as they
were preparing their rude fortifications; and to look up on the cold,
silent moon, as she watched them from her high path in heaven, and you
might almost think, smiled with cold disdain, to think that all their
hopes would be blasted, and their ardour checked by defeat, while she in
her pride of fulness would traverse that same high arch twelve hundred
times before the day-star of freedom dawned upon the land.

Meantime the besieged loyalists having heard with surprise and
consternation, the story of Mrs. Temple and Virginia, were completely
confounded. Fearing to fire a single gun, lest the ball intended for
their adversaries might pierce the heart of some innocent woman, they
were forced to await with impatience the completion of the works of the
insurgents. The latter had not the same reason for forbearance, and made
several successful sorties upon the palisades, which surrounded the
town, effecting several breaches, and killing some men, but without loss
to any their own party. Furious at the successful stratagems of the
rebels and fearing an accession to their number from the surrounding
country, Sir William Berkeley at length determined to make a sally from
the town, and test the strength and courage of his adversaries in an
open field. Bacon, meanwhile, having effected his object in securing a
sufficient fortification, with much courtesy dismissed the captive
ladies, who went, rejoicing at their liberation, to tell the story of
their wrongs to their loyal husbands.

The garrison of Jamestown consisting of about twenty cavalier loyalists,
and eight hundred raw, undisciplined recruits, picked up by Berkeley
during his stay in Accomac, were led on firmly towards the entrenchments
of the rebels, by Beverley and Ludwell, who stood high in the confidence
of the Governor, and in the esteem of the colony, as brave and
chivalrous men. Among the subordinate officers in the garrison was
Alfred Bernard, rejoicing in the commission of captain, but recently
conferred, and burning to distinguish himself in a contest against the
rebels. From their posts behind the entrenchment, the insurgents calmly
watched the approach of their foes. Undismayed by their numbers, nearly
four times as great as their own, they awaited patiently the signal of
their general to begin the attack. Bacon, on his part, with all the
ardour of his nature, possessed in an equal degree the coolness and
prudence of a great general, and was determine