raving and screaming, and bound hand and foot, as he was carried in a cart to an asylum.

But there were others to take his place: stern Samuel Adams; generous John Hancock; glorious JOSIAH QUINCY; and many more, of whom you will soon hear. There was no fear for Massachusetts.

CHAPTER XXIV.

ALL this time the governors of the southern colo

nies were getting on very badly with the people. The men of the south were heart and soul with those of New York and Massachusetts in their battles with the King and the great lords. Of course the royal governors tried to bully them; and of course they failed.

In South Carolina the Governor took a dislike to one of the members of his council and dismissed him. After this, none of the planters would sit in the council. They said the Governor was not fit to associate with them and bore themselves so proudly and so haughtily that he shrunk into his own house like a thief, hardly daring to look any one in the face.

In North Carolina matters were still worse. From the Governor down to the tipstaffs, every King's officer thought he had a right to pillage the people. They did not go to men's houses with pistols in their hands, and ask for their money or their lives, as highwaymen did; but they pretended that so much was due to them on every marriage, so much on every purchase of land, so much for taxes, so much for this and so much for that; and in the end it came to the very same thing.

For a long time the farmers of North Carolina bore all in patience; but at last they rose up and reVOL. I.-S

solved to try to obtain their rights. They chose certain good men from among them, who met together at Maddock's Mill, near Hillsborough, to take counsel on the sufferings of the people.

They were plain, honest farmers-the boldest among them HERMAN HUSBANDS, of Sandy Creek; and they very soon said what they had to say, and asked the Governor to protect them from the King's officers. A new Governor coming from England at the time, by name WILLIAM TRYON, they hoped they might obtain redress.

But William Tryon was too much of a fine gentleman to listen to poor farmers. He said when he came to the Province that it was in a very sad state; the people were unhappy, and worse than all, there was no palace suitable for a man of his dignity. So he set to work to build a grand palace, of course with the people's money; and to satisfy those who complained, he ordered an ox to be roasted whole and given to the poor, with as much beer as they pleased.

He was very much disgusted when the people would not touch his ox, and spilled his beer on the ground; saying that they wanted their rights, not beef or beer.

When this William Tryon went into the Indian country to draw the boundary line of the Province, the Indians gave him the name of the GREAT WOLF. A very sensible people, these Indians.

For one of the first acts of Governor Tryon was to lay a new tax on the poor farmers, in order to get money to build his new palace, and to keep himself and his friends, FANNING and others, in the style

suited to men of their rank. With the help of this new tax the sheriffs and the other King's officers ate up the substance of the farmers; and they would have starved altogether had not a few of them met and formed themselves into a society, calling themselves REGULATORS, and refusing to pay the new tax.

Fanning, at first, thought he could easily master them, and finding one of the Regulators alone, near Hillsborough, he seized his horse. But, in a twinkling, a band of his friends came riding down, and set the prisoner and his horse free.

Then Fanning called out the militia, and finding, with great trouble, a few who were willing to serve-for most of them said they would not fight against the Regulators-marched to Sandy Creek, and took Herman Husbands prisoner. Though he made no resistance, and was a quiet, orderly man, they bound him cruelly with cords and thrust him into prison.

When his trial came on, the Great Wolf was there; and so was Fanning, swearing that he should be hanged. But in spite of their efforts the jury could find no fault in him, and he was acquitted.

Then the jury put Fanning himself on his trial, and found him guilty of many crimes and unjust acts; but the judges, who had sold their souls to the King and the Great Wolf, only fined him one penny.

After this, he went on as before, pillaging the people, and gorging himself and his friends with the plunder, while the farmers were starving.

The latter, who were poor, ignorant people, and

had no idea what villains Fanning and the judges were, brought actions in the courts to recover the money which had been taken from them; but, of course, the causes never came to trial. Losing patience at last, a band of Regulators went to Fanning, and asked him when their causes were to be tried. He laughed at them, and abused them. In a burst of rage they seized him and thrashed him with their cowhide whips till he roared again.

He soon had his revenge. Herman Husbands, the great friend of the people, was in the Assembly: Fanning took counsel with his ally, the Great Wolf, and, without any reason, they expelled Husbands, and once more thrust him into prison.

When the Regulators heard of it, they rose and swore they would have their friend Herman Husbands set at liberty, or it would be worse for the Governor. And as they were the sort of men who do what they say, Tryon very soon grew frightened, and let Husbands go.

But the Great Wolf had laid his plans. Early in March he collected more than a thousand soldiers, and set out from Newbern to punish the Regulators. The latter had no idea they were to be attacked. They sent word that all they wanted was protection against the extortions of the King's officers, and liberty to till the fields in peace. But the Great Wolf answered by burning their houses, laying waste their fields, and robbing their orchards.

On the fourteenth of March he came up with them on the borders of the River Allemance. They were a confused crowd, many of them without arms,