Bacon's
side he changed his tone. He had Bacon arrested, it is true, when he
came to Jamestown as a member of the House of Burgesses, but this was
only a matter of form, to save his dignity, and when the culprit went
down on one knee and asked pardon of God, the king, and the governor,
Berkeley was glad enough to get out of his difficulty by forgiving him.
But for all this fine show of forgiveness Bacon did not trust the old
tyrant, and soon slipped quietly out of Jamestown and made his way home.

He was right; the governor was making plans to seize him and hold him
prisoner; he had issued secret orders, and Bacon had got away in good
time. Very soon he was back again, this time at the head of four hundred
planters. As they marched on, others joined them, and when they came
into the old town, and drew up on the State-house green, there were six
hundred of them, horse and foot.

The sight of this rebel band threw old Berkeley into a towering rage. He
rushed out from the State-house at the head of his council, and,
tearing open his ruffled shirt, cried out, in a furious tone:

"Here, shoot me! 'fore God, fair mark; shoot!"

"No," said Bacon, "may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of
your head, nor of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save
our lives from the Indians, which you have so often promised; and now we
will have it before we go."

Both men were in a violent rage, walking up and down and gesticulating
like men distracted. Soon Sir William withdrew with his council to his
office in the State-house. Bacon followed, his hand now touching his hat
in deference, now his sword-hilt as anger rose in his heart. Some of his
men appeared at a window of the room with their guns cocked and ready,
crying out, "We will have it; we will have it."

This continued till one of the burgesses came to the window and waved
his handkerchief, calling out, "You shall have it; you shall have it."

Hearing this, the men drew back and rested their guns on the ground and
Bacon left the chamber and joined them. The matter ended in Bacon's
getting his commission as general and commander-in-chief, while an act
was passed by the legislature justifying him in all he had done, and a
letter to the same effect was written to the king and signed by the
governor, council, and assembly. Bacon had won in all he demanded.

His triumph was only temporary. While he was invading the country of
the Pamunky Indians, killing ma