formerly been Walter the Tiler's
master, and had beaten him and otherwise treated him in a cruel and
oppressive manner. At the time that he received these injuries Walter
had no redress, but now the opportunity had come, he thought, for
revenge. So he led a gang of the most desperate and reckless of the
insurgents to Lyon's house, and, seizing their terrified victim, they
dragged him out without mercy, and cut off his head. The head they
stuck upon the top of a pike, and paraded it through the streets, a
warning, as they said, to all cruel and oppressive masters.

A great many other heads, principally those of men who had made
themselves particularly obnoxious to the insurgents, were paraded
through the streets in the same manner.

After spending the day in these excesses, keeping all London in a
state of dreadful confusion and alarm, the various bands began to move
toward night in the direction of the Tower, where the king and his
court had shut themselves up in great terror, not knowing what to do
to escape from the dreadful inundation of poverty and misery which had
so suddenly poured in upon them. The rioters, when they reached the
Tower, took possession of a large open square before it, and, kindling
up great bonfires, they began to make arrangements for bivouacking
there for the night.

CHAPTER X.

THE END OF THE INSURRECTION.

A.D. 1381

Anxiety and embarrassment of the king.--Consultations in the
Tower.--Various counsels.--Mile-End.--A meeting appointed with
the rioters at Mile-End.--The king meets the insurgents at
Mile-End.--Parley with them.--The king accedes to their
demands.--Effect of the concessions.--Preparation of the
decrees.--Scenes in the night in and around London.--The next
morning.--The king meets the insurgents at Smithfield.--Another
parley.--Walter advances.--His orders to his men.--Doubt about
the fairness of the accounts.--Conversation between Walter and
the king.--Walter gets into a quarrel with the king's squire.--Walter
is at last assaulted and killed.--Excitement among his men.--Courage
and coolness of the king.--Alarm conveyed to London.--Troops brought
to the ground.--The insurgents surrender their banners and
disperse.--The king's interview with his mother.--Final results of
the rebellion.

In the mean time, within the Tower, where the king and his courtiers
now found themselves almost in a state of siege, there were continual
consultations held, and much perplexity