No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance."
+
+With a smile, she answered:
+
+"Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this."
+
+"Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength."
+
+"I can go wherever you do," she answered.
+
+He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.
+
+Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.
+
+The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.
+
+On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.
+
+At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.
+
+"Are you tired?" John asked.
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Let us sit and rest."
+
+"The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain."
+
+"Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche."
+
+They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.
+
+John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.
+
+Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.
+
+Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.
+
+There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.
+
+"Blanche, are you cold?" he asked.
+
+She, smiling, answered:
+
+"Never mind me, I can stand it."
+
+"The air is chill."
+
+"It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain."
+
+"The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"It seems almost perpendicular."
+
+"So it does."
+
+"I see no way to scale it from here."
+
+"Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach."
+
+When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.
+
+The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.
+
+When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.
+
+[Illustration: "OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER."]
+
+Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.
+
+"Do you feel equal to the task?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Our journey is not one-half over."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"And the last half will be more trying than the first."
+
+"I will go with you," she answered cheerfully.
+
+To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.
+
+Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.
+
+"Here it is," John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.
+
+A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.
+
+"Do you see any sail?" she asked.
+
+"None."
+
+"Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered."
+
+"I know not where we are."
+
+The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.
+
+"We cannot return home to-night," said Blanche.
+
+"No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain."
+
+The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.
+
+"I am freezing," said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.
+
+All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.
+
+"No, no; I can walk," she said.
+
+"But you are so chilled and so weak."
+
+"Exercise will warm me and give me strength," she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.
+
+"I don't care to venture up there again," said John.
+
+"Nor do I," sighed his companion. "So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it."
+
+"I am, likewise."
+
+For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:
+
+"Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother."
+
+"Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone," said
+John.
+
+She went on:
+
+"And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!"
+
+"I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!"
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever."
+
+She laughingly answered:
+
+"It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top."
+
+He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.
+
+In a moment he was at her side.
+
+"What is the matter, Blanche?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"I have a pain in my side."
+
+He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!" said John.
+
+"I am so hot, I burn with thirst," she answered.
+
+"You shall have water." There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.
+
+"It is so good of you," the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.
+
+John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:
+
+"You can do no more."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche," he almost sobbed, "Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang."
+
+"I know it," she answered.
+
+"What will you have me do?"
+
+"Sit by my side."
+
+He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.
+
+"Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near."
+
+He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.
+
+Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.
+
+John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.
+
+"Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?" he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:
+
+"It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this."
+
+"No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going."
+
+She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:
+
+"Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Your wife--"
+
+"Blanche!"
+
+"Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going."
+
+He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live."
+
+"No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over."
+
+"I shall not, Blanche; I shall not," cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.
+
+"It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother."
+
+"God grant that I may, poor girl."
+
+"Pray with me."
+
+He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:
+
+"Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'"
+
+An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.
+
+Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:
+
+"Alone--left alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TREASURE SHIP.
+
+     "O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)
+       That blowest to the west,
+     Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings
+       To the land that I love best,
+     How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,
+       Like a sea-bird I would sail."
+                                  --PRINGLE.
+
+When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.
+
+Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?"
+
+John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:
+
+"Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun." To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.
+
+He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.
+
+Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.
+
+It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.
+
+He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.
+
+To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.
+
+At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.
+
+Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.
+
+Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.
+
+One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy "Boom!"
+
+The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.
+
+"Boom!"
+
+A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.
+
+"God in heaven! can it be cannon?" cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.
+
+"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
+
+Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.
+
+Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.
+
+John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.
+
+The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.
+
+John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.
+
+The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.
+
+Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.
+
+While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.
+
+For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.
+
+Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.
+
+It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.
+
+Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.
+
+Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.
+
+After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.
+
+A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.
+
+The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.
+
+John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.
+
+Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:
+
+"Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!"
+
+John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.
+
+Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.
+
+He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.
+
+The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.
+
+"What can it contain, that is so heavy?" he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.
+
+John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.
+
+Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.
+
+After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.
+
+Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:
+
+"O God, why is such a fate mine?"
+
+Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+     Strange that when nature loved to trace
+     As if for God a dwelling place,
+     And every charm of grace hath mixed
+     Within the paradise she fixed,
+     There man, enamoured of distress,
+     Should mar it into wilderness.
+                                     --BYRON.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.
+
+Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:
+
+"Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?"
+
+"I do, sire," Clarendon answered.
+
+"It shall be done," said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.
+
+The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.
+
+While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.
+
+Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.
+
+It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.
+
+Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that "all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God." Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; "so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island." Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.
+
+Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the "sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people," the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.
+
+Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.
+
+For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.
+
+When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.
+
+Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for "the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties," and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.
+
+"Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age."
+
+So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.
+
+Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.
+
+As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:
+
+"DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.
+
+"A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.
+
+"If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.
+
+"If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.
+
+"God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.
+
+"It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations."
+
+The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.
+
+From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.
+
+Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for "irreverent speeches."
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts "as traitors and
+rebels against the king"; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.
+
+The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+"which nature could desire or wit invent"; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.
+
+Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was "a great
+trade in deal boards."
+
+A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those "wrecks of humanity," by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.
+
+The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.
+
+The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.
+
+Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.
+
+The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.
+
+They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.
+
+"We are lost! We are lost!" some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!" he cried.
+
+"Who is he?" was the general query, which no one could answer save: "He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us."
+
+It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.
+
+When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+KING PHILIP'S WAR.
+
+                    Oh, there be some
+     Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength
+     Of grappling agony, do stare at you,
+     With their dead eyes half opened.
+     And there be some struck through with bristling darts
+     Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;
+     Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.
+                                                 --BAILLIE.
+
+Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.
+
+But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.
+
+There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.
+
+The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.
+
+Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as "most suitable and
+convenient for them," where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.
+
+Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that "many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English."
+
+There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his "English arms," and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.
+
+The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.
+
+King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as "a slow firing gun" compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.
+
+The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.
+
+Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.
+
+Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.
+
+Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.
+
+At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.
+
+Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:
+
+"Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!" The boats took him
+at his word.
+
+The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.
+
+Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.
+
+The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.
+
+They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.
+
+A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.
+
+About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called "Muddy Brook." Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, "the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.
+
+Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.
+
+The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.
+
+King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.
+
+After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.
+
+Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.
+
+Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.
+
+At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.
+
+After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.
+
+On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. "Quickly," says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, "it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water."
+
+Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.
+
+Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.
+
+The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.
+
+The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.
+
+On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.
+
+The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.
+
+In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.
+
+On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.
+
+Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.
+
+Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.
+
+"There comes the devil Philip now!" cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.
+
+The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NEARING THE VERGE.
+
+     At times there come, as come there ought,
+     Grave moments of sedater thought.
+     When fortune frowns, nor lends our night
+     One gleam of her inconstant light:
+     And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,
+     Shines like the rainbow through the shower.
+                                      --CUNNINGHAM.
+
+Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.
+
+"How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!" were among the
+exclamations of his mother.
+
+Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:
+
+"I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough."
+
+When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.
+
+It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.
+
+The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:
+
+"Robert, I want to see you in my study."
+
+His "study" was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:
+
+"Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you."
+
+Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.
+
+"Robert, you have come back," began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. "I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me."
+
+Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:
+
+"We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice."
+
+"I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia," Robert
+answered.
+
+"Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed."
+
+Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.
+
+"Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold."
+
+The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:
+
+"The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them."
+
+"The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing," Robert ventured
+to put in.
+
+"Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?"
+
+"The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses."
+
+At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:
+
+"I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!"
+
+Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+"Virginia" in regard to some of them:
+
+"The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families."
+
+With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:
+
+"Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated."
+
+"He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being," Robert answered.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate."
+
+"I hardly comprehend you."
+
+"There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously."
+
+"Why does he not?"
+
+"He has good reasons."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted."
+
+Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:
+
+"Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?"
+
+"Such talk is treason," cried Price. "It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?"
+
+"I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before."
+
+"Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them."
+
+Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.
+
+His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.
+
+"Hold your peace, my son," plead the mother, "and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother."
+
+Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:
+
+"Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger."
+
+"But your stepfather and you?"
+
+"We have had no new quarrel."
+
+He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.
+
+"Good day, good people," he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. "I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him."
+
+Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:
+
+"Do you allow him to come here?"
+
+"We must," she whispered.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon."
+
+"You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor."
+
+"He is the governor's secretary."
+
+"I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here."
+
+The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:
+
+"Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?"
+
+"Why do you dare enter this house?" demanded Robert, fiercely.
+
+"Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.
+
+"Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?"
+
+"Perhaps it is Mr. Price!" the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:
+
+"Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor."
+
+He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.
+
+Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.
+
+He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.
+
+"I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment," he said in a fit of anger.
+
+It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:
+
+"I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis."
+
+"What is the crisis?" Robert asked.
+
+"We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us."
+
+"I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?"
+
+Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen."
+
+"Is it such a great grievance to the people?"
+
+"It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'"
+
+"To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons," put in
+Mr. Drummond.
+
+"Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians," added Mr. Cheeseman. "These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony."
+
+"What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?" asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:
+
+"Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people."
+
+"Are they?" asked Robert.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why does he not send an army against them?"
+
+"He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war."
+
+"Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?"
+
+"With him, it is."
+
+Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.
+
+     He stood--some dread was on his face,
+     Soon hatred settled in its place:
+     It rose not with the reddening flush
+     Of transient anger's hasty blush,
+     But pale as marble o'er the tomb,
+     Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.
+                                          --BYRON.
+
+Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.
+
+Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:
+
+"_Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!_"
+
+Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.
+
+"His office is for life," sighed Robert. "And too much power hath made
+him mad."
+
+Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:
+
+"No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you."
+
+"Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?"
+
+"No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not."
+
+"But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you."
+
+At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.
+
+Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!" his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.
+
+"You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?" cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:
+
+"Where is mother?"
+
+"She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings."
+
+"And left you alone?"
+
+"It was thought you would come."
+
+Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.
+
+"Have you suffered annoyances from him before?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Does mother know of it?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"And makes no effort to protect you?"
+
+[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]
+
+"She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage."
+
+"I think I understand why you were left," said Robert, bitterly; "but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's."
+
+"Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died."
+
+"But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure."
+
+With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.
+
+Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.
+
+The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.
+
+"If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds."
+
+At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:
+
+"Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense."
+
+"Which is very extraordinary," put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.
+
+Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.
+
+Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.
+
+That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, going to the window.
+
+"I am Drummond," was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.
+
+"What will you, Mr. Drummond?"
+
+"Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them."
+
+Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:
+
+"The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives."
+
+Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.
+
+"You will have aid," assured Mr. Drummond. "The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians."
+
+"Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?"
+
+"We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir."
+
+"Has he ability for a leader?" asked Robert.
+
+"He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council."
+
+This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, "of a precipitate disposition."
+
+Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as "Bacon's Quarter Branch." His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.
+
+When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:
+
+"If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission."
+
+The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.
+
+In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.
+
+Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.
+
+It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.
+
+He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"It is your brother," he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.
+
+Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.
+
+"Who is that man?" Robert asked.
+
+"Nathaniel Bacon," was the answer.
+
+This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.
+
+Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.
+
+"Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled," Bacon said, "that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold."
+
+All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.
+
+"I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians," Robert
+explained, "and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort."
+
+"Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia."
+
+Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.
+
+Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
+
+Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
+
+The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.
+
+John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.
+
+The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:
+
+"There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!"
+
+Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.
+
+"There are the enemy; storm the fort!" cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.
+
+Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.
+
+Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.
+
+The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the "Battle of Bloody Run," so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.
+
+The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.
+
+Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.
+
+When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.
+
+The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.
+
+"Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?" the governor asked.
+
+"No, may it please your honor," Bacon answered, quite coolly.
+
+"Then I will take your parole," said Berkeley.
+
+Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only "appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.
+
+     'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?
+       Have you met with that dreadful old man?
+     If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;
+       For catch you he must and he can.'
+                                                 --HOLMES.
+
+Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.
+
+"How are you, Robert--ahem?" began Giles. "This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you."
+
+"You can spare yourself any tears on my account," the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:
+
+"Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?"
+
+"I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance."
+
+"I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is."
+
+"It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty."
+
+It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.
+
+Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:
+
+"Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace." Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:
+
+"God forgive you; I forgive you," and three times he repeated the words.
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.
+
+Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:
+
+"Yes, and all that were with him." As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: "Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there," pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.
+
+The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at "the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.
+
+One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.
+
+Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:
+
+"DESPAIR."
+
+What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.
+
+Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.
+
+The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:
+
+"This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown."
+
+That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.
+
+When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.
+
+The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.
+
+After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.
+
+The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.
+
+The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.
+
+Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:
+
+"Whence came you, stranger?"
+
+"From Liverpool."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship _Despair_, which
+lies at anchor in your bay."
+
+"But surely you are not of England?"
+
+"I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death."
+
+The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion."
+
+Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:
+
+"Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship."
+
+"But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?"
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed."
+
+There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:
+
+"It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine."
+
+"But the king?"
+
+"They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years."
+
+The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.
+
+"Have you ever been in Virginia before?" the governor asked.
+
+"Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then."
+
+"How long will you stay?"
+
+"I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me."
+
+"What is your wish, Sir Albert?"
+
+"I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance," and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.
+
+"This is strange," said the governor. "An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time."
+
+"I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally." The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.
+
+For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.
+
+"Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst," said the stranger.
+
+Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:
+
+"Have you lived long in Virginia?"
+
+"I was born here, good sir."
+
+"Then you must know all of Jamestown?"
+
+"Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England."
+
+"Your home is still here?"
+
+With a sigh, Robert answered:
+
+"It is, though I do not live in it now."
+
+Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.
+
+All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the _Despair_.
+
+After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:
+
+"Oh, how extraordinary!"
+
+Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:
+
+"Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns."
+
+Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:
+
+"For what is that ugly machine used?"
+
+"It is a ducking-stool for scolds," was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+"Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed."
+
+"For whom was it built?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water."
+
+The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. "But to the last," the narrator
+resumed, "she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually."
+
+Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.
+
+No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.
+
+"Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love."
+
+"Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!"
+
+"Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name."
+
+In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:
+
+"Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you."
+
+She gazed up at the kind face and asked:
+
+"Are you the owner of the ship _Despair_?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Albert," she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:
+
+"Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm."
+
+While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.
+
+"The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear," sighed the little maid.
+"The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor."
+
+"He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother."
+
+He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:
+
+"God bless you! There, I must go."
+
+He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.
+
+There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:
+
+"Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!"
+
+The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BACON A REBEL.
+
+     "Hark! 'tis the sound that charms
+     The war-steed's wakening ears.
+     Oh! many a mother folds her arms
+     Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,
+     And though her fond heart sink with fears,
+     Is proud to feel his young pulse bound
+     With valor's fervor at the sound."
+                                             --MOORE.
+
+The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship _Despair_ and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.
+
+The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.
+
+She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:
+
+"Is she a relative of yours, young maid?" asked the man of whom she
+inquired.
+
+"No; I know of her, and would see her."
+
+"Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother."
+
+The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.
+
+"Do you travel alone, young maid?" asked the man whom she had addressed.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Where is your mother?"
+
+"Dead," she answered sadly,
+
+"Then you are an orphan?"
+
+"I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia."
+
+She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:
+
+"I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here."
+
+"Ester--Ester Goffe," stammered Rebecca. "Then you are my brother's
+affianced."
+
+"I am."
+
+In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:
+
+"I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?" and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.
+
+"Where is he--where is Robert?"
+
+Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.
+
+"Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another." Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:
+
+"You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin."
+
+"But can I see him?" asked Ester.
+
+"Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?"
+
+"Robert."
+
+A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.
+
+"Have you no faithful servant?"
+
+There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+"cross Master Price," he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:
+
+"Sam, could you find my brother?"
+
+"I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could."
+
+"Would you take a small bit of writing to him?"
+
+"If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back."
+
+Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:
+
+DEAR BROTHER;--
+
+Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.
+
+Your sister,
+
+REBECCA.
+
+Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.
+
+Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.
+
+The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:
+
+"No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go."
+
+Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:
+
+"We will have it! We will have it!" (Meaning the commission.)
+
+One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:
+
+"You shall have it! You shall have it!"
+
+The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:
+
+"D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!"
+
+The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.
+
+A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.
+
+"Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!"
+
+It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.
+
+After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:
+
+"Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!" The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.
+
+Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.
+
+Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:
+
+"It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible."
+
+"Brother, do not place yourself in his power," said his sister.
+
+"Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?"
+
+"At the governor's."
+
+"Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born."
+
+"We will keep the secret, brother."
+
+"When do you go?" asked Ester.
+
+"The army marches against the Indians on the morrow." He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.
+
+"Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?"
+
+"I knew not that you were a member of the house."
+
+Peram, blushing, answered:
+
+"Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it." With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.
+
+Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:
+
+"'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place."
+
+Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: "It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face."
+
+Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.
+
+Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.
+
+Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was "in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots." Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:
+
+"It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast."
+
+Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.
+
+Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:
+
+"Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia."
+
+This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, "What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?"
+
+The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.
+
+Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.
+
+The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.
+
+This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.
+
+"Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world," they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:
+
+"The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country." And when a person by her side
+said, "We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin," Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:
+
+"I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough."
+
+The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.
+
+While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel _Despair_. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:
+
+"I feared you had gone, never to come back."
+
+"Did you want to see me again, child?" he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.
+
+"I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you."
+
+"The war rages again?"
+
+"It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men."
+
+"If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship."
+
+"But my brother--oh, my brother!"
+
+"He, also, will be safe."
+
+"Would you take us all, and Ester, too?"
+
+"Who is Ester?"
+
+She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:
+
+"You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid."
+
+Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.
+
+He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked the half-fainting woman.
+
+"No."
+
+"You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?"
+
+"I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the _Despair_, are you not?" asked
+Dorothe Price.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir."
+
+"Shall I see you home?"
+
+"If not too much trouble."
+
+As they walked along the road, he asked:
+
+"Are you Mrs. Price?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"When did your first husband die?"
+
+"Many years ago. He was lost at sea."
+
+"Did he leave two children?"
+
+"Yes, sir, two," she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:
+
+"Was he a good man?"
+
+"Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!" Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.
+
+"Are you happy now?"
+
+"Alas, no. I am miserable."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican."
+
+"Is your son with Bacon?"
+
+"He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could."
+
+"He shall not hang him."
+
+"If he captures him, who will prevent it?"
+
+"I will." They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:
+
+"Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.
+
+     "At every turn, Morena's dusky height
+     Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,
+     And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,
+     The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,
+     The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,
+     The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,
+     The magazine in rocky durance stand,
+     The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,
+     The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match."
+                                              --BYRON.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship _Despair_.
+
+Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.
+
+"You must be very rich," she said to Sir Albert.
+
+"This represents but a small part of my possessions."
+
+"I would I were your heiress."
+
+"You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me."
+
+"Have you no wife--no children?"
+
+He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.
+
+Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.
+
+Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.
+
+Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.
+
+The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.
+
+Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship _Despair_. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.
+
+"Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives," said Bacon. "We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame."
+
+Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them "in the forefront of his
+workmen," during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.
+
+No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.
+
+"They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!" he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.
+
+There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.
+
+"Come down, general!" cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. "You endanger
+your life up there."
+
+Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:
+
+"Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!"
+
+A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.
+
+"Don't fire, until I give you the command," said Bacon, coolly. "We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear."
+
+He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.
+
+Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.
+
+Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.
+
+Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.
+
+"We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price," he said as the sun was setting.
+
+"No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night."
+
+"I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?"
+
+"He hath taken refuge under the church."
+
+"Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands."
+
+A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.
+
+The ship _Despair_, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.
+
+That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.
+
+"Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you," said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.
+
+"You intrude--you disturb us!" cried Cheeseman. "We want no spy on our
+deliberations."
+
+"Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting."
+
+His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:
+
+"'Fore God, who are you?"
+
+"A man like you," was the answer; "a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you."
+
+He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.
+
+"What meaneth this?" Drummond asked when he regained his voice. "Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young."
+
+Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:
+
+"Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune."
+
+The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:
+
+"God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? _It is John Stevens_!"
+
+"It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh," he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.
+
+"Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death," he concluded.
+
+"Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?"
+
+"Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children."
+
+Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:
+
+"'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--"
+
+"Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love," and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.
+
+"Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty," said Drummond. "I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered."
+
+"I know all," John sobbed.
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?"
+
+"What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live."
+
+Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:
+
+"And will you leave her to him?"
+
+"Yes," was the low, meek answer.
+
+"Will you not seek revenge?"
+
+"'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'"
+
+Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:
+
+"Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?"
+
+"They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven."
+
+"But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?"
+
+"Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?"
+
+Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.
+
+"Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret."
+
+They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.
+
+"Why sit you here?" cried the general. "Have you not heard the news?"
+
+"No; what is it?"
+
+"Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town."
+
+Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.
+
+"Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?" asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.
+
+"No," answered Bacon.
+
+"Then we must abandon it."
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]
+
+"They shall not find the town when they come," cried Bacon. "D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!"
+
+What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.
+
+"But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned," cried
+Robert.
+
+"I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,"
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:
+
+"What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us."
+
+"Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home," said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.
+
+"Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the _Despair_," cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, "Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?"
+
+Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:
+
+"I will, I swear by the God we all worship!"
+
+Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:
+
+"Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants."
+
+Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.
+
+Bacon and his army retreated up the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.
+
+     The longer life, the more offence;
+       The more offence, the greater pain;
+     The greater pain, the less defence;
+       The less defence, the greater gain:
+     The loss of gain long ill doth try,
+       Wherefore, come death and let me die.
+                                           --WYAT.
+
+Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.
+
+With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.
+
+"You do not look well," said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. "Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever."
+
+Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.
+
+"I shall be better soon," he answered. "When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort."
+
+"Have a care for your health."
+
+"I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown."
+
+Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his "Mandates" to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.
+
+On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.
+
+"Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick," said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.
+
+"Are you better, general?" he asked.
+
+"I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning."
+
+As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.
+
+"General Bacon is dead," they said.
+
+"What! dead?" cried Robert.
+
+"Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate."
+
+It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.
+
+Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.
+
+"Thomas Hansford," cried Berkeley, "I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!"
+
+Colonel Hansford answered, "I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog."
+
+The governor replied, "You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel."
+
+Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:
+
+"Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country."
+
+Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.
+
+Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.
+
+One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.
+
+"There he is, Giles; now slay him!" cried the stepfather.
+
+Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.
+
+"Come on, Giles; he is unarmed," cried Mr. Price.
+
+"Oh, are you quite sure?" cried Giles.
+
+"I am sure. He is out of ammunition."
+
+"That is extraordinary, very extraordinary." Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.
+
+"He is heading for the river!" cried Price.
+
+"Can he cross?"
+
+"No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him."
+
+Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.
+
+It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.
+
+"He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!" cried Price.
+
+The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.
+
+Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.
+
+It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. "We will have him yet. He shall hang!" said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.
+
+They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:
+
+"My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done," she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, "was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned."
+
+The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:
+
+"Away with you!" adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]
+
+So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.
+
+For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.
+
+"Mr. Drummond," he said, "you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour."
+
+"What your honor pleases," Mr. Drummond boldly answered. "I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression."
+
+He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.
+
+Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.
+
+Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that "Bacon and Bland must die," and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:
+
+"That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father."
+
+Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.
+
+Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+_Despair_, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.
+
+Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration," said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+"Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me."
+
+"That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he been tried?"
+
+"He has and has been condemned."
+
+"To hang?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has the sentence been executed?" asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Then your life is saved."
+
+"But he will be hanged at ten o'clock."
+
+"He shall not!"
+
+"Why, who are you, that dare defy me?"
+
+"Governor Berkeley," said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. "Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!"
+
+Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:
+
+"You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.
+
+"The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens," said Mr. Price.
+
+"Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it," put in Giles, a smile on his face.
+
+Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:
+
+"Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution."
+
+Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:
+
+"Sign, sir."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A pardon for Robert Stevens."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.
+
+"Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!" cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.
+
+Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:
+
+"Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!" and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:
+
+"Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself."
+
+Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:
+
+"Have you signed the pardon, governor?"
+
+"Here it is."
+
+"Now order his release."
+
+Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.
+
+"I owe this to you, kind sir," he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.
+
+"I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise."
+
+"Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?"
+
+"All are safe aboard my vessel."
+
+"Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me."
+
+"Do you remember your father?"
+
+"I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?"
+
+"Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well."
+
+"Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great."
+
+"We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well."
+
+"How know you this?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing."
+
+"Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace."
+
+"Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his."
+
+When they went on board the _Despair_, there was a general rejoicing.
+
+"Heaven bless you, our deliverer!" cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.
+
+Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+     So live, that when thy summons comes to join
+     The innumerable caravan, that moves
+     To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
+     His chamber in the silent halls of death,
+     Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
+     Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
+     By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
+     Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
+     About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
+                                               --BRYANT.
+
+That strange ship _Despair_ still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.
+
+"What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?" asked the governor.
+
+"'Fore God, I know not, governor," put in Hugh Price. "I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one."
+
+As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:
+
+"Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time."
+
+"But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?"
+
+"Harm him not."
+
+"He will harm me, I trow."
+
+"No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not."
+
+Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.
+
+Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.
+
+"It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!" declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.
+
+"Where is your wife?"
+
+"On board the ship _Despair_."
+
+"Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion."
+
+"I will."
+
+After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the _Despair_, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.
+
+When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:
+
+"Shall I go?"
+
+"The place of a good wife is with her husband," he answered.
+
+Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:
+
+"Must I obey Hugh Price?"
+
+"Is he your father?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You are of age?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River."
+
+"I will live with my brother."
+
+Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:
+
+"The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail."
+
+"Shall I take you in mine?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"Will you?"
+
+"If you desire it."
+
+The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:
+
+"Pull ashore."
+
+It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.
+
+The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.
+
+The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.
+
+Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.
+
+Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.
+
+When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.
+
+All winter long, Captain Small of the _Despair_ remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.
+
+"He also gave you the ship _Despair_," concluded the captain.
+
+"This is very strange." said Robert. "I can scarcely believe it."
+
+Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.
+
+"Now what will you do with the ship?" the captain asked.
+
+"What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters."
+
+"She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits."
+
+"No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth."
+
+Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name _Despair_ was changed to _Hope_. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.
+
+Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.
+
+Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.
+
+One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:
+
+"Do you not know me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Lawrence," the stranger whispered.
+
+"What! Mr. Lawrence?"
+
+"Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you."
+
+Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.
+
+"I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know."
+
+Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" again.
+
+A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:
+
+"_Father and mother sleep here_."
+
+Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, "I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone."
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.
+
+All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+Ye End.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King
+  Charles II
+Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor
+Alderman, slayer of King Philip
+Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the
+  surrender of New York
+Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook
+Angel of deliverance
+Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon
+Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia
+Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels
+Attack on the swamp fort
+Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker
+Bacon, Nathaniel
+Bacon's "Quarter Branch"
+Bacon's threat
+Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission
+Bacon defeats the Indians
+Bacon arrested
+Bacon's confession
+Bacon's flight
+Bacon rousing his friends
+Bacon marching on Jamestown
+Bacon captures Jamestown
+Bacon and Berkeley meet
+Bacon commissioned by Berkeley
+Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy
+Bacon urged to depose Berkeley
+Bacon's Indian campaign
+Bacon again rallying his hosts
+Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields
+Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen
+Bacon besieges Jamestown
+Bacon enters Jamestown
+Bacon burns Jamestown
+Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac
+Bacon ill
+Bacon's death a mystery
+Bacon rebels attainted of treason
+Bacon's laws repealed
+Baconites deserting Ingram
+Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac
+Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654
+Battle of Brookfield
+Battle of Bloody Run
+Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley
+Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia
+Berkeley, Sir William, character of
+Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors
+Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia
+Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to
+  Greenspring Manor
+Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.
+Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing
+Berkeley informs home government that all trouble
+  with the Indians is happily over
+Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission
+Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel
+Berkeley pardons Bacon
+Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon
+Berkeley and Bacon meet
+Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces
+  him a rebel
+Berkeley in possession of Jamestown
+Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown
+Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works
+Berkeley's tyranny at York
+Berkeley's departure from Virginia
+Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York
+Bland, execution of
+Brent reported advancing
+Buckingham succeeds Clarendon
+Burning of Jamestown
+Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630
+Calvert, Governor of Maryland
+Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of
+Carolinia settled by New Englanders
+Carolinia constitution
+Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to
+Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder
+Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed
+Census of New England in 1675
+Charles I. beheaded in 1649
+Charles II. declared king of England in 1660
+Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father
+Charles II., character of
+Charles II. profligate and careless
+Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley
+Cheeseman, trial of
+Cheeseman's death
+Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley
+Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset
+Clarendon in exile
+Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island
+Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam
+Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands
+  within limits of Rhode Island charter
+Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter
+Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop
+Connecticut after the restoration
+Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution
+Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector
+Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son
+  Richard as his successor
+Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II.
+  grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years
+Curles, Bacon's home
+Death of Nathaniel Bacon
+De Vries robbed by the Indians
+De Vries chosen president of popular assembly
+Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I
+Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia
+  in 1666
+Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the
+  world
+Drummond before Berkeley
+Drummond, execution of
+Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children
+Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne
+Dutch capture New York
+Dyer, Mary, execution of
+Effect of the restoration on Virginia
+Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret
+Elliott, John, missionary among Indians
+Emigrants to Carolinia
+Emigrants to New Jersey from New England
+English government in a state of chaos after the death
+  of Cromwell
+Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts
+Execution of Robinson and Stevenson
+Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts
+Forebodings of war
+Gathering of Virginians at Curles
+Goffe and the fencing-master
+Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned
+  Charles I
+Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men
+Gorges recovers his claim
+Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness
+Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence
+Grievances of Virginians
+Hadley attacked by the Indians
+Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley
+Hansford abandons Jamestown
+Hansford hung
+Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629
+Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert
+Hawley, Governor of Carolinia
+Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of
+  Virginia
+Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken
+Indian war of 1644
+Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey
+Indian advancement in education
+Indians' lands taken from them
+Ingram chosen in place of Bacon
+Ingram's surrender
+James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted
+  to him by his brother Charles II
+Jamestown besieged by Bacon
+Jamestown captured by Bacon
+Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt
+Judges who tried and condemned Charles I
+Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer
+  of the wheelwright
+Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians
+Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland
+King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and
+  Northampton
+King's men, character of
+Lancaster attacked by Indians
+Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia
+Law against Quakers repealed in 1661
+Laws made by Bacon repealed
+_Longtail_, Claybourne's trading ship
+Lovelace appointed Governor of New York
+Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy
+Massachusetts' charter threatened
+Massachusetts after the restoration
+Massachusetts not punished for her defiance
+Massasoit, death of, 1661
+Matapoiset, attack on
+Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls
+Middle Plantation oath
+Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652
+Muddy Brook, fight at
+Narragansetts, Philip among
+Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances
+New Amsterdam granted a government like the free
+  cities of Holland
+New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed
+  to New York
+New England confederation
+New England, growth of
+New England colonies slandered
+New Haven colony
+New Jersey, how effected by change
+New Jersey charter
+New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants
+New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch
+New York not represented in Parliament
+New York attacked by the Dutch
+New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam
+Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam
+Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor
+  of New York
+Nipmucks, Philip among
+North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666
+Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go
+  to
+Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of
+Oliverian plot
+Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred
+  years old and assassinated
+Orange changed to Albany
+Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650
+Pavonia, the territory of Pauw
+Philip's, King, opposition to war
+Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's
+  blood has been shed
+Philip, King, among the Nipmucks
+Philip, King, pursued
+Philip, King, death of
+Pokanokets rejected Christianity
+Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam
+Population of Virginia
+Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware
+Puritans of New England
+Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts
+Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey
+Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch
+Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644
+Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663
+Rising, John, on the Delaware
+Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653
+Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house
+Royalists, triumph of
+Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the
+  plans of Philip
+Savage sent to Mount Hope
+South Kingston, Indians at
+Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England
+Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware
+Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer
+Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender
+Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant goes to Holland
+Stuyvesant returns to New York
+Sudbury, attack on
+Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II
+Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on
+Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with
+Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it
+Fort Trinity
+Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard
+Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation
+Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration
+Vane, Sir Henry, executed
+Virginia divided into eight shires
+Virginia restored to monarchy
+Virginia threatened with civil war
+Virginia, home ruled
+Virginia's defence, 1675
+Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing
+  a flag of truce
+Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals
+Wheelwright murdered by Indians
+Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Windsor, Indian attack on
+Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant
+Winthrop, John, and Charles II.
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.
+
+A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.
+
+1644. SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+  killed,--April 18.
+
+1645. CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+  fled to Virginia.
+
+1649. CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.
+
+1650. FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+  Chowan River, near Edenton.
+
+1653. OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+  Great Britain,--Dec. 16.
+
+1655. RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+  and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.
+
+1656. QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+  by Puritans.
+
+1660. MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+  king,--May 29.
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.
+
+1663. CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+  24. (This grant extended from 30° to
+  36° lat., and from ocean to ocean.)
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+  granted,--July 8.
+
+1664. NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+  and Albany,--March 12.
+
+NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.
+
+STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).
+
+FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.
+
+ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.
+
+1665. CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+  name of Connecticut,--May.
+
+SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+  to 29° lat.,--June 30.
+
+CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+  settled.
+
+1670. DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.
+
+1671. MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+  at Michilimackinac.
+
+1673. VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.
+
+1674. MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.
+
+1675. MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.
+
+1676. BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+  one hundred years before independence.
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+  and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.
+  41° 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick</title>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A
+Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+Title: The Real America in Romance, Volume 6;
+A Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion)
+
+Author: John R. Musick
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10387]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME 6;
+A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+</pre>
+<center><h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner,<br>
+            and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3></center>
+
+<hr class="full">
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center><b>THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE</b></center><br>
+
+<center><b>Volume VI</b></center><br>
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>A CENTURY TOO SOON</h2>
+
+<center>The Age of Tyranny</center><br><br>
+
+<center>By</center>
+
+<center>JOHN R. MUSICK</center><br><br>
+
+<center>Illustrations By</center>
+
+<center>FREELAND A. CARTER</center><br><br>
+
+<center>1909</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><b>To</b></h2>
+
+<p>MY WIFE,</p>
+
+<p>WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,</p>
+
+<p>THIS BOOK</p>
+
+<p>IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED</p>
+
+<p>BY</p>
+
+<p><b>THE AUTHOR</b></p>
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="Illus0417.jpg"><img src="Illus0417.jpg" alt="Illustration: His tired child
+         was at his side uncomplainingly" width="40%" hspace=20></a>
+<br>
+<h4>"His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly"</h4>
+</center>
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<p>Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the &quot;king's men,&quot; or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could &quot;thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia,&quot; was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a &quot;century too soon,&quot; being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.</p>
+
+<p>In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in &quot;Pocahontas.&quot; The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.</p>
+
+<p>JOHN R. MUSICK.</p>
+
+<p>KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<br><br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHAPTER I.</a> THE DUCKING STOOL<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II.">CHAPTER II.</a> SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III.">CHAPTER III.</a> THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">CHAPTER IV.</a> THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V.">CHAPTER V.</a> JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">CHAPTER VI.</a> THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">CHAPTER VII.</a> IN WIDOW'S WEEDS<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">CHAPTER VIII.</a> THE STEPFATHER<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX.">CHAPTER IX.</a> THE MOVING WORLD<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X.">CHAPTER X.</a> THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI.">CHAPTER XI.</a> TYRANNY AND FLIGHT<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII.">CHAPTER XII.</a> THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.">CHAPTER XIII.</a> LEFT ALONE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV.">CHAPTER XIV.</a> THE TREASURE SHIP<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV.">CHAPTER XV.</a> THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI.">CHAPTER XVI.</a> KING PHILIP'S WAR<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII.">CHAPTER XVII.</a> NEARING THE VERGE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII.">CHAPTER XVIII.</a> THE SWORD OF DEFENCE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX.">CHAPTER XIX.</a> THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX.">CHAPTER XX.</a> BACON A REBEL<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI.">CHAPTER XXI.</a> BURNING OF JAMESTOWN<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII.">CHAPTER XXII.</a> VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII.">CHAPTER XXIII.</a> CONCLUSION<br>
+
+<p><a href="#HISTORICAL_INDEX.">HISTORICAL INDEX</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#CHRONOLOGY.">CHRONOLOGY</a></p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0417.jpg">His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly</a></p>
+
+<p>Ducking stool</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a href="Illus0418.jpg">I'll scratch your eyes out!</a>&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Once more he bent over the sleeping children</p>
+
+<p>Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant</p>
+
+<p>The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life</p>
+
+<p>Blanche could not utter a word of consolation</p>
+
+<p>Oliver Cromwell</p>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0419.jpg">&quot;Peter the Headstrong,&quot; unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+into pieces</a><br>
+
+<p>Tomb of Stuyvesant</p>
+
+<p>The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the scene<br>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0420.jpg">His temper flamed out in words</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you ready?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Henry Vane</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our journey is not one half over!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a href="Illus0422.jpg">You are not lost, if you follow me</a>!&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0423.jpg">He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him</a></p>
+
+<p>He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a href="Illus0424.jpg">Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark</a>!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ruins of Jamestown</p>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0425.jpg">The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+splashing up a jet of water</a><br>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0421.jpg">Map of the period</a></p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>A CENTURY TOO SOON.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<p>THE DUCKING-STOOL.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You cataracts and hurricanes, spout<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --SHAKESPEARE.<br>
+
+<p>[Illustration: ducking stool]</p>
+
+<p>A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+&quot;ducking-stool.&quot; The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+&quot;Commonwealth&quot; in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or &quot;Roundheads,&quot; as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.</p>
+
+<p>The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.</p>
+
+<p>It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.</p>
+
+<p>Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.</p>
+
+<p>There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, Roger!&quot; said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, Hugh,&quot; Roger answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?&quot; asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. &quot;I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! what hath she done?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How is Sir William Berkeley?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sh--! speak not so loud,&quot; said Hugh in an undertone. &quot;There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger,&quot; said Hugh when they were
+seated. &quot;Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The rule of the Roundheads is mild.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mild, bah!&quot; interrupted Hugh, in contempt. &quot;They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired,&quot; and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, &quot;It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good wives,&quot; said a hard-featured dame of fifty, &quot;I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment,&quot; interposed a more cautious sister.</p>
+
+<p>Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, she hath,&quot; interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?&quot; continued
+dame Woodley,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Little the pity for him, though,&quot; interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The more fool he to maintain such a creature.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle,&quot; interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will give ye a piece of my mind,&quot; she declared to her guards.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your peace, Ann!&quot; cried the eldest of the guards.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! I wish you were silent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, by the mass, it will not,&quot; answered his companion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am not a papist.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with,&quot; put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.</p>
+
+<p>The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!&quot; she screamed at the
+top of her voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!&quot; she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath,&quot; cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.</p>
+
+<p>The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! we will be more damp than you,&quot; said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Duty; but such a duty!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, I say such a duty,&quot; answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. &quot;Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am in no hurry,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The urchins and older persons began to cry:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will scratch your eyes out!&quot; she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!&quot; he cried to
+his companion.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown,&quot; said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this,&quot; she cried. &quot;Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: &quot;Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For shame!&quot; whispered Sarah Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yea, verily.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John Stevens is a godly man,&quot; remarked still another. &quot;He would not
+wrong any one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If he were my dearest foe,&quot; whispered goodwife Woodley, &quot;he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely,&quot; whispered Sarah
+Drummond, &quot;for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!&quot; she screamed in
+her shrill voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace, dame; be still!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,&quot;
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. &quot;I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go to! hold your peace, Ann!&quot; said the sheriff.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not,&quot; she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you shall be plunged hot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I care not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It may be your death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's what ye want.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We don't.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye lie, ye wretch!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are a wretch!&quot; she screamed.</p>
+
+<p>The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are a white-livered wretch!&quot; the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. &quot;I'll scratch
+your eyes out!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let her down,&quot; commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!&quot; shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.</p>
+
+<p>She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?&quot;</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0418.jpg"><img src="Illus0418.jpg" alt="Illustration: I'll scratch
+   your eyes out!" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>&quot;I'll scratch your eyes out!&quot; she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, &quot;She's a hussy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's true! She is a hussy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: &quot;She's a hussy!&quot; The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Put her on shore.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II."></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<p>SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On peace and rest my mind was bent,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And fool I was I married;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But never honest man's intent<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As cursedly miscarried.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --BURNS.<br>
+
+<p>In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.</p>
+
+<p>John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the &quot;28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known.&quot; He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight <i>Shires</i>: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.</p>
+
+<p>Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+<i>Longtail</i>, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the <i>Longtail</i>, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.</p>
+
+<p>In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, &quot;and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church,&quot; and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+&quot;Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.</p>
+
+<p>John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.</p>
+
+<p>Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.</p>
+
+<p>In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.</p>
+
+<p>On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Were you more prudent, Dorothe,&quot; said John, &quot;we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But other men have helpmates in their wives.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am going to economize,&quot; she declared. &quot;I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our family has a fortune in Florida.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going,&quot; he made
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And wherefore can you not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can you not get it? Can you not get it?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do not know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Try.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have thought to try it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.</p>
+
+<p>There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.</p>
+
+<p>The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.</p>
+
+<p>John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By all means, go to London,&quot; answered Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ought I to leave my wife and children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wherefore not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your father was a sailor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But his son is not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;True, yet why shrink from this voyage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy,&quot; was Drummond's advice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,&quot;
+interposed Cheeseman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How much is involved?&quot; asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Eight hundred pounds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Quite a sum.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By all means, go,&quot; Hugh advised. &quot;It is your duty to go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do not,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living,&quot; answered John, with a
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Women do the same,&quot; John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so often as the men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My friends all declare that it is my duty to go,&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your friends! who are your friends?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drummond.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;An ignorant Scotchman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Lawerence advises it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is a canting hypocrite.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hugh Price agrees with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does he?&quot; asked Mrs. Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He does.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't believe it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John,&quot; she said, &quot;if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wherefore not?&quot; cried Mrs. Stevens. &quot;Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the &quot;green-eyed
+monster&quot; to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door.&quot; But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.</p>
+
+<p>John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.</p>
+
+<p>The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God bless you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I awake them?&quot; his wife asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear, I do so regret your going!&quot; sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will go with you to the boat,&quot; she said, hurriedly dressing herself.</p>
+
+<p>John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]</p>
+
+<p>John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.</p>
+
+<p>Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Farewell, little darling!&quot; and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<p>THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We love<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And reigns content within them; him we serve<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But recollecting still that he is a man,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We trust him not too far.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --COWPER.<br>
+
+<p>The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.</p>
+
+<p>The governor, who cared little for the &quot;customs of the race,&quot; determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might &quot;make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony,&quot; and reproached him with selfish cowardice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is all well for you,&quot; they said, &quot;who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.</p>
+
+<p>Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.</p>
+
+<p>One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at &quot;Colaer's Hook,&quot; who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. &quot;Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe,&quot; says Brodhead, &quot;were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]</p>
+
+<p>It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.</p>
+
+<p>Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.</p>
+
+<p>By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the &quot;governor&quot;
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to &quot;keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together.&quot;
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the &quot;Nine.&quot; The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this &quot;imprudent entrusting of power with the people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have no powder. What can I do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused &quot;by that
+infamous surrender.&quot; On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]</p>
+
+<p>On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]</p>
+
+<p>The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages &quot;after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors.&quot; After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the &quot;Articles of Confederation,&quot; each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.</p>
+
+<p>Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a &quot;perfect republic.&quot; It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+&quot;silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the <i>Mayflower</i>
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.</p>
+
+<p>Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his &quot;brother's
+keeper,&quot; whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, &quot;except to and from
+church&quot; on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for &quot;suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness,&quot; was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+&quot;take heed of his light carriage.&quot; The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to &quot;be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly.&quot; The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.</p>
+
+<p>In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.</p>
+
+<p>While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.</p>
+
+<p>That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.</p>
+
+<p>All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+&quot;Governor of Carolinia.&quot; The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, &quot;freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt.&quot; The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+&quot;proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia,&quot; promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<p>THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The wind<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Increased at night, until it blew a gale;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And though 'twas not much to naval mind,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At sunset they began to take in sail.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft <i>Silverwing</i>; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.</p>
+
+<p>His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.</p>
+
+<p>All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.</p>
+
+<p>John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely I will die,&quot; he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+&quot;Surely I will die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.</p>
+
+<p>He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?&quot; asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My head hurts,&quot; John gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, I ache all over,&quot; returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, stranger!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you injured?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay; the fall was not violent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am not sick,&quot; the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. &quot;I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I trust so,&quot; groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But the sea runs high,&quot; the old man said, &quot;let us go in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not belong at Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You came in the last ship?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We did.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You did not come alone?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.</p>
+
+<p>From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.</p>
+
+<p>She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.</p>
+
+<p>That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I want to talk with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: &quot;We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is coming,&quot; Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are going to have a terrible storm,&quot; John answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; remember your promise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no,&quot; Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, &quot;I
+have an impression that my time has surely come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!&quot; the poor fellow was
+groaning. &quot;Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.</p>
+
+<p>About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy.&quot; Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.</p>
+
+<p>Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.</p>
+
+<p>At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The storm is terrible,&quot; said the old man. &quot;The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart,&quot; urged John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives,&quot; said
+John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo,&quot; he
+cried, &quot;and set the pumps a-going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are we going down?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God grant that it be not so!&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But such fearful noises, such hideous sights.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be brave, young maid,&quot; he urged. &quot;Where is your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Aye, my friend, the worst is coming,&quot; he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. &quot;I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.</p>
+
+<p>At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.</p>
+
+<p>The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will never reach it,&quot; said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not despair,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+<i>Silverwing</i>. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.</p>
+
+<p>John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.</p>
+
+<p>It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will soon be over,&quot; said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. &quot;Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take her! take her!&quot; cried Mr. Holmes frantically. &quot;I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.</p>
+
+<p>It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Father--father!&quot; she faintly murmured.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is gone,&quot; John answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is this you?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Cling to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will. We will survive or perish together.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<p>JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The furrow followed free;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We were the first that ever burst<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Into that silent sea.<br>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Twas sad as sad could be;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And we did speak only to break<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The silence of the sea.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--COLERIDGE.<br>
+
+<p>Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are we all?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was no one saved?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;None but ourselves.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the ship?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is a hopeless wreck on the sands,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know where we are?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.</p>
+
+<p>John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.</p>
+
+<p>They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.</p>
+
+<p>It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is this country inhabited?&quot; asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I fear not,&quot; he answered; &quot;or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not desert you,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can we not go back for them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You won't be long gone?&quot; she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.</p>
+
+<p>A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.</p>
+
+<p>Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you seen any one?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have brought some food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water,&quot; he said
+hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It might have been worse,&quot; she thought. &quot;While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven help us ere we perish,&quot; he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. &quot;If we don't find water soon she will die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.</p>
+
+<p>All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.</p>
+
+<p>John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now let us have food,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can we from there determine what land we are on?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hope so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If there be cities, will we see them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We shall,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you no hopes nor fears?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have both.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are your hopes?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your fears?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth,&quot; reasoned Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you strong enough for the walk?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.</p>
+
+<p>The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.</p>
+
+<p>John called a halt and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall we go on, or return to the beach?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will it not be carried off?&quot; Blanche asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.</p>
+
+<p>They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?&quot; asked John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, we have nothing to fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If a beast,&quot; he thought, &quot;it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche will be lonesome,&quot; he thought. &quot;Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.</p>
+
+<p>He searched the ground, and saw footprints.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some animals have been here,&quot; he thought. &quot;They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then there are animals on the land,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; but they are not dangerous,&quot; he returned. &quot;These animals may
+prove useful to us for food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hope so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After several moments, she asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long must we stay?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, not to-night,&quot; she answered with a shudder. &quot;I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.</p>
+
+<p>Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.</p>
+
+<p>As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me,&quot; he prayed.</p>
+
+<p>His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What was it? Are we attacked?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,&quot;
+assured John.</p>
+
+<p>The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<p>THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I am monarch of all I survey,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My right there is none to dispute:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From the centre all round to the sea<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I am lord of the fowl and the brute.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O Solitude! where are the charms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That sages have seen in thy face?<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Better dwell in the midst of alarms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Than reign in this horrible place.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --COWPER.<br>
+
+<p>Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.</p>
+
+<p>He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are they?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is a goat,&quot; he said. &quot;The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.</p>
+
+<p>The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.</p>
+
+<p>Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck,&quot; he said, &quot;and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long will that stay be?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God in heaven alone can tell.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely some passing ship will see us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.</p>
+
+<p>The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.</p>
+
+<p>The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.</p>
+
+<p>At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.</p>
+
+<p>Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.</p>
+
+<p>Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.</p>
+
+<p>Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.</p>
+
+<p>It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Read more,&quot; she said when he had finished the page. &quot;What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, it is a comfort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Should we die here, He will be with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God is everywhere. He will not desert us,&quot; John said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I hope we will yet be rescued.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I trust so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are stronger than I,&quot; she said, &quot;why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My burden is greater than I can bear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are all alone in the world, Blanche.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have not a relative living.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, my father was lost.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Helpless--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My wife and children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I left them to better my fortune,&quot; he continued. &quot;They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I did not care to burden you with my griefs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Trust in God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have their mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]</p>
+
+<p>Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.</p>
+
+<p>The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?&quot;
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How is our own boat?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Too frail. The boards are almost rotten.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why not make one?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted.&quot;
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.</p>
+
+<p>The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.</p>
+
+<p>With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.</p>
+
+<p>One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.</p>
+
+<p>Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God send some ship to deliver me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How could I live here without you, Blanche?&quot; he said one day.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,&quot; she answered. &quot;Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse.&quot; Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.</p>
+
+<p>In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I went to the cliff this morning,&quot; she said, &quot;thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After a long silence, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, how long have we been here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ten years,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.</p>
+
+<p>Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, would ten years change a baby?&quot; John asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then my baby is a baby no longer,&quot; sighed the father.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; she is a pretty little girl now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And has no recollection of her father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How could she?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But my little boy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was five when you left home?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, not quite; four and some months.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then he would remember you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is a good-sized boy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Almost fifteen,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven grant I may yet see them!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Amen!&quot; replied Blanche. &quot;God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When he talks of them,&quot; Blanche thought, &quot;he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<p>IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Go; you may call it madness, folly;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You may not chase my gloom away.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There's such a charm in melancholy,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I would not, if I could, be gay.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --ROGERS.<br>
+
+<p>Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship <i>Silverwing</i>; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must do something,&quot; she declared, &quot;to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.</p>
+
+<p>Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?&quot; one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has been a long time gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; but he will return.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The <i>Silverwing</i> has not yet reached London.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How know you that?&quot; she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The <i>Ocean Star</i> hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+<i>Silverwing</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It left before the <i>Silverwing</i> arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure,&quot; and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why don't John come back with the money?&quot; she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. &quot;I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens,&quot; one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. &quot;Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When John comes back, all will change,&quot; she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the <i>Silverwing</i> was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.</p>
+
+<p>She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are welcome. Come and share our home,&quot; was the response.</p>
+
+<p>Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.</p>
+
+<p>In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]</p>
+
+<p>The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that &quot;might makes
+right&quot; justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the &quot;last argument of kings,&quot; to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.</p>
+
+<p>Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it,&quot; he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:</p>
+
+
+<a href="Illus0419.jpg"><img src="Illus0419.jpg" alt="Illustration: Peter
+the Headstrong, unable to control his passion, tore the letter into pieces."
+width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>&quot;Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of &quot;Peter the Headstrong,&quot; unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]</p>
+
+<p>The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers,&quot; and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I had much rather be carried out dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had &quot;a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,&quot;
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.</p>
+
+<p>The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.</p>
+
+<p>So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.</p>
+
+<p>Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+&quot;unsettled persons,&quot; libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.</p>
+
+<p>Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.</p>
+
+<p>The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+&quot;unclothed souls of the people.&quot; Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.</p>
+
+<p>Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+&quot;harboring Quakers,&quot; imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.</p>
+
+<p>Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.</p>
+
+<p>The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.</p>
+
+<p>A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.</p>
+
+<p>Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.</p>
+
+<p>The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.</p>
+
+<p>The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the &quot;Old Dominion&quot; from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+&quot;Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful.&quot; The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.</p>
+
+<p>No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.</p>
+
+<p>For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price&quot;, said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. &quot;The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<p>THE STEPFATHER.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mother, for the love of grace<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That not your trespass but my madness speaks.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It will skin and film the ulcerous place;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;While rank corruption, winning all within,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Infects unseen--<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --SHAKESPEARE.<br>
+
+<p>With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hugh Price will surely wed her,&quot; said Sarah Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.</p>
+
+<p>He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?&quot;
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No!&quot; cried the boy, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will kill him!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.</p>
+
+<p>Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would &quot;speak his mind.&quot; The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.</p>
+
+<p>Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So it is,&quot; Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+&quot;Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Indeed it has,&quot; answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given,&quot; and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.</p>
+
+<p>Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I hope so,&quot; replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?&quot; He was getting at it
+at last.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!&quot; said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. &quot;Oh, what a
+question!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.</p>
+
+<p>That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lonely, oh, so lonely!&quot; and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.</p>
+
+<p>Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will be better to let her have her way,&quot; he concluded. &quot;Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]</p>
+
+<p>Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.</p>
+
+<p>Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.</p>
+
+<p>It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.</p>
+
+<p>One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so glad we are going,&quot; said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. &quot;Mother was good to let us go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am s'prised at the missus,&quot; the negro said, shaking his head.
+&quot;Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is there any danger of Indians?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But they must not come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.</p>
+
+<p>Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.</p>
+
+<p>The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.</p>
+
+<p>One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ho! master Robert, I have news for you,&quot; he called to the lad.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;William Stump, when did you come?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But this day,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where are you from?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have heard nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your mother hath married,&quot; cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is false!&quot; cried Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier,&quot; and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. &quot;It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow,&quot; and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was he like Mr. Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, he cannot drive us from home,&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But mother will love us no longer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.</p>
+
+<p>Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.</p>
+
+<p>Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is mother, Dinah?&quot; she asked her mother's housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In de house, chile, waitin' for you,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come here, my darling,&quot; said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. &quot;This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I cannot call him father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will learn to, my dear,&quot; Price answered with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, Robert, come and greet your new father,&quot; said the mother.</p>
+
+<p>Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will learn to like me, children,&quot; answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX."></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<p>THE MOVING WORLD.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If we could look down the long vista of ages,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And witness the changes of time,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A key to this vision sublime;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And all its magnificence trace,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Give honor to man for his genius and might,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And glory to God for his grace.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--PAXTON.<br>
+
+<p>After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his <i>bowerie</i> or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.</p>
+
+<p>The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: &quot;Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should &quot;have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes.&quot; This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.</p>
+
+<p>With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch had taken New York.</p>
+
+<p>The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.</p>
+
+<p>The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.</p>
+
+<p>In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.</p>
+
+<p>After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+&quot;Nova Caesarea or New Jersey,&quot; in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: &quot;The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there.&quot; It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. &quot;Christian servants&quot; were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.</p>
+
+<p>It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0420.jpg"><img src="Illus0420.jpg" alt="Illustration: His temper flamed out in words" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>&quot;Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.</p>
+
+<p>In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.</p>
+
+<p>After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.</p>
+
+<p>Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the <i>alluvion</i> of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.</p>
+
+<p>Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.</p>
+
+<p>Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.</p>
+
+<p>The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.</p>
+
+<p>The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal.&quot;
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]</p>
+
+<p>Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: &quot;Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal,&quot; and it was added: &quot;all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X."></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<p>THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Adieu! adieu! My native shore<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Fades o'er the waters blue.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And shrieks the wild sea-mew.&quot;<br>
+
+<p>At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.</p>
+
+<p>No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.</p>
+
+<p>The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.</p>
+
+<p>There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God save the King!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.</p>
+
+<p>The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am very hungry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you want?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Supper and bed,&quot; was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.</p>
+
+<p>The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you money to pay for that which you ask?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have,&quot; and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can have what you ask!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will supper be ready soon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Directly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How know you this?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mrs. Johnson hath told me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What must be done?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I cannot make room for you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread,&quot; and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, it is not that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray, what is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I doubt not that you have the money.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why refuse me what I ask?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Put us in the stables; we are used to it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I cannot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The horses take up all the room.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will find some corner in which to lie after supper.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will give you no supper.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can you, a Christian, speak thus?&quot; he cried. &quot;We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have none for you,&quot; said the landlord.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is all ordered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By whom?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative &quot;Ahem!&quot; from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have not a morsel to spare.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,&quot;
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+
+<a href="Illus0417.jpg"><img src="Illus0417.jpg" alt="Illustration: His tired child
+was at his side uncomplainingly" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20 vspace=20></a>
+
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.</p>
+
+<p>Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is there?&quot; the landlord asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A traveller and his child who want supper and bed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very good. They are to be had here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.</p>
+
+<p>The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What would I better do?&quot; asked the landlord in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must be off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You know me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We were turned away from the other inn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So you will be from this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where would you have us go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Anywhere so you leave my house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I will have none of you with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But she hath done no wrong,&quot; persisted the father.</p>
+
+<p>The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ester!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must go,&quot; the father said, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.</p>
+
+<p>They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Papa, I am so hungry and so tired,&quot; she whispered. &quot;Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; asked the smith.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a <i>regicide</i> might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you not go to one of the inns?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is no room there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have been to all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The traveller continued with some hesitation, &quot;I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: &quot;It is the same, a man with a child.&quot; Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so hungry,&quot; murmured Ester. &quot;If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If I am made a savage let all the world beware.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely not all!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you called at that house?&quot; she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, who lives there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mathew Stevens, a very good old man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has he a heart? Is he brave?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI."></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<p>TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some boundless contiguity of shade,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where rumor of oppression and deceit,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of successful or unsuccessful war,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Might never reach me more.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--Cowper.<br>
+
+<p>When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the &quot;Oliverian Plot&quot; was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to &quot;anticipate the period of their
+freedom,&quot; and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.</p>
+
+<p>Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.</p>
+
+<p>At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.</p>
+
+<p>When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert,&quot; he said, pressing his lips firmly together, &quot;do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you beat me I will kill you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.</p>
+
+<p>On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.</p>
+
+<p>When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Robert, I heard it all!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother, I mean it!&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother,&quot; said the boy, &quot;my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.</p>
+
+<p>It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.</p>
+
+<p>One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.</p>
+
+<p>That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I may as well do it now as ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, indeed, Robert!&quot; he answered. &quot;The time has come to convince
+you that I am master.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.</p>
+
+<p>It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.</p>
+
+<p>After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.</p>
+
+<p>He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is Rebecca?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Waiten,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Waiting for what?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When are we to go, Dinah?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To-morrow, Massa.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that why Mr. Price left?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I see mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.</p>
+
+<p>Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you favorable to royalty?&quot; he asked Robert one day. &quot;Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I certainly do,&quot; Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So do I--ahem--so do I;&quot; and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. &quot;Would you fight for such principles?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So would I--ahem, so would I,&quot; cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. &quot;I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hang me! I defy him!&quot; cried Mr. Peram.</p>
+
+<p>His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you mean it?&quot; asked Giles. &quot;Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes,&quot; answered
+Robert.</p>
+
+<p>Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.</p>
+
+<p>At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fear him not, my lord,&quot; said Hugh. &quot;He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.</p>
+
+<p>Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of what offence am I accused?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Treason.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.</p>
+
+<p>Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.</p>
+
+<p>One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.</p>
+
+<p>They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Friends,&quot; a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. &quot;We have come to liberate you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston,&quot; said Mr.
+Lawerence. &quot;You will go aboard of her and escape.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can I see my mother and sister before I go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are waiting on the beach,&quot; Drummond answered.</p>
+
+<p>Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you money?&quot; asked Mr. Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;None.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here is some,&quot; and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Talk not of repayment,&quot; Drummond answered, &quot;but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII."></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<p>THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When thy beauty appears<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In its graces and airs,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So strangely you dazzle my eyes.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--PARNELL.<br>
+
+<p>One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.</p>
+
+<p>He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, any who will, and fight me with swords.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will,&quot; a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.</p>
+
+<p>This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is he?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some madman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage,&quot; cried another.</p>
+
+<p>But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you ready?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Guard!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: &quot;ARE YOU READY?&quot;]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Zounds! master what are you about?&quot; cried the fencing-master.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! I am teaching you new tactics.&quot; Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will have it out with you with these.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The alarmed fencing-master cried out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.</p>
+
+<p>Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.</p>
+
+<p>John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.</p>
+
+<p>Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to &quot;the glorious cause&quot; of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]</p>
+
+<p>After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. &quot;He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come.&quot; When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I stand single,&quot; Vane defiantly answered. &quot;Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it.&quot; His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. &quot;The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His farewell counsel was:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God.&quot; When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: &quot;I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.</p>
+
+<p>He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express &quot;purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.</p>
+
+<p>Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.</p>
+
+<p>It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?&quot; he asked, taking his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, sir, I just came in on the vessel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whom do you wish to see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some relatives named Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is your name Stevens?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you are from Virginia?&quot; the old man asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your grandfather was--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives.&quot; He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely you have no one to fear?&quot; said Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But he said something. He called you a name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Goffe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What know you of Goffe, pray?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know what a regicide is?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A king-killer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He should,&quot; cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. &quot;A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; I left my colony because I could not abide there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! a fugitive?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>General Goffe shook his white locks and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.</p>
+
+<p>Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Father, father, father!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ester, my child,&quot; the swordsman returned, &quot;have you been happy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Happy as one could be with father away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whom have we here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was,&quot; Robert answered sadly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.</p>
+
+<p>The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is gone,&quot; she answered. &quot;The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whither has he gone?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, I know not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What would be his fate if he should be taken?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must suffer uneasiness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.</p>
+
+<p>There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.</p>
+
+<p>Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The king's men are coming.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not surrender; I will defend you,&quot; cried Robert.</p>
+
+<p>He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII."></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<p>LEFT ALONE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of life will vanish from my brain;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And death my wearied spirit will redeem<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From this wild region of unvaried pain.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--WHITE.<br>
+
+<p>For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.</p>
+
+<p>For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.</p>
+
+<p>One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am sorry for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you not sorry for yourself?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am.&quot; Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not blame yourself,&quot; she sighed. &quot;Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.</p>
+
+<p>In order to change the subject, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top.&quot; (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) &quot;It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When do you think of going?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will go with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With a smile, she answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can go wherever you do,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.</p>
+
+<p>The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.</p>
+
+<p>On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.</p>
+
+<p>At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you tired?&quot; John asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not much.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us sit and rest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.</p>
+
+<p>Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.</p>
+
+<p>Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, are you cold?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She, smiling, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never mind me, I can stand it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The air is chill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It seems almost perpendicular.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So it does.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see no way to scale it from here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.</p>
+
+<p>The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.</p>
+
+<p>When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: &quot;OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER.&quot;]</p>
+
+<p>Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you feel equal to the task?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our journey is not one-half over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the last half will be more trying than the first.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will go with you,&quot; she answered cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here it is,&quot; John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.</p>
+
+<p>A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you see any sail?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;None.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not where we are.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We cannot return home to-night,&quot; said Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am freezing,&quot; said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.</p>
+
+<p>All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; I can walk,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you are so chilled and so weak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Exercise will warm me and give me strength,&quot; she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't care to venture up there again,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nor do I,&quot; sighed his companion. &quot;So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am, likewise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone,&quot; said
+John.</p>
+
+<p>She went on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She laughingly answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he was at her side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is the matter, Blanche?&quot; he asked, uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have a pain in my side.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so hot, I burn with thirst,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You shall have water.&quot; There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is so good of you,&quot; the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can do no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche,&quot; he almost sobbed, &quot;Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know it,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you have me do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sit by my side.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.</p>
+
+<p>Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.</p>
+
+<p>John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?&quot; he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your wife--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall not, Blanche; I shall not,&quot; cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God grant that I may, poor girl.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.</p>
+
+<p>Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alone--left alone!&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV."></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<p>THE TREASURE SHIP.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That blowest to the west,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To the land that I love best,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Like a sea-bird I would sail.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --PRINGLE.<br>
+
+<p>When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.</p>
+
+<p>Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun.&quot; To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.</p>
+
+<p>Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.</p>
+
+<p>It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.</p>
+
+<p>He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.</p>
+
+<p>To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.</p>
+
+<p>At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.</p>
+
+<p>Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.</p>
+
+<p>Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.</p>
+
+<p>One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy &quot;Boom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Boom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God in heaven! can it be cannon?&quot; cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Boom! Boom! Boom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.</p>
+
+<p>Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.</p>
+
+<p>John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.</p>
+
+<p>The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.</p>
+
+<p>Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.</p>
+
+<p>While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.</p>
+
+<p>For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.</p>
+
+<p>Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.</p>
+
+<p>It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.</p>
+
+<p>Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.</p>
+
+<p>Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.</p>
+
+<p>A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.</p>
+
+<p>The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.</p>
+
+<p>Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.</p>
+
+<p>Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.</p>
+
+<p>He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.</p>
+
+<p>The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What can it contain, that is so heavy?&quot; he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.</p>
+
+<p>After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O God, why is such a fate mine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV."></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<p>THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Strange that when nature loved to trace<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As if for God a dwelling place,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And every charm of grace hath mixed<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Within the paradise she fixed,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There man, enamoured of distress,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Should mar it into wilderness.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.</p>
+
+<p>Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do, sire,&quot; Clarendon answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It shall be done,&quot; said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.</p>
+
+<p>The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.</p>
+
+<p>While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.</p>
+
+<p>It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.</p>
+
+<p>Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that &quot;all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God.&quot; Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; &quot;so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island.&quot; Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the &quot;sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people,&quot; the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.</p>
+
+<p>On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.</p>
+
+<p>For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.</p>
+
+<p>When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.</p>
+
+<p>Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for &quot;the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties,&quot; and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.</p>
+
+<p>Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.</p>
+
+<p>As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.</p>
+
+<p>From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.</p>
+
+<p>Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for &quot;irreverent speeches.&quot;
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts &quot;as traitors and
+rebels against the king&quot;; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.</p>
+
+<p>The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+&quot;which nature could desire or wit invent&quot;; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.</p>
+
+<p>Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was &quot;a great
+trade in deal boards.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those &quot;wrecks of humanity,&quot; by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.</p>
+
+<p>The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.</p>
+
+<p>Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.</p>
+
+<p>They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are lost! We are lost!&quot; some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0422.jpg"><img src="Illus0422.jpg" alt="Illustration: You are not lost, if you follow me!" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+<p>&quot;You are not lost, if you follow me!&quot; he cried.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is he?&quot; was the general query, which no one could answer save: &quot;He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.</p>
+
+<p>When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI."></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<p>KING PHILIP'S WAR.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oh, there be some<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of grappling agony, do stare at you,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With their dead eyes half opened.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And there be some struck through with bristling darts<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BAILLIE.<br>
+
+<p>Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.</p>
+
+<p>There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.</p>
+
+<p>The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.</p>
+
+<p>Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as &quot;most suitable and
+convenient for them,&quot; where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that &quot;many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his &quot;English arms,&quot; and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.</p>
+
+<p>King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as &quot;a slow firing gun&quot; compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.</p>
+
+<p>The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.</p>
+
+<p>Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.</p>
+
+<p>Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.</p>
+
+<p>At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.</p>
+
+<p>Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!&quot; The boats took him
+at his word.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.</p>
+
+<p>The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.</p>
+
+<p>They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.</p>
+
+<p>About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called &quot;Muddy Brook.&quot; Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, &quot;the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate.&quot; Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.</p>
+
+<p>King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.</p>
+
+<p>At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.</p>
+
+<p>After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.</p>
+
+<p>On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. &quot;Quickly,&quot; says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, &quot;it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.</p>
+
+<p>The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.</p>
+
+<p>On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.</p>
+
+<p>Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+
+<a href="Illus0423.jpg"><img src="Illus0423.jpg"
+alt="Illustration: He fell upon his face in the mud and water, with his gun under him."
+width="40%" align="right" hspace=20 vspace=20></a>
+
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There comes the devil Philip now!&quot; cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII."></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<p>NEARING THE VERGE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At times there come, as come there ought,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Grave moments of sedater thought.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When fortune frowns, nor lends our night<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One gleam of her inconstant light:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Shines like the rainbow through the shower.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --CUNNINGHAM.<br>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!&quot; were among the
+exclamations of his mother.</p>
+
+<p>Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.</p>
+
+<p>It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, I want to see you in my study.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His &quot;study&quot; was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, you have come back,&quot; began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. &quot;I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia,&quot; Robert
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing,&quot; Robert ventured
+to put in.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+&quot;Virginia&quot; in regard to some of them:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being,&quot; Robert answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hardly comprehend you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why does he not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has good reasons.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are they?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Such talk is treason,&quot; cried Price. &quot;It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.</p>
+
+<p>His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your peace, my son,&quot; plead the mother, &quot;and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But your stepfather and you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have had no new quarrel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good day, good people,&quot; he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. &quot;I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you allow him to come here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must,&quot; she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is the governor's secretary.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you dare enter this house?&quot; demanded Robert, fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Perhaps it is Mr. Price!&quot; the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.</p>
+
+<p>He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment,&quot; he said in a fit of anger.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is the crisis?&quot; Robert asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Drummond answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it such a great grievance to the people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons,&quot; put in
+Mr. Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians,&quot; added Mr. Cheeseman. &quot;These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?&quot; asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are they?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why does he not send an army against them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;With him, it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII."></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<p>THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He stood--some dread was on his face,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Soon hatred settled in its place:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It rose not with the reddening flush<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of transient anger's hasty blush,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But pale as marble o'er the tomb,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!</i>&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His office is for life,&quot; sighed Robert. &quot;And too much power hath made
+him mad.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!&quot; his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?&quot; cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And left you alone?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was thought you would come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you suffered annoyances from him before?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does mother know of it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She does.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And makes no effort to protect you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I think I understand why you were left,&quot; said Robert, bitterly; &quot;but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.</p>
+
+<p>Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which is very extraordinary,&quot; put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.</p>
+
+<p>Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.</p>
+
+<p>That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; he asked, going to the window.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Drummond,&quot; was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you, Mr. Drummond?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will have aid,&quot; assured Mr. Drummond. &quot;The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is he?&quot; asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has he ability for a leader?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, &quot;of a precipitate disposition.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as &quot;Bacon's Quarter Branch.&quot; His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.</p>
+
+<p>When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.</p>
+
+<p>In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.</p>
+
+<p>It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.</p>
+
+<p>He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is your brother,&quot; he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.</p>
+
+<p>Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is that man?&quot; Robert asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nathaniel Bacon,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled,&quot; Bacon said, &quot;that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians,&quot; Robert
+explained, &quot;and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.</p>
+
+<p>John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There are the enemy; storm the fort!&quot; cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.</p>
+
+<p>The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the &quot;Battle of Bloody Run,&quot; so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.</p>
+
+<p>When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.</p>
+
+<p>The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?&quot; the governor asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, may it please your honor,&quot; Bacon answered, quite coolly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I will take your parole,&quot; said Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only &quot;appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX."></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<p>THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Have you met with that dreadful old man?<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For catch you he must and he can.'<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--HOLMES.<br>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How are you, Robert--ahem?&quot; began Giles. &quot;This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can spare yourself any tears on my account,&quot; the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace.&quot; Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God forgive you; I forgive you,&quot; and three times he repeated the words.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And all that were with him?&quot; asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, and all that were with him.&quot; As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: &quot;Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there,&quot; pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.</p>
+
+<p>The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at &quot;the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence.&quot; Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.</p>
+
+<p>Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;DESPAIR.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.</p>
+
+<p>Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.</p>
+
+<p>The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.</p>
+
+<p>When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.</p>
+
+<p>The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.</p>
+
+<p>After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.</p>
+
+<p>The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whence came you, stranger?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;From Liverpool.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship <i>Despair</i>, which
+lies at anchor in your bay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But surely you are not of England?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But the king?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you ever been in Virginia before?&quot; the governor asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long will you stay?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is your wish, Sir Albert?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance,&quot; and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is strange,&quot; said the governor. &quot;An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally.&quot; The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst,&quot; said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you lived long in Virginia?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I was born here, good sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you must know all of Jamestown?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your home is still here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh, Robert answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is, though I do not live in it now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.</p>
+
+<p>All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the <i>Despair</i>.</p>
+
+<p>After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, how extraordinary!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For what is that ugly machine used?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is a ducking-stool for scolds,&quot; was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+&quot;Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For whom was it built?&quot; asked Sir Albert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. &quot;But to the last,&quot; the narrator
+resumed, &quot;she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.</p>
+
+<p>No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She gazed up at the kind face and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you the owner of the ship <i>Despair</i>?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank you, Sir Albert,&quot; she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear,&quot; sighed the little maid.
+&quot;The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God bless you! There, I must go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX."></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<p>BACON A REBEL.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Hark! 'tis the sound that charms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The war-steed's wakening ears.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh! many a mother folds her arms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And though her fond heart sink with fears,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Is proud to feel his young pulse bound<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With valor's fervor at the sound.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--MOORE.<br>
+
+<p>The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship <i>Despair</i> and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.</p>
+
+<p>She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is she a relative of yours, young maid?&quot; asked the man of whom she
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; I know of her, and would see her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you travel alone, young maid?&quot; asked the man whom she had addressed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is your mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dead,&quot; she answered sadly,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you are an orphan?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ester--Ester Goffe,&quot; stammered Rebecca. &quot;Then you are my brother's
+affianced.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?&quot; and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is he--where is Robert?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another.&quot; Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But can I see him?&quot; asked Ester.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you no faithful servant?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+&quot;cross Master Price,&quot; he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sam, could you find my brother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you take a small bit of writing to him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:</p>
+
+<p>DEAR BROTHER;--</p>
+
+<p>Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.</p>
+
+<p>Your sister,</p>
+
+<p>REBECCA.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.</p>
+
+<p>Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.</p>
+
+<p>The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0424.jpg"><img src="Illus0424.jpg" alt="Illustration: Here! Shoot me!
+'Fore God, a fair mark!" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will have it! We will have it!&quot; (Meaning the commission.)</p>
+
+<p>One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You shall have it! You shall have it!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.</p>
+
+<p>A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.</p>
+
+<p>After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!&quot; The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brother, do not place yourself in his power,&quot; said his sister.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At the governor's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will keep the secret, brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When do you go?&quot; asked Ester.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The army marches against the Indians on the morrow.&quot; He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I knew not that you were a member of the house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Peram, blushing, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it.&quot; With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.</p>
+
+<p>Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: &quot;It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was &quot;in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots.&quot; Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, &quot;What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.</p>
+
+<p>The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.</p>
+
+<p>This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world,&quot; they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country.&quot; And when a person by her side
+said, &quot;We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin,&quot; Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.</p>
+
+<p>While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel <i>Despair</i>. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I feared you had gone, never to come back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you want to see me again, child?&quot; he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The war rages again?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But my brother--oh, my brother!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He, also, will be safe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you take us all, and Ester, too?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is Ester?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.</p>
+
+<p>He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you injured?&quot; he asked the half-fainting woman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the <i>Despair</i>, are you not?&quot; asked
+Dorothe Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I see you home?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If not too much trouble.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As they walked along the road, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you Mrs. Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When did your first husband die?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Many years ago. He was lost at sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did he leave two children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, sir, two,&quot; she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was he a good man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!&quot; Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you happy now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, no. I am miserable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is your son with Bacon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He shall not hang him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If he captures him, who will prevent it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will.&quot; They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI."></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<p>BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;At every turn, Morena's dusky height<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The magazine in rocky durance stand,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship <i>Despair</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must be very rich,&quot; she said to Sir Albert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This represents but a small part of my possessions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would I were your heiress.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you no wife--no children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.</p>
+
+<p>The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship <i>Despair</i>. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives,&quot; said Bacon. &quot;We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them &quot;in the forefront of his
+workmen,&quot; during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.</p>
+
+<p>No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!&quot; he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.</p>
+
+<p>There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come down, general!&quot; cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. &quot;You endanger
+your life up there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't fire, until I give you the command,&quot; said Bacon, coolly. &quot;We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fire!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price,&quot; he said as the sun was setting.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He hath taken refuge under the church.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.</p>
+
+<p>The ship <i>Despair</i>, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.</p>
+
+<p>That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you,&quot; said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You intrude--you disturb us!&quot; cried Cheeseman. &quot;We want no spy on our
+deliberations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, who are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A man like you,&quot; was the answer; &quot;a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What meaneth this?&quot; Drummond asked when he regained his voice. &quot;Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? <i>It is John Stevens</i>!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh,&quot; he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death,&quot; he concluded.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love,&quot; and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty,&quot; said Drummond. &quot;I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know all,&quot; John sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, I know not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And will you leave her to him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; was the low, meek answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you not seek revenge?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why sit you here?&quot; cried the general. &quot;Have you not heard the news?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; what is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?&quot; asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; answered Bacon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then we must abandon it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They shall not find the town when they come,&quot; cried Bacon. &quot;D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned,&quot; cried
+Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,&quot;
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home,&quot; said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the <i>Despair</i>,&quot; cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, &quot;Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will, I swear by the God we all worship!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon and his army retreated up the country.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII."></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<p>VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The longer life, the more offence;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The more offence, the greater pain;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The greater pain, the less defence;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The less defence, the greater gain:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The loss of gain long ill doth try,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wherefore, come death and let me die.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--WYAT.<br>
+
+<p>Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.</p>
+
+<p>With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not look well,&quot; said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. &quot;Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall be better soon,&quot; he answered. &quot;When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have a care for your health.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his &quot;Mandates&quot; to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.</p>
+
+<p>On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick,&quot; said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you better, general?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;General Bacon is dead,&quot; they said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! dead?&quot; cried Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.</p>
+
+<p>Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thomas Hansford,&quot; cried Berkeley, &quot;I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Hansford answered, &quot;I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor replied, &quot;You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.</p>
+
+<p>One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There he is, Giles; now slay him!&quot; cried the stepfather.</p>
+
+<p>Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come on, Giles; he is unarmed,&quot; cried Mr. Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, are you quite sure?&quot; cried Giles.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am sure. He is out of ammunition.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is extraordinary, very extraordinary.&quot; Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is heading for the river!&quot; cried Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can he cross?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.</p>
+
+<p>It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!&quot; cried Price.</p>
+
+<p>The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+
+<a href="Illus0425.jpg"><img src="Illus0425.jpg" alt="Illustration: The ball struck
+   four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him, splashing up a jet of water"
+   width="40%" align="right" hspace=20 vspace=20></a>
+
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.</p>
+
+<p>Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.</p>
+
+<p>It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. &quot;We will have him yet. He shall hang!&quot; said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.</p>
+
+<p>They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done,&quot; she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, &quot;was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Away with you!&quot; adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]</p>
+
+<p>So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.</p>
+
+<p>For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Drummond,&quot; he said, &quot;you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What your honor pleases,&quot; Mr. Drummond boldly answered. &quot;I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that &quot;Bacon and Bland must die,&quot; and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+<i>Despair</i>, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.</p>
+
+<p>Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration,&quot; said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+&quot;Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has he been tried?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has and has been condemned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To hang?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has the sentence been executed?&quot; asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not yet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then your life is saved.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But he will be hanged at ten o'clock.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He shall not!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, who are you, that dare defy me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Governor Berkeley,&quot; said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. &quot;Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens,&quot; said Mr. Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it,&quot; put in Giles, a smile on his face.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sign, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A pardon for Robert Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, no!&quot; cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!&quot; cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!&quot; and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you signed the pardon, governor?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now order his release.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I owe this to you, kind sir,&quot; he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All are safe aboard my vessel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you remember your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How know you this?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When they went on board the <i>Despair</i>, there was a general rejoicing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven bless you, our deliverer!&quot; cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.</p>
+
+<p>Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII."></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<p>CONCLUSION.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So live, that when thy summons comes to join<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The innumerable caravan, that moves<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To that mysterious realm, where each shall take<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His chamber in the silent halls of death,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BRYANT.<br>
+
+<p>That strange ship <i>Despair</i> still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?&quot; asked the governor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, I know not, governor,&quot; put in Hugh Price. &quot;I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Harm him not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He will harm me, I trow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!&quot; declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is your wife?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On board the ship <i>Despair</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the <i>Despair</i>, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.</p>
+
+<p>When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The place of a good wife is with her husband,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Must I obey Hugh Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is he your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are of age?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will live with my brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I take you in mine?&quot; asked Sir Albert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you desire it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pull ashore.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.</p>
+
+<p>The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.</p>
+
+<p>Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.</p>
+
+<p>Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.</p>
+
+<p>When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.</p>
+
+<p>All winter long, Captain Small of the <i>Despair</i> remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He also gave you the ship <i>Despair</i>,&quot; concluded the captain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is very strange.&quot; said Robert. &quot;I can scarcely believe it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now what will you do with the ship?&quot; the captain asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name <i>Despair</i> was changed to <i>Hope</i>. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.</p>
+
+<p>Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you not know me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lawrence,&quot; the stranger whispered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! Mr. Lawrence?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the &quot;thoughtful Mr. Lawrence&quot; again.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Father and mother sleep here</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, &quot;I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone.&quot;
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.</p>
+
+<p>All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration.]</p>
+
+<p>Ye End.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="HISTORICAL_INDEX."></a>HISTORICAL INDEX.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+
+<p>Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King Charles II</p>
+<p>Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor</p>
+<p>Alderman, slayer of King Philip</p>
+<p>Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the surrender of New York</p>
+<p>Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook</p>
+<p>Angel of deliverance</p>
+<p>Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon</p>
+<p>Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia</p>
+<p>Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels</p>
+<p>Attack on the swamp fort</p>
+<p>Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker</p>
+<p>Bacon, Nathaniel</p>
+<p>Bacon's &quot;Quarter Branch&quot;</p>
+<p>Bacon's threat</p>
+<p>Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission</p>
+<p>Bacon defeats the Indians</p>
+<p>Bacon arrested</p>
+<p>Bacon's confession</p>
+<p>Bacon's flight</p>
+<p>Bacon rousing his friends</p>
+<p>Bacon marching on Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon captures Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon and Berkeley meet</p>
+<p>Bacon commissioned by Berkeley</p>
+<p>Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy</p>
+<p>Bacon urged to depose Berkeley</p>
+<p>Bacon's Indian campaign</p>
+<p>Bacon again rallying his hosts</p>
+<p>Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields</p>
+<p>Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen</p>
+<p>Bacon besieges Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon enters Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon burns Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac</p>
+<p>Bacon ill</p>
+<p>Bacon's death a mystery</p>
+<p>Bacon rebels attainted of treason</p>
+<p>Bacon's laws repealed</p>
+<p>Baconites deserting Ingram</p>
+<p>Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac</p>
+<p>Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654</p>
+<p>Battle of Brookfield</p>
+<p>Battle of Bloody Run</p>
+<p>Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley</p>
+<p>Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia</p>
+<p>Berkeley, Sir William, character of</p>
+<p>Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors</p>
+<p>Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia</p>
+<p>Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to Greenspring Manor</p>
+<p>Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.</p>
+<p>Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing</p>
+<p>Berkeley informs home government that all trouble with the Indians is happily over</p>
+<p>Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission</p>
+<p>Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel</p>
+<p>Berkeley pardons Bacon</p>
+<p>Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon</p>
+<p>Berkeley and Bacon meet</p>
+<p>Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces him a rebel</p>
+<p>Berkeley in possession of Jamestown</p>
+<p>Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown</p>
+<p>Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works</p>
+<p>Berkeley's tyranny at York</p>
+<p>Berkeley's departure from Virginia</p>
+<p>Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York</p>
+<p>Bland, execution of</p>
+<p>Brent reported advancing</p>
+<p>Buckingham succeeds Clarendon</p>
+<p>Burning of Jamestown</p>
+<p>Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630</p>
+<p>Calvert, Governor of Maryland</p>
+<p>Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of</p>
+<p>Carolinia settled by New Englanders</p>
+<p>Carolinia constitution</p>
+<p>Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to</p>
+<p>Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder</p>
+<p>Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed</p>
+<p>Census of New England in 1675</p>
+<p>Charles I. beheaded in 1649</p>
+<p>Charles II. declared king of England in 1660</p>
+<p>Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father</p>
+<p>Charles II., character of</p>
+<p>Charles II. profligate and careless</p>
+<p>Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley</p>
+<p>Cheeseman, trial of</p>
+<p>Cheeseman's death</p>
+<p>Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley</p>
+<p>Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset</p>
+<p>Clarendon in exile</p>
+<p>Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island</p>
+<p>Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands within limits of Rhode Island charter</p>
+<p>Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter</p>
+<p>Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop</p>
+<p>Connecticut after the restoration</p>
+<p>Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution</p>
+<p>Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector</p>
+<p>Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son Richard as his successor</p>
+<p>Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II. grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years</p>
+<p>Curles, Bacon's home</p>
+<p>Death of Nathaniel Bacon</p>
+<p>De Vries robbed by the Indians</p>
+<p>De Vries chosen president of popular assembly</p>
+<p>Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I</p>
+<p>Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia in 1666</p>
+<p>Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the world</p>
+<p>Drummond before Berkeley</p>
+<p>Drummond, execution of</p>
+<p>Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children</p>
+<p>Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne</p>
+<p>Dutch capture New York</p>
+<p>Dyer, Mary, execution of</p>
+<p>Effect of the restoration on Virginia</p>
+<p>Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret</p>
+<p>Elliott, John, missionary among Indians</p>
+<p>Emigrants to Carolinia</p>
+<p>Emigrants to New Jersey from New England</p>
+<p>English government in a state of chaos after the death of Cromwell</p>
+<p>Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts</p>
+<p>Execution of Robinson and Stevenson</p>
+<p>Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley</p>
+<p>Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts</p>
+<p>Forebodings of war</p>
+<p>Gathering of Virginians at Curles</p>
+<p>Goffe and the fencing-master</p>
+<p>Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned Charles I</p>
+<p>Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men</p>
+<p>Gorges recovers his claim</p>
+<p>Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness</p>
+<p>Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence</p>
+<p>Grievances of Virginians</p>
+<p>Hadley attacked by the Indians</p>
+<p>Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley</p>
+<p>Hansford abandons Jamestown</p>
+<p>Hansford hung</p>
+<p>Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629</p>
+<p>Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert</p>
+<p>Hawley, Governor of Carolinia</p>
+<p>Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of Virginia</p>
+<p>Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken</p>
+<p>Indian war of 1644</p>
+<p>Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey</p>
+<p>Indian advancement in education</p>
+<p>Indians' lands taken from them</p>
+<p>Ingram chosen in place of Bacon</p>
+<p>Ingram's surrender</p>
+<p>James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted to him by his brother Charles II</p>
+<p>Jamestown besieged by Bacon</p>
+<p>Jamestown captured by Bacon</p>
+<p>Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt</p>
+<p>Judges who tried and condemned Charles I</p>
+<p>Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer of the wheelwright</p>
+<p>Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians</p>
+<p>Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland</p>
+<p>King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and Northampton</p>
+<p>King's men, character of</p>
+<p>Lancaster attacked by Indians</p>
+<p>Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia</p>
+<p>Law against Quakers repealed in 1661</p>
+<p>Laws made by Bacon repealed</p>
+<p><i>Longtail</i>, Claybourne's trading ship</p>
+<p>Lovelace appointed Governor of New York</p>
+<p>Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy</p>
+<p>Massachusetts' charter threatened</p>
+<p>Massachusetts after the restoration</p>
+<p>Massachusetts not punished for her defiance</p>
+<p>Massasoit, death of, 1661</p>
+<p>Matapoiset, attack on</p>
+<p>Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls</p>
+<p>Middle Plantation oath</p>
+<p>Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652</p>
+<p>Muddy Brook, fight at</p>
+<p>Narragansetts, Philip among</p>
+<p>Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances</p>
+<p>New Amsterdam granted a government like the free cities of Holland</p>
+<p>New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed to New York</p>
+<p>New England confederation</p>
+<p>New England, growth of</p>
+<p>New England colonies slandered</p>
+<p>New Haven colony</p>
+<p>New Jersey, how effected by change</p>
+<p>New Jersey charter</p>
+<p>New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants</p>
+<p>New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch</p>
+<p>New York not represented in Parliament</p>
+<p>New York attacked by the Dutch</p>
+<p>New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor of New York</p>
+<p>Nipmucks, Philip among</p>
+<p>North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666</p>
+<p>Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go to</p>
+<p>Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of</p>
+<p>Oliverian plot</p>
+<p>Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred years old and assassinated</p>
+<p>Orange changed to Albany</p>
+<p>Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650</p>
+<p>Pavonia, the territory of Pauw</p>
+<p>Philip's, King, opposition to war</p>
+<p>Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's blood has been shed</p>
+<p>Philip, King, among the Nipmucks</p>
+<p>Philip, King, pursued</p>
+<p>Philip, King, death of</p>
+<p>Pokanokets rejected Christianity</p>
+<p>Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Population of Virginia</p>
+<p>Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware</p>
+<p>Puritans of New England</p>
+<p>Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts</p>
+<p>Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey</p>
+<p>Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch</p>
+<p>Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644</p>
+<p>Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663</p>
+<p>Rising, John, on the Delaware</p>
+<p>Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653</p>
+<p>Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house</p>
+<p>Royalists, triumph of</p>
+<p>Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the plans of Philip</p>
+<p>Savage sent to Mount Hope</p>
+<p>South Kingston, Indians at</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant goes to Holland</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant returns to New York</p>
+<p>Sudbury, attack on</p>
+<p>Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II</p>
+<p>Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on</p>
+<p>Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with</p>
+<p>Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it Fort Trinity</p>
+<p>Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard</p>
+<p>Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation</p>
+<p>Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration</p>
+<p>Vane, Sir Henry, executed</p>
+<p>Virginia divided into eight shires</p>
+<p>Virginia restored to monarchy</p>
+<p>Virginia threatened with civil war</p>
+<p>Virginia, home ruled</p>
+<p>Virginia's defence, 1675</p>
+<p>Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing a flag of truce</p>
+<p>Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals</p>
+<p>Wheelwright murdered by Indians</p>
+<p>Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley</p>
+<p>Windsor, Indian attack on</p>
+<p>Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant</p>
+<p>Winthrop, John, and Charles II.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHRONOLOGY."></a>CHRONOLOGY.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+
+<p>PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.</p>
+
+<p>A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.</p>
+
+<p><b>1644.</b> SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+&nbsp;&nbsp;killed,--April 18.<br>
+
+<p><b>1645.</b> CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+&nbsp;&nbsp;fled to Virginia.<br>
+
+<p><b>1649.</b> CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.</p>
+
+<p><b>1650.</b> FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Chowan River, near Edenton.<br>
+
+<p><b>1653.</b> OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Great Britain,--Dec. 16.<br>
+
+<p><b>1655.</b> RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+&nbsp;&nbsp;and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.<br>
+
+<p><b>1656.</b> QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+&nbsp;&nbsp;by Puritans.<br>
+
+<p><b>1660.</b> MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;king,--May 29.<br>
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.</p>
+
+<p><b>1663.</b> CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+&nbsp;&nbsp;24. (This grant extended from 30&deg; to<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;36&deg; lat., and from ocean to ocean.)<br>
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;granted,--July 8.<br>
+
+<p><b>1664.</b> NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+&nbsp;&nbsp;and Albany,--March 12.<br>
+
+<p>NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.</p>
+
+<p>STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).</p>
+
+<p>FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.</p>
+
+<p>ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.</p>
+
+<p><b>1665.</b> CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+&nbsp;&nbsp;name of Connecticut,--May.<br>
+
+<p>SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+&nbsp;&nbsp;to 29&deg; lat.,--June 30.<br>
+
+<p>CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+&nbsp;&nbsp;settled.<br>
+
+<p><b>1670.</b> DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.</p>
+
+<p><b>1671.</b> MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;at Michilimackinac.<br>
+
+<p><b>1673.</b> VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.</p>
+
+<p><b>1674.</b> MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.</p>
+
+<p><b>1675.</b> MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.</p>
+
+<p><b>1676.</b> BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;one hundred years before independence.<br>
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+&nbsp;&nbsp;and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;41&deg; 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full">
+<pre>
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME 6;
+A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A
+Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick
+
+
+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 Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A Century Too Soon (A Story
+of Bacon's Rebellion)
+
+Author: John R. Musick
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10387]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE,
+VOLUME 6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME VI, A CENTURY TOO SOON
+
+The Age of Tyranny
+
+By
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+FREELAND A. CARTER
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+MY WIFE,
+
+WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,
+
+THIS BOOK
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+BY
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a "century too soon," being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.
+
+In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in "Pocahontas." The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK.
+
+KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.      THE DUCKING STOOL
+CHAPTER II.     SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE
+CHAPTER III.    THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD
+CHAPTER IV.     THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK
+CHAPTER V.      JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE
+CHAPTER VI.     THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION
+CHAPTER VII.    IN WIDOW'S WEEDS
+CHAPTER VIII.   THE STEPFATHER
+CHAPTER IX.     THE MOVING WORLD
+CHAPTER X.      THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD
+CHAPTER XI.     TYRANNY AND FLIGHT
+CHAPTER XII.    THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE
+CHAPTER XIII.   LEFT ALONE
+CHAPTER XIV.    THE TREASURE SHIP
+CHAPTER XV.     THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE
+CHAPTER XVI.    KING PHILIP'S WAR
+CHAPTER XVII.   NEARING THE VERGE
+CHAPTER XVIII.  THE SWORD OF DEFENCE
+CHAPTER XIX.    THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
+CHAPTER XX.     BACON A REBEL
+CHAPTER XXI.    BURNING OF JAMESTOWN
+CHAPTER XXII.   VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE
+CHAPTER XXIII.  CONCLUSION
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX
+
+CHRONOLOGY
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
+
+
+His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly
+
+Ducking stool
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!"
+
+Once more he bent over the sleeping children
+
+Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams
+
+Stuyvesant
+
+The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life
+
+Blanche could not utter a word of consolation
+
+Oliver Cromwell
+
+"Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+   into pieces
+
+Tomb of Stuyvesant
+
+The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+   the scene
+
+His temper flamed out in word
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+Sir Henry Vane
+
+"Our journey is not one half over!"
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!"
+
+He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him
+
+He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Ruins of Jamestown
+
+The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+   splashing up a jet of water
+
+Map of the period
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURY TOO SOON.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DUCKING-STOOL.
+
+     Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
+     You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
+     Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
+     You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
+     Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
+     Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
+     Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.
+                                        --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+[Illustration: ducking stool]
+
+A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+"ducking-stool." The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.
+
+Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+"Commonwealth" in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or "Roundheads," as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.
+
+The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.
+
+There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.
+
+It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.
+
+Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.
+
+The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.
+
+There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.
+
+"Good morrow, Roger!" said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.
+
+"Good morrow, Hugh," Roger answered.
+
+"What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?" asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. "I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear."
+
+"The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked."
+
+"Marry! what hath she done?"
+
+"Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages."
+
+Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:
+
+"Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water."
+
+"It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you."
+
+"You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?"
+
+"They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How is Sir William Berkeley?"
+
+"He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne."
+
+"Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?"
+
+"Sh--! speak not so loud," said Hugh in an undertone. "There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts."
+
+The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.
+
+"Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger," said Hugh when they were
+seated. "Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored."
+
+"The rule of the Roundheads is mild."
+
+"Mild, bah!" interrupted Hugh, in contempt. "They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle."
+
+"But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses."
+
+"That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired," and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, "It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head."
+
+While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.
+
+"Good wives," said a hard-featured dame of fifty, "I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!"
+
+"Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment," interposed a more cautious sister.
+
+Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:
+
+"I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults."
+
+"Verily, she hath," interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.
+
+"And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?" continued
+dame Woodley,
+
+"Little the pity for him, though," interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.
+
+"Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?"
+
+"The more fool he to maintain such a creature."
+
+"Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved."
+
+"I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle," interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.
+
+"Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall."
+
+At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes."
+
+A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.
+
+"I will give ye a piece of my mind," she declared to her guards.
+
+"Hold your peace, Ann!" cried the eldest of the guards.
+
+"Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought."
+
+"Marry! I wish you were silent."
+
+"Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?"
+
+"No, by the mass, it will not," answered his companion.
+
+"Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!"
+
+"I am not a papist."
+
+"Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with," put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.
+
+The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.
+
+"I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!" she screamed at the
+top of her voice.
+
+"Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat."
+
+"Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm."
+
+"Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground."
+
+The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:
+
+"Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!" she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.
+
+"Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath," cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.
+
+The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:
+
+"It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!"
+
+"Marry! we will be more damp than you," said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.
+
+"Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?"
+
+"Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform."
+
+"Duty; but such a duty!"
+
+She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.
+
+"Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed."
+
+"I am in no hurry," she answered.
+
+"I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over."
+
+The urchins and older persons began to cry:
+
+"Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees."
+
+"I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.
+
+"Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to
+his companion.
+
+The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.
+
+"See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown," said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.
+
+"'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this," she cried. "Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows."
+
+Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.
+
+At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:
+
+"No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court."
+
+Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: "Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?"
+
+"For shame!" whispered Sarah Drummond.
+
+"Yea, verily."
+
+"I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done."
+
+At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:
+
+"They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked."
+
+"John Stevens is a godly man," remarked still another. "He would not
+wrong any one."
+
+"If he were my dearest foe," whispered goodwife Woodley, "he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens."
+
+"Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely," whispered Sarah
+Drummond, "for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall."
+
+All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.
+
+"Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death."
+
+"Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!" she screamed in
+her shrill voice.
+
+"Peace, dame; be still!"
+
+"I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,"
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. "I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood."
+
+Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:
+
+"The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court."
+
+Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:
+
+"It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye."
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, Ann!" said the sheriff.
+
+"I will not," she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.
+
+"Then you shall be plunged hot."
+
+"I care not."
+
+"It may be your death."
+
+"That's what ye want."
+
+"We don't."
+
+"Ye lie, ye wretch!"
+
+"Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace."
+
+"You are a wretch!" she screamed.
+
+The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.
+
+"You are a white-livered wretch!" the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. "I'll scratch
+your eyes out!"
+
+"Let her down," commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.
+
+"I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!" shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.
+
+She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:
+
+"Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?"
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!" she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, "She's a hussy!"
+
+Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:
+
+"You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower."
+
+As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:
+
+"It's true! She is a hussy!"
+
+Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: "She's a hussy!" The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:
+
+"Put her on shore."
+
+The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.
+
+John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:
+
+"Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--"
+
+At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.
+
+     On peace and rest my mind was bent,
+       And fool I was I married;
+     But never honest man's intent
+       As cursedly miscarried.
+                                --BURNS.
+
+In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.
+
+John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the "28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known." He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.
+
+He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.
+
+Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.
+
+In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, "and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church," and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+"Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king."
+
+From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.
+
+John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.
+
+In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.
+
+Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.
+
+Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.
+
+In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.
+
+On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.
+
+John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.
+
+"Were you more prudent, Dorothe," said John, "we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children."
+
+"Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?"
+
+"But other men have helpmates in their wives."
+
+This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.
+
+After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.
+
+"I am going to economize," she declared. "I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed."
+
+Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.
+
+One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:
+
+"Our family has a fortune in Florida."
+
+At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.
+
+"If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?" she asked.
+
+"We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going," he made
+answer.
+
+"And wherefore can you not?"
+
+"St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property."
+
+"Can you not get it? Can you not get it?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Try."
+
+"We have thought to try it."
+
+His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.
+
+There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.
+
+The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.
+
+John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:
+
+"Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?"
+
+"By all means, go to London," answered Drummond.
+
+"Ought I to leave my wife and children?"
+
+"Wherefore not?"
+
+"If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for."
+
+"Your father was a sailor."
+
+"But his son is not."
+
+"Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage."
+
+John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:
+
+"Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?"
+
+"True, yet why shrink from this voyage?"
+
+"A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea."
+
+At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.
+
+"Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy," was Drummond's advice.
+
+"If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,"
+interposed Cheeseman.
+
+"How much is involved?" asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.
+
+"Eight hundred pounds."
+
+"Quite a sum."
+
+"Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for."
+
+"Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them."
+
+With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.
+
+"By all means, go," Hugh advised. "It is your duty to go."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:
+
+"You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society."
+
+"I do not," he answered.
+
+"Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another."
+
+"Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living," answered John, with a
+sigh.
+
+"They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair."
+
+"Women do the same," John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.
+
+"Not so often as the men."
+
+Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.
+
+"My friends all declare that it is my duty to go," he said.
+
+"Your friends! who are your friends?"
+
+"Drummond."
+
+"An ignorant Scotchman."
+
+Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"Mr. Lawerence advises it."
+
+"He is a canting hypocrite."
+
+"Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable."
+
+"Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it."
+
+"Hugh Price agrees with them."
+
+"Does he?" asked Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"He does."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.
+
+"Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it."
+
+The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.
+
+"John," she said, "if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds."
+
+John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go."
+
+"Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries."
+
+"Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return."
+
+"Wherefore not?" cried Mrs. Stevens. "Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate."
+
+Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the "green-eyed
+monster" to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:
+
+"The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave."
+
+"Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you."
+
+Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:
+
+"She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door." But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.
+
+John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.
+
+The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:
+
+"God bless you!"
+
+"Shall I awake them?" his wife asked.
+
+"No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.
+
+"Dear, I do so regret your going!" sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long."
+
+"I will go with you to the boat," she said, hurriedly dressing herself.
+
+John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:
+
+"I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome."
+
+[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]
+
+John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.
+
+Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.
+
+"Farewell, little darling!" and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.
+
+                                       We love
+     The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,
+     And reigns content within them; him we serve
+     Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:
+     But recollecting still that he is a man,
+     We trust him not too far.
+                                              --COWPER.
+
+The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.
+
+The governor, who cared little for the "customs of the race," determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might "make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony," and reproached him with selfish cowardice.
+
+"It is all well for you," they said, "who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places."
+
+The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.
+
+These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.
+
+Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.
+
+One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at "Colaer's Hook," who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. "Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe," says Brodhead, "were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers."
+
+[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]
+
+It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.
+
+Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.
+
+By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the "governor"
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.
+
+Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to "keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together."
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the "Nine." The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this "imprudent entrusting of power with the people."
+
+Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.
+
+The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:
+
+"I have no powder. What can I do?"
+
+After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.
+
+Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused "by that
+infamous surrender." On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.
+
+[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]
+
+On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.
+
+[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]
+
+The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages "after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors." After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.
+
+The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the "Articles of Confederation," each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.
+
+Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a "perfect republic." It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+"silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States."
+
+There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the _Mayflower_
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.
+
+Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his "brother's
+keeper," whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, "except to and from
+church" on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for "suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness," was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+"take heed of his light carriage." The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to "be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly." The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.
+
+In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.
+
+While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.
+
+That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.
+
+All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+"Governor of Carolinia." The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, "freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt." The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+"proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia," promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.
+
+Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+
+                                     The wind
+     Increased at night, until it blew a gale;
+       And though 'twas not much to naval mind,
+     Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,
+       For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:
+     At sunset they began to take in sail.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.
+
+The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft _Silverwing_; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.
+
+His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.
+
+All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.
+
+John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.
+
+The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.
+
+"Surely I will die," he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+"Surely I will die."
+
+The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.
+
+He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.
+
+"Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?" asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.
+
+"My head hurts," John gasped.
+
+"Verily, I ache all over," returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.
+
+At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:
+
+"Good morrow, stranger!"
+
+John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay; the fall was not violent."
+
+The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:
+
+"Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach."
+
+"I am not sick," the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. "I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over."
+
+"I trust so," groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.
+
+"But the sea runs high," the old man said, "let us go in."
+
+John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:
+
+"You do not belong at Jamestown."
+
+"No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown."
+
+"You came in the last ship?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"You did not come alone?"
+
+"No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have."
+
+John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.
+
+From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.
+
+She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.
+
+That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.
+
+Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:
+
+"I want to talk with you."
+
+They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: "We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours."
+
+There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:
+
+"Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm."
+
+"I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector."
+
+John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.
+
+Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.
+
+"It is coming," Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.
+
+"We are going to have a terrible storm," John answered.
+
+"Yes; remember your promise."
+
+"I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest."
+
+"No, no," Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, "I
+have an impression that my time has surely come."
+
+John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.
+
+"Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!" the poor fellow was
+groaning. "Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down."
+
+He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.
+
+John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.
+
+About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:
+
+"Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy." Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.
+
+Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.
+
+At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.
+
+"The storm is terrible," said the old man. "The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it."
+
+"Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart," urged John.
+
+"Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?"
+
+"If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives," said
+John.
+
+"Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near."
+
+John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.
+
+"Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo," he
+cried, "and set the pumps a-going."
+
+Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.
+
+At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.
+
+John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.
+
+"Are we going down?" she asked.
+
+"God grant that it be not so!" he answered.
+
+"But such fearful noises, such hideous sights."
+
+"Be brave, young maid," he urged. "Where is your father?"
+
+"His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless."
+
+At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.
+
+"Aye, my friend, the worst is coming," he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. "I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him."
+
+A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.
+
+At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.
+
+The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.
+
+"We will never reach it," said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.
+
+"Do not despair," said John.
+
+"But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves."
+
+A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+_Silverwing_. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.
+
+John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.
+
+It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.
+
+"It will soon be over," said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. "Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon."
+
+Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.
+
+"Take her! take her!" cried Mr. Holmes frantically. "I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer."
+
+A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.
+
+It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.
+
+John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.
+
+"Father--father!" she faintly murmured.
+
+"He is gone," John answered.
+
+"Is this you?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cling to me."
+
+"I will. We will survive or perish together."
+
+Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.
+
+     The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,
+       The furrow followed free;
+     We were the first that ever burst
+       Into that silent sea.
+
+     Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
+       'Twas sad as sad could be;
+     And we did speak only to break
+       The silence of the sea.
+                                         --COLERIDGE.
+
+Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.
+
+John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.
+
+Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.
+
+Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.
+
+"Are we all?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was no one saved?"
+
+"None but ourselves."
+
+"And the ship?"
+
+"Is a hopeless wreck on the sands," he answered.
+
+As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.
+
+Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:
+
+"Do you know where we are?"
+
+"No."
+
+The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.
+
+John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.
+
+They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.
+
+It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.
+
+"Is this country inhabited?" asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.
+
+"I fear not," he answered; "or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages."
+
+"Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate."
+
+"I will not desert you," he answered.
+
+They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.
+
+"We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts," said John.
+
+"Can we not go back for them?"
+
+"Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?" he asked.
+
+She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.
+
+"You won't be long gone?" she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.
+
+"No."
+
+He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.
+
+A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.
+
+Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:
+
+"Have you seen any one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I have brought some food."
+
+"It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty," she said.
+
+"We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water," he said
+hopefully.
+
+John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.
+
+"It might have been worse," she thought. "While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land."
+
+Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.
+
+"Heaven help us ere we perish," he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. "If we don't find water soon she will die."
+
+He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.
+
+All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:
+
+"I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring."
+
+She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.
+
+John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.
+
+Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.
+
+"Now let us have food," said John.
+
+The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.
+
+"Can we from there determine what land we are on?" she asked.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"If there be cities, will we see them?"
+
+"We shall," he answered.
+
+"Have you no hopes nor fears?"
+
+"I have both."
+
+"What are your hopes?"
+
+"My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands."
+
+"And your fears?"
+
+"That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards."
+
+"Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?"
+
+"No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were."
+
+"Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth," reasoned Blanche.
+
+"Are you strong enough for the walk?"
+
+She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.
+
+The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.
+
+John called a halt and asked:
+
+"Shall we go on, or return to the beach?"
+
+Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.
+
+They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.
+
+"Will it not be carried off?" Blanche asked.
+
+"No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out."
+
+John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.
+
+They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.
+
+"Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?" asked John.
+
+"No, we have nothing to fear."
+
+"I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited."
+
+She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.
+
+A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.
+
+"If a beast," he thought, "it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast."
+
+From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.
+
+"Blanche will be lonesome," he thought. "Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can."
+
+Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.
+
+He searched the ground, and saw footprints.
+
+"Some animals have been here," he thought. "They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone."
+
+It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.
+
+He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.
+
+"Then there are animals on the land," she said.
+
+"Yes; but they are not dangerous," he returned. "These animals may
+prove useful to us for food."
+
+"I hope so."
+
+After several moments, she asked:
+
+"How long must we stay?"
+
+"I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?"
+
+"No, not to-night," she answered with a shudder. "I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night."
+
+He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.
+
+Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.
+
+As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?
+
+"Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me," he prayed.
+
+His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:
+
+"The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns."
+
+John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.
+
+In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:
+
+"What was it? Are we attacked?"
+
+"Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,"
+assured John.
+
+The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.
+
+     I am monarch of all I survey,
+       My right there is none to dispute:
+     From the centre all round to the sea
+       I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
+     O Solitude! where are the charms
+       That sages have seen in thy face?
+     Better dwell in the midst of alarms
+       Than reign in this horrible place.
+                                        --COWPER.
+
+Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.
+
+He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.
+
+Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.
+
+"What are they?" she asked.
+
+"I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them."
+
+Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.
+
+"It is a goat," he said. "The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them."
+
+A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.
+
+The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.
+
+Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.
+
+Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.
+
+"We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck," he said, "and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.
+
+"How long will that stay be?" she asked.
+
+"God in heaven alone can tell."
+
+"Surely some passing ship will see us."
+
+He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.
+
+Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.
+
+The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.
+
+The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.
+
+At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.
+
+Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.
+
+Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.
+
+Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.
+
+John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.
+
+Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.
+
+It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.
+
+"Read more," she said when he had finished the page. "What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us."
+
+"Verily, it is a comfort."
+
+"Should we die here, He will be with us."
+
+"God is everywhere. He will not desert us," John said.
+
+"But I hope we will yet be rescued."
+
+"I trust so."
+
+He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.
+
+"You are stronger than I," she said, "why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us."
+
+The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:
+
+"God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance."
+
+"My burden is greater than I can bear."
+
+"Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength."
+
+"You are all alone in the world, Blanche."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have not a relative living."
+
+"No, my father was lost."
+
+"I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home."
+
+"Helpless--"
+
+"My wife and children."
+
+Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.
+
+"I left them to better my fortune," he continued. "They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!"
+
+His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:
+
+"Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along."
+
+"I did not care to burden you with my griefs."
+
+"Trust in God."
+
+"I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children."
+
+"They have their mother."
+
+"She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector."
+
+[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]
+
+Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.
+
+The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.
+
+He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?
+
+"Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?"
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.
+
+"If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it."
+
+"How is our own boat?"
+
+"Too frail. The boards are almost rotten."
+
+"Then why not make one?"
+
+The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.
+
+Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:
+
+"Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted."
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.
+
+The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.
+
+With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.
+
+Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.
+
+One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.
+
+Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:
+
+"God send some ship to deliver me!"
+
+Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.
+
+"How could I live here without you, Blanche?" he said one day.
+
+"Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," she answered. "Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse." Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.
+
+In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.
+
+"I went to the cliff this morning," she said, "thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed."
+
+"Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!"
+
+After a long silence, he asked:
+
+"Blanche, how long have we been here?"
+
+"Ten years," she answered.
+
+Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.
+
+Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.
+
+"Blanche, would ten years change a baby?" John asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then my baby is a baby no longer," sighed the father.
+
+"No; she is a pretty little girl now."
+
+"And has no recollection of her father?"
+
+"How could she?"
+
+"But my little boy?"
+
+"He was five when you left home?"
+
+"No, not quite; four and some months."
+
+"Then he would remember you."
+
+"He is a good-sized boy."
+
+"Almost fifteen," she answered.
+
+"Heaven grant I may yet see them!"
+
+"Amen!" replied Blanche. "God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard."
+
+John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.
+
+"When he talks of them," Blanche thought, "he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation."
+
+Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.
+
+     Go; you may call it madness, folly;
+     You may not chase my gloom away.
+     There's such a charm in melancholy,
+     I would not, if I could, be gay.
+                                    --ROGERS.
+
+Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.
+
+Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.
+
+Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship _Silverwing_; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.
+
+"I must do something," she declared, "to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually."
+
+Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.
+
+Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.
+
+"Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?" one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.
+
+"No."
+
+"He has been a long time gone."
+
+"Yes; but he will return."
+
+"The _Silverwing_ has not yet reached London."
+
+"How know you that?" she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.
+
+"The _Ocean Star_ hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+_Silverwing_."
+
+"It left before the _Silverwing_ arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure," and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.
+
+Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.
+
+When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.
+
+"Why don't John come back with the money?" she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. "I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live."
+
+"You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens," one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. "Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:
+
+"She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy."
+
+No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.
+
+"When John comes back, all will change," she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the _Silverwing_ was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.
+
+Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.
+
+She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.
+
+"You are welcome. Come and share our home," was the response.
+
+Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.
+
+Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.
+
+In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]
+
+The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that "might makes
+right" justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the "last argument of kings," to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.
+
+Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.
+
+The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.
+
+Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.
+
+"Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it," he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:
+
+"Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds."
+
+The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of "Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:
+
+"Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon."
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]
+
+The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:
+
+"I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers," and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:
+
+"I had much rather be carried out dead."
+
+At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had "a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,"
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.
+
+The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.
+
+The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.
+
+So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.
+
+Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+"unsettled persons," libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.
+
+Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.
+
+The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+"unclothed souls of the people." Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.
+
+Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+"harboring Quakers," imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.
+
+Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.
+
+The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.
+
+A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.
+
+Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.
+
+The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.
+
+The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.
+
+The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the "Old Dominion" from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.
+
+In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+"Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful." The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.
+
+No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.
+
+For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.
+
+"It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price", said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. "The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored."
+
+The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STEPFATHER.
+
+               Mother, for the love of grace
+     Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
+     That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
+     It will skin and film the ulcerous place;
+     While rank corruption, winning all within,
+     Infects unseen--
+                                      --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.
+
+"Hugh Price will surely wed her," said Sarah Drummond.
+
+No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.
+
+He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.
+
+"Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him."
+
+Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:
+
+"Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?"
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)
+
+"No!" cried the boy, indignantly.
+
+"By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?"
+
+Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:
+
+"I will kill him!"
+
+William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:
+
+"Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master."
+
+Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.
+
+Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would "speak his mind." The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.
+
+Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.
+
+It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--"
+
+Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?"
+
+"It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot."
+
+"So it is," Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+"Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you."
+
+"Indeed it has," answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--"
+
+Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.
+
+Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:
+
+"Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given," and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.
+
+Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:
+
+"I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so," replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.
+
+"Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?" He was getting at it
+at last.
+
+"Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!" said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. "Oh, what a
+question!"
+
+The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.
+
+That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:
+
+"You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens."
+
+"Lonely, oh, so lonely!" and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.
+
+"I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care."
+
+By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.
+
+At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.
+
+Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:
+
+"She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house."
+
+"Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will."
+
+"I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her."
+
+"Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains."
+
+On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.
+
+"It will be better to let her have her way," he concluded. "Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!"
+
+The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.
+
+[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]
+
+Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:
+
+"I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control."
+
+Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.
+
+Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.
+
+It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.
+
+Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.
+
+One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.
+
+"I am so glad we are going," said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. "Mother was good to let us go."
+
+"I am s'prised at the missus," the negro said, shaking his head.
+"Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen."
+
+"Why?" asked Robert.
+
+"Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen."
+
+Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:
+
+"Is there any danger of Indians?"
+
+So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.
+
+"Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come."
+
+"But they must not come."
+
+"No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um."
+
+Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.
+
+Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:
+
+"Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now."
+
+Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.
+
+Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.
+
+The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.
+
+One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:
+
+"Ho! master Robert, I have news for you," he called to the lad.
+
+"William Stump, when did you come?" he asked.
+
+"But this day," was the answer.
+
+"Where are you from?"
+
+"Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?"
+
+"I have heard nothing."
+
+"Your mother hath married," cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.
+
+"It is false!" cried Robert.
+
+"By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier," and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. "It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow," and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.
+
+On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:
+
+"Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?"
+
+She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.
+
+"Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was he like Mr. Price?"
+
+"No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart."
+
+"Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?" she asked.
+
+Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.
+
+"Yes, he cannot drive us from home," he said.
+
+"But mother will love us no longer."
+
+"She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love."
+
+Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.
+
+Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.
+
+Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:
+
+"I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um."
+
+The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.
+
+Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.
+
+Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.
+
+"Where is mother, Dinah?" she asked her mother's housekeeper.
+
+"In de house, chile, waitin' for you," she answered.
+
+Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.
+
+"Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you."
+
+It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:
+
+"I cannot call him father."
+
+"You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile.
+
+"Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother.
+
+Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:
+
+"Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!"
+
+"You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE MOVING WORLD.
+
+     If we could look down the long vista of ages,
+       And witness the changes of time,
+     Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages
+       A key to this vision sublime;
+     We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,
+       And all its magnificence trace,
+     Give honor to man for his genius and might,
+       And glory to God for his grace.
+                                           --PAXTON.
+
+After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.
+
+Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his _bowerie_ or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.
+
+The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: "Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague."
+
+Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should "have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes." This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.
+
+The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.
+
+With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.
+
+The Dutch had taken New York.
+
+The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.
+
+The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.
+
+In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.
+
+After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+"Nova Caesarea or New Jersey," in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.
+
+Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: "The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there." It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. "Christian servants" were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.
+
+It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:
+
+"Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.
+
+"Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'"
+
+The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.
+
+In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.
+
+The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.
+
+After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.
+
+Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the _alluvion_ of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.
+
+Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.
+
+Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.
+
+The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.
+
+The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.
+
+"Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.
+
+"The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal."
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]
+
+Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: "Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal," and it was added: "all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations."
+
+In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.
+
+The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.
+
+     "Adieu! adieu! My native shore
+       Fades o'er the waters blue.
+     The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,
+       And shrieks the wild sea-mew."
+
+At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.
+
+No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.
+
+The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.
+
+The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.
+
+There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:
+
+"God save the King!"
+
+No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.
+
+The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:
+
+"I am very hungry."
+
+He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.
+
+The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:
+
+"Have you money to pay for that which you ask?"
+
+"I have," and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:
+
+"You can have what you ask!"
+
+The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:
+
+"Will supper be ready soon?"
+
+"Directly."
+
+The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.
+
+"Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!"
+
+"Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?"
+
+She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:
+
+"How know you this?"
+
+"Mrs. Johnson hath told me."
+
+The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:
+
+"What must be done?"
+
+"Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay."
+
+The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:
+
+"I cannot make room for you!"
+
+Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:
+
+"What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread," and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:
+
+"Nay, it is not that."
+
+"Pray, what is it?"
+
+"I doubt not that you have the money."
+
+"Then why refuse me what I ask?"
+
+"I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken."
+
+The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:
+
+"Put us in the stables; we are used to it."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that."
+
+The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:
+
+"The horses take up all the room."
+
+The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:
+
+"We will find some corner in which to lie after supper."
+
+"I will give you no supper."
+
+This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.
+
+"Can you, a Christian, speak thus?" he cried. "We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food."
+
+"I have none for you," said the landlord.
+
+"What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?"
+
+"It is all ordered."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam."
+
+"You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving."
+
+The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative "Ahem!" from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:
+
+"I have not a morsel to spare."
+
+"I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,"
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:
+
+"Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured."
+
+He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:
+
+"I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off."
+
+For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.
+
+Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.
+
+"Who is there?" the landlord asked.
+
+"A traveller and his child who want supper and bed."
+
+"Very good. They are to be had here."
+
+A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.
+
+The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.
+
+"What would I better do?" asked the landlord in amazement.
+
+"Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such."
+
+This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:
+
+"You must be off."
+
+At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:
+
+"You know me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"We were turned away from the other inn."
+
+"So you will be from this."
+
+"Where would you have us go?"
+
+"Anywhere so you leave my house."
+
+The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:
+
+"Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?"
+
+"No, I will have none of you with me."
+
+"But she hath done no wrong," persisted the father.
+
+The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:
+
+"It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you."
+
+The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:
+
+"Ester!"
+
+She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.
+
+"We must go," the father said, sadly.
+
+She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.
+
+They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.
+
+"Papa, I am so hungry and so tired," she whispered. "Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?"
+
+Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:
+
+"I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?"
+
+"Who are you?" asked the smith.
+
+"We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us."
+
+The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a _regicide_ might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:
+
+"Why do you not go to one of the inns?"
+
+"There is no room there."
+
+"Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?"
+
+"I have been to all."
+
+"Well?"
+
+The traveller continued with some hesitation, "I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in."
+
+The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: "It is the same, a man with a child." Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:
+
+"Be off."
+
+The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:
+
+"No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber."
+
+He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.
+
+"I am so hungry," murmured Ester. "If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree."
+
+He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:
+
+"If I am made a savage let all the world beware."
+
+They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:
+
+"Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?"
+
+"I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us."
+
+"Surely not all!"
+
+"I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution."
+
+"Have you called at that house?" she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.
+
+"No, who lives there?"
+
+"Mathew Stevens, a very good old man."
+
+"Has he a heart? Is he brave?"
+
+"He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions."
+
+The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.
+
+     "Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
+     Some boundless contiguity of shade,
+     Where rumor of oppression and deceit,
+     Of successful or unsuccessful war,
+     Might never reach me more."
+                                     --Cowper.
+
+When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the "Oliverian Plot" was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to "anticipate the period of their
+freedom," and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.
+
+Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.
+
+At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.
+
+When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.
+
+"Robert," he said, pressing his lips firmly together, "do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?"
+
+"No," was the answer.
+
+"I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him."
+
+Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:
+
+"If you beat me I will kill you."
+
+For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:
+
+"Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable."
+
+Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.
+
+On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.
+
+When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:
+
+"Oh, Robert, I heard it all!"
+
+"Mother, I mean it!" he answered.
+
+"No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert."
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not."
+
+Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.
+
+Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.
+
+Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.
+
+It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.
+
+One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.
+
+That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:
+
+"I may as well do it now as ever."
+
+Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:
+
+"Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!"
+
+Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:
+
+"The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house."
+
+"Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future."
+
+"No, no, indeed, Robert!" he answered. "The time has come to convince
+you that I am master."
+
+He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.
+
+It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.
+
+After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.
+
+He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.
+
+"Where is Rebecca?" he asked.
+
+"Waiten," was the answer.
+
+"Waiting for what?"
+
+"For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away."
+
+"Where?"
+
+The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.
+
+"When are we to go, Dinah?"
+
+"To-morrow, Massa."
+
+"Is that why Mr. Price left?"
+
+"Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again."
+
+"Shall I see mother?"
+
+"Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober."
+
+Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.
+
+Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.
+
+Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.
+
+He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.
+
+"Are you favorable to royalty?" he asked Robert one day. "Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?"
+
+"I certainly do," Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.
+
+"So do I--ahem--so do I;" and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. "Would you fight for such principles?"
+
+"I would."
+
+"So would I--ahem, so would I," cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. "I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne."
+
+Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.
+
+"Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you."
+
+"Hang me! I defy him!" cried Mr. Peram.
+
+His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked Giles. "Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power."
+
+"Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes," answered
+Robert.
+
+Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.
+
+At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.
+
+"Fear him not, my lord," said Hugh. "He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you."
+
+Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.
+
+"Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley."
+
+Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.
+
+Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:
+
+"Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet."
+
+His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.
+
+One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.
+
+"Of what offence am I accused?" he asked.
+
+"Treason."
+
+"Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason."
+
+The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.
+
+Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.
+
+One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.
+
+They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.
+
+"Friends," a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. "We have come to liberate you."
+
+He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.
+
+"There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston," said Mr.
+Lawerence. "You will go aboard of her and escape."
+
+"Can I see my mother and sister before I go?"
+
+"They are waiting on the beach," Drummond answered.
+
+Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.
+
+"I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right."
+
+"Have you money?" asked Mr. Drummond.
+
+"None."
+
+"Here is some," and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.
+
+"My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?"
+
+"Talk not of repayment," Drummond answered, "but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness."
+
+The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.
+
+     When thy beauty appears
+     In its graces and airs,
+       All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky
+     At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,
+       So strangely you dazzle my eyes.
+                                             --PARNELL.
+
+One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.
+
+He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:
+
+"Come, any who will, and fight me with swords."
+
+Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.
+
+"I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?"
+
+"I will," a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.
+
+This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Some madman."
+
+"Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage," cried another.
+
+But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," was the answer.
+
+"Guard!"
+
+He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.
+
+[Illustration: "ARE YOU READY?"]
+
+"Zounds! master what are you about?" cried the fencing-master.
+
+"Marry! I am teaching you new tactics." Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:
+
+"I will have it out with you with these."
+
+At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:
+
+"Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life."
+
+The alarmed fencing-master cried out:
+
+"Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me."
+
+In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.
+
+Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.
+
+John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.
+
+Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to "the glorious cause" of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.
+
+[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]
+
+After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. "He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come." When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:
+
+"Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?"
+
+"I stand single," Vane defiantly answered. "Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood."
+
+Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:
+
+"Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way."
+
+Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:
+
+"I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it." His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. "The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father."
+
+His farewell counsel was:
+
+"Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God." When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: "I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart."
+
+He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.
+
+He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express "purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England."
+
+Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.
+
+Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.
+
+It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.
+
+"Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?" he asked, taking his hand.
+
+"No, sir, I just came in on the vessel."
+
+"Whom do you wish to see?"
+
+"Some relatives named Stevens."
+
+"Is your name Stevens?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"And you are from Virginia?" the old man asked.
+
+"Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?"
+
+Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:
+
+"Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?"
+
+"John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young."
+
+"And your grandfather was--"
+
+"Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith."
+
+"I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives." He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.
+
+"Surely you have no one to fear?" said Robert.
+
+"Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat."
+
+"But he said something. He called you a name."
+
+"What name?"
+
+"Goffe."
+
+"What know you of Goffe, pray?"
+
+"I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide."
+
+The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:
+
+"Do you know what a regicide is?"
+
+"A king-killer."
+
+"Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?"
+
+"He should," cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. "A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm."
+
+"Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?"
+
+"No; I left my colony because I could not abide there."
+
+"What! a fugitive?"
+
+"I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston."
+
+"And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?"
+
+"On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted."
+
+General Goffe shook his white locks and said:
+
+"So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time."
+
+They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.
+
+Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:
+
+"Father, father, father!"
+
+"Ester, my child," the swordsman returned, "have you been happy?"
+
+"Happy as one could be with father away."
+
+"Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more."
+
+All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:
+
+"Whom have we here?"
+
+The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.
+
+"This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia."
+
+"Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea."
+
+"He was," Robert answered sadly.
+
+"And your mother?"
+
+"Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier."
+
+Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.
+
+When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.
+
+Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.
+
+The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.
+
+"He is gone," she answered. "The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped."
+
+"Whither has he gone?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"What would be his fate if he should be taken?"
+
+"He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide."
+
+"You must suffer uneasiness."
+
+"I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power."
+
+Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.
+
+The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.
+
+There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.
+
+Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:
+
+"The king's men are coming."
+
+In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.
+
+"Do not surrender; I will defend you," cried Robert.
+
+He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.
+
+It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.
+
+Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LEFT ALONE.
+
+     Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream
+       Of life will vanish from my brain;
+     And death my wearied spirit will redeem
+       From this wild region of unvaried pain.
+                                           --WHITE.
+
+For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.
+
+For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.
+
+One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.
+
+"Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them."
+
+Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:
+
+"It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy."
+
+Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.
+
+"You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home," she said.
+
+"No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here."
+
+She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:
+
+"I am sorry for you."
+
+"Are you not sorry for yourself?"
+
+"No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am." Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:
+
+"Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have."
+
+"Do not blame yourself," she sighed. "Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration."
+
+"But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness."
+
+His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.
+
+In order to change the subject, he said:
+
+"Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top." (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) "It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail."
+
+The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.
+
+"When do you think of going?" she asked.
+
+"The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready."
+
+"I will go with you."
+
+"No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance."
+
+With a smile, she answered:
+
+"Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this."
+
+"Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength."
+
+"I can go wherever you do," she answered.
+
+He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.
+
+Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.
+
+The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.
+
+On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.
+
+At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.
+
+"Are you tired?" John asked.
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Let us sit and rest."
+
+"The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain."
+
+"Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche."
+
+They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.
+
+John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.
+
+Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.
+
+Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.
+
+There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.
+
+"Blanche, are you cold?" he asked.
+
+She, smiling, answered:
+
+"Never mind me, I can stand it."
+
+"The air is chill."
+
+"It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain."
+
+"The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"It seems almost perpendicular."
+
+"So it does."
+
+"I see no way to scale it from here."
+
+"Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach."
+
+When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.
+
+The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.
+
+When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.
+
+[Illustration: "OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER."]
+
+Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.
+
+"Do you feel equal to the task?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Our journey is not one-half over."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"And the last half will be more trying than the first."
+
+"I will go with you," she answered cheerfully.
+
+To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.
+
+Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.
+
+"Here it is," John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.
+
+A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.
+
+"Do you see any sail?" she asked.
+
+"None."
+
+"Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered."
+
+"I know not where we are."
+
+The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.
+
+"We cannot return home to-night," said Blanche.
+
+"No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain."
+
+The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.
+
+"I am freezing," said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.
+
+All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.
+
+"No, no; I can walk," she said.
+
+"But you are so chilled and so weak."
+
+"Exercise will warm me and give me strength," she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.
+
+"I don't care to venture up there again," said John.
+
+"Nor do I," sighed his companion. "So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it."
+
+"I am, likewise."
+
+For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:
+
+"Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother."
+
+"Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone," said
+John.
+
+She went on:
+
+"And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!"
+
+"I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!"
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever."
+
+She laughingly answered:
+
+"It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top."
+
+He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.
+
+In a moment he was at her side.
+
+"What is the matter, Blanche?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"I have a pain in my side."
+
+He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!" said John.
+
+"I am so hot, I burn with thirst," she answered.
+
+"You shall have water." There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.
+
+"It is so good of you," the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.
+
+John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:
+
+"You can do no more."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche," he almost sobbed, "Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang."
+
+"I know it," she answered.
+
+"What will you have me do?"
+
+"Sit by my side."
+
+He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.
+
+"Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near."
+
+He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.
+
+Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.
+
+John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.
+
+"Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?" he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:
+
+"It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this."
+
+"No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going."
+
+She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:
+
+"Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Your wife--"
+
+"Blanche!"
+
+"Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going."
+
+He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live."
+
+"No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over."
+
+"I shall not, Blanche; I shall not," cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.
+
+"It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother."
+
+"God grant that I may, poor girl."
+
+"Pray with me."
+
+He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:
+
+"Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'"
+
+An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.
+
+Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:
+
+"Alone--left alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TREASURE SHIP.
+
+     "O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)
+       That blowest to the west,
+     Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings
+       To the land that I love best,
+     How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,
+       Like a sea-bird I would sail."
+                                  --PRINGLE.
+
+When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.
+
+Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?"
+
+John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:
+
+"Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun." To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.
+
+He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.
+
+Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.
+
+It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.
+
+He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.
+
+To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.
+
+At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.
+
+Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.
+
+Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.
+
+One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy "Boom!"
+
+The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.
+
+"Boom!"
+
+A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.
+
+"God in heaven! can it be cannon?" cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.
+
+"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
+
+Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.
+
+Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.
+
+John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.
+
+The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.
+
+John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.
+
+The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.
+
+Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.
+
+While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.
+
+For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.
+
+Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.
+
+It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.
+
+Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.
+
+Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.
+
+After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.
+
+A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.
+
+The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.
+
+John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.
+
+Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:
+
+"Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!"
+
+John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.
+
+Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.
+
+He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.
+
+The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.
+
+"What can it contain, that is so heavy?" he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.
+
+John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.
+
+Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.
+
+After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.
+
+Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:
+
+"O God, why is such a fate mine?"
+
+Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+     Strange that when nature loved to trace
+     As if for God a dwelling place,
+     And every charm of grace hath mixed
+     Within the paradise she fixed,
+     There man, enamoured of distress,
+     Should mar it into wilderness.
+                                     --BYRON.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.
+
+Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:
+
+"Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?"
+
+"I do, sire," Clarendon answered.
+
+"It shall be done," said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.
+
+The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.
+
+While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.
+
+Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.
+
+It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.
+
+Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that "all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God." Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; "so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island." Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.
+
+Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the "sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people," the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.
+
+Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.
+
+For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.
+
+When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.
+
+Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for "the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties," and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.
+
+"Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age."
+
+So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.
+
+Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.
+
+As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:
+
+"DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.
+
+"A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.
+
+"If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.
+
+"If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.
+
+"God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.
+
+"It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations."
+
+The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.
+
+From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.
+
+Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for "irreverent speeches."
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts "as traitors and
+rebels against the king"; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.
+
+The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+"which nature could desire or wit invent"; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.
+
+Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was "a great
+trade in deal boards."
+
+A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those "wrecks of humanity," by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.
+
+The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.
+
+The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.
+
+Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.
+
+The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.
+
+They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.
+
+"We are lost! We are lost!" some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!" he cried.
+
+"Who is he?" was the general query, which no one could answer save: "He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us."
+
+It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.
+
+When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+KING PHILIP'S WAR.
+
+                    Oh, there be some
+     Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength
+     Of grappling agony, do stare at you,
+     With their dead eyes half opened.
+     And there be some struck through with bristling darts
+     Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;
+     Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.
+                                                 --BAILLIE.
+
+Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.
+
+But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.
+
+There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.
+
+The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.
+
+Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as "most suitable and
+convenient for them," where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.
+
+Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that "many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English."
+
+There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his "English arms," and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.
+
+The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.
+
+King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as "a slow firing gun" compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.
+
+The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.
+
+Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.
+
+Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.
+
+Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.
+
+At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.
+
+Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:
+
+"Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!" The boats took him
+at his word.
+
+The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.
+
+Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.
+
+The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.
+
+They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.
+
+A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.
+
+About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called "Muddy Brook." Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, "the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.
+
+Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.
+
+The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.
+
+King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.
+
+After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.
+
+Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.
+
+Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.
+
+At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.
+
+After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.
+
+On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. "Quickly," says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, "it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water."
+
+Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.
+
+Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.
+
+The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.
+
+The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.
+
+On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.
+
+The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.
+
+In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.
+
+On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.
+
+Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.
+
+Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.
+
+"There comes the devil Philip now!" cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.
+
+The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NEARING THE VERGE.
+
+     At times there come, as come there ought,
+     Grave moments of sedater thought.
+     When fortune frowns, nor lends our night
+     One gleam of her inconstant light:
+     And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,
+     Shines like the rainbow through the shower.
+                                      --CUNNINGHAM.
+
+Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.
+
+"How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!" were among the
+exclamations of his mother.
+
+Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:
+
+"I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough."
+
+When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.
+
+It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.
+
+The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:
+
+"Robert, I want to see you in my study."
+
+His "study" was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:
+
+"Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you."
+
+Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.
+
+"Robert, you have come back," began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. "I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me."
+
+Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:
+
+"We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice."
+
+"I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia," Robert
+answered.
+
+"Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed."
+
+Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.
+
+"Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold."
+
+The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:
+
+"The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them."
+
+"The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing," Robert ventured
+to put in.
+
+"Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?"
+
+"The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses."
+
+At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:
+
+"I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!"
+
+Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+"Virginia" in regard to some of them:
+
+"The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families."
+
+With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:
+
+"Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated."
+
+"He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being," Robert answered.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate."
+
+"I hardly comprehend you."
+
+"There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously."
+
+"Why does he not?"
+
+"He has good reasons."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted."
+
+Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:
+
+"Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?"
+
+"Such talk is treason," cried Price. "It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?"
+
+"I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before."
+
+"Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them."
+
+Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.
+
+His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.
+
+"Hold your peace, my son," plead the mother, "and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother."
+
+Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:
+
+"Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger."
+
+"But your stepfather and you?"
+
+"We have had no new quarrel."
+
+He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.
+
+"Good day, good people," he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. "I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him."
+
+Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:
+
+"Do you allow him to come here?"
+
+"We must," she whispered.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon."
+
+"You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor."
+
+"He is the governor's secretary."
+
+"I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here."
+
+The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:
+
+"Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?"
+
+"Why do you dare enter this house?" demanded Robert, fiercely.
+
+"Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.
+
+"Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?"
+
+"Perhaps it is Mr. Price!" the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:
+
+"Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor."
+
+He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.
+
+Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.
+
+He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.
+
+"I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment," he said in a fit of anger.
+
+It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:
+
+"I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis."
+
+"What is the crisis?" Robert asked.
+
+"We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us."
+
+"I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?"
+
+Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen."
+
+"Is it such a great grievance to the people?"
+
+"It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'"
+
+"To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons," put in
+Mr. Drummond.
+
+"Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians," added Mr. Cheeseman. "These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony."
+
+"What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?" asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:
+
+"Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people."
+
+"Are they?" asked Robert.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why does he not send an army against them?"
+
+"He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war."
+
+"Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?"
+
+"With him, it is."
+
+Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.
+
+     He stood--some dread was on his face,
+     Soon hatred settled in its place:
+     It rose not with the reddening flush
+     Of transient anger's hasty blush,
+     But pale as marble o'er the tomb,
+     Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.
+                                          --BYRON.
+
+Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.
+
+Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:
+
+"_Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!_"
+
+Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.
+
+"His office is for life," sighed Robert. "And too much power hath made
+him mad."
+
+Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:
+
+"No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you."
+
+"Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?"
+
+"No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not."
+
+"But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you."
+
+At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.
+
+Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!" his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.
+
+"You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?" cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:
+
+"Where is mother?"
+
+"She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings."
+
+"And left you alone?"
+
+"It was thought you would come."
+
+Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.
+
+"Have you suffered annoyances from him before?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Does mother know of it?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"And makes no effort to protect you?"
+
+[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]
+
+"She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage."
+
+"I think I understand why you were left," said Robert, bitterly; "but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's."
+
+"Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died."
+
+"But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure."
+
+With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.
+
+Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.
+
+The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.
+
+"If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds."
+
+At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:
+
+"Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense."
+
+"Which is very extraordinary," put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.
+
+Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.
+
+Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.
+
+That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, going to the window.
+
+"I am Drummond," was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.
+
+"What will you, Mr. Drummond?"
+
+"Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them."
+
+Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:
+
+"The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives."
+
+Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.
+
+"You will have aid," assured Mr. Drummond. "The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians."
+
+"Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?"
+
+"We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir."
+
+"Has he ability for a leader?" asked Robert.
+
+"He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council."
+
+This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, "of a precipitate disposition."
+
+Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as "Bacon's Quarter Branch." His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.
+
+When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:
+
+"If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission."
+
+The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.
+
+In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.
+
+Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.
+
+It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.
+
+He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"It is your brother," he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.
+
+Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.
+
+"Who is that man?" Robert asked.
+
+"Nathaniel Bacon," was the answer.
+
+This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.
+
+Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.
+
+"Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled," Bacon said, "that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold."
+
+All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.
+
+"I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians," Robert
+explained, "and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort."
+
+"Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia."
+
+Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.
+
+Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
+
+Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
+
+The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.
+
+John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.
+
+The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:
+
+"There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!"
+
+Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.
+
+"There are the enemy; storm the fort!" cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.
+
+Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.
+
+Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.
+
+The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the "Battle of Bloody Run," so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.
+
+The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.
+
+Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.
+
+When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.
+
+The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.
+
+"Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?" the governor asked.
+
+"No, may it please your honor," Bacon answered, quite coolly.
+
+"Then I will take your parole," said Berkeley.
+
+Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only "appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.
+
+     'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?
+       Have you met with that dreadful old man?
+     If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;
+       For catch you he must and he can.'
+                                                 --HOLMES.
+
+Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.
+
+"How are you, Robert--ahem?" began Giles. "This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you."
+
+"You can spare yourself any tears on my account," the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:
+
+"Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?"
+
+"I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance."
+
+"I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is."
+
+"It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty."
+
+It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.
+
+Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:
+
+"Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace." Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:
+
+"God forgive you; I forgive you," and three times he repeated the words.
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.
+
+Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:
+
+"Yes, and all that were with him." As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: "Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there," pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.
+
+The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at "the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.
+
+One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.
+
+Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:
+
+"DESPAIR."
+
+What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.
+
+Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.
+
+The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:
+
+"This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown."
+
+That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.
+
+When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.
+
+The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.
+
+After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.
+
+The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.
+
+The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.
+
+Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:
+
+"Whence came you, stranger?"
+
+"From Liverpool."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship _Despair_, which
+lies at anchor in your bay."
+
+"But surely you are not of England?"
+
+"I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death."
+
+The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion."
+
+Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:
+
+"Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship."
+
+"But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?"
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed."
+
+There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:
+
+"It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine."
+
+"But the king?"
+
+"They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years."
+
+The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.
+
+"Have you ever been in Virginia before?" the governor asked.
+
+"Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then."
+
+"How long will you stay?"
+
+"I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me."
+
+"What is your wish, Sir Albert?"
+
+"I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance," and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.
+
+"This is strange," said the governor. "An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time."
+
+"I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally." The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.
+
+For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.
+
+"Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst," said the stranger.
+
+Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:
+
+"Have you lived long in Virginia?"
+
+"I was born here, good sir."
+
+"Then you must know all of Jamestown?"
+
+"Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England."
+
+"Your home is still here?"
+
+With a sigh, Robert answered:
+
+"It is, though I do not live in it now."
+
+Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.
+
+All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the _Despair_.
+
+After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:
+
+"Oh, how extraordinary!"
+
+Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:
+
+"Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns."
+
+Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:
+
+"For what is that ugly machine used?"
+
+"It is a ducking-stool for scolds," was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+"Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed."
+
+"For whom was it built?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water."
+
+The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. "But to the last," the narrator
+resumed, "she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually."
+
+Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.
+
+No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.
+
+"Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love."
+
+"Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!"
+
+"Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name."
+
+In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:
+
+"Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you."
+
+She gazed up at the kind face and asked:
+
+"Are you the owner of the ship _Despair_?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Albert," she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:
+
+"Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm."
+
+While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.
+
+"The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear," sighed the little maid.
+"The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor."
+
+"He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother."
+
+He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:
+
+"God bless you! There, I must go."
+
+He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.
+
+There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:
+
+"Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!"
+
+The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BACON A REBEL.
+
+     "Hark! 'tis the sound that charms
+     The war-steed's wakening ears.
+     Oh! many a mother folds her arms
+     Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,
+     And though her fond heart sink with fears,
+     Is proud to feel his young pulse bound
+     With valor's fervor at the sound."
+                                             --MOORE.
+
+The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship _Despair_ and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.
+
+The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.
+
+She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:
+
+"Is she a relative of yours, young maid?" asked the man of whom she
+inquired.
+
+"No; I know of her, and would see her."
+
+"Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother."
+
+The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.
+
+"Do you travel alone, young maid?" asked the man whom she had addressed.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Where is your mother?"
+
+"Dead," she answered sadly,
+
+"Then you are an orphan?"
+
+"I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia."
+
+She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:
+
+"I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here."
+
+"Ester--Ester Goffe," stammered Rebecca. "Then you are my brother's
+affianced."
+
+"I am."
+
+In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:
+
+"I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?" and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.
+
+"Where is he--where is Robert?"
+
+Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.
+
+"Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another." Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:
+
+"You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin."
+
+"But can I see him?" asked Ester.
+
+"Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?"
+
+"Robert."
+
+A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.
+
+"Have you no faithful servant?"
+
+There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+"cross Master Price," he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:
+
+"Sam, could you find my brother?"
+
+"I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could."
+
+"Would you take a small bit of writing to him?"
+
+"If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back."
+
+Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:
+
+DEAR BROTHER;--
+
+Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.
+
+Your sister,
+
+REBECCA.
+
+Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.
+
+Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.
+
+The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:
+
+"No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go."
+
+Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:
+
+"We will have it! We will have it!" (Meaning the commission.)
+
+One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:
+
+"You shall have it! You shall have it!"
+
+The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:
+
+"D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!"
+
+The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.
+
+A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.
+
+"Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!"
+
+It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.
+
+After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:
+
+"Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!" The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.
+
+Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.
+
+Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:
+
+"It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible."
+
+"Brother, do not place yourself in his power," said his sister.
+
+"Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?"
+
+"At the governor's."
+
+"Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born."
+
+"We will keep the secret, brother."
+
+"When do you go?" asked Ester.
+
+"The army marches against the Indians on the morrow." He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.
+
+"Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?"
+
+"I knew not that you were a member of the house."
+
+Peram, blushing, answered:
+
+"Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it." With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.
+
+Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:
+
+"'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place."
+
+Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: "It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face."
+
+Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.
+
+Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.
+
+Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was "in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots." Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:
+
+"It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast."
+
+Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.
+
+Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:
+
+"Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia."
+
+This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, "What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?"
+
+The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.
+
+Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.
+
+The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.
+
+This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.
+
+"Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world," they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:
+
+"The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country." And when a person by her side
+said, "We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin," Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:
+
+"I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough."
+
+The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.
+
+While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel _Despair_. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:
+
+"I feared you had gone, never to come back."
+
+"Did you want to see me again, child?" he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.
+
+"I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you."
+
+"The war rages again?"
+
+"It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men."
+
+"If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship."
+
+"But my brother--oh, my brother!"
+
+"He, also, will be safe."
+
+"Would you take us all, and Ester, too?"
+
+"Who is Ester?"
+
+She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:
+
+"You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid."
+
+Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.
+
+He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked the half-fainting woman.
+
+"No."
+
+"You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?"
+
+"I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the _Despair_, are you not?" asked
+Dorothe Price.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir."
+
+"Shall I see you home?"
+
+"If not too much trouble."
+
+As they walked along the road, he asked:
+
+"Are you Mrs. Price?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"When did your first husband die?"
+
+"Many years ago. He was lost at sea."
+
+"Did he leave two children?"
+
+"Yes, sir, two," she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:
+
+"Was he a good man?"
+
+"Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!" Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.
+
+"Are you happy now?"
+
+"Alas, no. I am miserable."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican."
+
+"Is your son with Bacon?"
+
+"He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could."
+
+"He shall not hang him."
+
+"If he captures him, who will prevent it?"
+
+"I will." They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:
+
+"Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.
+
+     "At every turn, Morena's dusky height
+     Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,
+     And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,
+     The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,
+     The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,
+     The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,
+     The magazine in rocky durance stand,
+     The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,
+     The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match."
+                                              --BYRON.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship _Despair_.
+
+Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.
+
+"You must be very rich," she said to Sir Albert.
+
+"This represents but a small part of my possessions."
+
+"I would I were your heiress."
+
+"You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me."
+
+"Have you no wife--no children?"
+
+He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.
+
+Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.
+
+Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.
+
+Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.
+
+The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.
+
+Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship _Despair_. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.
+
+"Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives," said Bacon. "We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame."
+
+Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them "in the forefront of his
+workmen," during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.
+
+No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.
+
+"They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!" he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.
+
+There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.
+
+"Come down, general!" cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. "You endanger
+your life up there."
+
+Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:
+
+"Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!"
+
+A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.
+
+"Don't fire, until I give you the command," said Bacon, coolly. "We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear."
+
+He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.
+
+Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.
+
+Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.
+
+Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.
+
+"We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price," he said as the sun was setting.
+
+"No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night."
+
+"I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?"
+
+"He hath taken refuge under the church."
+
+"Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands."
+
+A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.
+
+The ship _Despair_, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.
+
+That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.
+
+"Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you," said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.
+
+"You intrude--you disturb us!" cried Cheeseman. "We want no spy on our
+deliberations."
+
+"Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting."
+
+His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:
+
+"'Fore God, who are you?"
+
+"A man like you," was the answer; "a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you."
+
+He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.
+
+"What meaneth this?" Drummond asked when he regained his voice. "Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young."
+
+Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:
+
+"Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune."
+
+The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:
+
+"God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? _It is John Stevens_!"
+
+"It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh," he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.
+
+"Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death," he concluded.
+
+"Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?"
+
+"Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children."
+
+Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:
+
+"'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--"
+
+"Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love," and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.
+
+"Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty," said Drummond. "I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered."
+
+"I know all," John sobbed.
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?"
+
+"What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live."
+
+Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:
+
+"And will you leave her to him?"
+
+"Yes," was the low, meek answer.
+
+"Will you not seek revenge?"
+
+"'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'"
+
+Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:
+
+"Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?"
+
+"They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven."
+
+"But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?"
+
+"Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?"
+
+Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.
+
+"Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret."
+
+They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.
+
+"Why sit you here?" cried the general. "Have you not heard the news?"
+
+"No; what is it?"
+
+"Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town."
+
+Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.
+
+"Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?" asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.
+
+"No," answered Bacon.
+
+"Then we must abandon it."
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]
+
+"They shall not find the town when they come," cried Bacon. "D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!"
+
+What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.
+
+"But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned," cried
+Robert.
+
+"I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,"
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:
+
+"What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us."
+
+"Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home," said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.
+
+"Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the _Despair_," cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, "Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?"
+
+Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:
+
+"I will, I swear by the God we all worship!"
+
+Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:
+
+"Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants."
+
+Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.
+
+Bacon and his army retreated up the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.
+
+     The longer life, the more offence;
+       The more offence, the greater pain;
+     The greater pain, the less defence;
+       The less defence, the greater gain:
+     The loss of gain long ill doth try,
+       Wherefore, come death and let me die.
+                                           --WYAT.
+
+Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.
+
+With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.
+
+"You do not look well," said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. "Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever."
+
+Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.
+
+"I shall be better soon," he answered. "When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort."
+
+"Have a care for your health."
+
+"I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown."
+
+Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his "Mandates" to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.
+
+On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.
+
+"Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick," said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.
+
+"Are you better, general?" he asked.
+
+"I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning."
+
+As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.
+
+"General Bacon is dead," they said.
+
+"What! dead?" cried Robert.
+
+"Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate."
+
+It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.
+
+Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.
+
+"Thomas Hansford," cried Berkeley, "I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!"
+
+Colonel Hansford answered, "I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog."
+
+The governor replied, "You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel."
+
+Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:
+
+"Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country."
+
+Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.
+
+Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.
+
+One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.
+
+"There he is, Giles; now slay him!" cried the stepfather.
+
+Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.
+
+"Come on, Giles; he is unarmed," cried Mr. Price.
+
+"Oh, are you quite sure?" cried Giles.
+
+"I am sure. He is out of ammunition."
+
+"That is extraordinary, very extraordinary." Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.
+
+"He is heading for the river!" cried Price.
+
+"Can he cross?"
+
+"No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him."
+
+Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.
+
+It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.
+
+"He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!" cried Price.
+
+The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.
+
+Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.
+
+It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. "We will have him yet. He shall hang!" said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.
+
+They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:
+
+"My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done," she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, "was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned."
+
+The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:
+
+"Away with you!" adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]
+
+So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.
+
+For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.
+
+"Mr. Drummond," he said, "you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour."
+
+"What your honor pleases," Mr. Drummond boldly answered. "I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression."
+
+He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.
+
+Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.
+
+Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that "Bacon and Bland must die," and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:
+
+"That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father."
+
+Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.
+
+Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+_Despair_, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.
+
+Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration," said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+"Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me."
+
+"That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he been tried?"
+
+"He has and has been condemned."
+
+"To hang?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has the sentence been executed?" asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Then your life is saved."
+
+"But he will be hanged at ten o'clock."
+
+"He shall not!"
+
+"Why, who are you, that dare defy me?"
+
+"Governor Berkeley," said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. "Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!"
+
+Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:
+
+"You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.
+
+"The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens," said Mr. Price.
+
+"Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it," put in Giles, a smile on his face.
+
+Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:
+
+"Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution."
+
+Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:
+
+"Sign, sir."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A pardon for Robert Stevens."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.
+
+"Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!" cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.
+
+Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:
+
+"Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!" and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:
+
+"Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself."
+
+Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:
+
+"Have you signed the pardon, governor?"
+
+"Here it is."
+
+"Now order his release."
+
+Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.
+
+"I owe this to you, kind sir," he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.
+
+"I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise."
+
+"Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?"
+
+"All are safe aboard my vessel."
+
+"Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me."
+
+"Do you remember your father?"
+
+"I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?"
+
+"Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well."
+
+"Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great."
+
+"We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well."
+
+"How know you this?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing."
+
+"Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace."
+
+"Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his."
+
+When they went on board the _Despair_, there was a general rejoicing.
+
+"Heaven bless you, our deliverer!" cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.
+
+Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+     So live, that when thy summons comes to join
+     The innumerable caravan, that moves
+     To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
+     His chamber in the silent halls of death,
+     Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
+     Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
+     By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
+     Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
+     About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
+                                               --BRYANT.
+
+That strange ship _Despair_ still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.
+
+"What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?" asked the governor.
+
+"'Fore God, I know not, governor," put in Hugh Price. "I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one."
+
+As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:
+
+"Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time."
+
+"But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?"
+
+"Harm him not."
+
+"He will harm me, I trow."
+
+"No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not."
+
+Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.
+
+Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.
+
+"It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!" declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.
+
+"Where is your wife?"
+
+"On board the ship _Despair_."
+
+"Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion."
+
+"I will."
+
+After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the _Despair_, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.
+
+When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:
+
+"Shall I go?"
+
+"The place of a good wife is with her husband," he answered.
+
+Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:
+
+"Must I obey Hugh Price?"
+
+"Is he your father?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You are of age?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River."
+
+"I will live with my brother."
+
+Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:
+
+"The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail."
+
+"Shall I take you in mine?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"Will you?"
+
+"If you desire it."
+
+The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:
+
+"Pull ashore."
+
+It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.
+
+The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.
+
+The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.
+
+Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.
+
+Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.
+
+When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.
+
+All winter long, Captain Small of the _Despair_ remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.
+
+"He also gave you the ship _Despair_," concluded the captain.
+
+"This is very strange." said Robert. "I can scarcely believe it."
+
+Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.
+
+"Now what will you do with the ship?" the captain asked.
+
+"What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters."
+
+"She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits."
+
+"No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth."
+
+Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name _Despair_ was changed to _Hope_. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.
+
+Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.
+
+Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.
+
+One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:
+
+"Do you not know me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Lawrence," the stranger whispered.
+
+"What! Mr. Lawrence?"
+
+"Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you."
+
+Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.
+
+"I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know."
+
+Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" again.
+
+A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:
+
+"_Father and mother sleep here_."
+
+Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, "I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone."
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.
+
+All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+Ye End.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King
+  Charles II
+Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor
+Alderman, slayer of King Philip
+Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the
+  surrender of New York
+Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook
+Angel of deliverance
+Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon
+Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia
+Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels
+Attack on the swamp fort
+Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker
+Bacon, Nathaniel
+Bacon's "Quarter Branch"
+Bacon's threat
+Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission
+Bacon defeats the Indians
+Bacon arrested
+Bacon's confession
+Bacon's flight
+Bacon rousing his friends
+Bacon marching on Jamestown
+Bacon captures Jamestown
+Bacon and Berkeley meet
+Bacon commissioned by Berkeley
+Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy
+Bacon urged to depose Berkeley
+Bacon's Indian campaign
+Bacon again rallying his hosts
+Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields
+Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen
+Bacon besieges Jamestown
+Bacon enters Jamestown
+Bacon burns Jamestown
+Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac
+Bacon ill
+Bacon's death a mystery
+Bacon rebels attainted of treason
+Bacon's laws repealed
+Baconites deserting Ingram
+Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac
+Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654
+Battle of Brookfield
+Battle of Bloody Run
+Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley
+Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia
+Berkeley, Sir William, character of
+Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors
+Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia
+Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to
+  Greenspring Manor
+Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.
+Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing
+Berkeley informs home government that all trouble
+  with the Indians is happily over
+Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission
+Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel
+Berkeley pardons Bacon
+Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon
+Berkeley and Bacon meet
+Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces
+  him a rebel
+Berkeley in possession of Jamestown
+Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown
+Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works
+Berkeley's tyranny at York
+Berkeley's departure from Virginia
+Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York
+Bland, execution of
+Brent reported advancing
+Buckingham succeeds Clarendon
+Burning of Jamestown
+Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630
+Calvert, Governor of Maryland
+Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of
+Carolinia settled by New Englanders
+Carolinia constitution
+Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to
+Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder
+Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed
+Census of New England in 1675
+Charles I. beheaded in 1649
+Charles II. declared king of England in 1660
+Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father
+Charles II., character of
+Charles II. profligate and careless
+Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley
+Cheeseman, trial of
+Cheeseman's death
+Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley
+Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset
+Clarendon in exile
+Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island
+Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam
+Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands
+  within limits of Rhode Island charter
+Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter
+Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop
+Connecticut after the restoration
+Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution
+Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector
+Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son
+  Richard as his successor
+Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II.
+  grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years
+Curles, Bacon's home
+Death of Nathaniel Bacon
+De Vries robbed by the Indians
+De Vries chosen president of popular assembly
+Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I
+Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia
+  in 1666
+Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the
+  world
+Drummond before Berkeley
+Drummond, execution of
+Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children
+Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne
+Dutch capture New York
+Dyer, Mary, execution of
+Effect of the restoration on Virginia
+Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret
+Elliott, John, missionary among Indians
+Emigrants to Carolinia
+Emigrants to New Jersey from New England
+English government in a state of chaos after the death
+  of Cromwell
+Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts
+Execution of Robinson and Stevenson
+Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts
+Forebodings of war
+Gathering of Virginians at Curles
+Goffe and the fencing-master
+Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned
+  Charles I
+Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men
+Gorges recovers his claim
+Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness
+Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence
+Grievances of Virginians
+Hadley attacked by the Indians
+Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley
+Hansford abandons Jamestown
+Hansford hung
+Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629
+Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert
+Hawley, Governor of Carolinia
+Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of
+  Virginia
+Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken
+Indian war of 1644
+Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey
+Indian advancement in education
+Indians' lands taken from them
+Ingram chosen in place of Bacon
+Ingram's surrender
+James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted
+  to him by his brother Charles II
+Jamestown besieged by Bacon
+Jamestown captured by Bacon
+Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt
+Judges who tried and condemned Charles I
+Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer
+  of the wheelwright
+Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians
+Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland
+King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and
+  Northampton
+King's men, character of
+Lancaster attacked by Indians
+Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia
+Law against Quakers repealed in 1661
+Laws made by Bacon repealed
+_Longtail_, Claybourne's trading ship
+Lovelace appointed Governor of New York
+Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy
+Massachusetts' charter threatened
+Massachusetts after the restoration
+Massachusetts not punished for her defiance
+Massasoit, death of, 1661
+Matapoiset, attack on
+Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls
+Middle Plantation oath
+Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652
+Muddy Brook, fight at
+Narragansetts, Philip among
+Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances
+New Amsterdam granted a government like the free
+  cities of Holland
+New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed
+  to New York
+New England confederation
+New England, growth of
+New England colonies slandered
+New Haven colony
+New Jersey, how effected by change
+New Jersey charter
+New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants
+New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch
+New York not represented in Parliament
+New York attacked by the Dutch
+New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam
+Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam
+Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor
+  of New York
+Nipmucks, Philip among
+North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666
+Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go
+  to
+Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of
+Oliverian plot
+Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred
+  years old and assassinated
+Orange changed to Albany
+Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650
+Pavonia, the territory of Pauw
+Philip's, King, opposition to war
+Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's
+  blood has been shed
+Philip, King, among the Nipmucks
+Philip, King, pursued
+Philip, King, death of
+Pokanokets rejected Christianity
+Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam
+Population of Virginia
+Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware
+Puritans of New England
+Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts
+Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey
+Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch
+Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644
+Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663
+Rising, John, on the Delaware
+Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653
+Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house
+Royalists, triumph of
+Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the
+  plans of Philip
+Savage sent to Mount Hope
+South Kingston, Indians at
+Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England
+Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware
+Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer
+Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender
+Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant goes to Holland
+Stuyvesant returns to New York
+Sudbury, attack on
+Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II
+Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on
+Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with
+Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it
+Fort Trinity
+Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard
+Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation
+Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration
+Vane, Sir Henry, executed
+Virginia divided into eight shires
+Virginia restored to monarchy
+Virginia threatened with civil war
+Virginia, home ruled
+Virginia's defence, 1675
+Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing
+  a flag of truce
+Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals
+Wheelwright murdered by Indians
+Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Windsor, Indian attack on
+Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant
+Winthrop, John, and Charles II.
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.
+
+A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.
+
+1644. SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+  killed,--April 18.
+
+1645. CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+  fled to Virginia.
+
+1649. CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.
+
+1650. FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+  Chowan River, near Edenton.
+
+1653. OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+  Great Britain,--Dec. 16.
+
+1655. RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+  and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.
+
+1656. QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+  by Puritans.
+
+1660. MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+  king,--May 29.
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.
+
+1663. CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+  24. (This grant extended from 30 deg. to
+  36 deg. lat., and from ocean to ocean.)
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+  granted,--July 8.
+
+1664. NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+  and Albany,--March 12.
+
+NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.
+
+STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).
+
+FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.
+
+ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.
+
+1665. CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+  name of Connecticut,--May.
+
+SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+  to 29 deg. lat.,--June 30.
+
+CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+  settled.
+
+1670. DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.
+
+1671. MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+  at Michilimackinac.
+
+1673. VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.
+
+1674. MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.
+
+1675. MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.
+
+1676. BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+  one hundred years before independence.
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+  and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.
+  41 deg. 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME
+6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 10387.txt or 10387.zip *******
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A
+Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick
+
+
+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 Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A Century Too Soon (A Story
+of Bacon's Rebellion)
+
+Author: John R. Musick
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10387]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE,
+VOLUME 6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME VI, A CENTURY TOO SOON
+
+The Age of Tyranny
+
+By
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+FREELAND A. CARTER
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+MY WIFE,
+
+WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,
+
+THIS BOOK
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+BY
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a "century too soon," being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.
+
+In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in "Pocahontas." The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK.
+
+KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.      THE DUCKING STOOL
+CHAPTER II.     SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE
+CHAPTER III.    THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD
+CHAPTER IV.     THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK
+CHAPTER V.      JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE
+CHAPTER VI.     THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION
+CHAPTER VII.    IN WIDOW'S WEEDS
+CHAPTER VIII.   THE STEPFATHER
+CHAPTER IX.     THE MOVING WORLD
+CHAPTER X.      THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD
+CHAPTER XI.     TYRANNY AND FLIGHT
+CHAPTER XII.    THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE
+CHAPTER XIII.   LEFT ALONE
+CHAPTER XIV.    THE TREASURE SHIP
+CHAPTER XV.     THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE
+CHAPTER XVI.    KING PHILIP'S WAR
+CHAPTER XVII.   NEARING THE VERGE
+CHAPTER XVIII.  THE SWORD OF DEFENCE
+CHAPTER XIX.    THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
+CHAPTER XX.     BACON A REBEL
+CHAPTER XXI.    BURNING OF JAMESTOWN
+CHAPTER XXII.   VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE
+CHAPTER XXIII.  CONCLUSION
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX
+
+CHRONOLOGY
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
+
+
+His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly
+
+Ducking stool
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!"
+
+Once more he bent over the sleeping children
+
+Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams
+
+Stuyvesant
+
+The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life
+
+Blanche could not utter a word of consolation
+
+Oliver Cromwell
+
+"Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+   into pieces
+
+Tomb of Stuyvesant
+
+The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+   the scene
+
+His temper flamed out in word
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+Sir Henry Vane
+
+"Our journey is not one half over!"
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!"
+
+He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him
+
+He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Ruins of Jamestown
+
+The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+   splashing up a jet of water
+
+Map of the period
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURY TOO SOON.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DUCKING-STOOL.
+
+     Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
+     You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
+     Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
+     You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
+     Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
+     Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
+     Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.
+                                        --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+[Illustration: ducking stool]
+
+A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+"ducking-stool." The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.
+
+Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+"Commonwealth" in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or "Roundheads," as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.
+
+The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.
+
+There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.
+
+It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.
+
+Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.
+
+The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.
+
+There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.
+
+"Good morrow, Roger!" said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.
+
+"Good morrow, Hugh," Roger answered.
+
+"What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?" asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. "I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear."
+
+"The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked."
+
+"Marry! what hath she done?"
+
+"Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages."
+
+Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:
+
+"Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water."
+
+"It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you."
+
+"You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?"
+
+"They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How is Sir William Berkeley?"
+
+"He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne."
+
+"Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?"
+
+"Sh--! speak not so loud," said Hugh in an undertone. "There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts."
+
+The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.
+
+"Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger," said Hugh when they were
+seated. "Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored."
+
+"The rule of the Roundheads is mild."
+
+"Mild, bah!" interrupted Hugh, in contempt. "They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle."
+
+"But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses."
+
+"That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired," and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, "It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head."
+
+While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.
+
+"Good wives," said a hard-featured dame of fifty, "I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!"
+
+"Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment," interposed a more cautious sister.
+
+Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:
+
+"I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults."
+
+"Verily, she hath," interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.
+
+"And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?" continued
+dame Woodley,
+
+"Little the pity for him, though," interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.
+
+"Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?"
+
+"The more fool he to maintain such a creature."
+
+"Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved."
+
+"I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle," interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.
+
+"Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall."
+
+At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes."
+
+A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.
+
+"I will give ye a piece of my mind," she declared to her guards.
+
+"Hold your peace, Ann!" cried the eldest of the guards.
+
+"Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought."
+
+"Marry! I wish you were silent."
+
+"Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?"
+
+"No, by the mass, it will not," answered his companion.
+
+"Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!"
+
+"I am not a papist."
+
+"Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with," put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.
+
+The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.
+
+"I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!" she screamed at the
+top of her voice.
+
+"Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat."
+
+"Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm."
+
+"Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground."
+
+The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:
+
+"Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!" she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.
+
+"Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath," cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.
+
+The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:
+
+"It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!"
+
+"Marry! we will be more damp than you," said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.
+
+"Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?"
+
+"Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform."
+
+"Duty; but such a duty!"
+
+She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.
+
+"Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed."
+
+"I am in no hurry," she answered.
+
+"I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over."
+
+The urchins and older persons began to cry:
+
+"Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees."
+
+"I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.
+
+"Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to
+his companion.
+
+The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.
+
+"See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown," said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.
+
+"'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this," she cried. "Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows."
+
+Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.
+
+At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:
+
+"No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court."
+
+Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: "Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?"
+
+"For shame!" whispered Sarah Drummond.
+
+"Yea, verily."
+
+"I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done."
+
+At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:
+
+"They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked."
+
+"John Stevens is a godly man," remarked still another. "He would not
+wrong any one."
+
+"If he were my dearest foe," whispered goodwife Woodley, "he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens."
+
+"Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely," whispered Sarah
+Drummond, "for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall."
+
+All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.
+
+"Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death."
+
+"Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!" she screamed in
+her shrill voice.
+
+"Peace, dame; be still!"
+
+"I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,"
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. "I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood."
+
+Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:
+
+"The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court."
+
+Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:
+
+"It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye."
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, Ann!" said the sheriff.
+
+"I will not," she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.
+
+"Then you shall be plunged hot."
+
+"I care not."
+
+"It may be your death."
+
+"That's what ye want."
+
+"We don't."
+
+"Ye lie, ye wretch!"
+
+"Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace."
+
+"You are a wretch!" she screamed.
+
+The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.
+
+"You are a white-livered wretch!" the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. "I'll scratch
+your eyes out!"
+
+"Let her down," commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.
+
+"I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!" shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.
+
+She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:
+
+"Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?"
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!" she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, "She's a hussy!"
+
+Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:
+
+"You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower."
+
+As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:
+
+"It's true! She is a hussy!"
+
+Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: "She's a hussy!" The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:
+
+"Put her on shore."
+
+The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.
+
+John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:
+
+"Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--"
+
+At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.
+
+     On peace and rest my mind was bent,
+       And fool I was I married;
+     But never honest man's intent
+       As cursedly miscarried.
+                                --BURNS.
+
+In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.
+
+John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the "28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known." He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.
+
+He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.
+
+Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.
+
+In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, "and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church," and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+"Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king."
+
+From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.
+
+John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.
+
+In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.
+
+Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.
+
+Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.
+
+In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.
+
+On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.
+
+John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.
+
+"Were you more prudent, Dorothe," said John, "we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children."
+
+"Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?"
+
+"But other men have helpmates in their wives."
+
+This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.
+
+After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.
+
+"I am going to economize," she declared. "I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed."
+
+Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.
+
+One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:
+
+"Our family has a fortune in Florida."
+
+At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.
+
+"If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?" she asked.
+
+"We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going," he made
+answer.
+
+"And wherefore can you not?"
+
+"St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property."
+
+"Can you not get it? Can you not get it?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Try."
+
+"We have thought to try it."
+
+His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.
+
+There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.
+
+The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.
+
+John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:
+
+"Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?"
+
+"By all means, go to London," answered Drummond.
+
+"Ought I to leave my wife and children?"
+
+"Wherefore not?"
+
+"If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for."
+
+"Your father was a sailor."
+
+"But his son is not."
+
+"Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage."
+
+John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:
+
+"Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?"
+
+"True, yet why shrink from this voyage?"
+
+"A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea."
+
+At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.
+
+"Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy," was Drummond's advice.
+
+"If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,"
+interposed Cheeseman.
+
+"How much is involved?" asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.
+
+"Eight hundred pounds."
+
+"Quite a sum."
+
+"Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for."
+
+"Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them."
+
+With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.
+
+"By all means, go," Hugh advised. "It is your duty to go."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:
+
+"You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society."
+
+"I do not," he answered.
+
+"Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another."
+
+"Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living," answered John, with a
+sigh.
+
+"They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair."
+
+"Women do the same," John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.
+
+"Not so often as the men."
+
+Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.
+
+"My friends all declare that it is my duty to go," he said.
+
+"Your friends! who are your friends?"
+
+"Drummond."
+
+"An ignorant Scotchman."
+
+Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"Mr. Lawerence advises it."
+
+"He is a canting hypocrite."
+
+"Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable."
+
+"Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it."
+
+"Hugh Price agrees with them."
+
+"Does he?" asked Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"He does."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.
+
+"Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it."
+
+The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.
+
+"John," she said, "if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds."
+
+John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go."
+
+"Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries."
+
+"Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return."
+
+"Wherefore not?" cried Mrs. Stevens. "Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate."
+
+Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the "green-eyed
+monster" to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:
+
+"The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave."
+
+"Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you."
+
+Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:
+
+"She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door." But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.
+
+John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.
+
+The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:
+
+"God bless you!"
+
+"Shall I awake them?" his wife asked.
+
+"No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.
+
+"Dear, I do so regret your going!" sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long."
+
+"I will go with you to the boat," she said, hurriedly dressing herself.
+
+John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:
+
+"I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome."
+
+[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]
+
+John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.
+
+Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.
+
+"Farewell, little darling!" and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.
+
+                                       We love
+     The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,
+     And reigns content within them; him we serve
+     Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:
+     But recollecting still that he is a man,
+     We trust him not too far.
+                                              --COWPER.
+
+The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.
+
+The governor, who cared little for the "customs of the race," determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might "make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony," and reproached him with selfish cowardice.
+
+"It is all well for you," they said, "who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places."
+
+The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.
+
+These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.
+
+Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.
+
+One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at "Colaer's Hook," who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. "Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe," says Brodhead, "were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers."
+
+[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]
+
+It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.
+
+Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.
+
+By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the "governor"
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.
+
+Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to "keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together."
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the "Nine." The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this "imprudent entrusting of power with the people."
+
+Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.
+
+The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:
+
+"I have no powder. What can I do?"
+
+After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.
+
+Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused "by that
+infamous surrender." On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.
+
+[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]
+
+On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.
+
+[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]
+
+The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages "after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors." After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.
+
+The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the "Articles of Confederation," each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.
+
+Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a "perfect republic." It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+"silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States."
+
+There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the _Mayflower_
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.
+
+Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his "brother's
+keeper," whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, "except to and from
+church" on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for "suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness," was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+"take heed of his light carriage." The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to "be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly." The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.
+
+In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.
+
+While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.
+
+That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.
+
+All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+"Governor of Carolinia." The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, "freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt." The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+"proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia," promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.
+
+Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+
+                                     The wind
+     Increased at night, until it blew a gale;
+       And though 'twas not much to naval mind,
+     Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,
+       For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:
+     At sunset they began to take in sail.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.
+
+The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft _Silverwing_; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.
+
+His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.
+
+All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.
+
+John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.
+
+The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.
+
+"Surely I will die," he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+"Surely I will die."
+
+The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.
+
+He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.
+
+"Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?" asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.
+
+"My head hurts," John gasped.
+
+"Verily, I ache all over," returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.
+
+At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:
+
+"Good morrow, stranger!"
+
+John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay; the fall was not violent."
+
+The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:
+
+"Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach."
+
+"I am not sick," the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. "I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over."
+
+"I trust so," groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.
+
+"But the sea runs high," the old man said, "let us go in."
+
+John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:
+
+"You do not belong at Jamestown."
+
+"No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown."
+
+"You came in the last ship?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"You did not come alone?"
+
+"No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have."
+
+John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.
+
+From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.
+
+She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.
+
+That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.
+
+Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:
+
+"I want to talk with you."
+
+They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: "We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours."
+
+There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:
+
+"Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm."
+
+"I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector."
+
+John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.
+
+Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.
+
+"It is coming," Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.
+
+"We are going to have a terrible storm," John answered.
+
+"Yes; remember your promise."
+
+"I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest."
+
+"No, no," Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, "I
+have an impression that my time has surely come."
+
+John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.
+
+"Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!" the poor fellow was
+groaning. "Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down."
+
+He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.
+
+John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.
+
+About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:
+
+"Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy." Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.
+
+Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.
+
+At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.
+
+"The storm is terrible," said the old man. "The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it."
+
+"Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart," urged John.
+
+"Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?"
+
+"If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives," said
+John.
+
+"Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near."
+
+John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.
+
+"Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo," he
+cried, "and set the pumps a-going."
+
+Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.
+
+At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.
+
+John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.
+
+"Are we going down?" she asked.
+
+"God grant that it be not so!" he answered.
+
+"But such fearful noises, such hideous sights."
+
+"Be brave, young maid," he urged. "Where is your father?"
+
+"His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless."
+
+At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.
+
+"Aye, my friend, the worst is coming," he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. "I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him."
+
+A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.
+
+At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.
+
+The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.
+
+"We will never reach it," said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.
+
+"Do not despair," said John.
+
+"But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves."
+
+A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+_Silverwing_. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.
+
+John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.
+
+It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.
+
+"It will soon be over," said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. "Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon."
+
+Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.
+
+"Take her! take her!" cried Mr. Holmes frantically. "I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer."
+
+A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.
+
+It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.
+
+John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.
+
+"Father--father!" she faintly murmured.
+
+"He is gone," John answered.
+
+"Is this you?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cling to me."
+
+"I will. We will survive or perish together."
+
+Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.
+
+     The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,
+       The furrow followed free;
+     We were the first that ever burst
+       Into that silent sea.
+
+     Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
+       'Twas sad as sad could be;
+     And we did speak only to break
+       The silence of the sea.
+                                         --COLERIDGE.
+
+Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.
+
+John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.
+
+Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.
+
+Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.
+
+"Are we all?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was no one saved?"
+
+"None but ourselves."
+
+"And the ship?"
+
+"Is a hopeless wreck on the sands," he answered.
+
+As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.
+
+Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:
+
+"Do you know where we are?"
+
+"No."
+
+The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.
+
+John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.
+
+They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.
+
+It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.
+
+"Is this country inhabited?" asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.
+
+"I fear not," he answered; "or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages."
+
+"Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate."
+
+"I will not desert you," he answered.
+
+They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.
+
+"We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts," said John.
+
+"Can we not go back for them?"
+
+"Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?" he asked.
+
+She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.
+
+"You won't be long gone?" she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.
+
+"No."
+
+He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.
+
+A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.
+
+Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:
+
+"Have you seen any one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I have brought some food."
+
+"It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty," she said.
+
+"We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water," he said
+hopefully.
+
+John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.
+
+"It might have been worse," she thought. "While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land."
+
+Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.
+
+"Heaven help us ere we perish," he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. "If we don't find water soon she will die."
+
+He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.
+
+All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:
+
+"I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring."
+
+She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.
+
+John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.
+
+Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.
+
+"Now let us have food," said John.
+
+The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.
+
+"Can we from there determine what land we are on?" she asked.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"If there be cities, will we see them?"
+
+"We shall," he answered.
+
+"Have you no hopes nor fears?"
+
+"I have both."
+
+"What are your hopes?"
+
+"My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands."
+
+"And your fears?"
+
+"That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards."
+
+"Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?"
+
+"No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were."
+
+"Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth," reasoned Blanche.
+
+"Are you strong enough for the walk?"
+
+She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.
+
+The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.
+
+John called a halt and asked:
+
+"Shall we go on, or return to the beach?"
+
+Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.
+
+They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.
+
+"Will it not be carried off?" Blanche asked.
+
+"No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out."
+
+John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.
+
+They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.
+
+"Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?" asked John.
+
+"No, we have nothing to fear."
+
+"I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited."
+
+She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.
+
+A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.
+
+"If a beast," he thought, "it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast."
+
+From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.
+
+"Blanche will be lonesome," he thought. "Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can."
+
+Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.
+
+He searched the ground, and saw footprints.
+
+"Some animals have been here," he thought. "They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone."
+
+It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.
+
+He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.
+
+"Then there are animals on the land," she said.
+
+"Yes; but they are not dangerous," he returned. "These animals may
+prove useful to us for food."
+
+"I hope so."
+
+After several moments, she asked:
+
+"How long must we stay?"
+
+"I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?"
+
+"No, not to-night," she answered with a shudder. "I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night."
+
+He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.
+
+Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.
+
+As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?
+
+"Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me," he prayed.
+
+His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:
+
+"The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns."
+
+John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.
+
+In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:
+
+"What was it? Are we attacked?"
+
+"Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,"
+assured John.
+
+The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.
+
+     I am monarch of all I survey,
+       My right there is none to dispute:
+     From the centre all round to the sea
+       I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
+     O Solitude! where are the charms
+       That sages have seen in thy face?
+     Better dwell in the midst of alarms
+       Than reign in this horrible place.
+                                        --COWPER.
+
+Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.
+
+He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.
+
+Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.
+
+"What are they?" she asked.
+
+"I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them."
+
+Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.
+
+"It is a goat," he said. "The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them."
+
+A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.
+
+The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.
+
+Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.
+
+Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.
+
+"We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck," he said, "and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.
+
+"How long will that stay be?" she asked.
+
+"God in heaven alone can tell."
+
+"Surely some passing ship will see us."
+
+He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.
+
+Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.
+
+The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.
+
+The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.
+
+At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.
+
+Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.
+
+Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.
+
+Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.
+
+John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.
+
+Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.
+
+It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.
+
+"Read more," she said when he had finished the page. "What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us."
+
+"Verily, it is a comfort."
+
+"Should we die here, He will be with us."
+
+"God is everywhere. He will not desert us," John said.
+
+"But I hope we will yet be rescued."
+
+"I trust so."
+
+He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.
+
+"You are stronger than I," she said, "why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us."
+
+The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:
+
+"God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance."
+
+"My burden is greater than I can bear."
+
+"Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength."
+
+"You are all alone in the world, Blanche."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have not a relative living."
+
+"No, my father was lost."
+
+"I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home."
+
+"Helpless--"
+
+"My wife and children."
+
+Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.
+
+"I left them to better my fortune," he continued. "They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!"
+
+His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:
+
+"Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along."
+
+"I did not care to burden you with my griefs."
+
+"Trust in God."
+
+"I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children."
+
+"They have their mother."
+
+"She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector."
+
+[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]
+
+Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.
+
+The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.
+
+He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?
+
+"Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?"
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.
+
+"If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it."
+
+"How is our own boat?"
+
+"Too frail. The boards are almost rotten."
+
+"Then why not make one?"
+
+The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.
+
+Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:
+
+"Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted."
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.
+
+The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.
+
+With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.
+
+Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.
+
+One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.
+
+Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:
+
+"God send some ship to deliver me!"
+
+Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.
+
+"How could I live here without you, Blanche?" he said one day.
+
+"Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," she answered. "Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse." Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.
+
+In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.
+
+"I went to the cliff this morning," she said, "thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed."
+
+"Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!"
+
+After a long silence, he asked:
+
+"Blanche, how long have we been here?"
+
+"Ten years," she answered.
+
+Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.
+
+Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.
+
+"Blanche, would ten years change a baby?" John asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then my baby is a baby no longer," sighed the father.
+
+"No; she is a pretty little girl now."
+
+"And has no recollection of her father?"
+
+"How could she?"
+
+"But my little boy?"
+
+"He was five when you left home?"
+
+"No, not quite; four and some months."
+
+"Then he would remember you."
+
+"He is a good-sized boy."
+
+"Almost fifteen," she answered.
+
+"Heaven grant I may yet see them!"
+
+"Amen!" replied Blanche. "God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard."
+
+John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.
+
+"When he talks of them," Blanche thought, "he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation."
+
+Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.
+
+     Go; you may call it madness, folly;
+     You may not chase my gloom away.
+     There's such a charm in melancholy,
+     I would not, if I could, be gay.
+                                    --ROGERS.
+
+Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.
+
+Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.
+
+Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship _Silverwing_; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.
+
+"I must do something," she declared, "to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually."
+
+Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.
+
+Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.
+
+"Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?" one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.
+
+"No."
+
+"He has been a long time gone."
+
+"Yes; but he will return."
+
+"The _Silverwing_ has not yet reached London."
+
+"How know you that?" she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.
+
+"The _Ocean Star_ hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+_Silverwing_."
+
+"It left before the _Silverwing_ arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure," and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.
+
+Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.
+
+When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.
+
+"Why don't John come back with the money?" she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. "I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live."
+
+"You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens," one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. "Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:
+
+"She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy."
+
+No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.
+
+"When John comes back, all will change," she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the _Silverwing_ was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.
+
+Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.
+
+She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.
+
+"You are welcome. Come and share our home," was the response.
+
+Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.
+
+Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.
+
+In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]
+
+The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that "might makes
+right" justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the "last argument of kings," to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.
+
+Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.
+
+The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.
+
+Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.
+
+"Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it," he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:
+
+"Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds."
+
+The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of "Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:
+
+"Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon."
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]
+
+The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:
+
+"I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers," and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:
+
+"I had much rather be carried out dead."
+
+At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had "a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,"
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.
+
+The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.
+
+The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.
+
+So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.
+
+Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+"unsettled persons," libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.
+
+Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.
+
+The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+"unclothed souls of the people." Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.
+
+Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+"harboring Quakers," imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.
+
+Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.
+
+The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.
+
+A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.
+
+Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.
+
+The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.
+
+The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.
+
+The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the "Old Dominion" from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.
+
+In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+"Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful." The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.
+
+No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.
+
+For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.
+
+"It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price", said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. "The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored."
+
+The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STEPFATHER.
+
+               Mother, for the love of grace
+     Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
+     That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
+     It will skin and film the ulcerous place;
+     While rank corruption, winning all within,
+     Infects unseen--
+                                      --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.
+
+"Hugh Price will surely wed her," said Sarah Drummond.
+
+No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.
+
+He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.
+
+"Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him."
+
+Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:
+
+"Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?"
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)
+
+"No!" cried the boy, indignantly.
+
+"By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?"
+
+Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:
+
+"I will kill him!"
+
+William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:
+
+"Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master."
+
+Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.
+
+Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would "speak his mind." The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.
+
+Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.
+
+It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--"
+
+Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?"
+
+"It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot."
+
+"So it is," Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+"Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you."
+
+"Indeed it has," answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--"
+
+Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.
+
+Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:
+
+"Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given," and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.
+
+Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:
+
+"I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so," replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.
+
+"Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?" He was getting at it
+at last.
+
+"Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!" said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. "Oh, what a
+question!"
+
+The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.
+
+That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:
+
+"You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens."
+
+"Lonely, oh, so lonely!" and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.
+
+"I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care."
+
+By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.
+
+At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.
+
+Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:
+
+"She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house."
+
+"Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will."
+
+"I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her."
+
+"Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains."
+
+On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.
+
+"It will be better to let her have her way," he concluded. "Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!"
+
+The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.
+
+[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]
+
+Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:
+
+"I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control."
+
+Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.
+
+Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.
+
+It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.
+
+Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.
+
+One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.
+
+"I am so glad we are going," said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. "Mother was good to let us go."
+
+"I am s'prised at the missus," the negro said, shaking his head.
+"Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen."
+
+"Why?" asked Robert.
+
+"Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen."
+
+Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:
+
+"Is there any danger of Indians?"
+
+So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.
+
+"Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come."
+
+"But they must not come."
+
+"No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um."
+
+Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.
+
+Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:
+
+"Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now."
+
+Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.
+
+Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.
+
+The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.
+
+One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:
+
+"Ho! master Robert, I have news for you," he called to the lad.
+
+"William Stump, when did you come?" he asked.
+
+"But this day," was the answer.
+
+"Where are you from?"
+
+"Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?"
+
+"I have heard nothing."
+
+"Your mother hath married," cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.
+
+"It is false!" cried Robert.
+
+"By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier," and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. "It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow," and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.
+
+On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:
+
+"Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?"
+
+She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.
+
+"Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was he like Mr. Price?"
+
+"No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart."
+
+"Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?" she asked.
+
+Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.
+
+"Yes, he cannot drive us from home," he said.
+
+"But mother will love us no longer."
+
+"She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love."
+
+Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.
+
+Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.
+
+Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:
+
+"I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um."
+
+The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.
+
+Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.
+
+Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.
+
+"Where is mother, Dinah?" she asked her mother's housekeeper.
+
+"In de house, chile, waitin' for you," she answered.
+
+Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.
+
+"Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you."
+
+It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:
+
+"I cannot call him father."
+
+"You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile.
+
+"Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother.
+
+Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:
+
+"Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!"
+
+"You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE MOVING WORLD.
+
+     If we could look down the long vista of ages,
+       And witness the changes of time,
+     Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages
+       A key to this vision sublime;
+     We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,
+       And all its magnificence trace,
+     Give honor to man for his genius and might,
+       And glory to God for his grace.
+                                           --PAXTON.
+
+After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.
+
+Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his _bowerie_ or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.
+
+The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: "Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague."
+
+Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should "have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes." This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.
+
+The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.
+
+With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.
+
+The Dutch had taken New York.
+
+The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.
+
+The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.
+
+In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.
+
+After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+"Nova Caesarea or New Jersey," in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.
+
+Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: "The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there." It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. "Christian servants" were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.
+
+It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:
+
+"Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.
+
+"Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'"
+
+The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.
+
+In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.
+
+The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.
+
+After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.
+
+Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the _alluvion_ of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.
+
+Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.
+
+Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.
+
+The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.
+
+The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.
+
+"Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.
+
+"The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal."
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]
+
+Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: "Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal," and it was added: "all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations."
+
+In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.
+
+The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.
+
+     "Adieu! adieu! My native shore
+       Fades o'er the waters blue.
+     The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,
+       And shrieks the wild sea-mew."
+
+At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.
+
+No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.
+
+The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.
+
+The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.
+
+There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:
+
+"God save the King!"
+
+No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.
+
+The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:
+
+"I am very hungry."
+
+He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.
+
+The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:
+
+"Have you money to pay for that which you ask?"
+
+"I have," and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:
+
+"You can have what you ask!"
+
+The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:
+
+"Will supper be ready soon?"
+
+"Directly."
+
+The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.
+
+"Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!"
+
+"Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?"
+
+She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:
+
+"How know you this?"
+
+"Mrs. Johnson hath told me."
+
+The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:
+
+"What must be done?"
+
+"Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay."
+
+The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:
+
+"I cannot make room for you!"
+
+Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:
+
+"What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread," and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:
+
+"Nay, it is not that."
+
+"Pray, what is it?"
+
+"I doubt not that you have the money."
+
+"Then why refuse me what I ask?"
+
+"I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken."
+
+The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:
+
+"Put us in the stables; we are used to it."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that."
+
+The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:
+
+"The horses take up all the room."
+
+The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:
+
+"We will find some corner in which to lie after supper."
+
+"I will give you no supper."
+
+This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.
+
+"Can you, a Christian, speak thus?" he cried. "We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food."
+
+"I have none for you," said the landlord.
+
+"What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?"
+
+"It is all ordered."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam."
+
+"You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving."
+
+The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative "Ahem!" from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:
+
+"I have not a morsel to spare."
+
+"I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,"
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:
+
+"Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured."
+
+He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:
+
+"I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off."
+
+For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.
+
+Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.
+
+"Who is there?" the landlord asked.
+
+"A traveller and his child who want supper and bed."
+
+"Very good. They are to be had here."
+
+A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.
+
+The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.
+
+"What would I better do?" asked the landlord in amazement.
+
+"Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such."
+
+This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:
+
+"You must be off."
+
+At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:
+
+"You know me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"We were turned away from the other inn."
+
+"So you will be from this."
+
+"Where would you have us go?"
+
+"Anywhere so you leave my house."
+
+The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:
+
+"Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?"
+
+"No, I will have none of you with me."
+
+"But she hath done no wrong," persisted the father.
+
+The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:
+
+"It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you."
+
+The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:
+
+"Ester!"
+
+She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.
+
+"We must go," the father said, sadly.
+
+She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.
+
+They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.
+
+"Papa, I am so hungry and so tired," she whispered. "Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?"
+
+Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:
+
+"I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?"
+
+"Who are you?" asked the smith.
+
+"We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us."
+
+The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a _regicide_ might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:
+
+"Why do you not go to one of the inns?"
+
+"There is no room there."
+
+"Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?"
+
+"I have been to all."
+
+"Well?"
+
+The traveller continued with some hesitation, "I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in."
+
+The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: "It is the same, a man with a child." Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:
+
+"Be off."
+
+The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:
+
+"No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber."
+
+He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.
+
+"I am so hungry," murmured Ester. "If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree."
+
+He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:
+
+"If I am made a savage let all the world beware."
+
+They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:
+
+"Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?"
+
+"I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us."
+
+"Surely not all!"
+
+"I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution."
+
+"Have you called at that house?" she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.
+
+"No, who lives there?"
+
+"Mathew Stevens, a very good old man."
+
+"Has he a heart? Is he brave?"
+
+"He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions."
+
+The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.
+
+     "Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
+     Some boundless contiguity of shade,
+     Where rumor of oppression and deceit,
+     Of successful or unsuccessful war,
+     Might never reach me more."
+                                     --Cowper.
+
+When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the "Oliverian Plot" was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to "anticipate the period of their
+freedom," and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.
+
+Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.
+
+At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.
+
+When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.
+
+"Robert," he said, pressing his lips firmly together, "do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?"
+
+"No," was the answer.
+
+"I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him."
+
+Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:
+
+"If you beat me I will kill you."
+
+For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:
+
+"Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable."
+
+Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.
+
+On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.
+
+When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:
+
+"Oh, Robert, I heard it all!"
+
+"Mother, I mean it!" he answered.
+
+"No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert."
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not."
+
+Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.
+
+Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.
+
+Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.
+
+It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.
+
+One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.
+
+That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:
+
+"I may as well do it now as ever."
+
+Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:
+
+"Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!"
+
+Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:
+
+"The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house."
+
+"Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future."
+
+"No, no, indeed, Robert!" he answered. "The time has come to convince
+you that I am master."
+
+He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.
+
+It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.
+
+After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.
+
+He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.
+
+"Where is Rebecca?" he asked.
+
+"Waiten," was the answer.
+
+"Waiting for what?"
+
+"For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away."
+
+"Where?"
+
+The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.
+
+"When are we to go, Dinah?"
+
+"To-morrow, Massa."
+
+"Is that why Mr. Price left?"
+
+"Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again."
+
+"Shall I see mother?"
+
+"Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober."
+
+Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.
+
+Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.
+
+Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.
+
+He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.
+
+"Are you favorable to royalty?" he asked Robert one day. "Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?"
+
+"I certainly do," Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.
+
+"So do I--ahem--so do I;" and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. "Would you fight for such principles?"
+
+"I would."
+
+"So would I--ahem, so would I," cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. "I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne."
+
+Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.
+
+"Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you."
+
+"Hang me! I defy him!" cried Mr. Peram.
+
+His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked Giles. "Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power."
+
+"Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes," answered
+Robert.
+
+Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.
+
+At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.
+
+"Fear him not, my lord," said Hugh. "He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you."
+
+Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.
+
+"Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley."
+
+Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.
+
+Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:
+
+"Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet."
+
+His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.
+
+One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.
+
+"Of what offence am I accused?" he asked.
+
+"Treason."
+
+"Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason."
+
+The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.
+
+Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.
+
+One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.
+
+They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.
+
+"Friends," a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. "We have come to liberate you."
+
+He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.
+
+"There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston," said Mr.
+Lawerence. "You will go aboard of her and escape."
+
+"Can I see my mother and sister before I go?"
+
+"They are waiting on the beach," Drummond answered.
+
+Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.
+
+"I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right."
+
+"Have you money?" asked Mr. Drummond.
+
+"None."
+
+"Here is some," and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.
+
+"My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?"
+
+"Talk not of repayment," Drummond answered, "but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness."
+
+The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.
+
+     When thy beauty appears
+     In its graces and airs,
+       All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky
+     At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,
+       So strangely you dazzle my eyes.
+                                             --PARNELL.
+
+One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.
+
+He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:
+
+"Come, any who will, and fight me with swords."
+
+Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.
+
+"I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?"
+
+"I will," a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.
+
+This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Some madman."
+
+"Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage," cried another.
+
+But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," was the answer.
+
+"Guard!"
+
+He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.
+
+[Illustration: "ARE YOU READY?"]
+
+"Zounds! master what are you about?" cried the fencing-master.
+
+"Marry! I am teaching you new tactics." Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:
+
+"I will have it out with you with these."
+
+At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:
+
+"Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life."
+
+The alarmed fencing-master cried out:
+
+"Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me."
+
+In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.
+
+Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.
+
+John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.
+
+Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to "the glorious cause" of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.
+
+[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]
+
+After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. "He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come." When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:
+
+"Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?"
+
+"I stand single," Vane defiantly answered. "Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood."
+
+Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:
+
+"Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way."
+
+Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:
+
+"I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it." His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. "The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father."
+
+His farewell counsel was:
+
+"Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God." When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: "I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart."
+
+He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.
+
+He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express "purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England."
+
+Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.
+
+Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.
+
+It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.
+
+"Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?" he asked, taking his hand.
+
+"No, sir, I just came in on the vessel."
+
+"Whom do you wish to see?"
+
+"Some relatives named Stevens."
+
+"Is your name Stevens?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"And you are from Virginia?" the old man asked.
+
+"Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?"
+
+Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:
+
+"Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?"
+
+"John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young."
+
+"And your grandfather was--"
+
+"Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith."
+
+"I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives." He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.
+
+"Surely you have no one to fear?" said Robert.
+
+"Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat."
+
+"But he said something. He called you a name."
+
+"What name?"
+
+"Goffe."
+
+"What know you of Goffe, pray?"
+
+"I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide."
+
+The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:
+
+"Do you know what a regicide is?"
+
+"A king-killer."
+
+"Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?"
+
+"He should," cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. "A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm."
+
+"Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?"
+
+"No; I left my colony because I could not abide there."
+
+"What! a fugitive?"
+
+"I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston."
+
+"And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?"
+
+"On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted."
+
+General Goffe shook his white locks and said:
+
+"So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time."
+
+They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.
+
+Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:
+
+"Father, father, father!"
+
+"Ester, my child," the swordsman returned, "have you been happy?"
+
+"Happy as one could be with father away."
+
+"Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more."
+
+All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:
+
+"Whom have we here?"
+
+The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.
+
+"This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia."
+
+"Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea."
+
+"He was," Robert answered sadly.
+
+"And your mother?"
+
+"Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier."
+
+Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.
+
+When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.
+
+Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.
+
+The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.
+
+"He is gone," she answered. "The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped."
+
+"Whither has he gone?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"What would be his fate if he should be taken?"
+
+"He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide."
+
+"You must suffer uneasiness."
+
+"I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power."
+
+Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.
+
+The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.
+
+There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.
+
+Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:
+
+"The king's men are coming."
+
+In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.
+
+"Do not surrender; I will defend you," cried Robert.
+
+He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.
+
+It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.
+
+Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LEFT ALONE.
+
+     Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream
+       Of life will vanish from my brain;
+     And death my wearied spirit will redeem
+       From this wild region of unvaried pain.
+                                           --WHITE.
+
+For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.
+
+For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.
+
+One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.
+
+"Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them."
+
+Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:
+
+"It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy."
+
+Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.
+
+"You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home," she said.
+
+"No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here."
+
+She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:
+
+"I am sorry for you."
+
+"Are you not sorry for yourself?"
+
+"No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am." Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:
+
+"Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have."
+
+"Do not blame yourself," she sighed. "Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration."
+
+"But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness."
+
+His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.
+
+In order to change the subject, he said:
+
+"Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top." (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) "It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail."
+
+The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.
+
+"When do you think of going?" she asked.
+
+"The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready."
+
+"I will go with you."
+
+"No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance."
+
+With a smile, she answered:
+
+"Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this."
+
+"Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength."
+
+"I can go wherever you do," she answered.
+
+He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.
+
+Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.
+
+The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.
+
+On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.
+
+At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.
+
+"Are you tired?" John asked.
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Let us sit and rest."
+
+"The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain."
+
+"Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche."
+
+They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.
+
+John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.
+
+Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.
+
+Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.
+
+There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.
+
+"Blanche, are you cold?" he asked.
+
+She, smiling, answered:
+
+"Never mind me, I can stand it."
+
+"The air is chill."
+
+"It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain."
+
+"The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"It seems almost perpendicular."
+
+"So it does."
+
+"I see no way to scale it from here."
+
+"Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach."
+
+When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.
+
+The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.
+
+When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.
+
+[Illustration: "OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER."]
+
+Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.
+
+"Do you feel equal to the task?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Our journey is not one-half over."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"And the last half will be more trying than the first."
+
+"I will go with you," she answered cheerfully.
+
+To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.
+
+Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.
+
+"Here it is," John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.
+
+A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.
+
+"Do you see any sail?" she asked.
+
+"None."
+
+"Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered."
+
+"I know not where we are."
+
+The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.
+
+"We cannot return home to-night," said Blanche.
+
+"No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain."
+
+The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.
+
+"I am freezing," said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.
+
+All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.
+
+"No, no; I can walk," she said.
+
+"But you are so chilled and so weak."
+
+"Exercise will warm me and give me strength," she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.
+
+"I don't care to venture up there again," said John.
+
+"Nor do I," sighed his companion. "So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it."
+
+"I am, likewise."
+
+For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:
+
+"Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother."
+
+"Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone," said
+John.
+
+She went on:
+
+"And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!"
+
+"I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!"
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever."
+
+She laughingly answered:
+
+"It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top."
+
+He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.
+
+In a moment he was at her side.
+
+"What is the matter, Blanche?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"I have a pain in my side."
+
+He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!" said John.
+
+"I am so hot, I burn with thirst," she answered.
+
+"You shall have water." There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.
+
+"It is so good of you," the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.
+
+John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:
+
+"You can do no more."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche," he almost sobbed, "Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang."
+
+"I know it," she answered.
+
+"What will you have me do?"
+
+"Sit by my side."
+
+He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.
+
+"Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near."
+
+He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.
+
+Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.
+
+John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.
+
+"Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?" he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:
+
+"It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this."
+
+"No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going."
+
+She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:
+
+"Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Your wife--"
+
+"Blanche!"
+
+"Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going."
+
+He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live."
+
+"No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over."
+
+"I shall not, Blanche; I shall not," cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.
+
+"It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother."
+
+"God grant that I may, poor girl."
+
+"Pray with me."
+
+He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:
+
+"Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'"
+
+An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.
+
+Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:
+
+"Alone--left alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TREASURE SHIP.
+
+     "O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)
+       That blowest to the west,
+     Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings
+       To the land that I love best,
+     How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,
+       Like a sea-bird I would sail."
+                                  --PRINGLE.
+
+When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.
+
+Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?"
+
+John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:
+
+"Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun." To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.
+
+He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.
+
+Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.
+
+It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.
+
+He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.
+
+To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.
+
+At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.
+
+Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.
+
+Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.
+
+One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy "Boom!"
+
+The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.
+
+"Boom!"
+
+A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.
+
+"God in heaven! can it be cannon?" cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.
+
+"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
+
+Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.
+
+Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.
+
+John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.
+
+The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.
+
+John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.
+
+The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.
+
+Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.
+
+While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.
+
+For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.
+
+Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.
+
+It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.
+
+Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.
+
+Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.
+
+After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.
+
+A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.
+
+The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.
+
+John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.
+
+Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:
+
+"Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!"
+
+John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.
+
+Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.
+
+He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.
+
+The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.
+
+"What can it contain, that is so heavy?" he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.
+
+John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.
+
+Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.
+
+After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.
+
+Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:
+
+"O God, why is such a fate mine?"
+
+Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+     Strange that when nature loved to trace
+     As if for God a dwelling place,
+     And every charm of grace hath mixed
+     Within the paradise she fixed,
+     There man, enamoured of distress,
+     Should mar it into wilderness.
+                                     --BYRON.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.
+
+Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:
+
+"Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?"
+
+"I do, sire," Clarendon answered.
+
+"It shall be done," said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.
+
+The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.
+
+While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.
+
+Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.
+
+It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.
+
+Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that "all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God." Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; "so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island." Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.
+
+Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the "sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people," the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.
+
+Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.
+
+For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.
+
+When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.
+
+Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for "the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties," and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.
+
+"Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age."
+
+So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.
+
+Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.
+
+As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:
+
+"DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.
+
+"A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.
+
+"If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.
+
+"If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.
+
+"God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.
+
+"It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations."
+
+The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.
+
+From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.
+
+Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for "irreverent speeches."
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts "as traitors and
+rebels against the king"; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.
+
+The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+"which nature could desire or wit invent"; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.
+
+Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was "a great
+trade in deal boards."
+
+A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those "wrecks of humanity," by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.
+
+The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.
+
+The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.
+
+Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.
+
+The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.
+
+They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.
+
+"We are lost! We are lost!" some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!" he cried.
+
+"Who is he?" was the general query, which no one could answer save: "He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us."
+
+It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.
+
+When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+KING PHILIP'S WAR.
+
+                    Oh, there be some
+     Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength
+     Of grappling agony, do stare at you,
+     With their dead eyes half opened.
+     And there be some struck through with bristling darts
+     Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;
+     Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.
+                                                 --BAILLIE.
+
+Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.
+
+But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.
+
+There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.
+
+The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.
+
+Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as "most suitable and
+convenient for them," where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.
+
+Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that "many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English."
+
+There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his "English arms," and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.
+
+The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.
+
+King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as "a slow firing gun" compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.
+
+The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.
+
+Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.
+
+Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.
+
+Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.
+
+At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.
+
+Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:
+
+"Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!" The boats took him
+at his word.
+
+The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.
+
+Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.
+
+The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.
+
+They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.
+
+A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.
+
+About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called "Muddy Brook." Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, "the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.
+
+Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.
+
+The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.
+
+King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.
+
+After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.
+
+Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.
+
+Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.
+
+At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.
+
+After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.
+
+On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. "Quickly," says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, "it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water."
+
+Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.
+
+Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.
+
+The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.
+
+The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.
+
+On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.
+
+The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.
+
+In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.
+
+On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.
+
+Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.
+
+Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.
+
+"There comes the devil Philip now!" cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.
+
+The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NEARING THE VERGE.
+
+     At times there come, as come there ought,
+     Grave moments of sedater thought.
+     When fortune frowns, nor lends our night
+     One gleam of her inconstant light:
+     And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,
+     Shines like the rainbow through the shower.
+                                      --CUNNINGHAM.
+
+Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.
+
+"How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!" were among the
+exclamations of his mother.
+
+Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:
+
+"I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough."
+
+When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.
+
+It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.
+
+The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:
+
+"Robert, I want to see you in my study."
+
+His "study" was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:
+
+"Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you."
+
+Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.
+
+"Robert, you have come back," began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. "I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me."
+
+Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:
+
+"We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice."
+
+"I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia," Robert
+answered.
+
+"Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed."
+
+Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.
+
+"Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold."
+
+The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:
+
+"The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them."
+
+"The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing," Robert ventured
+to put in.
+
+"Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?"
+
+"The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses."
+
+At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:
+
+"I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!"
+
+Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+"Virginia" in regard to some of them:
+
+"The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families."
+
+With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:
+
+"Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated."
+
+"He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being," Robert answered.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate."
+
+"I hardly comprehend you."
+
+"There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously."
+
+"Why does he not?"
+
+"He has good reasons."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted."
+
+Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:
+
+"Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?"
+
+"Such talk is treason," cried Price. "It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?"
+
+"I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before."
+
+"Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them."
+
+Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.
+
+His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.
+
+"Hold your peace, my son," plead the mother, "and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother."
+
+Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:
+
+"Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger."
+
+"But your stepfather and you?"
+
+"We have had no new quarrel."
+
+He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.
+
+"Good day, good people," he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. "I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him."
+
+Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:
+
+"Do you allow him to come here?"
+
+"We must," she whispered.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon."
+
+"You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor."
+
+"He is the governor's secretary."
+
+"I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here."
+
+The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:
+
+"Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?"
+
+"Why do you dare enter this house?" demanded Robert, fiercely.
+
+"Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.
+
+"Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?"
+
+"Perhaps it is Mr. Price!" the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:
+
+"Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor."
+
+He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.
+
+Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.
+
+He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.
+
+"I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment," he said in a fit of anger.
+
+It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:
+
+"I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis."
+
+"What is the crisis?" Robert asked.
+
+"We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us."
+
+"I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?"
+
+Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen."
+
+"Is it such a great grievance to the people?"
+
+"It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'"
+
+"To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons," put in
+Mr. Drummond.
+
+"Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians," added Mr. Cheeseman. "These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony."
+
+"What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?" asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:
+
+"Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people."
+
+"Are they?" asked Robert.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why does he not send an army against them?"
+
+"He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war."
+
+"Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?"
+
+"With him, it is."
+
+Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.
+
+     He stood--some dread was on his face,
+     Soon hatred settled in its place:
+     It rose not with the reddening flush
+     Of transient anger's hasty blush,
+     But pale as marble o'er the tomb,
+     Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.
+                                          --BYRON.
+
+Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.
+
+Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:
+
+"_Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!_"
+
+Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.
+
+"His office is for life," sighed Robert. "And too much power hath made
+him mad."
+
+Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:
+
+"No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you."
+
+"Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?"
+
+"No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not."
+
+"But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you."
+
+At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.
+
+Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!" his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.
+
+"You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?" cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:
+
+"Where is mother?"
+
+"She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings."
+
+"And left you alone?"
+
+"It was thought you would come."
+
+Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.
+
+"Have you suffered annoyances from him before?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Does mother know of it?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"And makes no effort to protect you?"
+
+[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]
+
+"She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage."
+
+"I think I understand why you were left," said Robert, bitterly; "but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's."
+
+"Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died."
+
+"But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure."
+
+With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.
+
+Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.
+
+The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.
+
+"If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds."
+
+At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:
+
+"Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense."
+
+"Which is very extraordinary," put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.
+
+Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.
+
+Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.
+
+That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, going to the window.
+
+"I am Drummond," was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.
+
+"What will you, Mr. Drummond?"
+
+"Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them."
+
+Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:
+
+"The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives."
+
+Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.
+
+"You will have aid," assured Mr. Drummond. "The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians."
+
+"Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?"
+
+"We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir."
+
+"Has he ability for a leader?" asked Robert.
+
+"He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council."
+
+This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, "of a precipitate disposition."
+
+Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as "Bacon's Quarter Branch." His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.
+
+When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:
+
+"If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission."
+
+The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.
+
+In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.
+
+Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.
+
+It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.
+
+He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"It is your brother," he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.
+
+Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.
+
+"Who is that man?" Robert asked.
+
+"Nathaniel Bacon," was the answer.
+
+This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.
+
+Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.
+
+"Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled," Bacon said, "that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold."
+
+All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.
+
+"I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians," Robert
+explained, "and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort."
+
+"Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia."
+
+Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.
+
+Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
+
+Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
+
+The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.
+
+John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.
+
+The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:
+
+"There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!"
+
+Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.
+
+"There are the enemy; storm the fort!" cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.
+
+Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.
+
+Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.
+
+The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the "Battle of Bloody Run," so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.
+
+The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.
+
+Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.
+
+When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.
+
+The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.
+
+"Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?" the governor asked.
+
+"No, may it please your honor," Bacon answered, quite coolly.
+
+"Then I will take your parole," said Berkeley.
+
+Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only "appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.
+
+     'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?
+       Have you met with that dreadful old man?
+     If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;
+       For catch you he must and he can.'
+                                                 --HOLMES.
+
+Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.
+
+"How are you, Robert--ahem?" began Giles. "This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you."
+
+"You can spare yourself any tears on my account," the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:
+
+"Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?"
+
+"I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance."
+
+"I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is."
+
+"It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty."
+
+It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.
+
+Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:
+
+"Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace." Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:
+
+"God forgive you; I forgive you," and three times he repeated the words.
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.
+
+Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:
+
+"Yes, and all that were with him." As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: "Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there," pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.
+
+The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at "the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.
+
+One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.
+
+Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:
+
+"DESPAIR."
+
+What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.
+
+Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.
+
+The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:
+
+"This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown."
+
+That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.
+
+When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.
+
+The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.
+
+After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.
+
+The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.
+
+The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.
+
+Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:
+
+"Whence came you, stranger?"
+
+"From Liverpool."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship _Despair_, which
+lies at anchor in your bay."
+
+"But surely you are not of England?"
+
+"I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death."
+
+The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion."
+
+Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:
+
+"Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship."
+
+"But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?"
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed."
+
+There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:
+
+"It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine."
+
+"But the king?"
+
+"They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years."
+
+The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.
+
+"Have you ever been in Virginia before?" the governor asked.
+
+"Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then."
+
+"How long will you stay?"
+
+"I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me."
+
+"What is your wish, Sir Albert?"
+
+"I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance," and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.
+
+"This is strange," said the governor. "An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time."
+
+"I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally." The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.
+
+For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.
+
+"Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst," said the stranger.
+
+Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:
+
+"Have you lived long in Virginia?"
+
+"I was born here, good sir."
+
+"Then you must know all of Jamestown?"
+
+"Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England."
+
+"Your home is still here?"
+
+With a sigh, Robert answered:
+
+"It is, though I do not live in it now."
+
+Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.
+
+All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the _Despair_.
+
+After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:
+
+"Oh, how extraordinary!"
+
+Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:
+
+"Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns."
+
+Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:
+
+"For what is that ugly machine used?"
+
+"It is a ducking-stool for scolds," was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+"Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed."
+
+"For whom was it built?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water."
+
+The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. "But to the last," the narrator
+resumed, "she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually."
+
+Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.
+
+No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.
+
+"Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love."
+
+"Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!"
+
+"Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name."
+
+In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:
+
+"Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you."
+
+She gazed up at the kind face and asked:
+
+"Are you the owner of the ship _Despair_?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Albert," she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:
+
+"Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm."
+
+While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.
+
+"The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear," sighed the little maid.
+"The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor."
+
+"He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother."
+
+He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:
+
+"God bless you! There, I must go."
+
+He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.
+
+There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:
+
+"Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!"
+
+The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BACON A REBEL.
+
+     "Hark! 'tis the sound that charms
+     The war-steed's wakening ears.
+     Oh! many a mother folds her arms
+     Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,
+     And though her fond heart sink with fears,
+     Is proud to feel his young pulse bound
+     With valor's fervor at the sound."
+                                             --MOORE.
+
+The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship _Despair_ and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.
+
+The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.
+
+She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:
+
+"Is she a relative of yours, young maid?" asked the man of whom she
+inquired.
+
+"No; I know of her, and would see her."
+
+"Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother."
+
+The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.
+
+"Do you travel alone, young maid?" asked the man whom she had addressed.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Where is your mother?"
+
+"Dead," she answered sadly,
+
+"Then you are an orphan?"
+
+"I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia."
+
+She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:
+
+"I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here."
+
+"Ester--Ester Goffe," stammered Rebecca. "Then you are my brother's
+affianced."
+
+"I am."
+
+In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:
+
+"I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?" and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.
+
+"Where is he--where is Robert?"
+
+Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.
+
+"Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another." Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:
+
+"You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin."
+
+"But can I see him?" asked Ester.
+
+"Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?"
+
+"Robert."
+
+A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.
+
+"Have you no faithful servant?"
+
+There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+"cross Master Price," he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:
+
+"Sam, could you find my brother?"
+
+"I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could."
+
+"Would you take a small bit of writing to him?"
+
+"If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back."
+
+Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:
+
+DEAR BROTHER;--
+
+Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.
+
+Your sister,
+
+REBECCA.
+
+Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.
+
+Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.
+
+The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:
+
+"No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go."
+
+Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:
+
+"We will have it! We will have it!" (Meaning the commission.)
+
+One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:
+
+"You shall have it! You shall have it!"
+
+The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:
+
+"D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!"
+
+The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.
+
+A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.
+
+"Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!"
+
+It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.
+
+After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:
+
+"Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!" The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.
+
+Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.
+
+Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:
+
+"It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible."
+
+"Brother, do not place yourself in his power," said his sister.
+
+"Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?"
+
+"At the governor's."
+
+"Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born."
+
+"We will keep the secret, brother."
+
+"When do you go?" asked Ester.
+
+"The army marches against the Indians on the morrow." He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.
+
+"Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?"
+
+"I knew not that you were a member of the house."
+
+Peram, blushing, answered:
+
+"Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it." With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.
+
+Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:
+
+"'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place."
+
+Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: "It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face."
+
+Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.
+
+Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.
+
+Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was "in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots." Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:
+
+"It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast."
+
+Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.
+
+Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:
+
+"Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia."
+
+This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, "What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?"
+
+The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.
+
+Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.
+
+The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.
+
+This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.
+
+"Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world," they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:
+
+"The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country." And when a person by her side
+said, "We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin," Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:
+
+"I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough."
+
+The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.
+
+While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel _Despair_. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:
+
+"I feared you had gone, never to come back."
+
+"Did you want to see me again, child?" he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.
+
+"I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you."
+
+"The war rages again?"
+
+"It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men."
+
+"If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship."
+
+"But my brother--oh, my brother!"
+
+"He, also, will be safe."
+
+"Would you take us all, and Ester, too?"
+
+"Who is Ester?"
+
+She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:
+
+"You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid."
+
+Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.
+
+He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked the half-fainting woman.
+
+"No."
+
+"You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?"
+
+"I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the _Despair_, are you not?" asked
+Dorothe Price.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir."
+
+"Shall I see you home?"
+
+"If not too much trouble."
+
+As they walked along the road, he asked:
+
+"Are you Mrs. Price?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"When did your first husband die?"
+
+"Many years ago. He was lost at sea."
+
+"Did he leave two children?"
+
+"Yes, sir, two," she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:
+
+"Was he a good man?"
+
+"Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!" Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.
+
+"Are you happy now?"
+
+"Alas, no. I am miserable."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican."
+
+"Is your son with Bacon?"
+
+"He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could."
+
+"He shall not hang him."
+
+"If he captures him, who will prevent it?"
+
+"I will." They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:
+
+"Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.
+
+     "At every turn, Morena's dusky height
+     Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,
+     And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,
+     The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,
+     The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,
+     The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,
+     The magazine in rocky durance stand,
+     The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,
+     The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match."
+                                              --BYRON.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship _Despair_.
+
+Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.
+
+"You must be very rich," she said to Sir Albert.
+
+"This represents but a small part of my possessions."
+
+"I would I were your heiress."
+
+"You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me."
+
+"Have you no wife--no children?"
+
+He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.
+
+Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.
+
+Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.
+
+Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.
+
+The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.
+
+Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship _Despair_. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.
+
+"Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives," said Bacon. "We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame."
+
+Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them "in the forefront of his
+workmen," during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.
+
+No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.
+
+"They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!" he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.
+
+There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.
+
+"Come down, general!" cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. "You endanger
+your life up there."
+
+Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:
+
+"Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!"
+
+A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.
+
+"Don't fire, until I give you the command," said Bacon, coolly. "We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear."
+
+He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.
+
+Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.
+
+Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.
+
+Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.
+
+"We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price," he said as the sun was setting.
+
+"No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night."
+
+"I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?"
+
+"He hath taken refuge under the church."
+
+"Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands."
+
+A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.
+
+The ship _Despair_, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.
+
+That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.
+
+"Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you," said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.
+
+"You intrude--you disturb us!" cried Cheeseman. "We want no spy on our
+deliberations."
+
+"Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting."
+
+His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:
+
+"'Fore God, who are you?"
+
+"A man like you," was the answer; "a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you."
+
+He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.
+
+"What meaneth this?" Drummond asked when he regained his voice. "Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young."
+
+Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:
+
+"Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune."
+
+The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:
+
+"God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? _It is John Stevens_!"
+
+"It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh," he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.
+
+"Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death," he concluded.
+
+"Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?"
+
+"Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children."
+
+Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:
+
+"'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--"
+
+"Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love," and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.
+
+"Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty," said Drummond. "I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered."
+
+"I know all," John sobbed.
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?"
+
+"What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live."
+
+Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:
+
+"And will you leave her to him?"
+
+"Yes," was the low, meek answer.
+
+"Will you not seek revenge?"
+
+"'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'"
+
+Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:
+
+"Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?"
+
+"They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven."
+
+"But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?"
+
+"Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?"
+
+Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.
+
+"Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret."
+
+They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.
+
+"Why sit you here?" cried the general. "Have you not heard the news?"
+
+"No; what is it?"
+
+"Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town."
+
+Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.
+
+"Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?" asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.
+
+"No," answered Bacon.
+
+"Then we must abandon it."
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]
+
+"They shall not find the town when they come," cried Bacon. "D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!"
+
+What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.
+
+"But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned," cried
+Robert.
+
+"I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,"
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:
+
+"What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us."
+
+"Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home," said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.
+
+"Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the _Despair_," cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, "Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?"
+
+Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:
+
+"I will, I swear by the God we all worship!"
+
+Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:
+
+"Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants."
+
+Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.
+
+Bacon and his army retreated up the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.
+
+     The longer life, the more offence;
+       The more offence, the greater pain;
+     The greater pain, the less defence;
+       The less defence, the greater gain:
+     The loss of gain long ill doth try,
+       Wherefore, come death and let me die.
+                                           --WYAT.
+
+Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.
+
+With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.
+
+"You do not look well," said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. "Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever."
+
+Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.
+
+"I shall be better soon," he answered. "When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort."
+
+"Have a care for your health."
+
+"I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown."
+
+Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his "Mandates" to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.
+
+On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.
+
+"Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick," said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.
+
+"Are you better, general?" he asked.
+
+"I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning."
+
+As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.
+
+"General Bacon is dead," they said.
+
+"What! dead?" cried Robert.
+
+"Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate."
+
+It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.
+
+Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.
+
+"Thomas Hansford," cried Berkeley, "I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!"
+
+Colonel Hansford answered, "I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog."
+
+The governor replied, "You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel."
+
+Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:
+
+"Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country."
+
+Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.
+
+Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.
+
+One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.
+
+"There he is, Giles; now slay him!" cried the stepfather.
+
+Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.
+
+"Come on, Giles; he is unarmed," cried Mr. Price.
+
+"Oh, are you quite sure?" cried Giles.
+
+"I am sure. He is out of ammunition."
+
+"That is extraordinary, very extraordinary." Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.
+
+"He is heading for the river!" cried Price.
+
+"Can he cross?"
+
+"No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him."
+
+Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.
+
+It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.
+
+"He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!" cried Price.
+
+The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.
+
+Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.
+
+It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. "We will have him yet. He shall hang!" said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.
+
+They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:
+
+"My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done," she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, "was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned."
+
+The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:
+
+"Away with you!" adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]
+
+So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.
+
+For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.
+
+"Mr. Drummond," he said, "you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour."
+
+"What your honor pleases," Mr. Drummond boldly answered. "I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression."
+
+He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.
+
+Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.
+
+Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that "Bacon and Bland must die," and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:
+
+"That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father."
+
+Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.
+
+Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+_Despair_, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.
+
+Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration," said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+"Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me."
+
+"That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he been tried?"
+
+"He has and has been condemned."
+
+"To hang?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has the sentence been executed?" asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Then your life is saved."
+
+"But he will be hanged at ten o'clock."
+
+"He shall not!"
+
+"Why, who are you, that dare defy me?"
+
+"Governor Berkeley," said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. "Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!"
+
+Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:
+
+"You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.
+
+"The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens," said Mr. Price.
+
+"Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it," put in Giles, a smile on his face.
+
+Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:
+
+"Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution."
+
+Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:
+
+"Sign, sir."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A pardon for Robert Stevens."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.
+
+"Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!" cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.
+
+Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:
+
+"Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!" and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:
+
+"Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself."
+
+Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:
+
+"Have you signed the pardon, governor?"
+
+"Here it is."
+
+"Now order his release."
+
+Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.
+
+"I owe this to you, kind sir," he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.
+
+"I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise."
+
+"Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?"
+
+"All are safe aboard my vessel."
+
+"Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me."
+
+"Do you remember your father?"
+
+"I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?"
+
+"Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well."
+
+"Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great."
+
+"We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well."
+
+"How know you this?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing."
+
+"Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace."
+
+"Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his."
+
+When they went on board the _Despair_, there was a general rejoicing.
+
+"Heaven bless you, our deliverer!" cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.
+
+Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+     So live, that when thy summons comes to join
+     The innumerable caravan, that moves
+     To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
+     His chamber in the silent halls of death,
+     Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
+     Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
+     By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
+     Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
+     About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
+                                               --BRYANT.
+
+That strange ship _Despair_ still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.
+
+"What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?" asked the governor.
+
+"'Fore God, I know not, governor," put in Hugh Price. "I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one."
+
+As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:
+
+"Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time."
+
+"But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?"
+
+"Harm him not."
+
+"He will harm me, I trow."
+
+"No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not."
+
+Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.
+
+Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.
+
+"It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!" declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.
+
+"Where is your wife?"
+
+"On board the ship _Despair_."
+
+"Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion."
+
+"I will."
+
+After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the _Despair_, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.
+
+When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:
+
+"Shall I go?"
+
+"The place of a good wife is with her husband," he answered.
+
+Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:
+
+"Must I obey Hugh Price?"
+
+"Is he your father?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You are of age?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River."
+
+"I will live with my brother."
+
+Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:
+
+"The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail."
+
+"Shall I take you in mine?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"Will you?"
+
+"If you desire it."
+
+The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:
+
+"Pull ashore."
+
+It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.
+
+The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.
+
+The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.
+
+Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.
+
+Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.
+
+When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.
+
+All winter long, Captain Small of the _Despair_ remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.
+
+"He also gave you the ship _Despair_," concluded the captain.
+
+"This is very strange." said Robert. "I can scarcely believe it."
+
+Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.
+
+"Now what will you do with the ship?" the captain asked.
+
+"What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters."
+
+"She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits."
+
+"No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth."
+
+Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name _Despair_ was changed to _Hope_. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.
+
+Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.
+
+Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.
+
+One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:
+
+"Do you not know me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Lawrence," the stranger whispered.
+
+"What! Mr. Lawrence?"
+
+"Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you."
+
+Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.
+
+"I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know."
+
+Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" again.
+
+A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:
+
+"_Father and mother sleep here_."
+
+Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, "I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone."
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.
+
+All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+Ye End.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King
+  Charles II
+Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor
+Alderman, slayer of King Philip
+Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the
+  surrender of New York
+Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook
+Angel of deliverance
+Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon
+Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia
+Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels
+Attack on the swamp fort
+Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker
+Bacon, Nathaniel
+Bacon's "Quarter Branch"
+Bacon's threat
+Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission
+Bacon defeats the Indians
+Bacon arrested
+Bacon's confession
+Bacon's flight
+Bacon rousing his friends
+Bacon marching on Jamestown
+Bacon captures Jamestown
+Bacon and Berkeley meet
+Bacon commissioned by Berkeley
+Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy
+Bacon urged to depose Berkeley
+Bacon's Indian campaign
+Bacon again rallying his hosts
+Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields
+Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen
+Bacon besieges Jamestown
+Bacon enters Jamestown
+Bacon burns Jamestown
+Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac
+Bacon ill
+Bacon's death a mystery
+Bacon rebels attainted of treason
+Bacon's laws repealed
+Baconites deserting Ingram
+Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac
+Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654
+Battle of Brookfield
+Battle of Bloody Run
+Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley
+Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia
+Berkeley, Sir William, character of
+Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors
+Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia
+Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to
+  Greenspring Manor
+Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.
+Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing
+Berkeley informs home government that all trouble
+  with the Indians is happily over
+Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission
+Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel
+Berkeley pardons Bacon
+Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon
+Berkeley and Bacon meet
+Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces
+  him a rebel
+Berkeley in possession of Jamestown
+Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown
+Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works
+Berkeley's tyranny at York
+Berkeley's departure from Virginia
+Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York
+Bland, execution of
+Brent reported advancing
+Buckingham succeeds Clarendon
+Burning of Jamestown
+Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630
+Calvert, Governor of Maryland
+Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of
+Carolinia settled by New Englanders
+Carolinia constitution
+Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to
+Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder
+Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed
+Census of New England in 1675
+Charles I. beheaded in 1649
+Charles II. declared king of England in 1660
+Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father
+Charles II., character of
+Charles II. profligate and careless
+Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley
+Cheeseman, trial of
+Cheeseman's death
+Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley
+Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset
+Clarendon in exile
+Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island
+Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam
+Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands
+  within limits of Rhode Island charter
+Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter
+Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop
+Connecticut after the restoration
+Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution
+Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector
+Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son
+  Richard as his successor
+Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II.
+  grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years
+Curles, Bacon's home
+Death of Nathaniel Bacon
+De Vries robbed by the Indians
+De Vries chosen president of popular assembly
+Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I
+Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia
+  in 1666
+Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the
+  world
+Drummond before Berkeley
+Drummond, execution of
+Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children
+Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne
+Dutch capture New York
+Dyer, Mary, execution of
+Effect of the restoration on Virginia
+Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret
+Elliott, John, missionary among Indians
+Emigrants to Carolinia
+Emigrants to New Jersey from New England
+English government in a state of chaos after the death
+  of Cromwell
+Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts
+Execution of Robinson and Stevenson
+Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts
+Forebodings of war
+Gathering of Virginians at Curles
+Goffe and the fencing-master
+Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned
+  Charles I
+Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men
+Gorges recovers his claim
+Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness
+Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence
+Grievances of Virginians
+Hadley attacked by the Indians
+Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley
+Hansford abandons Jamestown
+Hansford hung
+Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629
+Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert
+Hawley, Governor of Carolinia
+Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of
+  Virginia
+Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken
+Indian war of 1644
+Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey
+Indian advancement in education
+Indians' lands taken from them
+Ingram chosen in place of Bacon
+Ingram's surrender
+James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted
+  to him by his brother Charles II
+Jamestown besieged by Bacon
+Jamestown captured by Bacon
+Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt
+Judges who tried and condemned Charles I
+Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer
+  of the wheelwright
+Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians
+Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland
+King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and
+  Northampton
+King's men, character of
+Lancaster attacked by Indians
+Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia
+Law against Quakers repealed in 1661
+Laws made by Bacon repealed
+_Longtail_, Claybourne's trading ship
+Lovelace appointed Governor of New York
+Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy
+Massachusetts' charter threatened
+Massachusetts after the restoration
+Massachusetts not punished for her defiance
+Massasoit, death of, 1661
+Matapoiset, attack on
+Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls
+Middle Plantation oath
+Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652
+Muddy Brook, fight at
+Narragansetts, Philip among
+Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances
+New Amsterdam granted a government like the free
+  cities of Holland
+New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed
+  to New York
+New England confederation
+New England, growth of
+New England colonies slandered
+New Haven colony
+New Jersey, how effected by change
+New Jersey charter
+New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants
+New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch
+New York not represented in Parliament
+New York attacked by the Dutch
+New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam
+Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam
+Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor
+  of New York
+Nipmucks, Philip among
+North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666
+Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go
+  to
+Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of
+Oliverian plot
+Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred
+  years old and assassinated
+Orange changed to Albany
+Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650
+Pavonia, the territory of Pauw
+Philip's, King, opposition to war
+Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's
+  blood has been shed
+Philip, King, among the Nipmucks
+Philip, King, pursued
+Philip, King, death of
+Pokanokets rejected Christianity
+Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam
+Population of Virginia
+Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware
+Puritans of New England
+Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts
+Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey
+Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch
+Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644
+Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663
+Rising, John, on the Delaware
+Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653
+Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house
+Royalists, triumph of
+Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the
+  plans of Philip
+Savage sent to Mount Hope
+South Kingston, Indians at
+Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England
+Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware
+Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer
+Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender
+Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant goes to Holland
+Stuyvesant returns to New York
+Sudbury, attack on
+Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II
+Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on
+Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with
+Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it
+Fort Trinity
+Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard
+Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation
+Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration
+Vane, Sir Henry, executed
+Virginia divided into eight shires
+Virginia restored to monarchy
+Virginia threatened with civil war
+Virginia, home ruled
+Virginia's defence, 1675
+Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing
+  a flag of truce
+Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals
+Wheelwright murdered by Indians
+Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Windsor, Indian attack on
+Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant
+Winthrop, John, and Charles II.
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.
+
+A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.
+
+1644. SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+  killed,--April 18.
+
+1645. CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+  fled to Virginia.
+
+1649. CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.
+
+1650. FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+  Chowan River, near Edenton.
+
+1653. OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+  Great Britain,--Dec. 16.
+
+1655. RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+  and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.
+
+1656. QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+  by Puritans.
+
+1660. MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+  king,--May 29.
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.
+
+1663. CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+  24. (This grant extended from 30° to
+  36° lat., and from ocean to ocean.)
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+  granted,--July 8.
+
+1664. NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+  and Albany,--March 12.
+
+NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.
+
+STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).
+
+FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.
+
+ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.
+
+1665. CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+  name of Connecticut,--May.
+
+SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+  to 29° lat.,--June 30.
+
+CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+  settled.
+
+1670. DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.
+
+1671. MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+  at Michilimackinac.
+
+1673. VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.
+
+1674. MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.
+
+1675. MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.
+
+1676. BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+  one hundred years before independence.
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+  and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.
+  41° 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME
+6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 10387-8.txt or 10387-8.zip *******
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A
+Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+Title: The Real America in Romance, Volume 6;
+A Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion)
+
+Author: John R. Musick
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10387]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME 6;
+A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+</pre>
+<center><h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner,<br>
+            and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3></center>
+
+<hr class="full">
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center><b>THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE</b></center><br>
+
+<center><b>Volume VI</b></center><br>
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>A CENTURY TOO SOON</h2>
+
+<center>The Age of Tyranny</center><br><br>
+
+<center>By</center>
+
+<center>JOHN R. MUSICK</center><br><br>
+
+<center>Illustrations By</center>
+
+<center>FREELAND A. CARTER</center><br><br>
+
+<center>1909</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><b>To</b></h2>
+
+<p>MY WIFE,</p>
+
+<p>WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,</p>
+
+<p>THIS BOOK</p>
+
+<p>IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED</p>
+
+<p>BY</p>
+
+<p><b>THE AUTHOR</b></p>
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="Illus0417.jpg"><img src="Illus0417.jpg" alt="Illustration: His tired child
+         was at his side uncomplainingly" width="40%" hspace=20></a>
+<br>
+<h4>"His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly"</h4>
+</center>
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<p>Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the &quot;king's men,&quot; or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could &quot;thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia,&quot; was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a &quot;century too soon,&quot; being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.</p>
+
+<p>In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in &quot;Pocahontas.&quot; The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.</p>
+
+<p>JOHN R. MUSICK.</p>
+
+<p>KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<br><br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHAPTER I.</a> THE DUCKING STOOL<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II.">CHAPTER II.</a> SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III.">CHAPTER III.</a> THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">CHAPTER IV.</a> THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V.">CHAPTER V.</a> JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">CHAPTER VI.</a> THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">CHAPTER VII.</a> IN WIDOW'S WEEDS<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">CHAPTER VIII.</a> THE STEPFATHER<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX.">CHAPTER IX.</a> THE MOVING WORLD<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X.">CHAPTER X.</a> THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI.">CHAPTER XI.</a> TYRANNY AND FLIGHT<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII.">CHAPTER XII.</a> THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.">CHAPTER XIII.</a> LEFT ALONE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV.">CHAPTER XIV.</a> THE TREASURE SHIP<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV.">CHAPTER XV.</a> THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI.">CHAPTER XVI.</a> KING PHILIP'S WAR<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII.">CHAPTER XVII.</a> NEARING THE VERGE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII.">CHAPTER XVIII.</a> THE SWORD OF DEFENCE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX.">CHAPTER XIX.</a> THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX.">CHAPTER XX.</a> BACON A REBEL<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI.">CHAPTER XXI.</a> BURNING OF JAMESTOWN<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII.">CHAPTER XXII.</a> VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII.">CHAPTER XXIII.</a> CONCLUSION<br>
+
+<p><a href="#HISTORICAL_INDEX.">HISTORICAL INDEX</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#CHRONOLOGY.">CHRONOLOGY</a></p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0417.jpg">His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly</a></p>
+
+<p>Ducking stool</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a href="Illus0418.jpg">I'll scratch your eyes out!</a>&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Once more he bent over the sleeping children</p>
+
+<p>Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant</p>
+
+<p>The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life</p>
+
+<p>Blanche could not utter a word of consolation</p>
+
+<p>Oliver Cromwell</p>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0419.jpg">&quot;Peter the Headstrong,&quot; unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+into pieces</a><br>
+
+<p>Tomb of Stuyvesant</p>
+
+<p>The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the scene<br>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0420.jpg">His temper flamed out in words</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you ready?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Henry Vane</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our journey is not one half over!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a href="Illus0422.jpg">You are not lost, if you follow me</a>!&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0423.jpg">He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him</a></p>
+
+<p>He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a href="Illus0424.jpg">Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark</a>!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ruins of Jamestown</p>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0425.jpg">The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+splashing up a jet of water</a><br>
+
+<p><a href="Illus0421.jpg">Map of the period</a></p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2>A CENTURY TOO SOON.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<p>THE DUCKING-STOOL.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You cataracts and hurricanes, spout<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --SHAKESPEARE.<br>
+
+<p>[Illustration: ducking stool]</p>
+
+<p>A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+&quot;ducking-stool.&quot; The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+&quot;Commonwealth&quot; in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or &quot;Roundheads,&quot; as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.</p>
+
+<p>The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.</p>
+
+<p>It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.</p>
+
+<p>Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.</p>
+
+<p>There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, Roger!&quot; said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, Hugh,&quot; Roger answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?&quot; asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. &quot;I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! what hath she done?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How is Sir William Berkeley?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sh--! speak not so loud,&quot; said Hugh in an undertone. &quot;There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger,&quot; said Hugh when they were
+seated. &quot;Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The rule of the Roundheads is mild.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mild, bah!&quot; interrupted Hugh, in contempt. &quot;They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired,&quot; and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, &quot;It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good wives,&quot; said a hard-featured dame of fifty, &quot;I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment,&quot; interposed a more cautious sister.</p>
+
+<p>Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, she hath,&quot; interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?&quot; continued
+dame Woodley,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Little the pity for him, though,&quot; interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The more fool he to maintain such a creature.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle,&quot; interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will give ye a piece of my mind,&quot; she declared to her guards.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your peace, Ann!&quot; cried the eldest of the guards.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! I wish you were silent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, by the mass, it will not,&quot; answered his companion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am not a papist.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with,&quot; put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.</p>
+
+<p>The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!&quot; she screamed at the
+top of her voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!&quot; she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath,&quot; cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.</p>
+
+<p>The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! we will be more damp than you,&quot; said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Duty; but such a duty!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, I say such a duty,&quot; answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. &quot;Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am in no hurry,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The urchins and older persons began to cry:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will scratch your eyes out!&quot; she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!&quot; he cried to
+his companion.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown,&quot; said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this,&quot; she cried. &quot;Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: &quot;Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For shame!&quot; whispered Sarah Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yea, verily.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John Stevens is a godly man,&quot; remarked still another. &quot;He would not
+wrong any one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If he were my dearest foe,&quot; whispered goodwife Woodley, &quot;he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely,&quot; whispered Sarah
+Drummond, &quot;for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!&quot; she screamed in
+her shrill voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace, dame; be still!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,&quot;
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. &quot;I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go to! hold your peace, Ann!&quot; said the sheriff.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not,&quot; she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you shall be plunged hot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I care not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It may be your death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's what ye want.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We don't.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye lie, ye wretch!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are a wretch!&quot; she screamed.</p>
+
+<p>The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are a white-livered wretch!&quot; the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. &quot;I'll scratch
+your eyes out!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let her down,&quot; commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!&quot; shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.</p>
+
+<p>She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?&quot;</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0418.jpg"><img src="Illus0418.jpg" alt="Illustration: I'll scratch
+   your eyes out!" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>&quot;I'll scratch your eyes out!&quot; she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, &quot;She's a hussy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's true! She is a hussy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: &quot;She's a hussy!&quot; The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Put her on shore.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II."></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<p>SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On peace and rest my mind was bent,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And fool I was I married;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But never honest man's intent<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As cursedly miscarried.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --BURNS.<br>
+
+<p>In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.</p>
+
+<p>John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the &quot;28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known.&quot; He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight <i>Shires</i>: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.</p>
+
+<p>Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+<i>Longtail</i>, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the <i>Longtail</i>, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.</p>
+
+<p>In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, &quot;and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church,&quot; and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+&quot;Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.</p>
+
+<p>John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.</p>
+
+<p>Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.</p>
+
+<p>In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.</p>
+
+<p>On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Were you more prudent, Dorothe,&quot; said John, &quot;we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But other men have helpmates in their wives.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am going to economize,&quot; she declared. &quot;I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our family has a fortune in Florida.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going,&quot; he made
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And wherefore can you not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can you not get it? Can you not get it?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do not know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Try.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have thought to try it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.</p>
+
+<p>There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.</p>
+
+<p>The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.</p>
+
+<p>John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By all means, go to London,&quot; answered Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ought I to leave my wife and children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wherefore not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your father was a sailor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But his son is not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;True, yet why shrink from this voyage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy,&quot; was Drummond's advice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,&quot;
+interposed Cheeseman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How much is involved?&quot; asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Eight hundred pounds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Quite a sum.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By all means, go,&quot; Hugh advised. &quot;It is your duty to go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do not,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living,&quot; answered John, with a
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Women do the same,&quot; John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so often as the men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My friends all declare that it is my duty to go,&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your friends! who are your friends?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drummond.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;An ignorant Scotchman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Lawerence advises it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is a canting hypocrite.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hugh Price agrees with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does he?&quot; asked Mrs. Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He does.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't believe it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John,&quot; she said, &quot;if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wherefore not?&quot; cried Mrs. Stevens. &quot;Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the &quot;green-eyed
+monster&quot; to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door.&quot; But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.</p>
+
+<p>John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.</p>
+
+<p>The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God bless you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I awake them?&quot; his wife asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear, I do so regret your going!&quot; sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will go with you to the boat,&quot; she said, hurriedly dressing herself.</p>
+
+<p>John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]</p>
+
+<p>John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.</p>
+
+<p>Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Farewell, little darling!&quot; and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<p>THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We love<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And reigns content within them; him we serve<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But recollecting still that he is a man,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We trust him not too far.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --COWPER.<br>
+
+<p>The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.</p>
+
+<p>The governor, who cared little for the &quot;customs of the race,&quot; determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might &quot;make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony,&quot; and reproached him with selfish cowardice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is all well for you,&quot; they said, &quot;who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.</p>
+
+<p>Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.</p>
+
+<p>One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at &quot;Colaer's Hook,&quot; who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. &quot;Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe,&quot; says Brodhead, &quot;were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]</p>
+
+<p>It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.</p>
+
+<p>Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.</p>
+
+<p>By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the &quot;governor&quot;
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to &quot;keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together.&quot;
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the &quot;Nine.&quot; The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this &quot;imprudent entrusting of power with the people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have no powder. What can I do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused &quot;by that
+infamous surrender.&quot; On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]</p>
+
+<p>On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]</p>
+
+<p>The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages &quot;after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors.&quot; After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the &quot;Articles of Confederation,&quot; each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.</p>
+
+<p>Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a &quot;perfect republic.&quot; It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+&quot;silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the <i>Mayflower</i>
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.</p>
+
+<p>Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his &quot;brother's
+keeper,&quot; whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, &quot;except to and from
+church&quot; on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for &quot;suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness,&quot; was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+&quot;take heed of his light carriage.&quot; The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to &quot;be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly.&quot; The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.</p>
+
+<p>In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.</p>
+
+<p>While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.</p>
+
+<p>That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.</p>
+
+<p>All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+&quot;Governor of Carolinia.&quot; The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, &quot;freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt.&quot; The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+&quot;proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia,&quot; promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<p>THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The wind<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Increased at night, until it blew a gale;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And though 'twas not much to naval mind,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At sunset they began to take in sail.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft <i>Silverwing</i>; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.</p>
+
+<p>His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.</p>
+
+<p>All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.</p>
+
+<p>John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely I will die,&quot; he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+&quot;Surely I will die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.</p>
+
+<p>He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?&quot; asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My head hurts,&quot; John gasped.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, I ache all over,&quot; returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, stranger!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you injured?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay; the fall was not violent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am not sick,&quot; the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. &quot;I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I trust so,&quot; groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But the sea runs high,&quot; the old man said, &quot;let us go in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not belong at Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You came in the last ship?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We did.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You did not come alone?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.</p>
+
+<p>From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.</p>
+
+<p>She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.</p>
+
+<p>That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I want to talk with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: &quot;We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is coming,&quot; Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are going to have a terrible storm,&quot; John answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; remember your promise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no,&quot; Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, &quot;I
+have an impression that my time has surely come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!&quot; the poor fellow was
+groaning. &quot;Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.</p>
+
+<p>About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy.&quot; Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.</p>
+
+<p>Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.</p>
+
+<p>At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The storm is terrible,&quot; said the old man. &quot;The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart,&quot; urged John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives,&quot; said
+John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo,&quot; he
+cried, &quot;and set the pumps a-going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are we going down?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God grant that it be not so!&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But such fearful noises, such hideous sights.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be brave, young maid,&quot; he urged. &quot;Where is your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Aye, my friend, the worst is coming,&quot; he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. &quot;I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.</p>
+
+<p>At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.</p>
+
+<p>The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will never reach it,&quot; said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not despair,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+<i>Silverwing</i>. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.</p>
+
+<p>John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.</p>
+
+<p>It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will soon be over,&quot; said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. &quot;Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take her! take her!&quot; cried Mr. Holmes frantically. &quot;I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.</p>
+
+<p>It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Father--father!&quot; she faintly murmured.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is gone,&quot; John answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is this you?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Cling to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will. We will survive or perish together.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<p>JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The furrow followed free;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We were the first that ever burst<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Into that silent sea.<br>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Twas sad as sad could be;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And we did speak only to break<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The silence of the sea.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--COLERIDGE.<br>
+
+<p>Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are we all?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was no one saved?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;None but ourselves.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the ship?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is a hopeless wreck on the sands,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know where we are?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.</p>
+
+<p>John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.</p>
+
+<p>They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.</p>
+
+<p>It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is this country inhabited?&quot; asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I fear not,&quot; he answered; &quot;or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not desert you,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can we not go back for them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You won't be long gone?&quot; she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.</p>
+
+<p>A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.</p>
+
+<p>Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you seen any one?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have brought some food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water,&quot; he said
+hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It might have been worse,&quot; she thought. &quot;While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven help us ere we perish,&quot; he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. &quot;If we don't find water soon she will die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.</p>
+
+<p>All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.</p>
+
+<p>John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now let us have food,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can we from there determine what land we are on?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hope so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If there be cities, will we see them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We shall,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you no hopes nor fears?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have both.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are your hopes?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your fears?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth,&quot; reasoned Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you strong enough for the walk?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.</p>
+
+<p>The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.</p>
+
+<p>John called a halt and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall we go on, or return to the beach?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will it not be carried off?&quot; Blanche asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.</p>
+
+<p>They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?&quot; asked John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, we have nothing to fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If a beast,&quot; he thought, &quot;it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche will be lonesome,&quot; he thought. &quot;Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.</p>
+
+<p>He searched the ground, and saw footprints.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some animals have been here,&quot; he thought. &quot;They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then there are animals on the land,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; but they are not dangerous,&quot; he returned. &quot;These animals may
+prove useful to us for food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hope so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After several moments, she asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long must we stay?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, not to-night,&quot; she answered with a shudder. &quot;I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.</p>
+
+<p>Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.</p>
+
+<p>As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me,&quot; he prayed.</p>
+
+<p>His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What was it? Are we attacked?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,&quot;
+assured John.</p>
+
+<p>The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<p>THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I am monarch of all I survey,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My right there is none to dispute:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From the centre all round to the sea<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I am lord of the fowl and the brute.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O Solitude! where are the charms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That sages have seen in thy face?<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Better dwell in the midst of alarms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Than reign in this horrible place.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --COWPER.<br>
+
+<p>Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.</p>
+
+<p>He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are they?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is a goat,&quot; he said. &quot;The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.</p>
+
+<p>The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.</p>
+
+<p>Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck,&quot; he said, &quot;and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long will that stay be?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God in heaven alone can tell.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely some passing ship will see us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.</p>
+
+<p>The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.</p>
+
+<p>The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.</p>
+
+<p>At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.</p>
+
+<p>Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.</p>
+
+<p>Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.</p>
+
+<p>Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.</p>
+
+<p>It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Read more,&quot; she said when he had finished the page. &quot;What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, it is a comfort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Should we die here, He will be with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God is everywhere. He will not desert us,&quot; John said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I hope we will yet be rescued.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I trust so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are stronger than I,&quot; she said, &quot;why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My burden is greater than I can bear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are all alone in the world, Blanche.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have not a relative living.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, my father was lost.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Helpless--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My wife and children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I left them to better my fortune,&quot; he continued. &quot;They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I did not care to burden you with my griefs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Trust in God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have their mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]</p>
+
+<p>Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.</p>
+
+<p>The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?&quot;
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How is our own boat?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Too frail. The boards are almost rotten.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why not make one?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted.&quot;
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.</p>
+
+<p>The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.</p>
+
+<p>With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.</p>
+
+<p>One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.</p>
+
+<p>Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God send some ship to deliver me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How could I live here without you, Blanche?&quot; he said one day.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,&quot; she answered. &quot;Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse.&quot; Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.</p>
+
+<p>In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I went to the cliff this morning,&quot; she said, &quot;thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After a long silence, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, how long have we been here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ten years,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.</p>
+
+<p>Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, would ten years change a baby?&quot; John asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then my baby is a baby no longer,&quot; sighed the father.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; she is a pretty little girl now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And has no recollection of her father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How could she?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But my little boy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was five when you left home?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, not quite; four and some months.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then he would remember you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is a good-sized boy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Almost fifteen,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven grant I may yet see them!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Amen!&quot; replied Blanche. &quot;God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When he talks of them,&quot; Blanche thought, &quot;he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<p>IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Go; you may call it madness, folly;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You may not chase my gloom away.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There's such a charm in melancholy,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I would not, if I could, be gay.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --ROGERS.<br>
+
+<p>Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship <i>Silverwing</i>; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must do something,&quot; she declared, &quot;to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.</p>
+
+<p>Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?&quot; one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has been a long time gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; but he will return.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The <i>Silverwing</i> has not yet reached London.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How know you that?&quot; she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The <i>Ocean Star</i> hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+<i>Silverwing</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It left before the <i>Silverwing</i> arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure,&quot; and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why don't John come back with the money?&quot; she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. &quot;I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens,&quot; one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. &quot;Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When John comes back, all will change,&quot; she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the <i>Silverwing</i> was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.</p>
+
+<p>She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are welcome. Come and share our home,&quot; was the response.</p>
+
+<p>Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.</p>
+
+<p>In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]</p>
+
+<p>The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that &quot;might makes
+right&quot; justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the &quot;last argument of kings,&quot; to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.</p>
+
+<p>Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it,&quot; he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:</p>
+
+
+<a href="Illus0419.jpg"><img src="Illus0419.jpg" alt="Illustration: Peter
+the Headstrong, unable to control his passion, tore the letter into pieces."
+width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>&quot;Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of &quot;Peter the Headstrong,&quot; unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]</p>
+
+<p>The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers,&quot; and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I had much rather be carried out dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had &quot;a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,&quot;
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.</p>
+
+<p>The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.</p>
+
+<p>So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.</p>
+
+<p>Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+&quot;unsettled persons,&quot; libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.</p>
+
+<p>Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.</p>
+
+<p>The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+&quot;unclothed souls of the people.&quot; Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.</p>
+
+<p>Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+&quot;harboring Quakers,&quot; imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.</p>
+
+<p>Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.</p>
+
+<p>The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.</p>
+
+<p>A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.</p>
+
+<p>Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.</p>
+
+<p>The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.</p>
+
+<p>The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the &quot;Old Dominion&quot; from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+&quot;Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful.&quot; The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.</p>
+
+<p>No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.</p>
+
+<p>For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price&quot;, said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. &quot;The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<p>THE STEPFATHER.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mother, for the love of grace<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That not your trespass but my madness speaks.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It will skin and film the ulcerous place;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;While rank corruption, winning all within,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Infects unseen--<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --SHAKESPEARE.<br>
+
+<p>With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hugh Price will surely wed her,&quot; said Sarah Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.</p>
+
+<p>He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?&quot;
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No!&quot; cried the boy, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will kill him!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.</p>
+
+<p>Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would &quot;speak his mind.&quot; The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.</p>
+
+<p>Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So it is,&quot; Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+&quot;Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Indeed it has,&quot; answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given,&quot; and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.</p>
+
+<p>Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I hope so,&quot; replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?&quot; He was getting at it
+at last.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!&quot; said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. &quot;Oh, what a
+question!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.</p>
+
+<p>That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lonely, oh, so lonely!&quot; and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.</p>
+
+<p>Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will be better to let her have her way,&quot; he concluded. &quot;Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]</p>
+
+<p>Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.</p>
+
+<p>Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.</p>
+
+<p>It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.</p>
+
+<p>One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so glad we are going,&quot; said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. &quot;Mother was good to let us go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am s'prised at the missus,&quot; the negro said, shaking his head.
+&quot;Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is there any danger of Indians?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But they must not come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.</p>
+
+<p>Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.</p>
+
+<p>The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.</p>
+
+<p>One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ho! master Robert, I have news for you,&quot; he called to the lad.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;William Stump, when did you come?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But this day,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where are you from?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have heard nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your mother hath married,&quot; cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is false!&quot; cried Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier,&quot; and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. &quot;It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow,&quot; and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was he like Mr. Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, he cannot drive us from home,&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But mother will love us no longer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.</p>
+
+<p>Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.</p>
+
+<p>Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is mother, Dinah?&quot; she asked her mother's housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In de house, chile, waitin' for you,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come here, my darling,&quot; said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. &quot;This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I cannot call him father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will learn to, my dear,&quot; Price answered with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, Robert, come and greet your new father,&quot; said the mother.</p>
+
+<p>Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will learn to like me, children,&quot; answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX."></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<p>THE MOVING WORLD.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If we could look down the long vista of ages,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And witness the changes of time,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A key to this vision sublime;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And all its magnificence trace,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Give honor to man for his genius and might,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And glory to God for his grace.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--PAXTON.<br>
+
+<p>After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.</p>
+
+<p>Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his <i>bowerie</i> or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.</p>
+
+<p>The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: &quot;Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should &quot;have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes.&quot; This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.</p>
+
+<p>With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch had taken New York.</p>
+
+<p>The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.</p>
+
+<p>The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.</p>
+
+<p>In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.</p>
+
+<p>After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+&quot;Nova Caesarea or New Jersey,&quot; in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: &quot;The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there.&quot; It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. &quot;Christian servants&quot; were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.</p>
+
+<p>It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0420.jpg"><img src="Illus0420.jpg" alt="Illustration: His temper flamed out in words" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>&quot;Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.</p>
+
+<p>In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.</p>
+
+<p>After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.</p>
+
+<p>Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the <i>alluvion</i> of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.</p>
+
+<p>Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.</p>
+
+<p>Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.</p>
+
+<p>The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.</p>
+
+<p>The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal.&quot;
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]</p>
+
+<p>Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: &quot;Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal,&quot; and it was added: &quot;all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X."></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<p>THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Adieu! adieu! My native shore<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Fades o'er the waters blue.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And shrieks the wild sea-mew.&quot;<br>
+
+<p>At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.</p>
+
+<p>No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.</p>
+
+<p>The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.</p>
+
+<p>There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God save the King!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.</p>
+
+<p>The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am very hungry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you want?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Supper and bed,&quot; was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.</p>
+
+<p>The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you money to pay for that which you ask?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have,&quot; and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can have what you ask!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will supper be ready soon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Directly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How know you this?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mrs. Johnson hath told me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What must be done?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I cannot make room for you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread,&quot; and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, it is not that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray, what is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I doubt not that you have the money.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why refuse me what I ask?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Put us in the stables; we are used to it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I cannot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The horses take up all the room.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will find some corner in which to lie after supper.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will give you no supper.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can you, a Christian, speak thus?&quot; he cried. &quot;We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have none for you,&quot; said the landlord.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is all ordered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By whom?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative &quot;Ahem!&quot; from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have not a morsel to spare.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,&quot;
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+
+<a href="Illus0417.jpg"><img src="Illus0417.jpg" alt="Illustration: His tired child
+was at his side uncomplainingly" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20 vspace=20></a>
+
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.</p>
+
+<p>Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is there?&quot; the landlord asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A traveller and his child who want supper and bed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very good. They are to be had here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.</p>
+
+<p>The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What would I better do?&quot; asked the landlord in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must be off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You know me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We were turned away from the other inn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So you will be from this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where would you have us go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Anywhere so you leave my house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I will have none of you with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But she hath done no wrong,&quot; persisted the father.</p>
+
+<p>The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ester!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must go,&quot; the father said, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.</p>
+
+<p>They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Papa, I am so hungry and so tired,&quot; she whispered. &quot;Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; asked the smith.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a <i>regicide</i> might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you not go to one of the inns?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is no room there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have been to all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The traveller continued with some hesitation, &quot;I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: &quot;It is the same, a man with a child.&quot; Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so hungry,&quot; murmured Ester. &quot;If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If I am made a savage let all the world beware.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely not all!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you called at that house?&quot; she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, who lives there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mathew Stevens, a very good old man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has he a heart? Is he brave?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI."></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<p>TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some boundless contiguity of shade,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where rumor of oppression and deceit,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of successful or unsuccessful war,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Might never reach me more.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--Cowper.<br>
+
+<p>When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the &quot;Oliverian Plot&quot; was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to &quot;anticipate the period of their
+freedom,&quot; and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.</p>
+
+<p>Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.</p>
+
+<p>At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.</p>
+
+<p>When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert,&quot; he said, pressing his lips firmly together, &quot;do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you beat me I will kill you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.</p>
+
+<p>On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.</p>
+
+<p>When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Robert, I heard it all!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother, I mean it!&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother,&quot; said the boy, &quot;my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.</p>
+
+<p>It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.</p>
+
+<p>One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.</p>
+
+<p>That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I may as well do it now as ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, indeed, Robert!&quot; he answered. &quot;The time has come to convince
+you that I am master.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.</p>
+
+<p>It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.</p>
+
+<p>After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.</p>
+
+<p>He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is Rebecca?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Waiten,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Waiting for what?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When are we to go, Dinah?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To-morrow, Massa.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that why Mr. Price left?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I see mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.</p>
+
+<p>Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you favorable to royalty?&quot; he asked Robert one day. &quot;Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I certainly do,&quot; Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So do I--ahem--so do I;&quot; and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. &quot;Would you fight for such principles?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So would I--ahem, so would I,&quot; cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. &quot;I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hang me! I defy him!&quot; cried Mr. Peram.</p>
+
+<p>His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you mean it?&quot; asked Giles. &quot;Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes,&quot; answered
+Robert.</p>
+
+<p>Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.</p>
+
+<p>At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fear him not, my lord,&quot; said Hugh. &quot;He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.</p>
+
+<p>Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of what offence am I accused?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Treason.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.</p>
+
+<p>Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.</p>
+
+<p>One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.</p>
+
+<p>They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Friends,&quot; a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. &quot;We have come to liberate you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston,&quot; said Mr.
+Lawerence. &quot;You will go aboard of her and escape.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can I see my mother and sister before I go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are waiting on the beach,&quot; Drummond answered.</p>
+
+<p>Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you money?&quot; asked Mr. Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;None.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here is some,&quot; and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Talk not of repayment,&quot; Drummond answered, &quot;but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII."></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<p>THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When thy beauty appears<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In its graces and airs,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So strangely you dazzle my eyes.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--PARNELL.<br>
+
+<p>One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.</p>
+
+<p>He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, any who will, and fight me with swords.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will,&quot; a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.</p>
+
+<p>This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is he?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some madman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage,&quot; cried another.</p>
+
+<p>But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you ready?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Guard!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: &quot;ARE YOU READY?&quot;]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Zounds! master what are you about?&quot; cried the fencing-master.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! I am teaching you new tactics.&quot; Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will have it out with you with these.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The alarmed fencing-master cried out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.</p>
+
+<p>Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.</p>
+
+<p>John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.</p>
+
+<p>Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to &quot;the glorious cause&quot; of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]</p>
+
+<p>After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. &quot;He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come.&quot; When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I stand single,&quot; Vane defiantly answered. &quot;Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it.&quot; His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. &quot;The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His farewell counsel was:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God.&quot; When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: &quot;I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.</p>
+
+<p>He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express &quot;purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.</p>
+
+<p>Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.</p>
+
+<p>It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?&quot; he asked, taking his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, sir, I just came in on the vessel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whom do you wish to see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some relatives named Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is your name Stevens?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you are from Virginia?&quot; the old man asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your grandfather was--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives.&quot; He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely you have no one to fear?&quot; said Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But he said something. He called you a name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Goffe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What know you of Goffe, pray?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know what a regicide is?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A king-killer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He should,&quot; cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. &quot;A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; I left my colony because I could not abide there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! a fugitive?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>General Goffe shook his white locks and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.</p>
+
+<p>Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Father, father, father!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ester, my child,&quot; the swordsman returned, &quot;have you been happy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Happy as one could be with father away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whom have we here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was,&quot; Robert answered sadly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.</p>
+
+<p>The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is gone,&quot; she answered. &quot;The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whither has he gone?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, I know not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What would be his fate if he should be taken?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must suffer uneasiness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.</p>
+
+<p>There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.</p>
+
+<p>Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The king's men are coming.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not surrender; I will defend you,&quot; cried Robert.</p>
+
+<p>He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII."></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<p>LEFT ALONE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of life will vanish from my brain;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And death my wearied spirit will redeem<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From this wild region of unvaried pain.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--WHITE.<br>
+
+<p>For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.</p>
+
+<p>For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.</p>
+
+<p>One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am sorry for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you not sorry for yourself?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am.&quot; Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not blame yourself,&quot; she sighed. &quot;Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.</p>
+
+<p>In order to change the subject, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top.&quot; (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) &quot;It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When do you think of going?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will go with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With a smile, she answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can go wherever you do,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.</p>
+
+<p>The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.</p>
+
+<p>On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.</p>
+
+<p>At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you tired?&quot; John asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not much.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us sit and rest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.</p>
+
+<p>Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.</p>
+
+<p>Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, are you cold?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She, smiling, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never mind me, I can stand it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The air is chill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It seems almost perpendicular.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So it does.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see no way to scale it from here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.</p>
+
+<p>The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.</p>
+
+<p>When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: &quot;OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER.&quot;]</p>
+
+<p>Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you feel equal to the task?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our journey is not one-half over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the last half will be more trying than the first.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will go with you,&quot; she answered cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here it is,&quot; John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.</p>
+
+<p>A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you see any sail?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;None.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not where we are.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We cannot return home to-night,&quot; said Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am freezing,&quot; said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.</p>
+
+<p>All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; I can walk,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you are so chilled and so weak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Exercise will warm me and give me strength,&quot; she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't care to venture up there again,&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nor do I,&quot; sighed his companion. &quot;So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am, likewise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone,&quot; said
+John.</p>
+
+<p>She went on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She laughingly answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he was at her side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is the matter, Blanche?&quot; he asked, uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have a pain in my side.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!&quot; said John.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so hot, I burn with thirst,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You shall have water.&quot; There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is so good of you,&quot; the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can do no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche,&quot; he almost sobbed, &quot;Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know it,&quot; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you have me do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sit by my side.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.</p>
+
+<p>Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.</p>
+
+<p>John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?&quot; he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your wife--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall not, Blanche; I shall not,&quot; cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God grant that I may, poor girl.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.</p>
+
+<p>Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alone--left alone!&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV."></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<p>THE TREASURE SHIP.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That blowest to the west,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To the land that I love best,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Like a sea-bird I would sail.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --PRINGLE.<br>
+
+<p>When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.</p>
+
+<p>Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun.&quot; To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.</p>
+
+<p>Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.</p>
+
+<p>It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.</p>
+
+<p>He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.</p>
+
+<p>To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.</p>
+
+<p>At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.</p>
+
+<p>Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.</p>
+
+<p>Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.</p>
+
+<p>One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy &quot;Boom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Boom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God in heaven! can it be cannon?&quot; cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Boom! Boom! Boom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.</p>
+
+<p>Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.</p>
+
+<p>John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.</p>
+
+<p>The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.</p>
+
+<p>Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.</p>
+
+<p>While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.</p>
+
+<p>For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.</p>
+
+<p>Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.</p>
+
+<p>It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.</p>
+
+<p>Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.</p>
+
+<p>Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.</p>
+
+<p>A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.</p>
+
+<p>The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.</p>
+
+<p>Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.</p>
+
+<p>Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.</p>
+
+<p>He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.</p>
+
+<p>The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What can it contain, that is so heavy?&quot; he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.</p>
+
+<p>John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.</p>
+
+<p>After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O God, why is such a fate mine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV."></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<p>THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Strange that when nature loved to trace<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As if for God a dwelling place,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And every charm of grace hath mixed<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Within the paradise she fixed,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There man, enamoured of distress,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Should mar it into wilderness.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.</p>
+
+<p>Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do, sire,&quot; Clarendon answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It shall be done,&quot; said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.</p>
+
+<p>The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.</p>
+
+<p>While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.</p>
+
+<p>It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.</p>
+
+<p>Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that &quot;all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God.&quot; Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; &quot;so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island.&quot; Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the &quot;sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people,&quot; the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.</p>
+
+<p>On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.</p>
+
+<p>For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.</p>
+
+<p>When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.</p>
+
+<p>Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for &quot;the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties,&quot; and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.</p>
+
+<p>Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.</p>
+
+<p>As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.</p>
+
+<p>From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.</p>
+
+<p>Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for &quot;irreverent speeches.&quot;
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts &quot;as traitors and
+rebels against the king&quot;; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.</p>
+
+<p>The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+&quot;which nature could desire or wit invent&quot;; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.</p>
+
+<p>Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was &quot;a great
+trade in deal boards.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those &quot;wrecks of humanity,&quot; by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.</p>
+
+<p>The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.</p>
+
+<p>Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.</p>
+
+<p>They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are lost! We are lost!&quot; some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0422.jpg"><img src="Illus0422.jpg" alt="Illustration: You are not lost, if you follow me!" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+<p>&quot;You are not lost, if you follow me!&quot; he cried.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is he?&quot; was the general query, which no one could answer save: &quot;He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.</p>
+
+<p>When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI."></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<p>KING PHILIP'S WAR.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oh, there be some<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of grappling agony, do stare at you,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With their dead eyes half opened.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And there be some struck through with bristling darts<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BAILLIE.<br>
+
+<p>Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.</p>
+
+<p>There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.</p>
+
+<p>The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.</p>
+
+<p>Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as &quot;most suitable and
+convenient for them,&quot; where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that &quot;many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his &quot;English arms,&quot; and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.</p>
+
+<p>King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as &quot;a slow firing gun&quot; compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.</p>
+
+<p>The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.</p>
+
+<p>Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.</p>
+
+<p>Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.</p>
+
+<p>At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.</p>
+
+<p>Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!&quot; The boats took him
+at his word.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.</p>
+
+<p>The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.</p>
+
+<p>They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.</p>
+
+<p>About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called &quot;Muddy Brook.&quot; Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, &quot;the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate.&quot; Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.</p>
+
+<p>King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.</p>
+
+<p>At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.</p>
+
+<p>After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.</p>
+
+<p>On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. &quot;Quickly,&quot; says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, &quot;it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.</p>
+
+<p>The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.</p>
+
+<p>On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.</p>
+
+<p>Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+
+<a href="Illus0423.jpg"><img src="Illus0423.jpg"
+alt="Illustration: He fell upon his face in the mud and water, with his gun under him."
+width="40%" align="right" hspace=20 vspace=20></a>
+
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There comes the devil Philip now!&quot; cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII."></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<p>NEARING THE VERGE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At times there come, as come there ought,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Grave moments of sedater thought.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When fortune frowns, nor lends our night<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One gleam of her inconstant light:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Shines like the rainbow through the shower.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --CUNNINGHAM.<br>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!&quot; were among the
+exclamations of his mother.</p>
+
+<p>Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.</p>
+
+<p>It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, I want to see you in my study.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His &quot;study&quot; was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, you have come back,&quot; began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. &quot;I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia,&quot; Robert
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing,&quot; Robert ventured
+to put in.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+&quot;Virginia&quot; in regard to some of them:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being,&quot; Robert answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hardly comprehend you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why does he not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has good reasons.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are they?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Such talk is treason,&quot; cried Price. &quot;It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.</p>
+
+<p>His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your peace, my son,&quot; plead the mother, &quot;and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But your stepfather and you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have had no new quarrel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good day, good people,&quot; he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. &quot;I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you allow him to come here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must,&quot; she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is the governor's secretary.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you dare enter this house?&quot; demanded Robert, fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Perhaps it is Mr. Price!&quot; the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.</p>
+
+<p>He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment,&quot; he said in a fit of anger.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is the crisis?&quot; Robert asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Drummond answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it such a great grievance to the people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons,&quot; put in
+Mr. Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians,&quot; added Mr. Cheeseman. &quot;These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?&quot; asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are they?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why does he not send an army against them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;With him, it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII."></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<p>THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He stood--some dread was on his face,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Soon hatred settled in its place:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It rose not with the reddening flush<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of transient anger's hasty blush,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But pale as marble o'er the tomb,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!</i>&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His office is for life,&quot; sighed Robert. &quot;And too much power hath made
+him mad.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!&quot; his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?&quot; cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And left you alone?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was thought you would come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you suffered annoyances from him before?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does mother know of it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She does.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And makes no effort to protect you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I think I understand why you were left,&quot; said Robert, bitterly; &quot;but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.</p>
+
+<p>Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which is very extraordinary,&quot; put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.</p>
+
+<p>Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.</p>
+
+<p>That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; he asked, going to the window.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Drummond,&quot; was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you, Mr. Drummond?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will have aid,&quot; assured Mr. Drummond. &quot;The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is he?&quot; asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has he ability for a leader?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, &quot;of a precipitate disposition.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as &quot;Bacon's Quarter Branch.&quot; His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.</p>
+
+<p>When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.</p>
+
+<p>In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.</p>
+
+<p>It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.</p>
+
+<p>He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is your brother,&quot; he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.</p>
+
+<p>Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is that man?&quot; Robert asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nathaniel Bacon,&quot; was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled,&quot; Bacon said, &quot;that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians,&quot; Robert
+explained, &quot;and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.</p>
+
+<p>John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There are the enemy; storm the fort!&quot; cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.</p>
+
+<p>The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the &quot;Battle of Bloody Run,&quot; so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.</p>
+
+<p>When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.</p>
+
+<p>The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?&quot; the governor asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, may it please your honor,&quot; Bacon answered, quite coolly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I will take your parole,&quot; said Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only &quot;appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX."></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<p>THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Have you met with that dreadful old man?<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For catch you he must and he can.'<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--HOLMES.<br>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How are you, Robert--ahem?&quot; began Giles. &quot;This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can spare yourself any tears on my account,&quot; the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace.&quot; Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God forgive you; I forgive you,&quot; and three times he repeated the words.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And all that were with him?&quot; asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, and all that were with him.&quot; As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: &quot;Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there,&quot; pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.</p>
+
+<p>The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at &quot;the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence.&quot; Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.</p>
+
+<p>Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;DESPAIR.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.</p>
+
+<p>Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.</p>
+
+<p>The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.</p>
+
+<p>When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.</p>
+
+<p>The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.</p>
+
+<p>After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.</p>
+
+<p>The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whence came you, stranger?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;From Liverpool.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship <i>Despair</i>, which
+lies at anchor in your bay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But surely you are not of England?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But the king?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you ever been in Virginia before?&quot; the governor asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long will you stay?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is your wish, Sir Albert?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance,&quot; and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is strange,&quot; said the governor. &quot;An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally.&quot; The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst,&quot; said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you lived long in Virginia?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I was born here, good sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you must know all of Jamestown?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your home is still here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh, Robert answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is, though I do not live in it now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.</p>
+
+<p>All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the <i>Despair</i>.</p>
+
+<p>After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, how extraordinary!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For what is that ugly machine used?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is a ducking-stool for scolds,&quot; was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+&quot;Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For whom was it built?&quot; asked Sir Albert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. &quot;But to the last,&quot; the narrator
+resumed, &quot;she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.</p>
+
+<p>No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She gazed up at the kind face and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you the owner of the ship <i>Despair</i>?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank you, Sir Albert,&quot; she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear,&quot; sighed the little maid.
+&quot;The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God bless you! There, I must go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX."></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<p>BACON A REBEL.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;Hark! 'tis the sound that charms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The war-steed's wakening ears.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh! many a mother folds her arms<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And though her fond heart sink with fears,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Is proud to feel his young pulse bound<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With valor's fervor at the sound.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--MOORE.<br>
+
+<p>The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship <i>Despair</i> and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.</p>
+
+<p>She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is she a relative of yours, young maid?&quot; asked the man of whom she
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; I know of her, and would see her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you travel alone, young maid?&quot; asked the man whom she had addressed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is your mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dead,&quot; she answered sadly,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you are an orphan?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ester--Ester Goffe,&quot; stammered Rebecca. &quot;Then you are my brother's
+affianced.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?&quot; and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is he--where is Robert?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another.&quot; Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But can I see him?&quot; asked Ester.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you no faithful servant?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+&quot;cross Master Price,&quot; he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sam, could you find my brother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you take a small bit of writing to him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:</p>
+
+<p>DEAR BROTHER;--</p>
+
+<p>Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.</p>
+
+<p>Your sister,</p>
+
+<p>REBECCA.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.</p>
+
+<p>Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.</p>
+
+<p>The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:</p>
+
+<a href="Illus0424.jpg"><img src="Illus0424.jpg" alt="Illustration: Here! Shoot me!
+'Fore God, a fair mark!" width="40%" align="right" hspace=20></a>
+
+<p>Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will have it! We will have it!&quot; (Meaning the commission.)</p>
+
+<p>One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You shall have it! You shall have it!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.</p>
+
+<p>A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.</p>
+
+<p>After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!&quot; The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brother, do not place yourself in his power,&quot; said his sister.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At the governor's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will keep the secret, brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When do you go?&quot; asked Ester.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The army marches against the Indians on the morrow.&quot; He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I knew not that you were a member of the house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Peram, blushing, answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it.&quot; With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.</p>
+
+<p>Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: &quot;It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was &quot;in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots.&quot; Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, &quot;What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.</p>
+
+<p>The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.</p>
+
+<p>This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world,&quot; they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country.&quot; And when a person by her side
+said, &quot;We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin,&quot; Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.</p>
+
+<p>While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel <i>Despair</i>. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I feared you had gone, never to come back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you want to see me again, child?&quot; he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The war rages again?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But my brother--oh, my brother!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He, also, will be safe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you take us all, and Ester, too?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is Ester?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.</p>
+
+<p>He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you injured?&quot; he asked the half-fainting woman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the <i>Despair</i>, are you not?&quot; asked
+Dorothe Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I see you home?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If not too much trouble.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As they walked along the road, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you Mrs. Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When did your first husband die?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Many years ago. He was lost at sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did he leave two children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, sir, two,&quot; she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was he a good man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!&quot; Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you happy now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, no. I am miserable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is your son with Bacon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He shall not hang him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If he captures him, who will prevent it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will.&quot; They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI."></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<p>BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;At every turn, Morena's dusky height<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The magazine in rocky durance stand,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match.&quot;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --BYRON.<br>
+
+<p>Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship <i>Despair</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must be very rich,&quot; she said to Sir Albert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This represents but a small part of my possessions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would I were your heiress.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you no wife--no children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.</p>
+
+<p>The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship <i>Despair</i>. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives,&quot; said Bacon. &quot;We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them &quot;in the forefront of his
+workmen,&quot; during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.</p>
+
+<p>No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!&quot; he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.</p>
+
+<p>There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come down, general!&quot; cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. &quot;You endanger
+your life up there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't fire, until I give you the command,&quot; said Bacon, coolly. &quot;We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fire!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price,&quot; he said as the sun was setting.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He hath taken refuge under the church.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.</p>
+
+<p>The ship <i>Despair</i>, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.</p>
+
+<p>That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you,&quot; said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You intrude--you disturb us!&quot; cried Cheeseman. &quot;We want no spy on our
+deliberations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, who are you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A man like you,&quot; was the answer; &quot;a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What meaneth this?&quot; Drummond asked when he regained his voice. &quot;Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? <i>It is John Stevens</i>!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh,&quot; he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death,&quot; he concluded.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love,&quot; and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty,&quot; said Drummond. &quot;I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know all,&quot; John sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas, I know not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And will you leave her to him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; was the low, meek answer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you not seek revenge?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why sit you here?&quot; cried the general. &quot;Have you not heard the news?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; what is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?&quot; asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; answered Bacon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then we must abandon it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They shall not find the town when they come,&quot; cried Bacon. &quot;D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned,&quot; cried
+Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,&quot;
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home,&quot; said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the <i>Despair</i>,&quot; cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, &quot;Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will, I swear by the God we all worship!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon and his army retreated up the country.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII."></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<p>VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The longer life, the more offence;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The more offence, the greater pain;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The greater pain, the less defence;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The less defence, the greater gain:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The loss of gain long ill doth try,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wherefore, come death and let me die.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--WYAT.<br>
+
+<p>Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.</p>
+
+<p>With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You do not look well,&quot; said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. &quot;Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall be better soon,&quot; he answered. &quot;When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have a care for your health.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his &quot;Mandates&quot; to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.</p>
+
+<p>On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick,&quot; said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you better, general?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;General Bacon is dead,&quot; they said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! dead?&quot; cried Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.</p>
+
+<p>Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thomas Hansford,&quot; cried Berkeley, &quot;I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Hansford answered, &quot;I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The governor replied, &quot;You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.</p>
+
+<p>One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There he is, Giles; now slay him!&quot; cried the stepfather.</p>
+
+<p>Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come on, Giles; he is unarmed,&quot; cried Mr. Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, are you quite sure?&quot; cried Giles.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am sure. He is out of ammunition.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is extraordinary, very extraordinary.&quot; Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is heading for the river!&quot; cried Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Can he cross?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.</p>
+
+<p>It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!&quot; cried Price.</p>
+
+<p>The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+
+<a href="Illus0425.jpg"><img src="Illus0425.jpg" alt="Illustration: The ball struck
+   four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him, splashing up a jet of water"
+   width="40%" align="right" hspace=20 vspace=20></a>
+
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.</p>
+
+<p>Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.</p>
+
+<p>It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. &quot;We will have him yet. He shall hang!&quot; said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.</p>
+
+<p>They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done,&quot; she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, &quot;was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Away with you!&quot; adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]</p>
+
+<p>So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.</p>
+
+<p>For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. Drummond,&quot; he said, &quot;you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What your honor pleases,&quot; Mr. Drummond boldly answered. &quot;I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that &quot;Bacon and Bland must die,&quot; and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.</p>
+
+<p>Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+<i>Despair</i>, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.</p>
+
+<p>Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration,&quot; said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+&quot;Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has he been tried?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has and has been condemned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To hang?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Has the sentence been executed?&quot; asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not yet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then your life is saved.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But he will be hanged at ten o'clock.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He shall not!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, who are you, that dare defy me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Governor Berkeley,&quot; said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. &quot;Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens,&quot; said Mr. Price.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it,&quot; put in Giles, a smile on his face.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sign, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A pardon for Robert Stevens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, no!&quot; cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!&quot; cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!&quot; and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you signed the pardon, governor?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now order his release.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I owe this to you, kind sir,&quot; he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All are safe aboard my vessel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you remember your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How know you this?&quot; asked Robert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When they went on board the <i>Despair</i>, there was a general rejoicing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven bless you, our deliverer!&quot; cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.</p>
+
+<p>Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII."></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<p>CONCLUSION.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So live, that when thy summons comes to join<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The innumerable caravan, that moves<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To that mysterious realm, where each shall take<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His chamber in the silent halls of death,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--BRYANT.<br>
+
+<p>That strange ship <i>Despair</i> still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?&quot; asked the governor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Fore God, I know not, governor,&quot; put in Hugh Price. &quot;I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Harm him not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He will harm me, I trow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!&quot; declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is your wife?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On board the ship <i>Despair</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the <i>Despair</i>, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.</p>
+
+<p>When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The place of a good wife is with her husband,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Must I obey Hugh Price?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is he your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are of age?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will live with my brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall I take you in mine?&quot; asked Sir Albert.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you desire it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pull ashore.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.</p>
+
+<p>The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.</p>
+
+<p>Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.</p>
+
+<p>Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.</p>
+
+<p>When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.</p>
+
+<p>All winter long, Captain Small of the <i>Despair</i> remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He also gave you the ship <i>Despair</i>,&quot; concluded the captain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is very strange.&quot; said Robert. &quot;I can scarcely believe it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now what will you do with the ship?&quot; the captain asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name <i>Despair</i> was changed to <i>Hope</i>. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.</p>
+
+<p>Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.</p>
+
+<p>Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you not know me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lawrence,&quot; the stranger whispered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! Mr. Lawrence?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the &quot;thoughtful Mr. Lawrence&quot; again.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Father and mother sleep here</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, &quot;I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone.&quot;
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.</p>
+
+<p>All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.</p>
+
+<p>[Illustration.]</p>
+
+<p>Ye End.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="HISTORICAL_INDEX."></a>HISTORICAL INDEX.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+
+<p>Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King Charles II</p>
+<p>Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor</p>
+<p>Alderman, slayer of King Philip</p>
+<p>Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the surrender of New York</p>
+<p>Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook</p>
+<p>Angel of deliverance</p>
+<p>Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon</p>
+<p>Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia</p>
+<p>Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels</p>
+<p>Attack on the swamp fort</p>
+<p>Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker</p>
+<p>Bacon, Nathaniel</p>
+<p>Bacon's &quot;Quarter Branch&quot;</p>
+<p>Bacon's threat</p>
+<p>Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission</p>
+<p>Bacon defeats the Indians</p>
+<p>Bacon arrested</p>
+<p>Bacon's confession</p>
+<p>Bacon's flight</p>
+<p>Bacon rousing his friends</p>
+<p>Bacon marching on Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon captures Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon and Berkeley meet</p>
+<p>Bacon commissioned by Berkeley</p>
+<p>Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy</p>
+<p>Bacon urged to depose Berkeley</p>
+<p>Bacon's Indian campaign</p>
+<p>Bacon again rallying his hosts</p>
+<p>Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields</p>
+<p>Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen</p>
+<p>Bacon besieges Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon enters Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon burns Jamestown</p>
+<p>Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac</p>
+<p>Bacon ill</p>
+<p>Bacon's death a mystery</p>
+<p>Bacon rebels attainted of treason</p>
+<p>Bacon's laws repealed</p>
+<p>Baconites deserting Ingram</p>
+<p>Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac</p>
+<p>Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654</p>
+<p>Battle of Brookfield</p>
+<p>Battle of Bloody Run</p>
+<p>Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley</p>
+<p>Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia</p>
+<p>Berkeley, Sir William, character of</p>
+<p>Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors</p>
+<p>Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia</p>
+<p>Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to Greenspring Manor</p>
+<p>Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.</p>
+<p>Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing</p>
+<p>Berkeley informs home government that all trouble with the Indians is happily over</p>
+<p>Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission</p>
+<p>Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel</p>
+<p>Berkeley pardons Bacon</p>
+<p>Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon</p>
+<p>Berkeley and Bacon meet</p>
+<p>Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces him a rebel</p>
+<p>Berkeley in possession of Jamestown</p>
+<p>Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown</p>
+<p>Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works</p>
+<p>Berkeley's tyranny at York</p>
+<p>Berkeley's departure from Virginia</p>
+<p>Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York</p>
+<p>Bland, execution of</p>
+<p>Brent reported advancing</p>
+<p>Buckingham succeeds Clarendon</p>
+<p>Burning of Jamestown</p>
+<p>Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630</p>
+<p>Calvert, Governor of Maryland</p>
+<p>Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of</p>
+<p>Carolinia settled by New Englanders</p>
+<p>Carolinia constitution</p>
+<p>Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to</p>
+<p>Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder</p>
+<p>Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed</p>
+<p>Census of New England in 1675</p>
+<p>Charles I. beheaded in 1649</p>
+<p>Charles II. declared king of England in 1660</p>
+<p>Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father</p>
+<p>Charles II., character of</p>
+<p>Charles II. profligate and careless</p>
+<p>Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley</p>
+<p>Cheeseman, trial of</p>
+<p>Cheeseman's death</p>
+<p>Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley</p>
+<p>Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset</p>
+<p>Clarendon in exile</p>
+<p>Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island</p>
+<p>Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands within limits of Rhode Island charter</p>
+<p>Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter</p>
+<p>Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop</p>
+<p>Connecticut after the restoration</p>
+<p>Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution</p>
+<p>Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector</p>
+<p>Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son Richard as his successor</p>
+<p>Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II. grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years</p>
+<p>Curles, Bacon's home</p>
+<p>Death of Nathaniel Bacon</p>
+<p>De Vries robbed by the Indians</p>
+<p>De Vries chosen president of popular assembly</p>
+<p>Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I</p>
+<p>Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia in 1666</p>
+<p>Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the world</p>
+<p>Drummond before Berkeley</p>
+<p>Drummond, execution of</p>
+<p>Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children</p>
+<p>Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne</p>
+<p>Dutch capture New York</p>
+<p>Dyer, Mary, execution of</p>
+<p>Effect of the restoration on Virginia</p>
+<p>Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret</p>
+<p>Elliott, John, missionary among Indians</p>
+<p>Emigrants to Carolinia</p>
+<p>Emigrants to New Jersey from New England</p>
+<p>English government in a state of chaos after the death of Cromwell</p>
+<p>Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts</p>
+<p>Execution of Robinson and Stevenson</p>
+<p>Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley</p>
+<p>Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts</p>
+<p>Forebodings of war</p>
+<p>Gathering of Virginians at Curles</p>
+<p>Goffe and the fencing-master</p>
+<p>Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned Charles I</p>
+<p>Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men</p>
+<p>Gorges recovers his claim</p>
+<p>Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness</p>
+<p>Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence</p>
+<p>Grievances of Virginians</p>
+<p>Hadley attacked by the Indians</p>
+<p>Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley</p>
+<p>Hansford abandons Jamestown</p>
+<p>Hansford hung</p>
+<p>Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629</p>
+<p>Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert</p>
+<p>Hawley, Governor of Carolinia</p>
+<p>Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of Virginia</p>
+<p>Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken</p>
+<p>Indian war of 1644</p>
+<p>Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey</p>
+<p>Indian advancement in education</p>
+<p>Indians' lands taken from them</p>
+<p>Ingram chosen in place of Bacon</p>
+<p>Ingram's surrender</p>
+<p>James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted to him by his brother Charles II</p>
+<p>Jamestown besieged by Bacon</p>
+<p>Jamestown captured by Bacon</p>
+<p>Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt</p>
+<p>Judges who tried and condemned Charles I</p>
+<p>Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer of the wheelwright</p>
+<p>Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians</p>
+<p>Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland</p>
+<p>King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and Northampton</p>
+<p>King's men, character of</p>
+<p>Lancaster attacked by Indians</p>
+<p>Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia</p>
+<p>Law against Quakers repealed in 1661</p>
+<p>Laws made by Bacon repealed</p>
+<p><i>Longtail</i>, Claybourne's trading ship</p>
+<p>Lovelace appointed Governor of New York</p>
+<p>Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy</p>
+<p>Massachusetts' charter threatened</p>
+<p>Massachusetts after the restoration</p>
+<p>Massachusetts not punished for her defiance</p>
+<p>Massasoit, death of, 1661</p>
+<p>Matapoiset, attack on</p>
+<p>Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls</p>
+<p>Middle Plantation oath</p>
+<p>Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652</p>
+<p>Muddy Brook, fight at</p>
+<p>Narragansetts, Philip among</p>
+<p>Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances</p>
+<p>New Amsterdam granted a government like the free cities of Holland</p>
+<p>New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed to New York</p>
+<p>New England confederation</p>
+<p>New England, growth of</p>
+<p>New England colonies slandered</p>
+<p>New Haven colony</p>
+<p>New Jersey, how effected by change</p>
+<p>New Jersey charter</p>
+<p>New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants</p>
+<p>New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch</p>
+<p>New York not represented in Parliament</p>
+<p>New York attacked by the Dutch</p>
+<p>New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor of New York</p>
+<p>Nipmucks, Philip among</p>
+<p>North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666</p>
+<p>Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go to</p>
+<p>Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of</p>
+<p>Oliverian plot</p>
+<p>Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred years old and assassinated</p>
+<p>Orange changed to Albany</p>
+<p>Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650</p>
+<p>Pavonia, the territory of Pauw</p>
+<p>Philip's, King, opposition to war</p>
+<p>Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's blood has been shed</p>
+<p>Philip, King, among the Nipmucks</p>
+<p>Philip, King, pursued</p>
+<p>Philip, King, death of</p>
+<p>Pokanokets rejected Christianity</p>
+<p>Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Population of Virginia</p>
+<p>Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware</p>
+<p>Puritans of New England</p>
+<p>Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts</p>
+<p>Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey</p>
+<p>Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch</p>
+<p>Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644</p>
+<p>Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663</p>
+<p>Rising, John, on the Delaware</p>
+<p>Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653</p>
+<p>Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house</p>
+<p>Royalists, triumph of</p>
+<p>Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the plans of Philip</p>
+<p>Savage sent to Mount Hope</p>
+<p>South Kingston, Indians at</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant goes to Holland</p>
+<p>Stuyvesant returns to New York</p>
+<p>Sudbury, attack on</p>
+<p>Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II</p>
+<p>Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on</p>
+<p>Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with</p>
+<p>Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it Fort Trinity</p>
+<p>Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard</p>
+<p>Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation</p>
+<p>Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration</p>
+<p>Vane, Sir Henry, executed</p>
+<p>Virginia divided into eight shires</p>
+<p>Virginia restored to monarchy</p>
+<p>Virginia threatened with civil war</p>
+<p>Virginia, home ruled</p>
+<p>Virginia's defence, 1675</p>
+<p>Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing a flag of truce</p>
+<p>Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals</p>
+<p>Wheelwright murdered by Indians</p>
+<p>Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley</p>
+<p>Windsor, Indian attack on</p>
+<p>Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant</p>
+<p>Winthrop, John, and Charles II.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br>
+<h2><a name="CHRONOLOGY."></a>CHRONOLOGY.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+
+<p>PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.</p>
+
+<p>A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.</p>
+
+<p><b>1644.</b> SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+&nbsp;&nbsp;killed,--April 18.<br>
+
+<p><b>1645.</b> CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+&nbsp;&nbsp;fled to Virginia.<br>
+
+<p><b>1649.</b> CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.</p>
+
+<p><b>1650.</b> FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Chowan River, near Edenton.<br>
+
+<p><b>1653.</b> OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Great Britain,--Dec. 16.<br>
+
+<p><b>1655.</b> RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+&nbsp;&nbsp;and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.<br>
+
+<p><b>1656.</b> QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+&nbsp;&nbsp;by Puritans.<br>
+
+<p><b>1660.</b> MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;king,--May 29.<br>
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.</p>
+
+<p><b>1663.</b> CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+&nbsp;&nbsp;24. (This grant extended from 30&deg; to<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;36&deg; lat., and from ocean to ocean.)<br>
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;granted,--July 8.<br>
+
+<p><b>1664.</b> NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+&nbsp;&nbsp;and Albany,--March 12.<br>
+
+<p>NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.</p>
+
+<p>STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).</p>
+
+<p>FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.</p>
+
+<p>ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.</p>
+
+<p><b>1665.</b> CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+&nbsp;&nbsp;name of Connecticut,--May.<br>
+
+<p>SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+&nbsp;&nbsp;to 29&deg; lat.,--June 30.<br>
+
+<p>CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+&nbsp;&nbsp;settled.<br>
+
+<p><b>1670.</b> DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.</p>
+
+<p><b>1671.</b> MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;at Michilimackinac.<br>
+
+<p><b>1673.</b> VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.</p>
+
+<p><b>1674.</b> MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.</p>
+
+<p><b>1675.</b> MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.</p>
+
+<p><b>1676.</b> BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;one hundred years before independence.<br>
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+&nbsp;&nbsp;and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;41&deg; 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full">
+<pre>
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME 6;
+A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A
+Century Too Soon (A Story of Bacon's Rebellion), by John R. Musick
+
+
+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 Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A Century Too Soon (A Story
+of Bacon's Rebellion)
+
+Author: John R. Musick
+
+Release Date: December 5, 2003  [eBook #10387]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE,
+VOLUME 6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME VI, A CENTURY TOO SOON
+
+The Age of Tyranny
+
+By
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+FREELAND A. CARTER
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+MY WIFE,
+
+WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,
+
+THIS BOOK
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+BY
+
+THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in
+our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though
+one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping
+goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,
+though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.
+Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as
+well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,
+who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of
+republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and
+independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two
+principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the
+Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of
+other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," or
+royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics
+of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and
+industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the
+cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of
+display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather
+loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of
+the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's
+people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of
+monarchy in 1660.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one
+who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he
+could "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public
+schools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.
+Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old
+age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn
+to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable
+traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people
+on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered
+with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion
+was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or
+misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion
+came a "century too soon," being just one hundred years before the great
+revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.
+
+In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and
+grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in "Pocahontas." The
+object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict
+home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing
+story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been
+a success.
+
+JOHN R. MUSICK.
+
+KIRKSVILLE, MO., August 1st, 1892.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.      THE DUCKING STOOL
+CHAPTER II.     SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE
+CHAPTER III.    THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD
+CHAPTER IV.     THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK
+CHAPTER V.      JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE
+CHAPTER VI.     THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION
+CHAPTER VII.    IN WIDOW'S WEEDS
+CHAPTER VIII.   THE STEPFATHER
+CHAPTER IX.     THE MOVING WORLD
+CHAPTER X.      THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD
+CHAPTER XI.     TYRANNY AND FLIGHT
+CHAPTER XII.    THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE
+CHAPTER XIII.   LEFT ALONE
+CHAPTER XIV.    THE TREASURE SHIP
+CHAPTER XV.     THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE
+CHAPTER XVI.    KING PHILIP'S WAR
+CHAPTER XVII.   NEARING THE VERGE
+CHAPTER XVIII.  THE SWORD OF DEFENCE
+CHAPTER XIX.    THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
+CHAPTER XX.     BACON A REBEL
+CHAPTER XXI.    BURNING OF JAMESTOWN
+CHAPTER XXII.   VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE
+CHAPTER XXIII.  CONCLUSION
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX
+
+CHRONOLOGY
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
+
+
+His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly
+
+Ducking stool
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!"
+
+Once more he bent over the sleeping children
+
+Kieft from the ramparts watched the burning wigwams
+
+Stuyvesant
+
+The squaw, with a yell of fear, wheeled to fly for her life
+
+Blanche could not utter a word of consolation
+
+Oliver Cromwell
+
+"Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his passion, tore the letter
+   into pieces
+
+Tomb of Stuyvesant
+
+The door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered to take a part in
+   the scene
+
+His temper flamed out in word
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+Sir Henry Vane
+
+"Our journey is not one half over!"
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!"
+
+He fell upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him
+
+He flung him down the front steps where he lay in a heap on the ground
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Ruins of Jamestown
+
+The ball struck four or five feet to Robert's left, and in front of him,
+   splashing up a jet of water
+
+Map of the period
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURY TOO SOON.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DUCKING-STOOL.
+
+     Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
+     You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
+     Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
+     You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
+     Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
+     Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
+     Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world.
+                                        --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+[Illustration: ducking stool]
+
+A crowd of bearded men, some in the sad-colored clothes and
+steeple-crowned hats of Puritans, others in loose top-boots, scarlet
+coats, lace and periwigs of the cavaliers of the Cromwellian period,
+intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was
+assembled on the banks of a deep pond within sight of Jamestown, Va. A
+curious machine, one which at the present day would puzzle the beholder
+to guess its use, had been constructed near the edge of the water. It
+was a simple contrivance and rude in structure; but the freshly hewn
+timbers were proof of its virgin newness. This machine was a long pole
+fastened upon an upright post, almost at the water's edge, so that it
+could revolve or dip at the will of the manipulators. On the heavy end
+of the pole was a seat or chair fastened, with a rest for the feet, and
+straps and buckles so arranged that when one was buckled down escape was
+impossible. On the opposite end of the pole a rope was tied, the end
+hanging down to the ground. This contrivance, to-day unknown, was once
+quite familiar to English civilization, and was called the
+"ducking-stool." The founders of the American, colonies, whatever may
+have been their original designs for the promotion of universal
+happiness, found it necessary very soon to allot a portion of the virgin
+soil to the humiliation, punishment and degradation of their fellow
+creatures.
+
+Thus we find, in addition to the prison, the whipping-post and the
+pillory, the ducking-stool. From the vast throng assembled about the
+pond on that mild June day in 1653, one might suppose that the entire
+colony had turned out to witness some great event. Nearly four years
+before the opening of our story, Cromwell had established the
+"Commonwealth" in England; but it was not until 1653 that the
+Parliament party, or "Roundheads," as they were contemptuously termed,
+conquered the colony of Virginia. Many of the royalists were still
+elected to the House of Burgesses, and the cavaliers in boots and lace,
+with riding-whips in hand, predominated in the throng we have just
+described. The continual neighing of horses in the woods told of the
+arrival of fresh troops of planters and fox-hunting cavaliers.
+
+The merry cavalier was easily distinguished from the sedate Puritan. The
+latter gazed solemnly on the instrument of torture as a thing essential
+to the performance of a duty, while the cavaliers seemed to have come
+more for the enjoyment of some rare sport, than to witness an execution
+of the law. Occasionally a snake-eyed aborigine mingled with the throng,
+gazing in wonder on the scene, or a negro, granted a half-holiday, stood
+grinning with barbarous delight on what was more sport than punishment
+in his eyes.
+
+There is something hideous about the ducking-stool in the present age of
+reason and enlightenment, more especially as it was designed to punish
+the weaker sex and usually those advanced in years. Before the ugly
+machine and between it and the road which ran past the pond to the
+village was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed,
+plantain and such unsightly vegetation, which seemed to find something
+congenial in the soil that bore an instrument for the torture of the
+gentler sex; but on one side of the post and leaning against it was a
+wild rosebush covered with fragrant flowers.
+
+It was still an early hour, for the morning dew sparkled in the deeper
+recesses of the grand old forest, and the moisture of dawn yet lingered
+on the air. Strange as it may seem, that instrument was regarded with
+careless indifference, even by the gentler sex of this period.
+
+Meagre and cold was the sympathy which a transgressor might expect from
+the assembly at the pond. The women mingled freely with the crowd and
+appeared to take a peculiar interest in the punishment about to be
+inflicted. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
+impropriety kept the wearers of petticoats and farthingales from
+elbowing their way through the densest throngs to witness the
+executions. Those wives and maidens of English birth and breeding were
+morally and materially of coarser fibre than their fair descendants, who
+would swoon at the thought of torture and punishment. They were not all
+hard-featured amazons in that throng, for, mingled with the stout,
+broad-shouldered dames, were maids naturally shy, timid and beautiful.
+The ruddy cheeks and ruby lips indicated health, and the brawny arms of
+many women bore evidence of physical toil.
+
+The cavaliers were jesting and laughing, while the Puritans were silent,
+or conversing in low, measured tones on the purpose of the assembly.
+
+There was enough of gloom and solemnity in the one party to prove that
+the execution was not to be a farce, and enough merriment in the other
+to convince a beholder that the punishment was not capital. A young
+cavalier, all silk and lace, with heavy riding-boots, galloped up to the
+scene and, dismounting, handed the rein to a negro slave, who had run
+himself out of breath to keep up with his master, and hastened down to
+the water.
+
+"Good morrow, Roger!" said the new-comer to a young man of about
+twenty-five years of age, like himself a gentleman of ease.
+
+"Good morrow, Hugh," Roger answered.
+
+"What gala scene have they prepared for our amusement?" asked Hugh, his
+dark gray eyes twinkling with merriment. "I trow it is one that you and
+I need never fear."
+
+"The magistrates have adjudged Ann Linkon to be ducked."
+
+"Marry! what hath she done?"
+
+"Divers offences, all petty, but aggravating in themselves. She is not
+only a common scold, but a babbling woman, who often hath slandered and
+scandalized her neighbors, for which her poor husband is often brought
+into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages."
+
+Hugh gave utterance to a genuine cavalier-like laugh, and, striking his
+boot-top with his riding-whip, returned:
+
+"Marry! but she will make a merry sight soaring through the air like a
+fisher-bird to be plunged beneath the water."
+
+"It will be a goodly sight, Hugh, and one I knew you would wish to see;
+therefore I sent for you."
+
+"You have my thanks; but where is the culprit?"
+
+"They have not arrived with her yet. Did you come from Greenspring Manor
+this morn?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How is Sir William Berkeley?"
+
+"He is well, and still lives in the hope of seeing the king restored to
+his throne."
+
+"Hath he invited our wandering prince to Virginia?"
+
+"Sh--! speak not so loud," said Hugh in an undertone. "There are some of
+those Puritans, the cursed Roundheads, near, and it would mean death to
+Sir William if it were known that he but breathed such thoughts."
+
+The two young men walked a little apart from the others and sat down
+upon the green, mossy banks, where they might converse uninterrupted and
+still be near enough to witness the ducking when the officers arrived
+with the victim.
+
+"Keep a still tongue in your head, Roger," said Hugh when they were
+seated. "Greenspring Manor is beset with spies, and the Roundheads long
+for some pretext to hang Sir William for his devotion to our king; but
+Sir William says that the commonwealth will end with Cromwell and the
+son of our murdered king will be restored."
+
+"The rule of the Roundheads is mild."
+
+"Mild, bah!" interrupted Hugh, in contempt. "They are men without force,
+groundlings, the common trash from the earth with whom the best do
+not mingle."
+
+"But they permit the people to send royalists to the House of
+Burgesses."
+
+"That they do; yet there they must mingle with leet-men and indented
+slaves whose terms have expired," and Hugh heaved a sigh and dug his
+boot heel into the ground, adding, "It was not a merry day for old
+England when they struck off the king's head."
+
+While the young royalists were discussing politics and awaiting the
+arrival of the guard with Ann Linkon, the women were not all silent.
+
+"Good wives," said a hard-featured dame of fifty, "I will tell you a
+piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women
+being of mature age and church members in good repute like Ann Linkon
+might speak our minds of such baggage as Dorothe Stevens without being
+adjudged and sent to the ducking-stool as she is to be done. Wherefore
+is Dorothe Stevens so great that one must not say ill of her that they
+be plunged in the pond? Did she but have her deserts, would she be at
+home and Ann Linkon on the stool? Marry! I trow not!"
+
+"Prythee, good dame Woodley, be more chary of your tongue, lest you be
+brought to judgment," interposed a more cautious sister.
+
+Dame Woodley scowled and ground her teeth in silence for a short
+interval, and then resumed:
+
+"I speak only to you five who know the wife of John Stevens truly.
+Despite all her airs and efforts to assume to herself a superiority, we
+know full well she hath her faults."
+
+"Verily, she hath," interposed a female who had her hood drawn low over
+her face to protect it from the morning sun.
+
+"And I have heard that she does lead poor John Stevens a miserable life.
+What with her extravagance, her temper, and the way she does hate his
+old mother whom he loves, his life must be a burden?" continued
+dame Woodley,
+
+"Little the pity for him, though," interposed the woman whose weak eyes
+were half-hidden by her hood.
+
+"Why say ye so, Sarah Drummond?"
+
+"The more fool he to maintain such a creature."
+
+"Marry! think you, Sarah, that a wife is like a shoe to be cast off at
+will? John Stevens hath two children, whom he loves as ardently as ever
+parent loved."
+
+"I have known Dorothe Stevens to be kind and gentle," interposed a woman
+who had not spoken before.
+
+"Yet she is haughty, and she would have all the world believe her of
+superior flesh and blood to ourselves. Doth not the Scriptures say that
+'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'?
+Yea, verily, I wish she would break her neck when she doth fall."
+
+At this moment, one of the petty officers came to the group of gossipers
+and cried:
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, you prating dames! The prisoner comes."
+
+A confused murmur swelled to a general hubbub as two men appeared over
+the hill leading between them a woman about fifty-five years of age. She
+was a strong, thin-visaged woman, whose cheek had been bronzed by sun
+and weather. She was bareheaded, and her hair was gathered in a knot at
+the back. Her gown, of a thick woollen stuff, fit closely to her
+person, as if it had been made on purpose for the punishment she had
+been adjudged to receive. She was talking in a loud voice and
+gesticulating angrily with her head, for her arms were confined.
+
+"I will give ye a piece of my mind," she declared to her guards.
+
+"Hold your peace, Ann!" cried the eldest of the guards.
+
+"Hold my peace! Verily, I will, not hold my peace about such a hussy as
+Dorothe Stevens. That I, a Christian and Puritan, should be ducked for
+slandering one so foul as she! I choke at the thought."
+
+"Marry! I wish you were silent."
+
+"Silent, Joshua Chard, silent, indeed! Think ye that the fear of all the
+water in James River will awe me to silence?"
+
+"No, by the mass, it will not," answered his companion.
+
+"Lawrence Evans, unholy papist, do not touch me!"
+
+"I am not a papist."
+
+"Come, Ann Linkon, let us have this execution done with," put in Joshua,
+dragging the woman along.
+
+The scene was now ridiculous enough to excite the laughter of even the
+gravest Puritans. The pond and ducking-stool were in sight, and Ann
+Linkon, with a persistence and strength that was marvellous, began to
+pull back, and when she had set her heels firmly in the ground it
+required the united strength of both guards to move her.
+
+"I won't go! I won't be ducked! I won't! I won't!" she screamed at the
+top of her voice.
+
+"Nay, Ann, bright flower of loveliness, you shall have a soft seat."
+
+"Shame on you, Joshua, to drag an old woman like me by the arm."
+
+"Marry! I am not dragging you, dame Linkon. Your heels do stick like a
+ploughshare in the ground."
+
+The woman continued in her sharp, shrill voice to upbraid him:
+
+"Ungrateful wretch, is it thus you serve one who fed you in your
+infancy, when your mother had deserted you? Unhand me, indented slave,
+and go back to your master, wretch--wretch--wretch!" she hissed, as she
+went sliding on her heels, her toes horizontal and her knees rigid. Her
+feet ploughed up the earth and stones, and the crowd hooted and jeered.
+
+"Come on, Dame Linkon, and take your bath," cried some idle urchins,
+waiting at the water in anticipation of rare sport.
+
+The victim continued to scream in her shrill voice:
+
+"It's for that hussy! She bore false witness against me at the court and
+had me condemned. I will be avenged for this!"
+
+"Marry! we will be more damp than you," said Joshua, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead with the cuff of his coat.
+
+"Joshua, is this payment for what I have done for you? When you were
+sick with fever I sat by your bedside and cared for you; when no one
+else would cook your food, it was I who did it, and is it thus you
+requite me?"
+
+"Peace, good dame, I have my duty to perform."
+
+"Duty; but such a duty!"
+
+She still braced her heels against the ground, and it required all the
+strength of her guards to push and pull her along.
+
+"Verily, I say such a duty," answered Joshua, on whose grave features
+there came a smile. "Dame Linkon, if you would limber your joints we
+could make more speed."
+
+"I am in no hurry," she answered.
+
+"I believe you; yet if you had not detained us, this affair would have
+been over."
+
+The urchins and older persons began to cry:
+
+"Hold back, Dame Linkon; make them earn their fees."
+
+"I will scratch your eyes out!" she hissed, as she was forced down to
+the bank and made to sit in the chair. Joshua wound a strap about her
+waist and stooped to buckle it, when, with her freed hand, she seized
+his hair, causing him to yell with pain.
+
+"Prythee, hold her hands, lest she make good her threat!" he cried to
+his companion.
+
+The appearance of the victim and her guards brought everybody to
+their--feet, and a silence fell over the group. The matrons ceased to
+gossip; the royalists left off talking politics, and all gathered about
+to witness the scene. Joshua's companion held the woman's arms, and he
+stooped to bind her feet to the chair, when one flew out like a bolt
+from a catapult, planting the toe in the pit of poor Joshua's stomach,
+causing him to roll over on the ground and howl with pain. The sheriff
+by this time came on the scene and summoned sufficient help to bind her
+to the chair.
+
+"See to it that every strap and cord is secure, for if she should fall
+she would drown," said the sheriff, and the men drew the leather straps
+tight, while Ann Linkon continued to rail and abuse all about her.
+
+"'Tis for the hussy that I am to suffer this," she cried. "Dorothe
+Stevens bore me false witness. I never slandered her. There--there is
+Hugh Price. Verily I spoke truly, as he knows."
+
+Hugh Price, the young royalist, who had been talking politics with his
+friend Roger, blushed.
+
+At this moment, there appeared on the scene a young man twenty-eight
+years of age, whose light blue eyes and frank, open face spoke honesty
+and humanity. His knit brows and distressed features showed that he was
+not in accord with the proceedings. He led the sheriff aside and spoke
+hurriedly with him in an undertone, which no one could hear. It was
+quite evident that he was making some request which the sheriff would
+not grant, for he shook his head in a very emphatic manner, and those
+nearest heard the official answer:
+
+"No, no, the judgment of the court, the judgment of the court."
+
+Dame Woodley, turning to a matron near, whispered: "Sarah Drummond,
+there is John Stevens, the husband of the woman who had Ann Linkon
+adjudged. How dare he come here?"
+
+"For shame!" whispered Sarah Drummond.
+
+"Yea, verily."
+
+"I wonder he could witness the wrong she hath done."
+
+At this a young wife with a babe in her arms interposed:
+
+"They do say that John Stevens had naught to do with the matter and did
+protest against having one so old as Ann Linkon ducked."
+
+"John Stevens is a godly man," remarked still another. "He would not
+wrong any one."
+
+"If he were my dearest foe," whispered goodwife Woodley, "he would have
+my sympathy for living with Dorothe Stevens."
+
+"Whist, Dame Woodley; speak not your mind so freely," whispered Sarah
+Drummond, "for there be those in hearing on whose ears your words had
+best not fall."
+
+All the while, Ann Linkon had been struggling with her executioners; but
+now, helpless and exhausted, she was bound in the chair. The sheriff,
+who was a humane man as well as a stern official, remonstrated with her.
+
+"Ann Linkon, do not so exert and heat yourself, or else when you be
+plunged into the water you will take your death."
+
+"Death! Take my death! That is what you want, wretch!" she screamed in
+her shrill voice.
+
+"Peace, dame; be still!"
+
+"I will not be silent. She is a hussy. John Stevens, I defy your wife,"
+she added as her eyes lighted on Stevens who was near. "I told no
+falsehood on her. Go to your friend Hugh Price, and if he will speak the
+truth, he will say I spoke no falsehood."
+
+Again Stevens was seen talking with the sheriff; but he shook his head
+with the inexorable:
+
+"The judgment of the court--the judgment of the court."
+
+Stevens turned away with a look of disappointment on his face. The sight
+of him seemed to increase the anger of Ann Linkon, and she railed and
+struggled until, exhausted, she panted for breath. The sheriff fanned
+her with his hat until she had partially cooled; but as soon as she
+regained her breath, she began again:
+
+"It's a merry sight to you all to watch an old woman. Verily, I wish
+Satan would rend you limb from limb, all of ye."
+
+"Go to! hold your peace, Ann!" said the sheriff.
+
+"I will not," she screamed, the froth appearing upon her lips.
+
+"Then you shall be plunged hot."
+
+"I care not."
+
+"It may be your death."
+
+"That's what ye want."
+
+"We don't."
+
+"Ye lie, ye wretch!"
+
+"Ann, I will duck you the full sentence if you don't hold your peace."
+
+"You are a wretch!" she screamed.
+
+The sheriff at this moment motioned the crowd to stand back and gave the
+signal to his two assistants, who went to the other end of the pole and
+seized the rope dangling there.
+
+"You are a white-livered wretch!" the scold again yelled. At this
+moment she went soaring off into the air. A piercing shriek came from
+her lips as she found herself swinging out over the pond. "I'll scratch
+your eyes out!"
+
+"Let her down," commanded the sheriff, and the men holding the rope
+allowed it to slip through their hands, and the woman in the chair
+darted down toward the water.
+
+"I said it, as I say it yet; she's a hussy! she's a hussy!" shrieked the
+woman, whose vocabulary was insufficient for her rage. The chair rapidly
+descended until it struck the water with a splash, pushing the waves on
+either side and letting the scold down, down into the cold liquid. She
+gave utterance to a yell when she found the water coming up over her
+breast, almost taking her breath.
+
+She was drawn all dripping from the pond and elevated high in the air so
+everybody could see her. A wild yell went up from the crowd, and an
+impudent urchin cried:
+
+"Ann Linkon, how like you your bath?"
+
+"I'll scratch your eyes out!" she shrieked, then again began to denounce
+her prosecutor as she once more descended, repeating, "She's a hussy!"
+
+Down, down she went into the water, until it came to her chin, causing
+her to utter another shriek. Again she was lifted high in the air. The
+sheriff, who was superintending the enforcement of the sentence, turned
+to his assistants and said:
+
+"You do not dip her under; let the stool go lower."
+
+As Ann Linkon descended for the last time, she seemed to gather up all
+her energies and, in a voice overflowing with hate, shrieked:
+
+"It's true! She is a hussy!"
+
+Plunging down, down, down, until ducking-stool and occupant were
+completely buried beneath the water, sank the victim, and on the air
+came a gurgling sound: "She's a hussy!" The sheriff's assistants gave
+the rope a sudden pull, and in an instant the choking, strangling
+creature soared up in the air, gasping for breath with the water running
+in streams from her garments. She made several efforts to speak, but in
+vain. Her mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears were full of water, and she
+could only gasp. Poor Ann Linkon was humiliated and crushed. A ducking
+was a light punishment, yet the disgrace which attached to it was
+sufficient to break the spirit of one possessing any pride. The sheriff
+turned to his assistants and said:
+
+"Put her on shore."
+
+The people gave way, and the stool swung round on the pivot and was
+lowered to the sands. The sport was over, and the cavaliers began to
+jest and laugh over the scene, which, to them, had been one of
+amusement. Hugh and Roger once more retired to talk of politics, and the
+Dame Woodley, turning to Sarah Drummond, asked if she thought public
+morals had been improved by such a disgraceful scene. But few
+expressions of sympathy were offered to the coughing, shivering,
+dripping woman, who sat silently in the chair upon the sands. She was
+meek enough now when the guards came to unbuckle the straps and free
+her. Even after she was released, she sat in the chair, strangling,
+coughing and shivering.
+
+John Stevens made his way through the crowd and, going up to the woman,
+who seemed almost lifeless, began:
+
+"Dame Linkon, I am most truly sorry that this has been done--"
+
+At sound of his voice, the half-inanimate form seemed suddenly inspired
+with life and vigor, and, bounding to her feet with a shriek of rage,
+she dealt him a blow with her open hand on the side of his head, which
+made him see more stars than can usually be discerned on the clearest
+night. He staggered and, but for the sheriff, would have fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.
+
+     On peace and rest my mind was bent,
+       And fool I was I married;
+     But never honest man's intent
+       As cursedly miscarried.
+                                --BURNS.
+
+In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
+Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
+it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
+his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
+personal friend.
+
+John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
+Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
+Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
+George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
+the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
+days in the assembly, when, on the "28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
+thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
+till the king's pleasure is known." He never knew exactly why Sir John
+Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
+the liberties of the people.
+
+He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
+all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
+Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
+River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
+protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
+Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
+people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
+Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.
+
+Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
+was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
+misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
+Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
+right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
+Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
+the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
+to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
+_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
+defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
+Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
+pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
+year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
+the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
+young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
+desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
+was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
+Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
+Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
+surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
+England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
+Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
+of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
+rosy dreams of Claybourne.
+
+In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
+Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
+seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
+and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
+belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
+devotee believes in his saint, "and he brought to the little capital at
+Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
+time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
+cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
+established church," and thoroughly hated anything resembling
+republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
+easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
+Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
+inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
+With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
+for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
+estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
+"Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
+apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
+When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
+find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
+this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
+welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
+church and king."
+
+From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
+a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
+proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
+preaching publicly or privately.
+
+John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
+Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
+brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
+eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
+public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
+treacherously wounded by his guard.
+
+In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
+a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
+cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
+Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
+he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
+brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
+in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
+strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
+through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
+honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
+ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
+husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
+which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
+and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
+unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
+the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
+marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
+his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
+thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
+than a husband.
+
+Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
+sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
+she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
+ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
+make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
+all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
+were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
+and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
+after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
+who was named Robert for his wife's father.
+
+Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
+wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
+other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
+rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
+notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
+The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
+fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
+was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
+be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
+inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
+Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
+him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
+will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
+Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
+Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
+her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
+rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
+them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
+and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
+to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
+to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.
+
+In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
+threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
+friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
+the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
+the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
+a body of three hundred men.
+
+On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
+landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
+awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
+formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
+enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
+an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
+the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
+to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.
+
+John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
+had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
+remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
+for a few weeks of vain show.
+
+"Were you more prudent, Dorothe," said John, "we could soon live at
+ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
+comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children."
+
+"Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
+other men support their families, and why not you, pray?"
+
+"But other men have helpmates in their wives."
+
+This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
+blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
+mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
+silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
+trying to John.
+
+After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
+husband in his financial straits.
+
+"I am going to economize," she declared. "I will take no heed what I
+shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed."
+
+Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
+become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
+pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
+on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
+that life might be endurable even in adversity.
+
+One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:
+
+"Our family has a fortune in Florida."
+
+At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
+attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.
+
+"If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?" she asked.
+
+"We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going," he made
+answer.
+
+"And wherefore can you not?"
+
+"St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
+permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
+a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property."
+
+"Can you not get it? Can you not get it?" she asked.
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Try."
+
+"We have thought to try it."
+
+His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
+lawyers that they might in time recover it.
+
+There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
+Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.
+
+The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
+his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
+England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
+thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
+his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
+the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
+his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
+baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
+prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
+children again, were he to go away.
+
+John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
+Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
+of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:
+
+"Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?"
+
+"By all means, go to London," answered Drummond.
+
+"Ought I to leave my wife and children?"
+
+"Wherefore not?"
+
+"If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for."
+
+"Your father was a sailor."
+
+"But his son is not."
+
+"Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage."
+
+John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
+courage, and he responded:
+
+"Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
+courage?"
+
+"True, yet why shrink from this voyage?"
+
+"A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
+were I ever to venture upon the sea."
+
+At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
+gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
+their age.
+
+"Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy," was Drummond's advice.
+
+"If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,"
+interposed Cheeseman.
+
+"How much is involved?" asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.
+
+"Eight hundred pounds."
+
+"Quite a sum."
+
+"Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
+embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
+gone, and my family is unprovided for."
+
+"Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them."
+
+With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
+Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
+Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
+discussed.
+
+"By all means, go," Hugh advised. "It is your duty to go."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
+reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
+this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
+voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
+expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
+to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
+a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
+became unreasonable, declaring:
+
+"You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society."
+
+"I do not," he answered.
+
+"Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another."
+
+"Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living," answered John, with a
+sigh.
+
+"They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
+they are anxious to find one younger and more fair."
+
+"Women do the same," John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.
+
+"Not so often as the men."
+
+Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
+wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
+returned to the original question of his going to London.
+
+"My friends all declare that it is my duty to go," he said.
+
+"Your friends! who are your friends?"
+
+"Drummond."
+
+"An ignorant Scotchman."
+
+Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
+Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"Mr. Lawerence advises it."
+
+"He is a canting hypocrite."
+
+"Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable."
+
+"Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
+hundred pounds when you have secured it."
+
+"Hugh Price agrees with them."
+
+"Does he?" asked Mrs. Stevens.
+
+"He does."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
+the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
+Berkeley the deposed governor.
+
+"Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it."
+
+The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
+Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
+that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.
+
+"John," she said, "if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
+you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds."
+
+John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go."
+
+"Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
+absence, if I have no luxuries."
+
+"Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
+expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
+little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
+adversity. I may never return."
+
+"Wherefore not?" cried Mrs. Stevens. "Do you contemplate an elopement?
+You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate."
+
+Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the "green-eyed
+monster" to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
+Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
+He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
+intention of eloping, said:
+
+"The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
+unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave."
+
+"Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
+forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
+My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
+that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
+perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
+eyes for you."
+
+Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
+luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
+to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:
+
+"She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
+in at the door." But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
+the charge.
+
+John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
+greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
+to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
+was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
+duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
+earthly friend could aid him.
+
+The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
+and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
+orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
+His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
+upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:
+
+"God bless you!"
+
+"Shall I awake them?" his wife asked.
+
+"No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.
+
+"Dear, I do so regret your going!" sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
+gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long."
+
+"I will go with you to the boat," she said, hurriedly dressing herself.
+
+John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
+had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
+she repeated:
+
+"I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
+lonesome."
+
+[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]
+
+John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
+gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
+murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
+There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
+boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
+were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.
+
+Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
+on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
+causing her to smile.
+
+"Farewell, little darling!" and the father quitted his home and,
+accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
+last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
+strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
+hoist anchor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE COLONIES OF THE NEW WORLD.
+
+                                       We love
+     The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,
+     And reigns content within them; him we serve
+     Freely and with delight, who leaves us free:
+     But recollecting still that he is a man,
+     We trust him not too far.
+                                              --COWPER.
+
+The Dutch, who still held possession of Manhattan Island and the
+territory now known as New York, were not enjoying the peace and
+tranquillity promised the just. Because some swine had been stolen from
+the plantation of De Vries on Staten Island, the Dutch governor sent an
+armed force to chastise the innocent Raritans in New Jersey, believing
+that a show of power would disarm the vengeance of the savages. The
+event was so grossly unjust that it not only aroused the Raritans, but
+all neighboring tribes, and they prepared for war. The hitherto peaceful
+Raritans killed the whites whenever they found them alone in the forest.
+Fifteen years before some of Minuet's men murdered an Indian belonging
+to a tribe seated beyond the Harlem River. His nephew, then a boy, who
+saw the outrage and made a vow of vengeance, had now grown to be a lusty
+man. He executed his vow by murdering a wheelwright while he was
+examining his tool-chest for a tool, cleaving his skull with an axe.
+Governor Kieft demanded the murderer; but his chief would not give him
+up, saying he had sought vengeance according to the customs of his race.
+
+The governor, who cared little for the "customs of the race," determined
+to chastise that tribe as he had the Raritans, and called upon the
+people to shoulder their muskets for the fray; but they, seeing the
+danger to which the rashness of the governor was leading them, refused.
+They had been witnesses of his rapacity and greed, and they now charged
+him with seeking war that he might "make a wrong reckoning with the
+colony," and reproached him with selfish cowardice.
+
+"It is all well for you," they said, "who have not slept out of a fort a
+single night since you came, to endanger our lives and homes in
+undefended places."
+
+The autocrat was transformed by the bold attitude of the people. Reason
+dawned upon his dull brain, and he invited all the heads of families in
+New Amsterdam to meet him in convention to consult upon public affairs.
+The result of this invitation was the selection of twelve men to act as
+representatives for the people, which formed the first popular assembly
+and first representative congress for political purposes in the New
+Netherlands. Thus were planted the seeds of a representative democracy,
+in the year 1641, almost on the very spot where, a century and a half
+later, our great republic, founded upon similar principles, was
+inaugurated, when Washington took the oath of office as the first
+president of the United States.
+
+These twelve representatives of the people chose De Vries as president
+of their number. To that body the governor submitted the question
+whether the murderer of the wheelwright ought to be demanded of his
+chief, and whether, in case of the chief's refusal, the Dutch ought to
+make war upon his tribe and burn the village wherein he dwelt. The
+twelve counselled peace and proceeded to consider the propriety of
+establishing a government similar to that of the fatherland. To this the
+governor cunningly agreed to make popular concessions if the twelve
+would authorize him to make war on the offending tribe at the proper
+time, to which they foolishly assented. Then the surly governor
+dissolved them, saying he had no further use for them, and forbade any
+popular assemblage thereafter.
+
+Next spring (1642) Kieft sent an expedition against the offending
+tribe, but a treaty disappointed his thirst for military glory. The
+river Indians were tributary to the Mohawks, and in midwinter, 1643, a
+large party of the Iroquois came down to collect by force of arms
+tribute which had not been paid. The natives along the lower Hudson, to
+the number of about five hundred, fled before the invaders, taking
+refuge with the Hackensacks at Hoboken and craving the protection of the
+Dutch. At the same time many of the offending Westchester tribe, and
+others fled to Manhattan and took refuge with the Hollanders. De Vries
+thought this a good opportunity to establish a permanent peace with the
+savages; but Kieft, who still seemed to thirst for blood, made it an
+occasion for treachery and death.
+
+One dark, cold night, late in February, 1643, when the snow fell fast,
+and the wind blew loud and shrill, and there was not a star to be seen
+in the sky, eighty men were sent by Kieft to attack the fugitives at
+Hoboken and those at "Colaer's Hook," who were slumbering in fancied
+security. Forty of those at the Hook were massacred, while the
+Hollanders, who had stealthily crossed the river through floating ice,
+were making the snows at Hoboken crimson with blood of confiding Indians
+and lighting up the heavens with the blaze of their wigwams. They
+spared neither age nor sex. "Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother
+and babe," says Brodhead, "were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended
+the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets,
+were driven into the river, and parents, rushing to save their
+children, whom the soldiery had thrown into the stream, were driven into
+the waters and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers."
+
+[Illustration: KIEFT, FROM THE RAMPARTS, WATCHED THE BURNING WIGWAMS.]
+
+It has been estimated that fully one hundred perished in this ruthless
+butchery. Historians state that Kieft, from the ramparts at Fort
+Amsterdam, watched the burning wigwams. This treachery and wholesale
+murder roused the fiery hatred of the savages and kindled a war so
+fierce that Kieft was frightened by the fury of the tempest which his
+wickedness and folly had raised, and he humbly asked the people to
+choose a few men again to act as his counsellors. The colonists, who had
+lost all confidence in the governor, chose eight citizens to relieve
+them from the fearful net of difficulties in which they were involved.
+Almost the first these eight advisers did was to ask the states-general
+at home to recall Governor Kieft, which was promptly done, and while on
+his way to Europe with his ill-gotten gains, his vessel went down, and
+the governor perished.
+
+Peter Stuyvesant, the brave soldier who had lost a leg in the West
+Indies, was sent as governor to New Amsterdam, and he arrived in May,
+1647. The stern, stubborn old soldier was received with great
+demonstrations of joy by the Hollanders. Despite all his stubbornness,
+Stuyvesant was a man of keen sagacity. He was despotic, yet honest and
+wise. He set about some much needed reforms, refusing to sell liquors
+and arms to the Indians. He soon taught the Indians to respect and fear
+him; but at the same time they learned to admire his honesty
+and courage.
+
+By prudent and adroit management, Stuyvesant swept away many annoyances
+in the shape of territorial claims. When the Plymouth Company assigned
+their American domain to twelve persons, they conveyed to Lord Stirling,
+the proprietor of Nova Scotia, a part of New England and an island
+adjacent to Long Island. Stirling tried to take possession of Long
+Island, but failed. At his death, in 1647, his widow sent a Scotchman to
+assert the claim and act as governor. He proclaimed himself as such, but
+was promptly arrested by Stuyvesant and put on board a ship bound for
+Holland. The vessel touched at an English port, where the "governor"
+escaped, and no further trouble with the family of Lord Stirling ensued.
+
+Stuyvesant went to Hartford and settled by treaty all disputes with the
+New Englanders which had annoyed his predecessors. Then he turned his
+attention to the suppression of the expanding power and influence of the
+Swedes on the Delaware. The accession of a new queen to the throne of
+Sweden made it necessary to make a satisfactory adjustment of the
+long-pending dispute about the territory. Stuyvesant was instructed to
+act firmly but discreetly. Accompanied by his suite of officers, he went
+to Fort Nassau on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, whence he sent
+Printz, the governor of New Sweden, an abstract of the title of the
+Dutch to the domain and called a council of the Indian chiefs in the
+neighborhood. These chiefs declared the Swedes to be usurpers and by
+solemn treaty gave all the land to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant crossed
+over and, near the site of New Castle in Delaware, built a fort, which
+he called Fort Cassimer. Governor Printz protested in vain. The two
+magistrates held friendly personal intercourse, and they mutually
+promised to "keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together."
+This strange friendly conquest was in the year 1651. The following year
+an important concession was made to the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. A
+constant war was waged between Stuyvesant and the representatives of the
+people called the "Nine." The governor tried to repress the spirit of
+popular freedom; the Nine fostered it. They wanted a municipal
+government for their growing capital and, fearing the governor, made a
+direct application to the states-general for the privilege. It was
+granted, and the people of New Amsterdam were allowed a government like
+the free cities of Holland, the officers to be appointed by the
+governor. Under this arrangement, New Amsterdam (afterward New York)
+was, early in 1653, organized as a city. Stuyvesant was very much
+annoyed by this "imprudent entrusting of power with the people."
+
+Stuyvesant was a royalist, and for years he struggled with the
+increasing spirit of republicanism, which was constantly growing among
+his people; but he was not troubled by his domestic affairs alone; his
+foreign relations were once more disturbed. Governor Printz returned to
+Sweden, and in his place the warlike magistrate John Risingh came to the
+Delaware with some soldiers under the bold Swen Schute, and appeared
+before Fort Cassimer demanding its surrender.
+
+The Dutch residents fled to the fort demanding protection; but Bikker
+the commander said:
+
+"I have no powder. What can I do?"
+
+After an hour's parley, Bikker went out, leaving the gate of the fort
+wide open, and shook hands with Schute and his men, welcoming them as
+friends. The Swedes fired two shots over the fort in token of its
+capture and then, blotting out the Dutch garrison, named it Fort
+Trinity, as the surrender was on Trinity Sunday, 1654.
+
+Stuyvesant was enraged and perplexed by this surrender. At that time he
+was expecting an attack from the English, and the doughty governor
+prepared to wipe out the stain on Belgic prowess caused "by that
+infamous surrender." On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven
+vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New
+Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between
+Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a
+drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute
+complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he
+drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ended
+the bloodless conquest.
+
+[Illustration: Stuyvesant.]
+
+On his return to Manhattan, Stuyvesant found the wildest confusion
+reigning because of a sudden uprising of the Indians. A former civil
+officer named Van Dyck had a very fine peach orchard which caused him no
+little annoyance on account of the constant pilfering of the Indians.
+Van Dyck, had grown exasperated and had vowed to kill the next Indian
+whom he should discover stealing his fruit. One day while the stout
+Dutchman was at his midday meal, his son ran in to tell him that he had
+seen an Indian squaw enter the orchard. Van Dyck sprang from the table
+vowing vengeance, and from the rack made of deer's horns he took down
+his fusee and rushed into the orchard, taking care to conceal himself
+until he was within easy range. The squaw saw him and, with a yell of
+fear, wheeled to fly for her life; but Van Dyck was a true shot and,
+bringing his gun to his shoulder, killed her as she ran.
+
+[Illustration: THE SQUAW, WITH A YELL OF FEAR, WHEELED TO FLY FOR HER
+LIFE.]
+
+The fury of the tribe was kindled, and the long peace of ten years was
+suddenly broken. One morning before daybreak almost two thousand river
+Indians in sixty large war-canoes landed, distributed themselves through
+the town and, under pretence of looking for northern Indians, broke into
+several dwellings in search of Van Dyck. A council of the inhabitants
+was immediately held at the fort, and the sachems of the invaders were
+summoned before them. The Indian leaders agreed to leave the city and
+pass over to Nutten (now Governor's Island), before sunset; but they
+broke their promise. That afternoon Van Dyck was discovered, and they
+opened fire on him. He fled down the street, but was finally shot and
+killed, and the lives of others were threatened. The people flew to arms
+and drove the savages to their canoes. The Indians crossed the Hudson
+and ravaged New Jersey and Staten Island. Within three days a hundred
+inhabitants were killed, one hundred and fifty made captives, and the
+estates of three hundred utterly desolated by the dusky foe. In the
+height of the excitement, Stuyvesant returned and soon brought order out
+of chaos, yet distant settlements were still broken up, the inhabitants
+in fear flying to Manhattan for safety. To prevent a like calamity in
+the future, the governor issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in
+secluded places in the country to gather themselves into villages "after
+the fashion of our New Engand neighbors." After some desultory fighting
+on the frontier, Dutch and Indian hostilities in a great measure ceased,
+and for about ten years, beyond the threatenings of the English on the
+one hand and the Indians on the other, New Netherland enjoyed a season
+of peace and prosperity.
+
+The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island and a part
+of the Mason and Gorges claim, had, in 1644, formed a confederacy. The
+New England Confederacy--the harbinger of the United States of
+America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
+thirteen states under the "Articles of Confederation," each jealously
+guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
+general government. That central body was in reality no government at
+all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
+church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
+if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
+measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
+legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
+had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
+supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
+only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
+separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
+United States.
+
+Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
+greater population and her superiority as a "perfect republic." It
+remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
+government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
+between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
+Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
+lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
+commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
+the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
+England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
+The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
+profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
+obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
+brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
+led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
+the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
+authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
+"silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
+twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
+within the territory of the United States."
+
+There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
+the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
+complexion indicated southern blood. He was a foster-son of the Pilgrim
+Father, Mr. Robinson, and had come to New England in the _Mayflower_
+when she made her first memorable voyage to Plymouth, thirty-two
+years before.
+
+Mathew Stevens had removed with his family from New Plymouth to Boston
+the year before the king of England lost his head. This man was a
+brother to the father of John Stevens of Virginia, and though he had
+Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Puritan. The Puritan of
+Massachusetts was, at this time, the straitest of his sect, an
+unflinching egotist, who regarded himself as eminently his "brother's
+keeper," whose constant business it was to save his fellow-men from sin
+and error, sitting in judgment upon their belief and actions with the
+authority of a divinely appointed high priest. His laws, found on the
+statute books of the colony, or divulged in the records of court
+proceedings, exhibit the salient points in his stern and inflexible
+character, as a self-constituted censor and a conservator of the moral
+and spiritual destiny of his fellow-mortals. A fine was imposed on
+every woman wearing her hair cut short like a man's; all gaming for
+amusement or gain was forbidden, and cards and dice were not permitted
+in the colony. A father was fined if his daughter did not spin as much
+flax or wool as the selectmen required of her. No Jesuit or Roman
+Catholic priest was permitted to make his residence within the colony.
+All persons were forbidden to run or even walk, "except to and from
+church" on Sunday, and a burglar, because he committed his crime on that
+sacred day, was to have one of his ears cut off. John Wedgewood was
+placed in the stocks for being in the company of drunkards. Thomas
+Petit, for "suspicion of slander, idleness and stubbornness," was
+severely whipped. Captain Lowell, a dashing ladies' man, more of a
+cavalier and modern society fop than a sober Puritan, was admonished to
+"take heed of his light carriage." The records show that Josias
+Plaistowe, for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was
+ordered to return to them eight baskets, to be fined five pounds, and
+thereafter to "be called by the name of Josias, and not Mr. Plaistowe,
+as formerly." The grand jurors were directed to admonish those who wore
+apparel too costly for their income, and, if they did not heed the
+warning, to fine them, and in the year 1646 there was enacted a law in
+Massachusetts which imposed a penalty of flogging for kissing a woman
+on the street, even in the way of honest salute. This law remained in
+force for a hundred years, though it was practically ignored.
+
+In this school of rigid Puritanism lived the northern family of Stevens,
+of the same Spanish branch as the Virginia family. The head of the
+family, having been trained by such devout men as John Robinson and
+William Brewster, of course grew up in the law and customs of the
+Puritans. Puritanism to-day has a semblance of fanaticism; but in the
+age of pioneers, when civilization was in its infancy, the frontierman
+naturally went to some extreme. Extreme Puritanism is better than the
+reign of lawlessness which characterized many frontier settlements in
+later years. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fanaticism
+and the keenest sagacity, and the folly of one age may become the wisdom
+of a succeeding century. Fanatic as the Puritan may be called, he was
+the sage of New England and gave to that land an impetus in the arts,
+literature, and science, which has enabled that country to eclipse any
+other part of the New World.
+
+While New England was steadily progressing, despite changes in the home
+government, Maryland was without any historical event worth mentioning,
+save the trouble with Claybourne.
+
+That portion of the United States known as New Jersey and Delaware
+consisted at this time of only a few trading settlements hardly worthy
+of being called colonies. Except for the Swedish and Dutch troubles and
+the Indian wars mentioned, these countries were in the last decade
+wholly without historical interest. After all, territory is but the body
+of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul,
+its spirit and its life.
+
+All south of Virginia was a wilderness occupied by tribes of Indians
+until the Spanish settlements were reached. That portion now known as
+Carolinia and Georgia was claimed by Spain. In 1630, a patent for all
+this territory was issued to Sir Robert Heath, and there is room to
+believe that, in 1639, permanent plantations were planned and
+contemplated by his assign William Howley, who appeared in Virginia as
+"Governor of Carolinia." The Virginia legislature granted that it might
+be colonized by one hundred persons from Virginia, "freemen, being
+single and disengaged of debt." The attempts were unsuccessful, for the
+patent was declared void, because the purpose for which it was granted
+had never been fulfilled. Besides, more stubborn rivals were found to
+have already planted themselves on the Cape Fear River. Hardly had New
+England received within her bosom a few scanty colonies, before her
+citizens began roaming the continent and traversing the seas in quest of
+untried fortune. A little bark, navigated by New England men, had
+hovered off the coast of Carolinia. They had carefully watched the
+dangers of its navigation, had found their way into the Cape Fear River,
+had purchased of the Indian chiefs a title to the soil, and had boldly
+planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any English
+settlement on the continent. Already they had partners in London, and
+hardly was the grant of Carolinia made known before their agents pleaded
+their discovery, occupancy and purchase, as affording a valid title to
+the soil, while they claimed the privilege of self-government as a
+natural right. A compromise was offered, and the proprietaries, in their
+"proposal to all that would plant in Carolinia," promised emigrants from
+New England a governor and council to be elected from among a number
+whom the emigrants themselves should nominate; a representative
+assembly, independent legislation, subject only to the negative of the
+proprietaries, land at a rent of half a penny per acre and such freedom
+from customs as the charter would warrant.
+
+Notwithstanding all these offers, but few availed themselves of them,
+and the lands were for most part abandoned to wild beasts and natives.
+From Nansemond, Virginia, a party of explorers was formed to traverse
+the forests and rivers that flow into the Albemarle Sound. The company
+which started in July, 1653, was led by Roger Green, whose services
+were rewarded by a grant of a thousand acres, while ten thousand acres
+were offered to any colony of one hundred persons who would plant on the
+banks of the Roanoke, or the south side of the Chowan and its tributary
+streams. These conditional grants seem not to have taken effect, yet the
+enterprise of Virginia did not flag, and Thomas Dew, once the speaker of
+the assembly, formed a plan for exploring the navigable rivers still
+further to the south, between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. How far this
+spirit of discovery led to immediate emigration, it is not possible to
+determine. The country of Nansemond had long abounded in nonconformists,
+and the settlements on Albemarle Sound were the result of spontaneous
+overflowings from Virginia. A few vagrant families were planted within
+the limits of Carolinia; but it is quite certain that no colony existed
+until after the restoration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+
+                                     The wind
+     Increased at night, until it blew a gale;
+       And though 'twas not much to naval mind,
+     Some landsmen would have looked a little pale,
+       For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:
+     At sunset they began to take in sail.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+Nearly two centuries and a half have made wonderful changes in ocean
+travel. The floating palaces of to-day which plough the deep on schedule
+time, regardless of storms, contrary winds and adverse tides, were
+unknown when John Stevens embarked for England in 1654.
+
+The vessel in which he sailed was one of the best of the time. It was
+large, well manned and officered, and few had any fears of risking a
+voyage in the stanch craft _Silverwing_; but John Stevens could no more
+allay his fears than control the storm.
+
+His wife, who stood weeping on the strand, became a speck in the
+distance and then disappeared from his view. The heart of the husband
+overflowed with bitterness, and he turned from the taffrail where he had
+been standing and walked forward to conceal his emotion.
+
+All about him were gay groups of people, laughing and jesting. They were
+mostly men and women who had come from England and were happy now that
+they were going home. John's wife seemed to have lost her many faults,
+and the image that faded from his gaze was a creature of perfection.
+Only the beautiful face, the great dark eyes and the sunny smiles were
+remembered.
+
+John went to his stateroom and, falling into his berth, wept. He may be
+called weak, but he was not. John had braved too many dangers and
+undergone too many hardships to be termed weak. His mind was filled with
+his wife and children. The face of his sleeping baby, whose warm, tender
+arms had been so often entwined about his neck, lingered in his mind.
+When the dinner hour came he was not hungry, so he remained in
+his cabin.
+
+The vessel had gained the open sea by nightfall and was bowling along at
+a three-knot rate under full spread of canvas and fair wind. He went to
+supper, though little inclined to eat, and during the night was awakened
+with a load heavier than grindstones on his stomach.
+
+"Surely I will die," he groaned, as each heaving billow seemed to
+torture his poor stomach. He rose at dawn and found himself unable to
+stand. The sea was rough, and the ship was tossing and reeling like a
+drunken man. John found himself unable to lie down or sit up. He spent
+the day in rolling alternately in his berth or on the floor, groaning,
+"Surely I will die."
+
+The purser came and laughed at his distress, assuring him that he would
+survive. Next day he felt better and crawled out upon the deck. The sea
+still ran high, though the sky was clear, and the sun shone on the
+wildly agitated sea.
+
+He saw a wretch as miserable as himself crouching under a hencoop and
+holding both hands upon his tortured stomach. John Stevens paused for a
+moment at the rail, gasping with seasickness.
+
+"Say, neighbor, are you having a hard time?" asked the seasick but
+cheerful individual under the hencoop.
+
+"My head hurts," John gasped.
+
+"Verily, I ache all over," returned the new acquaintance under the
+hencoop.
+
+At this moment the cabin door was thrown suddenly and unceremoniously
+open, and a man past middle age darted forward as if he had been shot
+out of a cannon and went sprawling upon the deck, howling as he did so:
+
+"Good morrow, stranger!"
+
+John was not astonished at the sudden appearance of the man, but was
+rather alarmed at the violence of his fall. He ran to him and assisted
+him to rise.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay; the fall was not violent."
+
+The man under the hencoop, who had been a disinterested spectator, took
+occasion to remark:
+
+"Marry! my friend, I wish it were I who had taken such a tumble; surely
+it would have crushed the stones in my stomach."
+
+"I am not sick," the new-comer answered, rising to his feet. "I was
+thrown by the sudden lurch of the ship; but it will soon be over."
+
+"I trust so," groaned the seasick man by the hencoop.
+
+"But the sea runs high," the old man said, "let us go in."
+
+John Stevens, who had partially recovered from his seasickness, went
+into the cabin with the stranger. He had formed no acquaintances since
+coming on board the vessel and was strangely impressed with this old
+gentleman. Men cannot always brood on the past and retain their senses.
+John Stevens was not a coward, yet the helpless condition of his wife
+and children made him dread danger. When they were seated he said:
+
+"You do not belong at Jamestown."
+
+"No. I am from London and know no one at Jamestown."
+
+"You came in the last ship?"
+
+"We did."
+
+"You did not come alone?"
+
+"No; my daughter Blanche came with me. She is all the child I have."
+
+John Stevens remembered to have seen a very pretty girl on the streets
+of Jamestown, and for having praised her beauty, his wife had grown
+insanely jealous and given way to one of her outbursts of anger. The
+gentleman from London was Mr. Samuel Holmes, who had been a too warm
+friend of Charles I. to suit the Protectorate, and after Cromwellism had
+become a certainty, he considered it better to fly the country. As
+Virginia had been friendly to cavaliers, he had brought his daughter to
+Jamestown and spent six months there; but, being assured by friends that
+he could return with safety, he had decided to go home.
+
+From that time John Stevens and Mr. Holmes became friends. In a day or
+two more the passengers had nearly all recovered from their
+seasickness, and the voyage promised to be a favorable one. John
+Stevens met Blanche Holmes, a pretty blue-eyed English girl, with light
+brown hair and ruddy cheeks. She was not over eighteen years of age, and
+was one of those trusting, confiding creatures, who win friends at
+first sight. By the strange, fortuitous circumstances which fate seems
+to indiscriminately weave about people, the maid and John Stevens were
+thrown much into each other's society.
+
+She had many questions to ask about the New World. He, having passed all
+his life there and having explored the coast to Massachusetts and fought
+many battles with the Indians, was able to entertain her, and she never
+seemed to tire of listening to his adventures. It never occurred to John
+that there could be any impropriety in talking to this child, nor was
+there any, though modern society might condemn him. He never mentioned
+his family to either Blanche or her father.
+
+That wife and children left at Jamestown were subjects too sacred for
+general conversation. When alone in his stateroom he knelt and breathed
+a prayer for them, and often in his dreams he heard his laughing boy at
+play, or felt the warm, soft hand of his baby on his cheek, or heard her
+sweet voice calling him. Often he awoke and sobbed like a child on
+discovering that the ship was hourly bearing him further and further
+from home.
+
+Mr. Holmes was a cheerful companion at first, but gradually he grew
+melancholy, and at times inapproachable. One day John met him at the
+gangway, and he took the young man's arm and, leading him aft, said:
+
+"I want to talk with you."
+
+They sat upon some coils of rope, and Mr. Holmes resumed: "We are going
+to have bad weather. I am something of a sailor, and, in addition to my
+own experience, the captain says we will have a storm ere many hours."
+
+There was something in the voice and manner of the man which chilled
+Stevens; but he retained his self-possession and answered:
+
+"Of course you feel no serious apprehension? The ship is strong and able
+to weather any storm."
+
+"I believe it is; yet in a storm at sea we have no assurance of safety.
+Our captain is incompetent and the vessel has, through a miscalculation,
+gone a long distance out of her true course. Now what I wish to say is
+this: should anything happen to me on this voyage, I want you to care
+for my daughter. You have seen and talked with her every day since first
+we met, and you know how good she is. I am her only relative on earth,
+and Cromwell has set a price on my head. Should I perish, she will be
+without a protector."
+
+John Stevens was astonished at the strange request, but consented to
+accept the charge, provided he should be spared and Mr. Holmes
+should perish.
+
+Mr. Holmes was not mistaken in his surmises about the weather. The day
+of this interview was the nineteenth of September, and before night the
+sky was obscured by great fleecy clouds, and in the evening the rain
+fell in torrents. The firmament darkened apace; sudden night came on,
+and the horrors of extreme darkness were rendered still more horrible by
+the peals of thunder which made the sphere tremble, and the frequent
+flashes of lightning, which served only to show the horror of the
+situation, and then leave them in darkness still more intense. The wind
+grew more violent, and a heavy sea, raised by its force, united to add
+to the dangers of the situation.
+
+"It is coming," Mr. Holmes whispered to John, whom he met in the
+gangway.
+
+"We are going to have a terrible storm," John answered.
+
+"Yes; remember your promise."
+
+"I will not forget it, Mr. Holmes; but why do you refer to it? Surely
+you are as likely as I to outlive the tempest."
+
+"No, no," Mr. Holmes answered, shaking his white head despairingly, "I
+have an impression that my time has surely come."
+
+John Stevens was startled by the remark, for he too was living in the
+shadow of some expected calamity. He next met the passenger whom he had
+seen under the lee of the hencoop, and his despair and grimaces were
+enough to make even the discouraged John smile.
+
+"Oh, I shall be drowned. I shall be drowned!" the poor fellow was
+groaning. "Pray for me, some of you who can. I cannot, for it would do
+no good; but some of you can surely pray. By the mass! I see the very
+whale that swallowed Jonah ready to gulp me down."
+
+He was clinging to some ropes as if he expected momentarily to be swept
+away.
+
+John Stevens went to bed, which was the most sensible thing he could do.
+By daylight on the morning of the twentieth, the gale had increased to a
+furious tempest, and the sea, keeping pace with it, ran mountains high.
+All that day the passengers were kept close below hatches, for the sea
+beat over the ship.
+
+About seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-first, John Stevens was
+alarmed by an unusual noise upon deck, and running up, perceived that
+every sail in the vessel, except the foresail, had been totally carried
+away. The sight was horrible, and the whole vessel presented a spectacle
+of despair, which the stoutest heart could not withstand. Fear had
+produced not only all the helplessness of despondency, but all the
+mischievous freaks of insanity. In one place stood the captain, raving,
+stamping and tearing his hair in handfuls from his head. Here some of
+the crew were upon their knees, clasping their hands and praying, with
+all the extravagance of horror depicted in their faces. Others were
+flogging their images with might and main, calling upon them to allay
+the storm. One of the passengers from England had got hold of a bottle
+of rum and, with an air of distraction and deep despair imprinted on his
+face, was stalking about in his shirt, crying:
+
+"Come, drink to oblivion, death we must meet; let us make the
+dissolution easy." Perceiving that it was his intent to serve it out to
+the few undismayed members of the ship's crew, John rushed on him,
+seized the liquor and hurled it over into the raging sea.
+
+Having accomplished this, Stevens next applied himself to the captain,
+endeavoring to bring him back to his senses, and a realization of the
+duty which he owed as commander to the passengers and crew. He appealed
+to his dignity as a man, exhorted him to encourage the sailors by his
+example, and strove to raise his spirits by saying that the storm did
+not appear so terrible as some he had before experienced. While he was
+thus employed, they shipped a sea on the starboard side, which all
+thought would send them to the bottom. For a moment the vessel seemed to
+sink beneath its weight, shivered and remained motionless. It was a
+moment of critical suspense, and, fancying that they were gradually
+descending into the great bosom of the ocean, John Stevens gave himself
+up for lost and summoned all his fortitude to bear the approaching death
+as became a brave man.
+
+At this crisis, the water, which rushed with incredible force through
+all parts of the vessel, floated out. Mr. Holmes was almost drowned,
+and, had not John seized one arm which he swung wildly above his head,
+he probably would have been washed overboard. The vessel did not go down
+immediately as they thought it would, and Mr. Holmes, partially
+recovered, joined Stevens.
+
+"The storm is terrible," said the old man. "The ship is going down, and
+I will go with it."
+
+"Nay, nay; keep up a stout heart," urged John.
+
+"Verily, how can I, when danger overwhelms even the captain?"
+
+"If we must die, let us die like men, struggling for our lives," said
+John.
+
+"Remember your pledge to me. Care for her, for I will go. The ship may
+be saved, but my end I feel is near."
+
+John promised to obey his request, and then, being one whom hope never
+entirely deserted, he turned upon the captain of the ship and once more
+urged him to make some manly exertion to save himself and the crew.
+
+"Throw the guns overboard as well as much of the weighty cargo," he
+cried, "and set the pumps a-going."
+
+Mr. Holmes, having sufficiently recovered to realize the wisdom of the
+course pursued by Stevens, joined him in his entreaties, and they got
+the captain and some of his crew to make one more effort. The water,
+however, gained on the pumps, and it seemed as if they would not long be
+able to keep the vessel afloat.
+
+At ten o'clock, the wind had increased to a hurricane; the sky was so
+entirely obscured with black clouds, and the rain poured in such
+torrents, that objects could not be discerned from the wheel to the
+ship's head. Soon the pumps were choked and could be no longer worked.
+Then dismay seized on all, and nothing but unutterable despair, anguish
+and horror, wrought up to frenzy, were to be seen. Not a single person
+was capable of an effort to be useful; all seemed more desirous to
+terminate their calamities in an embrace of death, than willing, by a
+painful exertion, to avoid it.
+
+John Stevens, though despairing, yet determined to make a manly struggle
+for life, and he was staggering through the main cabin, when some one
+clutched his arm. He turned about and through the gloom saw Blanche's
+pale face.
+
+"Are we going down?" she asked.
+
+"God grant that it be not so!" he answered.
+
+"But such fearful noises, such hideous sights."
+
+"Be brave, young maid," he urged. "Where is your father?"
+
+"His shoulder is injured, and his left arm is almost useless."
+
+At this moment Mr. Holmes came along, holding his injured arm with his
+right hand.
+
+"Aye, my friend, the worst is coming," he said, fixing his despairing
+eyes on the white face of his daughter. "I am pleased to find you
+together, for now I can say what I would to both of you. Blanche, he
+hath promised to care for you; he is a man of honor, rely on him."
+
+A sudden lurch of the vessel sent all three in a heap at one side of the
+cabin, and, as soon as John could regain his feet and ascertain that the
+old gentleman and his daughter had sustained no injury, he went on deck.
+At about eleven o'clock, they could plainly distinguish a dreadful
+roaring noise resembling that of waves rolling against the rocks; but
+the darkness of the day and the accompanying rain made it impossible to
+see for any distance, and John realized that, if they were near rocks,
+they might be dashed to pieces on them before they were perceived. At
+twelve o'clock, however, the weather cleared a little, when they
+discovered breakers and reefs outside, so that it was evident they had
+passed in quite close to them, and were now fairly hemmed in between the
+rocks and the land.
+
+At this very critical moment, the captain adopted the dangerous
+expedient of dropping anchor, to bring the ship up with her head to the
+sea. Any seaman of common sense and not frightened out of his wits must
+have known that no ship could ride at anchor in that storm. John
+Stevens, though no sailor, saw the folly of such a course and
+expostulated with the captain, but to no purpose. Scarcely had the
+anchor taken firm hold when an enormous sea, rolling over the ship,
+overwhelmed her and filled her with water, and every one on board
+concluded that she was sinking. On the instant a sailor, with presence
+of mind worthy of an English mariner, took an axe, ran forward and cut
+the cable.
+
+The freed vessel again floated and made an effort to right herself, but
+she was almost completely waterlogged and heeled to larboard so much
+that the gunwale lay under water. They then endeavored to steer as fast
+as they could for land, which they knew could not be at any great
+distance, though through the hazy weather they were unable to see it.
+The foresail was loosened, and, by great efforts in bailing, she righted
+a little, her gunwale was raised above water, and they scudded as well
+as they could before the wind, which blew hard on shore, and at about
+two o'clock one of the sailors said he espied land ahead.
+
+"We will never reach it," said Mr. Holmes, who was at the side of John
+Stevens.
+
+"Do not despair," said John.
+
+"But we can't reach the shore, look at those waves."
+
+A tremendous sea rolling after them broke over the stern of the ship,
+tore everything before it, stove in the steerage, carried away the
+rudder, shivered the wheel to pieces and tore up the very ringbolts of
+the deck, carrying the men who stood on the deck forward and sweeping
+them overboard. Among them was the unfortunate captain of the
+_Silverwing_. John was standing at the time near the wheel, and
+fortunately had hold of the taffrail, which enabled him to resist in
+part the weight of the wave. He was, however, swept off his feet, and
+dashed against the main-mast. So violent was the jerk from the taffrail,
+that it seemed as if it would have dislocated his arms. However, it
+broke the force of the stroke, and, in all probability, saved him from
+being dashed to death against the mast.
+
+John floundered about in the water at the foot of the mast, until at
+length he got upon his feet and seized a rope, which he held while
+considering what he should do to extricate himself. At this instant he
+perceived Mr. Holmes and his daughter on the capstan. How they had got
+there was a marvel to him which he had no time to investigate. Mr.
+Holmes beckoned with his lame hand to John, while he clung to his
+daughter with his right. A vivid flash of lightning lighted up the
+scene, and John saw that Blanche was very pale, but calm. Never had he
+seen a more beautiful picture than this pretty maiden with her face
+turned in resignation to the storm. He forgot his own danger, forgot
+wife and children at home in his unselfish eagerness to snatch the
+unfortunate girl from the impending danger.
+
+It was no easy matter for John Stevens to break away from his hold on
+the main-mast and make his way to the capstan. At every roll of the ship
+and every surge of the waves, unfortunate passengers or sailors were
+washed overboard and plunged into the boiling, seething waves which
+thundered about them. Stevens made a bold push, however, and reached the
+capstan. Here he could survey the wreck, and he saw that the water was
+nearly breast-high on the quarter-deck of the vessel.
+
+"It will soon be over," said Mr. Holmes in a voice so despairing that it
+rang in the ears of John Stevens to his dying day. "Crew and passengers
+are nearly all gone, and my turn will come soon."
+
+Even as he spoke, the purser, two men and four women were washed
+overboard, their drowning screams mingling with the hollow roars of
+the ocean.
+
+"Take her! take her!" cried Mr. Holmes frantically. "I resign her to
+you. I am going; I can hold out no longer."
+
+A wave more terrible than any that had preceded it at this moment seemed
+to bury the ship, which was driving straight toward the unknown shore.
+Instinctively John wound one arm about the girl and held to the capstan
+with the other. It seemed an age, and he was almost on the point of
+relaxing his hold on the capstan, when they once more rose above the
+water, and he got a breath of air. He still clung to Blanche in despair,
+though she lay so limp in his arms that he thought her dead.
+
+It was now dark, for night had fallen upon the awful scene. A flash of
+lightning illuminated the wreck, Mr. Holmes was gone, and Stevens could
+not see another soul on the vessel. The wild roar of surf fell on his
+ears, and a moment later he felt the bottom of the ship grating on the
+sands. It seemed to glide further and further on the beach, as if the
+ship were being lifted and driven inland. The tide was at the full, and
+the wind was blowing a hurricane on shore, so that the wreck was driven
+far up on the beach, and at low tide it was high and dry.
+
+John Stevens remained by the capstan, as it was highest point, holding
+Blanche in his arms long after the ship had settled in the sands. The
+waves leaped and raved angrily below; but not a human voice was heard.
+He asked himself if Blanche were dead or living. At last he felt her
+move and, placing his hand on her heart, was rejoiced to know that it
+still beat.
+
+"Father--father!" she faintly murmured.
+
+"He is gone," John answered.
+
+"Is this you?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cling to me."
+
+"I will. We will survive or perish together."
+
+Then she became silent, and the night grew blacker, while the storm
+howled; but the waves receded with the ebbing tide, and the broken hulk
+remained fast fixed in the sands. The poor girl shivered all through
+that night and clung to her preserver. She did not weep at the loss of
+her father, for the horror of their situation dried the fountains of
+grief. All night long the warring elements raged about the remaining
+castaways, who clung with the tenacity of despair to the wreck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JOHN STEVENS' CHARGE.
+
+     The fair wind blew, the white foam flew,
+       The furrow followed free;
+     We were the first that ever burst
+       Into that silent sea.
+
+     Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
+       'Twas sad as sad could be;
+     And we did speak only to break
+       The silence of the sea.
+                                         --COLERIDGE.
+
+Since the art of navigation became known, there have been castaways in
+romance and reality without number. De Foe's celebrated Robinson Crusoe
+stands first, but not alone among the shipwrecked mariners of truth and
+fiction. How many countless thousands have suffered shipwreck and
+disaster at sea, whose wild narratives have never been recorded, will
+never be known.
+
+John Stevens was not a reader of romance and poetry, which at his age
+were in their infancy in Virginia. The hardy pioneers of the New World
+were kept too busy fighting Indians and building plantations and cities
+to read romance or history. Consequently he had no similar adventures to
+compare with his own. John had enough of the sturdy Puritan in his
+nature to deeply feel the duty incumbent on him, and enough of the
+cavalier to be a gentleman, unselfish and kind.
+
+Throughout the long night he held the half inanimate form of Blanche in
+his arms. The storm abated and the tide running out left the vessel
+imbedded in the sands. John watched for the coming morn as a condemned
+criminal looks for a pardon. He knew no cast nor west in the darkness;
+but anon the sea and sky in a certain place became brighter and
+brighter. The clouds rolled away, and he saw the bright morning star
+fade, as the sable cloak of night was rent to admit the new born day.
+
+Blanche sat up and, gazed over the scene as the flashing rays of
+sunlight gleamed over the sea and shore.
+
+"Are we all?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was no one saved?"
+
+"None but ourselves."
+
+"And the ship?"
+
+"Is a hopeless wreck on the sands," he answered.
+
+As they rose to gaze upon their surroundings, John Stevens thought with
+regret that if the crew and passengers had remained below hatches, they
+would have been saved; but he and Blanche were all who remained, and he
+turned his gaze to the wild shores hoping to discover some sign of
+civilization. There was not a hamlet, house or wigwam to indicate that
+Christian or savage inhabited the land.
+
+Blanche marked the troubled look on his face and asked:
+
+"Do you know where we are?"
+
+"No."
+
+The shore was wild and rocky, and on their right it was covered with a
+dense growth of tropical trees. Farther inland rose two towering
+mountains. The beach directly before them was low and receding. A long,
+level plain, covered with a dense growth of coarse sea-grass, was
+between them and the hills, which were covered with palms, maguey and
+other tropical trees.
+
+John feared that they had been wrecked on the coast of some of the
+Spanish possessions and would be made captives and perhaps slaves by the
+half-civilized colonists.
+
+They could not live long on the wreck, and he began to look about the
+deck for some means of going ashore. The pinnace which had been stowed
+away between decks was an almost complete wreck. It would have been
+useless had it remained whole, for John and his companion could not
+have launched it. There was a small boat hanging by the davits, which
+had sustained no other injury than two holes in its side. He was a fair
+carpenter, and getting some tools from the carpenter's chest, he mended
+the boat. After no little trouble, he lowered the boat and, assisting
+Blanche into it, pulled to the shore half a mile away.
+
+It was a shore on which no human foot had ever trod. The great black
+stones which lay piled in heaps along the coast to the northeast until
+they were almost mountain-high forbade the safe approach of a vessel.
+The entire coast was armed with bristling reefs to guard it against the
+approach of wandering ships. It was almost miraculous that they had been
+driven in between the reefs at the only visible opening. A hundred paces
+in either direction their vessel would have been forced upon the rocks.
+
+"Is this country inhabited?" asked Blanche, when they had landed, and
+made fast their boat to a great stone.
+
+"I fear not," he answered; "or, if inhabited, it is probably by
+savages."
+
+"Should that be true, ours will be a sad fate."
+
+"I will not desert you," he answered.
+
+They sat down on the dry white sand to rest and gazed at the wreck, with
+its head high in the air and its stern low in the water.
+
+"We made a mistake in not bringing some arms to defend ourselves
+against savages or wild beasts," said John.
+
+"Can we not go back for them?"
+
+"Would you be afraid to remain on the beach while I went?" he asked.
+
+She said she would not, though he noticed her cast nervous glances
+toward the thickets and forests inland. As he pushed out once more into
+the shallow waters lying between the beach and wreck, she came down so
+close to the water's edge that the waves almost touched her toes.
+
+"You won't be long gone?" she called in a low, sweet voice, trembling
+with dread.
+
+"No."
+
+He reached the wreck and went on board by means of broken shrouds lashed
+to the gunwale. The sun shone as brightly and the sky was as peaceful as
+if no storm had ever swept over it. The deck was almost dry, and, the
+hatches having been fastened, John was agreeably surprised to find but
+little damage done by the water. He went down to the companion-way and
+found less water in the hold than he expected. He brought out two
+muskets, a pair of pistols, a keg of powder, and bullets enough for his
+arms. The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time
+matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.
+
+A dagger and a sword were also added to the armament, which John
+lowered into his boat. Then he remembered that Blanche had had no food,
+and he bethought himself of some provisions. He went again into the hold
+and, thanks to the care of the cook in stowing away the provisions,
+found most of them dry and snug in the fore-part of the vessel. He got
+out a small chest of sea biscuits, a Holland cheese, and some dried
+fish, which he carried to his boat. He paused a moment to gaze at
+Blanche, who sat on a stone watching him. The almost tropical sun
+beating down upon her defenceless head suggested the need of some sort
+of shelter, and he procured some canvas and threw in an axe and pair of
+hatchets to cut poles and arrange a tent or shelter for her.
+
+Having at last loaded his boat he set out for shore. The tide was fast
+setting in and bore him rapidly onward. Landing he unloaded his boat,
+and asked:
+
+"Have you seen any one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I have brought some food."
+
+"It will be useless without water. I am very thirsty," she said.
+
+"We will go farther inland, where we must find fresh water," he said
+hopefully.
+
+John saw that Blanche had no covering for her head, and the sun's rays
+made her faint. He gave her his hat and for himself fashioned a cap of
+palm leaves. They went inland until they came to some tall trees, which
+afforded a grateful shade. Here he induced Blanche to rest, while he
+went further in search of fresh water. She was tired, and had a dread of
+being left alone in this strange land; but Blanche was reasonable and
+waited beneath the tall palms gazing on the coast, the sea and the wreck
+lying on the sands.
+
+"It might have been worse," she thought. "While all our friends and
+companions have perished, we are saved. God surely will not desert us.
+Having preserved us thus far for some purpose, he will not suffer us to
+perish until that purpose is accomplished. I alone might have been
+spared to perish miserably in a strange land."
+
+Meanwhile, John Stevens was roaming among the rocks and hills for fresh
+water. Great blackened stones parched and dry as the sands of Sahara met
+his view on every side, and no sight of water was found until he came to
+a dark shallow pool so warm that he could not drink it.
+
+"Heaven help us ere we perish," he groaned, wandering among the rocks
+and trees. "If we don't find water soon she will die."
+
+He threw himself on the ground in despair, and as he lay there, he
+thought he heard a trickling sound. He started up, fearing that his
+ears deceived him; but no, they did not. Beyond a moss-covered stone of
+great size was a clear, sparkling rivulet of bright, crystal water,
+falling into a stone basin of considerable depth. He stooped and found
+it sweet and cool. Oh, so refreshing! Slaking his thirst, he next
+thought of his suffering companion under the trees beyond the hill, and
+for the first time he reflected that he had failed to provide himself
+with any vessel to carry water. There was no bucket or cup nearer than
+the ship, and she might perish before he could bring anything from
+there. He set his gun against a rock and, plucking some broad palm
+leaves, made a cup which would hold about a pint.
+
+All this required time, and he was constantly tortured with the
+recollection that his charge was suffering with thirst. With the
+improvised cup full of water, he hastened to the almost fainting girl
+and said gladly:
+
+"I have found pure, sweet water in abundance. Drink of this, and we will
+go at once to the spring."
+
+She eagerly seized the leaf cup and drank, then found herself strong
+enough to cross the hill to the precious fountain.
+
+John left one of the guns with her, the other was at the spring; but the
+sword and pistols he kept at his belt.
+
+Taking the provisions and musket they set out for the spring. Here they
+bathed their hot faces and refreshed themselves.
+
+"Now let us have food," said John.
+
+The sea-biscuit and dried fish were wholesome, and they ate with a
+relish. John Stevens wanted to climb a lofty hill about two miles away,
+from which he hoped to have a good view of the surrounding country.
+
+"Can we from there determine what land we are on?" she asked.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"If there be cities, will we see them?"
+
+"We shall," he answered.
+
+"Have you no hopes nor fears?"
+
+"I have both."
+
+"What are your hopes?"
+
+"My hopes are that this is one of the Bermuda Islands."
+
+"And your fears?"
+
+"That this is one of the West India Islands, or a part of the Florida
+coast, under control of the Spaniards."
+
+"Did you hear the captain say where we were before the ship struck?"
+
+"No; he was a most incompetent master, and knew not where we were."
+
+"Whether we are in the land of enemies or friends, it will be better to
+know the truth," reasoned Blanche.
+
+"Are you strong enough for the walk?"
+
+She thought she was, and they started on their journey of exploration.
+One of the guns was left with the provisions at the spring; but John
+carried the other.
+
+The distance to the hill proved greater than they had supposed, and
+before they reached the base, the sun, sinking low in the heavens,
+admonished them that night would overtake them before the summit could
+possibly be gained.
+
+John called a halt and asked:
+
+"Shall we go on, or return to the beach?"
+
+Blanche gazed on the frowning hills and bluffs before them and thought
+it best to return. Those gloomy mountain wilds were terrible after dark,
+and she thought they would find it more congenial nearer the wreck.
+
+They returned to the beach. The inflowing tide had lifted their boat and
+borne it further up on the sands.
+
+"Will it not be carried off?" Blanche asked.
+
+"No, I have it anchored with a heavy stone, so it cannot be carried
+out."
+
+John cut four poles and drove them into the ground and spread the canvas
+over it, forming a shelter for Blanche. He had brought a blanket from
+the wreck, which, with some of the coarse grass he cut with his sword,
+formed a bed for his charge. A box which he had brought from the ship
+afforded her a seat.
+
+They had not found a human being, nor had they seen a single animal. A
+few sea-birds flying high in the air were the only living creatures
+which had greeted their vision since landing.
+
+"Will you be afraid to remain here while I go for the provisions and
+musket left at the spring?" asked John.
+
+"No, we have nothing to fear."
+
+"I believe this part of the coast to be entirely uninhabited."
+
+She made no answer, and he went for the gun and provisions. The walk was
+longer than he thought, for he was tired with the day's toil and was
+compelled to walk slowly. When about half-way to the spot he heard a
+rustling in the tall grass and paused to discover the cause. Cocking his
+gun, he tried to pierce the jungle, not fully decided whether the noise
+were made by man or beast.
+
+A moment later he heard something running away. It was beyond question a
+wild animal, frightened at his approach. He did not get a glimpse of it
+and was unable to tell what it was like.
+
+"If a beast," he thought, "it is the only one I have met with since
+landing on the coast."
+
+From the rustling it made, it was no doubt small and little to be
+feared. He listened for a moment, and then hurried on to the spring.
+
+"Blanche will be lonesome," he thought. "Her father placed her in my
+charge, and I will protect her if I can."
+
+Climbing the moss-grown stone, he descended into a dark ravine to the
+spring. The sun was set by this time, and the sombre shades of twilight
+began to spread over the scene. His eager eyes pierced the gathering
+gloom and discovered that the food left had been attacked by animals and
+the biscuit devoured.
+
+He searched the ground, and saw footprints.
+
+"Some animals have been here," he thought. "They evidently did not like
+dried fish, for, though they have trampled over them, they have devoured
+none; but the sea-biscuits are all gone."
+
+It was impossible to determine what sort of animals they were, but he
+was quite sure they were not dangerous.
+
+He took up the gun and returned to the tent, where he related to Blanche
+the loss of their biscuits.
+
+"Then there are animals on the land," she said.
+
+"Yes; but they are not dangerous," he returned. "These animals may
+prove useful to us for food."
+
+"I hope so."
+
+After several moments, she asked:
+
+"How long must we stay?"
+
+"I know not. Had I not better take the boat and go to the wreck for more
+food?"
+
+"No, not to-night," she answered with a shudder. "I prefer to go without
+food than to be left an hour alone in the approaching night."
+
+He had a sea-biscuit in his pocket, which he gave her and made his own
+supper of dried fish. With flint, steel and some powder, he kindled a
+fire near the tent and sat down before it with a gun across his knees
+and another at his side, his back against a tree. Thus he prepared to
+pass the night, urging his companion to go to sleep in the tent.
+
+Patient, confiding Blanche went and laid down to sleep. She had borne up
+well, not uttering a single complaint throughout all their
+trying ordeals.
+
+As John sat there keeping guard over his charge, his mind went back
+across the wild waste of waters to the home he had left. He seemed to
+feel the soft baby hands of little Rebecca on his face, or hear the
+prattling of his boy at play. His wife's great, dark eyes looked at him
+from out the gloom, and he sighed as he thought how improbable it was
+that he would ever see them again. Wrecked on an unknown shore, with
+dangers and difficulties to surmount, what hope had he of the future?
+
+"Heaven watch over and guard my helpless ones at home, as I guard the
+charge entrusted to me," he prayed.
+
+His fire was not so much to keep off the cold as wild animals. The
+distant roar of the ocean beating on the shore broke the silence. The
+low and melancholy sound fell on the ear of the unfortunate man, and,
+raising his eyes to the stars, he thought:
+
+"The same stars shine for them, and the same God keeps watch over all.
+May his guardian angels watch over the loved ones at home until the
+father and husband returns."
+
+John's heart was heavy. His fire had burned low, and he had forgotten to
+replenish it. Suddenly upon the air there came a half growl and half
+howl, and, looking up, he saw a pair of fiery eyes flashing upon him. An
+animal was approaching the tent. John cocked his gun, aimed at the two
+blazing eyes and fired.
+
+In a moment the eyes disappeared, and Blanche, alarmed at the report of
+the gun, sprang from the tent and wildly asked:
+
+"What was it? Are we attacked?"
+
+"Peace! It was only an animal, which I should judge to be a fox,"
+assured John.
+
+The report of the gun awakened a thousand slumbering sea-fowls, which
+arose screaming on the air in every direction. John listened to hear
+some animal, but not a growl and not a cry came on the air. After a few
+moments all was quiet once more, and he begged his charge to retire to
+sleep, while he took up his post as guard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE ISLAND OF DESOLATION.
+
+     I am monarch of all I survey,
+       My right there is none to dispute:
+     From the centre all round to the sea
+       I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
+     O Solitude! where are the charms
+       That sages have seen in thy face?
+     Better dwell in the midst of alarms
+       Than reign in this horrible place.
+                                        --COWPER.
+
+Next morning Stevens went to find the animal, at whose eyes he had fired
+during the night; but it was gone without leaving even a trace of blood
+behind it. The boat had sustained some damages during the night from the
+surf dashing it against the rocks; but he managed to reach the wreck
+with it, where he quickly mended the seam started in its side.
+
+He brought away a cask of fresh water, a chest of sea-biscuit, some
+Holland cheese, wine, salt pork and more dried fish. After they had
+dined, they set out to the nearest mountain, from the peak of which they
+hoped to get a survey of the surrounding country. He tried to induce
+Blanche to remain, but she insisted on accompanying him.
+
+Nothing is more deceitful than distance, and they were compelled to
+pause and rest before they had reached the bluffs and foot-hills at the
+base of the mountain. While resting there, they heard a scampering of
+feet, accompanied by the loud snort of frightened animals flying from
+the plateau above them. They were gone before John and his companion
+were able to get a sight of them.
+
+"What are they?" she asked.
+
+"I know not, yet they seem to have a greater dread of us than we have of
+them."
+
+Resuming their journey they had not proceeded half a mile, when John
+espied one of them looking down upon him and his companion from an airy
+cliff. Its bristling horns, long beard, and keen eyes were visible,
+though the ferns and grass concealed its body.
+
+"It is a goat," he said. "The animals which we discovered were goats,
+and we have nothing to fear from them."
+
+A little further on, he discovered a fox in the bushes. The animal was
+unacquainted with man and was very tame. It stood until they were within
+a few paces of it, and then it trotted off a short distance and halted
+to look at them. John's first impulse was to shoot it; but, on a second
+thought, he decided to reserve his fire for some larger and more useful
+game. At last the summit of the nearest hill was gained, and from it
+they had a survey of the country and discovered that they were on an
+island. Stevens' heart sank within him at the discovery, for now no
+human help was within their reach. The fear of Spaniards and savages
+gave place to the greater dread of passing their lives on a
+desolate island.
+
+The island was about sixteen miles long by ten wide. It had four lofty
+mountains in the centre, one of which was so high as to be above the
+clouds and covered at the peak with snow. These lofty elevations
+supplied the island with an abundance of pure, fresh water. In the
+fertile valleys below grew bread-fruit and oranges in profusion and many
+wild berries and vegetables excellent for food. They spent four days in
+exploring the island, hoping to find some sort of inhabitants, but were
+disappointed. Goats, foxes and a species of gray squirrel were the
+principal animals on the island. None were very dangerous; but the foxes
+proved to be mischievous thieves, and stole all of their provisions they
+could come at. Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them
+wherever they could be found.
+
+Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one
+on which they were cast. Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about
+the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.
+
+Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when
+they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island. For her sake
+Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within
+his breast.
+
+"We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck," he said, "and
+make our stay here as comfortable as possible.
+
+"How long will that stay be?" she asked.
+
+"God in heaven alone can tell."
+
+"Surely some passing ship will see us."
+
+He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a
+vessel. Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at
+different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them
+for miles out to sea.
+
+Then he began the work of unloading the wreck. There was an inlet or
+mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and,
+constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions,
+ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to
+shore. This was repeated daily for weeks. Clothing, sails, provisions of
+all kinds, half a hundred guns and as many pistols and cutlasses, with
+other weapons, tools, books, writing material, and, in fact, everything
+that could possibly be of service was brought off from the wreck. They
+were favored with mild weather, and John, soon learning to take
+advantage of the tides, had no difficulty in landing the goods.
+
+The shore was strewn with boxes, barrels, arms, bales and piles of
+goods, with tools, provisions, rafts and broken bits of lumber, for he
+decided to bring away as much of the wreck as he could, for the boards
+would be very useful in the construction of houses. Weeks were spent in
+this arduous toil, and their efforts were fully rewarded.
+
+The foxes proved their only annoyance, and Stevens shot them until they
+became more shy. He killed nineteen in a single night. It became
+necessary to make a strong wooden cage, or box to keep their food in;
+but the salt junk was scented by the foxes, and they gathered about it
+in great numbers and made the night hideous with their howls.
+
+At last he hit upon a plan which nearly exterminated the foxes and rid
+them of the nuisance. Among other articles brought from the ship was
+poison. He shot a goat and, while it was warm and bleeding, cut it open,
+poisoned the meat and left it where the foxes could get at it.
+
+Early in the night the fighting, snapping and snarling began, and the
+next morning the woods were filled with dead foxes, so it was years
+before the howl of another was heard.
+
+Fully realizing the importance of making haste in removing the wreck to
+the shore, he worked with more than human efforts until he had gotten
+off almost everything of value. Blanche aided him all she could, and
+when their tents were up, her womanly instincts as housekeeper gave a
+homelike appearance to them.
+
+Having brought off all that was valuable, he built a house close under a
+bluff, where a projecting shelf of rock covered a small grotto, which he
+enlarged with pick and shovel. Before the rainy season set in, he had a
+comfortable house. They had a store of provisions enough to last for two
+years, and, in addition, John brought away Indian corn, barley, and
+wheat which he planted and, to his delight, discovered that it grew
+well. Being a farmer, it was only natural that he should give his
+thoughts to agriculture.
+
+John was industrious, thoughtful and, having been brought up in the
+colony, was calculated to make the wilderness bloom as Virginia had
+done. His axe awoke the echoes of the forest, and he busied himself
+building houses, planting fields, and providing for their comforts. All
+the while the flags were kept flying from the hills, in hopes of
+attracting some passing ship.
+
+Two years glided by, and not a sail had been seen on the ocean. The
+wreck had disappeared; but John and Blanche were provided with
+comfortable homes. They had tamed the goats, exterminated the foxes, and
+their fields waved with corn, wheat and barley. To grind their corn,
+John, who was something of a genius, invented a mill from two stones.
+The wild fruits and berries of the island improved under cultivation and
+yielded a greater abundance. Their floors were covered with rush mats,
+and the furniture brought from the wreck gave to the rooms a comfortable
+and homelike air.
+
+It was evening, and the sitting-room was lighted by candles made of
+goat's tallow. John Stevens was reading aloud from a Bible and Blanche
+sat listening with rapt attention.
+
+"Read more," she said when he had finished the page. "What a blessing to
+know that even in the uttermost parts of the earth God is with us."
+
+"Verily, it is a comfort."
+
+"Should we die here, He will be with us."
+
+"God is everywhere. He will not desert us," John said.
+
+"But I hope we will yet be rescued."
+
+"I trust so."
+
+He closed his book and placed it on the table at his side and buried his
+face in his hands. She watched his strong emotion with eyes which were
+moist with sympathy, and, rising, came to his side and placed her hand
+on his shoulder.
+
+"You are stronger than I," she said, "why should you grieve more at our
+calamity? Surely God is with us."
+
+The tears were trickling through his fingers and his frame was convulsed
+with emotion. She noted his grief and, to encourage him, added:
+
+"God is everywhere; he is here; he will guard and watch over us, and, if
+it be his pleasure that we escape from this island, he will send some
+ship to our deliverance."
+
+"My burden is greater than I can bear."
+
+"Remember He said, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my
+burden is light.' Trust all to Jesus, and He will give you strength."
+
+"You are all alone in the world, Blanche."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have not a relative living."
+
+"No, my father was lost."
+
+"I wish I had none. It is not for myself that I grieve, but the helpless
+ones at home."
+
+"Helpless--"
+
+"My wife and children."
+
+Blanche, shocked and amazed, gazed at him in silence. The blood forsook
+her face, her breast heaved, and her breath came in painful gasps. He
+had never before in all the two years they had been alone upon the
+island mentioned his wife and children.
+
+"I left them to better my fortune," he continued. "They were so helpless
+and I so poor; but I did what I thought best. Last night I saw them in
+my dreams, her great bright eyes all red with weeping, and my baby's
+warm little hands were again about my neck imploring me to come home in
+accents so pathetic and sweet, they melted my heart. My blue-eyed Robert
+was no longer gay, but melancholy. O God, give me the wings of a dove
+that I may go and see them again!"
+
+His head fell on the table and his whole frame shook with emotion, while
+Blanche, with her own sad beautiful eyes swimming in tears, could not
+utter a word of consolation. When he had partially recovered she asked:
+
+"Why did you not tell me this before, you might have had my sympathy all
+along."
+
+"I did not care to burden you with my griefs."
+
+"Trust in God."
+
+"I do; but this dark uncertainty; my helpless children."
+
+"They have their mother."
+
+"She is unpractical, knows nothing of life and is as helpless as the
+children. The little money left her has been spent long before this, and
+they are--Heaven only knows what ills they may endure. So long as I was
+with them, I shielded them from the rude blasts of the world; but now
+they are without a protector."
+
+[Illustration: BLANCHE COULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CONSOLATION.]
+
+Overcome with the sad picture he had created in his mind, he buried his
+face again in his hands. Once more Blanche sought to soothe his cares by
+assuring him that He who watched the sparrow's fall would in some way
+care for his loved ones at home.
+
+The years rolled on, and day by day he climbed the top of the nearest
+hill and gazed off to the sea, hoping to discern a sail, but in vain.
+
+He had brought the captain's glasses from the ship, and with this often
+gazed at the two islands toward the north with longing eyes. Did they
+connect with the main land where people dwelt, and from which they might
+find means of transportation to the home which he sometimes feared he
+might never again behold?
+
+"Would it be too dangerous to undertake a voyage to those islands?"
+Blanche asked one day when they were gazing for the thousandth time
+at them.
+
+"If we had a suitable boat we might attempt it."
+
+"How is our own boat?"
+
+"Too frail. The boards are almost rotten."
+
+"Then why not make one?"
+
+The idea was a good one, for it promised him employment. He felled a
+large tree and proceeded to make a dug-out such as the Indians of
+Virginia used.
+
+Blanche helped him and was so cheerful, kind and considerate, that
+often, as he gazed on her beautiful face, he sighed:
+
+"Had Dorothy possessed her spirit, this misery would have been averted."
+He felt a twinge of conscience at rebuking his wife, even in thought. No
+doubt she had paid dearly for her folly.
+
+The boat at last was completed, and he rigged a sail for it, and
+together they set out for the distant islands. They glided over the
+water, catching a glimpse of a man-eating shark, which made them shudder
+with dread.
+
+With fair wind and tide they reached the nearest island that day. It was
+nearly as large as their own, and the shore was fully as dangerous. The
+next was smaller, and both were wooded, with low hills, but poorly
+watered. They found goats and foxes abounding on each, but no indication
+that a human being had ever been there. All about on every side was the
+vast ocean, stretching as far as the eye could reach, with the eternal
+wash of waves on the rocks.
+
+Spreading their tent on the shore, they passed the night on the island
+nearest their own, and were greatly annoyed by foxes and mosquitoes, so
+that with early dawn they were glad to return home.
+
+One never knows how to appreciate home until they have been away, and
+John seemed to take a new interest in his house, fields and the tame
+goats of his island.
+
+Yet in the night, when slumber had sealed his eyelids, he saw in that
+far-away home his wife's pale face, and felt his baby's soft arms once
+more about his neck, and in his agony he cried out:
+
+"God send some ship to deliver me!"
+
+Day by day as the years rolled on, John Stevens saw more and more to
+admire in the companion with whom his lot was cast. When he was sick or
+tired she watched over him with all the tender care of a sister or
+mother. When he was saddest she whispered words of hope and cheer in his
+ear. In fact Blanche was an ideal woman, a comforter and a helper.
+
+"How could I live here without you, Blanche?" he said one day.
+
+"Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," she answered. "Nothing is
+so bad that it could not be worse." Blanche was a pure Christian girl.
+No influence on earth could swerve her from a course marked out for her
+by her intellect and approved by her conscience. She was a devout
+Christian, and when her companion, in the bitterness of his soul, was
+rebellious, her sweet Christian influence led him back to God.
+
+In the stillness of life, talent is formed; but in the storm and stress
+of adverse circumstances character is fashioned. Had Blanche returned to
+London she might have become a society lady; but here she was a
+consoler, binding up the broken heart. She would sit for hours by John's
+side talking with him about his wife and children in far-off Virginia,
+and she never went to sleep without praying Heaven by some means to take
+the father and husband back to his loved ones.
+
+"I went to the cliff this morning," she said, "thinking I might see a
+sail, but I was disappointed."
+
+"Why did you think to see a sail, Blanche?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed last night that a ship came for you and took you home. Oh,
+how glad I was, when I saw you happy again with your dear wife and the
+baby on your knee, its little warm hands on your face!"
+
+After a long silence, he asked:
+
+"Blanche, how long have we been here?"
+
+"Ten years," she answered.
+
+Blanche not only had kept a complete journal since the day of their
+shipwreck, but had written a faithful description of the island, giving
+its resources and describing the coast. To John it seemed but yesterday
+since he kissed the tender cheek of his babe, bade his wife a farewell
+and sailed away.
+
+Ten years had made their impress on him. His hair was growing gray, and
+his beard was quite frosty. It was not age that whitened his hair so
+much as it was his ten years of suffering. Ten years had developed
+Blanche from a beautiful girl to a glorious woman of twenty-eight, more
+beautiful at twenty-eight than eighteen.
+
+"Blanche, would ten years change a baby?" John asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then my baby is a baby no longer," sighed the father.
+
+"No; she is a pretty little girl now."
+
+"And has no recollection of her father?"
+
+"How could she?"
+
+"But my little boy?"
+
+"He was five when you left home?"
+
+"No, not quite; four and some months."
+
+"Then he would remember you."
+
+"He is a good-sized boy."
+
+"Almost fifteen," she answered.
+
+"Heaven grant I may yet see them!"
+
+"Amen!" replied Blanche. "God has not forgotten you; our prayers will be
+heard."
+
+John made no answer. He arose, took his gun and went out among the
+hills.
+
+"When he talks of them," Blanche thought, "he always goes to the hills.
+God grant he does not die of despair, for then I would be all alone on
+this island of desolation."
+
+Tears gathered in her eyes and, falling on her knees, she breathed a
+fervent prayer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+IN WIDOW'S WEEDS.
+
+     Go; you may call it madness, folly;
+     You may not chase my gloom away.
+     There's such a charm in melancholy,
+     I would not, if I could, be gay.
+                                    --ROGERS.
+
+Dorothe Stevens was not a woman to take misfortune much to heart. She
+watched the ship in which her husband sailed until it vanished from
+sight, shed a few tears, heaved a few sighs and went home to see if the
+negro slave had prepared breakfast. She smiled next day, and before the
+week was past she was quite gay. She said she was not going to repine
+and languish in sorrow.
+
+Her conduct shocked the staid Puritans, and her fine apparel was ungodly
+in their eyes.
+
+Weeks rolled on, and no news came from the good ship _Silverwing_; but
+they might not hear from her for months, and Mrs. Stevens did not borrow
+trouble. She did not dream that the ship could possibly be lost, or that
+her husband's voyage could be other than prosperous, so she plunged into
+a course of extravagance and pleasure that would have ruined a
+wealthier man than poor John Stevens.
+
+"I must do something," she declared, "to relieve my mind from thoughts
+of my poor, dear, absent husband, for whom I grieve continually."
+
+Once John's mother and sister came to see her; but she was entertaining
+some ladies from Greensprings and wholly neglected her visitors. The
+grandmother held the baby on her knee, kissed the face, while her tears
+fell on it; then silently the two unwelcome visitors departed for their
+home, while Mrs. Stevens was so busily engaged with the ladies from
+Greensprings that she did not even bid them adieu.
+
+Dark days were in store for Dorothe Stevens. She heeded not the constant
+reduction of her money until it was gone. Then she reasoned that her
+husband would soon return with a goodly supply, and she began to use her
+credit, which had always been good; but she found that the merchants who
+once had smiled on her frowned when she came to ask for credit.
+
+"Have you heard from your husband, Dorothe Stevens?" one asked, when she
+applied to him for credit.
+
+"No."
+
+"He has been a long time gone."
+
+"Yes; but he will return."
+
+"The _Silverwing_ has not yet reached London."
+
+"How know you that?" she asked, a momentary shadow coming over her face.
+
+"The _Ocean Star_ hath just arrived, but brought no report from the
+_Silverwing_."
+
+"It left before the _Silverwing_ arrived. The ship was delayed a little.
+It has reached there safely by this time, I am quite sure," and Mrs.
+Stevens face grew bright as she made some purchases for which she had
+not the money to pay. The merchant sold to her reluctantly, and she,
+without dreaming that calamity could possibly befall her, went on
+enjoying herself. Ex-Governor Berkeley had invited her to spend a few
+days at Greenspring, where she met her husband's friend Hugh Price, with
+other gay cavaliers and ladies.
+
+Dorothe was a thorough royalist, and she heard, while at the governor's,
+that Cromwell was in poor health, and there was a strong feeling that
+the exiled Prince Charles would be recalled to the throne. Berkeley had
+invited him to Virginia. Many of England's nobles, flying from
+Cromwell's persecutions, had taken refuge with ex-Governor Berkeley, and
+no other greater pleasure could Dorothe wish than to be associated
+with them.
+
+When she returned to her home, it looked poor and mean in comparison
+with the governor's excellent manor house; but troubles thickened.
+Bills came pouring in upon her, which she was unable to meet, for she
+had not a farthing, and her creditors became clamorous.
+
+"Why don't John come back with the money?" she asked, angry tears
+starting from her eyes. "I cannot meet these bills, and he knows I
+must live."
+
+"You have been grossly extravagant, Mrs. Stevens," one heartless
+creditor returned. He was a merchant who had smiled on her most sweetly
+in her prosperous days, and had always welcomed her to his shop. "Had
+you economized with the money your husband left, you would not be in
+such sore straits."
+
+Mrs. Stevens was shocked and indignant. She wept and asked for time. Ann
+Linkon, who had never forgiven Dorothe Stevens for the ducking she had
+caused her, now boldly declared that she had all along told the truth
+and, shaking her gray head, repeated:
+
+"She is a hussy. She hath driven John to sea and perchance to death. She
+is a hussy."
+
+No one attempted to prevent Ann's tongue from wagging, and to the
+unfortunate Dorothe it was quite evident that she was no longer the
+favorite of Jamestown.
+
+"When John comes back, all will change," she thought; but, alas, the
+months crept slowly by, and John came not. There came a rumor which
+time confirmed that the _Silverwing_ was lost. Dorothe, who was of a
+hopeful nature, would not believe it at first, though the news had a
+very disastrous effect to her credit. She was refused at every shop and
+store in Jamestown. In her distress she sold such articles as she could
+dispense with; but Jamestown was only a frontier hamlet, it had no such
+conveniences as pawnbrokers and secondhand clothiers, and what few
+articles she could dispose of were sold mainly to freed or indented
+servants at ruinous prices.
+
+Dorothe's fashionable friends deserted her. The ladies and cavaliers at
+Greenspring became suddenly cold and she remained at home. Her slaves
+were taken away, so, finally, was the home, and, with her little
+children, she took up her abode in a miserable log cabin, where she
+became an object of charity. A year and a half had rolled away; but she
+had not wholly given up her husband for dead. The vessel might have
+blown out of its course, it might have been captured by pirates, or
+Spaniards, and her husband might yet escape.
+
+She had been so cool toward his relatives, that they had not seen her
+for a year. She was proud and would have suffered death rather than
+appeal to them for aid; but her children--his children, were suffering,
+and, as she had to give up even the log cabin to rapacious creditors, at
+last she appealed to his mother and sister, whom she had despised.
+
+"You are welcome. Come and share our home," was the response.
+
+Almost heartbroken, yet proud, Dorothe with her children set out for the
+distant plantation in the county in which lived the relatives of
+her husband.
+
+Political changes were coming, which were to have a marked effect on
+Dorothe, who gave up her husband for dead and donned the widow's weeds.
+Those changes were the restoration.
+
+In 1658, Cromwell died and named his son Richard as his successor. From
+the death of Cromwell until the accession of Charles II., the government
+of England was in a state of chaos and was highly revolutionary without
+being in a state of actual anarchy. There was in reality no head to the
+government. Even the Puritans saw that the inevitable must come, and, in
+1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne of England without any
+serious jar to the country or colonies. It was late in May, 1660, when
+the wandering prince, mounted on a gayly caparisoned steed, entered
+London between his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and took
+up his abode in the palace of Whitehall, while flags waved, bells rang,
+cannons roared, trumpets brayed, shouts rent the air and fountains
+poured out costly libations of wine as tokens of public joy. After a
+twenty years' struggle between royalists and republicans, the monarchy
+was restored, and the English people again became subjects of the head
+of the Scottish house of Stuarts.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell]
+
+The accession of Charles II. soon caused a change in the affairs of
+America. The new king assigned to his brother James, Duke of York, the
+whole territory of New Netherland, with Long Island and a part of
+Connecticut. Charles had no more right to that domain than to the
+central province of Spain; but the brutal argument that "might makes
+right" justified the royal brothers, in their own estimation, in sending
+ships, men and cannon, the "last argument of kings," to take possession
+of and hold the territory. Four men-of-war, bearing four hundred, and
+fifty soldiers, commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, a court favorite,
+arrived before New Amsterdam in the latter part of August, 1664.
+Governor Stuyvesant had been warned of their approach and tried to
+strengthen the fort; but money, men and will were wanting. The
+governor's violent temper, with English influence, had alienated the
+people, and they were indifferent. Some of them regarded the invaders as
+welcome friends. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the popular
+wishes. It was too late; and New Amsterdam became an easy prey to the
+English freebooters.
+
+Early in this year, revolutionary movements had taken place among the
+English on Long Island, which the governor could not suppress, and the
+province was rent by internal discord for several months. A war with the
+Indians above the Hudson Highlands had also given the governor much
+trouble; but his energy and wisdom had brought it to a close. The
+anthems of a Thanksgiving day had died away, and the governor, assured
+of peace, had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), when news reached him of the
+coming English armament. He hastened back to his capital, and, on
+Saturday, the 30th day of August, Nicolls sent to the governor a formal
+summons to surrender the fort and city. He also sent a proclamation to
+the citizens, promising perfect security of person and property to all
+who should quietly submit to English rule.
+
+The Dutch governor hastily assembled his magistrates at the fort to
+consider public affairs; but, to his disgust, they favored submission
+without resistance. Stuyvesant, true to his superiors and his own
+convictions of duty, would not listen to such a proposition, nor allow
+the inhabitants to see the proclamation. The Sabbath passed without any
+answer to the summons. It was a day of great excitement and anxiety in
+Amsterdam, and the people became impatient. On Monday the magistrates
+explained to them the situation of affairs, and they demanded a sight of
+the proclamation. It was refused, and they were on the verge of open
+insurrection, when a new turn in events took place.
+
+Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, who was quite friendly with
+Stuyvesant, had joined the English squadron. Nicolls sent him as an
+embassador to Stuyvesant, with a letter in which was repeated the demand
+for a surrender. The two governors met at the gate of the fort.
+Stuyvesant read the letter and promptly refused to comply.
+
+"Inform the Englishman if he wants my fort, he must come amid cannon and
+balls to take it," he said. Closing the gate, he retired to the council
+chamber and laid the letter before his cabinet and magistrates. After
+examining it they said:
+
+"Read the letter to the people, and so get their minds."
+
+The governor stoutly refused. The council and magistrates as stoutly
+insisted that he should do so, when the enraged governor, who had fairly
+earned the title of "Peter the Headstrong," unable to control his
+passion, tore the letter into pieces. The people at work on the
+palisades, hearing of this, hastened to the Statehouse, where a large
+number of citizens were soon gathered. They sent a deputation to the
+fort to demand the letter. Stuyvesant, storming with rage, cried:
+
+"Back to the ramparts! mend the palisades, and we will answer the letter
+with cannon."
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF STUYVESANT.]
+
+The deputies were inflexible, and a fair copy of the letter was made
+from the pieces, taken to the Statehouse and read to the inhabitants. At
+that time the population of New Amsterdam did not exceed fifteen hundred
+souls. Outside of the little garrison, there were not over two hundred
+men capable of bearing arms, and it was the utmost folly to resist.
+Nicolls, growing impatient, sent a message to the silent
+governor saying:
+
+"I shall come for your answer to-morrow with ships and soldiers," and
+anchored two war-vessels between the fort and Governor's Island.
+Stuyvesant's proud will would not bend to circumstances, and, from the
+ramparts of the fort, he saw their preparations for attack, without in
+the least relenting, and when men, women and children, and even his
+beloved son Balthazzar, entreated him to surrender, that the lives and
+property of the citizens might be spared, he replied:
+
+"I had much rather be carried out dead."
+
+At last, however, when the magistrates, the clergy and many of the
+principal citizens entreated him, the proud old governor, who had "a
+heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn,"
+consented to capitulate. He had held out for a week. On Monday morning,
+the 8th of September, 1664, he led his troops from the fort to a ship on
+which they were to embark for Holland, and an hour after, the red cross
+of St. George was floating over Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was
+changed to Fort James as a compliment to the Duke.
+
+The remainder of New Netherlands soon passed into the possession of the
+English, and the city and province were named New York, another
+compliment to Prince James, afterward James II. Colonel Nicolls, whom
+the duke had appointed as his deputy governor, was so proclaimed by the
+magistrates of the city, and all officers within the domain of New
+Netherland were required to take an oath of allegiance to the
+British crown.
+
+The new governor took up his abode in the Dutch fort, if the strange
+structure within the palisades could be called a fort. It contained,
+besides the governor's house and barracks, a steep gambrel-roofed church
+with a high tower, a windmill, gallows, pillory, whipping-post, prison
+and a tall flagstaff. There was generally a cheerful submission to the
+conquerors on the part of the inhabitants, and after the turmoil of
+surrender a profound quiet reigned in New York.
+
+So passed into the domain of perfected history the Dutch dominion in
+America after an existence of fifty years, by that unrighteous seizure
+of the territory which had been discovered and settled by the Dutch.
+England became the mistress of all the domain stretching along the coast
+of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Acadie, and westward across the
+entire continent; but in New Netherland, in that brief space of half a
+century, the Dutch had stamped the impress of their institutions, their
+social and religious habits, their modes of thought and peculiarities of
+character, so that they remained unconquered in the loftier aspect of
+the case. The characteristics of the Dutch of New Netherland were so
+indelibly stamped, that, after a lapse of more than two centuries, they
+are still marked features of New York society.
+
+Saucy New England underwent fewer changes by reason of the restoration
+than all the other colonies. The New Englanders were men and women of
+iron who dared everything. They were always cool, cautions, yet bold,
+and when they made an effort to gain a right, they always won. They
+clung to all their rights and demanded more. The bigotry of the Puritans
+of Massachusetts was vehemently condemned at the time of their iron rule
+and has been ever since; but their theology and their ideas of church
+government were founded upon the deepest heart-convictions of a people
+not broadly educated. Having encountered and subdued a savage wilderness
+for the purpose of planting therein a church and a commonwealth,
+fashioned in all their parts after a narrow but cherished pattern, they
+felt that the domain thus conquered was all their own, and that they had
+the right to regulate the internal affairs according to their own notion
+of things. They boldly proclaimed the right to the exercise of private
+judgment in matters of conscience, and so tacitly invited the persecuted
+of all lands to immigrate and settle among them. This invitation brought
+"unsettled persons," libertines in unrestrained opinions, from abroad to
+disseminate their peculiar views. The Puritans, fearing the
+disorganization of their church, early took alarm and, with a mistaken
+policy, resisted such encroachments upon the domain and into their
+society with fiery penal laws implacably executed.
+
+Among the sects of the time dangerous to Puritanism, were the Quakers or
+Friends. The first of the sect who appeared conspicuously in New England
+were Mary Fisher and Anna Austin, who arrived at Boston in the summer of
+1656, when John Endicott was governor. There was no special law against
+them; but under a general act against heretics, they were arrested;
+their persons were searched to find marks of witchcraft, with which they
+were suspected; their trunks were searched, and their books were burned
+publicly by the hangman. After several weeks of confinement in prison,
+they were sent back to England. Mary Fisher, a violent religious
+enthusiast, afterward visited the Sultan of Turkey and, being mistaken
+for a crazy woman, was permitted to go everywhere unmolested.
+
+The harsh treatments of the first comers fired the zeal of the more
+enthusiastic of the sect in England, who sought martyrdom as an honor
+and a passport to the home of the righteous. They flocked to New England
+and fearfully vexed the souls of the Puritan magistrates and ministers.
+One woman came from London to warn the authorities against persecutions.
+Others came to revile, denounce and defy the powers of the church. From
+the windows of their houses they would rail at the magistrates, and
+mock the institutions of the country, while some fanatical young women
+appeared nude on the streets and in the churches, as emblems of
+"unclothed souls of the people." Others with loud voices proclaimed that
+the wrath of the Almighty was about to fall like destructive lightning
+on Boston and Salem. The Quakers of 1659 were quite different from that
+honorable body of people of the present age.
+
+Horrified by their blasphemies and indecencies, the authorities of
+Massachusetts passed some cruel laws. At first they forbade all persons
+"harboring Quakers," imposing severe penalties for each offence, then
+followed mild punishment on the Friends themselves. These proving
+ineffectual, the Puritans passed laws which authorized the cropping of
+the ears, boring the tongues with hot irons, and hanging on the gibbet
+offending Quakers.
+
+Even these terrible laws could not keep them away. On a bright October
+day in 1659, two young men named William Robinson and Marmaduke
+Stevenson, with Mary Dyer, wife of the Secretary of State of Rhode
+Island, were led from the Boston jail, with ropes around their necks and
+guarded by soldiers, to be hanged on Boston Common. Mary walked between
+her companions hand in hand to the gallows, where, in the presence of
+Governor Endicott, the two young men were hung. Mary was unmoved by the
+spectacle. She was given into the care of her son, who came from Rhode
+Island to plead for her life, and went away with him; but the next
+spring this foolish woman returned and began preaching and was herself
+hung on Boston Common.
+
+The severity of these laws caused a revulsion of public sentiment. The
+Quakers stoutly maintained their course, and were regarded by the more
+thoughtful as real martyrs for conscience sake, and, in 1661, the severe
+laws against them were repealed. Puritanism, which had flourished under
+republicanism in England, with the restoration of the Stuarts was
+threatened, and doubtless fear of the vengeance of the church party
+caused the New Englanders to temper their laws.
+
+A restless spirit on the part of the New Englanders with an uneasy
+feeling in regard to the result of the restoration caused many to
+emigrate to Carolinia, which was a mysterious, far-away land where
+everybody lived at peace. Removed from the grasp of kings and tyrants,
+many went to the infant town planted on Old-town Creek, near the south
+side of Cape Fear River. However, the Carolinias were growing from
+fugitive settlements into commonwealths, and, in 1666, William Drummond,
+the friend of John Stevens, was appointed governor of North Carolinia.
+
+Claybourne, who, after a struggle of twenty years, had succeeded in
+conquering Maryland, saw, with the decline of the commonwealth of
+England, his own hopes go down. In 1658, the Catholics of St. Mary's and
+the Puritans of St. Leonard's consulted, and the province was
+surrendered to Lord Baltimore. Claybourne had no sooner gained that for
+which he had battled, than his power began to crumble beneath his feet,
+and he was even ejected from the Virginia council.
+
+The restoration of 1660 produced a most wonderful effect on Virginia.
+All was changed in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The cavaliers,
+who had been sulking for years under the mild rule of the commonwealth,
+threw up their hats and cheered from Flower de Hundred to the capes on
+the ocean, as only a victorious political party can cheer.
+
+The sentiment of the Virginians in favor of royalty was strong and
+abiding; with the restoration of monarchy they had achieved the main
+point. The representatives in the colony of the psalm-singing fanatics
+of England would have to go now. Silk and lace and curling wigs would be
+once more in fashion, the hated close-cropped wretches in black coats
+and round hats would fade into the background, and the good old
+cavaliers, like the king, would have their own once more.
+
+The king's men became prominent, and their plantations resounded with
+revelry. It was thought that Charles II. would grant special favors to
+Virginia, as Berkeley had invited him to be their king even before he
+was restored to the throne of England. The country is said to have
+derived the name of the "Old Dominion" from the fact that the Charles
+might have been king of Virginia before he was king of England.
+
+In March, 1660, the planters assembled at Jamestown and enacted:
+"Whereas, by reason of the late distractions (which God, in his mercy,
+put a suddaine period to), there being in England noe resident absolute
+and ge'll confessed power, be it enacted and confirmed: that the supreme
+power of the government of this country shall be resident in the
+assembly, and that all writts issue in the name of the grand assembly of
+Virginia until such command, or commission come out of England as shall
+by the assembly be adjudged lawful." The same session declared Sir
+William Berkeley governor and captain-general of Virginia. In October of
+the same year of the restoration, Sir William Berkeley was commissioned
+governor of Virginia by Charles II.
+
+No one in all the colony rejoiced more at the restoration of monarchy
+than did Dorothe Stevens. Her fortunes had mended. Her husband's brother
+was appointed governor of Carolinia, and, while he was acting in the
+capacity of governor, he managed to secure the fortune his grandfather
+had left in St. Augustine. It was large, and fully twenty thousand
+pounds fell to the heirs of John Stevens, which was a godsend to the
+widow, who purchased a fine house in Jamestown and once more entered the
+society of the cavaliers and church people.
+
+For twelve years she had been a widow, and now that she was wealthy and
+the charm of cavalier society, she began to entertain some serious
+thoughts of doffing her widow's weeds.
+
+"It's all because of that cavalier Hugh Price", said Ann Linkon
+spitefully. "The hateful thing will wed him, because he is rich and the
+king is restored."
+
+The widow left off her weeds and, in silk and lace, with ruffles and
+frills, became the gayest of the gay. The flush came to her pale cheek,
+and people said she smiled on Hugh Price. It is quite certain that Hugh
+Price, after the restoration, was known to be frequently in the society
+of his lost friend's wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STEPFATHER.
+
+               Mother, for the love of grace
+     Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
+     That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
+     It will skin and film the ulcerous place;
+     While rank corruption, winning all within,
+     Infects unseen--
+                                      --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+With the return of prosperity Mrs. Stevens deserted and forgot her
+husband's relatives notwithstanding their kindness to her in adversity.
+Mrs. Stevens possessed a ruinous pride and vanity combined with a
+haughty spirit and small gratitude. She was wealthy, again the cavaliers
+were in power, and she was the gayest of the gay. She was still youthful
+and beautiful and out of widow's weeds.
+
+"Hugh Price will surely wed her," said Sarah Drummond.
+
+No sooner was Governor Berkeley inaugurated, after receiving his
+commission from Charles II., than he gave a grand reception at which
+there was music and dancing. The young widow was there in silk, lace
+and ruffles, her black eyes sparkling with pleasure. Hugh Price, a great
+favorite of the governor, was one of the most dashing gentlemen in
+Virginia at the time. He was a handsome fellow with hair bordering on
+redness and eyes a dark brown. His mustache was between golden and red,
+and he possessed an excellent form.
+
+He was seen much in the society of the widow Stevens, and some of his
+friends began to chaff him on his attentions, which made the
+cavalier blush.
+
+"Verily, Hugh is a good cavalier, Dorothe is a royalist and was never
+happy with John Stevens; it is better that she wed him."
+
+Robert Stevens was twelve or fourteen, when his mother, laying aside her
+widow's weeds, became young again. Robert remembered his father and
+their days of privation, and he did not forget that all they had, they
+owed to that father. He witnessed his mother's smiles and blushes with
+some anxiety. One day, as he was going an errand to Neck of Land, he was
+accosted by a meddlesome fellow named William Stump, with:
+
+"Master Robert, do you know you are soon to have a father-in-law?"
+(Stepfather was in those days known as father-in-law.)
+
+"No!" cried the boy, indignantly.
+
+"By the mass! you are. Don't you observe how Hugh Price is continually
+with your mother?"
+
+Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he cried:
+
+"I will kill him!"
+
+William Stump, laughing at the misery he had occasioned, answered:
+
+"Marry! lad, you can do naught. Better win the favor of Hugh, for he can
+be a cruel master."
+
+Robert went on his errand, hating both Hugh Price and William Stump, and
+he determined to appeal to his mother to have no more to do with
+Hugh Price.
+
+Robert had been sent on the errand by the mother, that he might be away
+when Hugh Price came. She had an intuition, as women sometimes do, that
+the supreme moment had arrived in which Hugh would "speak his mind." The
+widow looked very pretty in her lace and silk and frilled cap, from
+which the raven tresses peeped. She had also managed to dispose of
+little Rebecca, so the coast was clear when Mr. Price, on his gayly
+caparisoned steed, arrived. To one not acquainted with the state of Hugh
+Price's mind, his appearance and behavior on the occasion of his ride
+from Greensprings to Jamestown would have been mysterious and
+unaccountable.
+
+Dismounting at the stiles he gave the rein to a gayly dressed negro, who
+led the animal into the barn while the negro girl showed him to the
+parlor, which was furnished gorgeously. The harp which the widow played
+was in the corner with her Spanish guitar. The room was unoccupied when
+Hugh entered. He paced to and fro with nervous tread, popped his head
+out of the window at intervals of three or four minutes and glanced at
+the hourglass on the mantel, manifesting an impatience unusual in him.
+
+It was quite evident that some subject of great importance occupied his
+mind. At last Mrs. Stevens entered, quite flustered, almost out of
+breath and her cheeks crimson with youth and beauty. Wheeling about from
+the window through which he had been nervously gazing, he accosted
+her with:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I have chosen this opportune moment--"
+
+Here he choked. Something seemed to rise in his throat and cut off his
+speech. Dorothe glanced at him, her great dark eyes wide open in real or
+affected wonder and asked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Price, for what have you chosen this moment?"
+
+"It is, madame, to tell you--ahem, this day is very hot."
+
+"So it is," Dorothe answered, her dark eyes beaming tenderly on him.
+"Won't you sit? Your long ride has fatigued you."
+
+"Indeed it has," answered Hugh, accepting the proffered seat. The fine
+speech which Hugh had been studying all the way to Jamestown had quite
+vanished from his mind; but the widow was inclined to help him on with
+his wooing. After three or four more efforts to clear his throat,
+he began:
+
+"Mrs. Stevens, I came--ahem--all the way here to ask you--to get your
+opinion--that is to say--"
+
+Here he stopped again. The words in his throat had become clogged, and
+Hugh's face was purple, while great drops of sweat stood out in beads on
+his forehead.
+
+Dorothe, free from the embarrassment which tortured him, waited a
+respectable length of time for him to clear away that annoying
+obstruction in his throat, and then to help him along, began:
+
+"Why, Mr. Price, you have always been one of my best friends, and I
+assure you that any suggestion or information I can give you, will be
+freely given," and here the widow blushed to the border of her cap, and
+touched her mouth with the corner of her apron.
+
+Price, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, gathered courage enough to begin
+again:
+
+"I have come to remark, Mrs. Stevens, that--ahem--that--do you think
+the restoration of monarchy is permanent?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so," replied the widow very earnestly and softly, with a
+glance at the cavalier.
+
+"Under the restoration, do you--ahem--think it is a much greater
+expense to keep two people than to keep one?" He was getting at it
+at last.
+
+"Oh, dear me, Mr. Price!" said Mrs. Stevens, coloring again, for she
+fancied she saw in the near future a proposal coming. "Oh, what a
+question!"
+
+The cavalier, having gotten fairly started, now came boldly to the
+charge. He had asked a question and demanded an answer. She thought it
+did not make the expense very much greater if the people were economical
+and careful, and then the pleasure of being in the society of some one
+was certainly very great.
+
+That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
+his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:
+
+"You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens."
+
+"Lonely, oh, so lonely!" and the white apron was changed from the corner
+of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.
+
+"I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
+who need a father's care."
+
+By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
+his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
+the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.
+
+At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
+to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
+with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
+shoulders of his mother's suitor.
+
+Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
+made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
+currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
+handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
+shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:
+
+"She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
+father-in-law over her children to the house."
+
+"Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will."
+
+"I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her."
+
+"Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
+for your pains."
+
+On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
+interpose.
+
+"It will be better to let her have her way," he concluded. "Marry! she
+hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
+her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
+children!"
+
+The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
+his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
+was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
+happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
+scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
+shoulders.
+
+[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
+take a part in the scene.]
+
+Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:
+
+"I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control."
+
+Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and not even a
+frown ruffled his brow. He greeted the children with sunny smiles
+calculated to win their hearts, and under ordinary circumstances they
+might have done so. But from the first he was regarded with aversion, as
+an intruder upon their sanctuary and love. The dislike was mutual, for,
+though Price concealed his feelings, there rankled in his breast an
+enmity which he could not smother.
+
+Robert was open in his resentment. It was the first time he had ever
+opposed his mother. Even when younger, in their trouble and sore
+distress, he was her counsellor. He had not complained when the heaviest
+burdens were laid on his young shoulders. He had done the work of a man
+long before he was even a stout lad. Privation and hardship were borne
+without complaint. He rejoiced on his mother's account when their
+fortunes so suddenly and unexpectedly changed. Toil was over. Rest came
+and with it the improvement he desired.
+
+It was hoped by her best friends that the bitter lesson which Dorothe
+had learned would prove effective, but it did not. Women of her
+disposition never learn by experience, and she plunged once more into
+extravagance and folly. The boy was old enough to realize his mother's
+weakness, yet his great love for her placed her above censure. He was
+silent and would have borne a second misfortune like the first
+uncomplaining; but when he learned that she was to bring one to take the
+place of that father who slept beneath the sea, he rebelled.
+
+Dorothe knew the disposition of her children, and she decided to get
+them out of the way until after the wedding. At last she hit upon a
+plan. Once more in her need she had recourse to the relatives of her
+husband. Her husband's sister had married Richard Griffin, a planter,
+and lived at Flower de Hundred. The children had always loved their
+paternal relatives, and, though they had not been permitted to visit
+them since the restoration, they had by no means forgotten them. They
+hailed with joy the announcement that they were to go to Flower
+de Hundred.
+
+One morning in early June three horses were saddled, and Robert and
+Rebecca, accompanied by a trusty negro named Sam, started on their
+journey. Most of the travel, especially to a country as far away as
+Flower de Hundred, was on horseback.
+
+"I am so glad we are going," said Rebecca, as they galloped along the
+road through the woods. "Mother was good to let us go."
+
+"I am s'prised at the missus," the negro said, shaking his head.
+"Sumfin am gwine to happen now fur sure, sumfin am gwine to happen."
+
+"Why?" asked Robert.
+
+"Misse neber gwine to dem people less dar be sumfin for a-gwine ter
+happen."
+
+Little Rebecca cast furtive glances about in the dark old wood through
+which they were riding and with a shudder asked:
+
+"Is there any danger of Indians?"
+
+So often had the savages drenched the earth with blood, that the child
+had a dread of them.
+
+"Dun know, Misse Rebecca. Sam gwine ter fight if Indians come."
+
+"But they must not come."
+
+"No Injun hurt Misse. Sam not let um."
+
+Robert, young as he was, had little faith in the negro's boasts as a
+protector, for he knew that Sam was a coward and would fly at the first
+intimation of danger. The journey was made without incident. It was a
+journey through a country romantic and picturesque to the youthful
+Robert. The grand old forest, with its untrodden paths, the tall trees,
+the dead monarchs of the forest, with branches white and bare spread
+like ghost's fingers in the air, filled his imagination with picturesque
+visions. Next they journeyed through a strip of low lands covered with
+tall, coarse grass, which came almost to the backs of the horses. Then
+they swam streams in which the negro held the girl on her horse. At
+night Flower de Hundred was reached, and the children were with
+their aunt.
+
+Sam left them to return to Jamestown with the horses. As he went away,
+he took Robert aside and, with a strange look on his ebony face, said:
+
+"Spect sumfin bad am gwine ter happen, Masse Robert. She neber sent ye
+heah but for bad luck ter come. Look out for it now, lem me told ye;
+look out foh it now."
+
+Robert knew that all negroes were superstitious, and Sam's strange
+warning made very little impression on him. He and his sister were happy
+with their relatives who were kind to them.
+
+Occasionally the uncle and the aunt were found talking in subdued tones
+with eyes fixed on Robert and Rebecca; but he did not think it could
+have any relation to them.
+
+The days were spent in frolicsome glee among the old Virginia woods, and
+the nights in healthful repose. Robert felt at times a vague, strange
+uneasiness. It seemed so odd that his mother should send them away, and
+that so many days should elapse without hearing from her. It was not at
+all like her; but he was so free and so happy in his new existence, that
+he did not allow it to trouble him.
+
+One day a wandering hunter from Jamestown came by the house where Robert
+was playing with his cousins and called to him:
+
+"Ho! master Robert, I have news for you," he called to the lad.
+
+"William Stump, when did you come?" he asked.
+
+"But this day," was the answer.
+
+"Where are you from?"
+
+"Jamestown, and, by the mass! my young gay cavalier, I have news for
+you. Marry! have you not heard it already?"
+
+"I have heard nothing."
+
+"Your mother hath married," cried Stump with fiendish chuckle.
+
+"It is false!" cried Robert.
+
+"By the mass! it is true, my young cavalier," and Stump laughed at the
+expression of misery which came over the young face. "It was a gay
+notion to send you brats away until the ceremony was over. You might
+make trouble, you know. Ha, ha, ha! You laid your stick about the
+shoulders of Mr. Hugh Price, now he will return blow for blow," and,
+with another chuckle, Stump sauntered away, his gun on his shoulder.
+
+On going to the house Robert had the report confirmed. Some one from
+Jamestown had brought news of the wedding, and his little sister, with
+her great dark eyes filled with tears, took him aside and said:
+
+"Brother, mother is married; what does it mean?"
+
+She clung to him, placed her curly head on his bosom and wept. Robert
+restrained his own tears and sought to soothe his sister.
+
+"Will that man Hugh Price come to live at our house?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I can never love him. I don't know what it is to love any but you
+and mother. I don't remember my own father; but you do, Robert?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was he like Mr. Price?"
+
+"No. He was a grand, noble man, with a kind heart."
+
+"Will he let us live at home, now that he has come?" she asked.
+
+Robert, though his own heart was heavy, and he felt gloomy and sad,
+strove to look on the bright side.
+
+"Yes, he cannot drive us from home," he said.
+
+"But mother will love us no longer."
+
+"She will, sister. No man can rob us of mother's love."
+
+Then they went apart to discuss their sorrow alone, and, as the shades
+of evening gathered over the scene, their relatives began a search for
+them. The children were found in the chimney corner clasped in each
+other's arms sobbing.
+
+Although kind friends and loving relatives did all in their power to
+console them, they refused to be comforted. Robert remembered that noble
+father who had so often held him on his knee, that poor father whose
+mysterious fate was unknown, and he thought how wicked it was for his
+mother to marry the fox-hunting, gin-tippling cavalier, Hugh Price. He
+sobbed himself to sleep and dreamed that his father was watching him
+from out the great, green ocean where he had lain all these years. Price
+was seeking to repay him the blows he had laid on his shoulders, when
+the face of the dead man was seen struggling in the green waters, but so
+choked and entangled among seaweeds that he was forced to give up the
+effort. A great monster of the deep swallowed his father, and, uttering
+a shriek, he awoke. The child was trembling from head to foot, while a
+cold sweat broke out all over his body.
+
+Next morning the negro slave who had brought the children to Flower de
+Hundred came for them. Taking Robert aside, he said:
+
+"I dun tole yer, Mass Robert, dat a calamity war comin'. It am come--De
+Missus am married to dat fellah wat ye walloped wid de stick. Hi! but I
+wish ye kill um."
+
+The long journey to Jamestown was made. They left at sunrise one morning
+and rode until noon, when they halted in the wilderness to allow the
+horses an hour to rest and graze, while they lay on a blanket spread on
+the grass under a tree. Robert and his sister fell asleep, and the negro
+was nodding, when a snake came gliding through the grass toward the
+sleeping children. Sam awoke in a moment and, seizing a stout stick,
+struck the snake and killed it before it could reach the children. They
+were awakened by the blow and, trembling at their narrow escape, once
+more set out for Jamestown.
+
+Though they put their horses to their best all the afternoon, the sun
+was sinking behind the western hills and forests as they came in sight
+of the settlement. Twilight's sombre mantle was falling over the earth
+when they arrived at the door of their home and were assisted by the
+servants to alight.
+
+Robert and his sister were so sore and tired they scarcely could stand.
+A candelabra had been lighted in the house, and the soft rays came
+through the open casement; but the house was strangely silent. No mother
+came to welcome them home with a kiss, and a chill of death fell upon
+those young hearts. Robert dared not ask where she was and why she was
+not at the stiles; but Rebecca was younger, more inexperienced and
+impulsive.
+
+"Where is mother, Dinah?" she asked her mother's housekeeper.
+
+"In de house, chile, waitin' for you," she answered.
+
+Poor, tired, heart-broken little Rebecca forgot all save that she was
+her mother, and she ran upon the piazza and burst into the room where
+Mr. Hugh Price and her mother were.
+
+"Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This
+man is your father now, and he will be very good to you."
+
+It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting
+back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes
+and answered:
+
+"I cannot call him father."
+
+"You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile.
+
+"Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother.
+
+Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire
+flashing in his eyes, answered:
+
+"Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!"
+
+"You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an
+effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was
+trouble in the near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE MOVING WORLD.
+
+     If we could look down the long vista of ages,
+       And witness the changes of time,
+     Or draw from Isaiah's mysterious pages
+       A key to this vision sublime;
+     We'd gaze on the picture with pride and delight,
+       And all its magnificence trace,
+     Give honor to man for his genius and might,
+       And glory to God for his grace.
+                                           --PAXTON.
+
+After the surrender of New York to the English, in the year 1665 Peter
+Stuyvesant went to Holland to report to his superiors. In order to shift
+the responsibility from their own shoulders, they declared that the
+governor had not done his duty, and they asked the States-General to
+disapprove of the scandalous surrender of New Netherland. Stuyvesant
+made a similar counter-charge and begged the States-General to speedily
+decide his case, that he might return to America for his family. The
+authorities required him to answer the charges of the West India
+Company. He sent to New York for sworn testimony, and at the end of six
+months he made an able report, its allegations sustained by
+unimpeachable witnesses. The company made a petulant rejoinder, when
+circumstances put an end to the dispute. War between Holland and England
+then raging was ended by the peace concluded at Breda in 1667, when the
+former relinquished to the latter its claims to New Netherland. This
+brought to an end the controversy between Stuyvesant and the West
+India Company.
+
+Stuyvesant went to England and obtained from King Charles permission for
+three Dutch vessels to have free commerce with New York for the space of
+seven years. Then he sailed for America, with the determination of
+spending the remainder of his life in New York. He was cordially
+welcomed by his old friends and kindly received by his political
+enemies, who had learned by experience that he was not a worse governor
+than the Duke had sent them. Stuyvesant retired to his _bowerie_ or farm
+on East River, from which the famous Bowery of New York City derived its
+name, and in tranquillity passed the remainder of his life.
+
+The people of New York soon discovered that a change of masters did not
+increase their prosperity or happiness. Brodhead says: "Fresh names and
+laws they found did not secure fresh liberties. Amsterdam was changed to
+New York and Orange to Albany; but these changes only commemorated the
+titles of a conqueror. It was nearly twenty years before the conqueror
+allowed for a brief period to the people of New York even that partial
+degree of representative government which they had enjoyed when the
+tri-colored ensign of Holland was hauled down from the flagstaff of Fort
+Amsterdam. New Netherland exchanged Stuyvesant and the West India
+Company and a republican sovereignty for Nicolls, a royal proprietor and
+a hereditary king. The province was not represented in Parliament, nor
+could the voice of its people reach the chapel of St. Stephen at
+Westminster as readily as it had reached the chambers of the Binnenhof
+at the Hague."
+
+Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace in 1667. Lovelace was a quiet
+man, unfitted to encounter great storms, yet he showed considerable
+energy in dealing with hostile Indians and French on the northern
+frontier of New York. He held friendly intercourse with the people of
+New England, and in the summer of 1672, when a hostile squadron of Dutch
+vessels of war appeared before his capital, he was on a friendly visit
+to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut. War had again broken out between
+England and Holland, and the Dutch inhabitants of New York had shown
+signs of discontent at the abridgment of their political privileges and
+a heavy increase in their taxes without their consent. Personally, they
+liked Lovelace; but they were bound to consider him as the
+representative of a petty tyrant. When, in menacing attitude, they
+demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion
+unwisely declared that they should "have liberty for no thought but how
+to pay their taxes." This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron
+came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships
+as liberators. When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for
+volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they
+spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.
+
+The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a
+messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy. One cannon ball passed
+through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the
+fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort. Six hundred Holland
+soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were
+quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to
+storm the fort.
+
+With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were
+marching down Broadway for that purpose. They were met by a messenger
+from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be
+allowed to march out with the honors of war. The proposition was
+accepted. Manning's troops marched out with colors flying and drums
+beating and laid down their arms. The Dutch soldiers marched in followed
+by the English troops, who were made prisoners of war and confined in
+the church. It was the 9th of August, 1672, and the air was quivering
+with heat, when the flag of the Dutch Republic once more waved over Fort
+Amsterdam, and the name of the city of New York was changed to New
+Orange, in compliment to William Prince of Orange.
+
+The Dutch had taken New York.
+
+The New Netherland and all the settlements on the Delaware speedily
+followed the capture of New York. The other English colonies near the
+province were amazed and prepared to defend their own domains against
+the encroachments of the Dutch, and Connecticut foolishly talked of an
+offensive war. Anthony Clove, the governor of reconquered New
+Amsterdam, was wide-awake. He kept his eye on the movements of the
+savages and Frenchmen on the north, watched every hostile indication in
+the east, and sent proclamations and commissions to towns on Long Island
+and in Westchester to compel hesitating boroughs to take the oath of
+allegiance to Prince William of Orange. His forts about New Orange were
+strengthened and mounted with one hundred and ninety cannon. A treaty
+of peace between the Dutch and English, however, made at London in
+1674, restored New Netherland to the British crown. Some doubts arising
+as to the title of the Duke of York after the change, the king gave him
+a new grant of territory in June, 1674, within the boundary of which was
+included all the domain west of the Connecticut River, to the eastern
+shores of the Delaware, also Long Island and a territory in Maine. King
+Charles had commissioned Major Edmond Andros to receive the surrender of
+this province of New Netherland (New York) to which he was appointed
+governor. The final surrender was made in October, 1674, by the Dutch
+governor, who delivered up the keys of the fort to Major Andros, and the
+English never lost possession of the colony and city, until the united
+colonies gained their independence.
+
+The political changes in New York had its effect on the settlements to
+the west and south. Eastward of the Delaware Bay and River (so called in
+honor of Lord De la Warr) lies New Jersey. Its domain was included in
+the New Netherland charter. So early as 1622, transient trading
+settlements were made on its soil, at Bergen and on the banks of the
+Delaware. The following year, Director May, moved by the attempt of a
+French sea-captain to set up the arms of France in Delaware, built the
+fort called Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timmer Kill or Timber Creek, a
+few miles below Camden, and settled some young Walloons near it. The
+Walloons (young couples), who had been married on shipboard, settled on
+the site of Gloucester. This was the first settlement of white people in
+New Jersey that lived long; but it, too, withered away in time. It was
+seven years later when Michael Pauw made his purchase from the Indians
+of the territory extending from Hoboken to the Raritan River and,
+latinizing his name, called it Pavonia.
+
+In this purchase was included the settlement of some Dutch at Bergen.
+Though other settlements were attempted, it was forty years before any
+of them became permanent. Cape May, a territory sixteen miles square,
+which Captain Heyes bought of the Indians, all the time remained an
+uncultivated wilderness, yielding the products of its salt meadows to
+the browsing deer.
+
+After the trouble with Dutch and Swedes the English came under the agent
+of the Duke of York and captured the New Netherland. While Nicolls was
+on his way to capture the Dutch possessions in America, the Duke of York
+conveyed to two favorites all the territory between the Hudson and
+Delaware rivers from Cape May north to the latitude of forty degrees and
+forty minutes. Those favorites were Lord Berkeley, brother of the
+governor of Virginia and the duke's own governor in his youth, and Sir
+George Carteret, then the treasurer of the admiralty, who had been
+governor of the island of Jersey, which he had gallantly defended
+against the forces of Cromwell. In the charter this province was named
+"Nova Caesarea or New Jersey," in commemoration of Carteret's loyalty
+and gallant deeds while governor of the island of Jersey. Colonel
+Richard Nicolls, the conqueror of New Netherland, in changing the name
+of the province to New York, ignorant of the charter given to Berkeley
+and Carteret, called the territory west of the Hudson Albania, in honor
+of his employer, who had the title of Duke of York and Albany.
+
+Berkeley and Carteret hastened to make use of their patent. The title of
+their constitution was: "The concessions and agreement of the Lords
+Proprietors of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, to and with
+all and every new adventurers and all such as shall settle and plant
+there." It was a fair and liberal constitution, providing for governor
+and council appointed by the proprietors, and deputies or
+representatives chosen by the people, who should meet annually and, with
+the governor and his council, form a general assembly for the government
+of the colony. It provided for a choice of a president by the
+representatives when in session, in case of the absence of the governor
+and deputy governor. All legislative power was vested in the assembly of
+deputies, who were to make all laws for the province. These were to be
+consistent with the laws and customs of Great Britain and not repugnant
+to the interests of the proprietors. Emigration to New Jersey was
+encouraged. To every free man who would go to the province with the
+first governor, furnished with a good musket and plenty of ammunition
+and with provisions for six months, was offered a free gift of one
+hundred and fifty acres of land, and for every able man-servant that
+such emigrant should take with him so armed and provisioned, a like
+quantity of land. Even the sending of such servants provided with arms,
+ammunitions and food was likewise rewarded. And for every weaker servant
+or female servant over fourteen years, seventy-five acres of land was
+given. "Christian servants" were entitled, at the expiration of the term
+of service, to the land so granted for their own use and benefit. To all
+who should settle in the province before the beginning of 1665, other
+than those who should go with the governor, was offered one hundred and
+twenty acres of land on like conditions.
+
+It was expected that these tempting offers would rapidly people the
+country with industrious settlers. Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir
+George, was appointed governor, and with about thirty emigrants,
+several of whom were Frenchmen skilled in the art of salt-making, he
+sailed for New York, where he arrived about the middle of July, 1665.
+The vessel having been driven into the Chesapeake Bay the month before,
+anchored at the mouth of the James River, from whence the governor sent
+dispatches to New York. Among them was a copy of the duke's grant of New
+Jersey. Governor Nicolls was astounded at the folly of the duke's grant,
+and mortified by this dismemberment of a state over which he had been
+ruling for many months with pride and satisfaction. But he bottled his
+wrath until the arrival of Carteret, whom he received at Fort James with
+all the honors due to his rank and station. That meeting in the
+governor's apartments was a notable one. Mr. Lossing graphically
+described it as follows:
+
+"Nicolls was tall, athletic and about forty-five years of age, a
+soldier, haughty and sometimes very irritable and brusque in speech when
+excited. Carteret was shorter and fat, good-natured and affable, with
+polished manners which he had learned by being much at court. He entered
+the governor's room with Bollen, the commissary of the fort, when the
+former arose, beckoned his secretary to withdraw, and received his
+distinguished visitor cordially. But when Carteret presented the
+outspread parchment, bearing the original of the duke's grant with his
+grace's seal and signature, Nicolls could not restrain his feelings. His
+temper flamed out in words of fierce anger. He stormed, and uttered
+denunciations in language as respectful as possible. He paced the floor
+backward and forward rapidly, his hands clasped behind his back, and
+finally calmed down and begged his visitor's pardon for his
+uncontrollable outburst of passion.
+
+"Nicolls yielded gracefully yet sorrowfully to circumstances, and
+contented himself with addressing a manly remonstrance to the duke, in
+which he urged an arrangement for the grantees to give up their domain
+in exchange for 'a few hundred thousand acres all along the seacoast.'"
+
+The remonstrance came too late. New Jersey was already down on the maps
+as a separate province. Governor Carteret at the head of a few followers
+crossed over to his domain with a hoe on his shoulder in significance of
+his desire to become a planter. For his seat of government he chose a
+beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
+and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
+living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
+heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
+Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
+bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.
+
+In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
+the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
+house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
+organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
+and commonwealth of New Jersey.
+
+The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
+might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
+Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
+were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
+of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
+his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
+and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
+when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
+Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.
+
+After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
+Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
+Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
+had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
+Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
+the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
+Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
+secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.
+
+Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
+beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
+From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
+constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
+II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
+the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
+cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
+refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
+mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty and of the soul. A
+hardy race multiplied along the _alluvion_ of the streams and subdued
+the more rocky and less inviting fields. Its population for a century
+doubled once in twenty years, though there was considerable emigration
+from the valley. Religion united with the pursuits of agriculture gave
+to the people the aspects of steady habits. The domestic wars were
+discussions of knotty points in theology. The concerns of the parish and
+the merits of the minister were the weightiest affairs, and a church
+reproof the heaviest calamity. The strifes of the parent country, though
+they sometimes occasioned a levy among the sons of the husbandmen,
+never brought an enemy over their border. No fears of midnight ruffians
+disturbed the sweetest slumber, and the best house required no fastening
+but a latch, lifted by a string.
+
+Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Beneath a rugged exterior, humanity
+wore its sweetest smile. For a long time there was hardly a lawyer in
+the land. The husbandman who held his own plough and fed his own cattle
+was the greatest man of the age. No one was superior to the matron, who,
+with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive,
+spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined
+within narrow limits, and pride, which aimed at no grander equipage than
+a pillion, could exult only in the common splendor of the blue and white
+linen gown, with short sleeves, coming down to the waist, and in the
+snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on
+public days. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to
+the time of reaping, from the plain dress of the week to the more trim
+attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look to the fountain of
+all good.
+
+Life was not all sombre. Frolic mingled with innocence. Sometimes
+religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving to
+God was, from primitive times, as joyous as it was sincere. Nature
+always asserts her rights, and Christianity means gladness.
+
+The English colonies of the south after the restoration began to show
+evidence of improvement. Mr. William Drummond, the sturdy Scotch
+emigrant to Virginia, having been appointed governor of North Carolinia
+brought that country into the favorable notice of the world. Clarendon
+gained for Carolinia a charter which opened the way for religious
+freedom. One clause held out to the proprietaries a hope of revenue from
+colonial customs, to be imposed in colonial ports by Carolinia
+legislatures. Another gave them authority to erect cities and manors,
+counties and baronies, and to establish orders of nobility with other
+than English titles. The power to levy troops, to erect fortifications,
+to make war by sea and land on their enemies, and, in cases of
+necessity, to exercise martial law was granted them. Every favor was
+extended to the proprietaries, nothing being neglected but the interests
+of the English sovereign and rights of the colonists. Imagination
+encouraged every extravagant hope, and Ashley Cooper, Earl of
+Shaftesbury, the most active and the most able of the corporators, was
+deputed by them to frame for the dawning states a perfect constitution,
+worthy to endure throughout all ages.
+
+The constitutions for Carolinia merit attention as the only continued
+attempt within the United States to connect political power with
+hereditary wealth. America was singularly rich in every form of
+representative government. Its political life was so varied that, in
+modern constitutions, hardly a method of constituting an upper or
+popular house has thus far been suggested, of which the character and
+operation had not already been tested in the experience of our fathers.
+In Carolinia the disputes of a thousand years were crowded into a
+generation.
+
+"Europe suffered from absolute but inoperative laws. No statute of
+Carolinia was to bind beyond a century. Europe suffered from the
+multiplication of law-books and the perplexities of the law. In
+Carolinia not a commentary might be written on the constitutions, the
+statutes, or the common law. Europe suffered from the furies of bigotry.
+Carolinia promised not equal rights, but toleration to 'Jews, heathens
+and other dissenters,' to 'men of any religion.' In other respects, 'the
+interests of the proprietors,' the desires of 'a government most
+agreeable to monarchy,' and the dread of 'a numerous democracy,' are
+avowed as the motives for forming the fundamental constitutions of
+Carolinia.
+
+"The proprietaries, as sovereigns, constituted a close corporation of
+eight, a number which was never to be diminished or increased. The
+dignity was hereditary, but in default of heirs, the survivors elected a
+successor. Thus was formed an upper house, self-elected and immortal."
+[Footnote: Bancroft, vol. i., page 495.]
+
+Carolinia was an aristocracy, the instincts of which dreads the moral
+power of proprietary cultivators of the soil, so enacted their perpetual
+degradation. The leet-men, or tenants holding ten acres of land at a
+fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were
+adscripts to the soil: "Under the jurisdiction of their lord, without
+appeal," and it was added: "all children of leet-men shall be leet-men,
+and so to all generations."
+
+In 1665, Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants from New
+England and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas, who lived
+contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and
+simple form of government. A council of twelve, six named by the
+proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly. An assembly, composed of
+the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of
+the incipient settlements, these formed a government which enjoyed
+popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated, for
+freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the
+colonial legislature, were conceded. As their lands were confirmed to
+them on their own terms, the colonists were satisfied.
+
+The authentic record of the legislative history of North Carolinia
+begins with the autumn of 1666, when the legislators of Albemarle,
+ignorant of the scheme which Locke and Shaftesbury were maturing, formed
+a few laws, which, however open to objection, were united to the
+character and manner of the inhabitants. While freedom struggled in the
+hearts of the common people to assert its rights and declare that all
+men were equal and ought to be free, scheming nobles sought to enchain
+them in one form or another of slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FUGITIVE AND HIS CHILD.
+
+     "Adieu! adieu! My native shore
+       Fades o'er the waters blue.
+     The night winds sigh, the breakers roar,
+       And shrieks the wild sea-mew."
+
+At the close of a July day in the year of the restoration, a man,
+travelling on foot and leading a little girl six years of age, entered
+the town of Boston. The few inhabitants on the streets and at their
+doors and windows regarded the travellers with amazement and even
+suspicion, for both were strangers in this part of the world. It would
+be difficult to meet wayfarers of more wretched appearance. He was tall,
+muscular and robust, and in the full vigor of life. His age might be
+anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five, for while his eye possessed the
+fire of youth, there were streaks of gray in his long hair and beard.
+His ruffled shirt of well-worn linen was met at the neck by a modest
+ruff faded and torn like the shirt, and both sadly in need of washing.
+On his head he wore a round black cap which, if it ever had a peak, had
+lost it. The trousers of dark stuff came just below the knee, Puritan
+fashion, and were met by coarse gray stockings. The feet were encased in
+coarse shoes with steel buckles, and a sable blouse well worn was held
+close to the body by a belt. His only visible weapon was a knotted
+stick. Perspiration, heat, exhaustion from travelling on foot, with
+dust, added something sordid to his general wretched appearance.
+
+No less interesting than the man was the child he led at his side. Her
+great, dark brown eyes and golden hair were indications of beauty,
+despite the careworn look and dust-covered features. She wore a hood and
+frock, stockings and thick English shoes of the period. Like the man,
+the child had a haggard look, and her clothing was faded and worn. There
+were leaves and dust in that golden hair, as if her pillow had been the
+earth, and her beautiful brown eyes had a terrified look, as if some
+dread possessed her mind.
+
+The appearance of these two travel-stained strangers occasioned much
+comment in Boston. No one knew them. Where did they come from? The
+south, perhaps the seaboard, for they made their entrance from the
+Plymouth and Rhode Island roads. But why had they come by land when
+travel by water was so much easier? They must have been walking all
+day, for the child seemed very tired. Some women, who had seen them
+enter the old suburb at the lower part of the town, asserted that the
+stranger was carrying the child in his arms when he came to the town.
+They saw him halt under some trees by the big spring and both man and
+child drink of the pure sweet waters. On reaching the corner of what is
+now Washington Street he paused a moment and glanced toward the house of
+the governor as if he would go there; but, after a few whispered words
+with the child, he shook his head and turned his attention toward the
+principal inn of the town.
+
+The child evidently caused this change in his mind, for Mrs. Alice
+Stevens, who from her window was watching the pair with no little
+interest, thought the little girl looked hungry and tired. She was on
+the point of going out to offer her some refreshments and ask the
+wanderers to come in and rest, when they went on. The travellers must
+have been very thirsty, for the children who followed them saw them
+pause at the town-pump and drink again.
+
+There was at this time in Boston a very respectable inn, at which
+Bradford the governor of New Plymouth had been entertained by the elder
+governor Winthrop. The man and child proceeded to this inn, the best in
+the town, and entered the broad piazza which was on a level with the
+street. All the ovens were heated, and the host, who was also chief
+cook, was preparing supper. The savory smell of cooked meats and
+vegetables filled the air with an odor which seemed to increase the
+child's hunger. The man and child without a word sank down upon the
+wooden benches and listened to the conversation of some men who were
+drinking in the tap-room. The peals of laughter and loud talk certainly
+were very unlike the staid Puritans of New England. Anon, one of them
+struck up a cavalier song very popular among that sect at the period,
+and ended with:
+
+"God save the King!"
+
+No war-horse ever heard the blast of a trumpet with more fire in his
+soul than did the stranger sitting on the porch holding his child by one
+hand, and his knotted stick in the other, hear that cry. His hand
+involuntarily clutched the stick as if it were a sword, and his breath
+came hard and quick, as if he were eager to rush into battle. The child
+seemed instinctively to catch the idea of her father and clutched his
+arm with both her hands, while her soft brown eyes were fixed on his in
+mute appeal, and he sat enduring the insult without a murmur.
+
+The kitchen was not so far away but that the partridges, grouse and
+trout on spits and in the oven gave forth their fumes as they browned
+to tempting perfection. The little girl had not yet spoken since they
+had entered the town; but now she fixed her eyes on her parent and
+whispered:
+
+"I am very hungry."
+
+He turned his great brown eyes on her tenderly, and made no answer. At
+this moment a tow-headed son of the host espied the strangers on the
+porch and went to his father to report. The landlord, with flushed face
+and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked:
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to
+the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.
+
+The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and
+then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his
+accommodations, asked:
+
+"Have you money to pay for that which you ask?"
+
+"I have," and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his
+blouse a heavy leathern purse. Unfastening its strings he emptied its
+contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had
+the wherewithal to pay for himself and child. The sight of so much gold
+caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said:
+
+"You can have what you ask!"
+
+The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of
+his blouse. There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled
+the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot
+of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem. The man was
+sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible
+in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon. While the
+landlord was gazing at him, lost in a sort of revery, he was suddenly
+startled by the awful voice asking:
+
+"Will supper be ready soon?"
+
+"Directly."
+
+The host, being thus recalled to his duty, wheeled about to return to
+the kitchen. On his way he was met by his wife, whose face was the very
+picture of terror and superstitious dread.
+
+"Have nought to do with them! Have nought to do with them!"
+
+"Wherefore, good wife, do you say as much?"
+
+She whispered a few words in his ears which made him turn pale, and with
+eyes starting from their sockets, he asked:
+
+"How know you this?"
+
+"Mrs. Johnson hath told me."
+
+The whole demeanor of the landlord underwent an immediate change, his
+eyes no longer sparkled with delight at thought of the golden guineas,
+and he would sooner have handled a red-hot toasting-fork than have
+touched one of them. For a moment he stood hesitating and actually
+quaking, and then he appealed to his wife with:
+
+"What must be done?"
+
+"Be done with them at once. Marry! send them hence without delay."
+
+The good dame ruled the household, and he hastily returned to the porch
+where the stranger and his child were sitting, and said:
+
+"I cannot make room for you!"
+
+Half starting from his seat, the traveller fixed his terrible eyes on
+the host and asked:
+
+"What mean you? Be you afraid of your payment? Verily, I will give you
+the money before I eat your bread," and once more he put his hand into
+the pocket of the blouse to pull forth the purse; but the landlord
+raised his own hand and, with a restraining gesture and averted his
+head, as if he dreaded a sight of the other's gold, answered:
+
+"Nay, it is not that."
+
+"Pray, what is it?"
+
+"I doubt not that you have the money."
+
+"Then why refuse me what I ask?"
+
+"I have no spare beds. When I said you could remain, I knew not that all
+my rooms were taken."
+
+The child raised her beautiful but dirt-stained face to the host in
+mute appeal, while her father quietly continued:
+
+"Put us in the stables; we are used to it."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Pray why not? Surely the enemies of the son of God would not refuse him
+that."
+
+The host started at the awful reply, which to him was sacrilege, and
+answered in a faltering voice:
+
+"The horses take up all the room."
+
+The stranger seemed not entirely put out by the persistent refusal of
+the landlord and said:
+
+"We will find some corner in which to lie after supper."
+
+"I will give you no supper."
+
+This declaration, made in a firm tone, brought the mysterious traveller
+to his feet.
+
+"Can you, a Christian, speak thus?" he cried. "We are dying of hunger. I
+have been on my legs since sunrise, and have walked ten leagues to-day,
+for most part carrying my child on my back. I have the money, I am
+hungry, and I will have food."
+
+"I have none for you," said the landlord.
+
+"What are you cooking in your kitchen, the savory odors of which are
+maddening to a hungry man?"
+
+"It is all ordered."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Merchants and travellers from Plymouth and New Amsterdam."
+
+"You can surely spare a crust for my child, she is starving."
+
+The stern landlord hesitated, when a loud authoritative "Ahem!" from his
+invisible wife strengthened him, and he said:
+
+"I have not a morsel to spare."
+
+"I am at an inn. I am hungry, I have money, and I shall remain,"
+answered the stranger, sitting by the side of the little girl, who
+nervously clutched his arm. The landlord seemed quite put out, if not a
+little awed by the determined manner of the stranger, and turning about
+re-entered the house, where he held a whispered consultation with some
+one. Terror overcame the hunger of the tired child, and, clinging to her
+father, she whispered:
+
+"Let us go from this house. I am not hungry now, let us go to some other
+place where we will not be injured."
+
+He laid his hard, rough hand assuringly on the shoulder of the
+frightened child and sought to soothe her fears. At this moment the
+landlord, who had had his courage renewed by his wife, came quite up to
+the stranger and, in a voice that was terribly in earnest, said:
+
+"I know more of you by far than you realize. I am usually polite to
+everybody, so pray be off."
+
+For a single instant a flash blazed from the eyes of the stranger, then
+his face grew deathly white, and he rose, taking the hand of his child
+in his own and went off. They walked along the streets at hap-hazard,
+keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated pair. His tired
+child was at his side, uncomplaining, though scarcely able to drag one
+weary little foot after the other. They did not look back once. Had they
+done so they would have seen that the landlord stood with all his guests
+and the passers-by, talking eagerly and pointing to them. Judging from
+the looks of suspicion and terror, they might have guessed that ere long
+their arrival would be the event of the whole town. They saw nothing of
+this, for people who are oppressed do not look back, they know too well
+that evil destiny is following them.
+
+Though sad and humiliated, the man was proud, and had the consciousness
+of right on his side. Only for his child, he might have defied the
+landlord and all the people, but the dread of leaving her alone and
+uncared for almost made a coward of a lion. They walked on for a long
+time, turning down streets new and strange to them, and in their sorrow
+forgetting their fatigue. The sun had set and darkness was falling over
+the landscape, when the father, roused once more to a sense of duty for
+his child, began to look around for some sort of shelter. The best inn
+was closed against them, so he sought a very humble ale-house, a
+wretched den which he would have shuddered to have his child enter under
+other circumstances. The candles had been lighted and the travellers
+paused for a moment to look through the windows. Even that miserable
+place had something cheerful and inviting about it. Some cavaliers who
+had come from England since the restoration were drinking beer, while
+over the fire in the broad chimney bubbled a caldron hanging from an
+iron hook. The traveller went to the front entrance and timidly raised
+the latch and entered the room, bringing his child after him.
+
+"Who is there?" the landlord asked.
+
+"A traveller and his child who want supper and bed."
+
+"Very good. They are to be had here."
+
+A long wooden bench was in the room, and the traveller sat down on it
+and stretched out his tired feet, swollen with fatigue. The child fell
+into the seat at his side and, laying her soft curly head on his lap,
+despite the fact she had travelled all day without food, fell asleep. As
+the stranger sat there in the gloom of twilight, for no candle had been
+brought into the room, all that could be distinguished of his face was
+his prominent nose, and firm mouth covered with beard. It was a firm,
+energetic and sad profile. The face was strangely composed, for it began
+by being proud and ended with humility, it commenced in stern austerity
+and ended in kindness. One moment the eyes beneath the shaggy eyebrows
+gleamed with fires of hate, next they were softened in love as the
+glance fell on the sleeping, supperless child. The hand was hardened by
+grasping the sword-hilt, and the heart, which had so often defied the
+bullets of the enemy, was humble and child-like in the presence of the
+little girl.
+
+The landlord was about to prepare supper for the hungry wanderers, when
+a man suddenly entered by the kitchen door, quite out of breath with
+running. His eyes were opened wide with terror, and he was trembling
+from head to foot. He proceeded to whisper some words in the ears of the
+landlord, which caused him to start and quake with dread.
+
+"What would I better do?" asked the landlord in amazement.
+
+"Drive them hence. No good ever comes to one harboring such."
+
+This being made the plain Christian duty of the landlord, he was not
+slow to act. He went into the adjoining room, walked up almost to the
+stranger, holding his sleeping child on his knee, and said:
+
+"You must be off."
+
+At first the eyes glared at the host fiercely, then became more gentle,
+as he remarked:
+
+"You know me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"We were turned away from the other inn."
+
+"So you will be from this."
+
+"Where would you have us go?"
+
+"Anywhere so you leave my house."
+
+The stranger had made no effort as yet to rise, and the child who sat at
+his side with her head on his knee still slept. Someone brought in a
+lighted wax taper, and the strange man, gazing on the face of the
+sleeping child, asked:
+
+"Can she remain? See, she has had no food all day and has journeyed, oh,
+so far! Won't you let her remain?"
+
+"No, I will have none of you with me."
+
+"But she hath done no wrong," persisted the father.
+
+The stubborn landlord shook his head and answered:
+
+"It brings ill luck to one having such about. You must away and take her
+with you."
+
+The large, sad-eyed man bent over the sleeping child and whispered:
+
+"Ester!"
+
+She awoke in a moment and cast a bewildered glance about the room, as a
+child will on being suddenly aroused.
+
+"We must go," the father said, sadly.
+
+She made no complaint, but, rising, with a feminine instinct common even
+in a girl of her tender years, adjusted her ruffled hood and dress.
+
+They went out into the night, for the sun had long since set, and the
+far-off stars one by one opened their little eyes, until the heavens
+were glittering with diamonds. They entered a small street in which
+there were numerous gardens, some being merely enclosures with stone
+fences. Among these gardens and fences he saw a house the window of
+which was illuminated, and he looked through the open casement as he had
+done at the inn. It was a cozy, whitewashed room, with a bed, a rude
+cradle, a few chairs and an old-fashioned matchlock hanging on a rack
+made of deer's antlers on the wall. A plain table was laid for supper in
+the middle of the room, a wax taper burned on the mantel lighting up the
+interior of the Puritan's home. A man forty years of age sat at the
+table with a baby on his knee. Two children, one four and the other two
+years old, sat at his side, while the mother was placing supper on the
+table. What a tempting sight for a hungry man! Could one conceive a
+more happy family picture? The travellers looked on, and the father was
+almost maddened when he glanced at his own child.
+
+"Papa, I am so hungry and so tired," she whispered. "Won't you ask them
+if we can stay here?"
+
+Fugitives from the law must have a care where they go, and to whom they
+appeal, yet Ester's father was growing more desperate every moment. He
+went boldly to the door and gave a timid rap with his knuckle. That hand
+once bold enough to strike a king from his throne was weak and trembling
+on this night. At sound of the knock, the husband and father seemed to
+have suddenly changed. The lion may sport and play with his whelps in
+his lair, but when the intruder enters his domestic abode, all is
+changed. He rose, took up the light and went to the door. He was a tall
+man and, judging from his charcoal-begrimed features, a blacksmith, and
+he wore a large leathern apron which came quite to his shoulder. As he
+threw back his head the shirt-front opened, displaying his bare neck and
+hairy chest. His face was sullen, with a bull-dog expression on it.
+Without a moment's hesitation, the stranger began:
+
+"I am weary, and my child hath had no food to-day. Would you, for money,
+give us a morsel to eat and a blanket and corner in which to sleep?"
+
+"Who are you?" asked the smith.
+
+"We came from New Plymouth, and have walked all day. I will pay you well
+for what you give us."
+
+The blacksmith loved money; but those were troublesome times, and people
+had to be careful whom they admitted into their houses. The king had
+been restored and was pursuing his enemies with a vengeance, and to
+harbor a _regicide_ might mean death on the scaffold. The smith thought
+of all this, and asked:
+
+"Why do you not go to one of the inns?"
+
+"There is no room there."
+
+"Nonsense! that is impossible. Have you been to Robinson's?"
+
+"I have been to all."
+
+"Well?"
+
+The traveller continued with some hesitation, "I do not know why; but
+they all refuse to take us in."
+
+The man knew there was something wrong with the travellers, and turning
+about, he held a whispered consultation with his wife. She was heard to
+say in a faint whisper: "It is the same, a man with a child." Then the
+smith turned on the stranger, and said:
+
+"Be off."
+
+The proud eye of a daring trooper in despair is the saddest sight one
+ever gazed upon. Such was the look of the humiliated man, as, with his
+starving child, he turned from the last door. At times the spirit of
+revenge rose in his breast, and he was inclined to turn on the men who
+refused his child food, drink and shelter, and with his stout knotted
+stick beat out their brains; but, on second thought, he restrained
+himself and said:
+
+"No--no; I will not make an outlaw of myself. I am not a robber."
+
+He who had been the commander of thousands, the king of the
+battle-field, at whose name princes grew pale and thrones tottered, was
+now a wanderer from house to house, rejected at every door.
+
+"I am so hungry," murmured Ester. "If I had but a morsel of food, I
+could sleep under a tree."
+
+He heard the plaintive appeal, and it wrung his fatherly heart. Through
+his teeth he hissed:
+
+"If I am made a savage let all the world beware."
+
+They were climbing a hill to enter another part of the town, when they
+came upon a kind old Puritan woman, who paused to gaze in compassion on
+the wayfarers. If others kept off from them as though they were
+creatures to contaminate by a touch, she seemed to entertain no such
+fears. Coming quite close, she said:
+
+"Prythee, friend, why do you not get this child to bed?"
+
+"I would, good woman, had I a bed for her; but, alas, all doors are shut
+against us."
+
+"Surely not all!"
+
+"I have tried the inns and the home of the smith; but they seem to fear
+us, as if we were polution."
+
+"Have you called at that house?" she asked, pointing to a steep-roofed
+building, the top of which was just visible over the hill in the light
+of the rising moon.
+
+"No, who lives there?"
+
+"Mathew Stevens, a very good old man."
+
+"Has he a heart? Is he brave?"
+
+"He has a heart tender enough, and he is brave enough to shelter the
+oppressed, in spite of other people's opinions."
+
+The woman went her way, and the traveller and his weary child went
+slowly over the hill to the house. It seemed a great distance. Many a
+time after that Ester traversed the distance alone and thought it short;
+but on that night rods were lengthened out into miles. As they were
+passing the window, Ester saw a man about the age of her father reading
+a Bible. He sat at a table on which burned a taper, and his wife and
+children were gathered about listening. Surely a man who would read the
+Bible would not refuse them food and shelter. She staggered up to the
+door by her father's side, in a dazed, half-conscious manner, and was
+cognizant of his knocking, and the door being opened. Their story was
+told briefly, and then warm arms encircled the little fugitive, a
+colored slave prepared a supper, and Ester was awakened to eat it, after
+which she sank into slumber on her father's breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+TYRANNY AND FLIGHT.
+
+     "Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
+     Some boundless contiguity of shade,
+     Where rumor of oppression and deceit,
+     Of successful or unsuccessful war,
+     Might never reach me more."
+                                     --Cowper.
+
+When Virginia came back to the royal fold, her people little suspected
+that she was to be fleeced by the very men for whom they had clamored.
+No event worthy of note had occurred in the colony until September,
+1663, when what was known as the "Oliverian Plot" was concocted. A
+number of indented servants conspired to "anticipate the period of their
+freedom," and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in
+Gloucester, with what precise designs is not known. They were betrayed
+by one of their number, and Berkeley, who already seemed to thirst for
+blood, had the four ringleaders hung.
+
+Jamestown was the gay city of the South; but the halcyon days promised
+on the restoration of Virginia to royalty were never realized. The
+common people were made worse for the change, and only the favorite few
+were bettered.
+
+At the home of Mrs. Dorothe Price matters went on fairly well. Her
+children from the first seemed to whisper rebellion; but the stern
+cavalier husband met them with firmness. Robert Stevens, who had
+incurred the man's dislike before he had wed his mother, realized that
+his stepfather had not forgotten and was not likely to forget the
+assault. His face, which at times could be pleasant, was firm and
+immovable with Robert. He never smiled on the boy nor gave him one
+encouraging word.
+
+When the cavaliers and ladies assembled at the house, the children were
+sent away. Robert was strong and athletic. His early hardships had bred
+in him a spirit of fearless independence and freedom, which few of his
+age realized. Mr. Price saw that unless he early mastered him, he would
+not be able to do so, for Robert was rapidly growing larger. The gloomy
+taint in Hugh Price's blood was his religion, which was austere and
+wrathful. He could assume a character of firmness when he chose to do
+so, and then, despite his silk, lace, and ruffles, he became terrible.
+One day when Robert had exhibited a strong spirit of insubordination, he
+took his arm and, sitting on a chair, held him standing before him for
+a long time, gazing into his face. The little fellow met his glance
+without quailing, though he could feel his heart within his bosom giving
+great thumps.
+
+"Robert," he said, pressing his lips firmly together, "do you know what
+I do if my horse or dog will not obey me?"
+
+"No," was the answer.
+
+"I beat him and make him smart until I have conquered him. I would drain
+every drop of blood from his veins, but I would conquer him."
+
+Glaring at him with a fury that made the strong man wince, the lad
+answered:
+
+"If you beat me I will kill you."
+
+For several minutes the stepfather sat glaring at Robert who met his
+gaze with defiance. Hugh Price read in the face of the child hate, and
+inwardly realized that there was a struggle in the near future which
+might end in the death of one or the other; but if those forebodings
+were in his mind, he did not let the boy see them, and in a voice quite
+calm and intended to be gentle, he said:
+
+"Go away, Robert, until you are more reasonable."
+
+Robert Stevens might have been improved for his whole life by a single
+kind word at that moment; but the haughty cavalier would not bow to the
+will of any one, much less to the boy he already hated. A word of
+encouragement, explanation, pity for his childish ignorance, of
+reassurance that his mother's roof was to be his home, might have made
+him really dutiful.
+
+On his way out he heard a sob, and, going into his mother's room, found
+her on her knees weeping bitterly. Tenderly he wound his arms around
+that weak mother, whom he loved with all the fervency of his young soul,
+and his own tears mingled with hers. They were in this position when
+Hugh Price, on his way to mount his horse, paused a single instant to
+gaze on the scene, and then, muttering something about weakness of
+women, added an oath and hurried from the house.
+
+When he was gone, Dorothe rose from her knees and, clasping Robert in
+her arms, cried:
+
+"Oh, Robert, I heard it all!"
+
+"Mother, I mean it!" he answered.
+
+"No, no; for my sake, promise me you will not, Robert."
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "my own father never struck me a blow. He who
+had the right to punish me never found it necessary, and he shall not."
+
+Dearly as Robert loved his mother, he would not yield to Hugh Price. He
+would have suffered torture rather than caused his mother a single tear;
+but to yield to the haughty cavalier was impossible.
+
+Public schools were unknown in that day, and what little learning was
+to be acquired was by private tutors. Sometimes Price talked of sending
+the boy to England to school, more to get rid of him than from any real
+desire to improve his mind. The mother objected to this. Then the
+stepfather tried to effect a compromise by sending him to Harvard
+College in Massachusetts, for he had relatives in Boston who might keep
+an eye on the incorrigible youth; but the fond mother clung to her son,
+and having a fair education herself, Robert and his sister, a pale
+little creature, whose great dark eyes were like her mother's, became
+pupils with the mother for teacher. She was an indulgent preceptress
+and, for a short season, renounced the pleasures and follies grown so
+dear to her heart, and devoted herself to the improvement of her
+children's mind. Mrs. Price was so blind as to believe that it was her
+husband's real interest in Robert's welfare that made him wish to send
+the boy away. She soon found her labor as teacher irksome. She employed
+a private tutor and again mingled with the lords and ladies, and became
+one of the sparkling lights of Greensprings Manor.
+
+Hugh Price was kind and indulgent to her. Her temperament suited his own
+ideas of living, and but for the children they might have been happy.
+
+It is possible that Mr. Price entertained some fear that Robert would
+execute his threat and kill him, for though he often laid his hand on
+the slender cane as if he would like to use it on the boy, he had thus
+far refrained; but a crisis was coming. Price not only entertained an
+aversion to Robert, but disliked Rebecca. She shrank from him in a way
+that increased the dislike, although he made some efforts to reconcile
+her to him.
+
+One day, a year and a half after his marriage, he accosted the child,
+and she, shrinking with dread, failed to do his bidding. He boxed her
+ears, and she cried out with pain.
+
+That scream roused Robert, and he flew tooth and nail at the stepfather.
+Hugh Price, unprepared for this violent attack, shook the lad off, held
+him at arm's length for a moment and said:
+
+"I may as well do it now as ever."
+
+Robert was in a maze, and to him it seemed a dream. His mother was
+weeping and imploring, his sister screaming, and the faithful slave
+Dinah howling. As Price took him toward the door, his mother ran toward
+them; but the husband angrily raised his disengaged hand and growled:
+
+"Dorothe, you are a perfect fool!"
+
+Robert saw her stop her ears, then heard her crying, as he was led
+slowly and gravely to his room. The supreme moment had arrived when Mr.
+Hugh Price was to glut his vengeance. Price was delighted with this
+formal parade to the execution of justice, for he had made up his mind
+to conquer the lad's spirit or break it, and when Robert's room was
+reached, he suddenly twisted his head under his arm, saying:
+
+"The moment has arrived, Robert, when I must convince you that I am
+master of the house."
+
+"Mr. Price, beware! Pray don't beat me, it will only make matters worse.
+I could not see you strike my sister; but if you will not beat us, we
+will try to obey you in the future."
+
+"No, no, indeed, Robert!" he answered. "The time has come to convince
+you that I am master."
+
+He held the boy's arm until it ached with pain, but Robert continued to
+gaze in his face and implore him for the sake of the future not to
+strike him. The stepfather was in a rage, and at that moment little
+cared what he roused in the breast of the boy. Heedless of his pleading,
+he raised his slender cane and struck at him, but the active lad dodged
+the blow and caught his arm with his sharp teeth.
+
+It now became a fight to the finish. Hugh Price was enraged and struck
+fast and furious. Above the din of the combatants in the room, the
+angry, smarting boy could hear the darkies flying in terror from room to
+room, and his little sister at the door imploring mercy for her brother.
+Mingled with this noise were the screams and supplications of his mother
+until she fainted in the arms of the negress, after which came only the
+shrill cries of little Rebecca. Then the stepfather was gone, and the
+door bolted on the outside. The badly bruised lad lay raging and sobbing
+on the floor, breathing threats of vengeance. By degrees he became quiet
+and listened. A strange, unnatural silence reigned throughout the whole
+house. When his smarting began to subside his passion cooled a little,
+yet he felt wicked; and, rolling on the floor, vowed he would kill his
+stepfather.
+
+After a while he sat up and listened for a long time; but there was not
+a sound. He crawled from the floor, and the wounds made by the cane of
+the cavalier were so fresh and sore that they made him weep anew.
+
+He sat by the window. It had began to grow dark, and he was turning away
+to lie on the couch, when he heard the clatter of hoofs and saw Hugh
+Price mounted on his favorite black charger, riding toward Greensprings.
+Shortly after, Dinah's step was heard on the stairway, and his door
+was opened.
+
+"Where is Rebecca?" he asked.
+
+"Waiten," was the answer.
+
+"Waiting for what?"
+
+"For you, Massa Robert. You is gwine away."
+
+"Where?"
+
+The negress did not know; but Robert soon learned that their uncle from
+Flower De Hundred had come to Jamestown and agreed to take the children
+and rear them.
+
+"When are we to go, Dinah?"
+
+"To-morrow, Massa."
+
+"Is that why Mr. Price left?"
+
+"Yes um. Him say neber want to see you again."
+
+"Shall I see mother?"
+
+"Yes, in de mornin'. Heah am yer suppah chile; now eat it an den go to
+sleep, honey, for it am all ober."
+
+Consequently next morning at early daylight the children were mounted on
+horses, the chief mode of travel in Virginia at that time, and,
+accompanied by their aunt's husband and two negro slaves, they set off
+on the long journey. Mrs. Price kissed them a tearful adieu and wept as
+if her heart would break. This unfortunate woman was more weak than bad.
+By one who has not made a study of the human heart and is incapable of
+an analysis of woman, Mrs. Price will not be understood. There are many
+women like her, and, disagreeable as the type may seem, it exists, and
+the artist who is true to nature must paint nature as he finds it.
+
+Three years were passed by Robert and his sister at the home of their
+relative, and in those three years Robert imbibed a spirit of
+republicanism which at that time was rapidly growing in Virginia. As
+Robert's uncles were republicans, he learned the doctrine from them. If
+for no other reason than that his stepfather was a royalist, he would
+have been a republican.
+
+Nothing is more uncertain than political friendship, a friendship
+selfish and treacherous. It assumes all things, absorbs all things,
+expects all things, and disappoints in everything. A merely political
+friend can never be trusted. Robert was seventeen or eighteen years of
+age, when he became acquainted with Giles Peram, a young man two or
+three years his senior. Peram was a caricature on nature. He was short
+of stature, had a round, fat face, eyes that bulged from his head like
+those of a toad, a corpulent body, and a walk about as graceful as the
+waddling of a duck. His short legs and arms gave him a decidedly comical
+appearance.
+
+He was egotistical, with flexible opinions and liable to be swayed in
+any course. When he was at Flower De Hundred, living in the atmosphere
+of liberalists and republicans, he was one of the most outspoken of all.
+He would strut for hours before any one who would listen to his
+senseless twaddle and would harangue and discourse on the rights of
+the people.
+
+"Are you favorable to royalty?" he asked Robert one day. "Don't you
+believe in the rights of the common people?"
+
+"I certainly do," Robert answered, for he was thoroughly democratic.
+
+"So do I--ahem--so do I;" and then the angry little fellow shook his
+fist at an imaginary foe. "Would you fight for such principles?"
+
+"I would."
+
+"So would I--ahem, so would I," cried Mr. Peram. Giles had a very
+disagreeable habit of repeating his words. A wag once said that his
+ideas were so few and his words so many that he was forced to repeat. "I
+will fight for the rights of the people. I will lead an army myself and
+hurl King Charles from his throne."
+
+Robert laughed. The idea of this insipid pigmy leading an army to
+overthrow the king was as ridiculous as Don Quixote charging the
+windmills.
+
+"Give o'er such thoughts, Giles, or perchance the king will hang you."
+
+"Hang me! I defy him!" cried Mr. Peram.
+
+His manner was earnest, and Robert, who hated Governor Berkeley,
+suggested they had better begin their republic by overthrowing
+the governor.
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked Giles. "Aye, do you mean it? Then why not hurl
+Berkeley from power."
+
+"Verily, you could not more nearly conform to my wishes," answered
+Robert.
+
+Then Giles, in his impetuous enthusiasm, embraced Robert. Giles Peram
+was not a spy, and at that time he believed himself a stanch republican.
+A few days later he went to Jamestown. Robert little dreamed that his
+remark would bring trouble upon himself.
+
+At this time Governor Berkeley was growing uneasy. He felt that he stood
+above a burning volcano, from which an eruption was liable to take place
+at any moment. He trembled at the slightest whispers of freedom, for
+royalty dreads independence, and the idle boasts of Giles Peram startled
+him. He summoned Hugh Price and consulted with him on the boldness
+of Peram.
+
+"Fear him not, my lord," said Hugh. "He is but an idle, boasting,
+half-witted fellow, as harmless as he is silly. There is a plot, I am
+sure; but of it I will learn the particulars and advise you."
+
+Hugh Price was shrewd, and, by a little flattery, he won over the
+vacillating Giles Peram to the royalists' side.
+
+"Yes, sir, I will draw my sword for the king, ahem--draw my sword for
+the king at any moment. I am a loyal cavalier of his majesty, Charles
+II., and woe to the man who says aught against him or his majesty's
+governor, Berkeley."
+
+Then Hugh told him that there was certainly a deep-laid plot against
+Governor Berkeley, and he asked the aid of Peram in ferreting out the
+leaders. There were no leaders and no plot; but Peram, after cudgeling
+his brain, remembered that Robert Stevens had spoken treasonable words
+against the governor. Having changed his politics, he was no longer the
+friend of Robert and was willing to aid in his downfall.
+
+Price received the intelligence with joy. He hated Robert, and this was
+a good way to get rid of him. Often the cavalier had declared:
+
+"Marry! he is a merry rogue. He will yet ornament the gibbet."
+
+His predictions seemed on the verge of realization. Berkeley, grown
+petulant and merciless in his old age, would not hesitate to hang Robert
+on suspicion.
+
+One evening as Robert was going from his mother's house he noticed three
+or four persons coming down the street. Their manner might have excited
+the suspicion of a guilty man; but as Robert had committed no crime, he
+relied wholly on his innocence. No sooner had he stepped on the street,
+however, than he was arrested.
+
+"Of what offence am I accused?" he asked.
+
+"Treason."
+
+"Treason! it is false; I am guilty of no treason."
+
+The mother and sister, hearing the angry words without, hurried to the
+street to find him in custody. Wringing their hands in an agony of
+distress, they demanded to know the cause of the arrest, and were
+informed that Robert had been accused of treason to the governor and
+must be committed to jail.
+
+Robert slept behind iron bars that night. He had many friends in the
+town, who no sooner learned of his arrest, than they began to appeal to
+the governor for his release. Among them was Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawerence; but all supplications and entreaties were of no avail. Hugh
+Price made a pretence of defending his wife's son; but the hollow show
+of his pretended interest was apparent.
+
+One night, as he was lying on his hard prison bunk, Robert heard the
+sound of footsteps without. Some persons were working at the front door
+with a key. They seemed to be exercising due caution, and soon the
+door was open.
+
+They came to the door of his cell. For a long time it seemed to baffle
+them, but at last it yielded, and the door opened.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the prisoner, as three dark forms appeared before
+him.
+
+"Friends," a voice which he recognized as Mr. Edward Cheeseman's
+whispered. "We have come to liberate you."
+
+He was led from the jail, and then, by the dim light of the stars, he
+recognized William Drummond, Edward Cheeseman and Mr. Lawerence.
+
+"There is a ship in the harbor ready to sail for Boston," said Mr.
+Lawerence. "You will go aboard of her and escape."
+
+"Can I see my mother and sister before I go?"
+
+"They are waiting on the beach," Drummond answered.
+
+Thanking his liberators, he followed them from the jail to the beach. It
+was midnight, and the stars looked coldly down on the youth as he
+hurried from the prison. His proud spirit rebelled at flying from home.
+He had done no wrong and consequently had nothing to fly from; but when
+his mother threw her arms about his neck and implored him to go,
+he assented.
+
+"I shall appeal to the king, show him my wrong and obtain my right."
+
+"Have you money?" asked Mr. Drummond.
+
+"None."
+
+"Here is some," and Drummond placed in the hand of Robert a well-filled
+purse.
+
+"My friend, how can one so poor as I repay you?"
+
+"Talk not of repayment," Drummond answered, "but go on, and when you
+are away, remember us in kindness."
+
+The boat was waiting on the beach, and the sailors sat at their oars
+ready to take him away to the vessel which lay at anchor. Drummond,
+Cheeseman and Lawerence withdrew, leaving Robert alone with his mother
+and sister. A few silent tears, a few silent embraces, and then he bade
+them adieu, entered the boat, and was rowed away into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF A REGICIDE.
+
+     When thy beauty appears
+     In its graces and airs,
+       All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky
+     At a distance I gaze and am awed at my fears,
+       So strangely you dazzle my eyes.
+                                             --PARNELL.
+
+One bright morning in autumn a ship from Virginia entered Boston Harbor.
+The appearance of a vessel was not an uncommon sight, and this one
+attracted little more than passing comment. Passengers were coming
+ashore and among them a stalwart youth of eighteen. His eyes wandered
+about over the town while the breeze played with his long hair hanging
+about his shoulders. He wore the costume of a cavalier, with a
+low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat and plume; but his face had all the grave
+aspect of a Puritan.
+
+He asked no questions on landing, but went up to the Common, where a
+fencing-master had erected a stage and was walking back and forth upon
+it with a rapier in his hand, saying:
+
+"Come, any who will, and fight me with swords."
+
+Near him were a dozen or two swords of all kinds. The new-comer paused
+near the platform on which the boaster stood and gazed at him in wonder.
+
+"I have been on this platform for several days, defying any man to fence
+with me. Have you no one in Boston brave enough?"
+
+"I will," a voice cried at this moment. All turned at the sound, for the
+voice was deep and commanding, sounding like the boom of a cannon.
+
+This stranger to all assembled on the Common was most singularly armed
+and equipped for a fight. On his left arm, wrapped in a linen cloth, was
+a large cheese for a shield, while he carried, instead of a sword, a mop
+dipped in muddy water.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Some madman."
+
+"Beware of him, and allow him not to go on the stage," cried another.
+
+But the stranger, with an agility not to be expected in one of his
+years, sprang upon the platform. The fencing-master evidently thought he
+had an easy victory, for a smile curled his lip, as he asked:
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," was the answer.
+
+"Guard!"
+
+He sprang at the fencing-master, who made a thrust at him, burying the
+point of his sword in the cheese, where the white-haired man held it,
+while he smeared the face of his opponent with the mud on his mop.
+
+[Illustration: "ARE YOU READY?"]
+
+"Zounds! master what are you about?" cried the fencing-master.
+
+"Marry! I am teaching you new tactics." Releasing his sword, the
+fencing-master ran to the other end of the platform and, seizing a
+broadsword, cried:
+
+"I will have it out with you with these."
+
+At this, the old man cried in a terrible voice:
+
+"Stop, sir! hitherto you see I have only played with you and done you
+no hurt; but if you come at me with the broadsword, I will take
+your life."
+
+The alarmed fencing-master cried out:
+
+"Who can you be? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the devil, for
+there are no others in England who could beat me."
+
+In order to fully explain the meaning of the fencing-master's words, we
+beg leave to step aside from our story for a moment and recall some
+historical events which have a bearing upon it. Of the judges who tried
+and condemned Charles I. three escaped to America. One was Edward
+Whalley, who had first won laurels in the field at Naseby, had even
+enjoyed the confidence of Cromwell, and remained a friend of the
+Independents; one was William Goffe, a firm friend of the family of
+Cromwell, a good soldier and an ardent partisan, but ignorant of the
+true principles of freedom. Endicott was governor when these two arrived
+in Boston. Goffe, with his child, came first, but was known as soon as
+he entered the town, and lodging was refused him at every house until he
+came to the home of the kind Puritan, Mathew Stevens, who sheltered the
+man and his child, though it might endanger his own head.
+
+Charles II. pursued the murderers of his father with unrelenting fury.
+Whalley and Goffe both had been generals in the army of Cromwell and
+were men of undoubted courage. When warrants came for them from England,
+they hurried across the country to New Haven, where it was esteemed a
+crime against God to betray a wanderer or give up an outcast; yet such
+diligent search was made for them, that they never knew security. For a
+time they went in secrecy from house to house, for awhile concealing
+themselves in a mill, sometimes in clefts of rocks by the seaside, and
+for weeks together, and even for months, they dwelt in a cave in the
+forest. Great rewards were offered for their apprehension. Indians as
+well as English were urged to scour the woods in quest of their
+hiding-place.
+
+John Dixwell, the third regicide, was more fortunate. He was able to
+live undiscovered and, changing his name, was absorbed among the
+inhabitants of New Haven. He married and lived peacefully and happily.
+Raleigh's history of the world, written during his imprisonment, while
+he was under sentence of death, was his favorite study. It is said that
+to the day of his death he retained a firm belief that the spirit of
+English liberty would demand a new revolution, which was achieved in
+England while he was on his death-bed.
+
+Another victim of the restoration, selected for his genius and
+integrity, was Sir Henry Vane, the benefactor of Rhode Island. This ever
+faithful friend of New England and liberty adhered with undaunted
+firmness to "the glorious cause" of popular liberty, and, shunned by
+every one who courted the returning monarch, he became noted for his
+unpopularity. When the Unitarians were persecuted, not as a sect but as
+blasphemers, Vane interceded for them. He also pleaded for the liberty
+of the Quakers, and as a legislator he demanded justice in behalf of the
+Roman Catholics. When monarchy was overthrown and a Commonwealth
+attempted, Vane reluctantly filled a seat in the council, and, resuming
+his place as a legislator, amidst the floating wrecks of the English
+constitution, he clung to the existing parliament as to the only
+fragment on which it was possible to rescue English liberty. His ability
+enabled Blake to cope with Holland on the sea.
+
+[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE.]
+
+After the restoration, parliament had excepted Sir Henry Vane from the
+indemnity, on the king's promise that he should not suffer death. It was
+resolved to bring him to trial, and he turned his trial into a triumph.
+Though he had always been supposed to be a timid man, he appeared
+before his judges with animated fearlessness. Instead of offering
+apologies for his career, he denied the imputation of treason with
+scorn, defended the right of Englishmen to be governed by successive
+representatives, and took glory to himself for actions which promoted
+the good of England and were sanctioned by parliament as the virtual
+sovereign of the realm. "He spoke not for his life and estate, but for
+the honor of the martyrs to liberty that were in their graves, for the
+liberties of England, for the interest of all posterity to come." When
+he asked for counsel, the solicitor said:
+
+"Who will dare speak for you, unless you can call down from the gibbet
+the heads of your fellow-traitors?"
+
+"I stand single," Vane defiantly answered. "Yet, being thus left alone,
+I am not afraid, in this great presence, to bear my witness to the
+glorious cause, nor to seal it with my blood."
+
+Stimulated by the magnanimity of this noble spirit, his enemies clamored
+for his life. The king wrote:
+
+"Certainly Sir Henry Vane is too dangerous a man to let live, if we can
+honestly put him out of the way."
+
+Though he could not be honestly put out of the way, it was resolved that
+he should die. The day before his execution his friends were admitted
+to his prison, and sought to cheer his drooping spirits. He calmly
+reviewed his political career, and in conclusion said:
+
+"I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what
+I have done. Why should we fear death? I find it rather shrinks from me
+than I from it." His children gathered around him, and he stopped to
+embrace them, mingling consolation with his kisses. "The Lord will be a
+better father to you than I could have been. Be not you troubled, for I
+am going to my father."
+
+His farewell counsel was:
+
+"Suffer anything from men rather than sin against God." When his family
+had withdrawn, he declared: "I leave my life as a seal to the justness
+of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of
+my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace
+and satisfaction I have in my heart."
+
+He was beheaded at the block, and Charles II. smiled when news was
+brought to him of the execution. We must not regard Charles II. as a
+bloodthirsty man. In fact, he was rather good-natured, thinking more of
+pleasures and beautiful mistresses than of vengeance; but it was only
+natural that he should feel anxious to bring the murderers of his father
+to the scaffold.
+
+He had no love for Puritan Massachusetts and threatened to deprive them
+of their liberties, demanding the retiring of the charter, which they
+refused to surrender. Various rumors went to England to the detriment of
+the people of Massachusetts. The New Englanders were not ignorant of the
+great dangers they incurred by refusing to comply with the demand of the
+sovereign. In January, 1663, the council for the colonies complained
+that the government there had withdrawn all manner of correspondence, as
+if intending to suspend their obedience to the authority of the king. It
+was currently reported in England that Whalley and Goffe were at the
+head of an army. The union of the four New England colonies was believed
+to have had its origin in the express "purpose of throwing off
+dependence on England."
+
+Friends of the colonies denied the reports and assured the king that New
+England was loyal; but despite the fact of their assertions, Whalley and
+Goffe were still at large.
+
+Even when their pursuers were close on their trail, Goffe, with a daring
+that was reckless, frequently appeared in Boston, usually in disguise.
+Long sojourn in rocks and caves had given him a natural disguise, in the
+long, snowy hair and beard.
+
+It was on one of his daring visits to Boston, that he met and conquered
+the fencing-master as narrated in the opening of this chapter. Having
+humbled the boaster, the man with the cheese and mop descended from the
+platform, threw away his weapons and advanced toward the youth who had
+been an amazed spectator of the scene.
+
+"Good morrow, friend. Do you belong here?" he asked, taking his hand.
+
+"No, sir, I just came in on the vessel."
+
+"Whom do you wish to see?"
+
+"Some relatives named Stevens."
+
+"Is your name Stevens?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"And you are from Virginia?" the old man asked.
+
+"Verily, you have guessed it, sir. Who may you be?"
+
+Without answering him, the strange swordsman seized his arm, saying:
+
+"Come with me; I am going to the house of Mathew Stevens. What is your
+father's name?"
+
+"John Stevens was his name; but he is dead. He went on a voyage and was
+lost at sea when I was quite young."
+
+"And your grandfather was--"
+
+"Philip Stevens, the friend of Captain John Smith."
+
+"I know of him. We will go to the home of your relatives." He led Robert
+over the hill toward a neat looking house, one of the best in Boston.
+The old man was nervous and frequently halted to look about, as if
+expecting pursuit.
+
+"Surely you have no one to fear?" said Robert.
+
+"Whom should I fear--the man whose face I plastered with mud? I carry a
+sword at my side, and he could not fight me in a single combat."
+
+"But he said something. He called you a name."
+
+"What name?"
+
+"Goffe."
+
+"What know you of Goffe, pray?"
+
+"I have heard of him. My mother's husband frequently spoke of him as a
+regicide."
+
+The swordsman gazed on him for a moment, and asked:
+
+"Do you know what a regicide is?"
+
+"A king-killer."
+
+"Well, my young cavalier, when a king has been convicted of treason,
+should he not suffer death as the humblest peasant in the land?"
+
+"He should," cried Robert, on whose republican soul the argument fell
+with a delightful sensation. "A king is but a man and no better than the
+poorest in the realm."
+
+"Ha! young cavalier from Virginia, dare you utter those words in your
+own colony?"
+
+"No; I left my colony because I could not abide there."
+
+"What! a fugitive?"
+
+"I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston."
+
+"And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?"
+
+"On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I
+trusted."
+
+General Goffe shook his white locks and said:
+
+"So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the
+suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time."
+
+They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New
+England house, and were admitted at once.
+
+Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but
+kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of
+his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little
+creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the
+white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his
+neck, cried:
+
+"Father, father, father!"
+
+"Ester, my child," the swordsman returned, "have you been happy?"
+
+"Happy as one could be with father away."
+
+"Now that I have returned, you need sorrow no more."
+
+All the while Robert Stevens was standing on the threshold waiting an
+invitation to enter. The aged patriarch at last seized the arm of
+General Goffe and asked:
+
+"Whom have we here?"
+
+The general, in the joy of meeting his daughter from whom he had been
+separated, had forgotten Robert.
+
+"This is Robert Stevens, your relative from Virginia."
+
+"Robert, I knew your father; I heard he was lost at sea."
+
+"He was," Robert answered sadly.
+
+"And your mother?"
+
+"Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier."
+
+Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he
+was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he
+told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was
+an escaped prisoner.
+
+When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told
+that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be
+provided for.
+
+Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period
+of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but
+kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which
+attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes
+which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston.
+She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly
+yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by
+week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness.
+
+The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared.
+He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her
+father was.
+
+"He is gone," she answered. "The king's men learned that he was here,
+and were coming after him, when he escaped."
+
+"Whither has he gone?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"What would be his fate if he should be taken?"
+
+"He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a
+regicide."
+
+"You must suffer uneasiness."
+
+"I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the
+king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to
+exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in
+their power."
+
+Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath
+of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth
+to Boston.
+
+The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were
+heard around the world.
+
+There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of
+Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general
+outbreak was expected.
+
+Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his
+pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was
+now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were
+betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as
+eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the
+last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his
+daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when
+Robert ran to them, saying:
+
+"The king's men are coming."
+
+In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on
+General Goffe.
+
+"Do not surrender; I will defend you," cried Robert.
+
+He drew his sword and assailed the foremost of the cavaliers with such
+implacable fury that they fell back. General Goffe took advantage of the
+moment to mount a swift horse and fly. A few pistol shots were fired at
+him; but he escaped, and Robert conducted the half-fainting Ester home.
+
+It was nearly midnight when a friend came to inform Robert that the
+king's men had procured a warrant against him for resisting his
+majesty's officers, and he must fly for his life. There was a flutter of
+hushed excitement. Everybody was awakened. Robert hurriedly gathered up
+his effects, which were taken to a brigantine ready to sail for
+Virginia. There was a silent, tearful farewell with Ester; vows were
+renewed, and he swore when the clouds had rolled away to come and make
+her his wife.
+
+Then a last embrace, a hasty kiss, and he hurried away to the bay. Ten
+minutes later the house was surrounded by soldiers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LEFT ALONE.
+
+     Yes, 'twill be over soon,--This sickly dream
+       Of life will vanish from my brain;
+     And death my wearied spirit will redeem
+       From this wild region of unvaried pain.
+                                           --WHITE.
+
+For fifteen years John Stevens and Blanche Holmes had lived on the
+Island of Desolation, and in all that time not a sign of a sail had
+appeared on the vast ocean. Not a sight of a human being had greeted
+their eyes, and they had become somewhat reconciled to the idea of
+passing their lives on this island. The soil in the valley was fertile
+and yielded abundance to moderate tillage. John studied the seasons and
+knew when to plant to receive the benefits of the rains. There was no
+winter in this tropical clime, the rainy season taking the place of
+winter. The sails and clothing which they had brought from the wreck had
+been husbanded and made to last as long as possible; and then Blanche,
+who was industrious, spun and wove cloth for both from the fibre of a
+coarse weed like hemp. Her wheel and loom were rude affairs constructed
+by John Stevens, who, thanks to his early experience as a pioneer, knew
+how to make all useful household implements. When their shoes were worn
+out he tanned the skins of goats and made them moccasins, and he even
+wore a jacket of goat's skin.
+
+For a covering for his head, he shot a fox and dressing the skin
+fashioned himself a cap. In fact, the castaways lived as comfortably as
+the pioneers of Virginia. John had his days of despondency, however. For
+fifteen years he had climbed the hill and gazed beyond the reef-girt
+shore at the broad sea in the vain hope of descrying a sail. He always
+heaved a sigh of disappointment when he swept the sailless ocean with
+his glass.
+
+One morning when he had made his fruitless pilgrimage to his point of
+observation, he sat down upon a stone and, passing his hand over his
+eyes, brushed away a tear which came unbidden there.
+
+"Alas, I am doomed to pass my life here. Never more can I see my home,
+friends or kindred; but on this desolate shore I must end my existence.
+Fifteen years have come and gone--fifteen long years since I left my
+home. My wife, no doubt, believing me dead, has ceased to mourn for me.
+Perhaps--but no, Dorothe never believed in it. God knows what they may
+have suffered. I am powerless to aid them, and to His hands I
+entrust them."
+
+Heaving a deep sigh, he resumed his painful ruminations:
+
+"It might be worse; yes, it might be worse. I might have perished with
+the others, or I might not have been spared a single companion. God has
+given me one, and with her I could almost be happy."
+
+Returning to his humble cabin he was met by Blanche, who greeted him
+with a sweet smile. Blanche seemed to grow in goodness and beauty. She
+was his consoler in his hour of grief. When he was ill with a fever, she
+held his burning head in her tender arms and soothed his pain. She
+administered the simple remedies with which they were provided and
+nursed him back to health. Once, when he was only half conscious, he
+thought he felt her tears fall on his face and her soft warm lips press
+his; but it might have been a dream.
+
+"You saw no sail this morning, I know; but, there, don't despair, you
+may yet go home," she said.
+
+"No, Blanche, no; I have given up all hope of ever going home. We must
+end our days here."
+
+She looked at him with her great blue eyes so soft and tender, and
+sighed:
+
+"I am sorry for you."
+
+"Are you not sorry for yourself?"
+
+"No, no; I am not thinking of myself. I am all alone in the world, and
+it makes little difference where I am." Her voice faltered, and he saw
+that she was almost choking with grief, and John Stevens, feeling that
+he had been too selfish all along, said:
+
+"Blanche, forgive me. I have had no thought for any one save myself. I
+have been cruel to neglect you as I have."
+
+"Do not blame yourself," she sighed. "Your anxiety for your wife and
+children outweighs every other consideration."
+
+"But when I think how kind and how gentle you have been throughout all
+these years, how, when the fever burned my brow, it was your soft hand
+which cooled it and nursed me back to life and reason, and how I have
+neglected and forgotten you, I feel I have been selfish. Surely you are
+an angel whom God hath sent me in these hours of loneliness."
+
+His natural impulse was to embrace the heroic woman; but he restrained
+such unholy emotions, and she, with her heart overflowing, sat
+weeping for joy.
+
+In order to change the subject, he said:
+
+"Blanche; I have thought that the time has come to explore the peak of
+Snow-Top." (Snow-Top was the name they had given the tallest mountain in
+the valley.) "It is the loftiest peak on the island, and from it we
+might see other islands and continents, and with this glass, perchance,
+we might get a view of a distant sail."
+
+The exploration of this mountain had been the pet scheme for years. The
+sides were steep and the ascension difficult. He had spoken of it
+before, and she had approved of it.
+
+"When do you think of going?" she asked.
+
+"The day after to-morrow, if I can get ready."
+
+"I will go with you."
+
+"No, no, Blanche; the journey will be too great for you. You cannot go
+that distance."
+
+With a smile, she answered:
+
+"Surely, as I have gone with you on so many perilous journeys, you will
+not deny me this."
+
+"Deny you, Blanche? I can deny you nothing; but I fear the journey will
+overtax your strength."
+
+"I can go wherever you do," she answered.
+
+He made no further objection, and next day they prepared to scale those
+heights which human feet had never trod. John had made for each a pair
+of stout shoes, the soles of which were of a kind of wood almost as
+elastic as leather and the tops of tanned goat-skins. Their shoes were
+well suited for travel through the wilderness and in stony countries.
+
+Knowing what a fatiguing journey lay before them, John travelled slowly
+and at the end of the first day halted at the foot of the mountain,
+where he built a fire, and they slept in perfect security.
+
+The island was free from poisonous reptiles and insects, and since the
+foxes had been nearly exterminated, there was not a dangerous animal on
+the island. When morning came, they breakfasted and prepared to ascend
+the mountain. At the base was a dense tangled growth of tropical trees
+through which they pushed their way, sometimes being compelled to cut
+their way through. The tall grass, the palms, the matted mangroves and
+vines made travel difficult.
+
+On and on, up the thorny steep they pressed. The palms and mangroves
+gave place to scrub oaks, and they in turn to pine and cedar. As they
+ascended, there was a change in soil, vegetation and climate.
+
+At the base of the mountain grew only the trees and plants of the
+tropics. Three hours' upward travel brought them into the regions of the
+temperate zone, and they plucked wild strawberries such as grew in New
+England. Pressing on up the steep side, scaling cliffs and rocks, which
+at times almost defied their skill and strength, the air grew cooler.
+The vegetation was less rank. The grass grew short and in places there
+was none at all.
+
+"Are you tired?" John asked.
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Let us sit and rest."
+
+"The sun has almost reached the meridian, and we are not half-way up the
+mountain."
+
+"Yet you must have a few moments' rest, Blanche."
+
+They rested but a moment and again pressed on. They had now reached a
+great altitude, and the valley below looked like a fairy-land. They
+found up here a species of mountain goats which they had not seen
+before. They were very shy of the intruders and went bounding away from
+cliff to cliff and rock to rock at a speed which defied pursuit.
+
+John shot one. The report of his musket in this lofty region was so
+slight as to be heard but a short distance, but the birds, soaring
+aloft, screamed with fear and went still higher up the mountain sides.
+
+Here they found squirrels more abundant than in the valley. The oaks and
+hickory trees bore an abundance of nuts for them. Further on the
+nut-bearing trees gave place to grass, and they found themselves on a
+sloping plain.
+
+Every hour seemed bringing them to new and unexplored regions. Old
+Snow-Top, as they called the mountain, contained wonders. The trees had
+dwindled to dwarfs, and the animals degenerated in proportion. Some
+fur-bearing animals were found in these lofty regions, and the eyrie of
+the eagle was in the cold, dark cliffs.
+
+There was a perceptible change in the climate. The clothing suitable for
+the valley was uncomfortably light in this region.
+
+"Blanche, are you cold?" he asked.
+
+She, smiling, answered:
+
+"Never mind me, I can stand it."
+
+"The air is chill."
+
+"It always is so in ascending a lofty mountain."
+
+"The ascent is more difficult than I supposed; behold the cliff before
+us!"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"It seems almost perpendicular."
+
+"So it does."
+
+"I see no way to scale it from here."
+
+"Yet, like all other ills in this world, the difficulties may disappear
+at our approach."
+
+When they advanced toward the cliff, fully two hundred feet in height, a
+narrow rocky slope was seen ascending on the left, like a flight of
+winding stairs, to the plateau above. Even with this aid the ascent was
+difficult.
+
+The rocks were rough, hard and sharp at the edges and corners, yet they
+climbed on and on. Each succeeding ledge to which they mounted grew
+narrower until scarce room for the foot could be found.
+
+When the plateau was gained, it was but a bleak, desolate plain of four
+or five acres of uneven ground, swept by the winds of eternal winter and
+presenting a drear and melancholy aspect.
+
+[Illustration: "OUR JOURNEY IS NOT ONE-HALF OVER."]
+
+Close under a stone they sat down to partake of the noonday meal,
+listening to the shrill winds sweeping over the dreary waste and gazed
+at the cloud-capped peak above. The only cheerful object was a noisy
+cataract thundering down the mountain, fed by the melting snows.
+
+"Do you feel equal to the task?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Our journey is not one-half over."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"And the last half will be more trying than the first."
+
+"I will go with you," she answered cheerfully.
+
+To one living in a mountainless country the difficulties and fatigues of
+mountain scaling is unknown. An ascent, which, to the unpractised cliff
+climber, might seem the work of an hour, will consume an entire day.
+
+Having finished their meal, they resumed the upward march. Reaching a
+small cluster of stunted and gnarled pines, they pressed through it and
+emerged on a great, bleak hillside, almost bare of vegetation. Only here
+and there grew a tuft of stunted grass or a dwarfed shrub. The temperate
+zone had given way to the regions of eternal winter. Again and again
+they were compelled to pause for breath.
+
+"Here it is," John cried, almost gleefully, as a snow-flake fell on his
+arm.
+
+A little further up, they found snow drifted under a ledge of the rock,
+while little rivulets, running from the melting snow, joined mountain
+torrents and cataracts that thundered down below. At last the great
+summit was gained, and they paused to gaze afar on the land and sea
+below. John drew his glass and swept the horizon. The slight clouds,
+from which an occasional flake had fallen, cleared away at sunset, and
+they had an excellent view as far as the eye could reach.
+
+"Do you see any sail?" she asked.
+
+"None."
+
+"Then we must be in an ocean as unexplored and unknown as the great
+south sea which Balboa discovered."
+
+"I know not where we are."
+
+The sun set, dipping into the sea and leaving a great, broad
+phosphorescent light where it disappeared, which broadened and radiated
+toward the east until it was lost in gloom.
+
+"We cannot return home to-night," said Blanche.
+
+"No; we will seek some suitable spot for passing the night further down
+the mountain."
+
+The mountain top was covered with snow, and they went down a mile or
+more before they found the ground free from snow, slush, ice or water.
+Here, on a mantle made of goat-skins, John induced the shivering Blanche
+to lie down, while he gathered some stunted brush, small pines and dead
+grass and built a fire to keep her warm. During the night the sky became
+obscured, and a cold rain fell. Their condition was miserable enough,
+for they were soaked to the skin and shivering. There was no shelter
+near enough for them to reach it, and it was too dark to travel.
+
+"I am freezing," said Blanche, through her chattering teeth. John tried
+to muffle her in the robe of goat-skin; but it was wet and worse than no
+covering. His soaked garments were placed about her; but she still shook
+with cold, until he became alarmed and held her in his arms, endeavoring
+to instill some warmth in her from his own body.
+
+All things must have an end, and so did that dreary night. Day dawned at
+last, and the rising sun chased away the clouds, and they saw, far, far
+below them, the low, green valley which they called home. The morning
+air was chill and piercing, and John began to fear for Blanche; but she
+assured him that soon they would reach lower land and warmer
+temperature. They did not wait for breakfast, but hurried down the
+mountain just as soon as it was light enough to see. She was weak, and
+he offered to carry her in his strong arms.
+
+"No, no; I can walk," she said.
+
+"But you are so chilled and so weak."
+
+"Exercise will warm me and give me strength," she answered. It did, and
+when they reached the valley she was quite herself again. It was the
+middle of the afternoon when they entered the valley, and gazing back at
+old Snow-Top, with his towering summit piercing the skies, they thanked
+God for their deliverance. About the snowy peak there clung a rift of
+vapor, as if some passing cloud had caught upon it and torn off
+a fragment.
+
+"I don't care to venture up there again," said John.
+
+"Nor do I," sighed his companion. "So peaceful, so sweet and so dear is
+our little home, that I am almost content with it."
+
+"I am, likewise."
+
+For two or three days no evil effects were perceivable from their
+journey save a weariness on the part of Blanche, which John flattered
+himself would pass away. He sat with her and talked more than had been
+his custom. She seemed to grow better in his eyes, for he had seen how
+uncomplaining she was, and how she nobly struggled to make his burden
+lighter. She spoke encouraging words of Virginia, told him of his wife
+and children, who had been described so often to her that she had a
+faithful picture of them in her mind. She would say:
+
+"Your little Rebecca is now sixteen years of age, quite a young lady.
+She is beautiful, too. I know she is beautiful, for she has the dark
+eyes and hair of her mother."
+
+"Blanche, beauty is not confined to black eyes and hair alone," said
+John.
+
+She went on:
+
+"And your little boy is a man now, twenty years of age, and he is no
+doubt strong, brave, gallant and noble. Surely you must be proud of such
+a son. Your wife has grown more wise with her distress, and she still
+looks to the ocean for the return of one for whom she will wait until
+the angel of death summons her to meet him in Heaven."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, how strangely you talk!"
+
+"I fancy I can see them, and they are happy in their little home. The
+son supports his mother. Oh, they are happy!"
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are unnaturally
+bright; you have a fever."
+
+She laughingly answered:
+
+"It is only a slight cold, the result of our visit to the peak of old
+Snow-Top."
+
+He administered such simple remedies as they had at hand, tucked her up
+warmly in bed and sat by her side until she was asleep. Then he made a
+bed on the floor in the adjoining room, where he might be within call,
+and lay down to sleep. Being wearied with the toils of the day, he was
+soon asleep, and it was after midnight when he was awakened by a cough
+from Blanche's bed. It was followed by an exclamation of pain.
+
+In a moment he was at her side.
+
+"What is the matter, Blanche?" he asked, uneasily.
+
+"I have a pain in my side."
+
+He stooped over her, put his hand on her face and was startled to find
+it so dry and hot. Groping about he found a rude lamp, which he had
+fashioned from an old pewter pot brought from the wreck. Within the lamp
+was a wick made from the lint of wild hemp, fed with goat's fat. Seizing
+his flint and steel he kindled a light and found Blanche in a
+raging fever.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you are ill!" said John.
+
+"I am so hot, I burn with thirst," she answered.
+
+"You shall have water." There was a spring of clear, cold water flowing
+down from the mountain, and John took an earthen jar, and ran to
+fill it.
+
+"It is so good of you," the sick woman sighed, as he moistened her
+fevered lips.
+
+John Stevens was now very anxious about her, for she was growing rapidly
+worse. He knew a little about medicine and had brought some remedies
+from the ship; but the disease which had fastened itself on Blanche
+defied his skill. She was at times seized with a fit of coughing which
+almost took away her breath. When he had exhausted all his efforts, she
+said sweetly:
+
+"You can do no more."
+
+"Blanche, Blanche," he almost sobbed, "Heaven knows I would give my life
+to spare you one pang."
+
+"I know it," she answered.
+
+"What will you have me do?"
+
+"Sit by my side."
+
+He brought a stool and sat by her bedside.
+
+"Hold my hand, I have such frightful dreams, and I want you near."
+
+He took the little fevered hand in his own and for hours sat by her
+side.
+
+Morning came and went, came and went again, and she grew worse.
+
+John never left her save to bring cold water to slake her burning
+thirst, or prepare some remedy to check the ravages of the fever.
+
+"Oh, God! to be left alone--to be left all alone! Can I endure it?" he
+sighed. When he was at her side, he said:
+
+"It was the journey to Snow-Top. It was too much for you, Blanche, I am
+to blame for this."
+
+"No, no, blame not yourself. I it was who insisted on going."
+
+She rapidly grew worse, and John Stevens saw that she must die.
+Occasionally she fell asleep, and then he thought how beautiful she was.
+Once she murmured his name and sweetly smiled. She awoke and was very
+weak. Raising her eyes, she saw him at her side, and with that same
+happy smile on her face, she said:
+
+"Oh, I had such a delightful dream. It may be wicked; but it was
+delightful. I dreamed that I was she."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Your wife--"
+
+"Blanche!"
+
+"Kiss me, brother--I am going--rapidly going."
+
+He entwined his arms about the being who, for fifteen years, had been
+his only companion, and pressed his lips to hers.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, you must not die; for my sake live."
+
+"No, no; I will soon be gone; then you will be all alone. Don't leave me
+until all is over."
+
+"I shall not, Blanche; I shall not," cried Stevens, holding her tightly
+clasped in his strong arms.
+
+"It may be wrong--but we have been here so long--meet me in heaven,
+brother."
+
+"God grant that I may, poor girl."
+
+"Pray with me."
+
+He knelt at her side, and the lips of both moved in prayer. When he
+rose, she laid her little hand, all purple with fever, in his and said:
+
+"Brother--when I am gone, bury me in that beautiful valley near the
+spring, where the wild flowers grow close by the white stone. On the
+stone write: 'Here lies my beloved sister, Blanche Holmes.'"
+
+An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse. The gentle spirit had
+flown.
+
+Midnight--and the castaway, despairing, half-crazed with grief, still
+knelt by the dead body, tearing his hair, and groaning:
+
+"Alone--left alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE TREASURE SHIP.
+
+     "O gentle wind ('tis thus she sings)
+       That blowest to the west,
+     Oh, couldst thou waft me on thy wings
+       To the land that I love best,
+     How swiftly o'er the-ocean's foam,
+       Like a sea-bird I would sail."
+                                  --PRINGLE.
+
+When the heart is full, there seems some relief in pouring out the story
+of woe into a sympathetic ear; but when one is alone, with no human
+being to listen or sympathize, grief is a hundredfold greater.
+
+Day dawned and found John Stevens still kneeling by the side of the cold
+form of the only being who had shared his unhappy lot. How seldom we
+realize the worth of companions or friends until they are forever gone,
+and then, as if to mock our grief, each kind act, each little delicate
+attention seems to start out as if emblazoned on stone before us. At
+last the broken-hearted castaway rose and with folded arms gazed on the
+dead face, still beautiful and holy even in death.
+
+"Blanche, Blanche, must I give you up, you who have so long cheered my
+lonely life? Must I never listen to the sweet music of your
+voice again?"
+
+John roused himself at last from the feeling of despair and, taking the
+best boards left from the wreck, constructed a neat coffin. He dug the
+grave at the white stone as she had directed and laid her to rest. No
+one but God listened to him as he read the solemn and impressive burial
+service, according to the established church. No one but God saw those
+tears flow in silence as he gazed for the last time on her face. Then,
+fastening down the lid, he covered the coffin over with boards and began
+slowly and mournfully shovelling the earth upon it. He heaped up the
+earth and placed the soft green, sod over the mound. Then he cut the
+inscription on the stone as she had requested at the head of the
+grave, adding:
+
+"Sweet sister, rest in peace, until Christ comes to claim his own, when
+there will be a crown given you which outshines the sun." To go about
+his daily routine of life, to feel that heavy aching load on his heart
+crushing and consuming him, made his existence almost unbearable.
+
+He lost all interest in the little field, the tame goats and birds, and
+for two or three days even neglected to take food himself. An appalling
+silence had fallen upon the island. He seemed to still hear her voice
+in the house and about it, and when he closed his eyes in sleep, after
+being utterly exhausted, he saw her sweet face bending over him and felt
+the sunshine of her smile on him. It was so hard to realize that she was
+gone, and he could scarcely believe that he would not find her down on
+the beach gathering shells, as he had so often seen her.
+
+Frequently when alone in the cabin he would start, half expecting to see
+her enter with her cheering smile; but she was gone forever; her sweet
+smiles and cheering voice would no more be heard on earth.
+
+It required long months before he could settle down to that life of
+loneliness. Hitherto he had not lived the life of a Crusoe or Selkirk;
+but now he was destined to know what real solitude was. John Stevens at
+last began to take some interest in his domestic affairs. He sadly
+missed the thousand little attentions which feminine instincts suggested
+for his comfort; but anon he became accustomed to being alone. He grew
+morose and melancholy, even wicked, for at times he blamed Providence,
+first for casting him away on this lonely island, and lastly for taking
+from him the companion he had failed to appreciate, until he felt her
+loss; but soon he turned to God and prayed for light.
+
+He read the Bible and from this living fountain of consolation drank
+deep draughts of that which, to his starving soul, was the elixir of
+life. Strange as it may seem, in the first ebullition of his grief, John
+Stevens seemed to forget his wife and children. So long had he been from
+them, that they had lost their place in his thoughts. Time, the great
+healer of all wounds, the great reconciler to all fates, the great
+arbitrator of all disputes, had almost lost to him those tenderest ties
+which had lacerated his poor heart.
+
+To the fatalist, John Stevens would seem to be one of those unfortunate
+beings doomed to be made the sport of a capricious fortune. His domestic
+relations in Virginia were a strange intermixture of good and bad. His
+business had been decidedly prosperous, he had married into a
+respectable family, and his wife was popular. His children were
+beautiful and healthy; but his wife was extravagant and foolish and had
+swept away his fortune faster than he could accumulate it. Then his
+voyage and shipwreck seemed the hand of fate. His father had been a
+sailor by profession and had never been shipwrecked, while he, on his
+first voyage, was cast away upon an unknown island. Fate gave him at
+first a companion and, just as he began to appreciate her, snatched
+her away.
+
+At last he became reconciled even to live and die alone on that
+island--to die without a friend to close his eyes, or to soothe his
+pillow. Horrible as the fate might seem, he was reconciled. No human
+hand would give him Christian burial, and the vultures which soared
+about the island might pluck out his eyes even before life was extinct.
+With this dread on his mind, he shot the vultures whenever he saw them,
+and almost drove them from the island.
+
+Three years had lapsed since poor Blanche had been laid in her grave,
+and John was morose, silent and moody, but reconciled. It was eighteen
+years since he had been cast away, and he had about abandoned all
+thought of again seeing any other land save this.
+
+Among other things saved from the wreck was a quantity of tobacco seed,
+and, as tobacco was then thought to be an indispensable article, he
+planted some and grew his own. He fashioned pipes from the roots of
+trees, as the Indians did, and his pipe became his greatest solace
+in solitude.
+
+One night, a little more than three years after he had been left alone,
+he was lying on his well-worn mattress, smoking his evening pipe, when
+there came on the air far out to sea a heavy "Boom!"
+
+The trumpet of doom would not have astonished him more. At first he
+could scarcely believe his ears. Starting up, he sat on the side of his
+bed listening.
+
+"Boom!"
+
+A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.
+
+"God in heaven! can it be cannon?" cried Stevens. He leaped to his feet,
+pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.
+
+"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
+
+Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no
+doubt that a ship was near the island. The hope which suddenly started
+up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door
+for support.
+
+Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland
+from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years. The moon was
+shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean
+far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the
+island. There he saw a sight calculated to startle him. A large Spanish
+galleon was coming directly toward the island, pursued by a vessel which
+from the first he surmised to be a pirate. Even as he looked, he saw the
+flash of a gun and imagined he could hear the crash of the iron ball
+striking into the side of the fugitive ship. He heard the cry of dread
+from the poor wretches on board, as the pirate drew nearer. On the
+still evening air came wild shouts of the buccaneers as they fired shot
+after shot at the prize.
+
+John Stevens was greatly excited. Here was an opportunity to escape or
+be slain, either preferable to living on this terrible island alone.
+
+The Spanish galleon was being driven directly through the only gap in
+the reefs to the island. Like a bird chased by a vulture she sought any
+shelter. She returned the fire as well as she could; but was no match
+for the well-equipped and daring pirate.
+
+John's whole sympathies were with the unfortunate Spaniards. Their
+vessel evidently drew considerable water, for entering the gap in the
+reef, the tide being low, it stranded. The pirate, being much lighter
+draft, came nearer and poured in her volleys thick and fast. They were
+so near to the headland that John Stevens, a spellbound spectator, heard
+the iron balls and shot tearing into her timbers. With his glass he
+could even see her deck strewn with dead and dying.
+
+The foremast of the galleon was cut through and fell, and the ship's
+rudder was shot away. The Spaniards, evidently bewildered, lowered
+boats, abandoned the galleon and pulled toward a rocky promontory two
+miles to the south.
+
+Their enemies saw them and, manning boats, headed them off, killing or
+capturing every one. The captured men were taken aboard the
+victorious ship.
+
+While these startling scenes were being enacted, a great change had come
+over the sky. The tide began to rise and floated the galleon clear of
+the sand, and it drifted into the little bay not a mile from John's
+house. The sky was obscured with clouds and one of those tropical
+hurricanes called squalls swept over the island and sea. It struck the
+pirate broadside, and John Stevens last saw the vessel amid a mountain
+of waves and spray struggling to right itself. It probably went down, as
+he never saw or heard of it more.
+
+For hours the amazed castaway stood in the pelting rain and howling
+wind, with the roaring sea below him. Was it all a dream, or was this
+only another freak of capricious fate, which doomed him to eternal
+misery. The storm roared and the hungry sea swallowed up the pirate.
+
+Why could not one have been spared? Even a pirate would have made a
+companion; but fate had roused his hopes only to dash them to the
+earth again.
+
+It was pitch dark save when a flash of lightning illuminated the
+heavens. John Stevens turned slowly about to retrace his steps homeward,
+half believing it was some terrible dream which had brought him from his
+bed into the pelting storm, when by the aid of a flash of lightning he
+saw the Spanish galleon, which had been again stranded within a hundred
+yards of the beach. The single flash of lightning revealed only her deck
+and rigging; not a soul was to be seen on board the ship; but the sight
+of the vessel roused the castaway. In eighteen years this had been the
+only sign of civilization which had greeted his vision, and he was
+nearly frantic with delight.
+
+Some one might be on board. Some skulkers from the cannon-balls of the
+pirates might have sought safety in the hold of the galleon, and he
+would find them. His heart was full to overflowing. He even began to
+hope that the ship could be gotten off the bar, and could make a voyage
+to some land of civilization. Though the ship was between the dangerous
+reefs and the sea, partially protected by a small land-locked bay, yet
+the surf was so high that it was madness to think of reaching the vessel
+that night. He built a fire on shore and all night long heaped on wood
+in the hope of attracting attention of those on board.
+
+Morning dawned, and he saw the galleon with her head high in the air and
+her stern low in the sand and water. The tide had gone out, and not more
+than one hundred yards of water lay between him and the ship. John
+stripped off his clothes and swam to the wreck.
+
+After no little difficulty he climbed up the mizzen chains.
+
+A silence of death reigned over the ship, and when he had gained the
+deck a terrible sight met his view. Five men and one boy, the victims of
+the pirate's guns, lay dead on the deck, which was badly splintered with
+balls and shot.
+
+The ship was wonderfully well preserved, the chief damage it received
+being from the cannon of the enemy.
+
+John called again and again but no voice responded. The grim silence of
+death was about the ship. He found a boat in fair condition, lowered it
+and, putting the dead Spaniards into it, pulled ashore, where he gave
+the dead a decent burial on the sands, too high up for the tide to
+reach them.
+
+Having accomplished this sad rite, he cried from the fulness of his
+soul:
+
+"Oh, that there had been but one, only one saved, with whom I might
+converse!"
+
+John Stevens, however, was a practical sort of a fellow, and, instead of
+repining over his sad fate, he determined to bring away everything
+valuable on board. Consequently he launched the boat, pulled to the
+wreck and went aboard. Had he been able to get the ship afloat, a
+carpenter might have repaired it so that a voyage could have been made;
+but the strength and skill of a hundred men could not have moved it from
+the sands in which it was so deeply imbedded. The vessel had been
+steered through the reefs and almost into the bay when deserted. John
+loaded his boat with muskets, several chests and casks, which contained
+food and wine. There was also a powder-horn, some kegs of powder, a fire
+shovel, tongs, two brass kettles, a copper pot for chocolate, and a
+gridiron. These and some loose clothes belonging to the sailors formed
+the first cargo taken ashore.
+
+Next he brought off several barrels of flour, a cask of liquor and some
+tools, axes, spades, shovels and saws. Every implement that might be
+useful to him was taken ashore and stowed away. Then he began to search
+the lower part.
+
+He had been for a week working on the wreck carrying off every
+conceivable object which might be of any possible use. He found the
+ship's books; but, owing to his ignorance of Spanish, he was unable to
+read them.
+
+The name on the stern of the vessel was St. Jago, therefore he reasoned
+that it must be a West Indian vessel. How the idea entered his mind,
+Stevens never knew. It came suddenly, as an inspiration, that the
+galleon must be a Spanish treasure ship. One day, while in the captain's
+cabin, he found a narrow door opening from it. It was securely locked,
+and though he searched everywhere for keys and found many, none would
+fit the lock. At last he seized an iron crowbar, with which he forced
+the door off its hinges. Before him was a curious sort of compartment
+like a vault, the inside of which was lined with sheet iron. There lay
+before him several large, long boxes made of strong wood. He wondered
+what they contained. He cleared away every obstacle to the nearest box,
+and saw a lock and padlock and a handle at each end, all carved as
+things were carved in that age, when art rendered the commonest metals
+precious. John seized the handles and strove to lift the box; but it was
+impossible.
+
+"What can it contain, that is so heavy?" he thought. He sought to open
+it; but lock and padlock were closed, and these faithful guardians
+seemed unwilling to surrender their trust. Stevens inserted the sharp
+end of the crowbar between the box and the lid and, bearing down with
+all his strength, burst open the fastenings. Hinges and lock yielded in
+their turn, holding in their grasp fragments of the boards, and with a
+crash he threw off the lid, and all was open.
+
+John Stevens found a tanned fawn-skin spread as a covering over the
+contents and he tore it off. He started up with a yell and closed his
+eyes involuntarily. Then he opened them and stood motionless with
+amazement.
+
+Three compartments divided the coffer. In the first blazed piles of
+golden coin. In the second bars of unpolished gold were ranged. In the
+third lay countless fortunes of diamonds, pearls and rubies, into which
+he dived his hands as eagerly as a starving man would plunge into food.
+
+After having touched, felt and examined these treasures, John Stevens
+rushed through the ship like a madman. He leaped upon the deck, from
+whence he could behold the sea. He was alone. Alone with this
+countless--this unheard-of wealth. Was he awake, or was it but a dream?
+Before him lay the treasures torn from Mexico, Darien and Peru. They
+were his--he was alone.
+
+Alas, he was alone! What use would those millions be to him on this
+island? The reaction came, and, falling on his knees, he cried:
+
+"O God, why is such a fate mine?"
+
+Hours afterward he recovered enough to remove the gold and jewels from
+the treasure ship to his home on the island. With more jewels than a
+king, he lived the lonely life of a hermit and a pauper, dreading to
+die, lest the vultures pluck out his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ANGEL OF DELIVERANCE.
+
+     Strange that when nature loved to trace
+     As if for God a dwelling place,
+     And every charm of grace hath mixed
+     Within the paradise she fixed,
+     There man, enamoured of distress,
+     Should mar it into wilderness.
+                                     --BYRON.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut
+colonists entertained serious fears regarding the future. Their sturdy
+republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally
+offensive to the new monarch. The general assembly of Connecticut,
+therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their alliance to
+the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly
+framed and signed in May, 1661, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to
+England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of
+rare attainments and courtly manners. He was then about forty-five
+years of age.
+
+Winthrop was but coolly received at first, for he and his people were
+regarded as enemies of the crown. But he persevered, and the
+good-natured monarch at last chatted freely with him about America, its
+soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers, yet he hesitated to
+promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a
+gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the
+governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request
+that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch and a
+token of Winthrop's esteem for and loyalty to King Charles, before whom
+he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched.
+Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch asked:
+
+"Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his
+people?"
+
+"I do, sire," Clarendon answered.
+
+"It shall be done," said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a royal
+blessing.
+
+The charter was issued on the first of May, 1662. It confirmed the
+popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal
+provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries
+so as to include New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the
+east, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1665, the New Haven colony
+reluctantly gave its consent to the union; but the boundary between
+Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than
+sixty years. That old charter, written on parchment, is still among the
+archives in the Connecticut State Department.
+
+While King Philip's war raged all about them, the colonists of
+Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, save in some
+remote settlements high up the river. They furnished their full measure
+of men and supplies, and the soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that
+contest between the races for supremacy; but while they were freed from
+dangers and annoyances of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by
+the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, who, as governor of New York,
+claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. In 1675, he
+went to the mouth of that stream with a small naval force to assert his
+authority.
+
+Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him
+to land; but when he began to read his commission, he ordered him to be
+silent. The cowardly Andros was forced to yield to the commander's bold
+spirit and, in a towering passion, returned to New York, hurling the
+most bitter anathemas against Connecticut and Captain Bull.
+
+It was more than a dozen years after this event before anything
+happened to disturb the public repose of Connecticut; but as that event
+belongs to another period, we will omit it for the present.
+
+Rhode Island was favored with a charter from Parliament, granted in 1644
+to Roger Williams. The charter was very liberal, and in religion and
+politics the people were absolutely free. The general assembly, in a
+code of laws adopted in 1647, declared that "all men might walk as their
+conscience permitted them--every one in the name of his God." Almost
+every religious belief might have been encountered there; "so if a man
+lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them in
+some village in Rhode Island." Society was kept in a continual healthful
+agitation, and though the disputes were sometimes stormy, they never
+were brutal. There was a remarkable propriety of conduct on all
+occasions, and the political agitations brought to the surface the best
+men in the colony to administer public affairs.
+
+Two years after the overthrow and execution of Charles I., 1651, the
+executive council of state in England granted to William Coddington a
+commission for governing the islands within the limits of the Rhode
+Island charter. This threatened a dismemberment of the little empire and
+its absorption by neighboring colonies. The people were greatly alarmed.
+Roger Williams and John Clarke hastened to England, and with the
+assistance of Sir Henry Vane, the "sheet anchor of Rhode Island, the
+noble and true friend to an outcast and despised people," the commission
+was recalled, and the charter given by parliament was confirmed in
+October, 1652.
+
+On the restoration of monarchy, 1660, the inhabitants sent to Charles
+II. an address, in which they declared their loyalty and begged his
+protection. This was followed by a petition for a new charter. The
+prayer was granted, and in July, 1663, the king issued a patent highly
+democratic in its general features and similar in every respect to the
+one granted to Connecticut. Benedict Arnold was chosen the first
+governor under the royal charter, and it continued to be the supreme law
+of the land for one hundred and eighty years.
+
+Slowly advancing with the other colonies, if she did not even keep
+abreast of them, was the colony of New Jersey, from the time it first
+became a permanent political organization as a British colony, with a
+governor and council. Elizabethtown, which consisted only of a cluster
+of half a dozen houses, was made the capital. Agents went to New England
+to invite settlers, and a company from New Haven were soon settled on
+the banks of the Passaic. Others followed, and when, in 1668, the first
+legislative assembly met at Elizabethtown, it was largely made up of
+emigrants from New England. Thus we see how early in the history of our
+country, the restless tide moved westward. The fertility of the soil of
+New Jersey, the salubrity of the climate, the exemption from fear of
+hostile Indians, and other manifest advantages caused a rapid increase
+in the population and prosperity of the province, and nothing disturbed
+the general serenity of society there until in 1670, when specified
+quitrents of a half-penny per acre were demanded. The people murmured.
+Some of them had bought their lands of the Indians before the
+proprietary government was established, and they refused to pay the
+rent, not on account of its amount, but because it was an unjust tax,
+levied without their consent.
+
+For almost two years they disputed over the rents, and kept the entire
+province in a state of confusion. The whole people combined in
+resistance to the payment of the tax, and in May, 1672, the disaffected
+colonists sent deputies to the popular assembly which met at Elizabeth
+town. That body compelled Philip Carteret, the lawful governor, to
+vacate his chair and leave the province, and chose a weak and
+inefficient man in his place. Carteret went to England for more
+authority, and while the proprietors were making preparations to recover
+the province by force of arms, in August, 1673, New Jersey and all the
+rest of the territory in America claimed by the Duke of York suddenly
+fell into the hands of the Dutch, who were then at war with England.
+
+When, fifteen months later, New York was restored to the English,
+Carteret had a part of his authority restored to him; but sufficient was
+reserved to give Andros a pretext for asserting his authority and making
+himself a nuisance with the people.
+
+Massachusetts never enjoyed the full favor of the Stuart dynasty. The
+almost complete independence which had been enjoyed for nearly twenty
+years was too dear to be hastily relinquished. When it became certain
+that the hereditary family of kings had been settled on the throne, and
+that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new
+government, a general court was convened, and an address was prepared
+for the parliament and the monarch. This address prayed for "the
+continuance of civil and religious liberties," and requested an
+opportunity of defence against complaints.
+
+"Let not the king's men hear your words. Your servants are true men,
+fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship
+of God. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human
+mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred,
+and fathers' houses. Our garments are become old by reason of the very
+long journey. Ourselves, who came away in our strength, are, many of us,
+become gray-headed, and some of us are stooping for age."
+
+So great was their dread of the new king after the restoration, that, as
+we have seen, Whalley and Goffe were denied shelter at all the public
+houses in Boston. Their charter was threatened and commissioners sent to
+demand it; but, by one device and another, the shrewd rulers of
+Massachusetts managed to avert the calamity. The government at home was
+kept busy at this time. There was a threatened war with the Dutch, and
+then the whole government of England had to be thoroughly renovated.
+Charles II. was not much of a business monarch. His thoughts were mainly
+of pleasure, and, despite his merciless pursuit of the men who put his
+father to death, he was good-natured.
+
+Though the colonists of Massachusetts had levied two hundred men for the
+expected war with the Dutch, they wished to maintain their spirit of
+independence, and the two hundred were only a free offering. They
+regarded the commission sent by the king as a flagrant violation of
+chartered rights. In the matter of obedience due to a government, the
+people of Massachusetts made the nice distinction between natural
+obedience and voluntary subjection. They argued that the child born on
+the soil of England is necessarily an English subject; but they held to
+the original right of expatriation, that every man may withdraw from the
+land of his birth, and renounce all duty of allegiance with all claim to
+protection. This they themselves had done. Remaining in England, they
+acknowledged the obligatory force of established laws. Because those
+laws were intolerable, they had emigrated to a new world, where they
+could organize their government, as many of them originally did, on the
+basis of natural rights and of perfect independence.
+
+As the establishment of a commission with discretionary powers was not
+specially sanctioned by their charter, they resolved to resist the
+orders of the king and nullify his commission. While the fleet sent from
+England was engaged in reducing New York, Massachusetts, on September
+10th, 1664, published an order prohibiting complaints to the
+commissioners, and at the same time issued a remonstrance, not against
+deeds of tyranny, but the menace of tyranny, not against actual wrong,
+but against the principle of wrong. On the twenty-fifth of October it
+thus addressed a letter to King Charles II.:
+
+"DREAD SOVEREIGN:--The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a
+patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the
+people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and
+according to such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal
+donation, under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had
+in human affairs. Under the encouragement and security of the royal
+charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves,
+their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the
+natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and
+difficulties; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness
+and the burdens of a new plantation; having also now above thirty years
+enjoyed the privilege of GOVERNMENT WITH THEMSELVES, as their undoubted
+right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own
+choosing and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of
+our patent.
+
+"A commission under the great seal, within four persons (one of them our
+professed enemy) are impowered to receive and determine all complaints
+and appeals according to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary
+power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all.
+
+"If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to seek
+new dwellings or sink under intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new
+endeavors will be enfeebled; the king himself will be a loser of the
+wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into
+England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.
+
+"If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings
+and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people.
+If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put
+together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one
+of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this
+course the people will never come; and it will be hard to find another
+people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country,
+seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and
+great frugality.
+
+"God knows, our great ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of
+the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to
+ourselves; and, if any come after us to seek them here, they will be
+disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon,
+and subjection to, your majesty, according to our charter, it is far
+from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within
+our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable aspect; but it
+is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but
+this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our
+lives, and which we have willing ventured our lives, and passed through
+many deaths to obtain.
+
+"It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he
+was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor,
+wealth, and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your magesty
+regard their cause, and maintain their right; it will stand among the
+marks of lasting honor to after generations."
+
+The royalists in the days prior to the American Revolution, occupied a
+similar position that the monopolists, and wealthy do in politics
+to-day. They were the aristocrats, and for the common people to clamor
+for political freedom was absurd. The idea of republicanism was as
+loathsome to them and watched with as much jealousy as an important
+labor movement is to-day. The royalists called the men who clamored for
+civil and religious liberty fanatics, just as the monopolists of to-day,
+who control the dominant parties, call men who cry out against their
+oppression fanatics. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the
+instinct of fanaticism from the soundest judgment, for fanaticism is
+sometimes the keenest sagacity. Those men wanted liberty and struggled
+and fought for it until it was obtained, just as the toiling millions of
+the world will some day sting the heel of grinding monopolies.
+
+From 1660 to 1671, all New England was kept in a perpetual state of
+alarm and excitement. Plymouth made a firm stand for independence,
+although the weakest of the colonies. The commissioners threatened to
+assume control. It was the dawning strife of the new system against the
+old, of American politics against European politics, and yet those men
+struggling for liberty were called fanatics.
+
+Secure in the support of a resolute minority, the Puritan commonwealth,
+in 1668, entered the province of Maine, and again established its
+authority by force of arms. Great tumults ensued; many persons, opposed
+to what seemed a usurpation, were punished for "irreverent speeches."
+Some even reproached the authorities of Massachusetts "as traitors and
+rebels against the king"; but the usurpers made good their ascendancy
+till Gorges recovered his claims by adjudication in England. From the
+southern limit of Massachusetts to the Quebec, the colonial government
+maintained its independent jurisdiction.
+
+The defiance of Massachusetts was not punished as might have been
+expected. Clarendon's power was gone, and he was an exile. A board of
+trade, projected in 1668, never assumed the administration of colonial
+affairs, and had not vitality enough to last more than three or four
+years. Profligate libertines gained the confidence of the king's
+mistresses, and secured places in the royal cabinet. While Charles II.
+was dallying with women and robbing the theatres of actresses; while the
+licentious Buckingham, who had succeeded in displacing Clarendon, wasted
+the vigor of his mind and body by indulging in every sensual pleasure
+"which nature could desire or wit invent"; while Louis XIV. was
+increasing his influence by bribing the mistress of the chief of the
+king's cabal, England remained without a good government, and the
+colonies, despite bluster and threats, flourished in purity and peace.
+The English ministry dared not interfere with Massachusetts; it was
+right that the stern virtues of the ascetic republicans should
+intimidate the members of the profligate cabinet. The affairs of New
+England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the
+moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.
+
+Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to
+advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
+It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the
+several colonies in this early period of their history. The colonial
+accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England
+are grossly false. The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New
+England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls. Of these it is supposed
+that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut,
+nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two
+thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four
+thousand. The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities,
+planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid. The beaver trade,
+more than traffic in lumber and fish, had produced the village beyond
+the Piscataqua; yet in Maine, as in New Hampshire, there was "a great
+trade in deal boards."
+
+A sincere attempt had been made to convert the natives and win them to
+the regular industry of civilized life. The ministers of the early
+emigration, fired with a zeal as pure as it was fervent, longed to
+redeem those "wrecks of humanity," by planting in their hearts the seeds
+of conscious virtue, and gathering them into permanent villages. No
+pains were spared to teach them to read and write, and in a short time
+a larger proportion of the Massachusetts Indians could do so, than the
+inhabitants of Russia fifty years ago. Some of them wrote and spoke
+English tolerably well. Foremost among these early missionaries, the
+morning star of missionary enterprise, was John Elliot, whose
+benevolence amounted to the inspiration of genius. He wrote an Indian
+grammar, and translated the whole of the Bible into the Massachusetts
+dialect. His actions, his thoughts, his desires, all wore the hue of
+disinterested love.
+
+The frown was on the Indian's brow, however. Clouds were rising in the
+horizon. Since the Pequod war, there had been no great Indian uprising;
+but there was a general feeling of uneasiness which seemed to portend a
+general outbreak. The New Englanders were to feel the effects of it in
+all its fury. Neither Whalley nor Goffe had been seen since the day that
+Robert Stevens assisted the latter to make his escape.
+
+The Indians, whose cupidity had been aroused by English gold, had
+searched the forest far and near for the regicides. Their knowledge of
+the forest and cunning in following a trail had two or three times
+brought them face to face with Cromwell's stern old battle-trained
+warriors. Then they had learned to their cost that they had roused a
+pair of lions in their lairs; but the regicides finally disappeared.
+They had last been seen near Hadley, and it was currently reported they
+were dead.
+
+Rumors of an Indian outbreak were rife; still the good people of Hadley
+were living in comparative security. It was a quiet sabbath morn, and
+the drowsy hum of the bees made music on the air. The great
+meeting-house stood with its doors thrown wide open inviting
+worshippers. The sun, beaming from the cloudless sky upon the scene,
+seemed a benediction of peace. The whispering breeze on this delightful
+twelfth of June swept about the eaves of the church without a hint
+of danger.
+
+The worshippers at the proper hour were seen thronging to the
+meeting-house, carrying their guns, swords or pistols with them. It
+seemed useless to go armed, when there was not a whisper of danger; but
+scarcely had the worship begun, when a terrible warwhoop broke the
+stillness. Immediately all was confusion. Children shrieked, some women
+trembled, and men, pale and stern, began to fire upon the savages, who,
+seven hundred strong, rushed on the place.
+
+They fought stubbornly, driving away the enemy; but their great lack of
+discipline promised in the end to defeat them.
+
+"We are lost! We are lost!" some of the weak-hearted were beginning to
+cry, when suddenly there appeared among them, from they knew not where,
+a tall, venerable personage, with white flowing beard, clad in a white
+robe, and carrying a glittering sword in his hand.
+
+"You are not lost, if you follow me!" he cried.
+
+"Who is he?" was the general query, which no one could answer save: "He
+is an angel sent by God to deliver us."
+
+It soon became quite apparent that this celestial being was well posted
+in military tactics. He formed the young men in line of battle and
+taught them in a few moments to deploy and rally.
+
+When the Indians again rushed to the conflict, they were met with a
+volley that stunned them and strewed the ground with dead. The angel
+leader of the whites then gave the command to charge, and, with their
+pistols and keen swords, they flew at the enemy before they had time to
+recover, and they were thrown into confusion and fled in dismay. After
+the departure of the Indians, nothing was heard or seen of the white
+angel deliverer. It has since been ascertained that Goffe and Whalley
+were at that time concealed at the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, and it
+is inferred that Goffe left his concealment when the danger threatened,
+and, forming the men, led them to victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+KING PHILIP'S WAR.
+
+                    Oh, there be some
+     Whose writhed features, fixed in all their strength
+     Of grappling agony, do stare at you,
+     With their dead eyes half opened.
+     And there be some struck through with bristling darts
+     Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;
+     Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.
+                                                 --BAILLIE.
+
+Massasoit kept his treaty with the English inviolate so long as he
+lived. He died in 1661, at the advanced age of eighty or ninety years,
+leaving two sons whom the English named respectively Alexander and
+Philip. Alexander, the eldest son and hereditary sachem, died soon after
+his father, when Philip became chief sachem and warrior of the
+Wampanoags, with his royal residence on Mount Hope, not far from
+Bristol, Rhode Island. He was called King Philip. He resumed the
+covenants with the English made by his father, and observed them
+faithfully for a period of twelve years.
+
+But it had become painfully apparent to Massasoit before his death,
+that the spreading colonies would soon deprive his people of their land
+and nationality, and that the Indians must become vassals of the pale
+race. Long did the warlike King Philip ponder on these possibilities
+with deep bitterness of feeling, until he had lashed himself into a fury
+by the continued nursing of his wrath, and resolved to strike the
+exterminating blow against the English.
+
+There were many private wrongs of his people unavenged. The whites
+already had assumed a domineering manner, and his final resolution was
+both natural and patriotic. King Philip was a man of reason, and it is
+said he had no hope of success when he began the war. It was a war
+against such odds that it must have but one termination, and he had
+little if any faith in a successful issue.
+
+The Pokanokets had always rejected the Christian manners, and Massasoit
+had desired to insert in a treaty, what the Puritans never permitted,
+that the English should never attempt to convert the warriors of his
+tribe from their religion.
+
+Repeated sales of land narrowed their domains, and the English had
+artfully crowded them into the tongues of land, as "most suitable and
+convenient for them," where they would be more easily watched. The two
+chief seats of the Pokanokets were the peninsulas now called Bristol and
+Tiverton. As the English villages now grew nearer and nearer to them,
+their hunting-grounds were put under culture, their natural parks turned
+into pastures, their best fields for planting corn were gradually
+alienated, their fisheries impaired by more skilful methods, till they
+found themselves deprived of their broad acres, and by their own legal
+contracts driven, as it were, into the sea.
+
+Mutual distrusts and collisions were the inevitable consequence. There
+is no authentic evidence of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of all
+the tribes. Bancroft, who is, perhaps, the best authority on all
+colonial matters, says the commencement of the war was accidental, and
+that "many of the Indians were in a maze, not knowing what to do, and
+ready to stand for the English."
+
+There were many grievances among the Indians. The haughty chieftain, who
+had once before been compelled to surrender his "English arms," and pay
+an onerous tribute, was summoned to submit to an examination, and could
+not escape suspicion.
+
+The wrath of his tribe was roused, and the informer was murdered. In
+turn the murderers were identified, seized, tried by a jury of which
+one-half were Indians, and on conviction were hanged. The younger men of
+the tribe were eager for vengeance, and without delay eight or nine of
+the English were slain about Swansey, and the alarm of war spread
+through the colonies.
+
+King Philip was thus unwillingly hurried into war, and he wept when he
+heard that a white man's blood had been shed. It is a rare thing for an
+Indian to weep, least of all a mighty chief like Philip; but in the
+cloud of war hovering over his people, he read the doom of his tribe. He
+had kept his men about him in arms, and had welcomed every stranger, and
+yet, against his judgment and his will, he was involved in war almost
+before he knew it. The English had guns enough, while but few of the
+Indians were well armed and were without resources when their present
+supply was exhausted. The rifle, though not in general use, had been
+invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an
+effective weapon, though it was regarded as "a slow firing gun" compared
+with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were
+excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the
+white man's weapons.
+
+The minds of the English are said to have been appalled by the horrors
+of the impending conflict, and superstition indulged in wild inventions.
+There was an eclipse of the moon at which they declared they saw the
+figure of an Indian scalp imprinted on the centre of the disk. The
+perfect form of an Indian bow appeared in the sky. The sighing of the
+wind was like the whistling of bullets. Some heard invisible troops of
+horses gallop through the air, while others found the prophecy of
+calamities in the howling of the wolves.
+
+Despite all his aversion to war, Philip found it forced upon him, and
+when he took up the hatchet he threw his soul into the issue, and fought
+until death ended the struggle. There were many Christian converts among
+the Indians, who were firmly attached to the English. One of these, John
+Sassaman, who had been educated at Cambridge, where John Harvard had
+established a college, was a royal secretary to Philip. Becoming
+acquainted with the plans of the sachem, he revealed them to the
+authorities at Plymouth. For this he was murdered, and his
+murderers hanged.
+
+Soon after the attack on Swansey, Philip left his place of residence and
+his territory to the English. The following is the reason of his
+precipitate retreat. Additional assistance being needed, the authorities
+of Boston sent out Major-General Savage from that place, with sixty
+horse and as many foot-soldiers, who scoured the country all the way to
+Mount Hope, where King Philip, his wife and child were supposed to be at
+that time.
+
+Philip was at dinner when the news reached him of the near proximity of
+his enemies, and he rose with his family, officers and warriors and fled
+further up the country. The English pursued them as far as they could go
+for the swamps, and overtook the rear of the detachment, killing
+sixteen of them.
+
+At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were
+placed under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down
+into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterward divided,
+Church taking nineteen of the men and Fuller the remaining seventeen.
+The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called
+Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were
+attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a fight of a few
+moments, the English fell back to the seashore, and thus saved
+themselves from destruction, for Church perceived that it was the
+intention of the Indians to surround them. Every one expected death, but
+resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Thus hemmed in,
+Church had a double duty to perform--that of preserving the spirit of
+his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and
+erecting piles of stone to defend them.
+
+Boats had been appointed to attend the English on this expedition, and
+the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but, though the
+boats appeared, the bullets of the Indians made them preserve a
+respectable distance, until Church, in a moment of vexation, cried:
+
+"Be off with you, cowards, and leave us to our fate!" The boats took him
+at his word.
+
+The Indians, now encouraged, fought more desperately than before. The
+situation of the Englishmen was most forlorn, although as yet not one
+had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition was nearly
+spent, and the Indians, having taken possession of a stone house on the
+hill, fired into the temporary barricade of the English; but at this
+moment a sloop hove in sight, and bore down toward the shore. It had two
+or three small cannon on board with which it proceeded to knock down the
+stone house. The sloop was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding,
+who effected the embarkation of the company, taking off only two at a
+time in a canoe. During the embarkation the Indians who were armed with
+muskets and rifles kept up a steady fire from behind trees and stones,
+and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of
+the enemy, one grazing his head, and another lodging in a stake, which
+happened to stand just above the centre of his breast.
+
+Captain Church soon after joined a body of English and returned to
+Pocasset, and Philip, after a skirmish, retired to the swamps, where for
+a time his situation became desperate; but at length he contrived to
+elude his besiegers, and fled to the Nipmucks, who received him with a
+warmth of welcome quite gratifying to the ambitious chieftain.
+
+The governor of Massachusetts sought to dissuade the Nipmucks from
+espousing the cause of Philip; but they could not agree among
+themselves, and consented to meet the English commissioners at a place
+three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. Captains Hutchinson and
+Wheeler were deputized to proceed to the appointed place. With twenty
+mounted men and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters they
+reached the appointed place, but no Indians were to be seen. After a
+short consultation, they advanced a little further, when they found
+themselves in an ambuscade. A volley of rifles and muskets was the first
+intimation of the presence of Indians. Eight men and five horses fell
+dead, and Captain Hutchinson and two more were mortally wounded. The
+Christian Indians led the remnant to Brookfield.
+
+They scarcely had time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of
+seventy-eight, flocked into the garrison house, when the Indians
+assailed the town. The house was but slightly fortified about the
+exterior by a few logs hastily thrown up, while inside the house was
+padded with feather-beds to deaden the force of the bullets. The house
+was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shots poured in from all
+directions. The beleaguered English were no mean marksmen, and they soon
+taught the Indians to keep at a respectful distance. The Indians filled
+a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials, which they set
+on fire, and pushed it backward to the building. The beleaguered people
+began to pray for deliverance, when, as if in answer to their prayer, a
+heavy shower of rain fell, extinguishing the fire, and before it could
+be replenished, Major Willard with a party of dragoons arrived and the
+Indians raised the siege.
+
+A considerable number of Christian Indians near Hatfield were suspected
+of being friendly to Philip and ordered to give up their arms. They
+escaped at night and fled up the river toward Deerfield to join Philip.
+The English pursued them and early next morning came up with them at a
+swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest
+ensued. The Indians fought gallantly, but were finally routed, with a
+loss of twenty six of their number, while the whites lost only ten. The
+escaped Indians joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned
+to their station at Hadley.
+
+About the 10th of September, while Captain Lathrop was bringing away
+some provisions and corn from Deerfield, he was attacked at a place
+called "Muddy Brook." Knowing the English would pass here with their
+teams and horses, the Indians lay in ambush and, pouring in a
+destructive fire, rushed furiously to a close engagement. The English
+ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were everywhere attacked.
+Seeking the cover of trees, the English fought with desperation. The
+combat now became a trial of skill in sharp-shooting, on the issue of
+which life or death was suspended. The overwhelming superiority of the
+Indians, as to numbers, left little room for hope on the part of the
+English. Every instant they were shot down behind their retreats, until
+nearly their whole number perished. The dead, the dying, the wounded
+strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred,
+including the teamsters, not more than seven or eight escaped from the
+bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company
+consisted of choice young men, "the very flower of Essex County, none of
+whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Eighteen were
+citizens of Deerfield.
+
+Captain Moseley arrived at the conclusion of the fight, just as the
+Indians began stripping and mutilating the dead. He charged the
+Indians, cutting his way through with his company again and again, until
+he drove them from the field.
+
+The Indians near Springfield, supposed to be friendly, on the 4th of
+October became allies of King Philip, whose cause seemed likely to
+prevail. They planned to get possession of the fort, but were betrayed
+by an Indian at Windsor, and when the savages came they found the
+garrison ready to resist them. The savages burned thirty-two houses and
+barns, and the beleaguered people were in great distress.
+
+King Philip next aimed a blow at the three towns Hadley, Hatfield and
+Northampton at once. At this time, Captain Appleton with one company lay
+at Hadley, Captain Moseley and Poole with two companies were at
+Hatfield, while Major Treat had just returned to Northampton for the
+security of the settlement. Philip with seven or eight hundred warriors
+made a bold assault on Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking from
+every side at the same moment; but after a severe struggle the Indians
+were repulsed at every point.
+
+After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was next
+known to be in the countries of his allies, the Narragansetts. The
+latter had not heartily engaged in the war; but their inclination to do
+so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to arouse them to
+activity. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of his treaty with the
+English, not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations
+against the English, and Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth raised
+an army of fifteen hundred men and, in the winter of 1675, set out to
+attack the Indians.
+
+Philip had strongly fortified himself at South Kingston, Rhode Island,
+on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men erected about
+five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited
+an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees
+cut off about the length of a barrel) were piled one upon another around
+the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here
+about three thousand Indians had taken up their winter quarters, and
+among them were Philip's best warriors.
+
+Governor Winslow of Plymouth commanded the English. A heavy snow had
+fallen and the weather was intensely cold; but on December 19, the
+English reached the fort and, by reason of their scarcity of provisions,
+resolved to attack at once. The New Englanders were unacquainted with
+the situation of the Indians, and, but for an Indian who betrayed his
+countrymen, there is little probability that the English would have
+effected anything against the fort. The stronghold was reached about
+one o'clock in the afternoon, and the English assailed the most
+vulnerable part of it, where it was fortified by a kind of a
+block-house, directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to
+cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades and an
+immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the
+fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only
+on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the
+place, such the difficulty of gaining access to it.
+
+At first the English tried to cross over on the log; but, being
+compelled to go in single file, they were shot down by the Indians,
+until six captains and a number of men had been slain. Captain Moseley
+and a mere handful of men finally rushed over the log and burst into the
+fort, where they were assailed by fearful odds. This bold act so
+attracted the attention of the Indians that others rushed in. Captain
+Church, that indomitable Indian fighter, burst into the fort, dashed
+through it, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a
+destructive fire into the enemy in retreat. The Indian cabins were set
+on fire, and a scene of horror followed. A Narragansett chief afterward
+stated their loss at seven hundred killed in the fort and three hundred
+more who died of their wounds in the woods.
+
+After the destruction of the place, Governor Winslow set out with his
+killed and wounded through a driving snow-storm for Pettyquamscott. The
+march was one of misery and distress, and a number of the wounded died
+on their march.
+
+On the 19th of February, the Indians surprised Lancaster with complete
+success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. The
+town contained fifty-two families, of whom forty-two persons were killed
+or captured. Forty-two persons took shelter in the house of Mary
+Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of the place. It was set on fire by
+the Indians. "Quickly," says Mrs. Rowlandson in her narrative, "it was
+the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour had
+come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives; others wallowing
+in blood; the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready
+to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go
+forth; but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against
+the house as if one had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout
+dogs; but none of them would stir. A bullet went through my side, and
+another through a child in my arms, and I was made captive, having of my
+family only one poor wounded babe left. I was led from the town where my
+captors halted to gaze on the burning houses. Down I must sit in the
+snow, with my sick child, the picture of death in my lap. Not the least
+crumb of refreshment came within our mouths from Wednesday night until
+Sunday night except a little cold water."
+
+Mrs. Rowlandson and her child were afterward recovered from the savages.
+
+Shortly after the Lancaster disaster, Captain Pierce, with fifty men and
+twenty Cape Cod Indians, having crossed the Pawtuxet River in Rhode
+Island, unexpectedly met a large body of Indians.
+
+The English fell back and took up a sheltered position under the river
+bank; but here they were hemmed in and fought until all fell save one
+white man and four Indians, after killing more than one hundred of
+the enemy.
+
+The Christian Indians of Cape Cod showed their faithfulness and courage
+in this melancholy affair. Four of them effected their escape and one of
+these aided in the escape of the only white man who survived. His name
+was Amos, and after Captain Pierce was wounded he remained by him
+loading and firing, until it was evident he could do no more. Then he
+painted his face black as his enemies had done, and thus escaped.
+Another of the Christian Indians pretended to be chasing the white man
+who thus escaped with upraised tomahawk. The ruse saved both.
+
+On the 20th of April, an army of Indians made an assault on Sudbury.
+The people were reinforced by soldiers from Watertown and Concord. The
+Indians drew the Concord people into an ambuscade and only one escaped.
+
+The best Indian warrior makes a poor general. He has no ability to
+preserve an organization, and soon calamities began to befall Philip.
+They were small at first; but they tended to discourage his followers.
+First the Deerfield Indians abandoned his cause, and many of the
+Nipmucks and Narragansetts followed. Still, Philip, though he had not
+been much seen during the winter, and it is doubtful where he had spent
+the most of it, had no intention of abating his efforts against
+the English.
+
+In the month of May, 1676, he appeared at the head of a powerful force
+in northern Massachusetts. Large bodies of Indians about this time took
+up positions at the Connecticut River falls, where they were attacked
+and routed by Captain Turner. One hundred were left dead on the field
+and a hundred and forty more went over the falls. When Turner retreated
+from the field, the Indians rallied, fell on his rear, shot down the
+gallant captain and thirty-seven of his men.
+
+On May 30th, Philip, at the head of six hundred men, attacked Hatfield,
+but was repulsed after a desperate struggle.
+
+Philip's power was on the wane. He was secure in no place; but his
+haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant
+losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he,
+nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the
+intrepid Church made a descent upon his headquarters at Matapoiset,
+where he killed and made prisoners one hundred and thirty. Philip barely
+made his escape, and was obliged to leave his wampum and his wife and
+child, who were made prisoners.
+
+Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the
+enemy had felled, lay across a stream. Church had gained the top end of
+the tree, when he espied an Indian on the stump of it, on the other side
+of the stream. Church, brought his gun to his shoulder and would have
+shot the Indian, had not one of his own Indians told him not to fire, as
+he believed it was one of his own men. On hearing voices, the Indian
+looked about, and the friendly Indian got a glance at his face and
+discovered that it was Philip. The friendly Indian fired, but too late,
+for Philip, leaping from the stump, ran down the bank among the bushes
+and in a moment was out of sight. Church gave chase to him; but he could
+not be found, though they picked up a few of his followers. King
+Philip's war had now degenerated into a single man hunt. From this time
+on, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape
+destruction. His followers deserted him, and he was driven like a wild
+beast from place to place, until at last he came to his ancient seat
+near Pokanoket, when one of his men advised making peace. Philip killed
+him on the spot. The Indian thus slain had a brother named Alderman,
+who, fearing the same fate, and probably in revenge, deserted Philip,
+and gave Captain Church an account of his situation and offered to lead
+him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, August 12, 1676, Church,
+with his Indian guide, came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and,
+before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass
+it, except at one place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush into
+the swamp and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did,
+but was discovered as he approached, and Philip fled. Having been just
+awakened and being only partially dressed, he ran at full speed,
+carrying his gun in his hand, and came directly upon the Indian
+Alderman, who, with a white man, was in ambush at the edge of the swamp.
+
+"There comes the devil Philip now!" cried the Englishman, raising his
+rifle and aiming at the king; but the powder in the pan had become damp,
+and he missed fire. Immediately Alderman, whose gun was loaded with two
+balls, fired, sending one bullet through Philip's heart and another not
+more than two inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and
+water, with his gun under him.
+
+The death of Philip ended the bloodiest Indian war at that time known in
+the New World. A few of his confederates were captured; but there was no
+more fighting. Philip's son was sold into slavery in Bermuda. So
+perished the dynasty of Massasoit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NEARING THE VERGE.
+
+     At times there come, as come there ought,
+     Grave moments of sedater thought.
+     When fortune frowns, nor lends our night
+     One gleam of her inconstant light:
+     And hope, that decks the peasant's bower,
+     Shines like the rainbow through the shower.
+                                      --CUNNINGHAM.
+
+Robert Stevens was warmly greeted by his mother and sister on his return
+from Massachusetts. He had grown to a handsome young man, whose daring
+blue eye and bold, honest face seemed born to defy tyrants. Rebecca, his
+sister, was a beautiful maiden, just budding into womanhood. She
+possessed her father's quiet, gentle, modest demeanor with her mother's
+beauty. Her great dark eyes were softer than her mother's, and her face
+and contour were perfections of beauty.
+
+"How glad I am to see you! Oh, how you have grown!" were among the
+exclamations of his mother.
+
+Robert noticed a great change in her. She was no longer the
+proud-spirited being of old. Even when assailed by poverty, she was not
+crushed and humiliated. Nothing was said of Mr. Price, though he was
+uppermost in the minds of all. The stepfather was not present; but
+Robert thought:
+
+"I shall meet him, and the meeting will come soon enough."
+
+When the house was reached he had almost forgotten him. His mother's
+pale face and wasted form were indications of poor health; but she
+smiled once more, and he hoped to see the bloom return to the still
+youthful cheek.
+
+It was early when he disembarked, and Mr. Hugh Price, the royalist, had
+gone with Governor Berkeley on a fox chase. He returned late that night,
+and Robert did not see him until next morning. The greeting between
+Robert and the man whom he heartily despised was formal and cool.
+
+The cavalier was, as usual, dressed with scrupulous care, and, in lace
+ruffles and silk, sought to conceal his coarse, beastly nature. His fat
+face and pursed lips, with his bottle nose, all bore evidence of high
+living and indulgence in the wine cup. The family assembled at the
+breakfast table and sat in silence through the meal. When it was over,
+Mr. Price said:
+
+"Robert, I want to see you in my study."
+
+His "study" was a room in which were a few books and a great many
+implements of the chase. There were horns, whips, spurs, boar spears and
+guns on the wall. Mr. Price lighted his pipe and, throwing himself into
+his great easy chair, said:
+
+"Sit down, Robert, I have something to say to you."
+
+Robert closed his lips firmly, for he intuitively felt that what was
+coming would have something unpleasant about it. Mr. Hugh Price
+partially raised himself from his chair to close the door. Robert caught
+a momentary glance of two anxious faces at the foot of the stairs,
+watching them and evidently wondering how it was all going to end.
+Having closed the door and shut those friendly countenances out from
+view, Hugh Price raised his slippered feet and placed them on the stool
+before him, and smoked in silence. Robert had lost the little fear he
+had entertained in childhood for his stepfather; but he did not
+calculate on the cunning and treachery which in Hugh Price had taken the
+place of strength. He realized not the powerful weapons which Price
+could wield in the governor and officers of State.
+
+"Robert, you have come back," began Mr. Price, slowly and deliberately,
+as if he wished to impress what he was about to say more fully on his
+hearer. "I have some words of advice to offer, and I trust you will
+profit by them. If you fail to, don't blame me."
+
+Robert, by a respectful nod, indicated that he was listening, and Mr.
+Price went on:
+
+"We have reached a period when a great civil revolution seems to be at
+hand. Virginia is about to be shaken by an earthquake, to writhe under
+intestine wars, and it may be necessary for you to take sides. I warn
+you to have a care which side you choose, for a mistake means death. You
+had better know something of the condition of the country before you
+make your choice."
+
+"I assure you that I am willing to learn all I can of Virginia," Robert
+answered.
+
+"Very well spoken. I hope that you have eradicated from your mind all
+those fallacious and treasonable ideas of republicanism. The failure of
+the commonwealth in England ought to convince any one that republicanism
+can never succeed."
+
+Robert was silent. So deeply had republicanism been engrafted in his
+soul that he might as well attempt to tear out his heart, as to think of
+uprooting it. His meeting with General Goffe and his love for Ester had
+more strongly cemented his love for liberty; but Robert held his peace,
+and the stepfather went on.
+
+"Virginia is ruled by a governor and sixteen councillors, commissioned
+by his majesty, and a grand assembly, consisting of two burgesses from
+each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals and
+passes laws of all descriptions, which are sent to the lord chancellor
+for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. We now
+have forty thousand people in Virginia, of whom six thousand are white
+servants and two thousand negro slaves. Since 1619, only three
+ship-loads of negroes have been brought here, yet by natural increase
+the negroes have grown a hundredfold."
+
+The cavalier, who delighted in long morning talks over his pipe, paused
+a moment to rest, and Robert sat wondering what all this could have to
+do with him. After a moment, Hugh Price resumed:
+
+"The freemen of Virginia number more than eight thousand horse, and are
+bound to muster monthly in every county, to be ready for the Indians;
+but the Indians are absolutely subjugated, so there need be no fear of
+them. There are five forts in Virginia, mounted with thirty cannon, two
+on James River, and one each on the other three rivers of York,
+Rappahannock, and Potomac; but we have neither skill nor ability to
+maintain them. We have a large foreign commerce. Nearly eighty ships
+every year come out from England and Ireland, and a few ketches from New
+England, in defiance of the navigation laws, which the people of New
+England seem more willing to break than are the people of Virginia. We
+build neither small nor great vessels here, for we are most obedient to
+all laws, whilst the New England men break them with impunity and trade
+at any place to which their interests lead them."
+
+"The New England people are prosperous and God-fearing," Robert ventured
+to put in.
+
+"Yea; but do they not harbor outlaws and regicides. Do not Whalley and
+Goffe find in that country aiders and abettors in their criminal
+proceeding?"
+
+"The New Englanders are friendly to the education of the masses."
+
+At this, Hugh Price for an instant lost control of his passion. His
+master, Sir William Berkeley, in a memorial to parliament, had
+just said:
+
+"I thank God that there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we
+shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
+disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels
+against the best governments. God keep us from both!"
+
+Virginia was the last province to submit to the commonwealth and first
+to declare for the returned monarch, and the royalists residing in
+Virginia despised what the common people insisted in calling freedom.
+The commonwealth had driven many excellent royalists from England to
+Virginia, and while Hugh Price seeks to smother his anger in clouds of
+tobacco smoke, we will make a quotation from John Esten Cooke's
+"Virginia" in regard to some of them:
+
+"The character of the king's men who came over during the commonwealth
+period has been a subject of much discussion. They have been called even
+by Virginia writers as we have seen, 'butterflies of aristocracy,' who
+had no influence in affairs or in giving its coloring to Virginia
+society. The facts entirely contradict the view. They and their
+descendants were the leaders in public affairs, and exercised a
+controlling influence upon the community. Washington was the
+greatgrandson of a royalist, who took refuge in Virginia during the
+commonwealth. George Mason was the descendant of a colonel, who fought
+for Charles II. Edmond Pendleton was of royalist origin, and lived and
+died a most uncompromising churchman. Richard Henry Lee, who moved the
+Declaration, was of the family of Richard Lee, who had gone to invite
+Charles II. to Virginia. Peyton and Edmund Randolph, president of the
+First Congress, and attorney-general were of the old royalist family.
+Archibald Cary, who threatened to stab Patrick Henry if he were made
+dictator, was a relative of Lord Falkland and heir apparent at his
+death to the barony of Hunsdon. Madison and Monroe were descended from
+the royalist families--the first from a refugee of 1653, the last from a
+captain in the army of Charles I., and Patrick Henry and Thomas
+Jefferson, afterward the leaders of democratic opinion, were of church
+and king blood, since the father of Henry was a loyal officer who 'drank
+the king's health at the head of his regiment'; and the mothers of both
+were Church of England women, descended from royalist families."
+
+With this brief digression, we will return to Hugh Price, who, having
+smoked himself into a calmer state, turned his eyes upon his wife's son
+with a look designed to be compassionate and said:
+
+"Robert, it is the great love I bear you, which causes my anxiety about
+your welfare. I trust that your recent sojourn in New England hath not
+established the seeds of republicanism and Puritanism in your heart. I
+trust that any fallacious ideas you may have formed during your absence
+will become, in the light of reason, eradicated."
+
+"He who is not susceptible of reason is unworthy of being called a
+reasonable being," Robert answered.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say as much. Now permit me to return to the
+original subject. Virginia is on the verge of a political irruption,
+and your arrival may be most opportune or unfortunate."
+
+"I hardly comprehend you."
+
+"There is some dissatisfaction with Governor Berkeley's course with the
+Indians. Some unreasonable people think that he should prosecute the war
+against them more vigorously."
+
+"Why does he not?"
+
+"He has good reasons."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"He has dealings with the Indians in which there are many great fortunes
+involved. To go to war with them would be sure to lose him and his
+friends these profits. I am one concerned in these speculations, and it
+would be a grievous wrong to me were the war prosecuted."
+
+Robert knew something of the savage outrages in Virginia. He had learned
+of them while on shipboard, and he had some difficulty in restraining
+his rising indignation, so it was with considerable warmth that
+he answered:
+
+"Do you think your gains of more value than the human lives sacrificed
+on the frontier?"
+
+"Such talk is treason," cried Price. "It sounds not unlike Bacon,
+Cheeseman, Lawrence and Drummond. Have you seen them since your return?"
+
+"I have not, nor did I ever hear of the man Bacon before."
+
+"Have a care! You would do well to avoid Drummond, Cheeseman and
+Lawrence."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"They are suspected of republicanism. Have naught to do with them."
+
+Some people are so constituted that to refuse them a thing increases
+their desire for it. Robert would no doubt have gone to hunt up his
+former friends and rescuers even had not his stepfather forbidden his
+doing so, but now that Price prohibited his having anything to do with
+them, he was doubly determined to meet them and learn what they had to
+say about the threatened trouble.
+
+His mother and sister were waiting in the room below with anxiously
+beating hearts to know the result of the conference. Sighs of relief
+escaped both, when they were assured that the meeting had been peaceful.
+
+"Hold your peace, my son," plead the mother, "and do naught to bring
+more distress upon your poor mother."
+
+Robert realized that a great crisis was coming which would try his soul.
+He had never broken his word with his mother, and for fear that his
+conscience might conflict with any promise, he resolved to make none, so
+he evaded her, by saying:
+
+"Mother, there is no need for apprehension. We are in no danger."
+
+"But your stepfather and you?"
+
+"We have had no new quarrel."
+
+He was about to excuse himself and take a stroll about Jamestown, when
+he saw a short, stout little fellow, resembling an apple dumpling
+mounted on two legs, entering the door. Though years had passed since he
+had seen that form, he knew him at sight. Giles Peram, the traitor and
+informer, had grown plumper, and his round face seemed more silly. His
+little eyes had sunk deeper into his fat cheeks, and his lips were
+puckered as if to whistle. He was attired as a cavalier, with a scarlet
+laced coat, a waistcoat of yellow velvet and knee breeches of the
+cavalier, with silk stockings.
+
+"Good day, good people," he said, squeezing his fat little hands
+together. "I hope you will excuse this visit, for I--I--heard that the
+brother of my--of the pretty maid had come home, and hastened to
+congratulate him."
+
+Robert gazed for a moment on the contemptible little fellow, the chief
+cause of his arrest and banishment and, turning to his mother, asked:
+
+"Do you allow him to come here?"
+
+"We must," she whispered.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Hush, son; you don't understand it all. I will explain it to you
+soon."
+
+"You may; but I think I shall change matters, if he is to be a visitor."
+
+"He is the governor's secretary."
+
+"I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here."
+
+The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple,
+stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating:
+
+"Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this
+mean?"
+
+"Why do you dare enter this house?" demanded Robert, fiercely.
+
+"Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert,
+for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was
+informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh
+Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries.
+
+"Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?"
+
+"Perhaps it is Mr. Price!" the mother stammered, casting a glance at
+Peram, who quickly answered:
+
+"Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very
+important message from the governor."
+
+He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the
+house.
+
+Robert went into the street in a sort of maze.
+
+He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles
+Peram had some deep scheme on foot.
+
+"I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next
+moment," he said in a fit of anger.
+
+It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he
+met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a
+close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They
+did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon
+as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and
+warm-hearted Cheeseman said:
+
+"I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis."
+
+"What is the crisis?" Robert asked.
+
+"We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed
+Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and
+they, stork like, have begun devouring us."
+
+"I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia;
+but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?"
+
+Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant
+of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage
+other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord
+Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade
+and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift,
+'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of
+thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with
+England in English ships, manned by Englishmen."
+
+"Is it such a great grievance to the people?"
+
+"It is foolish and injurious to the government as well as to ourselves.
+The system cripples the colony, and, by discouraging production,
+decreases the English revenue. To profit from Virginia they grind down
+Virginia. Instead of friends, as we expected, on the restoration, we are
+beset by enemies, who seize us by the throat and cry: 'Pay that
+thou owest!'"
+
+"To these grievances are added the confinement of suffrage to
+freeholders, which hath disfranchised a large number of persons," put in
+Mr. Drummond.
+
+"Also the failure of the governor to protect the frontier from the
+Indians," added Mr. Cheeseman. "These heathen have begun to threaten
+the colony."
+
+"What cause have they for taking up the hatchet?" asked Robert. Mr.
+Cheeseman answered:
+
+"Their jealousy was aroused by an expedition made by Captain Henry Batte
+beyond the mountains. Last summer there was a fight with some of the
+Indians. A party of Doegs attacked the frontier in Staffard and
+committed outrages, and were pursued into Maryland by a company of
+Virginians under Major John Washington. They stood at bay in an old
+palisaded fort. Six Indians were killed while bringing a flag of truce.
+The governor said that even though they had slain his nearest relatives,
+had they come to treat with him he would have treated with them. The
+Indian depredations have been on the increase until the frontier is
+unsafe, and this spring, when five hundred men were ready to march
+against the heathen, Governor Berkeley disbanded them, saying the
+frontier forts were sufficient protection for the people."
+
+"Are they?" asked Robert.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why does he not send an army against them?"
+
+"He is engaged in trafficking with the heathen and fears that he may
+lose, financially, by a war."
+
+"Is gain in traffic of more consequence than human life?"
+
+"With him, it is."
+
+Robert was a lover of humanity, and in a moment he had taken sides. He
+was a republican and his fate was cast with Bacon, even before he had
+seen this remarkable man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.
+
+     He stood--some dread was on his face,
+     Soon hatred settled in its place:
+     It rose not with the reddening flush
+     Of transient anger's hasty blush,
+     But pale as marble o'er the tomb,
+     Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.
+                                          --BYRON.
+
+Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
+thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
+full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
+this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
+many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
+from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
+his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
+Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
+concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
+and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
+the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.
+
+Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
+He was repeating under his breath:
+
+"_Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!_"
+
+Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
+necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
+of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
+to a tyrant.
+
+"His office is for life," sighed Robert. "And too much power hath made
+him mad."
+
+Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
+that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:
+
+"No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you."
+
+"Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?"
+
+"No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not."
+
+"But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you."
+
+At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
+terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
+room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
+waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
+began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
+his anatomy.
+
+Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!" his small eyes
+growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.
+
+"You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?" cried Robert, still
+kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
+the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
+that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
+sister and asked:
+
+"Where is mother?"
+
+"She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings."
+
+"And left you alone?"
+
+"It was thought you would come."
+
+Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
+company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
+immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
+of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
+left alone.
+
+"Have you suffered annoyances from him before?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Does mother know of it?"
+
+"She does."
+
+"And makes no effort to protect you?"
+
+[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
+HEAP ON THE GROUND.]
+
+"She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage."
+
+"I think I understand why you were left," said Robert, bitterly; "but I
+will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
+silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
+to uncle's."
+
+"Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died."
+
+"But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
+becomes too hard for you to endure."
+
+With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
+can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
+told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
+adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
+raging with relentless fury.
+
+Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
+was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
+him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
+Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
+unwelcome suitor.
+
+The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
+sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.
+
+"If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
+send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
+vagabonds."
+
+At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
+of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
+which he became enraged and cried:
+
+"Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense."
+
+"Which is very extraordinary," put in the wag. This so exasperated the
+orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
+which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
+harangue to an inglorious close.
+
+Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
+the orator retired in disgust.
+
+Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
+which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
+sister, who laughed as much as he did.
+
+That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
+some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
+believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
+distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
+there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, going to the window.
+
+"I am Drummond," was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
+friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
+the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
+men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
+Mr. Lawrence.
+
+"What will you, Mr. Drummond?"
+
+"Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
+bring what weapons you have, as you may need them."
+
+Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
+brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
+him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
+throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
+joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:
+
+"The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
+killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives."
+
+Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
+would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.
+
+"You will have aid," assured Mr. Drummond. "The people are enraged at
+the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
+will go and punish the Indians."
+
+"Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
+father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
+home for lack of a leader?"
+
+"We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
+ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
+savages. Mr. Drummond answered:
+
+"Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
+family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
+Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
+patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
+what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
+Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
+member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
+politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
+junior, for his heir."
+
+"Has he ability for a leader?" asked Robert.
+
+"He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
+appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council."
+
+This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
+of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
+his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
+public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
+the old writers say, "of a precipitate disposition."
+
+Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
+redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
+to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
+plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
+estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
+what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
+known as "Bacon's Quarter Branch." His servants and overseers lived
+here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
+favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
+peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
+plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
+unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
+neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
+boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
+the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
+Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
+favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
+of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
+government.
+
+When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
+outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
+and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
+manner, declared:
+
+"If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
+with or without authority, commission or no commission."
+
+The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.
+
+In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
+slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
+killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
+fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
+house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
+combination against these dangerous enemies.
+
+Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
+forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
+ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
+even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
+he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
+happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.
+
+It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
+seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
+journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
+making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
+Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
+with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.
+
+He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
+lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"It is your brother," he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
+the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
+and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
+had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
+them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
+the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
+a mission.
+
+Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
+knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
+companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
+the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
+considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
+a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
+nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
+spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
+conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
+of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
+the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
+vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
+expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
+of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.
+
+"Who is that man?" Robert asked.
+
+"Nathaniel Bacon," was the answer.
+
+This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
+the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
+impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.
+
+Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
+Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
+commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
+send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
+his friends joined the group.
+
+"Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
+notified me that the times are troubled," Bacon said, "that the issue of
+my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
+fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
+his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
+impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
+been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
+his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
+will assault the savages in their stronghold."
+
+All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
+to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
+When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
+aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
+to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.
+
+"I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians," Robert
+explained, "and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort."
+
+"Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
+consume royalty in Virginia."
+
+Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
+Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
+commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
+seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
+resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
+were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
+striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
+their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
+emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
+denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
+ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
+proceedings, it would be at their peril.
+
+Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
+crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
+armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
+hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
+Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
+
+Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
+who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
+
+The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
+of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
+forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
+Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
+the savages.
+
+John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
+and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
+discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
+their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
+the savage and shot him dead.
+
+The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
+poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
+quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
+arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:
+
+"There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
+lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!"
+
+Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
+forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
+little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
+balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
+of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
+charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
+and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.
+
+"There are the enemy; storm the fort!" cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
+mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
+there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
+example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
+Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
+them became brave as a lion.
+
+Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
+was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
+leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
+even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
+different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
+them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
+ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
+moment. He was the man for the occasion.
+
+Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
+horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
+such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
+leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
+had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
+drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.
+
+The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
+the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
+fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
+This victory is famous in history as the "Battle of Bloody Run," so
+called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
+stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
+Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
+homes and friends.
+
+The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
+went back toward Curles.
+
+Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
+and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
+outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
+of counties.
+
+When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
+Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
+sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
+it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
+statehouse.
+
+The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
+which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
+popular a man as Bacon.
+
+"Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?" the governor asked.
+
+"No, may it please your honor," Bacon answered, quite coolly.
+
+"Then I will take your parole," said Berkeley.
+
+Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
+Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
+vowed that they had only "appealed to the sword as a defence against the
+bloody heathen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.
+
+     'Do you know the old man of the sea, of the sea?
+       Have you met with that dreadful old man?
+     If you haven't been caught, you will be, you will be;
+       For catch you he must and he can.'
+                                                 --HOLMES.
+
+Robert Stevens and twenty others captured with Bacon were kept in
+prison. His mother and sisters visited him, but he saw nothing of his
+stepfather. One evening he was informed that a gentleman wished to see
+him, and immediately Mr. Giles Peram was admitted to his cell.
+
+"How are you, Robert--ahem?" began Giles. "This is most extraordinary, I
+assure you, and you have my sympathy, and you may not believe it, no,
+you may not believe it, but I am sorry for you."
+
+"You can spare yourself any tears on my account," the prisoner answered,
+casting a look of scorn and indignation on the proud little fellow who
+strutted before him with ill-concealed exultation. Without noticing the
+irony in the words of the prisoner, Giles puffed up with the importance
+of his mission, went on:
+
+"Robert, I have come to you with a singular proposition. Now you are
+very anxious to know what it is, are you not?"
+
+"I have some curiosity; yet I have no doubt that I shall treat your
+proposition with contempt."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't. Your life depends on your acceptance."
+
+"I can best answer you when I know what your proposition is."
+
+"It is this. I am enamoured of your sister. She rejects my suit. Now, if
+she will consent to become my wife, you shall have your liberty."
+
+It was well for Peram that Robert Stevens was chained to the wall, or it
+would have fared hard for the little fellow. Giles kept beyond the
+length of the chain and the prisoner was powerless. His only weapon was
+his tongue; but with that he poured out the vials of his wrath so
+copiously on the wretch, that he retired in disgust.
+
+Events soon shaped themselves so as to give Robert his liberty. Through
+the intercession of Bacon's cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, senior, the
+governor consented to pardon Bacon the rebel, if he would, on his knees,
+read a written confession of his error and ask forgiveness. This
+confession was made June 5, 1676. Between the last days of May and the
+5th of June, Bacon had been denounced as a rebel; had marched and
+defeated the savages; had stood for the burgesses and appeared at
+Jamestown; had been arrested and quickly paroled, and was now, on the
+5th of June, to confess on his knees that he was a great offender. The
+old cavalier Berkeley was going to make an imposing scene of it. The
+governor sent the burgesses a message to attend him in the council
+chamber below, on public business, and when they came, he addressed them
+on the Indian troubles, specially denouncing the murder of the six
+chiefs in Maryland, though Colonel Washington, who commanded the forces
+on that expedition, was present. With pathetic emphasis the
+governor declared:
+
+"Had they killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother
+and all my friends, yet if they came to treat of peace, they ought to
+have gone in peace." Having finished this harangue, designed for the
+humiliation of John Washington and his followers, he rose and with grim
+humor said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon came in, holding the paper in his trembling hand, and, kneeling,
+read his confession. It evidently grieved his lion heart to do so, for
+at times he faltered, and his voice, usually clear and distinct, was
+half smothered. When he had finished, Sir William Berkeley said:
+
+"God forgive you; I forgive you," and three times he repeated the words.
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked Colonel Cole, one of the council.
+
+Hugh Price, who was present, was about to interpose some objection; but
+before he could say anything, Sir William Berkeley answered:
+
+"Yes, and all that were with him." As Bacon rose from his knees, the
+governor took his hand and added: "Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter day, but till next quarter day, I'll promise to
+restore you to your place there," pointing to the seat which Bacon
+generally occupied daring the sessions of the council.
+
+The order to release the prisoners was at once given, and Robert Stevens
+was again a free man. He hastened to the home of his mother and sister,
+where he met his stepfather, whose conduct was so odious to the young
+man that he took up his abode at "the house of public entertainment kept
+by the wife of a certain thoughtful Mr. Lawrence." Bacon was also living
+here under his parole, for it was generally understood that he had not
+been given permission to leave the city.
+
+One morning, just as the excitement incident to the arrest and
+confession of Bacon had begun to subside, a large ship entered the river
+and cast anchor before the town. The ship flew English colors and was a
+veritable floating palace. There are few crafts afloat even at this day
+that equal it in elegance. It had been built by the most skilful
+carpenters in the world at that time, and the long, tapering masts, the
+deck and bows were more of the modern style than ships of that day.
+
+Her cabins were large, roomy and fitted up with more than Oriental
+splendor. There were Turkish carpets, and golden candelabra. Wealth,
+strength, ease and grace were evident in every part of the strange
+craft. No such vessel had ever before entered James River. The ship was
+well armed, and the crew thoroughly disciplined. There was a long brass
+cannon in the forecastle, with carronades above and below, for she was a
+double-decker with a row of guns above and below, and at that time such
+a formidable craft was able to destroy half of the English navy. The
+name of the vessel was not in keeping with her general appearance. In
+spite of the elegance and magnificence of the vessel, on her stern, in
+great black letters, was the awful word:
+
+"DESPAIR."
+
+What strange freak had induced the owner of this wonderful craft to
+give it such a melancholy name? Jamestown was thrown into a flutter of
+excitement at first, and whispered rumors went about that the vessel was
+a pirate. If it should prove a pirate, they knew it would be able to
+destroy the town and all their fleet. This story was perhaps started by
+some idlers, who sought to go aboard when the vessel first arrived, but
+were refused admittance to her deck.
+
+Though not permitted to go aboard, those loafers had seen enough to
+start the report that the vessel was a gilded palace, ornamented with
+gold. Two days had elapsed, and no one had come ashore, nor had any
+visitor been admitted to the ship, and the governor, growing uneasy
+about the strange craft, resolved to know something of it, so he sent
+the sheriff to ascertain her mission.
+
+The captain of the ship, who gave his name as George Small, answered:
+
+"This vessel is the property of Sir Albert St. Croix, a wealthy merchant
+from the East Indies, who will this day visit the governor and make
+known the object of his visit to Jamestown."
+
+That day, a boat fit for a king was lowered, and eight or ten sailors,
+richly dressed, took their places at the oars. A man, whose long white
+hair hung about his shoulders in snowy profusion, and whose beard, white
+as the swan's down, came to his breast, descended to the boat and was
+rowed ashore.
+
+When he was landed, the sailors returned with the boat to the ship,
+leaving him on the beach. The old man was richly dressed. He blazed with
+jewels such as a king might envy, and the hilt of his sword was of pure
+gold. He wore a brace of slender pistols, whose silver-mounted butts
+protruded from his belt.
+
+The dark cloak about his shoulders was Puritanic; but the elegance of
+his attire and the profusion of jewelry which he wore proved that he was
+not of that order. His low-crowned hat was three-cornered, trimmed with
+lace and the brim held in place by three blazing diamonds. It was
+something like the cocked hat, which, half a century later, was worn by
+most of the gentry.
+
+After watching the boat until it returned to the vessel, the old man
+went toward the statehouse. He spoke to no one on the way, though he
+paused under a large oak about half way between the statehouse and the
+beach, and gazed long on the town and surrounding country.
+
+The tree beneath which he paused was the same under whose wide spreading
+branches Captain John Smith had halted to take a last farewell look of
+Virginia, before embarking for England. The spot had already
+grown historic.
+
+The people were gathered in groups on the streets gazing at the
+stranger, and various were the comments about him. He noticed the
+excitement his advent had created, and walked quickly up the street to
+the statehouse. Though his hair and beard were white as snow, his frame
+was vigorous and strong, and his step had about it the elasticity of
+youth. His brow was furrowed with care rather than time, and his eye
+seemed still to flash with the fires of young manhood. Nevertheless he
+was an old man. Every one who saw him on that memorable morning
+pronounced him a prodigy.
+
+Arriving at the statehouse, he asked for the governor, and was at once
+shown to Sir William, who, gazing at him in wonder, asked:
+
+"Whence came you, stranger?"
+
+"From Liverpool."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am Sir Albert St. Croix, the owner of the good ship _Despair_, which
+lies at anchor in your bay."
+
+"But surely you are not of England?"
+
+"I am an Englishman; but I have spent most of my life abroad, and for
+many years have been in the East Indies. I amassed a fortune in diamonds
+and jewels and, being in the decline of life, decided to travel over the
+world. For that purpose, I builded me a ship to suit and engaged a crew
+faithful even unto death."
+
+The governor's countenance brightened, and he answered:
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to have you in Jamestown. Your arrival is
+quite opportune, for I am most grievously annoyed with a threatened
+rebellion."
+
+Sir Albert fixed his great blue eyes on the governor and answered:
+
+"Sir William Berkeley, it is not my purpose to interfere with any
+political convulsions. I am simply a transient visitor. My home is
+my ship."
+
+"But your ship is an English craft, and your crew are Englishmen?"
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And as governor of the province, I will command them should their
+services be needed."
+
+There was a smile on the sad face of Sir Albert, as he answered:
+
+"It would not avail you, governor, for my captain and crew know no other
+master save myself, no will save mine."
+
+"But the king?"
+
+"They serve me, and I serve the king. I helped Charles II. out of a
+financial strait, and, for that, an order from our dread sovereign and
+lord has been issued, exempting my crew, myself and my vessel from any
+kind of military duty for the term of fifty years."
+
+The old man drew from his coat pocket a legal document proving his
+assertion.
+
+"Have you ever been in Virginia before?" the governor asked.
+
+"Yes, many years ago. All things have changed since then."
+
+"How long will you stay?"
+
+"I know not. At any moment I may decide to leave, and should I do so, I
+will sail at once. I linger no longer at any one place than my fancy
+detains me."
+
+"What is your wish, Sir Albert?"
+
+"I only ask the privilege of going whithersoever I please in your
+domain, without let or hindrance," and he produced an order from King
+Charles II., which commanded Governor Berkeley to grant him such
+privilege.
+
+"This is strange," said the governor. "An armament such as yours might
+overthrow the colony at this unsettled time."
+
+"I shall take no part in the disturbance, unless it affects me
+personally." The governor issued a passport for Sir Albert St. Croix,
+vessel and crew, and the stranger left the statehouse. He walked up the
+hill, passing the jail, and gazing about on the houses, as if he wished
+to make himself acquainted with the town. No end of comment was excited
+by his appearance, and a thousand conjectures were afloat as to the
+object of his visit.
+
+For a moment, the white-haired stranger paused before the public house
+in which Bacon was at that moment reposing. Some thought he was going
+in; but he passed on and addressed no one, until he came to Robert
+Stevens, who stood at the side of a well, under a wide spreading
+chestnut tree.
+
+"Will you draw me some water? for I am athirst," said the stranger.
+
+Robert did so, and handed the stranger a drink from an earthen mug,
+which was kept by the town pump for the accommodation of the public.
+After drinking, the old man returned the mug and, fixing his eyes on the
+young man, asked:
+
+"Have you lived long in Virginia?"
+
+"I was born here, good sir."
+
+"Then you must know all of Jamestown?"
+
+"Not so much, good sir, as I might, if I had not passed a few years in
+New England."
+
+"Your home is still here?"
+
+With a sigh, Robert answered:
+
+"It is, though I do not live in it now."
+
+Robert evidently was alluding to some domestic difficulties, and the
+stranger very considerately avoided asking him any further questions
+about himself. He asked about the proprietors of several houses and
+gained something of the history of the town and people.
+
+All expected that Sir Albert would return to his vessel; but he did not.
+Instead, he wandered over the hill into the wood and sat down upon a
+log. Robert saw him sitting there, with his white head bowed between his
+hands, looking so sad and broken-hearted, despite all his wealth, that
+his heart went out to him. He was for hours thus communing with nature,
+then came back to the town and went on board the _Despair_.
+
+After that, he frequently came ashore and strolled about the town,
+seldom speaking, even when addressed. But for the letters from the
+governor and the king, he might have been arrested on suspicion. He came
+and went at will, occasionally pausing to ask a question which was so
+guarded, that no one could suspect that he was interested in any
+particular subject. One day, as he was passing the statehouse, Giles
+Peram, who, with the powdered wig, lace, and ruffles of a cavalier, was
+strutting before some of the court officials, turning his eyes with an
+ill-bred stare on the stranger as he passed, remarked:
+
+"Oh, how extraordinary!"
+
+Sir Albert paused and, fixing his great blue eyes on the diminutive
+egotist, said:
+
+"Marry! the time of king's fools hath past; yet the king of fools still
+reigns."
+
+Giles Peram felt the retort most keenly, and, as usual, raged and fumed
+and swore vengeance after the stranger was out of sight and hearing. Sir
+Albert strolled down to a pond or lake that was near to the town, on the
+banks of which was an ancient ducking-stool. Three or four idlers were
+sitting on the bank, and of one of them he asked:
+
+"For what is that ugly machine used?"
+
+"It is a ducking-stool for scolds," was the answer. The fellow, feeling
+complimented at being addressed by the celebrated stranger, went on,
+"Well do I remember, good sir, when and for whom the stool was
+constructed."
+
+"For whom was it built?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"It was made for Ann Linkon, who had slandered goodwife Stevens as was,
+but who has, since her husband was drowned at sea, married Hugh Price,
+the royalist and friend of the governor. Oh, how Ann did scold and rave,
+and it was a merry sight to see her plunged beneath the water."
+
+The stranger asked some questions about Ann Linkon and was informed that
+she had died several years before. "But to the last," the narrator
+resumed, "she hated Dorothe Stevens. She rejoiced when poverty assailed
+her, brought on by her own extravagance, after her husband had gone
+away. Then when goodwife Stevens received the fortune from the
+grandfather of her dead husband, the old Spaniard at St. Augustine, she
+again went among the cavaliers and was enabled to marry Hugh Price. It
+is not a happy life she leads now, though, for there is continual
+trouble between the husband and the children, so she is grievously
+harassed in mind continually."
+
+Sir Albert listened as an uninterested person might, then asked some
+questions about Hugh Price and his good wife Dorothe, and the refractory
+children, who were causing so much trouble. He found the Virginian
+voluble and willing to impart all the information he had; but he grew
+heartily tired of the loafer and at last left him.
+
+No one was more interested in the stranger from across the sea than
+Rebecca Stevens. She had not seen him; but she had heard so much of him
+from her brother and others, that her girlish curiosity was aroused. One
+evening, as she was taking her favorite walk about the village, having
+wandered farther than she intended, she found herself in the wood above
+the town, near the old building, which Captain John Smith had called the
+glass-house. She turned and began at once retracing her steps, for
+already the sun had set, and the shades of night were gathering over the
+landscape. She was in sight of the church, when a short, fat little man
+suddenly met her. He was out of breath, as if he had been running. In
+the gathering twilight she recognized him as her persecutor.
+
+"Ah! Miss Stevens, this is truly extraordinary. Believe me, this meeting
+is quite providential, for it enables me to pour into your ear my
+tale of love."
+
+"Mr. Peram, begone, leave me!"
+
+"Oh, no, my dear, I will never let you go until you have consented to
+take my name."
+
+In his zeal, the ungentlemanly wooer seized her hand, and his vicious
+little eyes glared at her with such ferocity, that she gave utterance to
+a shriek of fear. The tread of hurried feet fell on her ears, and
+through the deepening shades of twilight, she caught a glimpse of a
+scarlet coat, long white hair and beard and flashing jewels. Hands of
+iron seized Giles Peram. He was lifted into the air as if he had been an
+infant, and flung head first into a cluster of white thorn, where he lay
+for a few moments, confused and bleeding. Then Sir Albert St. Croix
+raised the half-fainting Rebecca from the ground and said:
+
+"Come, my child, be not affrighted; he will not harm you."
+
+She gazed up at the kind face and asked:
+
+"Are you the owner of the ship _Despair_?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Albert," she began; but he quickly interrupted her with:
+
+"Thank not me, sweet child; but come, tell me what hath gone amiss, and
+have no fear, for I am powerful enough to save you from any harm."
+
+While the villanous little coward Giles Peram crawled from the hedge and
+hurried back to town, the old man led the victim of his insults to the
+church, where they sat upon the step at the front of the vestibule. She
+had no fear of this good old man, whom she instinctively loved, and who
+seemed to wield over her a strange and mysterious influence. He asked
+her all about her tormentor, and she confided everything to him. She
+told him of the loss of her father at sea, and how they had lived
+through adversity until better days dawned, then of her mother's second
+marriage, and the trouble between her brother and Hugh Price. She did
+not even omit the recent uprising in which her brother had joined Bacon
+and the rebels in a mad blow for freedom.
+
+"The worst has not yet come, I greatly fear," sighed the little maid.
+"The rebellion is not over, and my brother will yet, I fear, be hung by
+the governor, for Mr. Price, his bitter enemy, is a firm friend of the
+governor."
+
+"He shall not be harmed, sweet maid. I have a great ship, with larger
+and more destructive guns than were ever in Virginia. I have a crew
+loyal even unto death, and I could bombard and destroy their town, ere
+they harm either your brother, yourself or your mother."
+
+He looked so earnest, so like a good angel of deliverance, that the
+impulsive Rebecca threw her arms about his neck, and he, pressing a kiss
+upon her fair young cheek, exclaimed:
+
+"God bless you! There, I must go."
+
+He conducted her home, went aboard his ship, and next morning the
+mysterious craft had disappeared from the harbor.
+
+There were too many exciting incidents transpiring at Jamestown for the
+public to dwell long on the stranger. The same day on which the ship
+disappeared, the rumor ran about town:
+
+"Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled!"
+
+The rumor was a truth. Robert Stevens had gone with him, and although
+Mr. Lawrence explained that Bacon's wife was ill, and he had gone to
+visit her, yet Berkeley, ever suspicious, construed his sudden breaking
+of his parole into open hostility, and prepared to treat it accordingly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+BACON A REBEL.
+
+     "Hark! 'tis the sound that charms
+     The war-steed's wakening ears.
+     Oh! many a mother folds her arms
+     Round her boy-soldier, when that call she hears,
+     And though her fond heart sink with fears,
+     Is proud to feel his young pulse bound
+     With valor's fervor at the sound."
+                                             --MOORE.
+
+The day after the mysterious disappearance of the ship _Despair_ and the
+flight of Bacon, a ship from New England arrived in port. Bacon's flight
+and the disappearance of Sir Albert and his vessel were so nearly at the
+same time, that a rumor went around the town that the former had escaped
+in the vessel of the latter. This rumor however was soon dispelled on
+learning that Bacon was at Curles rallying the planters about him.
+
+The vessel which had just come into port aroused new speculations, until
+it was learned that it was only a trading ship from Boston doing a
+little business in defiance of the navigation laws. The vessel brought
+only one passenger. That passenger was a beautiful young maid.
+
+She was landed soon after the vessel cast anchor, and her first inquiry
+was for Rebecca Stevens:
+
+"Is she a relative of yours, young maid?" asked the man of whom she
+inquired.
+
+"No; I know of her, and would see her."
+
+"Do you see the large brick house upon the hill--not the one on the left
+of the church, but to the right with the broad piazza and wires
+in front?"
+
+"I see it."
+
+"She lives there. It is the home of Hugh Price, who married her mother."
+
+The sailors brought some baggage ashore which was carried to a warehouse
+to remain until the fair traveller should send for it, and pay the costs
+of transfer.
+
+"Do you travel alone, young maid?" asked the man whom she had addressed.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Where is your mother?"
+
+"Dead," she answered sadly,
+
+"Then you are an orphan?"
+
+"I am. War is raging with the Indians in New England, and I was not safe
+there, so I came to Virginia."
+
+She thanked the man who had so kindly directed her, and went to the
+house of Hugh Price. This house, next to the home of Governor Berkeley,
+was the most elegant mansion in Virginia. On the front door was a large
+brass knocker, common at the time, and, seizing it, the young girl
+struck the door. It was opened by a negro woman whose red turban and
+rich dress indicated that she was the household servant of an
+aristocratic family. The stranger asked for Rebecca Stevens, and was
+shown to her room. Rebecca was astonished to see the pretty stranger;
+but before she could ask who she was, the maid said:
+
+"I am Ester Goffe from Massachusetts. The war with the Indians rages
+sorely in that land, and my friends and relatives sent me here."
+
+"Ester--Ester Goffe," stammered Rebecca. "Then you are my brother's
+affianced."
+
+"I am."
+
+In a moment the girls were clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
+tears of joy and grief. Then Rebecca held her at arm's length and,
+gazing on the beautiful face and soft brown eyes, said:
+
+"I don't blame Robert. How could he help loving you?" and once more she
+clasped her in her arms.
+
+"Where is he--where is Robert?"
+
+Rebecca started at the question, and an expression of pain swept over
+her face, which alarmed Ester.
+
+"Alas, he is gone. He hath fled with Bacon, and I fear that you have
+escaped from one calamity only to fall into another." Then she explained
+the distracted condition of the country, concluding with:
+
+"You must not be known here as Ester Goffe. Were it known by Sir William
+Berkeley, or even my mother's husband, that the child of a regicide was
+here, I know not what the result would be; but, alas, I fear it would be
+your ruin."
+
+"But can I see him?" asked Ester.
+
+"Who, Sir William Berkeley or Mr. Hugh Price?"
+
+"Robert."
+
+A pallor overspread the sister's face at this request, and she answered
+that she knew not how they could communicate with him.
+
+"Have you no faithful servant?"
+
+There was old black Sam who had always been faithful. Usually the
+negroes were cunning as well as treacherous, for, having been but
+recently brought from Africa, they had much of the heathen still in
+their natures; but old black Sam had been faithful to the brother
+through all trying scenes and adversities, and, though he dared not
+"cross Master Price," he secretly aided Rebecca in many small schemes
+objectionable to the stepfather. Sam was summoned, and Rebecca asked:
+
+"Sam, could you find my brother?"
+
+"I doan know, misse; but I believe old black Sam could."
+
+"Would you take a small bit of writing to him?"
+
+"If misse want um to go, ole black Sam, him try. De bay boss, him go
+fast, an' black Sam, him go on um back."
+
+Rebecca hastily wrote on a slip of paper:
+
+DEAR BROTHER;--
+
+Ester is at our house and would like to see you. Do not come unless you
+can do so safely, for Sir William Berkeley is furious.
+
+Your sister,
+
+REBECCA.
+
+Meanwhile, the fiery General Bacon was not at Curles nursing his sick
+wife, as was reported (and who was not sick at all); but he, in company
+with Robert Stevens, was riding to and fro, at the heads of the rivers,
+sounding the slogan. At the word from Bacon, his friends rose in arms,
+and among them were a part of the eight thousand horse which Berkeley
+had reported in the colony. The people had borne enough of Berkeley's
+tyranny, and the masses sided with Bacon. Even those who did not take up
+arms in his defence were friendly to his interests. The clans were
+gathering. They hastened from plantation and hundred, from lowland
+manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland, well-armed
+housekeepers, booted and spurred, armed with good broadswords and fusils
+for the wars that were plainly coming. Bacon in a little while had
+collected a force of nearly six hundred men. In fact, it was not more
+than three or four days after his escape, before, at the head of this
+force, he was marching on Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester
+for the train-bands; but only about one hundred soldiers could be
+mustered, and before these could reach Jamestown, Bacon entered it at
+the head of his army, and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his
+troops, horse and foot, upon the green, not an arrow's flight from the
+end of the statehouse. All the streets and roads leading into the town
+were guarded, the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the
+harbor seized.
+
+Jamestown was thrown into confusion. Sir William Berkeley and his
+council were holding a council of war, when the roll of drums and blast
+of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city.
+
+The house of burgesses was called to order, though little order was
+preserved on that day, when a collision between law and rebellion seemed
+inevitable. Between two files of infantry Bacon advanced to the corner
+of the statehouse, and the governor came out. Bacon, who had perfect
+control over himself, advanced toward him. Berkeley was in a rage.
+Walking straight toward Bacon, he tore open the lace at his bosom
+and cried:
+
+"Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark!"
+
+Bacon curbed his rising anger and replied:
+
+"No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor
+of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from
+the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it
+before we go."
+
+Without a word in response, the governor and council wheeled about and
+returned to their chamber, and Bacon followed them, his left arm akimbo,
+his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. As they made him no answer,
+Bacon became furious and tossed his arms about excitedly, while the
+fusileers covered the window of the assembly chamber with their guns,
+and continually yelled:
+
+"We will have it! We will have it!" (Meaning the commission.)
+
+One of Bacon's friends among the burgesses shook his handkerchief from
+the window and answered:
+
+"You shall have it! You shall have it!"
+
+The soldiers at this uncocked their guns and waited further orders from
+Bacon. Their leader had dashed into the council chamber swearing:
+
+"D--n my blood! I'll kill governor, council, assembly and all, and then
+I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood!"
+
+The wildest excitement prevailed in the town. Everybody was on the
+street, and the massacre of the governor and his council was momentarily
+expected. Two young girls ran toward an officer in the army of the
+rebel. One of Bacon's young captains met them and clasped an arm about
+each. It was Ester and Rebecca meeting the brother and lover. The
+excitement was too great for many to bestow more than a passing glance
+on the trio. There was a murmured prayer by all three, and they
+were silent.
+
+A scene so ridiculous as to excite the laughter of many followed the
+assault on the statehouse. A sleek, plump little fellow, frightened out
+of his wits, was seen trying to climb out of a window on the opposite
+side from which danger was threatened. He got out and clung to the
+window with his hands, his short, fat legs dangling in the air and
+kicking against the wall.
+
+"Marry! help me! Mother of God, I will be killed if I fall, and shot if
+I don't!"
+
+It was Giles Peram, whose legs were six feet from the ground. He howled
+and yelled; but all were too busy to pay any attention to him, and at
+last his strength gave out, and he fell with a stunning thud upon the
+ground, where he lay gasping for breath, partially unconscious, but with
+no bones broken.
+
+After half an hour's interview, Bacon returned. The burgesses hesitated;
+but the governor held out some promises for next day. Giles Peram,
+having regained his strength and breath, sprang to his feet and ran as
+fast as his short legs could carry him to the far end of the street to
+escape from the town; but half a dozen mounted Virginians with
+broadswords blocked up his passage. He next ran to the left and was met
+by men with pikes, one of whom prodded him so that he yelled and ran
+under some ornamental shrubs, beneath which a pair of frightened dogs
+had taken shelter. A fight for possession followed, and for a while it
+was doubtful; but Giles, inspired by fear, fought with the desperation
+of a madman and drove the dogs forth. With his scarlet coat and his silk
+stockings soiled, his wig lost and lace and ruffles all torn and ruined,
+he crouched under the shrubs, groaning:
+
+"Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I will be killed! I know I will be killed!" The
+governor's valiant secretary presented a deplorable sight, indeed.
+
+Next day Bacon was commissioned by the governor as general and
+commander-in-chief of the forces against the Indians. It was a great
+triumph for the young republican. Berkeley even wrote a letter to the
+king applauding what Bacon had done on the frontier.
+
+Robert Stevens paid his mother, sister and sweetheart a visit. Not
+having received Rebecca's letter, he was ignorant of Ester's presence in
+Virginia, until he discovered her, as they were drawn up for battle.
+Many hoped that trouble was over; but Robert said:
+
+"It is not. I know Berkeley too well. He is a cunning old knave, and as
+soon as he has recovered from the fright into which the appearance of an
+armed force precipitated him, he will relent and do something terrible."
+
+"Brother, do not place yourself in his power," said his sister.
+
+"Fear not, sweet sister, I shall have a care for myself. Where is Mr.
+Price?"
+
+"At the governor's."
+
+"Does he know that Ester is General Goffe's daughter?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He must not. He would report it to the governor, who, in his idiotic
+love for monarchy, would adjudge her responsible for a deed committed
+before she was born."
+
+"We will keep the secret, brother."
+
+"When do you go?" asked Ester.
+
+"The army marches against the Indians on the morrow." He was about to
+say something more, when they espied Mr. Giles Peram coming toward them.
+His face was smiling, though there were a few scratches upon it.
+
+"Marry! friend Robert, good morrow! Did you learn of my great speech in
+the house of burgesses yesterday, when they were about to refuse your
+general his commission?"
+
+"I knew not that you were a member of the house."
+
+Peram, blushing, answered:
+
+"Nor am I; but I forced myself, at the peril of my life, into their
+presence, and I swore--yes, God forgive me, but I swore if they did not
+give the commission, I would annihilate them, and, by the mass, they
+were afraid of me, and they granted it." With this the diminutive
+egotist strutted proudly before his auditors.
+
+Black Sam, who had overheard his remark, with his native impetuosity put
+in:
+
+"'Fore God, massa, what a lie! Why, he war all de time under de thorn
+bushes fighten wid de dogs fur a hiden-place."
+
+Giles gave utterance to an exclamation of rage and flew at the negro
+with upraised cane; but black Sam evaded his blow and, with a laugh, ran
+into the kitchen, yelling back: "It am so. Jist see dem scratches on
+him face."
+
+Quite crestfallen, Mr. Peram retired, and for several days did not
+annoy Rebecca with his presence.
+
+Next morning Bacon started on his campaign against the Indians. The
+burgesses were then dissolved and went back to their homes. The fact
+that that body sat in June, 1676, and in the same month instructed the
+Virginia delegates to propose independence of England, has been a theme
+of much discussion among historians.
+
+Bacon, at the head of his army, duly commissioned, was marching against
+the Indians. All things in Virginia were virtually under his control as
+commander of the military. Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, ex-governor of
+Carolinia, though they were his friends, remained in Jamestown to look
+after his interests there. Drummond declared he was "in over-shoes, and
+he would be over-boots." Had Bacon been uninterrupted, there can be no
+doubt that his power on the Indians would have been felt; but Berkeley
+began to relent that he had ever commissioned him, and issued a
+proclamation declaring him a rebel and revoking his commission. The news
+was brought to Bacon while on the upper waters, by Lawrence and
+Drummond. When he heard it, the general declared:
+
+"It vexes my heart for to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers
+and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, I and those
+with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or no less
+ravenous beast."
+
+Bacon began his march back to the lower waters. On the way, they
+captured a spy sent by Berkeley to their camp and hung him. Bacon went
+to the Middle Plantation, afterward Williamsburg, and camped.
+
+Berkeley, hearing of the return of Bacon's army, which was not
+disbanded, hastened to Accomac for recruits, and Drummond urged Bacon to
+depose Berkeley, and appoint Sir Henry Chicheley in his place. When the
+leader of the rebellion murmured against this, the Scotchman answered:
+
+"Do not make so strange of it, for I can show you ancient records that
+such things have been done in Virginia."
+
+This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
+remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
+manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
+Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
+his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
+were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
+grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
+poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
+have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, "What arts,
+sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
+now in authority?"
+
+The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
+his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
+forgotten.
+
+Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
+captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
+followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
+Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
+of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
+retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
+years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
+The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
+was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
+raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
+if forces came from England they would oppose them.
+
+The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
+writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
+September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
+of the council.
+
+This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
+mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
+torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
+Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.
+
+"Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
+of the world," they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
+conspirator, exclaimed:
+
+"The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
+will come by the rising of the country." And when a person by her side
+said, "We must expect a greater power from England, that will certainly
+be our ruin," Drummond's wife took up a stick, broke it in two and cried
+disdainfully:
+
+"I fear the power of England no more than a broken straw! We will do
+well enough."
+
+The women took great interest in public affairs at this time. The wife
+of Cheeseman urged him to join Bacon and fight for their liberties,
+which he did, as she afterward declared, at her own request. The whole
+country was with Bacon, and, after instructing them to resist any force
+that might come from England, he crossed James River at Curles with a
+force of three hundred men, and fell upon the Appomattox Indians at what
+is now Petersburg, with such fury that he killed or routed the entire
+tribe. Bacon fought so viciously, that his name was a dread to the
+savages fifty years after his death. For one without training, he
+displayed wonderful military ability. Having completely routed all the
+Indians, early in September Bacon with his army returned to the
+settlements, and had reached West Point when he received news that Sir
+William Berkeley, with a thousand men and seventeen ships, was in
+possession of Jamestown.
+
+Berkeley had not all gloom and disaster on his side. Captain Bland, who
+had been sent by Bacon with a considerable force to capture Berkeley,
+was led into a trap and captured by Captain Larramore. Shortly after,
+the governor returned to Jamestown with a large number of longshoremen
+and loafers, great enough in quantity, but inferior as soldiers
+in quality.
+
+While Jamestown was deserted by both belligerent parties, and its
+frightened inhabitants were waiting in feverish anxiety the next event
+in the great drama, there suddenly appeared in the harbor the wonderful
+vessel _Despair_. The ship entered in the night as mysteriously as it
+had disappeared, and again the white-haired Sir Albert was seen on the
+streets of Jamestown. He met Rebecca the day of his arrival, and
+she said:
+
+"I feared you had gone, never to come back."
+
+"Did you want to see me again, child?" he asked, in such a fatherly
+voice, that she could scarce resist the impulse to embrace him.
+
+"I did, Sir Albert, for I remembered your promise, and I depend on you."
+
+"The war rages again?"
+
+"It does, and I fear for my brother. Sir William is coming with a
+thousand men."
+
+"If the worst comes, sweet maid, I will take you aboard my ship."
+
+"But my brother--oh, my brother!"
+
+"He, also, will be safe."
+
+"Would you take us all, and Ester, too?"
+
+"Who is Ester?"
+
+She told him all, for she felt that in this mysterious man she had a
+friend on whom she could rely. When she had finished, Sir Albert shook
+his snowy locks and remarked:
+
+"You would do well to keep this from the ears of Sir William, sweet
+maid."
+
+Then he went away into the forest. That evening, as he sat at the
+roadside, not far from Jamestown, the wife of Hugh Price, who had been
+to Greenspring, was returning home on her favorite saddle-horse. The
+animal became frightened at some object by the roadside, and leaped
+madly forward. The saddle turned and the woman would have fallen had not
+Sir Albert rushed to her rescue.
+
+He lifted her from the saddle, and, while the horse dashed madly away,
+seated the rider safely at the roadside.
+
+"Are you injured?" he asked the half-fainting woman.
+
+"No."
+
+"You are fortunate to escape so narrowly, madam. Do you live at
+Jamestown?"
+
+"I do, sir. You are Sir Albert of the _Despair_, are you not?" asked
+Dorothe Price.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I have often heard of you. I thank you for your kind service, sir."
+
+"Shall I see you home?"
+
+"If not too much trouble."
+
+As they walked along the road, he asked:
+
+"Are you Mrs. Price?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Mr. Hugh Price is your second husband?"
+
+"He is."
+
+"When did your first husband die?"
+
+"Many years ago. He was lost at sea."
+
+"Did he leave two children?"
+
+"Yes, sir, two," she sighed, and the white-haired stranger; glancing at
+her face, asked:
+
+"Was he a good man?"
+
+"Good man! Oh, sir, he was an angel of goodness; but, alas, I never
+appreciated him, until he was gone. I oft recall that fatal morning when
+he bade me farewell, when he kissed the baby and left a tear on her
+cheek. I was happy then!" Tears were now trickling down her cheeks.
+
+"Are you happy now?"
+
+"Alas, no. I am miserable."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My husband is an enemy to my son. Price is a royalist while Robert is a
+Puritan and a republican."
+
+"Is your son with Bacon?"
+
+"He is, and Sir William would hang Robert if he could."
+
+"He shall not hang him."
+
+"If he captures him, who will prevent it?"
+
+"I will." They parted at the door, and as the old man went down to his
+boat, she gazed after him, murmuring:
+
+"Heaven surely hath sent us a protector at last."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+BURNING OF JAMESTOWN.
+
+     "At every turn, Morena's dusky height
+     Sustains aloft the battery's iron load,
+     And, far as mortal eye can compass sight,
+     The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,
+     The bristling palisade, the foss o'erflowed,
+     The stationed band, the never-vacant watch,
+     The magazine in rocky durance stand,
+     The holster'd steed beneath the shed of thatch,
+     The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match."
+                                              --BYRON.
+
+Sir William Berkeley, with the motley crowd of sailors, longshoremen,
+freed slaves, and such as he could collect, sailed for Jamestown and
+reached it safely September 7th, 1676. The news of his approach reached
+Jamestown long before he did, and Colonel Hansford, one of Bacon's
+youngest and bravest officers, with eight hundred men prepared to
+resist. A terrible conflict was anticipated, and Sir Albert, on the
+morning of the expected fight, landed and took Mrs. Price, her daughter
+and Ester Goffe on board his ship, and dropped down the river a mile or
+two, to be out of harm's way. These were the first people who had been
+aboard the wonderful ship _Despair_.
+
+Rebecca was charmed and entranced at the display of wealth and splendor
+on board the vessel. The elegance was marvellous.
+
+"You must be very rich," she said to Sir Albert.
+
+"This represents but a small part of my possessions."
+
+"I would I were your heiress."
+
+"You may be, sweet maid. I have no nearer relative to inherit the
+millions which are burdensome to me."
+
+"Have you no wife--no children?"
+
+He shook his head, looked so sad, and turned away with such a deep drawn
+sigh, that she could not bear to ask him more.
+
+Berkeley appeared that evening before Jamestown and summoned the rebels
+to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Lawrence and Drummond, who
+were then in the town. Hansford refused; but, on the advice of his
+friends, they all left the town that night. At noon next day Berkeley
+landed on the island and, kneeling, thanked God for his safe arrival.
+Only a very few people were found in the town, and Lawrence and Drummond
+were gone. Mr. Lawrence fled so precipitately that he left his house
+with all its effects to fall into the hands of the enemy.
+
+Drummond and the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence hastened to find Bacon, who
+was at West Point at the head of the York River.
+
+Bacon acted with an energy and rapidity that would have done Napoleon or
+Cromwell credit. With his faithful body guard, among whom were Robert
+Stevens, Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence, he set out for Jamestown.
+Carriers, sent in every direction, summoned the Baconites to join him,
+so that his small band increased so rapidly, that when he reached
+Jamestown he had a force of several hundred.
+
+The governor prepared to receive the rebels. He threw up a strong
+earth-work, and a palisade had been erected across the neck of the
+island. Bacon, on reaching Jamestown, rode forward to reconnoitre it. He
+then ordered his trumpeters to sound the battle cry, and a volley was
+fired into the town; but no response came back.
+
+Bacon made his headquarters at Greenspring, in Governor Berkeley's own
+house, and while Sir William dined at the board of the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence, the rebel fed at the table of the governor. Resolving on a
+siege, Bacon threw up earth-works about the town in front of the
+palisades. Berkeley's riflemen so annoyed the men at work, that Bacon
+had recourse to a strange device to protect them. He sent a detachment
+of horse into the surrounding country, captured and brought to camp the
+wives of all the prominent gentlemen who fought with Berkeley. Perhaps
+Mrs. Price only escaped by being on board the ship _Despair_. Madame
+Bray, Madame Page, Madame Ballard and Madame Bacon, the wife of Bacon's
+cousin, were among the number. These women were placed before the
+workmen in the trenches to protect them from the bullets of Berkeley.
+
+"Have no apprehensions from us, good-wives," said Bacon. "We shall not
+harm a hair of your head. If your husbands shoot you we are not
+to blame."
+
+Bacon has been censured for this ungallant strategy; but it worked well
+and saved his workmen from further annoyance. He sent one of the
+good-wives into the town under a flag of truce to inform her own and the
+others' husbands, that he meant to place them "in the forefront of his
+workmen," during the construction of the earth-works, and if they fired
+on them, the good-wives would suffer.
+
+No attack was made on Bacon until the earth-works were completed, and
+then the women were sent to their homes during the night. Next morning
+at early dawn, Berkeley sounded his battle-cry, and his men mustered at
+the roll of the drum. Bacon was on the alert. His eagle eye glanced
+along his earth-works and the gallant men enrolled under him.
+
+"They are coming! They are coming with their whole force!" he shouted,
+as he stood on the ramparts, his sword in his hand and his eye flashing
+with the glorious light of battle. Matches were burning, the cocks of
+the fusees raised, and the Virginians stood cool and undaunted.
+
+There came a puff of smoke from the palisades at Jamestown, a heavy
+report of a cannon, and an iron ball struck the earth-work.
+
+"Come down, general!" cried the thoughtful Mr. Lawrence. "You endanger
+your life up there."
+
+Bacon paid no heed to the warning. He was watching the manoeuvres of the
+enemy, about eight hundred strong, who were about to assault him. Robert
+Stevens sprang to his side, and both smiled at the lack of courage and
+discipline which Berkeley's longshoremen displayed. Giles Peram, at the
+head of the company, marched forth. He wore a tall hat with a feather in
+it, and strutted about, until his eye caught sight of the enemy, when he
+wheeled about as quickly as if he were on springs and bounded away
+toward Jamestown, yelling loud enough to be heard in Bacon's camp:
+
+"Oh, I will be killed! I will be killed!"
+
+A shot was fired from Jamestown, and Giles, believing himself struck,
+fell on the ground and rolled over and kicked, producing such a
+ridiculous scene, that Robert and Bacon laughed outright. Berkeley,
+himself, headed the army, with which he intended to storm the
+earth-works, and, after some little difficulty, he got his forces
+formed, and the advance began.
+
+"Don't fire, until I give you the command," said Bacon, coolly. "We will
+soon disperse this motley crowd, have no fear."
+
+He and Robert were prevailed upon to descend from the ramparts, and all
+awaited the arrival of the enemy. They came slowly, doing plenty of
+yelling, and firing their fusees at random. The bullets either buried
+themselves in the earth-works, or whistled harmlessly through the air.
+Not one of Bacon's men was touched.
+
+Nearer and nearer they came, until within easy pistol range, when Bacon
+cried:
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Pistol, musket and cannon belched forth fire and death, while a cloud of
+smoke rolled up above the fort. One volley had done the work. Alas! the
+motley crowd from Accomac were no fit adversaries for those stern
+backwoodsmen. Berkeley's recruits had come over to plunder, and, finding
+lead and bullets instead of gold and treasure, they fled with light
+heels to Jamestown, leaving a dozen of their number stretched on the
+ground as the only proof that they had fought at all.
+
+Bacon now opened a cannonade in earnest on the town. The first ball that
+came screaming over the town to crash into the house which was the
+governor's headquarters was answered by a wild yell of fear, and the
+boastful Mr. Peram might have been seen flying as fast as his short legs
+would carry him to another part of the fortification. Another boom, and
+a shot struck the ground ten paces from him, and he wheeled about and
+ran, until a third shot struck a house before him. Then he ran to the
+church and crawled under it, where he lay until night.
+
+Berkeley realized that he was in no condition to resist Bacon with such
+a set of knaves as he had for soldiers.
+
+"We cannot long hold out, Mr. Price," he said as the sun was setting.
+
+"No, Sir William, we must evacuate the city this very night."
+
+"I believe it. Where is that coward Giles Peram?"
+
+"He hath taken refuge under the church."
+
+"Drag him hence. Robert Stevens is among the rebels, and the fool will
+fare hard if he falls into his hands."
+
+A few moments later the wretched, trembling Giles was brought before
+the governor. His scarlet coat, lace and ruffles were torn and
+disordered. He was reprimanded for his cowardice, and the army at once
+began to evacuate. When day dawned Berkeley was gone and Bacon entered
+the town. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Cheeseman went to
+their homes.
+
+The ship _Despair_, which had been near enough to witness the scene, now
+bore down nearer to the town. Boats were lowered and the three women set
+on shore. Robert greeted his mother, his affianced and his sister with
+the most ardent affection. He had suffered much uneasiness about them,
+not knowing where they were, and he was overjoyed to see them.
+
+That evening, while Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Drummond and Mr. Cheeseman were
+holding a council at the house of the former, the door suddenly opened
+and a tall white-haired stranger entered. Each started to his feet at
+the appearance of this apparition and seized pistols and swords.
+
+"Never fear, friends; I came not to harm you," said Sir Albert, in his
+mild, gentle, but stern voice.
+
+"You intrude--you disturb us!" cried Cheeseman. "We want no spy on our
+deliberations."
+
+"Verily, my good man, you speak truly. These are deliberations at which
+there must be no spy. Let no whispering tongue breathe aught of
+this meeting."
+
+His words were so strange, that they stood amazed, gazing at him in
+wonder. Drummond at last gasped:
+
+"'Fore God, who are you?"
+
+"A man like you," was the answer; "a man no older, yet whom sorrow hath
+crushed and bowed with premature age; a man with a heart to feel and a
+brain to think; a man who would willingly exchange places with you,
+though you stand within the shadow of a scaffold; a man, whose heart--O
+God!--must speak, or it will break; a friend who loves you, who never
+wronged any one, but has been made the puppet of outrageous fortune; a
+man who has more wealth than all Virginia, and yet is poorer than the
+lowest beggar; a man born to misfortune; a child of sorrow and of tears;
+one who never loved, but to see the object of his affections blighted or
+stolen; a man to whom dungeons, chains, slavery, death, hell itself
+would be heaven compared to what he hath endured; such a poor wretch, my
+friends, is now before you."
+
+He could say no more, but, sinking upon a chair, buried his face in his
+hands and burst into tears. The three friends gazed at him for several
+seconds in astonishment; then they looked at each other for some
+solution to this mystery.
+
+"What meaneth this?" Drummond asked when he regained his voice. "Surely
+I have heard that voice before. It takes me back, back into the past,
+many years ago, when we were all young."
+
+Before any one could say a word, Sir Albert started up, laid aside his
+cocked hat and, brushing back his long snow-white hair from his massive
+brow, said:
+
+"Drummond, Lawrence, Cheeseman, friends of my youth, look on this face
+and, in God's name, tell me you recognize one familiar feature left by
+the hand of misfortune."
+
+The three looked,--started to their feet, and Drummond cried:
+
+"God in heaven! hath the sea given up its dead? _It is John Stevens_!"
+
+"It is John Stevens, alive and in the flesh," he quickly answered. At
+first they could hardly believe him, until he briefly told them the
+story of his shipwreck and wonderful adventures on the island, of the
+treasures untold thrown into his hands, and finally of a ship, in search
+of water, putting into his poor harbor. After no little trouble he got
+his treasure aboard this vessel without the crew suspecting what it was
+and sailed to Europe. His vast wealth had procured all else--ship,
+faithful men, the king's favor and all needful to his plans.
+
+"Then I sailed for Virginia to meet sorrow, good friends, and live a
+living death," he concluded.
+
+"Did you know of her marriage before your arrival?"
+
+"Yes, I was told in London by a Virginian of whom I made some inquiry. I
+could not believe it at first, for Dorothe always condemned second
+marriages, and oft, when ailing, predicted that I would wed when she
+died, and bring a second mother over her children."
+
+Drummond struck his fist upon the table vehemently, answering:
+
+"'Fore God, it is always thus with the howling wenches! That which they
+most disclaim will they do. She hath not waited until her husband was
+dead, but hath married--"
+
+"Drummond, hold your peace; she is the mother of my children and was
+true to me while my wife. Unless you would lose my friendship, speak not
+against the woman whom I still love," and John Stevens buried his white
+head in his hands and trembled as if in an ague fit.
+
+"Forgive me, my friend; forgive me; I was hasty," said Drummond. "I have
+naught to say against the woman who was and still is your wife. Verily,
+she hath had her punishment,--and the poor children, how they have
+suffered."
+
+"I know all," John sobbed.
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Alas, I know not."
+
+"Why not declare yourself to the world and claim your wife?"
+
+"What! Illegalize the marriage and make an adulteress of my wife? No,
+never! I pray you, my friends, pledge me on your oaths as gentlemen
+never to reveal my identity, while she or I shall live."
+
+Drummond, who was impetuous and hated Hugh Price, cried:
+
+"And will you leave her to him?"
+
+"Yes," was the low, meek answer.
+
+"Will you not seek revenge?"
+
+"'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'"
+
+Drummond was choking with fury and amazement. After a moment he regained
+control over himself, and gasped:
+
+"Heavens! can God permit such injustice? And you will surrender her to
+him?"
+
+"They believe themselves lawfully married. She hath committed no crime
+in the sight of heaven."
+
+"But wherefore not tear her from his arms and fly to some foreign land?"
+
+"Nay, my friend, we have two children, a son and daughter, for whose
+peace we must have a care. Dare I for their sakes declare who I am?"
+
+Drummond was eager to put a bullet into the brain of Price; but John
+Stevens was a man of peace and not of blood. His days were few on earth;
+his race was almost run, and the prime and vigor of his manhood had been
+wasted on a desert island. His only desire was to hover unknown about
+those he loved, that they might not want or suffer while he lived, and
+he had already arranged his fortune so it would descend to Robert and
+Rebecca when he died.
+
+"Yet I must live unknown, my friends. Swear to keep my secret."
+
+They swore on their honor, and the miserable old man, whose fine apparel
+was only a disguise, rose and left them. The three friends were sitting
+looking at each other in speechless amazement, when the door again burst
+open, and the impetuous Bacon, accompanied by Robert Stevens, entered.
+
+"Why sit you here?" cried the general. "Have you not heard the news?"
+
+"No; what is it?"
+
+"Berkeley hath been reinforced, they say, by troops from England, and is
+coming upon the town."
+
+Drummond, Cheeseman and Lawrence were on their feet in a moment, their
+faces evincing alarm. No one doubted the truth of the story, and they
+began to hurriedly discuss the situation.
+
+"Are we able to defend Jamestown against them?" asked the thoughtful Mr.
+Lawrence.
+
+"No," answered Bacon.
+
+"Then we must abandon it."
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF JAMESTOWN]
+
+"They shall not find the town when they come," cried Bacon. "D--n my
+blood! I will burn Jamestown, and not a stone shall be left standing
+upon another. Burn it, yes burn it, so that three centuries hence naught
+but its ashes and ruins will mark where it stands to-day!"
+
+What Bacon ordered in the heat of passion was indorsed by sober reason,
+and it was resolved to burn the town.
+
+"But your own house, Mr. Drummond, will have to be burned," cried
+Robert.
+
+"I will fire it with my own hand. It will be the first that burns,"
+answered Drummond. Immediately the news spread that the town had been
+doomed. The troops were assembled in the streets, and the people
+summoned to vacate their houses. There were wailings and shrieks that
+night. Robert ran to his home and told his mother, what was to be done.
+She came weeping into the street and asked:
+
+"What will become of us, my son? Whither shall we fly? We are three
+helpless women without a roof to protect us."
+
+"Until this storm hath blown away, let my ship be your home," said a
+deep, sad voice at her side, and, turning about, she beheld Sir Albert
+St. Croix, the man who had so strangely impressed her.
+
+"Mother, go, take Ester and sister and go aboard the _Despair_," cried
+Robert. Then, turning to the strange old man, he seized his hand and
+continued, "Kind sir, you look the soul of honor. Will you care for them
+until this hour has passed?"
+
+Sir Albert's breast heaved a moment like the tumultuous storm; then he
+answered:
+
+"I will, I swear by the God we all worship!"
+
+Robert hastily gathered up some personal effects and precious family
+relics, and carried them aboard the ship with his mother, Ester and
+Rebecca. On his return, he saw a bright flame dart up from the corner of
+Drummond's house and heard that gentleman say:
+
+"Farewell, dear home! Better perish thus than be a harbor for tyrants."
+
+Drummond had fired his own house. Mr. Lawrence did the same. The street
+was now filled with weeping and shrieking women and children and piles
+of household goods. A moment later, and Robert saw the burning flames
+leaping up about the home of his childhood--the house his father had
+erected. They leaped and crackled angrily and licked the roof with their
+hot, thirsty tongues, and he turned away his head. An hour later
+Jamestown was no more. It has never been rebuilt, and only the ruins of
+the old church mark the spot where once it stood.
+
+Bacon and his army retreated up the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+VENGEANCE WITH A VENGEANCE.
+
+     The longer life, the more offence;
+       The more offence, the greater pain;
+     The greater pain, the less defence;
+       The less defence, the greater gain:
+     The loss of gain long ill doth try,
+       Wherefore, come death and let me die.
+                                           --WYAT.
+
+Bacon still tarried at the Greenspring manor-house after the destruction
+of Jamestown, till a messenger came with the alarming intelligence that
+a strong force of royalists was advancing from the Potomac.
+
+With his little army of dauntless patriots, he marched to face this new
+danger, for there was little more to fear from Sir William Berkeley, who
+remained at the kingdom of Accomac, and who would only find smoking
+ruins at Jamestown.
+
+"You do not look well," said Robert to the patriot at whose side he
+rode. "Your cheek is flushed, and I believe you have a fever."
+
+Bacon, who had contracted a disease in the trenches about Jamestown,
+was very irritable. His excitable nature took fire at the slightest
+provocation; but with Robert he was ever reasonable.
+
+"I shall be better soon," he answered. "When once we have met these
+devils and had this fight over with, I will be well; but I shall free
+Virginia, or die in the effort."
+
+"Have a care for your health."
+
+"I shall live to see the tyrant more humbled than when he fled
+Jamestown."
+
+Bacon was angry and more eager to fight as his illness increased than
+when well. They crossed the lower York in boats at Ferry Point and
+marched into Gloucester, where he made his headquarters at Colonel
+Warner's and issued his "Mandates" to the Gloucester men to meet him at
+the court house and subscribe to the Middle Plantation oath. They
+hesitated; but as Colonel Brent was reported to be advancing at the head
+of a thousand men, Bacon ordered the drums beat, mustered his men, and
+they set out toward the Rappahanock in high spirits.
+
+On that afternoon Bacon was occasionally irritable; at other times he
+became hilarious, and at others stupid. Robert, who rode at his side,
+saw that he was burning with fever, and he was glad that night when
+they camped.
+
+"Spread a tent for the general, for he is sick," said Robert. The men
+could not realize how sick he was. Camp fires blazed. Brent was but a
+few miles away, and his forces were deserting him by scores and coming
+over to Bacon, who was not thought to be dangerously ill. When Robert
+entered his tent at ten that night, he found him sitting up giving some
+directions for the quartering of new troops.
+
+"Are you better, general?" he asked.
+
+"I am very tired. I shall lie down and sleep. I will be over this in the
+morning."
+
+As long as Robert lived, he remembered those words. He knew the general
+was in a raging fever, yet he little thought it would prove fatal. He
+went to his own quarters on that October night and sought repose. It was
+an hour before daylight, when Mr. Drummond and Mr. Lawrence awoke him.
+
+"General Bacon is dead," they said.
+
+"What! dead?" cried Robert.
+
+"Yes, dead and buried. We thought it best to bury him in the forest
+where his enemies could not find him. Brent is crushed; his men have
+deserted him, and all are with us. The general died very suddenly in the
+arms of Major Pate."
+
+It was the purpose of the friends of liberty to keep the death of Bacon
+a secret, and there is some dispute in history as to where and when he
+died. News of this character cannot be suppressed. It came out, and the
+republicans of Virginia began to lose heart from that hour, while the
+royalists' hopes increased.
+
+Another general was elected to fill the place made vacant by Bacon.
+Drummond, Stevens, Cheeseman, or Lawrence might have organized the army
+and led them to victory; but the foolish frontiersmen chose, instead of
+either of these wise men, a grotesque personage named Ingram, who had
+been a rope dancer, and had no more qualifications for so important a
+position than an organ grinder, as the result soon proved. He was unable
+to hold them together. Colonel Hansford, the most daring young officer
+in Bacon's whole army, was captured at the home of his sweetheart, and
+Berkeley, to whom he was taken, decreed that he should be hung.
+
+"Thomas Hansford," cried Berkeley, "I will quickly repay you for your
+part in this rebellion!"
+
+Colonel Hansford answered, "I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a
+soldier and not hanged like a dog."
+
+The governor replied, "You are to die, not as a soldier, but as a
+rebel."
+
+Hansford was a native American and the first white native (say some
+historians) that perished on the gibbet. On coming to the gallows
+he said:
+
+"Take notice, I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country."
+
+Terror-stricken, the followers of Bacon began to desert the new general.
+In a few skirmishes that followed, they were worsted and broke up into
+small bands.
+
+Hugh Price was foremost among the royalists searching for the rebels. He
+hoped to find his wife's son and bring him to the gibbet, for Price
+hated Robert with a hatred that was demoniacal. Giles Peram took
+courage, and mounting a horse, joined the troopers in galloping about
+the country and capturing or shooting the rebels, who, now that their
+spirits were broken, seldom made any resistance.
+
+One day at sunset Hugh Price and Giles Peram suddenly came upon a
+wild-eyed, haggard young man, mounted upon a jaded steed. He had slept
+on the ground, for his uncombed hair had leaves still sticking to it,
+and his clothes were faded, soiled and torn. The evenings were cold, it
+being late in October, and the fugitive was looking about for a place to
+sleep. At a glance, both recognized him as Robert Stevens. They were
+armed with loaded pistols, while Robert, though he had weapons in his
+holsters, was out of powder.
+
+"There he is, Giles; now slay him!" cried the stepfather.
+
+Robert realized his danger, and, with his whip, lashed his horse to a
+run. There came the report of a pistol from behind and a bullet whistled
+above his head.
+
+"Come on, Giles; he is unarmed," cried Mr. Price.
+
+"Oh, are you quite sure?" cried Giles.
+
+"I am sure. He is out of ammunition."
+
+"That is extraordinary, very extraordinary." Mr. Peram, who had been
+lingering behind, with this assurance urged his horse alongside the
+stepfather.
+
+"He is heading for the river!" cried Price.
+
+"Can he cross?"
+
+"No; his horse could scarcely swim it. Try a shot at him."
+
+Giles Peram, who was as cruel as he was cowardly, drew one of his
+pistols, as he galloped along over the grassy plain, and cocked it.
+
+It is no easy matter even for an experienced marksman to hit a running
+object from the back of a flying horse. Giles, after leaning first to
+one side, then to the other, and squinting along the barrel of his
+pistol, shut both eyes and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared
+away Robert was seen sitting bolt upright in his saddle.
+
+"He heads for the river. By the mass, I believe he is going to plunge
+into it!" cried Price.
+
+The river was in view, and the young fugitive was riding toward it at
+full speed. His pursuers pressed their tired steeds in his rear, and
+Robert knew his only chance for life was to swim the stream. He uttered
+an encouraging shout to his horse as that noble animal sprang far out
+into the water. Robert's hat fell off and floated near the shore; but
+his horse swam straight across. Hugh Price, with an oath, drew his
+remaining pistol, galloped to the water's edge and fired. The ball
+struck four or five feet to Robert's left and in front of him, splashing
+up a jet of water where it plunged in. At the instant Hugh fired, Giles
+Peram's horse, unable to check his speed, would have rushed into the
+river, had not Price seized the bit and stopped him. Giles, unprepared
+for so sudden a halt, went over his horse, head first into the water.
+
+Being a poor swimmer and greatly frightened, he would no doubt have
+drowned, had not Hugh Price gone to his rescue and pulled him out. By
+the time Giles Peram was rescued and placed safely on shore, Robert
+Stevens had crossed the river and was ascending the bank.
+
+It was so dark that they could just see the outline of the fugitive,
+before he disappeared into the wood. Giles Peram was shivering from his
+sudden plunge and begged to go to camp, so Hugh Price, sympathizing with
+him, gave up the man hunt, and returned to the nearest camp of
+royalists. "We will have him yet. He shall hang!" said Mr. Price, by way
+of consoling his friend for his ducking.
+
+They went to York, where Berkeley had established himself, and the
+latter commenced a reign of terror and vengeance, which has made him
+infamous in history as the most bloodthirsty tyrant of America. Major
+Cheeseman was captured with Captains Wilford and Farlow. The two
+captains were hung without trial, and Cheeseman was thrown into prison.
+When Edmund Cheeseman was arraigned before the governor and was asked
+why he engaged in Bacon's wicked scheme, before he could answer, his
+young wife stepped forward and said:
+
+"My provocation made my husband join in the cause for which Bacon
+contended. But for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
+done," she sobbed, falling on her knees in an attitude of supplication,
+with her head bowed and face covered with her hands, "was done by my
+means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment, let me be hanged,
+but let my husband be pardoned."
+
+The angry governor gazed on her for a moment with eyes which danced in
+fury; then he cried:
+
+"Away with you!" adding a brutal remark at which manhood might well
+blush. Mrs. Cheeseman fainted, and her husband was carried away to the
+gallows. [Footnote: Authorities differ as to the death of Cheeseman.
+Some say he was hanged, others that he died in prison.]
+
+So fearful, at first, was the cruel old baron that some of his intended
+victims might escape through a verdict of acquittal by a jury, that men
+were taken from the tribunal of a court-martial directly to the gallows,
+without the forms of civil law.
+
+For a time after Berkeley was established at York, Ingram still made a
+show of resistance, but accepted the first terms offered and
+surrendered. Only two prominent leaders remained uncaptured. These were
+Lawrence and Drummond. Berkeley swore he could not sleep well until they
+were hanged. The surrender of Ingram destroyed even the faintest hope of
+reorganizing the patriot army, and Mr. Drummond, deserted by his
+followers, was captured in the Chickahominy swamp and hurried to York to
+the governor, who greeted him with bitter irony.
+
+"Mr. Drummond," he said, "you are very welcome! I am more glad to see
+you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in
+half an hour."
+
+"What your honor pleases," Mr. Drummond boldly answered. "I expect no
+mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience and did what
+I might to free my countrymen from oppression."
+
+He was condemned at one o'clock and hanged at four. By a cruel decree of
+the governor, his brave wife Sarah was denounced as a traitress and
+banished with her children to the wilderness, where, for a while, they
+were forced to subsist on the charity of friends almost as poor as they.
+
+Berkeley's rage was not yet fully satisfied. The thoughtful Mr. Lawrence
+had taken care of himself, for he knew but too well what to expect,
+should he be captured. Weeks passed and winter was advanced before
+Berkeley heard of him. Then from one of the upper plantations came the
+report that he and four other desperadoes with horses and pistols had
+marched away in snow ankle-deep. Some hoped they had perished in trying
+to swim the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
+southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
+wilderness.
+
+Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
+insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
+executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
+became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
+several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
+hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
+regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
+rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
+determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
+of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
+the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
+(afterward James II.) had sworn that "Bacon and Bland must die," and
+with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
+Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
+rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
+ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
+II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:
+
+"That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
+done for the murder of my father."
+
+Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
+arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
+to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
+one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
+whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
+Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
+Robert Stevens.
+
+Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
+jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
+all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
+at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
+_Despair_, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.
+
+Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
+Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
+quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
+particularly menacing in the vessel, with her double rows of guns
+pointed at the shore and the marines all on deck under arms. Berkeley
+was alarmed. A boat was lowered, and Sir Albert St. Croix came ashore.
+He hurried at once into the governor's presence.
+
+"Sir Albert, I am pleased to see you; yet I do not understand that
+demonstration," said the governor, who, like all tyrants, was a coward.
+"Surely, you do not mean any hostilities toward me."
+
+"That depends on circumstances. Have you a young man named Stevens
+prisoner?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he been tried?"
+
+"He has and has been condemned."
+
+"To hang?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has the sentence been executed?" asked Sir Albert, trembling with
+dread.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Then your life is saved."
+
+"But he will be hanged at ten o'clock."
+
+"He shall not!"
+
+"Why, who are you, that dare defy me?"
+
+"Governor Berkeley," said Sir Albert, in a voice trembling with
+earnestness, as he led him to the window. "Look you on yon ship and see
+the guns pointed at your town. But harm a hair of Robert Stevens' head,
+and, by the God we both worship, I will blow you into eternity!"
+
+Governor Berkeley sank in his seat, trembling with rage and fear. Must
+he let one go, and above all Robert Stevens, whom he hated? The old man
+continued:
+
+"You have already hanged my friends Drummond and Cheeseman, and were I a
+man who sought revenge, I would destroy you, as I have it in my power
+to do."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and Hugh Price, accompanied by Giles
+Peram, entered.
+
+"The scaffold is all ready to hang Robert Stevens," said Mr. Price.
+
+"Ah! marry, it is, governor, and I trow he will make a merry sight
+dangling from it," put in Giles, a smile on his face.
+
+Sir William Berkeley's face was deathly white; but he made no response.
+Mr. Price, who feared his wife's son might yet escape, urged:
+
+"Governor, the scaffold is ready. Come, give the order for the
+execution."
+
+Sir Albert coolly drew from his coat pocket a legal looking document
+and, laying it before the governor, said in a commanding tone:
+
+"Sign, sir."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A pardon for Robert Stevens."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Hugh Price, rushing forward to interfere.
+
+"Back, devil, lest I forget humanity!" cried Sir Albert, and, seizing
+Hugh Price by the throat, he hurled him against the wall. For a moment,
+the cavalier was stunned, then, rising, he snatched his sword from
+its sheath.
+
+Sir Albert was not one whit behind in drawing his own blade, and, as
+steel clashed against steel, Giles Peram shouted:
+
+"Oh, Lordy! I will be killed!" and ran from the room. There was but one
+clash of swords, then Price's weapon flew from his hand, and he expected
+to be run through; but Sir Albert coolly said:
+
+"Begone, Hugh Price! Your life is in my hands; but I do not want it.
+You are not prepared to die. Get thee hence, lest I forget myself."
+
+Price left the room, and Sir Albert, turning to Berkeley, asked:
+
+"Have you signed the pardon, governor?"
+
+"Here it is."
+
+"Now order his release."
+
+Half an hour later, Robert, who expected to suffer death on the
+scaffold, was liberated.
+
+"I owe this to you, kind sir," he cried, seizing Sir Albert's hand.
+
+"I promised to save you, and I always keep my promise."
+
+"Do you know aught of my mother, sister, and Ester?"
+
+"All are safe aboard my vessel."
+
+"Why do you take such interest in us, Sir Albert? You are like a father
+to me."
+
+"Do you remember your father?"
+
+"I can just remember him. He was a noble man with a kind heart. Did you
+know him?"
+
+"Yes; he was my friend. I knew him well."
+
+"Would to heaven he had remained; our misery would not have been so
+great."
+
+"We are all in the hands of inexorable fate; but let us talk no more.
+You will have a full pardon from Charles II. soon, and then that old
+fool will not dare to harm you. Not only will you be pardoned but Ester
+Goffe as well."
+
+"How know you this?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have sent to the king for the pardons, and he will deny me nothing."
+
+"Then I shall wed Ester and return to my father's plantation to pass my
+days in peace."
+
+"Do so, Robert, and ever remember that whatever you have, you owe it to
+your unfortunate father. God grant that your life may be less stormy
+than his."
+
+When they went on board the _Despair_, there was a general rejoicing.
+
+"Heaven bless you, our deliverer!" cried Rebecca, placing her arms about
+the neck of Sir Albert and kissing him again and again.
+
+Years seemed to have rolled away, and once more the father felt the
+soft, warm arms of his baby about his neck. The ancient eyes grew dim,
+and tears, welling up, overflowed and trickled down the furrowed cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+     So live, that when thy summons comes to join
+     The innumerable caravan, that moves
+     To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
+     His chamber in the silent halls of death,
+     Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
+     Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
+     By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
+     Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
+     About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
+                                               --BRYANT.
+
+That strange ship _Despair_ still lingered before the headquarters of
+the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships
+and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for
+Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.
+
+"What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were
+by the nose?" asked the governor.
+
+"'Fore God, I know not, governor," put in Hugh Price. "I would rather
+all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one."
+
+As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's
+estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:
+
+"Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no
+part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on
+these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles.
+The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your
+unfortunate mother will engage all your time."
+
+"But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?"
+
+"Harm him not."
+
+"He will harm me, I trow."
+
+"No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not."
+
+Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he
+set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates
+on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They
+asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert
+assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.
+
+Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and
+intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm
+which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.
+
+"It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!" declared Peram,
+clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.
+
+"Where is your wife?"
+
+"On board the ship _Despair_."
+
+"Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is
+over, and we have put down the rebellion."
+
+"I will."
+
+After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the
+hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one
+stupefied on board the _Despair_, not daring to go ashore. She seldom
+spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her
+daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with
+her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.
+
+When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price
+for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty
+person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had
+been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:
+
+"Shall I go?"
+
+"The place of a good wife is with her husband," he answered.
+
+Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:
+
+"Must I obey Hugh Price?"
+
+"Is he your father?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You are of age?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother
+on the James River."
+
+"I will live with my brother."
+
+Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and,
+shuddering, said:
+
+"The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail."
+
+"Shall I take you in mine?" asked Sir Albert.
+
+"Will you?"
+
+"If you desire it."
+
+The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then
+he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command
+to his four sturdy oarsmen:
+
+"Pull ashore."
+
+It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled
+river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw
+her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were
+blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she
+watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she
+was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.
+
+The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of
+ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the
+little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely
+through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between
+two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.
+
+The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack,
+and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca
+uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.
+
+Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a
+short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked
+under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush
+the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a
+single second, then all sank below the cold waves.
+
+Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as
+well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs.
+Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck
+out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold
+swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.
+
+When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in
+each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his
+sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the
+ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried
+at the same place.
+
+All winter long, Captain Small of the _Despair_ remained in the York
+River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning
+both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead
+master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and
+lands, in both America and England.
+
+"He also gave you the ship _Despair_," concluded the captain.
+
+"This is very strange." said Robert. "I can scarcely believe it."
+
+Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.
+
+"Now what will you do with the ship?" the captain asked.
+
+"What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters."
+
+"She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent
+her of you and give you one half the profits."
+
+"No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth."
+
+Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the
+name _Despair_ was changed to _Hope_. The vessel soon became famous as a
+merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became
+wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.
+
+Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs.
+Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to
+dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's
+death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home
+of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother
+horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles
+was seized with fever of which he died.
+
+Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit
+and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she
+married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert
+returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the
+wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.
+
+One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode
+to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by
+exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was
+dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside
+and asked:
+
+"Do you not know me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Lawrence," the stranger whispered.
+
+"What! Mr. Lawrence?"
+
+"Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley
+is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me
+dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself
+and your parents that will interest you."
+
+Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his
+eyes before it was finished.
+
+"I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my
+friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both
+are gone, it were best that you know."
+
+Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and,
+mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never
+saw or heard of the "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" again.
+
+A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed
+that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the
+side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone,
+appeared the following strange inscription:
+
+"_Father and mother sleep here_."
+
+Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to
+the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's
+Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he
+did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, "I believe the
+governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone."
+He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned
+except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief
+leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated.
+First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but
+here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this
+roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the
+wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the
+throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and
+she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.
+
+All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists
+triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated
+him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his
+ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had
+served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled
+spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure,
+and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to
+rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+Ye End.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL INDEX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King
+  Charles II
+Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor
+Alderman, slayer of King Philip
+Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the
+  surrender of New York
+Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook
+Angel of deliverance
+Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon
+Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia
+Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels
+Attack on the swamp fort
+Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker
+Bacon, Nathaniel
+Bacon's "Quarter Branch"
+Bacon's threat
+Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission
+Bacon defeats the Indians
+Bacon arrested
+Bacon's confession
+Bacon's flight
+Bacon rousing his friends
+Bacon marching on Jamestown
+Bacon captures Jamestown
+Bacon and Berkeley meet
+Bacon commissioned by Berkeley
+Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy
+Bacon urged to depose Berkeley
+Bacon's Indian campaign
+Bacon again rallying his hosts
+Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields
+Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen
+Bacon besieges Jamestown
+Bacon enters Jamestown
+Bacon burns Jamestown
+Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac
+Bacon ill
+Bacon's death a mystery
+Bacon rebels attainted of treason
+Bacon's laws repealed
+Baconites deserting Ingram
+Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac
+Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654
+Battle of Brookfield
+Battle of Bloody Run
+Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley
+Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia
+Berkeley, Sir William, character of
+Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors
+Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia
+Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to
+  Greenspring Manor
+Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.
+Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing
+Berkeley informs home government that all trouble
+  with the Indians is happily over
+Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission
+Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel
+Berkeley pardons Bacon
+Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon
+Berkeley and Bacon meet
+Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces
+  him a rebel
+Berkeley in possession of Jamestown
+Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown
+Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works
+Berkeley's tyranny at York
+Berkeley's departure from Virginia
+Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York
+Bland, execution of
+Brent reported advancing
+Buckingham succeeds Clarendon
+Burning of Jamestown
+Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630
+Calvert, Governor of Maryland
+Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of
+Carolinia settled by New Englanders
+Carolinia constitution
+Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to
+Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder
+Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed
+Census of New England in 1675
+Charles I. beheaded in 1649
+Charles II. declared king of England in 1660
+Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father
+Charles II., character of
+Charles II. profligate and careless
+Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley
+Cheeseman, trial of
+Cheeseman's death
+Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley
+Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset
+Clarendon in exile
+Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island
+Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam
+Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands
+  within limits of Rhode Island charter
+Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter
+Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop
+Connecticut after the restoration
+Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution
+Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector
+Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son
+  Richard as his successor
+Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II.
+  grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years
+Curles, Bacon's home
+Death of Nathaniel Bacon
+De Vries robbed by the Indians
+De Vries chosen president of popular assembly
+Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I
+Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia
+  in 1666
+Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the
+  world
+Drummond before Berkeley
+Drummond, execution of
+Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children
+Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne
+Dutch capture New York
+Dyer, Mary, execution of
+Effect of the restoration on Virginia
+Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret
+Elliott, John, missionary among Indians
+Emigrants to Carolinia
+Emigrants to New Jersey from New England
+English government in a state of chaos after the death
+  of Cromwell
+Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts
+Execution of Robinson and Stevenson
+Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts
+Forebodings of war
+Gathering of Virginians at Curles
+Goffe and the fencing-master
+Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned
+  Charles I
+Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men
+Gorges recovers his claim
+Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness
+Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence
+Grievances of Virginians
+Hadley attacked by the Indians
+Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley
+Hansford abandons Jamestown
+Hansford hung
+Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629
+Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert
+Hawley, Governor of Carolinia
+Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of
+  Virginia
+Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken
+Indian war of 1644
+Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey
+Indian advancement in education
+Indians' lands taken from them
+Ingram chosen in place of Bacon
+Ingram's surrender
+James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted
+  to him by his brother Charles II
+Jamestown besieged by Bacon
+Jamestown captured by Bacon
+Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt
+Judges who tried and condemned Charles I
+Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer
+  of the wheelwright
+Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians
+Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland
+King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and
+  Northampton
+King's men, character of
+Lancaster attacked by Indians
+Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia
+Law against Quakers repealed in 1661
+Laws made by Bacon repealed
+_Longtail_, Claybourne's trading ship
+Lovelace appointed Governor of New York
+Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy
+Massachusetts' charter threatened
+Massachusetts after the restoration
+Massachusetts not punished for her defiance
+Massasoit, death of, 1661
+Matapoiset, attack on
+Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls
+Middle Plantation oath
+Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652
+Muddy Brook, fight at
+Narragansetts, Philip among
+Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances
+New Amsterdam granted a government like the free
+  cities of Holland
+New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed
+  to New York
+New England confederation
+New England, growth of
+New England colonies slandered
+New Haven colony
+New Jersey, how effected by change
+New Jersey charter
+New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants
+New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch
+New York not represented in Parliament
+New York attacked by the Dutch
+New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam
+Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam
+Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor
+  of New York
+Nipmucks, Philip among
+North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666
+Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go
+  to
+Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of
+Oliverian plot
+Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred
+  years old and assassinated
+Orange changed to Albany
+Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650
+Pavonia, the territory of Pauw
+Philip's, King, opposition to war
+Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's
+  blood has been shed
+Philip, King, among the Nipmucks
+Philip, King, pursued
+Philip, King, death of
+Pokanokets rejected Christianity
+Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam
+Population of Virginia
+Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware
+Puritans of New England
+Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts
+Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey
+Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch
+Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644
+Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663
+Rising, John, on the Delaware
+Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653
+Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house
+Royalists, triumph of
+Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the
+  plans of Philip
+Savage sent to Mount Hope
+South Kingston, Indians at
+Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England
+Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware
+Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer
+Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender
+Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam
+Stuyvesant goes to Holland
+Stuyvesant returns to New York
+Sudbury, attack on
+Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II
+Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on
+Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with
+Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it
+Fort Trinity
+Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard
+Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation
+Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration
+Vane, Sir Henry, executed
+Virginia divided into eight shires
+Virginia restored to monarchy
+Virginia threatened with civil war
+Virginia, home ruled
+Virginia's defence, 1675
+Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing
+  a flag of truce
+Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals
+Wheelwright murdered by Indians
+Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley
+Windsor, Indian attack on
+Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant
+Winthrop, John, and Charles II.
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.
+
+A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.
+
+1644. SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites
+  killed,--April 18.
+
+1645. CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert
+  fled to Virginia.
+
+1649. CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.
+
+1650. FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the
+  Chowan River, near Edenton.
+
+1653. OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of
+  Great Britain,--Dec. 16.
+
+1655. RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants
+  and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.
+
+1656. QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment
+  by Puritans.
+
+1660. MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II.
+  king,--May 29.
+NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.
+
+1663. CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March
+  24. (This grant extended from 30 deg. to
+  36 deg. lat., and from ocean to ocean.)
+CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,
+  granted,--July 8.
+
+1664. NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York
+  and Albany,--March 12.
+
+NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.
+
+STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).
+
+FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.
+
+ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.
+
+1665. CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the
+  name of Connecticut,--May.
+
+SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended
+  to 29 deg. lat.,--June 30.
+
+CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently
+  settled.
+
+1670. DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French.
+CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.
+
+1671. MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius,
+  at Michilimackinac.
+
+1673. VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington.
+MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.
+
+1674. MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.
+
+1675. MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill.
+KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.
+
+1676. BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,
+  one hundred years before independence.
+QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers
+  and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.
+  41 deg. 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE, VOLUME
+6; A CENTURY TOO SOON (A STORY OF BACON'S REBELLION)***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 10387.txt or 10387.zip *******
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