pet of freedom, as its champions
advanced to the charge.

"They come, they come," she said, in her wild, shrill voice; "my Lord,
my Lord, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof--I go, like
Miriam of old, to prophecy in their cause, and to swell their triumph.
Farewell. Remember, at ten o'clock to-night I return for your final
answer."

With these words she burst from the room, and Virginia soon seen her
tall form, with hasty strides, moving toward the place from which the
sound proceeded.

FOOTNOTES:

[36] This was her very language during the rebellion.

CHAPTER XXI.

"Men, high minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued,
In forest, brake or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude;
Men, who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain,
These constitute a state."
_Sir William Jones._

And nearer, and nearer, came the sound, and the cloud of dust which
already rose in the street, announced their near approach. And then,
Virginia saw emerging from that cloud a proud figure, mounted on a
splendid grey charger, which pranced and champed his bit, as though
proud of the noble burden which he bore. And well he might be proud, for
that young gallant rider was Nathaniel Bacon, a man who has left his
name upon his country's history, despite the efforts to defame him, as
the very embodiment of the spirit of freedom. And he looked every inch a
hero, as with kingly mien and gallant bearing he rode through that
crowded street, the great centre of attraction to all.

Beside him and around him were those, his friends and his companions,
who had sworn to share his success, or to perish in the attempt.

There was the burley Richard Lawrence, not yet bent under the weight of
his growing years. There was Carver, the bold, intrepid and faithful
Carver, whose fidelity yet lives historically in his rough, home-brewed
answer to the Governor, that "if he served the devil he would be true to
his trust." There too was the young and graceful form of one whose name
has been honoured by history, and cherished by his descendants--whose
rising glory has indeed been eclipsed by others of his name more
successful, but not more worthy of success--nor can that long, pure
cavalier lineage boast a nobler ancestor than the high-souled,
chivalrous, and devoted Giles Bland. There too were Ing