the head-waters of some of the rivers; but they really traveled
southward into North Carolinia, where they were safely concealed in the
wilderness.

Berkeley proved himself a tiger, as he had proved himself a ruffian in
insulting Mrs. Cheeseman. The taste of blood maddened him. He tried and
executed nearly every one on whom he could lay his hands. Virginia
became a vast jail or Tyburn Hill. Four men were hung on the York,
several executed on the other side of the James River, and one was
hanged in chains at West Point. In February, 1677, a fleet with a
regiment of English troops arrived, and a formal commission to try
rebels was organized, of which Berkeley was a member. This commission
determined to kill Bland, who had been captured in Accomac. The friends
of the prisoner in England had procured and sent over his pardon; but
the commissioners were privately informed that the Duke of York
(afterward James II.) had sworn that "Bacon and Bland must die," and
with this intimation of what would be agreeable to his royal highness,
Bland was hung. It was a revel of blood. In almost every county, gibbets
rose and made the wayfarer shudder and turn away at sight of their
ghastly burdens. In all, twenty-three persons were executed, and Charles
II., disgusted with the tyranny of Berkeley, declared:

"That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
done for the murder of my father."

Shortly after the execution of Mr. Edmund Cheeseman, and before the
arrival of the English regiment, the first British troops ever brought
to Virginia, Mr. Hugh Price, who was very active in capturing rebels,
one evening brought in a miserable, half-starved, half-frozen young man,
whom he had found lying in the snow, too feeble to fly or resist. Mr.
Price was especially delighted with the capture, as the captive was
Robert Stevens.

Old black Sam recognized the prisoner, and when he had been thrust in
jail to await his trial, the old negro mounted a swift horse and rode
all night across the country to the James River. Then, stealing a boat
at one of the plantations, he rowed down the stream until he came to the
_Despair_, on board of which was Mrs. Price, her daughter and Ester.

Sam's story caused instantaneous action, and next morning at daylight
Governor Berkeley was amazed to see the strange ship anchored before his
quarters, as near to shore as she could be brought. There was something
particularly menacing in the vessel,