s ill, he got permission to visit her. No sooner had he gone than
the governor heard that he intended to place himself once more at the
head of his volunteer army. In desperate haste horsemen galloped off
to intercept him. But they were too late. Bacon had made good his
escape.

In Henrico angry men gathered around him. And when he told them that
the governor had not given him a commission and that he still
persisted in carrying out essentially the old plan for the war, they
were furious. In Bacon's absence the Indians had renewed their raids,
and had wiped out many whole families. The frontiersmen vowed that
they would have a commission or they would march on Jamestown and
"pull down the town."

So off they went, some mounted, others on foot. There was talk of
sharing the estates of the rich, of making Lady Berkeley discard her
fine gowns for "canvas linen," of ending all taxes. "Thus the raging
torrent came down to town."

When the governor heard that they were coming he made desperate
efforts to gather a force to resist them. But it was too late. It was
rumored that Bacon had threatened that if a gun was fired at his men
he would "kill and destroy all." Since resistance was useless,
Berkeley threw the guns from their carriages and waited for Bacon's
arrival.

So the motley band came streaming into town. "Now tag, rag and bobtail
carry a high hand." Bacon drew up a double line before the State House
and demanded that some members of the Council come out to confer with
him. When Colonel Spencer and Colonel Cole appeared he told them he
had come for a commission. Then he said that the people would not
submit to taxes to pay for the proposed new army. And his men shouted:
"No levies! No levies!"

At this juncture Berkeley rushed out, gesticulating wildly and
denouncing Bacon to his face as a traitor.

Then he threw back his coat and shouted: "Here, shoot me, 'fore God,
fair mark, shoot."

Bacon replied that he would not hurt a hair of his head. They had come
for a commission to save their lives from the Indians, which had so
often been promised.

The Burgesses hearing the noise below, crowded to the windows. But
they drew back when the soldiers pointed their fusils at them, calling
out: "We will have it. We will have it." One of the Burgesses called
back: "For God's sake hold your hands; forbear a little and you shall
have what you please."

After walking up and down before the State House for some time,
mu