University of Virginia Library

1. CHAPTER I.

—Bacon's Eulogy.

Scene in the Tap-Room.

In the reign of Charles, the Second of England, Sir William Berkley
was Governor of Virginia, then a pet province of royalty, and receiving
more of the sunshine of kingly favor than any other of the
American plantations. It was settled principally by cavaliers of this
prince's ill-fated father's court, and a party, who, to escape the retributive
vengeance of Cromwell, sought here an asylum from the politcal
tempest that laid waste their fair island. Here took refuge many
of the first Charles' personal friends and most devoted adherents; and
with but few exceptions, all of these transferred their royalty and affection
from the father to the son. After the restoration, they would
have willingly returned from their exile, and were making preparations
to do so, when the second Charles, desirous of giving consideration
to the province through the presence there of wealth and family,
courteously signified that it was his royal wish that they should
remain there, and by their presence and influence, countenance the
infant colony, which, on their departure, would languish and die.
The expression of the royal desire was to them a command; and Virginial
became permanently the home of some of the best descended
cavaliers of Great Britain, whose descendants, in this day, have parted
not with the high tone of gallantry and chivalrous bearing which
characterized the gentleman of the court of the unfortunate Charles.
The presence of so large a number of good families, who instead of
coming to acquire wealth, brought it with them with all its refinements,
combined with the peculiar favor the colony received from the parent
country, contributed to place Virginia far before its sister colonies in
luxuries which the latter only finally arrived to the enjoyment of, after

years of patient and laborious toil. This peculiarity was apparent,
and distinctly marked as early as the period of our story; and a century
and a half has scarcely diminished the claim of the `Old Dominion'
to this distinctive feature.

The colonists were composed principally of planters, gentlemen of
estate, King's officers, military men, with the persons composing the
council and court of Sir William Berkley. Mechanics, there were
few or none, as all manufactured articles were imported from the
mother country, from a hat down to a shoe, and oftentimes, also, the
entire frames of dwelling houses and public edifices. Poor white laborers
were also rare, as all work was done by slaves. Loafers were
not known then. It was emphatically a colony of gentlemen! Their
estates extended on both sides of James River, many a league, and
along both shores of the Chesapeake. Jamestown was the seat of
colonial government, the residence of Sir William Berkley; and the
centre of all provincial events. Here the governor held his court;
here met the assembly, and here were the head-quarters of the troops.

This town, at the period of our story, in 1675, extended along a
rambling street that run parallel with James, then called Powhattan
River, for about three quarters of a mile, and faced the south. The
place on which it was built, was a peninsula formed by a creek, that,
approaching within a few rods of James River, above the town, turned
with a broad sweep, off suddenly to the left, quite encompassing
the town, and emptied itself into the river two miles below it. The
neck that joined the peninsula thus formed, to the main land, was but
ten paces in breadth, and across it run the only road that led from the
town to the interior. Besides the state-house, which was an imposing
brick structure, with a portico and gallery, the governor's residence,
just out of the village, and a church with a lower tower, there
was no other public building in town, unless the hostel of Katrine
Larence be thus designated. Katrine had been the prettiest maiden,
the loveliest bride, and the handsomest widow in the whole plantation.
At the time this story opens, she had remained in widowhood twelve
years, the whilst mistress and hostess of the most notable public
house in Virginia; `the resorte,' says the historian, `of all the gentry
and best quality of the colony whom business and cencours to the
governor brought to town from all parts.'

One stormy night, several of her guests were congregated in the
tap-room, the chief window of which looked towards the council hall
of the state-house. It was the night before the meeting of the provincial

assembly, and the inn was filled with the members that represented
different parts of the colony, and, as the custom then was,
most of them were gathered in the tap-room after supper, previous
to retiring for the night. The company was divided or separated into
four or five groups. Around the fire, (for the night, though a late
one, was damp and chilly, and a fire comfortable,) was drawn a knot
of the members, discussing the anticipated affairs of the morrow, on
the opening of the assembly. They were mostly dressed in the broad
skirted coats, flapped waistcoats, breeches and knee-buckles, with the
queued and powdered hair of the period. In the middle of the floor,
seated around a table, was a group of town's people, from their dress
and conversation, evidently merchants and ship-masters, talking of
gains, of winds, and of foreign lands. In a corner of the apartment
were several seamen, riotously drinking and singing over oft replenished
cups of gin or claret, while in the opposite corner, as if seeking
to shun observation, were two swarthy and painted Indians, with
bundles of furs at their feet, bargaining in low guttural tones with a
little fat, shrewd `leader' of the town, who displayed, in his hands, gay
beads, brass rings, and other tempting trinkets, as the price of their
beaver-skins. On one side of the long, low apartment, was a semicircular
pulpit, well guarded by an oaken lattice, and communicating
with a window in the rear, with an inner room. This was the `bar'
or `tap' of the inn, and its presiding deity none other than Katrine
herself, who was leaning over its counter, and talking with a tall
handsome man, not above thirty years of age, who, while listening to
her with courteous attention, was marking all that passed among the
several groups in the tap-room. This man was finely formed, and
wore a costume half that of a hunter, and half military, which exceedingly
became him, while it set off to advantage the firm proportions
of his well built frame. His whole air, his subdued and calm
manner, as well as the richness of some parts of his dress, showed
him to be a man of birth and bearing. His eye was grey and large,
and clear like an eagle's, while his mouth wore that firm expression
that indicated courage, daring, and a high and fierce spirit. His complexion
was florid, his forehead partly shaded by a low Virginia palm
hat, was broad and smooth; while the strength of his noble, but
stern brows was relieved by clustering locks of light brown hair that
escaped from his hat, and rested upon his temples. A light, elegant
mustache graced his upper lip, and a peaked, well trimmed beard descended
to his breast. He wore a straight sword at his side, and in
his belt was stuck a pistol, and a long two-edged hunting-knife. His
smile was pleasant, and the few low words he from time to time returned
for the courteous flow of gossip with which Katrine entertained
him, seemed, from her frequent laughs, not only to give her great
pleasure, but to be sufficiently well-timed—notwithstanding he was
all the while more intent in listening to the conversation of those
about the fire-place, than to her.

`Come, Colonel,' she said at length, seeing that he thought less of
her words than he seemed to; `leave the tap-room, and go back into
the little parlor, where thy supper is laid. There is wine and warm
welcome for thee there.'

`Such welcome were a thing not lightly to be turned from, Katrine,'
he said, but I pray thee let me listen a-while to these cavaliers. Their
discourse hath especial interest for me.'

`It is nothing but dry assembly talk; I hear it from morning 'till
night, until I wish there was no such thing as politics in the world.'

`Were there no politics, dame, thou would'st scarce have so
crowded a hotel as thou hast this night,' answered the cavalier.

`That is true; but we need not listen to them.'

`Go, Katrine, I will presently follow thee, and do justice to thy
board.'

Thus speaking, he quitted the easy, lounging posture he had hitherto
assumed, as he leaned with his ear towards the hostess, and moved,
as if with careless purpose, towards the fire-place, yet not so near as
to attract observation by the act.

`These painted pagans that so infest our borders with fire and
death in their train, must be exterminated,' said one of the older gentlemen
of the group, continuing the conversation, and striking his
gold-headed staff upon the hearth, to enforce, by its emphasis, his
energetic words.

`They have, a second time, come within thirty miles of Jamestown,
and the light of their war-fires has illuminated the horizon of our
very capital,' said another. `Why Sir William does not send out
troops to protect the frontier, and punish these savages, is better
known to himself than it is to me.'

`Sir William Berkley, our excellent governor, hath too much wisdom
to shoot bullets through beaver-skins,' sqeaked a low, chuckling
voice, in a distant part of the room.

Every one looked in the direction from which it proceeded, and discovered

in the speaker the squat trader, who was bargaining with the
friendly Indians.

`What mean you, sirrah?' demanded one of the members, with indignation.

`We all know that Sir William loves the ring of gold and silver as
well as a Jew,' said the little man with a boldness singularly contrasting
with his small voice and diminutive appearance, `and while he
can buy beaver-skins for a blue bead each, and sell them to his factors
at a dollar, he will not, by going to war with our red friends, put
an end to profitable gains.'

`By Saint George! there spoke a true word if the devil had given
it speech! cried the second speaker with animation.

`And herein,' said the first, `lieth, I do verily believe, the secret of
the whole matter. The trader hath got the thumb end.'

`Shall we suffer this thing to be, gentlemen,' said a bold, slashing
cavalier, with a red face, and altogether a dissipated air, who made
one of the group; `shall our lives be put in the balance against the
governor's cupidity. It is but three hours since the rumor came flying
in, that seventeen men have been slain within fifty miles of us,
since Saturday night. Sir William must learn that freemen's lives
are not to be measured with beaver-tails.'

`Tut, tut, Larence, man!' said one of the party, laughing; `you
speak treason that will bring you to a hempen neck-cloth'

`If it be treason, then have I also a hand in it,' said the young
cavalier, who had been listening to their conversation with deep attention.
He strode towards the fire-place as he spoke, and the exclamation,
`Colonel Bacon!' from every one present, showed that he
was no stranger to them, though their manner evinced surprise, both
at his presence and language. `Yes, gentlemen,' he continued, after
exchanging brief and courteous salulations with them, `if Major
Larence had spoken treason, then is every true and honest man in
this dominion a traitor! Sir William Berkley looks more to his own
interest than to the colony's, and hath some deeper purpose in his
forhearance towards the savages who have been so long suffered to
lay waste our borders, than appears,—unless this trader hath hit upon
the truth.'

`This is bold language, Colonel Bacon,' said one of the gentlemen,
`to deliver in the hearing of a member of Sir William Berkley's
council.'

`Sir William Berkley himself, shall hear a plainer speech than

even this, Mr. Oglethrope. I have come to Jamestown to-night to
ask his Excellency a commission, that I may levy men and go against
these Indian robbers.'

`This is a bold procedure, sir,' said the old counsellor, with surprise.

`The times require bold steps,' was the reply of the young man.

`If the Governor refuse to commission you?' asked one of the
gentlemen, all of whom had now risen from their seats and were
gathered around the young Virginia cavalier, actuated by various feelings,
as hostility or friendship to Sir William Berkley influenced their
views of this proposed step.

`I will in that case, on my own responsibility, raise a party of men
who have got too much of the Briton in them to be slaves to any
man's will, and go forth against them myself.'

`What greater cause have you than other men to take up arms,
that you must do this even if you have to do it as a rebel?' asked the
counsellor.

`Love for my ill governed country, lest it be ruined by the misconduct
of those in power. Besides,' he added, in a low, deep tone of
vengeance, `did not all you know my cousin and more than brother,
Enery Warwick?'

`The noblest spirit in the province,' was the unanimous reply.

`Well, sir, he died yesterday,' continued Bacon, calmly.

`Dead?—how came it?'

`By the murderous tomahawk of the savage chief Cineca!' was
the low, deep, and almost terrific reply.

`This must be looked to,' said the counsellor after a moment's silent
surprise.

`It shall be looked to, or Sir William Berkley's head shall answer
it,' responded Bacon sternly; and strode from the apartment, leaving
ing them full of wonder and apprehension of they knew not what impending
evil.